“Bringing Our Friends To Jesus”
Introduction:
We as people greatly value human life. We look up to an admire people who see to save lives. Firefighters and police officer are looked up to and rightly so, this morning though we should value more than the physical life, but we should also value the soul. Today we are in the soul saving business.
We all want to be good friends to people. We like to be well liked. I am sure that many of us have some good friends, some people that we truly value. This morning though I want to prose that friendship goes far deeper than just being there for each other.
The question that I want to ask you is what will you do to bring your friends to Jesus.
We live in a world where people desperately need Jesus. People are empty and hopeless without Christ. People try to find happiness in so many different areas. The truth is that they cannot ever find true happiness apart from Jesus Christ. This morning I want to highlight the fact that it is our duty to bring our friends to Jesus.
Text Mark 2:1-12
I. They Cared For Their Friend
A good caring friend is something that is hard to find. The Proverbs even reiterate this truth saying, “a man of many companions will come to a ruin, but there is a friend that sticks closer than a brother.” One of the greatest friendships that we read about in the Bible is the friendship between David and Jonathan. We learn that Jonathan even if it meant going behind his father’s back looked out for David’s well being. A good and true friend is hard to find. There’s a difference between being friends and being friendly. I am sure all of you have had someone calling you wanting to sell you something, they can be very friendly, but I doubt they want to be your friend. I’ve always wanted when one of them calls to start sharing my problems with them. To ask them if they want to hang out sometime. That will confuse them and I will tell them I thought they were my friend because they were being friendly. I doubt that would work. There is a difference in being a friend and being friendly.
A. A Friend’s Greatest Desire Should be For Spiritual Health
I am fascinated by this story; I am amazed at how these four men had a great desire to bring their friend to Jesus. The paralytic needed a little help in getting there. Obviously he couldn’t walk on his own, so these men showed what true friendship is all about. A true friend’s greatest desire should be for their friend’s spiritual well being.
We as people sometimes care for people’s physical well being far more than we care for people’s spiritual well being. What if as much care and concern was exerted over a lost friend as we do for a friend that is sick and may be suffering physically? What if we put as much care and concern into our family’s spiritual health as we do their success, their schooling, their extracurricular activities and other things? I believe the church would be radically transformed by having people that value people’s souls and spiritual condition above all else. We should care for people’s spiritual condition. We should care about how our friends are doing spiritually. My best friends are the ones that care about my relationship with God, those that check to see how I am doing spiritually, those that encourage me to be a better person. I know that they care and concern from me is not temporal, but rather is eternal. That is the type of friend I want to be and want to have. A friend’s greatest desire should be for spiritual well being. If you want to be a good friend check in on your friend’s spiritual condition. Hold them accountable to living a godly life.
B. A Good Friend Has Compassion For People
These four men exhibited compassion and a concern for their friend, they wanted him to get to Jesus and they went at great lengths to bring him there into Jesus’ presence. They knew that their friend had a need, and they wanted to help. Compassion and pity is not the same thing. Feeling sorry for someone is not feeling compassion. Compassion is putting to action what we feel.
Many of the people in the crowds that were listening to Jesus were Teachers of the Law and Pharisees, and I wonder what their response was to what all was going on. I wonder why they came and gathered to hear Jesus teach. Was it so they could find reason to trap him? Was it because they had heard that Jesus was a powerful teacher and wanted to hear what was going on? Was it because they wanted to sit at the feet of a great teacher? Was it so they could rub elbows with the other spiritual elites of the crowd? Most of the time is Scripture when we encounter the Teachers of the Law they are so concerned with themselves they never look outward.
I wonder what the onlookers were thinking as their teaching session was interrupted by these persistent people trying to get Jesus’ attention?
These four friends looked not into their own interest and not to what they could gain, but rather to their friends. I wish the Teachers of the Law would learn and I wish that the church would learn that spiritual growth is not measured by gaining more knowledge about things. Spiritual growth is measured rather by being more drawn to people. A good way to determine that is to ask yourself what thoughts consume you?
Proverbs 23:7
Does work consume you? Does school consume you? Does success consume you? Does sin consume you? We know that God is consumed with people. It was for the purpose of being with people that he created us, it was for the purpose of people that he sent His son to die for us, and Jesus demonstrated that God is consumed by people by the way that he interacted? I want you to know that true spiritual growth is shown by us being more drawn towards others and looking out for others.
Surely the crowds knew the law well, but I wonder did they have anyone to bring to Jesus? Today you might know the Bible very well. You may be able to quote Scripture and refute false doctrine like it is going out of style, but do you have people to bring to Jesus?
