“Faces in the Crowd” – Luke 5
This is the second message in our series entitled “Faces in the Crowd”. This series focuses on a number of characters found in the Gospels, whose names are briefly mentioned, typically appearing in one story and then we seldom read of their story again. In essence, these are “faces in the crowd” among the many well-known characters whose names are synonymous with the story of Christ.
In the first message, we studied the story Simeon, as he encountered Christ there in the temple, proclaiming the work of Christ to come and blessing Mary and Joseph. And in this second message, we are going to turn our focus to the man brought to Jesus for healing.
Luke 5:17-26.
In the midst of this crowded teaching time for Jesus, where the room was filled with followers and critics alike, a man who receives no introduction here is brought into the midst before Jesus. And this face in the crowd causes both praise and scorn to fill the air on that day. And as we study this passage this morning, I believe our willingness to do just as these friends did in bringing their friend before Jesus, will be an opportunity for us to be challenged.
The first step that we can take as we follow this…face in the crowd…is to invite.
I. Faces in the Crowd – INVITE
A Face in the Crowd can encounter Jesus if we will invite them.
Luke 5:17-19
The Setting: The setting of this event is described in Mark’s parallel account of this story as in the region of Capernaum, and as folks heard of Jesus’ presence in the area, they rushed to a home where they hoped they would hear Him teaching. Now what we learn in Luke’s account is that mixed in this crowd of eager listeners were also those that were seeking to tear down the teaching ministry of this new man on the scene called Jesus of Nazareth. There among the eager learners were the Pharisees and teachers of the law, seeking to find something that might corner Jesus in breaking some crucial law.
Transition: But as the legal experts sought to catch Jesus in a loophole of the law, outside there was something rather impressive taking place – for there we see a group of friends demonstrating their determination to bring their friend to Jesus.
Our text says that they, “sought to bring (him) in and lay (him) before (Jesus).”
As they do that, they immediately encounter a number of obstacles preventing them from getting their friend to Jesus.
1. The crowd had grown too large.
2. His condition made it impossible for him to push his way into the group.
The first step that we must make is the same step facing these friends – how will we eliminate or bypass the obstacles that keep our friend or loved one from worshiping with us here in our church? If you have tried very often to encourage a friend or loved one to attend worship with you, you have probably encountered any number of obstacles – usually in the form of excuses for not making weekly worship a priority. But just as we will see in this story this morning, those obstacles would not deter these dear friends from bringing their friend to Christ.
The question becomes, are we as committed to bringing our friends to Christ – just as these men demonstrated in our classic story this morning? Do we really believe in the importance of an invitation to worship?
In a poll by one of the largest US denominations (Southern Baptist Convention) several years ago, 80-86% of respondents initially came to a church service due to a friend or family member inviting them or bringing them to church.
For many of you, that statistic is true because your family loved you enough to bring you to church even as a child, as was the case in my own journey to Christ. For others, that statistic may be true because you were the recipient of the love of a friend who originally brought you to this very church.
But the most important thing that we can gain from that statistic is a confidence that if we will be bold enough to invite our friend or family member to join us in worship, odds are that they will eventually be willing to do just that – if we will only invite them!
And to invite them, consider using one of our...
First Touch Events (events that most churches offer that would be a great starting point for a guest to get plugged into the life of your church).
They were unwilling to stop simply because of obstacles.
That’s the kind of resolve we need in our churches - a resolve to move forward as a church, stopping at no obstacle to see new faces in the crowd of worshipers, who will be hearing from God’s Word on a weekly basis.
Our face in the crowd for this week, the man who was paralyzed, was brought to Jesus because of the commitment of several friends to see to it that he encountered Christ!
The second step that we can learn this morning is summed up in one word – EXPECT!
II. Faces in the Crowd – EXPECT
A Face in the Crowd can challenge our expectations if we will listen.
Luke 5:20-25
Focus for just a moment on ONE WORD mentioned early on in these verses – the word FAITH. What Jesus noted first and foremost about these friends was one thing – their FAITH! Without anything being said by any of the friends, Jesus noted their great faith!
Now we use that word pretty commonly. If you were to ask me whether I thought you’d do a good job at something, I might say, “Sure, I have faith in you.” But when I use the word in that sense, it carries the idea of “a degree of certainty” because though I am expressing a level of confidence in your ability, I still may have my doubts.
Counterpoint: But when Jesus declared that they had “faith”, it was more than just “a degree of certainty” in Jesus, it was that they understood who He was and what He could do.
They didn’t climb up on the roof that day because they were “fairly” confident Jesus would heal their friend. No, they climbed up on that roof that day because they knew who He was and what He could do!
As we look elsewhere in Luke’s gospel, this is the meaning that he gives to the word FAITH...
Luke 7 - the centurion had a deep faith in Jesus’ ability as he said, “Say the word and my servant will be healed.”
Luke 8 - the woman needing healing touched Jesus’ robe because she firmly believed in Jesus’ power.
