Four Faithful Friends- Luke 5:17-26

On one of those days, as he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting there, who had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem. And the power of the Lord was with him to heal. And behold, some men were bringing on a bed a man who was paralyzed, and they were seeking to bring him in and lay him before Jesus, but finding no way to bring him in, because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and let him down with his bed through the tiles into the midst before Jesus. And when he saw their faith, he said, "Man, your sins are forgiven you." And the scribes and the Pharisees began to question, saying, "Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God alone?" When Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answered them, "Why do you question in your hearts? Which is easier, to say, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Rise and walk'? But that you may know that 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 go home." And immediately he rose up before them and picked up what he had been lying on and went home, glorifying God. And amazement seized them all, and they glorified God and were filled with awe, saying, "We have seen extraordinary things today."

First things first....wouldn't you have given anything to be there that day? But think about all the people you could have been...a listener, a disciple, a Pharisee, a paralytic...or someone's friend who just happened to have great faith.

WHAT WOULD YOU BE WILLING TO DO FOR YOUR BEST FRIEND?

We see an interesting phrase: "And the power of the Lord was present for him to heal the sick" (5:17b). Does this mean that the power of God was NOT always with him to heal? No, not at all.

It's just another in a series of mentions Luke makes of the POWER of the Holy Spirit that is upon Jesus for ministry:

• "Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan...." (4:1)
• "Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit...." (4:14)
• "The Spirit of the Lord is on me because he has anointed me to...." (4:18)
• "With authority and power he gives orders to evil spirits and they come out" (4:36)
• "The people all tried to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing them all." (6:19)
• "Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out from me." (8:46)
• "He gave them power and authority to drive out all demons and to cure diseases...." (9:1)

But, when Jesus saw their faith...the whole situation begin to change.

FAITH -- someone's faith -- is one important ingredient in healing. Lack of faith in Jesus' hometown of Nazareth resulted in few healings (Matthew 13:58; Mark 6:5-6).

"Friend, your sins are forgiven' " (5:20).

Jesus knows that if he forgives the paralytic his sins, it would cause a great stir. I can't escape the impression that Jesus deliberately provokes the scribes and Pharisees. Now he increases their discomfort with a choice: "Which is easier? To say:

"Your sins are forgiven" OR "Get up and walk".

Then he tells the man to get up, healing him. The clear take away lesson is that Jesus has the authority to forgive sins AND heal the sick. Anyone can say, "Your sins are forgiven." Those are easy words to say, and who can tell whether or not the sins really HAVE been forgiven. But Jesus both pronounces forgiveness and then heals. GOD WORKS ON US FROM THE INSIDE OUT!

Today, some of us need to come and be forgiven and receive a blessing of healing as well.
WHAT IS PARALYZING YOU FROM RECEIVING FROM JESUS?

One of the biggest things paralyzing the church today is FEAR: The Bible speaks to this…

"Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for FEAR that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God." (John 3:20-21)

"For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to FEAR, but you received the Spirit of sonship." (Romans 8:15)

"For God did not give us a spirit of FEAR, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline." (2 Timothy 1:7 )

What's the OBSTACLE in your life that is preventing you from experiencing the POWER of Jesus in your life? Here’s some examples that most of us struggle with:
·A habit …
·a secret sin …
·a person you don't like
·a person in church you don't like or talk to...
your love for the world or the things of the world?

We must lose our fear...go deeper into our faith, and be open & willing to receive a word or work that God wants to do in our life.

What lessons are intended for us disciples to grasp from this day's events?
1. The importance of persistent, unstoppable faith in receiving from Jesus.
2. Jesus' authority on earth of forgive sins.
3. Jesus' authority to heal the paralyzed.
4. Fearlessness before the religious authorities.
5. A willingness to stretch people's understanding, even at the risk of offense.

Questions to Discuss :
1. What quality did Jesus see in the paralytic man who was lowered from the roof?What were his first words to him? (v. 20) Is forgiveness a kind of healing?

2. Why do you think Jesus spoke the extremely controversial words, "Your sins are forgiven." He could have been less offensive to the visiting guests. Why did he choose not to be?

3. What is the connection between sin and sickness in this passage?

4. Which of the two phrases IS easier to say? "Your sins are forgiven!" OR "Get up, take your mat, and go home!"? What point did Jesus want us to draw from this incident?

