The PCF Blog

Richard Miles spoke this week about seeking God.

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Nick May spoke this week continuing his series on the attributes of God. This week: the righteousness of God.

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Listen to this podcast (or download – right click here and ‘Save as’):

Notes on sermon preached  15 August 2010 on Luke 5 v.17-26

We continue our excursion through Luke’s gospel with this familiar story of the healing of the paralytic.  The title “Remarkable Things” is taken from the comments of the crowd at the end of the incident as they say “We have seen remarkable things today”. What remarkable things are they talking about? We will consider six “Remarkable things”

• 1. The Teaching of Jesus

Jesus is in the middle of a teaching tour of Galilee. The incident in question takes place whilst Jesus is teaching the word of God – this time in a home. As was often the case His teaching was accompanied by healing.  What an awesome privilege to sit under the teaching of Jesus! As we read at the end of the Sermon on the Mount “they were amazed at his teaching”.

• 2. The Faith of the Friends

The next remarkable thing we see is the faith of the friends who brought the paralytic to Jesus.

• Faith that was visible

For faith to be real,  it has to be visible, As James said “I will show you my faith by what I do”. Jesus responds to faith that can be seen that results in action. Does yours?

• Faith to be Friends

It is one thing to be friends with people that can give you something in return, the wealthy, the popular, the people to be seen with. This person had none of that, His friends were people who only wanted to give into the relationship.

• Faith to go to Jesus

Faith always takes our situations to God. Here we see a group of people taking their friends’ problem to Jesus. Where do you take your problems?

• Faith to do what was necessary

But it was not all plain sailing! When they got there, having carried a paralytic through narrow streets past a crowd, they couldn’t get near Jesus! So they did what was necessary. They carried a paralytic up a flight of external stairs and proceeded to tear apart the roof, before carefully lowering their friend to where Jesus was. What determination! What a liberty, what arrogance and what irresponsibility! What desperation! In short….what faith!

Is your faith like that? What steps are you prepared to take in order to see God do what you need him to do?

• Faith that changed his life

Jesus worked in this man’s life as a result of the faith of  his friends. (this does not mean that saving faith can come about as a result of someone else’s faith – the Bible clearly teaches that salvation must be accompanied by faith on the part of the individual concerned). The point that Jesus is making here is that our faith, as we bring others to God, can be a decisive factor in the workings of the Holy Spirit. Take heart – you can make a difference!

• 3. The Response of Jesus

The response of Jesus is not what one would expect. This man had been brought to him with the intention of asking God to heal him. Yet Jesus bypasses this and goes to the deepest need of all – forgiveness. The deepest need of the human condition is to be forgiven. And only the gospel of Jesus can do this. Let’s get our priorities right. Forgiveness of sins is our greatest need and the greatest need of those around us.

• 4. The Reaction of the Pharisees

Who were they?

The religious establishment had become dominated by a conservative, ultra-orthodox sect called the Pharisees. There were many good people amongst them, but they had become characterised by a desire for power, geed and legalism. Some of their number were teachers of the law – the “professors” of Judaism who were regarded as the authority on the word of God.

Why were they there?

They had heard of this new teacher, and whilst we are not told their motives, from what we see elsewhere, we may reasonably assume that they were disturbed at this headline-hitting young preacher from Nazareth, who threatened their supremacy amongst the religious order of the day.

What were they thinking?

Hearing Jesus pronounce the sins of the paralytic forgiven, the Pharisees, whatever their motives, are quite right. Who can forgive sins but God alone? Their knowledge of the law is such that they can see straightaway the issue. If Jesus is claiming to be able to forgive sins, he must be a blasphemer….unless….

How did Jesus react?

• prophetic insight

We need to note in passing that here Jesus moves in one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. The has insight into the hearts and minds of the Pharisees to enable Him to minister to them. What an awesome gift!

• which is easier…?

Jesus can see straightaway the problem that the Pharisees have. They know that anyone claiming to forgive sins must be a blasphemer..unless there is some other explanation. So he presents a way forward for them. Saying to someone that their sins are forgiven is easy.  It would also be blasphemy unless the person saying it had the authority to say it. So what would demonstrate that Jesus had this authority? If this person could say something miraculous and see it happen it would certainly demonstrate that this person DID have the authority to forgive sins! Jesus always gives an opportunity to resolve the problems of our faith.

• helping them towards faith

So the initial statement of the forgiveness of sins followed by the miracle is the method that Jesus uses to help these Pharisees towards faith. It was an opportunity for them to be amongst the first to understand who Jesus really was. It seems unlikely that they took the opportunity.

• 5. The Healing Miracle

A Secondary Blessing

• When Jesus heals it is a wonderful testimony  and a demonstration of His compassion and power. But it really is a secondary miracle. Jesus came to forgive sins. The total redemption of our body awaits us in the future. We have glimpses of it now…but remember that this man eventually dies! As did everyone who Jesus healed. The real miracle here is the forgiveness of sins.

A Sign to make them wonder!

