Pastor Rick Flowers
First Baptist Church of Flushing, MI
“Can Your Faith Be Seen?”
Mark 2:1-5
One question that every Believer should consider is “Can My Faith Be Seen By Others?” We should endeavor to be a verbal witness for Christ to those we come in contact with, but that’s not always possible. That is why it is important that we live our lives in such a manner that people can also see the difference that Christ makes in our lives.
“The greatest proof of Christianity for others is not how far a man can logically analyze his reasons for believing, but how far in practice he will stake his life on his belief.”
T. S. Eliot (1888-1965)
“Beware of worshiping Jesus as the Son of God and professing your faith in him as the Savior of the world, while you blaspheme him by the complete evidence in your daily life that he is powerless to do anything in and through you.”
Oswald Chambers (1874-1917)
“Faith is the root of works. A root that produces nothing is dead.”
Thomas Wilson (1663-1735)
What kind of faith can be seen and how can it be seen? We will try to answer these questions as we begin reading in Mark 2.
(Read Mark 2:1-5 & Pray)
Mark 2: 1And again He entered Capernaum after some days, and it was heard that He was in the house.
2Immediately many gathered together, so that there was no longer room to receive them, not even near the door. And He preached the word to them.
3Then they came to Him, bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men.
4And when they could not come near Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was. So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying.
5When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven you.”
In Mark 2, we see Jesus entering Capernaum. Christ had chosen this city, which was located on the northwest shore of the Sea of Galilee, as His base of operations when He began His ministry.
In this passage we find:
¨ The Lord Jesus.
¨ An Overflow Crowd.
¨ A Paralyzed man.
¨ The Man’s Four Friends.
¨ A Miracle.
¨ A Bunch of Religious Guys Called Scribes.
This man’s friends must have had faith, for we can see their faith by their actions:
1) They gave of their time.
2) They gave of their energy. “…bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men.”
3) They laid down their pride. “And when they could not come near Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was. So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying.”
¨ The roof was flat, made of crossbeams covered with thatch and hardened mud or with clay tiles. It as likely reached by an outside stair.
¨ The man’s bed was a pallet or stretcher.
4) They truly performed a labor of love.
“Faith in God is like believing a man can walk over Niagara Falls on a tightrope while pushing a wheelbarrow. Trust in God is like getting into the wheelbarrow! To believe God can do something miraculous is one thing; to risk his willingness to do it in your life is another.” - James C. Dobson
Key: If these four men hadn’t believed Jesus would heal him, they never would have gone to all of the trouble. When people looked at these four guys, they saw men who had faith in Christ to heal their friend!
Jesus’ Response: 5When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven you.”
Vs. 5 – Jesus forgave the man’s sins.
Vs. 6-12 – Christ healed the man of his
When others see our faith, they will trust in our God, accept our Savior and receive forgiveness and spiritual healing!
Can People See Your Faith?
James 2:14-20
14What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can (such or that kind of) faith save him?
15If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food,
16and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit?
17Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
18But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.
19You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble!
20But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead
*Faith is like planting seeds… the fruit doesn’t determine the seed, but the seed planted determines the fruit! Genuine faith will produce the fruit of good works!
James is not saying that faith plus works saves us. He is simply distinguishing between saving faith and a head knowledge.
Paul explains more clearly in Ephesians 2:8-10:
8For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,
9not of works, lest anyone should boast.
10For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.
Saving Faith Immediately Produces Four Things In The life Of Every Believer:
I. “A New Proprietor” – 1 Cor. 6:19-20
19Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? 20For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.
Acts 20:28 - Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.
II. “A New Perspective” – 2 Cor. 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
1 Cor. 2:9-16 - 9But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”
10But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.
11For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.
12Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.
13These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
14But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
15But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. 16For “who has known the mind of the LORD that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
III. “A New Power” – Acts 1:8 But you shall receive power (dunamis – “Force, miraculous power, strength.”)when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens (endunamao - “To empower, to enable, to strengthen, to make strong.”) me.
Philippians 2:13a - For it is God who works (energeo- “To be mighty, fervent effectual.”) in you
IV. “A New Purpose” – Philippians 2:13b …Both to will and to do for His good pleasure.
Matthew 5:16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.
If Saving Faith produces these things, how can people help but see our faith?
Invitation:
Unsaved: Do you need a new proprietor? Have you been Born Again? If not, accept Him today!
Christian: Can People see your faith?
Have you hidden your light under a basket?
Let the light of Christ shine! – Let Him have control of your
