Rick Warren at Celebrate Recovery Summit 2009 Twitter: #CRSummit @rickwarren
Lk 5:17-26 is the story of the paralytic man.
Luke 5:17-26 17 One day He was teaching; and there were some Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting there, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem; and the power of the Lord was present for Him to perform healing. 18 And some men were carrying on a bed a man who was paralyzed; and they were trying to bring him in and to set him down in front of Him. 19 But not finding any way to bring him in because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down through the tiles with his stretcher, into the middle of the crowd, in front of Jesus. 20 Seeing their faith, He said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven you.” 21 The scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, “Who is this man who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?” 22 But Jesus, aware of their reasonings, answered and said to them, “Why are you reasoning in your hearts? 23 “Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins have been forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk ‘? 24 “But, so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins,”– He said to the paralytic– “I say to you, get up, and pick up your stretcher and go home.” 25 Immediately he got up before them, and picked up what he had been lying on, and went home glorifying God. 26 They were all struck with astonishment and began glorifying God; and they were filled with fear, saying, “We have seen remarkable things today.”
This story shows us how Jesus heals people. In this story we see Jesus do 3 things:
- Calms My Fears: Jesus gives a word of encouragement
- Confronts My Faults/Failures: There is a confrontation of the real issue, my faults and failures
- Challenges My Faith: challenge of acting in faith
Jesus calms my fears
Don’t give up cheer up. God is not mad at you but about you. According to Heb 4:15, God is never disappointed bcs he already knew what was going to happen in your life. God knows what you feel every single moment of your life. Jesus cares about how I feel. He doesn’t just care about your behavoir, your thoughts. Depressed? Worried? Sad? WHY? Fear keeps us from coming to Christ. Judge me? “Came not to judge but to save.” Jesus’ response to my hurts, habits, and hang-ups is LOVE.
It DOESN’T STOP THERE.
Jesus confronts my faults and failures
Jesus doesn’t beat around the bush. He gets right to the point. We know what is happening. My stomach keeps score of everything I swallow. If I don’t talk about it with God I am going to take it out on my body. Not all personal suffering is from my sin. It’s also from the sins of others. My reaction to the sins of others. Hurt people hurt people. The problem with the paralytic wasn’t what he was eating, it was what was eatin’ him!
Jesus calls them friend. He was the friend of sinners. Pharisees saw this as a derogatory statement but he wore it as a badge. We are valuable to God regardless of your hurts, habits, and hang-ups. Then Jesus protects the sinners’ dignity. He doesn’t reveal the sin, the hurt, the habit, the hang-up. He leaves that up to the paralytic.
Jesus FORGIVES instantly freely unconditionally and repeatedly. Forgiveness is the greatest miracle he ever performed. Forgiveness meets your greatest needs, cost the greatest. brings the greatest blessing, produces the most lasting results.
Jesus challenges my faith
Jesus challenges my faith by asking me to do something that I believe was impossible.
Mt 29:29, according to your faith…
Rom 14:23, whatsoever is not of faith is sin
heb 11:6, impossible to please god
Luke 18:42, Your faith has healed you.
What is faith: it is something you do. Far more than just thinking, belief, etc. Faith Works. God will never ask you to do something he will not give you the power to do. All of us are paralyzed by something. We carry guilt, shame, etc. Jesus wants to set you and your friends free. Can’t do it unless you respond in faith.
How? What does it mean to act in faith?
- I admit I need help.
- I believe Christ will help me. Jesus doesn’t rub it in, he rubs it out.
- I do whatever he tells me to do. What if he didn’t get up…he would still be paralyze
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