Who Gets the Glory — Mark 2

0:04 Oh, now I have two. Thank you. There we go. I love when a plan comes together. Let's pray.

0:24 Father, we're so thankful that you've given us this opportunity to look into your word. Lord, help it to be profitable for all. May your look... May your word speak through this servant. May I be humble, and may the words that you say be considered well, the ones that I do thrown away.

0:45 But Lord, we look forward to this opportunity and are grateful for it. It's in your son's name that we do pray. Amen. Good morning. How's everybody doing?

0:53 In progress. I don't know about you, but what do you call this season? The season of the year. Do you have a... Recording stop....

1:03 For this season? Summer? It's okay you can say summer it's not a trick question. I call this advice season. I mean it seems like it starts out somewhere around mid May and, you know, with the graduates, right?

1:19 They come off just getting through high school or college and and and we got to give them some advice, right? And then and we roll into wedding season and you're always trying to give those folks advice. And how did we do, Spencer? Any good? Okay.

1:35 They're saying thumbs up. So so far so good. But then then we start going back to school, right? College and even to The Philippines and people are looking for advice, right? And let's let's think about this piece of advice.

1:52 And if as soon as you know where this came from, raise your hand. Don't shout it out. And if you cheated and looked at my notes, that's no fair. But as soon as you know where this comes from, raise your hand. All right?

2:05 Start a business or go to college. Now that sounds like good advice, right? And I'm not going to wander around as much today because I forgot my little clicker so you'll have to bear with me. It came from these two folks. Anybody know yet?

2:19 Jerry and Janie Morell. I think that's how you said that. 1986 they had four sons. One of them was college age and was headed off to college. Or they said, You could start a business.

2:32 We could start a business instead. It's almost like they said, Look, we've got this much money. We can start a business and you can learn from that. Or y'all go to college and learn from that. Your choice.

2:42 And they chose the business. And they started this business, a small business, in Alexandria, Virginia, near DC. Okay? Anybody got it yet? Don't shout it out.

2:55 Hold it up. Later and in through the 90s they had one more son, so... And four stores, okay? In 2003 they made huge news, okay, in the business world because they started franchising. They tried to franchise their business and in eighteen months they had 300 franchises sign up.

3:20 Today there are over 1,500 franchises. Are you there yet? And there's... Or I'm sorry 1,700 worldwide. There's another 1,500 in development.

3:30 How many have it so far? Okay. Couple. Alright. Let me give you this one.

3:35 This is what they sell. Hand formed burgers cooked to perfection on a grill served with fresh cut fries cooked in pure peanut oil. Were you right? Now how many people have it? Right?

3:49 Alright. Yeah. You got it. It's five guys. Right?

3:53 So that's their story. And there's still these guys, all five of them, and there was five, four bro... Four boys and their dad, then another boy. So five guys, whichever way you add it up, they're all still alive from my understanding, and they all still participate in the business. Okay?

4:09 One of them goes to each store and make sure they get it right and they cook right and all that kind of thing but another one runs a bakery, those kind of things. So, you think that's an interesting story. Well, that's not the first story about five guys. We're going to talk about five guys in this story in Mark chapter two. Now, this is this is one rendition.

4:43 Taking the three accounts from Mark chapter two, Matthew nine, and Luke five, mash them together, and that's what I'll be reading when I read. You might wanna follow on in Mark chapter two because it's the most complete. So with that let's chart Mark chapter two beginning in verse one through three. So he got into a boat and crossed over and again he entered Capernaum after some days and it was heard that he was in the house. Immediately many gathered together so that there was no longer room to receive them, not even near the door.

5:19 And he preached the word to them. And from, Luke he says, as he was teaching there were pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by who had come out of every town of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem and the power of the lord was present to heal them. Then, they came to him bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men. Some say by four, but most translators would say by four men. So there you are, the original five guys, if you will.

5:51 It's interesting to think about what their backstory is. And we can take a little time to use our holy imagination and here we have four guys carrying, it appears to be, a litter or you know a cot or some sort of device, maybe two poles, hanging between them, you know, and they come hustling up. It's almost as if they're late like, we got to get in because we got to see Jesus, right? So here comes these five guys rolling up. Nowhere to go.

