Friends/Faith/Forgiveness

Intro

We’re in the second week of our new series called According to Mark. We’re looking at the life of Jesus through the perspective of Mark’s gospel.

I have a question for you:

Think about your best friends. Why are they your best friends?

Matt - we grew up together. We think similarly. We have lots of the same interests. And we’ve walked through a lot of different seasons of life together. He is a true friend to me.

Picture of Matt and I

Erik - this dude is faithful. We’ve spent a ton of time praying together. We lived together all through college, which means we’ve had to go through some conflict. He constantly points me back to jesus and reminds me of the truth of God’s Word. His faith helps strengthen my faith.

Picture of Erik and I

Sola - I always have fun with Sola. He’s goofy and hilarious. He’s servant -hearted and incredibly generous. He challenges me to think more deeply and not settle for easy answers. And he and I also lived together in college, and that creates a bond like nothing else. But we’ve also had moments where we’ve hurt each other. I’ve had to ask his forgiveness. and that has strengthened our friendship.

Picture of Sola and I

In our passage for tonight, we’re going to see true friendship on display, we’re gonna see true faith on display, and we’re gonna see true forgiveness on display.

[Read Mark 2:1-12]

So last week I mentioned that some people, like me, are more visual learners. You can read something, or hear someone talk about something, but some people learn better and understand better if they can visualize it.

So let me show you what this might have looked like:

[Video: Wheaton College Chapel Prank 2016]

Unpack the text:

The house is full up with people. they’re packed in to hear Jesus teach.

Verse 2 tells us that there are so many people in the house that you can’t even stand in the doorway.

We saw in chapter 1 that Jesus has been going around the region near the Sea of Galilee preaching the message that the Kingdom of God is here, repent and believe the Good News. As he’s been going, he’s miraculously healed many people who were sick, he cast out demons from people who were possessed and the news about Jesus has spread.

4 friends hear this news about Jesus and decide they are going to get their friend who is paralyzed to Jesus so that he can be healed. But when they show up, the crowd is too thick and they can’t even get in the door, so they take the stairs up to the roof and start digging into the thatch and mud that make up the roof in order to get their friend to Jesus at any cost.

They lower their friend through the roof down to Jesus, where he says something even more incredible than healing him. He says your sins are forgiven.

The Pharisee’s (the religious rulers) are in this crowd listening to Jesus and they hear him forgive the sins of this man. Their instant thought reaction is that this is blasphemy. Blasphemy means saying something that is untrue about God. jesus is claiming to be God. So in their minds, he is guilty of blasphemy.

But because Jesus actually is God, he knows what they’re thinking.

So he poses a question.

What is easier? Is it easier to say your sins are forgiven or is it easier to make someone who cannot walk, get up and walk?

in front of this crowded house, Jesus does two miracles. He forgives this man for his sins, and he heals him of his disease.

I want to highlight three things that stood out to me as I was working through this passage of scripture.

I want to highlight, Friends, Faith, and Forgiveness.

True Friends Dig

Friendship has been cheapened in our world. We have reduced friendship to its lowest common denominator. On facebook (which I know none of you use) you send a friend request that someone accepts or doesn’t accept. you don’t even have to know someone to ‘friend’ them.

You might follow someone on social media and therefore call them a friend.

You might send pictures of this much of your face back and forth on snapchat and build a streak 100 days long and therefore call someone your friend.

But that’s not true friendship.

The 4 friends who carry their paralyzed friend to Jesus were way more than just mutuals on social media.

True friends are willing to dig.

That means you’re in the thick of it together. You know the hurts, the joys, the struggles, the celebrations, the good, the bad, the ugly, and you stay the course.

It means when your friend is doing something ridiculous, you speak the hard truths. You don’t just let them do things that are harmful to themselves or others.

To dig means to not settle for the easy answers. When you ask a friend how are you doing, “fine” doesn’t cut it. Dig deeper to really understand and listen to what is going on in their life.

And if you have a friend who needs Jesus, you are willing to risk it all to get them to the foot of Jesus.

True friends dig.

True Faith Trusts

After these 4 amazing friends lower their paralyzed friend down through the roof, we read in verse 5,

Mark 2:5 ESV

And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”

Whose faith is Jesus talking about here?

I’ve heard some people make a huge deal about the 4 friends. And rightly so! They displayed a huge amount of faith in Jesus to bring their friend to him.

On the Bible Study Cheat Sheet, I define faith this way: “faith is to believe God, trust God, obey God, and follow God”

These four friends believed that Jesus could heal their friend. That belief is so important! They believed so strongly that they tore the roof off a house! They believed that if they could just get their friend into the proximity of Jesus he would be healed.

But don’t forget about the 5th guy. The paralyzed man. He displays a tremendous amount of faith too. He has to trust that Jesus is who he thinks he is. He has trust that no matter what the outcome is, God knows what he is doing. He trusts that God has put people in his life who can get him to Jesus even when he can’t walk himself.

So my guess is some days you feel like the four friends. You believe that jesus is who he says he is. You believe his word. You believe on behalf of your friends who don’t know Jesus that some day they will see Jesus like you do.

But some days you feel like the 5th friend. The one who trusts that God can heal. The one who trusts that God knows best. and the one who needs help to get there. That’s not a bad place to be. And if that’s you tonight. And you’re displaying all the faith you can, I want to offer you some hope as we look at the last thing that stood out to me in this passage:

True Forgiveness Exists

The friends bring the paralyzed man to Jesus for physical healing. But Jesus’ first miracle here is not the physical healing. It’s the spiritual healing.

You see, every single person needs forgiveness. And in our cancel first, ask questions never culture - it seems like forgiveness is a lost cause.

But ultimately we don’t need forgiveness from other people, although thats super important too, we all need forgiveness from God.

You might be thinking, I’m not a bad person. I haven’t done anything that needs forgiving.

But I want to be clear on what the scriptures say about each one of us:

Romans 3:23 ESV

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

You’re probably familiar with the 10 Commandments right?

Let’s see the first one:

Exodus 20:3 ESV

“You shall have no other gods before me.

If you’ve ever elevated something in your life above God, if sports became more important than God, if grades became more important than God, if friends or family became more important than God, you have sinned.

Maybe the third one:

Exodus 20:7 ESV

“You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.

If you’ve ever used God’s name in an irreverent way, you’ve sinned

What about number 5:

Exodus 20:12 ESV

“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

Ever dishonored your parents by how you’ve treated them, talked to them, talked about them? That’s sin.

Exodus 20:13 ESV

“You shall not murder.

We probably don’t have any murderers in the room…but Jesus said

Matthew 5:22 ESV

But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.

so if you’ve been angry at another person, it’s like you murdered them in your heart. That’s sin.

Should I keep going?

Exodus 20:14–17 ESV

“You shall not commit adultery. “You shall not steal. “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.”

Even with a brief look at the 10 Commandments, it’s so clear that I have broken each and every one. I am a sinner. I bet you didn’t know that your pastor was a sinner.

Romans 6:23 ESV

For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

We deserve death for each of the sins we have committed. That’s a pretty bleak outlook. It doesn’t look good for me.

I need true forgiveness, I need to know that true forgiveness exists and that it exists for me!

In our text in Mark 2, Jesus says that he has the authority to forgive our sins.

So if you’re in this room, and you’re like me, and you know that your not perfect, you’re a sinner, you need forgiveness.

If you’re here feeling like the little faith you have is running out,

True forgiveness, not canceling, not holding a grudge, not bringing it up again and again, true forgiveness exists in the person of Jesus. He is God. He has the authority to forgive your sins.

That is part of why the Gospel really is Good News.

Outro