Mark Chapter 2 Verses 1 - 2

• So He’s back where we saw Him in Chapter 1 before the fame of Him healing a leper forced Him into deserted places and notice as soon as folks hear that Jesus is in the house, they bum rush Him! (Did you know that “bum-rush” is actually in the dictionary and its formal definition is “to attack or seize with an overpowering rush”; first used in 1987!)

• Mark tells us that the crowd gathered was so large that it was beyond standing room only…folks were on top of each other to get near Him, to see Him, to hear Him…and I really like this scene. It’s amazing how many folks, pastors, lay leaders, professionals, even my relatives have offered me advice or services or tactics or even direction as to how to grow the church. Just out of curiosity I Googled last Thursday, “how to grow a church.” In 0.35 seconds, 85,600,000 results! And so I clicked on the top couple.

• The first one I clicked on, can you guess what the centrality of the content was? Money. The second one…texting! I don’t get it! It was all about how group texting is the new craze in church marketing or something. The third one I couldn’t even get any details without registering and receiving a free trial of some product! Nuts! Just recently Scott and I met with a couple of Christian professional men, wonderful men, who are charging forward in their own ministry and at one point in the conversation one of them said to me, “You know Matt, we can help each other. You can help us by doing so and so and we can help you grow your church by referring folks to you.”

• Now, I get a little charged up over this because early on, when God privileged us to open the doors of Calvary Cherry Creek, I was very focused on growth. I mean how can you not be when you’re a church of less than 10 ya know? But as the church grew, my fear and ambition subsided enough that I might hear the voice of God on the matter and what He said to me set me free. He showed me my precious wife, he furthered the picture to include my amazing children…and then he even included Chin, Jarrod Keith, Yvonne, Scott, Matt and He spoke directly to my heart.

• He said to me, “Matt, I’ve never asked or commanded or expected you to grow a church. I’ve only ever expected you to be used by Me to grow people. They are my treasure. Make them yours as well.” And so ever since then, whenever the conversation goes to someone telling me how to grow this ministry, I blast off man…and so I turned to this gentlemen and I said to him something like this. “I appreciate your desire to further the ministry that God has placed under my care. But with all do respect sir, I do not need your help. All I need is to love those whom the Lord has placed in my path and serve them as unto the Lord. Growth is entirely up to Him.”

• And man we see that right here. What was the draw? Free iPads? $1M worship rig? Jokes? Entertainment? Food? Gifts? Tactics? Products? Text messages!? No man, just Jesus. They simply heard Jesus was in the house and they came to be near Him. And we follow our Leader. He simply preached the Word to them…so that’s what we’ll do as well. And look, growth will happen. People will hear. They’ll see you more free, more joyful, more powerful, more wise and more loving and God will give you the drive and opportunity to share with them Jesus and then to bring them to Him…and so you see, the growth we need is our own personal growth with the Lord…and we’ll watch folks get healed all around us!!! Just like right here…

Mark Chapter 1 Verses 3 – 5

• “Yea, Jesus…appreciate that but um, so I’m in this bed…paralyzed…was kinda hoping that you could take care of that…” That may have been what this man was thinking. I mean obviously they have pressed and found a way in so that he might be healed and please know that Jesus didn’t miss that. “Hey, why are you here?” Yea, not a chance. But before healing him physically, Jesus heals him spiritually.

• The most desperate need, the most primal need of any person is to be forgiven of their sins. Jesus said in Matthew 18, “Better for one to enter into heaven maimed than enter physically whole into hell.” But this doesn’t go over too well with some of those that had gathered…

Mark Chapter 2 Verses 6 – 7

• They are spot on here! They’re right! Zinger! Even a broken watch is right twice a day! Yes!!! “True dat,” one of the scribes probably proclaimed! Only God can forgive sins…God alone…but the key of course, the mystery, the enigma, the thrilling truth is that Jesus is God! Oh how clear in the Words of scripture as Thomas would be faced with the risen Jesus and proclaim, “My Lord and my God!” How simple and easy to uncover when one simply reads the Bible to see that Jesus was God in the flesh sent to take away the sins of men! To accomplish as a Son of man what man himself could not do…

• And look…no man, other than God Himself can forgive sin because no man other than Him has the authority! Check this out, you don’t sin against me! People don’t sin against you…not ultimately! Neither you nor I are God! They may offend you, they may harm you…but the sin is ultimately against the One that is holy and righteous and higher than they…that’s neither you nor I!