6:27 Now how did they get to that day? Think about that. Where did they come to that day? Well, they might have been one guy. Maybe it's five brothers.

6:39 Right? Maybe five brothers were were hurrying along. But if they were that five brothers and maybe the one was too young. So maybe there's four buddies carrying one guy. And I can see them saying every day.

6:50 Come on. Harold, John, Don. Let's go. We're going. No.

6:55 No. Leave me here. No. I I... You guys, it's too much work.

6:58 No. No. Come on. You're coming with us. Right?

7:01 That's the way I see it. Now we're we're not told, but it's it's... I think it's good for us to think about what's the backstory. Where did they come from? These were real people.

7:13 This guy had a real problem. He had a real concern. And you know what? When he woke up every morning, this condition dictated his day. He had to think about, how do I get out of bed?

7:33 If I wanted to go to where I'm gonna probably beg today, how am I gonna get there? If I'm gonna eat, I can't earn a living, I can't go out, I can't... Everything in his life seemingly was dictated by this condition. So keep that in mind as we work forward. I wanted you to think about it that way as we go forward.

8:28 And we're told that he told the leper... He's along the way... He heals the leper and he tells the leper, Now don't tell anybody. It's not time for that. Please don't go out and broadcast this.

8:39 And what did the leper do? It appears he told everybody. Okay? Because all of a sudden Jesus went from being a great teacher, great man, I heard about him, to I gotta see him. It's like that pivot point.

8:54 It's like all of a sudden something went... He went viral, if we could call it that. And and next thing you know, he was standing room only. Wherever he went, people wanted to see him. They finally found him in this house, and that's where this story happens.

9:11 I've often wondered, if you go back just a little bit in the Gospel account of Mark, you see where Jesus healed people well into the night. And then they... When he was over with, when when he was exhausted, when when the crowd was gone, he goes and sleeps, but he's up before everybody else. And he wanders off in a place where he's praying to the Lord by himself. Well everybody else gets up after him, and what do they do?

9:41 Well Peter, it seems like amongst others, was looking for Jesus. And why was he looking for him? Well, think it was because everybody's starting to queue up. Hey, that was a great night last night. We went home, told off all of our friends, it's important you got healed, that person got healed, let's go get some more, and we're gonna watch this happen again.

10:01 So there Peter finally finds the Lord and he says to him, Where have you been? Everybody is looking for you. Why? Because they want to be healed too. I want in on that.

10:17 I want to hear what he has to say. If that's the guy, this is... I have to be near him. And what does the Lord say? It's one of the hardest passages for me in the entire Bible, okay?

10:32 But what does the Lord say? He says, Nope, I got to go on. We got to go to other places. And and in a sense, he turns his back on those folks that are not healed or that wanna be healed, and he walks away. Walks away.

10:54 Ponder that for a moment. We have a great crass of characters here, right? We have this guy who's paralyzed, the four that carried him. Think about what they're thinking through this whole process, right? The homeowner don't forget about that poor guy.

11:08 He had a hole in his roof to fix after this was all over, not to jump ahead. But, you know, he had invited apparently was a friend of Jesus, right? Come on, be at my house. You can tear my roof off, whatever you want to do. I'm sure that's not the way he started the day.

11:23 But there was disciples there, those who were following Jesus. Some of the apostles were likely there. I don't know if all of them were there. But these other folks, the Pharisees, teachers, scribes from Galilee, which would have been the region around Capernaum, Judea, where all of the Jews lived, and Jerusalem from the power center. Okay?

11:44 Where everything quote unquote was controlled. And then, of course, the Lord Jesus. So they each have a perspective on this whole scenario. But like our brother Roger has said many times, he said, this was a one time crowd. If you think about it today, here, we've all come with our experiences.

12:01 We all have come together. We're all sitting here together, but we'll never have this same time again. You might not be here. You will have had a different experience. Nice haircut, by the way, Anthony.

12:14 I like that. So I don't know what happened, but I hardly recognize you. So but the the idea is that you're gonna have longer hair next time we get together, so it's just not gonna be the same. Right? And here it was.

