Compassion and Confidence

Introduction

The murderous dictator, Joseph Stalin is credited with saying: “One death is a tragedy. One million deaths is a statistic.” And, it’s an arresting sentiment because we know just how true it is, don’t we? It’s a coping mechanism in the human psyche that allows us to process tragedy without being totally overcome by it, until it hits our home. In December Paighton Houston went missing in Birmingham, and all of us were anxiously reading every article that passed through our Facebook feed. But, we read of another troop dying in the Middle East, another son or daughter taken from their family, and we don’t even click the link. Opendoors.org monitors Christian persecution around the globe, and their statistics show that every, single day in 2019, 11 people die around the world for nothing more than their faith in Jesus. That’s more than 4000 Christians each year, and we hardly have our emotions stirred.

You see, the only way for us to really wrap our minds around tragedy, the only way for us to really take on the burdens of other people is if it becomes personalized for us. Your compassion for refugees and orphans and AIDS sufferers comes when you look them in the eye, when you befriend them, when you learn their stories, when you begin to actually love them. Orphanages are impersonal ideas until you’re there and a child is pulling on your pants leg asking you to stay. And, I think this is the issue with our indifference toward evangelizing our community and reaching the nations. We think of the world needing to be reached as a statistic rather than seeing it as being personal, seeing it as being our children, our friends, and our neighbors. If we could see the face of one person suffering in hell, we’d never have time for anything else outside of the gospel. And, that’s what this series is about. It’s about personalizing the Great Commission so that each one of us take responsibility for the people that God has brought into our lives. It’s about being willing to be burdened by someone else’s separation from God, someone else’s hopelessness. This morning, we’re going to see an example of that in the lives of a group of friends that shared a burden for a single man. It was his name that they would’ve written down and placed on the altar.

God’s Word

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The Picture of a Personalized Mission (headline)

This is a story of compassion and confidence — compassion for their suffering friend and confidence in the Solution they’d found. It’s a story of a group of friends who will stop at nothing to make sure their neighbor, their friend, their ONE finds what he’s looking for. It’s the picture of a personalized mission (headline). And, it’s a picture of what it will look like in our lives when we begin to take seriously the call of Jesus to become fishers of men that we might see our neighbors and coworkers and classmates delivered from their sin and God’s wrath.

They’re “driven” by their “burden”.

v. 18 “And behold, some men were bringing on a bed a man who was paralyzed, and they were seeking to bring him in and lay him before Jesus...” First, we see that they’re “driven” by their burden. We’re not given a lot of background to this story so that we can know whether or not this man was paralyzed from birth or if he’d been struck later in life. But, what we can know is that his paralysis completely defined his life. Being paralyzed meant that he was unable to work, unable to provide for himself, and unable to have any hope for a brighter future. He was totally dependent upon the kindness and charity of others for his survival. Even more, there would’ve been little doubt in anyone’s mind that his paralysis was the result of sin. And, we know that physical disabilities only exist because sin has brought a curse upon the world, but for him, whether it was true or not, it would have represented a specific sin. If he’d been born a paralytic, he would’ve represented a curse to his parents because of a sin in their life. If had occured later in life, the assumption would’ve been that he had sinned himself and was reaping what he had sown. And so, you can imagine the looks that he’d get as he begged for food and the self-righteous lectures he’d heard as some religious Pharisee was giving him a quarter.

But, that’s not the story. That’s only the backdrop of this story. This is not the story of just another disabled beggar clawing his way to survival on the fringes of society. This is a story of driven, passionate, inconvenient love. This man was somebody else’s “one.” He had some friends around him that loved him enough to take his afflictions, his burdens upon themselves that his burden might be lifted. And, that’s the type of personalization that we’re talking about. To personalize our mission is to accept a burden. It’s being willing to pick up a grown man and carry him as far as you have to go so that he gets to Jesus. It’s to follow in the footsteps of Jesus who took our burdens upon himself so that we might be set free of them. It’s for their hurt to hurt you, their affliction to afflict you. It’s a willingness to add stress and inconvenience and frustration to your life so that their life might be better as a result.