5. Why did Jesus use the term "Son of Man" rather than "Son of God" or "Messiah"?

6. Whom do you feel most like at present? The paralyzed man or one of the four friends? Why?

7. From whom do we need forgiveness? To whom should we give forgiveness?

"If You Are Willing.." Healing a Leper-Luke 5:12-15

While Jesus was in one of the towns, a man came along who was covered with leprosy. When he saw Jesus, he fell with his face to the ground and begged him, "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean." Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" And immediately the leprosy left him. Then Jesus ordered him, "Don't tell anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them." Yet the news about him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses.
Luke 5:12-15

Speaking...the Unspeakable,
Doing.........the Undoable,
TOUCHING...the Untouchable!
Leprosy is a disease of the nervous system, you can’t feel pain, you get infection, your body deforms and then your limbs deteriorate. Leprosy made a person ritually unclean. To touch a leper defiled a Jew almost as much as touching a dead person. In a sense, leprosy was a sign of God's disfavor. Healing a leper had not been done in Israel for 700 years, and was thought to be an earmark of the Messianic Age when leprosy would no longer afflict people. Jesus sent a message of this to John per his disciples in Luke 7:20-23:

When the men came to Jesus, they said, "John the Baptist sent us to you to ask, 'Are you the one who was to come, or should we expect someone else?' " At that very time Jesus cured many who had diseases, sicknesses and evil spirits, and gave sight to many who were blind. So he replied to the messengers, "Go back and report to John what you have seen and heard: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cured, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is preached to the poor. Blessed is the man who does not fall away on account of me."

To the rabbis, the cure of a leper was as difficult as raising a person from the dead. In all Biblical history only two people had been cured of leprosy -- Miriam, who had leprosy for seven days as a punishment for speaking against Moses' leadership (Numbers 12:9-15), and Naaman, general of the army of Aram, an heathen from Damascus (2 Kings 5). When he obeyed Elijah's instruction to wash seven times in the Jordan River he was healed.

But what about this man, this leper?

He would have been subject to the rules of the law.

"The person with such an infectious disease must wear torn clothes, let his hair be unkempt, cover the lower part of his face and cry out, 'Unclean! Unclean!' As long as he has the infection he remains unclean. He must live alone; he must live outside the camp" Leviticus 13:45-46

But, the Healer is in town...the new rabbi on the scene, the one who does things different, speaks different, is different. Maybe if he could get to him...things would be different. Desperate times call for desperate measures...so he runs, not shouting "Unclean", and then falls down on his face in front of this new and different Rabbi.

LORD, IF YOU ARE WILLING..., YOU CAN MAKE ME CLEAN!

It is a statement of FAITH.A deep faith that believes Jesus WILL DO something that has not been done in 700 years! (Why can’t we believe that Jesus is will to heal our pasts, or what happened just months ago?) It isn't a matter of ABILITY, the leper is saying. It is ONLY a matter of WILL. Jesus is ABLE to heal him. And then, the new Rabbi breaks the rules too, he goes way over the "comfort zone" of the day, the crowd gasps in astonishment and Jesus does the unthinkable...He reaches down and touches the man with his deformed and deteriorated skin and says,

I WANT TO...BE CLEAN!

3 LESSSONS FROM A LEPER:
1. Jesus' expressed will is to HEAL. That should be our assumption, not considered the exception. We have forgotten Jesus had a threefold ministry of Preaching, Teaching, & Healing.
2. Jesus doesn't shrink from TOUCHING the unlovely. Neither should we.
3. Our FAITH should be as BOLD as the leper's in order to receive from Jesus.

We need to KNOW & LEARN the difference between believing God CAN DO something for us... and believing that he WANTS TO DO something for us
LEPROSY is much like SIN...It starts inside us, it spreads,it eats away in us, it rots us, it defiles us, it make us UNCLEAN to a HOLY GOD! Just as leprosy ISOLATED people then, one day SIN will isolate people to HELL, and result in everlasting DEATH.

And with this new cleanness, the man is given a new command: "Go and show yourself" to the priest...as a testimony. Notice that Jesus stays within the tradition of the day...he honors it. But Jesus also orders him not to tell anyone about this incident, to which the other Gospels writers say he went and told everyone.

How ironic, Jesus told people in his day NOT to TELL ANYONE about Him and they TOLD EVERYONE, but Jesus told US to TELL EVERYONE about Him and what He does, and most of us DON'T TELL anyone!

So, if YOU know what God CAN DO, then what is keeping you from asking him what He WILL DO for you in your situation, with your past, with your infirmity?

Questions to Discuss:

1. Who in our society are treated like lepers were treated in Jesus' day? Who sometimes feels like a leper in the presence of Jesus?

2. Describe the kind of faith it takes to act and speak as this leper did. What level of belief was required of him?

3. What is the difference between believing God CAN do something for us and believing that he WANTS to do something for us? Would you call the difference faith? or knowledge? or both?

