Whatever It Takes - Luke 5:17-26

A packed room, a blocked door, and four friends who won’t take no for an answer—then a shaft of daylight as the roof opens. Pastor Trent leads us through Luke 5 and we watch love improvise a path to Jesus, revealing a surprising order of priorities: forgiveness first, healing second. The moment the man is lowered, Jesus speaks to the deepest need—“Your sins are forgiven”—and then proves his authority with a command that electrifies the room: “Rise, pick up your bed, and walk.”

This message explores why bringing people to Jesus is our greatest calling and what it looks like when a church actually lives that out. 

Transcript

Setting The Scene In Luke 5

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And it reads. Beginning in verse 17, as Lucy just read, and I'll continue the rest. On one of those days, as Jesus was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there. Jesus is, of course, preaching the kingdom of God, the good news of his arrival, and what it meant for those he was speaking to. Pharisees who were religious leaders, not employed staff members of local synagogues, but a well respected group of mostly middle class businessmen, workmen, who had devoted themselves to oral teaching on top of tithing and memorizing scripture. We know in Jesus' ministry, however, that that oral teaching sometimes took priority over living the heart of God's law, and it kind of produced in them a prideful, dead, dry religion that we see in Luke 18, the Pharisee and the tax collector. God, I'm so thankful I'm not him. There were teachers of the law as well. Teachers of the law were scribes. They had a knowledge of God's law through memory. They also had a knowledge of God's law to draft legal documents, licenses, contracts for marriage, divorce, loans, inheritance. Most villages in that day had at least one scribe you'd go to to carry out business in the Jewish world. Well, Jesus, as we learned from Mark's account, is in a house, and we'll learn soon he's in a house. That house is so packed. He's in the middle of it. Jesus, of course, as we've already mentioned, is very popular at this point of his ministry. People are sitting, people are standing, they want to hear what he has to say, they want to see him heal. People had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem, and the power of the Lord, as the power of the Lord's Spirit, was with him to heal. I have two main points in the message this morning. They are the two capitalized sections in your notes. The first one is bringing people to Jesus is our greatest calling. Bringing people to Jesus is our greatest calling. You'll notice in your notes there is an error because it says three characteristics of these three friends. Well, here are four. I don't know how it got written wrong, but there are four friends. We're gonna learn that again from the Gospel of Mark, but there are three characteristics of these four friends. And I think before we get to the main point of the text, I think there's a sub point here that we should emulate the example of these four friends. There's something I think we're supposed to take from this story, and it is from these four friends. Three things, four friends, three things. Here's the first. Verse 18 says, Some men were bringing on a bed a man who was paralyzed, and they were seeking him to bring him in and lay him before Jesus. So, in short, four men had the desire to bring one man face to face with Jesus because of what they heard about Jesus. Jesus was in this place like he was other places for limited times, as he would retreat and go pray, or he would find a new town or a village and go preach. These men learned about Jesus being in town, and they did all they can to bring one friend face to face with Jesus. They were ready to bring him. I do have a word of caution here that I want to try to help. A word of caution when we come to a text that we know so well is that it is so familiar that the emotional punch it's intended to have is dull. You already know what's gonna happen. I think Luke writing this is communicating a story that was very emotional. There is no gospel account to tell us how this man was paralyzed. So, for the sake of us understanding how emotional this story is, let me propose what could have been a reason he was paralyzed. Again, this is extra biblical. I do it to share a point. I wrote a story illustrating it and I want to read it to you. Imagine quite a few years back, a group of high school boys, five of them, went out to climb some rocks. They didn't have iPads, they didn't have cell phones, Minecraft was not a thing. So they all get together, they go, and they go climbing. The day was a day of competition. Who could climb the fastest, the highest, the longest? They were climbing a rock face, as we could imagine. And one of the five fell. In this situation, they were unprepared. They went out for friendly competition. The one who fell, just imagine with me, was the best climber. Nevertheless, while free climbing the rock face, a portion of a rock that he had temporarily relied upon with his foot to change his grip gave way, and down he fell, far enough that he crashed and could not get back up. Friendly laughing immediately turned to frantic screaming as all the boys thought, what do we do? One of them ran back to tell a parent and bring back a sort of improvised stretcher to get him back to the village. And this stretcher became his home, his bed for the next however many years.

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Never more to climb or walk.

