“Faith That Can Be Seen”
Mark 2:1-5
1)
And again he entered into
2)
And straightway many were gathered together, insomuch that
there was no room to receive them, no, not so much as about the door: and he
preached the word unto them.
3)
And they come unto him, bringing one sick of the palsy,
which was borne of four.
4)
And when they could not come nigh unto him for the press,
they uncovered the roof where he was: and when they had broken it up, they let
down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay.
5)
When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the
palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee.
Introduction
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people think that faith is what you use to get what you want from God. We must
believe and agree with God that what He says, He has already done.
The concept of faith is a simple one:
it requires only that one agree with God. One can do this when he is willing to
accept what He says—even when he is unable to see it.
All too often, when we are tested, we
view that test as someone “doing” something to us. This is far from the truth,
for the Lord never just allows anything to simply “happen.” On the contrary, at
no time is He ever without control of any situation. Indeed, perhaps the “most”
control He ever exercised was in His death on the Cross.
Main Thought
We are taught and required, by God, to
operate in faith that we might be certain that we do, indeed, believe Him. Of
necessity, faith must involve “action.” No one can show that he has faith apart
from doing as the Bible commands, and no one can prove that he has faith apart
from exercising it.
Contrary to what the behavior of the
human being would indicate, one’s blessing is tied to
his faith (i.e. obedience) rather than to his “relationship” with anyone. The
Lord saw that the men who had the friend with the palsy had faith because they
worked to get him to Jesus. You see, one always wants the Lord to see his
faith—not just hear that he has it.
The men with the palsied friend could
have easily gotten in trouble for tearing up the roof of the homeowner. But you
see their concern for his welfare and their faith in God caused them to be
unafraid. This just goes to show that no matter who, or “where” we “are,” if we
do as we are told (by God), we will receive the blessing.
God’s blessing is for those who will
obey, period. There is no trick to this. For too long, we have fooled ourselves
into believing that we have “control.” Not only is this not true now, it never
was! This being the case, why then, do we come to salvation and still attempt
to “make it so?”
One who belongs to God is subject to
His control. The key point here is to belong. You see,
most people who call themselves “Christians” don’t necessarily believe that
they must be “Christ-like,” but rather, they have an “understanding” with Him
which allows them to live pretty much as they always have, just with the
blessing of the Lord.
When a human being comes to the Lord,
he does not really expect to be anything other than a human being. If we are
honest, we will admit that most of us came to Him because we needed
something—and not what He most wanted to give us. Man comes to the Lord for a
variety of reasons, the majority of them selfish ones. Some of us come for
money, some for glory, some for healing, and some for peace of mind, but rarely
because we know that without Him, we cannot survive.
In general, Man finds himself
out-of-control of his environment, so his quest becomes one to regain that
control. Therefore, when he is witnessed to and told of a Redeemer Who can
provide all, he begins to hope that he can get back
“on top.” Sound familiar? Well, the problem is that the minute that one goes
down in the Name of Jesus, he becomes a “new creature”; a “creature” with no
past. What this does for us is to eliminate the need for us to worry about
anything that has preceded our “born again” experience. Does this mean that one
is to act as if he has existed? No, for if we did (as far too many of us do),
we would neither acknowledge nor appreciate what Jesus brings to one’s life.
What this does mean is that we are
granted a “clean slate” upon which the Lord can write the story of the
triumphant, redeemed life; the life that No One but God could provide. After
all, if simply being a “reformed” human being were enough, it would not have
been necessary for Jesus to sacrifice Himself and therefore, not necessary that
we be part of that sacrifice through death.
This is, indeed, the “faith that can
be seen.” This faith enables one to turn his back on that which is familiar (as
did Abraham) and focus upon the promise given him by his Savior. Contrary to
popular belief, though invested with new purpose, we are really the same
“nobody” after salvation that we were before. What makes the difference is the
fact that we become one with “Somebody called Jesus.”