12:28 This cast of characters all came together at this time for this specific reason and for a specific purpose. Okay? Important for us to think about as well. We might think of this poor guy, the paralytic, as having a limitation. We might think we have limitations in our life.

12:52 We might have things that when we get up every morning we're thinking about that thing first. Oh the trouble I've had, the soreness that I feel, the the... Whatever it is, the broken car that I have. That dictates what I'm gonna do for the rest of the day. But this guy is here and he gathers this crowd.

13:16 In a sense, this crowd gathers for the specific purpose of seeing the guy who's got the problem, who's got the limitation, who's got this thing that's driving his life. So I think this limitation, if we call it that, and I'm using it in quotes in a sense, had a purpose. As we... Before we move on, you might want to consider who carried you to the Lord? Who's carrying you?

14:10 When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, son, be of good cheer, your sins are forgiven you. Be of good cheer. Cheer up my son. Courage, my son. Take heart, my son.

14:28 Be encouraged, young man. That's the way other translators think it. It's... Here's the guy. We have to believe he was carried there for a purpose.

14:38 And what do you believe when he walked into the crowd, when his buddies picked him up that day? What was their purpose? To go get him standing again. Again for the first time? We don't know.

14:54 But he was probably there to say, I want my legs fixed. Probably way when he went there. And and Jesus responds and says, cheer up. Your sins are forgiven. You know, we can conjecture about the backstory.

15:10 But we can also consult the Bible and learn his backstory for sure. The same way that we know our backstory. Every one of us has, the Bible says, the same backstory. And I'm gonna call this... You've heard of the Romans Road?

15:28 This this may have been said before, I don't know, but I'm thinking I might have been the first one to say it. I'm calling it Romans whole. Okay? If we read Romans chapter one through three, you can't read those chapters without realizing we're in a hole. You're in trouble.

15:48 Okay? We're behind. Chapter one says, look, there's no question. The Bible makes the case that if you look at this creation, this creation, all that's around you, you should come to the conclusion that there is a God. That's the Bible's argument.

16:07 Now others come to a different conclusion. I'm not bashing them, but I'm going tell you that the Bible makes this argument: There is a God, and that you should see him in his invisible attributes so that we are without excuse when you come to a different accuse... A different conclusion. The Bible says we're without excuse. We should be able to see him.

16:33 He's gone beyond that. He gave the Jews a law in which to look at and say, look, this is the behavior that I expect out of you if you want to please me, a God. And the Gentiles please him in many ways just by saying, hey, that's wrong. Even without the law, even without the Jewish law, people still, even without the Bible, people still in all society, people look and say that's wrong. This is right.

17:04 That's wrong. You did wrong. You did right. This... There's a code, a moral code, which leads us again to there is a God and he has some calling on my life.

17:16 And when we conclude that, particularly when we look at the law, simply by judging others, simply by saying that's wrong, we are judging ourselves and say that if there is a God, he has a call on my life. I have missed that. I certainly, at least for some time, have not sought after what he wants for my life, and therefore the Bible says that we've sinned, okay? We get that just reward of that sin, of not paying attention to him as death. Separation from him for eternity.

17:53 That's the hole that this man, that's the hole that you, that's the hole that I walk into life with, this hole, if you will, in our hearts. We try to fill the hole with many things. We can fill it with generally ourselves. Okay? I'm God and I'll decide what goes on with my life.

18:15 But this man walks up and the first thing that Jesus says to him, your sins are forgiven. That's what he needed. It was a simple faith. He didn't carry the Bible with him. It didn't say didn't say that he was long in knowledge.

18:30 It didn't say that he'd been... It just says that he had a simple faith. I believe you can heal me. And the Lord said, that simple faith I accept, you are forgiven. It says their faith showed through.

18:42 So maybe there were five guys that were saved that day. What was the response of this guy? What was the response of others? Well we know that Jesus like read the minds of some that were sitting there, but he didn't read some and say, you know what? Oh, it's too bad.

19:02 He only forgave your sins. Oh, I wish he'd healed you instead of forgiving you. It's as if it's as if everybody went on their heels and said, seriously? I didn't come for that. I only came for this, but now you're giving me that?