• David in Psalm 51 doesn’t say that he had sinned against Bathsheba or Uriah or Nathan but against God and God alone! Why? We’ve already answered that question! All sin is against God and therefore only God has the authority to forgive it! No man can absolve anyone of sin, no matter how many rings and robes they wear…and the scribes got it right! Watch Jesus’ response.

• Response? Mark says they didn’t even express this…they simply thought it…it was just a ponderance of the heart? Right. That’s right…don’t get confused…Jesus, here, now…this scene…sees right into their hearts…Who dis? It’s God man! THE God Man

Mark Chapter 2 Verse 8

• This is what He do man! This is God! This is Father! We ask and we petition and we even demand upon God our needs, wants and desires and we reason with Him but He looks right at our hearts man! Mark just says the scribes are sitting there…that’s it. Not speaking up. Just sitting there growing bitter and confused and Jesus immediately acts Mark says! I love that! He looks at them, answers their heart!

• I appreciate that about God. I appreciate that He is more mature than me. More wise than I am. Mo better! That I can come to Him with all of my needs and all of my complaints and all of my desperate screams and as He holds me, He answers my deeper urgencies and He makes me well. Even when I don’t understand and even when it hurts man to place one foot in front of the other I do it in obedience! Not just obeying the command because sometimes it’s not clear! “Oh God what am I to do?”

• I’ve said this before because it was said to me and I have found great comfort in it, never forsake what you know for what you do not know! I do not know what to do here, Lord…so what do I do? Obey Him and wait for further orders. Obey the situation even…do what honors the Lord in the moment…you cannot go wrong!

• I think of my own kids who often give me such a wonderful picture of how I am with God…Madison, do you want to watch Mickey Mouse, or Sponge Bob? “Yes.” Huh? Uh, that doesn’t work but she is fully convinced that that is the right answer! So what do I do? Ask again? NOPE, I just act man…

• Many many many examples of this throughout scripture and so we see here a Biblical truth displayed, that God answers the very heart of the person and the very heart of the matter…

Mark Chapter 2 Verses 9 – 10

• What did Jesus just do? He identified Himself! Everyone there knows that only God is able to forgive sins and Jesus just said clearly, “I have the power to do so.” So very clear folks.

Mark Chapter 2 Verses 11 – 12

• Interesting. They all saw. They were all amazed. They all knew it was Jesus that healed him. Yet Who did they glorify? God! Now that is a direct linkage to the fact that they heard Jesus and it registered…just a moment ago when He identified Himself as God but this is also an important bit of practical righteousness.

• You see Jesus said in Matthew Chapter 5, “Let your light so shine before men, that they see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.” Which implies that there is an alternative. That we can let out light so shine before men that they see our good works and glorify…well…us…and a good indication that we are seeking our own glory is the presence of a defensive bent…an anxious ambition to make known the good that we have been up to…when, on the other hand, when we seek the glory of God alone…there’s peace…there’s an air filled with mercy. Pressing for what you need and what you want others to think…simply not there…there’s purity man…

• James would say, “willing to yield…” Think of a yield sign on the street…you’re willing to slow your roll…take it down a thousand…take a chill pill…cool your jets…hold the phone…hold your horses…get a grip…

• We can’t handle the glory folks…that’s the truth of the matter. God is the only One who is glorious and therefore He is the only One that can actually receive glory…we might try to take it but when we do man it hardens us…makes things so extremely complex…situations hard…relationships complicate…whatever happened to just singing into a fan? Remember that as a kid? Whatever happened to just being simple? And easy man…a loving child of God? That’s where the beauty is at!

• Watching the “Jesus” movie on TV the other night with my family, they always have that phone number at the bottom of the screen, just in case someone wants to talk to someone about what they’re seeing…and Madison gets all excited and yells out, “Is that Jesus’ number?” HA! You see there is such beauty in that and God is even glorified in that!!

• Jesus looked at this man who labored and tore down walls, well a ceiling in this scene, to get to Him and without delay, He healed him spiritually and He healed him physically. Could happen for you today as well…Would you open your heart to Him and walk with Him today? The whole city was amazed…”we’ve never seen anything like this…” You’ll say the same…as you open your heart and life to the Lord.