We can see here to power of the miraculous. This is one of the few occasions where Jesus seems to perform a sign effectively almost saying “watch this”. Here was the opportunity for the crowd to put two and two together and start to wonder…and then understand the person of Jesus.

A Sign producing Faith…and judgement

As we can see, signs produce faith in those who see, it. They are also tools of His judgement. Those who have seen the signs and yet resist Him are without excuse.

• 6. The Effect on the People.

What a day this was!

• Everyone was Amazed – the sequence of events caused amazement amongst the people
• …gave praise to God – it cause them to give praise to God. Do we praise god as we see Him at work
• …filled with awe – are we filled with awe at the presence of the God of the Bible?
• “…we have seen remarkable things!”. We see remarkable things in God’s word, and we see remarkable things in our own lives.

What is our response?

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Note on sermon preached  8 August 2010 on Luke 5 v 12-16

One of the features of the gospel  of Luke is the dazzling array of ordinary people that encounter Jesus, and his interaction with them. Here we encounter a man who had lost all hope in life, until he met Jesus

1. A Dreadful Picture

One of the most horrific sights of the world in the day of Jesus was a leper who, as in this case, had full leprosy.

The commentator William Hendrickson writes:

“As the sickness progresses, the thickened spots become dirty sores and ulcers due to poor blood supply. The skin, especially round the eyes and ears begins to bunch with deep furrows between the swelling so that face of the afflicted individual begins to resemble that of a lion. Fingers drop off or are absorbed into tumours. Toes are affected similarly. Eyebrows and eyelashes drop out. By this time one can see that the person is a leper. By a touch of the finger one can feel that he is a leper. One can even smell that he is a leper for he emits a very unpleasant odour. Moreover in view of the fact that disease attacks the larynx his voice acquires a grating quality, His throat becomes hoarse and you can not only smell feel and see the leper, you can hear it in his voice. “

Excluded from all human contact, other than other lepers, excluded from worship, from family life, society and comfort, those who had this terrible disease were known as the living dead.

This particular disease is not common in our society now. But there are others which carry pain in exclusion almost to the same degree. Or it may be that someone’s health is perfect, but there are other areas of someone’s life that bring them to desperation – finance, relationship problems, concern over loved ones. Whatever the particular circumstances, this part of God’s word shows us that there is no one whose situation is so desperate that they are outside of the ability of God to rescue them.

But above all this desperate picture is a picture of the man or woman outside of Christ, who is carrying the horrific burden of rebellion against god around with them.

2. A Desperate Plea

What do you do when you are in desperate situation. This man provides the model response. Oblivous to ridicule, embarrassment and shame, he pours himself   out at the feet of Jesus. Note that he bows at his feet in surrender and submission. And his cry is in fact a statement of faith.”If you are willing, you can make me clean”

Have you ever reached that state of desperation before God where you know that unless God intervenes you are undone, and there is no hope for you? It is when we reach that stage that we are candidates for God’s mercy to reach us.

3. A Dynamic Provision

Whenever a person cries out to God in desperation and submission the answer is always the same: ”I am willing”. The fact is that there is no part of our life where we can become so far away that God can not reach us. This applies even to those areas where we are in a desperate state through our own fault.

The way in Jesus responds to our need will vary from case to case; in this case there is total, instantaneous and miraculous healing. In other cases God may delay a work of restoration, as in the case of Job, and in others he may provide supernatural grace to stand in the trial (as in the case of Paul’s thorn in the flesh). But we need to understand that when we come to Jesus as this leper did, there is no situation in which Jesus will not meet us in our need.

Similarly there is no sinner who is too unclean, too unworthy or too morally corrupt to be cleansed by Jesus. As the hymn says “his blood can make the foulest clean”. If there is anyone reading this who is not a Christian, the way forward is to cast yourself at the feet of jesus to plead for his mercy. And his response will be to make you clean from your sin.

4. A Definite Prohibition

On the surface of it, the command of Jesus not to tell anyone seems odd. But Jesus was keen to ensure that His Father received glory rather than Himself. The command to tell the religious leaders was compliance with the law. It was only the priest who had that ability to re-admit this man into society. Of course, the man would have to start a new life, find a job and pick up a new place in society.  Sometimes   having God work in our lives can bring its challenges!

5. A Daily Practice

The passage ends with Luke’s recurring observation of the secret of the daily power of Jesus. He spent time alone with His Heavenly Father. Whatever else went on, this was a non-negotiable. Is it so with you?

Finally….

This passage shows us a dynamic encounter of a desperate man with Jesus. It gives encouragement to all of us who may reach rock bottom, that there is  nothing at all that he can not help us with. However, the greatest need that any has or ever will have is the sin problem. The death of Jesus on the cross means that the price has been fully paid for anyone who would willingly come to Jesus and say “If you want to you can make me clean” . For anyone who would do that, the answer is: “I am willing. Be clean”

We were delighted to welcome Chris Horwood to speak at PCF on 1 August. Listen to his introduction (or download – right click here and ‘Save as’):

He gave a challenging motivational talk about our call to and responsibility for mission. Listen to this podcast (or download – right click here and ‘Save as’):

Chris writes:

Dear John