Luke 5:16-26
Helpers or Hindrances?
Woodlawn Missionary Baptist Church
May 21, 2006
Introduction
Read Luke 5:16-26.
While I was in Jr. High and High School, mom worked at a state run facility for the mentally retarded called Mexia State School. On occasion I would drop by and visit with her and briefly interact with the residents. After graduating from high school, I too went to work there, and ended up working there for about two and a half years. It was there that I met my wife: not as a resident, but as a new employee!
Some of the residents were mildly retarded. I worked on a dorm for the last several months with some of them. They could dress themselves, go to classes and work, and while they were lacking in some social skills, they interacted relatively well with other people. But around the campus were many residents who were more severely retarded and physically handicapped. I found it hard to imagine what it would be like to live life in that sort of condition: to not be able to walk or talk or rightly reason. What would it be like to be confined to a wheelchair or a bed or a room?
One lady’s brief note to her pastor speaks volumes. “I am a handicapped person in a wheelchair,” she said. “I am very lonely even though I know I’m never alone.” Another said, “I get treated differently because I’m small and have no limbs so people automatically assume I can’t do anything at all or completely ignore me. I hate it because I can do some stuff, but it’s just because I’m different. People don’t know how to act.”
It is an interesting thing that in a world where everyone seems to want to be different and be noticed one of the most precious things we enjoy is to fit in and be like everyone else. We want to be different, but we want to be different like everyone else. If we really are different, by choice or by circumstance, we are instantly alienated and begin to feel excluded from fellowship.
Think about how closely related the word access is to the word barrier. You might think of architectural barriers in church buildings when you consider our ministry to the handicapped. We have barriers here don’t we? Our handicapped parking is on one side of the building and our handicapped ramp is on the other side. When you have the time you ought to sit in a wheelchair and try to go to one of our restrooms or get through the halls and into the classrooms while other people are in the building. While this is surely an important issue, let me remind you that barriers preventing entrance into buildings or rooms symbolize something deeper: exclusion from community or fellowship.
In some instances there may be valid reasons for this exclusion. Israel’s ancient tabernacle with its inner Sanctuary, and the temple with its walls and gates are examples. God did not permit the handicapped to serve at the temple. In a very real way they were cut off and denied access and privileges afforded to “normal” people. Although laws have changed and we’re not concerned with the priesthood today, I wonder if the Lord’s churches haven’t been much slower to change. Are we willing to minister to those with disabilities?
If I am correct, some of you are wondering, “Brother Kevin, why all the discussion about handicapped people this morning? Where did that come from?” Those are valid questions, and here’s my answer: I’m not really talking about handicapped people today. I am however going to talk about access and inclusion and our willingness to allow the Lord to work not only in our lives, but also in the lives of others in need.
You see, in our text we have a man stricken with palsy of some sort encountering Jesus, but it was no easy ordeal to come before him. In fact, were it not for good friends he would not have encountered Jesus at all. But he did, and as a result the man who had been brought to Jesus on a cot left that meeting place a changed man, rejoicing and praising God.
Every day all around us there are people in need of an encounter with Jesus. The Bible points out in verse 17 that “the power of the Lord was present to heal them.” Jesus can change lives, and while He may or may not heal a broken body, He has a great desire today to heal broken spirits and broken hearts and broken lives.
Every day we encounter the lonely, those isolated and alienated because of some thing in their lives. It may just be because of where they are in life: it may be the housewife or the college student. I received a call this week from a lady who sits with an elderly lady. She asked me if we could visit the lady because she was lonely. You may know someone going through a divorce; who has lost a loved one to death; who has had to put a mom or dad in a nursing home, or perhaps is just in need of someone to talk to. A man in Kansas ran an ad in the paper saying that he would listen to anyone talk for thirty minutes for $5. People thought he was nuts, but the phone started ringing – people paying a stranger just to talk to someone.
There are three groups of people in these verses who are brought to our attention, and today you fall into one of these groups. Each of them has a role to play in this man’s encounter with Christ, just as you do with those in your life.
The Critics
Verse 17 tells us that the Pharisees and Rabbis were “sitting by.” They had come from all over the place, not to be taught, but to sit in judgment of Jesus’ teaching. They knew people were following Him and were just looking for a reason to dismiss Him as a heretic. He had no credentials, no pedigree and no business teaching and preaching as He had been. So here they are sitting in judgment. As soon as Jesus pronounced that the man’s sins had been forgiven they thought to themselves, “Who is this which speaketh blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?”
In their minds Jesus had no authority to forgive sins. God alone forgives sins, but Jesus silenced them when He revealed their thoughts. Keep in mind that they haven’t spoken anything yet, but Jesus, knowing what they were thinking and knowing why they were there jumped on them. “What’s on your minds guys? Just so you know I have authority to forgive sins, I’ll heal the man too!”
He asked them, Which is easier? To forgive his sins or to heal him? It wasn’t a question of one being easier to perform than the other – it was Jesus showing them that He had all the power and authority from God above to do either or both and they could do nothing.
Are you a critic? The critic feels compelled to sit in judgment, and every church has them. The critic doesn’t need an open Bible. He already knows what it says. He sits and listens for what the preacher might say wrong instead of what God might speak to his heart. The critic sits in business wanting to know the motives behind every decision instead of seeking God’s leadership. The critic looks at other members and wonders why they don’t love God like he does; why they don’t give like he does; why they don’t serve like he does.
The critic sits in judgment of sinners with little or no understanding of the grace of God. “How dare that girl come in here like that!” “How can that man sit there with all his problems?” “What’s she walking the aisle for?”
Are you one? Are you a critic? Do you feel compelled to keep a watch on everything and sit in judgment of me or other members? Do you look for what’s wrong instead of what’s right? Do you make people measure up or are you a man or woman of grace? The Pharisees and scribes were critics and missed one of the greatest blessings they would ever witness that day, and you may be missing them too.
