Matthew 9:2–8
“Give it all, give it all, give it all to Jesus,
Shattered dreams, wounded hearts, broken toys
Give it all, give it all, give it all to Jesus,
And He will turn your sorrows into joy.”
(Written by written by Phil Johnson and Bob Benson Sr. in 1975)
We usually define faith
as “belief in God”.
We normally see it as something that
helps us walk with God.
This morning I would like to share
with you “A Different Side of
Faith”.
In Matthew 9:2-8 we find
a familiar story:
“Back in the boat, Jesus and the disciples recrossed the sea to
Jesus’ hometown. They were hardly out of the boat when some men carried a
paraplegic on a stretcher and set him down in front of them. Jesus, impressed
by their bold belief, said to the paraplegic, “Cheer up, son. I forgive your
sins.” Some religion scholars
whispered, “Why, that’s blasphemy!”
Jesus
knew what they were thinking, and said, “Why this gossipy whispering? Which do
you think is simpler: to say, ‘I forgive your sins,’ or, ‘Get up and walk’?
Well, just so it’s clear that I’m the Son of Man and authorized to do either,
or both. . . .” At this he turned to the paraplegic and said,
“Get up. Take your bed and go home.” And the man did it. The crowd was
awestruck, amazed and pleased that God had authorized Jesus to work among them
this way” (THE MESSAGE).
There is a third side of
faith, the side that propels us to assist others in their walk with God. Note that in this story Jesus did not act
upon the paraplegic’s faith. In fact the
scripture says nothing about his faith.
When did Jesus act? Upon see the
faith of his friends. The AMP Bible
states, “Seeing their [active] faith [springing from
confidence in Him, Jesus said…’Do not be afraid, son; your sins are forgiven [the penalty
is paid, the guilt removed, and you are declared to be in right standing with
God].’” When Jesus saw their faith,
He acted upon it.
God calls us to have
faith in Jesus so that we might have our sins forgiven and be put in “right
standing” with Him, but He also calls us to be the ones who bring other people suffering under sin
to Him. He never intended that we just
sit in church and wait for the suffering people of the world to come to us.
“And he said unto them, Go ye into all
the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be
saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.” – Mark 16:15-16 KJV
We need to bring them to
Jesus. It is not up to us to convince
them. All we have to do is bring them to
Jesus just as the paraplegic’s friends did.
Jesus will take care of the rest.
Rev. Charles Stanley recently stated, “God has given us a
precious gift, which is both irreplaceable and irreversible. Because it’s always with us, we sometimes
take it for granted, waste it, or use it foolishly. But what we do with it determines the
direction and fruitfulness of our entire life.
All of us have been given 24 hours a day…although the Lord has ordained
the number of our days (Ps. 139:16), we generally have the freedom to choose
how to use our time.”
This third side of faith
is the part we need to start exercising.
The lack of exercising this faith lends to ineffectiveness not only in our
own walk with God but also in the Church as well. I once attended a little country church were
there were only eight members including myself.
All but two members were 70 or 80 years old. At one meeting we were discussing the need to
do some kind of outreach into the community to get more people to come to the
church and one of the ladies stated, “Let the younger ones do it.” How that statement grieved my heart! Not because I and my friend were the only
“young” ones, but because these precious older believers were no longer active
in their faith. They were content to sit
back and let others exercise their faith.
Let me share with you this, brothers and sisters – if you are still
alive and kicking on this earth then you are still called upon by Jesus to
bring other people to Him!
Rev. Leonard Ravinhill penned in his book, “Why Revival
Tarries”:
“Could a mariner sit idle if he heard the drowning cry?
Could a doctor sit in comfort and just let his patients
die?
Could a fireman sit idle, let men burn and give no hand?
Can you sit at ease in Zion with the world around you
DAMNED?”
The ministry of Jesus
started with Him coming as a man to bring us to God the Father. In a very similar manner we must leave our
comfort zones and bring others to Him.
This side of faith says that we believe God is powerful and loving
enough to work in the lives of others just as He has worked in our lives. All we have to do is bring them to Him.
Rev. Rick Warren said, “The
more you become God’s friend, the more you will care about the things he cares
about, grieve over the things he grieves over, and rejoice over the things that
bring pleasure to him.” What is it that
is most important to God? What is His
greatest desire?
To help us understand
God’s greatest desire let me share with you what Evangelist Robert Morris said:
“What if Adam was on the other end of the garden and did
not sin when Eve sinned? God would have
said to Adam, ‘Son, I’m so sorry to tell you this…but your bride has sinned –
and because she sinned – she’s going to die.’
God’s conversation did take place, but not with Adam…but with Jesus. What did Jesus do? Jesus said, ‘I’ll die for her. I will die so that she can live!’ Why did Jesus do that? Because you’re His greatest desire.”
Let me ask you, brothers
and sisters, what are you doing to demonstrate your love and faith in Him?
“Bring them all, bring
them all, bring them all to Jesus,
Shattered lives, wounded
hearts, unemployed
Bring them all, bring
them all, bring them all to Jesus,
And He will turn their
sorrows into joy.”
