Sermon Tone Analysis

Stop inviting your friends to church...

Several years ago, I was listening to a leader of a large youth ministry.

He made that statement to the Christian kids in his youth group.

Of course, the students, and our, natural response is WHAT!?!

“I thought that’s what we’ve been told to do for years?

Isn’t that part of what it means to be a Christian - to invite your friends to church?”

He continued

Stop inviting your friends to church...

…bring them

His whole point is that an invitation is a take it or leave it proposition.

But bringing someone, is telling them, “I’m going to church Sunday or I’m going to youth group, will you come with me?” and then picking them up (in your car or your parent’s car) and bringing them with you.

This pastor was being a bit hyperbolic, but as we’re going to see today, he was also biblical.

If you have your bibles, open them to Luke 5.

In this passage, we’re going to reflect on the actions of some men as they literally brought their friend to Jesus - and then Jesus’ surprising response.

As we jump into this passage, let me tell you the overall point right off the bat:

The point of the passage: Jesus has authority to forgive sins (meet our true and deepest need) as demonstrated by his power to heal because He is God.

So, in the passage before, we see some men who bring their friend to Jesus because of...

The perceived mission: healing.

These men wanted to bring their friend to Jesus - we presume that it was for his healing.

The text doesn’t actually tell us why they brought him - we simply infer that it was because they wanted Jesus to heal him.

Part of the reason we can make this inference is that:

Jesus had recently healed a leper (Luke 5:12-15)

Jesus was gaining a reputation

Luke foreshadows a healing - Luke 5:17b “...And the power of the Lord was with him to heal.”

do we truly see the mission that is before us?

Do we understand the true spiritual need of our family members and friends?

In addition to having a mission - to get their friend healed, ...

They experienced real obstacles.

Let’s consider some of their obstacles:

The Personal obstacle: transporting their friend - it almost goes without saying but these men had to overcome their friend’s weight.

Now, he may not have weighed a lot, but if you’ve ever lifted someone who can’t help you, you get to carry all of their weight, they can seem very heavy.

Now, they may have had a cart of some sort, but eventually, they had to get him to the roof.

The Public Obstacle: the large crowd - Luke doesn’t tell us how many people were there, but we can imagine a large crowd that filled part of a house and then spilled out into the street.

Trying to move through this crowd would have meant interrupting people’s ability to listen

The Physical Obstacle: the roof - this seems like an odd one to us, but imagine a flat middle-eastern roof.

Somehow, they were able to disassemble some portion of it to get their friend down through the roof.

This month as we continue asking the question “Who’s your one?”, we get to consider the mission that God had placed before us to make disciples.

We also have to face the reality that there will be obstacles.

When we look at the obstacles in front of us around accomplishing the mission before us - what are they?

Personal Obstacles:

Fear

Politeness - not wanting to risk offending?

- Is temporarily offending your friend worth more than the eternal destiny of their soul?

Lack of knowledge - I don’t know how to share my faith… There are several resources in the Book Nook that you can use to help:

Evangelism as Exiles

Several books on belief and sharing your faith.

Everyday Evangelism Cards

Public Obstacles:

cultural pressure

cultural opinions

friend groups

Physical Obstacles:

These are not exhaustive but let’s reflect on a few.

transportation - maybe you don’t have a means of bringing someone or going to meet them.

Students, this might be something your parents can assist with.

opportunities - these could be opportunities for interaction or conversation - being in a different workplace, having different friend groups, etc. (story of picnic - inviting neighbors and church friends - creating an opportunity)

proximity - As you may know, Vern and Gabriel are leading a class called “The Engagement Project” - no this is not about getting ready for marriage.

One of the things this class reflects on in where God has us - where we live, where we work, where we attend school, etc.

One premise is that God has placed us in proximity to people for a reason - lives next to you, across the street, behind you, etc?

Are we willing to do what it takes to get through them?

So, these men had a mission to see their friend healed and then overcame several personal, public and physical obstacles to get him to Jesus with the expectation that Jesus would heal him.

Transition:

So imagine the scene.

a crowded room spilling out into the street

on the roof

dust and debris falling on people

a man lowered through the ceiling

what will Jesus do?

Will he heal the man?

Will he be angry?

will he ignore it and keep on teaching?

what?

that’s not what they wanted - was it?

Is that why they schlepped their friend all the way there?

Is that why they worked around the crowd and destroyed a ceiling?

We eventually learn that...

Jesus accomplished the true mission: forgiveness.

Jesus clearly sees the need.

He clearly sees the faith of the man’s friends.

He understands what needs to be done, but he is after a bigger mission.

Thabiti Anyabwile:

“The act of letting their friend down through the roof was an unusual demonstration of faith.

... Jesus says nothing about the man's legs or paralysis.

He focused on the man's soul.

He forgives the man sins.

Listen, you can be paralyzed, unable to get around without your friends, lying motionless on your sick bed, and yet still be full of sin!”

He continues...

“In his holiness Christ does not chase away the person.

Nor does the savior crush the sinner.

The Lord of love does not hate the sinner.

Instead, our Holy Lord forgives at the center.

Forgiveness is one of the holiest acts of all.”

Jesus creates a beautiful teaching moment by addressing the real need of the man - his sin problem.

There are times in our prayer lives when we will pray and fast and plead that God would work in someone’s life.

We’ve seen in scripture that He can.

We hope and wonder why he doesn’t.

Healing Tanya or Teresa

Fixing a financial problem

Reconciling a conflict between friends or family members.

We assume that the thing we want most is the thing God wants most - while failing to realize God is at work in a myriad of ways.