19:18 Wow. And and it just put a hush over everybody and a stir within most, because that was their response. You see when we come to the Lord he takes care of the first things first. What's the first thing you need? What's the most important thing that we need?

19:40 Forgiveness of our sins. He took care of that for this guy. You have faith. I forgive you of your sins. First things first.

20:03 Why does this man speak blasphemies like this? Who can forgive sins but God alone? But immediately when Jesus perceived in his spirit that they reasoned thus within themselves, he said to them, why do you reason about these things in your heart? Which is easier to say you to the paralytic, your sins are forgiven you? Or to say, arise, take up your bed and walk.

20:27 This is important verse. But that you may know, verse 10, that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins, He said to the paralytic, I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house. So we saw the man's need. Now we're understanding what's the Lord's purpose? What's God's purpose in this?

20:51 It says, that you may know. He didn't say, I'm gonna heal this guy so that he has an easier way in life. I'm gonna heal this guy so that you four don't have to tote him around anymore. I mean that's a too big of a burden. It's too much to carry.

21:09 He didn't say any of that, did he? What did he say? He said that you, you teachers and scribes and Pharisees, you with that thoughts in your head are asking, can I forgive sins? I'm doing this for your purpose. I'm doing this for my purpose.

21:26 He didn't do it for the guy. Now the guy benefited, but we'll talk about that in a minute. That you may know. The clear point for this gathering. Remember that crowd?

21:40 That one time crowd that included all these folks of different walks and nature and understanding and learning and beliefs all came together at this one moment so that this could be explained. Can we say he removed his limitation? We could. We could say we look at that and say he's limited right? Because he can't walk.

22:12 He needs somebody else to take him around. He's limited in what he can do. But is is does the Lord call us limited? I don't think so. Philippians chapter four verse 13 says, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.

22:30 Now, I haven't seen anybody do it other than on the movies, leap tall buildings with a single bound. That's included in all things, isn't it? I mean it's fair to say that's all things. I can witness for the Lord day and night. I don't need to sleep.

22:52 I don't have to eat. I don't need to take a drink of water. You still got limitations. If you read the context around that chapter four verse 13, I like to read it in Phillips' version just because I think it it helps me more. It says, it's been a great joy to me that all this time you have shown such interest in my welfare.

23:20 This is Paul talking to the Philippians. I don't mean that you had forgotten me, but up till now you had no opportunity of expressing your concern, nor do I mean that I've been in actual need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances may be. I know now how to live when things are difficult, and I know how to live when things are prosperous. In general and in particular I have learned the secret of facing either poverty or plenty. I'm ready for anything through the strength of one who lives within me.

23:56 Don't forget that context. Paul is saying, in whatever state I'm in. I had to learn to live with plenty. That doesn't make sense in some respects. I had to learn to live with few or with little.

24:11 And and I have now learned that whatever circumstances I'm in, whatever limitations, if you will, whatever difficulties, whatever strongholds I have, I can do all things. I can live with this circumstances. It's an as is where is. That's the way I sell equipment sometimes. I sell it it's you can buy it, but it's as is where is.

24:37 You can you can serve as you are where you are. And this is something that we have... What does it say? We have to do what? We have to learn how to do that.

24:50 It's a daily activity, daily work, and the Lord will teach us. What's holding you back? What are you limited by? What limitation have you put on your service? What limitation have you put on your heart?

25:51 The... Jesus had forgiven the man's sins. They all looked around and said, I'm not sure you can do that, because only God can do that. And he says, okay, I'll call this shot. If you need proof, let me show you right now.

26:05 He didn't say, in a little while. He didn't say, let's think about it. He didn't, you know, pull out his medical book. He didn't do anything. He said, that's it.

26:15 Get up. Walk. And the man got up and he walked. He walked out of there. He walked out of that crowd.

26:24 Now there, if nothing else, was a change. The man walks away. His experience is different from that moment on. The the crowd that's amongst him, even if you can bring all those people back together, that man is different. The circumstances change.

26:42 Everything is different. And he walks out of here with no limitations? No. He walks out of here with plenty. It might have been that he felt lonely.

26:54 Ever think about that? He had four guys carrying him around all day long. He had somebody to talk to. He had somebody come check on him. Now he's got to go out.