Luke 17 - ONE man returned from the priest following his healing, because He understood who Christ was and the gratitude that Christ’s act warranted. His FAITH made him well.
So when Luke’s gospel speaks of faith, it is a deep understanding of Christ and who Christ is – that’s what faith is all about.
Verse 20 says, “When He saw their faith, He said to him, ‘Man your sins are forgiven you.’”
Our second key point is that a “face in the crowd can challenge our expectations.” Let me be clear in saying that these men aren’t the ones whose expectations needed challenging. No, they fully expected from the outset that by bringing their friend to Christ – his life would be radically changed.
Counterpoint: But there was another group that day whose experience was very different. As they heard the words proclaimed by Christ and witnessed this miracle of forgiveness taking place, they were disturbed because it did not match their expectations. They understood that Jesus was a teacher, but now He was asserting himself as so much more!
“And the scribes and Pharisees began to reason, saying, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
The scribes and Pharisees had constructed a figurative box in which they had placed this teacher Jesus, and when his words went outside of that box that they had constructed, it rattled their world.
This FACE IN THE CROWD had challenged their expectations.
What is the measure that you have established in your own life for how God works?
In this story, the so called “experts” on God in this time period were the scribes and Pharisees. They are what the culture deemed “experts on God.”
And what is interesting is that they became the source for determining how God could and could not work – even as God was right there before them doing the very things they considered impossible!
And not only did this “face in the crowd” expose their wrong thinking, Jesus called attention to their thinking as well. He challenged their view of who He was.
Who do you say I am? – As I consider that challenge by Jesus, it reminds me of a similar inquiry by Jesus in Matt. 16. Let’s read that quickly in Matthew’s gospel - Read Matthew 16:13-17
Public opinion polls were a little scattered when it came to saying who this Jesus fellow was. Some were saying that he was John the Baptist, others were saying that he was Elijah, Jeremiah, or one of the other prophets resurrected (that’s pretty amazing). But then Jesus asked, “Who do you say that I am?”
Today, there are a host of ideas out there concerning who Jesus is. Some would say that he was not fully God. Others would suggest that he is simply a good teacher that drew the most following out of any individual in history. Still more would argue with his divinity.
But the question does not stop at “Who do men say that I am?” The question stops at, “Who do YOU say that I am?”
You see, that’s a personal question with a personal application. It involves me standing before God saying, “What am I doing with who you are?” Not, “What did my parents do?” or “What is the established norm in our church?” but “What am I doing, right now, with my relationship with Christ.
Relation to Luke Text: As the scribes and Pharisees witnessed this event that day back in Luke 5, they were shaken to the core because everything they were seeing and hearing in Jesus went against everything that they had learned to expect.
As Jesus healed and forgave the paralyzed man, it shook the expectations of the religious elite to the core!
And as their expectations were rattled, what we see occurring in that setting was
III. Faces in the Crowd – PRAISE
A Face in the Crowd can lead us to worship if we are willing.
Luke 5:25-26
1. The first one to begin praising God is the one healed.
2. The second group to begin praising God was the crowd that was fortunate enough to have witnessed this event!
What led them to praise? What led them to praise was the fact that they witnessed God do something amazing. Their worship was in direct response to their witness of God doing a miracle in their midst.
Have you ever witnessed something totally unexpected, whether it’s the rally from behind by your football team, or something much more powerful such as the recovery of a loved one from a physical injury or sickness?
If you’ve experienced a time when the unexpected occurred, then you know the emotion that is captured in that moment. For some time you share with others the thrill of the moment, every detail of the event. Then over time, the story becomes much more general, until the point in which it fades as simply a chapter in your life.
When we first receive Christ, we are amazed at our state of forgiveness. It’s the talk of our life – the joy that we cannot help but share.
But then as time passes, it becomes the norm, the expected, and the routine of our lives – and in the process we lose our praise.
What led them to praise was their amazement of the work of God. What led them to praise was the fact that what they had seen God’s power demonstrated.
You can capture that joy for the very first time, or you can recapture that joy all over again – as you are amazed by the fact that God so loves you that He offers forgiveness – and offers to each of us the gift of eternal life – if we will give our lives to him, repenting of our sin, and trusting in Him as our Savior.
This face in the crowd in Luke 5, can be the initiator of praise in our lives! Goodbye cold, empty worship – so that we can once again experience the joy and excitement found in Christ – that’s what this “face in the crowd” can challenge us to see this morning.
That even if you have been saved for 30 years, 60 years, or 6 days, our joy and excitement for Christ can be just as alive as it was for those that witnessed this miracle of healing there in Capernaum.
The first step that we can take in response to this story is to INVITE. This morning I pray God will give you an image of someone that you can INVITE this week, to worship together with us, or to an even greater invitation of following Christ.
The second step this morning is to EXPECT – to expect God to do amazing things in your life and to then watch in faith that it’s going to happen!
And then finally, based on what we see this “face in the crowd” doing in our story today, we all can be challenged to PRAISE – to make our worship obvious so that others are drawn to Christ.
