“Jesus is Willing – RU?”
Luke 5:12-26
A sermon for 3/21/21
Pastor John Bright - Harmony & Swansonville UMC
Luke 5 “12 And it happened when He was in a certain city, that behold, a man who was full of leprosy saw Jesus; and he fell on his face and implored Him, saying, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.”
13 Then He put out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” Immediately the leprosy left him. 14 And He charged him to tell no one, “But go and show yourself to the priest, and make an offering for your cleansing, as a testimony to them, just as Moses commanded.”
15 However, the report went around concerning Him all the more; and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be healed by Him of their infirmities. 16 So He Himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed.”
As we have traveled through chapters 4 & 5 of Luke’s Gospel, I have been putting a strong emphasis on what we see Jesus doing and saying. This is our pattern… if we are Disciples of Jesus Christ.
When we look around today, we see a world inside the Church that looks a lot like what we are reading in the Bible of Jesus’ day. There is a big group and a small group. That big group was described by Kyle Idleman in his book, “not a fan.” He describes most Christians today as fans. He asks the reader – “Is that how you define your relationship with Him? An "enthusiastic admirer"? Close enough to Jesus to get the benefits but not so close to require sacrifice? He was looking for followers. Not just any follower though, but a... COMPLETELY. COMMITTED. FOLLOWER. How would things change if you lived as Jesus lived, and loved the way He loved?” http://www.notafan.com/
I’m going to repeat what I said last week – Disciples do not fear the evil forces – rather they will stand and pray. Disciples believe the Son of God still heals so they pray for themselves and their loved ones and folks at the altar. Disciples hear the calling of Jesus Christ to fish for people – so evangelism comes naturally when the coworker or neighbor asks about the hope you have.
None of these are new topics if you have spent some time in local church worship and Bible study and Sunday School. We preach about these characteristics of discipleship and folks write books and studies so we can all be well educated fans of Jesus… but if that is all we ever become it would be sad for all of you and an utter failure for the local church. When I teach and preach on spiritual warfare prayer and healing prayer and evangelism – like these last few weeks – I sense there is a willingness among folks to move ahead – becoming a committed ( that means becoming sold-out rather than being a hold-out ) , a committed Disciple. Any Believer can take that next step – if she or he is willing.
Three pictures of willingness are found in Luke 5
“12 And it happened when He was in a certain city, that behold, a man who was full of leprosy saw Jesus; and he fell on his face and implored Him, saying, “Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean.”
13 Then He put out His hand and touched him, saying, “I am willing; be cleansed.” Immediately the leprosy left him.”
Jesus is willing to cleanse this man from a terrible skin disease. God, the Father in Heaven, is willing to have this man’s skin look like everybody else’s skin. I can know this because of what Jesus told us -
John 5 “18 Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God. 19 Then Jesus answered and said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner. 20 For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does; and He will show Him greater works than these, that you may marvel.”
Jesus’ willingness to help this man is a clear indication that God is willing. Have you ever thought – “I want to know God’s will for this or that.” GOOD FOR YOU! Have you ever said – “It’s so hard to know God’s will.” NO, IT’S NOT! Jesus’ pattern gives us the answer – “16 So He Himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed.”
Are you willing to go to God’s throne room on your knees with a humble heart? Are you willing to spend time in travailing prayer in the secret place? Does anybody know why we stopped going to the prayer closet and started thinking we can do all our praying in the car at stoplights? (just stop and think about that for a minute) Have we gotten to busy to pray? I think lots of Believers were reintroduced to the prayer closet in the movie – “The War Room.” It was a movie about a lukewarm Believer that crossed paths with a woman who had spent many years in the secret place of a prayer closet – literally.
We too often think we don’t have time. That’s what us fancy pants preachers think! Really! During the pandemic I was going through some books I had stored away and crossed paths with a workbook from back in 2003 – “Let Prayer Change Your Life” by Becky Tirabassi. She was led to begin praying for one hour a day – do I need to give you time to catch your breath? Reading that was probably why I never got into it 18 years ago. In there, she mentions the sin of prayerlessness that a preacher back in the late 1800’s said was rampant among the pastors. I guess somethings never change. Now, I make time in the morning for a pattern of prayer:
• Praise – I rewrite one or two psalms in my notebook
• Admission – I search my life for sins to confess to God
• Requests – praying for those folks and situations on my prayer list
• Thanks – giving God thanks for the blessings – this ends my part of the prayer time
• Next comes God’s part – He speaks and I listen – that starts with sitting quietly
• Messages – I notes things here that are part of books I’m reading or devotions that speak to me and keep letting them speak
• New Testament, Old Testament and Proverbs
That’s the whole hour – and I keep a “To Do” list when thoughts pop in about events or tasks for the day. I write it down and return to the prayer time. Why share all this? If I can – you sure can. If you are willing.