27:03 Maybe he has to work. Oh no, I don't have as much time to do whatever. I don't know. But still life changed after that. There's only one explanation for what they saw though, and that was that God was at work.

27:18 It filled them with fear, a reverential fear, and a thought that says, if this is true... Fear is personal, isn't it? I'm afraid. You don't have to be afraid what I'm afraid of. I don't have to be afraid of what you're afraid of.

27:34 But when I'm afraid, that's fear. It's me. They were each filled with fear, it says. If and here's the fear, if this is true, what does that mean for me? Down south they say you're getting up next to me now.

27:54 You're stepping on my toes. You're getting up. You're too close. You're invading my space. It's it's you're in my heart.

28:01 You're making a claim that I have to address. So this whole crowd is gathered. The guy comes on a bed for this specific purpose, but was it for his purpose or for God's purpose? It was for God's purpose. So that you may know I'm gonna do this.

28:24 You remember the blind man that was healed? And they asked him, who sinned? This man or or his parents? And what did Jesus say? Neither one.

28:35 He says he was born blind. He was born blind so that at this time the glory of God could be shown. That he could be healed for this purpose. He was born for this purpose today. Here's a guy who was paralyzed.

28:52 For what purpose? Why? Why does this... We all ask that, right? I don't...

28:58 The newspapers ask why did this happen to this person? Why did it happen? Well, here, this is a good enough reason to say that why... Maybe this guy was in line that day when Jesus said, no, I gotta go someplace else. Why didn't he heal him then?

29:16 Well, because he healed him now. Now I'm not gonna say that I know the will of God. Okay? I can only tell you what I see here. I'm not gonna tell you why you have that sore knee.

29:30 I'm... I don't know. I don't know why, but I can tell you based on this story and the rest of the Bible that it has... God has a purpose for each one of us. He has a path that each one of us is going to walk, and he can use that for his purposes going forward.

29:51 If you went back and asked this guy, was it worth it? What do you think he would say? I had to be carried around for, pick a number, thirty five years so that I could glorify God in this way. Maybe. It might be worth it.

30:13 I I had to be born blind. I had to get... I had to cut myself and get get bound by chains, live in the graveyard. Remember that guy? For God's purpose.

30:27 Jesus shows up, he heals them, and he says, man, you changed my life. I'm going with you. And what does Jesus say? No. No.

30:41 You can't go with me. You can't be with me. Go back to your house. Go back and tell everybody what has happened to you. His purposes, not ours.

31:06 Think about it. Who's getting the glory in the whole scenario? Who gets the glory when I choose to say, you know what? In spite of this limitation, I'm gonna still do what the Lord has asked me to do. In spite of this struggle I'm still gonna not sin today.

31:24 This moment. Okay? God gets the glory when that happens, when we choose him versus ourselves. So in summary. It's a special crowd for a special purpose that he could teach this message.

32:01 This guy might have been held back. He might have had a thought. I can't do anything for God. I'm on this pallet. I'm on this bed.

32:13 I'm falling through the roof. What's holding you back? And most importantly, is God getting the glory in the whole thing? Because that's who gets the glory here. It's not the paralyzed man.

32:28 It's not the Pharisees. It's not the homeowner. It's not the repairman that fixed the roof. It's God gets the glory for this because his sins could be forgiven by the one that could forgive sins. And then he said, now I'm gonna prove it to you and show this.

32:51 And they all walked away. It says, glorifying God. Father, we're so thankful that we have these stories to go back to, Lord. I I've admitted to being a storyteller, and I love the stories that are told. I love to retell them, Lord.

33:08 I I love to try and apply them to our lives. Lord, help us to help us to do so carefully. Help us to do so fully. Help us to depend upon you, Lord. For we know that only through you can our sins be forgiven, Lord.

33:26 And and that is a release, that is a freeing thought, that is something that frees us from all limitations no matter what they are, knowing Lord that you are behind us for for as Paul would say, we can do all things. We can be content. We in all ways can serve you, can understand you, can can learn more about you no matter what our circumstances are, Lord. Help us to see that. Help us to walk forward.

33:58 It's in your son's name that we do pray. Amen.