Feeling The Weight Of The Story

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And as more as traumatic as that day was, more tragic was the man's future. In such a day, not being able to walk meaning meant you could not work. Yet one, if we could imagine in such a situation, couldn't be more blessed to have friends he might have had. Friends like these four. They were kind, bringing food day in and day out. They were married, had kids. They would sit and listen to him, share their lives with a sort of love that took great care to balance what they experienced, knowing what he would never experience. They wished to help more, after all. Had any of them been climbing that day that route, it would have been them, and some days they wish it was. They'd love their friend. And while he may have still been breathing, he lived a sort of dead life, confined to a mattress like a coffin. Now, truth be told, we have no idea how this man became paralyzed or how long he was paralyzed. But we do know, at a minimum, he had four friends. Four friends who cared for him. Four friends who heard about a man named Jesus. A man named Jesus who'd been able to heal people like their friend. He had healed many. He'd even healed a leper. And who can do that? Moreover, word had been traveling that he was the Messiah, the long-awaited savior, come from the line of David, preaching about the kingdom of God, offering salvation and forgiveness of sin to those with the faith of Abraham. And when news got out that he had come around their area, you can just imagine one of the friends hearing about it, saying, We got to take our friend. So he sprinted and went to the home of a second friend. Jesus is in town. Yeah, the one you've heard about who can heal. The two went to the third house. They don't have texting. Hey, Jesus is in town. Let's go take our friend. The three to their fourth friend. Hey, Jesus is in town. Let's take our friend. Maybe his life can change. And without thinking how long the walk would be or how heavy their friend had become with his sedentary lifestyle, they grabbed a corner of a mattress or a cot or a sheet and carried their friend to be face to face with Jesus. They had not felt a calling so urgent that day as the day they took the friend back home.

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Carrying him probably just the same.