The Crowd
We find that Jesus was teaching in someone’s home, perhaps a public meeting place, but regardless He was indoors. Verse 19 says that the man’s friends couldn’t get him in the door because of the multitude. I find it interesting that it was not architectural barriers that were keeping this man from Jesus. The crowd was the barrier!
Things haven’t changed much over the years. I can assure you that more people have walked away from Christ here and in every other church because of the people in the church than because of the physical barriers.
Some walk away because they feel the people are hypocrites, and that may be true. But often times we just don’t allow them room to get in and get close. If you have to have all the preacher’s time and if the services always have to be about what you like and what makes you comfortable and we make our decisions based on what we want and like then when and how does anyone else fit in?
Our greatest obstacle to ministry in Denison, Texas is not money or resources, but us! It always is, and not just here. Church and ministry are designed around us, and whether we like to admit it or not we create barriers that say to the outsider or the person in need that there is no easy access here. We unconsciously say to the outsider, “If you want to come in and be faithful and give offerings and work somewhere and like the same things we like and look and acts like we do then you are welcome here. We give you access and fellowship. But if you’ve got problems and can’t be faithful or can’t give or won’t work then why don’t you move on down the road?”
Listen, not everyone who walks through these doors is ready to walk and run with us. Look around outside! We live in a messed up world where people have messed up lives. They divorce and do dope and can’t pay their bills and don’t know how to keep a job and don’t discipline their kids and go to jail and won’t be faithful to church and what you may have forgotten is that they are living just like they are supposed to be living! That’s just what sin does in this world!
Have you forgotten that? Are you part of the crowd that is keeping them from getting to Christ? Are you part of the crowd that is keeping our church from ministering to them? Are you guilty of making this church be about you and your wants while the needy walk away?
The Companions
I love to read about these four men. I have wondered often how far they carried their friend on his bedroll. See them as they approach the house and find men and women standing outside to listen to Jesus’ teaching through the doors and windows. They walk up, but can’t get in. They see the crowd, and there are the critics sitting comfortably close to Jesus, but there’s no room for them to get in.
Looking around, they find the stairway leading up to the roof of the house where what we might consider a patio was kept. Out of desperation and with great faith in the love and compassion of Christ, the men lay their friend down and begin tearing away at the roof. How long did it take them to rip away the mud and branches as they worked their way through a foot of materials? How long did it take them to clear away a hole large enough to lower a grown man down by rope into the presence of Christ? How did they keep working when those in the house must have been greatly distressed at what was happening above them?
Did Jesus get angry that they had disrupted the service? Did He tell them to go away or to stop? No! When He saw their faith; not the palsied man’s faith, but their faith, He met the man’s need. What great friends they were! What great love they must have had for this man! What great commitment they had for his well being! These companions paid no attention to the critics, nor did they allow the crowd to stop them, but they brought their friend to Jesus where his needs could be met.
Let me remind you of something: over and over in the Scriptures you and I are admonished to be these kinds of companions to a lost and hurting world. Jesus told the story about the good Samaritan to show us to be people who will help the helpless. He told us about the rich man in hell who could not return home to warn his brothers because you and I must be warning them. He said that we’re to take up our towels and wash dirty feet – to serve people – to humble ourselves as Jesus did and place ourselves in the positions of servants and slaves. Jesus didn’t come to be ministered to but to minister!
Paul said that “God has reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and now has given to us the ministry of reconciliation.” Do you know what that means? It means that now that we’ve had our needs met by Christ, we’re to push ourselves away from the table and go find people that we can bring to Jesus so they might have their needs met.
Critics don’t do that. People in the crowd don’t do that – but friends, real companions do. Which are you?
Conclusion
You don’t have to look hard to see how much at ease our Lord felt in the presence of the paralytics, the blind, the cripples, the prostitutes, publicans and sinners. They were people who needed what He had. But too many of us have forgotten what it is to be in need. We have forgotten the loneliness and isolation that can be felt by those whose lives are torn apart.
Who are those people in your life? How many of you have sons and daughters, grandchildren, coworkers, friends and family who are alienated from the love of God? They don’t know Christ, don’t attend church; or perhaps they are saved but feel excluded from the fellowship that we enjoy so much?
Let me ask you this: How do you affect their relationship to God? How to you affect their access to God? As you think about this message, are you one of the critics who sits in judgment? Are you part of the crowd that has kept them from getting in? Or are you a true companion? Can you honestly say before God and us that today you have hold of the bedroll of that individual and you are going the distance to bring them to Christ? A companion will not be deterred. A companion will not be turned away. A companion will not give up. Solomon said,
“A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.”
Are you that kind of friend? Every day all around us there are people in need of an encounter with Jesus. Jesus can and wants to change lives. Are we helping Him or hindering Him?
Every day we encounter the lonely, the isolated and the alienated, and I would be that more than one of those people who called the man in Kansas was a church member or someone who had been turned away from one of the Lord’s churches. Can you imagine a friend of yours paying $5 to talk to a stranger because we didn’t have the time or heart for them?
You may have been working with someone to bring them to Christ, but they’ve not responded like you wanted them to. Don’t be critical of their decision. Don’t judge them as unreachable. You keep loving them and don’t let go.
Perhaps today you are sitting there and you identify more with the man in need, but you’re here and you feel like you’re being judged for something you’ve done or for what you’ve become. You may feel like you’ll never know what its like to be on the inside, and there’s no one tearing holes in the roof for you. Perhaps it is you who is isolated and lonely, even in the midst of the crowd.
Well I want to tell you today that you have a friend that sticks closer than a brother, and His name is Jesus.