Holy Discontentment

Bill Hybels, before his fall from grace, said something that has always stuck with me. He said that every Christian ought to have in their lives a “holy discontentment.” That is, there ought to be a defining mission in your life, a defining burden that you are driven out of the bed to see accomplished. As Christians, we have the responsibility to look around at our world and see what we are so discontent with that we’re willing to say, “I’ll take responsibility. I’ll bear the burden.” We’ve got to decide who we’re not okay with going to hell. We’ve got to decide who we’re not okay with being neglected. We’ve got decide who we’re not okay with living unloved, and we’ve (not somebody else, not my pastor, not my a non-profit, but me) got to take responsibility for them. The reason we aren’t sharing the gospel with our children and the reason that we aren’t ministering to the addicts and the reason that we aren’t having gospel conversations with our co-workers is because we aren’t discontent enough yet. We aren’t burdened enough yet. We aren’t moved with compassion for them yet. Our hearts aren’t broken enough yet. What are you discontent with? Who are you so unnerved by thought of them going to hell that this year, you’re going to make so that they’ll have to step over your body to get there? What ministry has been the burden of your heart to begin? What group of people have went neglected so long that today you’d say, “No more! I’m going to stand in the gap”? Your mission will never become personal until it becomes a burden.

They’re “moved” by their “faith.”

v. 18b “…and they were seeking to bring him in and lay him before Jesus.” Not only were they driven by their burden, but they’re “moved” by their “faith.” There’s a two-fold motivation, and it takes both sides of it to make sense of this passage. You can see it in the words “bringing” and “seeking”. They’re bringing somebody, and they’re seeking somebody. And, there you see the two motivations of this passage. They’re bringing their friend because they love him and have compassion in him. That’s the first motivation. And, they’re seeking Jesus with every ounce of energy they have because they have full confidence that Jesus can heal their friend. That’s the second. It’s compassion and confidence, love and faith working in concert together in the lives of these men so that their friend can be healed. Their love for their friend makes their mission urgent and necessary, but it’s their confidence in Jesus that gives them the hope and courage to actually do it. It’s the expectation that if they can just get their friend to Jesus that Jesus will do for him what they can’t do for him. That’s the promise of Jesus, isn’t it? Jesus does for you what you can’t do for yourself. Jesus will do for your children what you can’t do for them. Jesus will do for your buddy or your neighbor what you can’t do for them. And so, your responsibility is not to fix them or change them. Your responsibility is to bring them to Jesus so that He will.

And, it’s this movement, or lack thereof, that reveals either your faith or your unbelief. It’s impossible to read of what these men do and not be astounded by their level of effort. But, there was a reason that they were willing to give such great effort and go to such great lengths to get their friend to Christ. It’s was because of how confident they were in Jesus. Effort is the evidence of faith. Your confidence in Jesus can be measured. It’s measured by your effort. Your lack of praying is not most fundamentally an effort problem; it’s a confidence in Jesus problem. But, it’s revealed in your prayer-lessness. And, it’s the same reason that you don’t share your faith. It’s that either you believe that the social awkwardness that will come isn’t worth the hassle, or you believe that it won’t make any difference any way. And, both of these reveal a lack of confidence in Jesus! Either you don’t believe Jesus’ glory is as good as He says it is or you don’t believe that Jesus is as willing to save as He promises.

Where Does Your Confidence in Jesus Stop?

Where does your confidence in Jesus stop? Let me ask that same question a different way: Who do you know that you assume will never be saved by Jesus? Who do you know right now that you believe is beyond his call, his conviction, and his salvation? Who do you know that you assume Jesus will never change? Because, whoever that is, you can rest assured that’s a person that will never here the gospel from you. But, maybe, as an offering of faith to the Lord, that should be your “one” this year. This man was paralyzed and laying on a mat. That means that somebody had to carry him to Jesus, or he’d never get there. He wasn’t going to make it to Jesus on his own. And, this is exactly what Paul is getting at when he writes in : “For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent?” Will your confidence in Jesus move you to share the Good News of Jesus?

They’re “undeterred” by “obstacles.”

v. 19 “…but finding no way to bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down with his bed through the tiles into the midst before Jesus.” Next, notice they’re “undeterred” by “obstacles.” When the mission becomes personal to you, you can rest assured that nothing is ever going to go according to plan. After all, that wouldn’t stretch you and grow you and sanctify you very much, would it? No, you’re going to face obstacles, but those obstacles just won’t stop you. That’s what we see with these men, isn’t it? They’ve lugged this dead weight all around town and finally arrived at their destination, only to discover that the crowd is so great that there’s no chance they’re going to even catch the corner of Jesus’ eye. This is like when you’ve driven an hour and a half to eat at a specific restaurant only to discover there’s a three hour wait when you get there. Or better yet, closed if you have mine and Andrew’s luck lately. Now, let me ask you. If this had been you, if it had been you bringing your kids to meet Jesus or your friend to meet Jesus, what would you have done? If it’s me, that’s probably just the excuse I need to cut out, clear my conscience, and go eat a Dad’s BBQ. At that point, I can say honestly before God, “I tried!” So now, I can go home. I’d probably even spiritualize it and say, “Well, obviously, it wasn’t meant to be. God has closed the door.”