Be Ready For Gospel Conversations

Carry Your Corner Responsibility

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When the opportunity arose to bring their friend before Jesus, they were ready. Now, supposing the story is even close to what truly was behind the scenes, we know four friends love their friend enough to bring him to Jesus. Now, Jesus is no longer walking the earth as he was 2,000 years ago, but the person and power of his spirit is alive and works through you and I, dear believer. And there are many living among us, yet just as lifeless as the man on the cot. Some even friends. And I just have to say, as we just look at these guys, are we as eager to be the evangelists that these four friends were? Now, their hope was Jesus could heal physically. Our belief is that Jesus can heal spiritually and forgive sins. Do we recognize our friends are just as lifeless, headed to a future apart from the saving grace of God? And are we eager to bring our friends face to face with Jesus, knowing he can heal eternally, as these four friends were for the physical well-being of their friend? Do we know the consequences of leaving them where they are otherwise? I mean, maybe we see this story and just emulate their eagerness. They don't know how long Jesus was going to be there. They made sure their friend got before Jesus. Second thing I just wanted I just want to point out. Well, before I even do that. So what do I mean by being ready? It would be helpful for me to clarify that. I mean being ready for a gospel conversation with the friends and family members around you. Jesus is active by his Spirit through his word. What will it take for you to be prepared to bring the Word of God to bear in your friends or family members' life? Maybe that's memorizing scripture so that when you don't have a Bible in front of you, but you're sitting around a dinner table or around Christmas time or at a family reunion, you can share what you've learned from the Bible because God's word is sharper than every than any two-edged sword. It pierces the soul. It's living and active. Romans 1.16 tells us that the gospel is the power of salvation to everyone who believes. Maybe it's thinking through your testimony. Maybe it's having a few verses to share that illustrate and communicate the gospel message. Maybe it's holding on to a few uh sentences that summarize the gospel message. David Platt, in a book he wrote called Missional Precision, he wrote a paragraph out for his church to memorize each phrase being a part of the gospel message tied to a scripture. And it looks a little bit like this. The gospel tells us that the just and gracious creator of the universe has looked down upon hopelessly sinful men and women and sent his son, God in the flesh, to bear his wrath against sin of the cross, to show his power over sin in the resurrection, so that everyone who turns from their sin, that is, repents, and places their faith and trust in him, will be reconciled to God forever. Maybe that's you just want to memorize a paragraph with some verses attached. For me, most often in communicating the gospel, that is having a set of scriptures memorized, and what I have memorized is Ephesians 2, 1 through 10. Ephesians 2, 1 through 10, if you want to note that in your notes, it is 10 verses and it is the gospel message. And it is written in such a way by the Apostle Paul that you can interweave your testimony in there to show how the gospel works in the human life. Ephesians 2, 1 through 10 starts a little bit like this. And you were dead in the trespasses of sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience, and who are by nature children of wrath like the rest of mankind. And then it says, But God, being rich in mercy, and all wisdom and insight, lavished love upon us, raised us up with him, sealed us up with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Ephesians 2, 1 through 10. I mean, the the outline of that passage, my life before Christ, I was dead. My life because of Christ, I am now alive. My life now with Christ, for we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for the good works he has prepared beforehand. It's verse 10. My life now with Christ. You can share what God has done in your life, what he accomplished 2,000 years ago, and how he changed your life. Whatever it is, be ready. That might not be your way, be ready. First Peter 3:15 says, honor Christ by always being prepared to give a reason for the hope that is in you, and do so with gentleness and respect. Be ready. Let me encourage you, be ready. Second thing, I want us to emulate. We ought to consider ourselves responsible. Not responsible necessarily to save, but responsible to bring our friends face to face before Jesus. This may be assumed from the word ready, but I don't want to assume it. These four guys, they worked together, each of them carrying their corner to bring their friend to Jesus. Now, it is highly unlikely that you or I will have an experience carrying someone on a stretcher to be physically healed by Jesus. However, each of us may still figuratively carry a quote-unquote leg of the bed or a corner of the cot. We might be one of many sharing our faith, bringing the word of God to bear, that God uses to save their life. I have a friend, a friend who runs ultra marathons in Colorado named Max. Max is crazy. Ultramarathons, that is a hundred mile races in Colorado. What does Colorado have? Mountains. Insanity. One time I reached out to Max and I said, Okay, uh, are you okay? How does this work? What a hundred-mile races look like. Well, I learned a lot about ultramarathons. Not to the point that I want to do them, but I learned a lot about ultramarathons. Here's what he told me. He said, Hey, there's not many people who actually do them in the world. And you're like, duh, but there's not many people who do them. And a lot of them like are part of like Facebook groups. They know each other. And as you can imagine, Trent, Max said, the emotional toll in a hundred-mile race is far greater than the physical toll. You're just telling yourself, I could give up right now. No one really cares. And they'll congratulate me on Facebook, but no one really cares. And so what they do is they will choose among friend groups who's going to race the Leadville 100 or the Rocky 100. And they'll get other friends who will run a portion of the race so that they make it to the finish line. Literally. So Max runs a 100-mile race, he'll get Alex to run the first 25 miles with him, pacing him and saying, keep going. I'm gonna get you there. Then he'll have Matt run the next 25 miles. Now, Alex, Matt, Jim, and Bob will get no credit for running the race. They just played a small part. They knew their task, though. I have to make sure that I do all I can to make sure my friend gets across that finish line. I will take, I will carry my corner. I will take part. Let me encourage you. This is a picture of what discipleship looks like. What evangelism looks like. How many times have you heard someone say, you know, I heard about Christ from this person and this person and this person? And then God in his sovereignty opened my eyes to where I was formerly blind and I believe the gospel. Sometimes people have heard the gospel many times before they place their faith and trust in Christ. Will you be faithful to be one of many, sharing the gospel, and God uses planting a seed that someone else waters that God brings fruit from? Will you do whatever it takes? Carrying your corner. Discipleship is nothing less than doing all you can to prepare your friend to meet Jesus. I'll say that again. Discipleship is nothing less than taking the responsibility to do all we can to make sure a person crosses the finish line of eternity prepared to meet Jesus. That begins by introduction, that goes on through teaching, training, church membership, discipleship. Hebrews 12, 15 tells church members, see to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God. Our friends saw to it that their friend was face to face with Jesus. Sometimes we're just one of many, working together, but will we take up the responsibility to do all we can to bring our friend face to face with Jesus? I'll say it again: discipleship is nothing less, it's on the screen, than taking the responsibility to do all we can to make sure a person crosses the finish line of eternity prepared to meet Jesus. Let me say it this way: in the context of a local church, church members have the responsibility, according to Hebrews 12, 15 and Hebrews 10, 24 and 25, to do everything we can to ensure those running the race of life at the end of life cross the threshold of heaven's door. That means me as a pastor and as a church member of Redeemer City, hey, my task is to do all I can to make sure Walter makes it to heaven ready. Stands before God ready to meet him. Nick, ready. Katie Beth, ready. Lucy, ready, Jesse ready. Working together. Seeing to it, no one fails to obtain the grace of God. Third thing I think we should see from these men. We ought to be relentless in that task. Relentless. So back to the scene at hand. Mark's account of the same story says Jesus was in the house, so many were gathered, you couldn't enter the door. So what do our four friends do? Are they deterred? No, they are not. Finding no way to bring him in, verse 18, because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and they let him down with his bed through the tiles in the midst before Jesus. The front is blocked, so they make a hole in the roof. Roof. So, I mean, just imagine what they just did. I don't know how many friends' houses that you've been inside of. Uh, some of those houses are, you know, uh the mom or the dad, they're like clean freaks, right? And I grew up with, you know, friends who had clean freak parents. And so you take your shoes off before you walk inside. Not even on the inside do you take your shoes off, take your shoes off outside, you walk inside, no messy house. I've also been in houses where you want to keep your shoes on when you walk around. But I have never met anyone who said, you can't make it in, just go ahead and cut a hole in the roof and kind of make your way in. So you can imagine all these people are crowded, owner of the home, maybe Peter, in the middle of the crowd next to Jesus. All of a sudden sunlight comes in. They didn't have sunroofs, and so he's looking up and he's like, oh no, not good. Runs out of the house, pushing everybody out of the way, trying to stop these people from making a DIY sunroof, right? But that doesn't deter our friends. They're determined. They know exactly what they're doing. They've already counted the costs, probably, of how much money it's going to take to repair the roof and what this will do with their relational reputation in that village. They don't care. Why? Because they're bringing their friend to Jesus.