These four men demonstrated true friendship. They didn’t leave the poor paralytic to stay in his troubles; they rather took it upon themselves to bring him to Jesus. Perhaps today you have a friend that is paralyzed. I am not speaking of a physical paralysis, but rather a spiritual paralysis. Perhaps they need you to carry them to Jesus. If you have a friend outside of Christ the greatest thing you can do for them is carry them to Jesus. If we ever expect to bring our friends to Jesus we first must show them that we care about them sincerely. These four men showed they cared about their friend, they built a relationship with him and because of that they could being him to Jesus.
These four men must have been good friends. They were willing to put forth a little effort to bring their friend to Jesus, because that was what was most important in his life.
II. They Knew Where to Take Him
Jesus may have been well known by this time because a great crowd had assembled to hear him speak. Perhaps the paralytic’s friends had heard stories about Jesus healing people and doing many amazing things. I am sure they figured what would it hurt to bring their friend to Jesus, it was worth a shot, and the worst thing that could happen would be that their friend would not be healed. His friends knew where to take him; he needed to go to Jesus if he had any chance.
Each and every one of us has a paralysis too. Our paralysis may not be a physical problem, but it is a spiritual problem. We all have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God, and that means that we too need to be healed and need to come to Jesus. Perhaps today you have friends that are outside of Christ, if you do, do you know where to take them? Do you know that the best thing that you can do is bring them to Jesus because he alone can heal their wounds. Perhaps you know people who are hurting, empty, broken, or searching for answers, do you know where they can find answers?
We live in a world where people are hurting. There are people that hurting through things like divorce. There are people hurting living in their sin. There are people hurting because their things are not brining them happiness, and we have an answer for how they can be healed.
They knew that Jesus was the Great Physician; they had heard rumors of miraculous healings and powerful teaching. They knew where to take their friend.
Jesus was the only option for this man to be healed, and likewise Jesus is the only option for us to be spiritually healed. It is only through Jesus that a person can find salvation.
Acts 4:12
Many people try to say that there are many roads to the same God, but the truth is Jesus is the only place to take someone who is need of healing. Many people try to take people all sorts of places for their help. When someone has problems in their lives everyone has an opinion, but the place to go is to the only one who can really do anything about the problem.
This paralytic in this story needed healing, when after making it through the crowds and the roof Jesus saw him he had compassion on him. The text tells us that the first thing that Jesus told the ma wasn’t “you are healed” It was rather; “your sins are forgiven”. Jesus knew that this man not only needed to be healed of his physical paralysis, he needed his sins forgiven.
III. They Were Not Hindered From Helping Him
As these four friends attempted to bring their friend to where Jesus was they faced many different obstacles that could have hindered them from doing it. We face many obstacles as well to bringing people to Jesus.
a. Not By Their Pride
This paralytic would have essentially been useless to society, anything he had he would have had to receive from others. Most people probably wouldn’t have been too apt to help someone in his condition. Many may have seen this paralytic as a burden, but his friends wanted to bring him to Jesus because they thought that maybe this Jesus who they had heard so much about could help their friend. During Jesus time the disabled and the incapable were not looked upon with favor, in fact they were looked down upon and seen as a disgrace to society, but four men did not see their friend that way.
We don’t know the exact relation of these four men to the paralytic, but they removed their pride and prejudices because they knew how important this man getting to Jesus could be.
A lot of times our pride and our prejudices hinder us from trying to bring people to Jesus. We don’t make the same effort to reach out to people who are not like us and who don’t look like us. Perhaps there are some people that we are afraid of. Perhaps there are some we look down on for the things that they have done. I will tell you it is the people that are the deepest in sin that need Jesus the most and are most open to come to him. The best advice I can give, is find the person you know that is the worst sinner, or the most rejected by the world, and show him the love of Christ, and they will respond. This is exactly what Jesus did. He went out to those that people would have been appalled by because of their morals and loved them. I picture he hugged them and people hated Jesus for that. We need to realize that all people need to come to Jesus and all people need a friend who will pick up their mat and take them to Jesus. A lot of times we may be weary of helping people because they seem like a burden to us and they may be frustrating, but we must realize that it is not the healthy who need the doctor, but rather the sick. The early church was full of people who had their issues.