Except for these men, the mission was personal. Their friend needed Jesus and a closed door just wouldn’t do. For most of us, ‘closed door’ would just mean a spiritualized excuse to take the path of least resistance. For them, it was an opportunity to demonstrate how much they loved their friend and how deeply they believed in Jesus. So, they didn’t turn around. They climbed to the roof. There would’ve been an exterior staircase on the typical Galilean house that went all the way to the roof, and so they picked up this guy, who must’ve felt like an elephant by this point, and they carry him all the way to the roof, and dig through the mud and thatch so that Peter had a new skylight — a skylight big enough to fit their friend through all the way to the feet of Jesus.

Don’t Back Down; Double Down

Last week, as you began to think of who it is that God would have you reach this year, there’s a way that picture plays out in your mind, isn’t there? Maybe there’s harp music and a sweet melody, or maybe there’s a clear, cut-to-the-heart speech that you’ve prepared, or maybe you dream of them just coming to you and asking, “Can you show me the way to eternal life?” But, can I just prepare you? It’s not going to happen like that. There’s going to be obstacles. There’s going to be awkwardness. There’s going to be timidness. There’s going to be frustration. There’s going to be closed doors. And, it’s those obstacles that will reveal how personal your mission is. It’s those obstacles that will reveal how much you love your “one” and how deeply you believe in Jesus. And, truthfully, you can apply that to any area ministry. I remember recruiting a youth worker one time when I was a youth pastor who I was so excited about. He taught small groups for two weeks and told me, “The student just aren’t connecting with me so I’m moving on.” After two weeks? You must not love them very much! What if it’s an opportunity to show them how deeply you care about them, enough to persevere, and how deeply you believe in Jesus, enough to trust his call? Man, don’t back down! Double down!

They “experience” God.

v. 20 “And when he saw their faith, he said, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.” And, here’s where I want to land, I want to land on the main point of this passage. By carrying out their mission, they “experience” God. Y’all, just imagine the scene. Jesus is teaching, and throngs of people are pressing in. It’s so thick that you’re pressed a little bit tighter against your partner than is socially comfortable. When dirt begins to fall from the ceiling and loud, distracting noise coming from the digging on the roof, and four men peer down into the hole to make sure they’ve gotten in right. Then, the crowd so quiet you could hear a pin drop, they begin to lower a paralyzed man down to the feet of Jesus. And so, there he is sprawled out on the floor before the sitting rabbi in the midst of a dense crowd anxiously waiting to see how the great Teacher will respond. And, Jesus says the last thing on earth any of them likely expected him to say, “Man, son, your sins are forgiven you.” For as long as he’d laid on that mat, people had walked by and shunned him as getting what he deserved. There he lay as the black eye of his family, shamed by a public reminder of God’s judgement of sin. When he heard the sweetest words any sinner can hear, “My son, you are forgiven.”

It is not lost on the religious experts in the room exactly what is happening. Jesus is not offering this man forgiveness FROM God; Jesus is offering him forgiveness AS God. Luke makes sure that we know that God and God ‘ALONE’ can forgive sins. So, this is Jesus making a claim to be God himself. And, knowing that they are skeptical that He has the authority to forgive sins, Jesus tells the man to get up, take up his bed, and dance his way home on healed legs. And, “immediately” he does.

Faith Carried Him

That day, those men, the one healed and the ones that carried him, all experienced God in a miraculous way. They experienced God in the kind of way from which you don’t recover. But, don’t miss what Jesus said to them. The reason why Jesus poured out such power upon them. “And when he saw THEIR faith.” This man wasn’t saved and healed simply because he had faith. He was saved and healed because his friends had faith. Their faith didn’t save him, but their faith brought him to the Savior. By faith, they had picked up their friend. By faith, they had carried him to the house. By faith, they had drug him to the top of the roof. By faith, they tore the roof off the house. By faith, they lowered him to the feet of the Savior. And so, it was by THEIR faith that this man found salvation and deliverance. Who will you bring? Who will you pray and persevere for? Who will you have lunch with again and again? Who will you patiently endure ridicule from? Who will you sacrifice for? Who will you be uncomfortable for that they might get to the Savior? Who will your faith carry to the feet of Jesus? For it was there that “amazement seized them all”, and it is there that amazement will seize you.