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They know he can heal. And they know it's their friend's only hope.

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They may have had in the back of their minds the cost of damaging the roof. They may have in the back of their minds the you know, the destroying their reputation in the village, but that that that day, those thoughts did not win out. Why? Because they were bringing their friend to Jesus. What would stop you from doing whatever it takes to bring the message of Christ, the saving message of Christ, the salvation we know it can bring to your friend who's just as lifeless?

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More lifeless. Think about that. What prohibits you from taking responsibility? From being relentless?

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What would it look like in our church, in our city, and in our country if the church of the living God cared less about their own reputation and more about their friend's salvation? Really? What would it look like if our friend's salvation was more important to us than our personal reputation? It might look something like that. A crazy moment. I think you need to see that. I think your heart needs to be kind of gutted a little bit. Because what Jesus does is not what they initi initially what they thought he was going to do. Bringing people to Jesus is our greatest calling, but we must believe that Jesus has the authority to meet our friend's greatest need. There's one reason it's so important to bring your friend to Jesus. Face to face with him and his word. Verse 20 When he saw their faith, he said, Man, your sins are forgiven you. At first you're like, Yeah, it's not why we came. Man, your sins are forgiven you. Before we talk about what he did, let's make it clear. The Bible says that every single human being on the face of the earth is guilty before a holy God because of their rebellious sin against him. Each one of us has gone our own way, turned our back against the God of the heavens who gave us life and meaning and purpose, purpose to glorify him, and we sinned. We defied him, denied him, disobeyed him. And the Bible teaches us that the wages of that sin against a holy God is death. The punishment for your rebellion is wrath. God's wrath. We have a debt, every single one of us, that unless it is forgiven, will be paid by our own damnation. What Jesus shows us in this story and says aloud in this group of people is that He has authority to forgive that debt.

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This is the greatest need of the day.