I Corinthians 6:9-11
These four friends could have easily left this man alone and gone to see Jesus, but they weren’t in it for themselves, they had the right attitude. They could have easily let their pride get in the way of helping this guy since he was not like them. Perhaps this paralyzed man was a hindrance to them getting to Jesus themselves. I would be willing to bet that these four guys wanted to hear Jesus too. Their priority was not on themselves, but upon others. We live in a society that is self-consumed. People are all about what they can get. Many times people fail to look out for others while they are trying to look out for themselves. This happens in the church too. We can easily become so focused on things within the church we forget to have an outward focus and look at those beyond the walls of the church that need Jesus. That is called pride. These four guys did not allow that to come in the way of looking out for someone else’s needs.
Did you notice that when they finally overcame all their obstacles and got to Jesus, that the Scripture says when Jesus saw their faith… Most of the time in Scripture when Jesus heals someone it is because of the faith of the one being healed, but here this man is healed because of his friend’s faith to bring him to Jesus.
We cannot let our pride hinder us from bringing people to Jesus, but rather we must have an outward focus realizing that there are many people who need our help in carrying them to the one that can heal them. This guy may have been a burden, but they saw a need to get him to Jesus because they knew He may be able to help. They didn’t see him as a burden. Can you imagine what life was like for this paralytic? He had to feel awful, he had no independence. He had to at times envy these other four guys. When the others would walk home, he had to be carried home. I belief lacking independence would be one of the worst things that could happen. This guys was dependent upon others for everything, his food, his income, his life. These four friends were not overcome by pride, but were willing to help someone in need.
b. Not By Their Time and Effort
Did you ever stop to think about how much time and energy these four men may have exerted to bring their friend to Jesus. They had to carry him a ways and that could have been a heavy burden, but they saw at as worthwhile.
A lot of times we refuse to do what is right and what we should do because we do not want to exert the energy to do it. I want you to know that many times our obedience takes some effort on our part. It takes energy sometimes to do what we are supposed to do sometimes. It takes energy to get up in the morning and go to church. It takes energy to serve and to put others first sometimes. The hard thing to realize is that it is not always convenient. It is not always convenient to deal with people. Sometimes we may busy and have other things going on, but serving Jesus means putting others first and sometimes obedience takes some effort and energy on our part. Nevertheless, these four men saw the energy and the time that they would expend as worthwhile. Anytime that we choose to put some energy into doing something we have to decide if the possible result is worth the effort.
For example I know that if I do not complete my honey do list that the result could be bad, so usually time and energy I expend is worthwhile to keep me out of trouble. We must decide if the time and energy of doing certain things is worth the results. Bringing people to Jesus may take some time and energy, but I guarantee the results are worthwhile.
We live in a fast paces society, where it is easy to get overwhelmed with busyness. The problem with busyness is that we run that danger of not taking time for others. A lot of times we miss what is most important in life. We take time for work and other things, but life is about others. The Scriptures tell us to rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those who mourn, but we cannot take time to do that on the run. Sometimes we have to stop or slow down to help people. You cannot microwave relationships, sometimes you have to slow down and take time for people because that is what it is all about.
c. Not By The Crowds
When these four men got to the area where Jesus was preaching the house was at capacity level, and the crowds were spilling over to the outside. This defiantly wasn’t the way they planned things to go. They couldn’t get their friend to Jesus with all these crowds around. So they had to make a decision, should they leave because the crowds were too large or should they press on towards where their goal was.
I am not the type of person who likes crowds, but somehow I always get stuck in them. It is in a crowd that my patience can be really tested. Many times I may go out to a restaurant and there be a large crowd and a large wait and I just don’t feel like dealing with it so I will leave, but I there is a large crowd somewhere I really want to be it won’t hinder me. A large crowd wouldn’t ever hinder me from doing something that I really saw as necessary.
These four men were bound and determined to bring their friend to Jesus because they knew Jesus could help.
These men had obstacle after obstacle hindering them from getting their friend to Jesus. They figured out the solution to the crowds. They fought their way through the crowds, and climbed up on the roof of the house where Jesus was, and dug through the roof, and lowered the man right down towards Jesus. I have heard it said, where there is a will there is a way and these people really made a way. Most of the roofs during that time would have been made of branches laid over the roof’s beams covered with dried mud, which would have made it fairly easy to dig through. These four men were resourceful and didn’t let anything hinder them from bringing their friends to Jesus.
The Apostles were the same way, they didn’t let anything hinder them from brining people to Jesus. Because of their great success, many times they were threatened and beaten and told not to speak anymore about Jesus, but they didn’t let anything hinder them from bringing their friends to Jesus.
We though are easily hindered, whether it is from fear of rejection, fear of the way people may response, laziness, or just disobedience, we are easily hindered.