Now we look at the willing determination of friends
Luke 5 “18 Then behold, men brought on a bed a man who was paralyzed, whom they sought to bring in and lay before Him. 19 And when they could not find how they might bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the housetop and let him down with his bed through the tiling into the midst before Jesus.”
Can I just start off with how hard this one has always been for me to read or hear? If that was my house – I don’t want ANYBODY making a hole in the roof! And anyway, that had to see all that stuff falling in the room below, so it’s not like it was a surprise. Do you ever have thoughts like this? Luke’s account mentions the “tiling” in the roof.
We can always learn more by studying the background to what we read in God’s Word. I found this: “Now it's important to recognize that tearing up the roof was not a destruction of property. Historical background is helpful and important when interpreting and applying Scripture. 1st century homes in Israel had flat roofs, composed of large stone tiles that were relatively easy to remove and replace. The tiles were sometimes covered with earth or sod for insulation. So, there was no need to rip up shingles and saw through plywood and beams to create an opening in the roof! God’s Word is certainly not teaching us that it's OK to break the law or destroy property, as long as our purpose is to get a person to Christ! The roof was not destroyed or damaged - it was only temporarily opened up.” https://www.growingchristians.org/devotions/through-the-roof/
The guys (we assume there were four) having carried their friend to where they can find the traveling miracle man, Jesus. He is a big deal, remember.
Do you ever get tired of helping a friend? If you had a friend that was confined to the bed and you were sure there was a way to get your friend up and moving again – how far would you go?
Jesus commends the faith of the friends here – “20 When He saw their faith, He said to him, “Man, your sins are forgiven you.” It was their faith that gets mention here. I wonder how far they carried their friend? I wonder how many times one of them wanted to quit and the others encouraged him to keep going?
I see this as another picture of willingness. One of the churches I serve now has a “Luke 5:20” section to prayer list. We have been praying for a young man who had a massive stroke. He’s had a miraculous recovery, but is still struggling with his speech. We are determined to pray day after day for his complete recovery – as long as it takes. That’s how the willingness to pray works.
I’m here today, serving as your pastor, because my grandparents and parents never stopped praying for me when I was in the far country. They never knew all the times I would have gladly filled my stomach with the food that was for the pigs – Luke 15:16 – but they kept on praying and praying.
Is there a Luke 5:20 prayer request that you have taken to the Lord over and over and over with no resolution? That’s ok – as long as you are willing to keep praying.
The final picture for today is a picture of un-willingness
Luke 5 “21 And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
22 But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, He answered and said to them, “Why are you reasoning in your hearts? 23 Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Rise up and walk’? 24 But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins”—He said to the man who was paralyzed, “I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.”
25 Immediately he rose up before them, took up what he had been lying on, and departed to his own house, glorifying God.”
It seems that there were many who were willing to believe in Jesus and the power of God that was revealed in him. A leper falls at his feet for healing. A house is full of folks that want to hear and be healed. Men even lower their crippled friend to the mighty healer man. Then we have these religious leaders. Before Jesus came along, they were the big shots. Before Jesus came along people wanted their teachings. Their biggest job was to make sure nothing changed! And they were willing to do anything and everything to make sure stayed the same.
What if God started telling your church to do something we had never done before? How hard would you work against it - unwilling to change? There is an old saying – do you know what they put on the tombstone in front of a closed church? “WE NEVER DID IT THAT WAY BEFORE”
In the UMC we are standing at the edge of God doing a new thing. Many of us that are evangelical are hoping and praying for the birth of the Global Methodist Church. They had told us, in the future, we will focus on Disciples making Disciples – the pattern of the Early Church. If that’s the case, we have to be willing to change and go in a new direction. We have to willing – unlike the scribe and Pharisees – to let go of the old and embrace the new.
This will be difficult for some because it means getting back on the court (since we are in the midst of the NCAA basketball tourney). God’s design for the local church was for leaders/pastors to be the coach – 1 Peter 5 “Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly; 3 nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock;…” We teach and preach trying to show you the way to play the game. That makes you the team. When the local church worked that way – we were winning! Somewhere along the way, the team left the court and moved into the stands. They became observers and the coach was the only one left to move the ball or shoot the ball. Then the local church began to decline.
Would you be willing to come back and play like the team you were always meant to be? Would you be willing to live the life of a Disciple of Jesus Christ and discover what’s possible with a bunch of sold-out, not-gonna-stop praying, folks that want to see another great move of God in our world? Amen.