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That God would be willing to forgive our sin and reconcile us to himself. That God would be willing to send his only son to die as a payment, bearing his wrath, so that he remains just as he must, but allows sinners into his presence, receiving the righteousness of his son. The man's greatest need is perceived by Jesus and he meets it. Jesus perceives this man's greatest need and he heals him for all eternity. Like that. You see, we believe in Ephesians chapter 2 that the only requirement for forgiveness is faith. And Jesus sees what no one else can see deep beneath the actions of five men who want to see him. And it's faith in him, regardless if they understand it all yet. It's faith in him, genuine faith, saving faith, a knowledge that he and he alone can save them. Let me be clear, if I'm not already, the man's greatest need was to be forgiven his sin, spiritual life, not just physical life. Why? Because a man with new legs may walk well, but may walk his own way all the way to hell. What did Jesus say? He put these things into perspective. If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out. It's far better for you to go without an eye and without an arm to heaven than two arms, two eyes to hell. He knew that. He's teaching that. The greatest need, forgiveness. The man's first and greatest need was the word of life, not the work of his legs. Dehabilitating paralysis in life is no comp is of no comparison to divine punishment after death. So Jesus provides for him that day the greatest miracle by meeting his greatest need. Now, as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, we have the Bible from start to finish instructing us who he is. We've heard sermons about what he came to do, we've sung songs about the forgiveness Jesus offers, but many in the room that day did not know or even believe, or believe, or even know who Jesus was. They knew his popularity, they'd seen his power, many of them. They had heard and he had displayed his authority over demons and disease and nature, but many had not yet heard his authority, or at least his claim to have the authority to forgive sins. So this is a dramatic moment. Jesus perceives their thoughts in verses 23-24. Why do you question in your hearts which is easier to say, your sins are forgiven you, or to say, rise and walk? Verse 24. You see verse 24? But that you may know the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins. He said to the man who was paralyzed, I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and walk. So let's be clear in the story. Jesus met the greatest need. People grumbled and they said, Who is this man who says he has authority to forgive sins? Jesus hears their thoughts. He says, Okay, you can't see sins forgiven in this moment, and you may not see this man again.

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Get up. Man walks. Room is silent. This is again one of those mic drop moments.

Jesus Addresses The Deeper Need

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I am who I say I am. He leaves no room for excuse. And the man who'd probably been laying down for a long time, his muscles are just fine to walk. Maybe to dance. All the way home, forever changed. Why forever changed? Because it wasn't just legs he got that day. It was the Lord's kindness and forgiving of his sin.

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You need proof? Look at him.

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Though some did not believe still. There were many in that room that experienced Jesus' power and glorified God, saying, They had seen extraordinary things that day. But hear me closely. Even if everyone in that room joined in the disbelief of the Pharisees and the scribes who grumbled, it would be perfectly fine because Jesus saved one.

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Five.

Authority To Forgive Proved By Healing

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And he's okay with that. Because at one, what does Luke 15 tell us later? All of heaven rejoices. He is just dancing just like what's happened in heaven. Four men who stopped at nothing to bring their friend face to face with Jesus did not do so in vain. They locked arms, they joined on mission for the sake of one who God saved. So let me encourage you this morning. Many may mock you in life for insisting on doing all you can to bring your friend face to face before Jesus, but do it anyway. Take a note from the three friends, four friends. Be ready. Be missionally diligent. Consider what friends you have that need to hear the saving message of Jesus Christ. That might mean preparing yourself for a gospel conversation. That does mean praying for them now. Consider it a responsibility. The call to be a disciple was the call to be a disciple maker. As a believer, you're a citizen of God's kingdom and an ambassador of it. Introduce people to the king. Whatever it takes, carry your corner. Be one of many, planting seeds, others may water, God may cause fruit. Be ready, consider responsibility, and be relentless. Do not let anything deter you from the mission God assigned you. Care less about your present life than their eternal life. You never know. If you carry your corner, doing whatever it takes, you may introduce your friend to Jesus and they may walk home a new person glorifying God. Discipleship is nothing less than taking the responsibility to do all we can to prepare our friends for when they stand before God. Will you do whatever you can to bring your friends face to face before Jesus? So when they do stand face before Jesus, they will be gladly welcomed across the threshold of heaven's door. See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God. Let's pray. God, we thank you that you call us to be witnesses. Convict us this morning. To have the same heart Jesus had when he looked at the crowds and he had compassion on them, seeing many without a shepherd. Lord, open our eyes, the lostness around us. It is not lost on you who you put us around, the jobs you've given us, the cubicle we're in, the place we work, our family members, our suite mates, our roommates, our classmates. It is of no coincidence. Embolden us by your spirit to evangelize sharing your gospel. And do the one thing we can't. We can be faithful to bring our friends face to face. God, we pray that you would save. You've not yet returned. And so we believe you're still doing that. So we pray for our friends this morning. We pray for our family members this morning. We pray for our coworkers, our classmates. We pray for those you put us around. As we are faithful, would you say you know our hearts? I do pray that you would convict us where necessary and encourage us where necessary. That we might take the calling that you've given us. In your name we pray. Amen.