4. After Jesus touched the man and cured him of leprosy, why did he have to show himself to the priest? (Leviticus 13 and 14)

5. What person in your life could most benefit from a caring touch from you in the name of Christ?

Into Deep Water-The Calling of Peter (Luke 5:1-11)

1 Once when he was standing on the shore of Lake Gennesaret, the crowd was pushing in on him to better hear the Word of God. 2 He noticed two boats tied up. The fishermen had just left them and were out scrubbing their nets. 3 He climbed into the boat that was Simon's and asked him to put out a little from the shore. Sitting there, using the boat for a pulpit, he taught the crowd. 4 When he finished teaching, he said to Simon, "Push out into deep water and let your nets out for a catch." 5 Simon said, "Master, we've been fishing hard all night and haven't caught even a minnow. But if you say so, I'll let out the nets." 6 It was no sooner said than done - a huge haul of fish, straining the nets past capacity. 7 They waved to their partners in the other boat to come help them. They filled both boats, nearly swamping them with the catch. 8 Simon Peter, when he saw it, fell to his knees before Jesus. "Master, leave. I'm a sinner and can't handle this holiness. Leave me to myself." 9 When they pulled in that catch of fish, awe overwhelmed Simon and everyone with him. 10 It was the same with James and John, Zebedee's sons, coworkers with Simon. 11 They pulled their boats up on the beach, left them, nets and all, and followed him. (The Message)

Jesus was always concerned about individuals. He preached to great crowds, but His message was always to the individual, and He took time to help people personally. His purpose was to transform them and then send them out to share His message of love & forgiveness with others.

Points of the Passage:

• The would-be disciples were found washing their nets-if not washed would rot and break. Jesus came to them on their everyday activity, and they answered rather than continuing to "wash their nets."
• They had fished all night- and caught nothing-It was a well-known fact that, in the Sea of Galilee, you caught fish at night in the shallow water, not in the daytime in the deep water. Jesus asked Peter to do something CONTARY & DIFFERENT to what they knew and had experienced.
• The key was his faith in the Word of God: “Nevertheless, at thy word” (Luke 5:5).
• Peter first trusted him to “put out a little”….then trusted Jesus when He said “put out a lot...into the deep”-notice Jesus’ method of teaching and building our faith. Jesus later said this in scripture.
  Luke 16:10/ 10. He that is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much: and he that is unrighteous in a very little is unrighteous also in much.
• Notice Peter and Andrew called their partners to share in their blessing…they were channels, not reservoirs. Do we share our blessings…or stingily keep them?

If we don’t OBEY the commands of God, we don’t have an obedience problem, we have a LOVE problem…a relationship problem. It’s because we are not as in LOVE with God, because we do not respect Him enough out of that LOVE, that we don’t obey his commands.

John 14:21/ 21. Whoever has my commands and OBEYS them, he is the one who LOVES me. He who LOVES me will be LOVED by my Father, and I too will LOVE him and show myself to him."

DO YOU THINK HE WANTS US TO KNOW...HE LOVES US!

If you’re not seeing God or Jesus, or His blessings in your life…maybe you need to check your LOVE for Him!

The commands of God are not burdensome, not restrictive, do not bring bondage…but FREEDOM…and set limits on our lives so that they can be the BEST lives ever!

Matthew 11:28-30/"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

“So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him…”

EVERYTHING? WHAT??? You mean EVERYTHING...I mean really, leave everything, the steady job, the money, the wife, the kids, the place they grew up...?

I think the fishermen who would become disciples left these things...but I also think they left other things too...like pride, self-centerness, arrogance and many other negative characteristics we tend to develop over our lives.

WHAT DO YOU NEED TO LEAVE BEHIND..IN ORDER TO TRULY FOLLOW HIM?

Questions to Discuss:
1. Have you ever participated in a project on which everyone worked very hard,only to experience failure? How did you feel? How would you feel if someonecompletely unconnected with the project and with no expertise in the area came along and told you to start over?
2. How did Simon respond to Jesus’ instructions to cast their nets again? (Vs 5). What was the purpose of this? Was Jesus testing Simon’s faith?
3. What are the areas in your life where God requires long-term obedience from you in spite of failures? Do you sometimes feel like you are just standing around "washing your nets?" What would be your "nets"?
4. How did Simon react when he realized that Jesus had just done a miracle for them? (Vs 8-9)
5. How did Simon and the others respond to Jesus’ invitation to follow him? (Vs 11) In what way is Simon’s reaction an example for us to follow? What do you need to leave behind today in order to follow Christ?
6.Why doesn't Jesus address Peter's sinfulness at this point? What does Jesus talk about instead?
7.Does Jesus require ALL his disciples to leave everything? If not, why not? If so, in what sense?