Luke 5:17-26
The Power God Gave the People
We are looking at a section of the gospels. The word gospel means GOOD NEWS.
These books, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, are called books of GOOD NEWS because
they center on the life and death of Jesus. As we read the gospels, we can expect
to see accounts of Jesus doing great works.
Luke has given us the details of many of them.
\\#Luke 4::28-30\\ He had power to pass through His enemies.
\\#Luke 4:32\\ He had power in His Word.
\\#Luke 4:33-37\\ He had power over demons.
\\#Luke 4:38-39\\ He had power over sickness.
\\#Luke 4:40-41\\ He had power with the multitudes.
\\#Luke 5:4-11\\ He had power over the fish of the sea.
And, in this story too, we see what Jesus can do. Four men bring a man who is
paralyzed to Jesus, and Jesus heals him. There is no doubt that Jesus did the
miracle.
However, in this story, things are a little different because when it came to this
man walking away, the man not only owed gratitude to Jesus… he also owed
gratitude to those four men. After all, Jesus would not have been able to heal
this man if the four had not brought him to Jesus.
So, even though we are looking at a gospel account, a story in which Jesus healed
a man, let us notice something a little different tonight. Let’s us notice The
Power God Gave the People.
I. \\#18\\ God gave the people the power to DO.
A. The Bible tells us that one sick man was borne of four.
1. Well, that was toward the end of their task.
2. But before the four could carry the man, they had to DO some other
tasks.
a. They had to organize and plan their work.
b. They had to build a stretcher
c. Then that had to bring the man to Christ.
d. When they saw the crowds, they had to re-organize.
e. Then they carried him up to the roof-that was probably a lot
harder than just walking up a flight of stairs.
f. They had to find some rope and make a sling.
g. They had to brake some the ceiling tiles.
h. They had to lower the man down.
B. I think of the many powers God has given us, perhaps the one we take
for granted the most is the power to DO SOMETHING.
1. You ought not take that power for granted.
a. There was a time when you could not do anything.
(1) You had someone else to dress you.
(2) You had someone to feed you, to clean you, to carry you.
b. And if you live long enough, you will probably have that
happen again.
(1) Isn’t that a terrible thought?
(2) I was the nursing home yesterday, and I walked past a lot
of rooms where people had to be dressed, feed, cleaned,
and carried.
2. You want to know a problem a lot of people have?
a. A lot of people don’t realize just how blessed they are
because of what they can do?
b. They take their freedom, their mobility, their senses, their
mind, their pain free body—all for granted.
c. If God has given you the ability to do something as simple as
carry someone else to Jesus, you have been given a great
power by God.
C. And then just think of the other abilities you have, the abilities
that are not so common to others.
1. I would hate to have to carry man cross country in a stretcher
that I build for him.
2. And I would hate to have be lowered from a roof in a sling I made
up rope.
3. I have some gifts and abilities, but engineering and building are
not among them.
4. That’s all right because I would hate to walk cross country with
some of you trying to plot the course. (Some of you would have
us following the sun toward the NORTH!)
5. I am simply saying that each of us has been blessed by God with
certain abilities unique to us.
a. These are our own unique abilities that we can contribute to
life, to our family, to our work, and to our God.
b. Again, the problem is that so many have been blessed with these
powers but they don’t realize how blessed they are!
c. You unique talents and abilities are a POWER that God has given
to you and God wants you, not only to use them for your own
profit, but to use them to serve God, to bring glory to God,
and to get others to God.
6. What you can DO is indeed a power that God has given the people
so that great things can be accomplished for Him.
II. God gave the people the power of DUTY.
A. There were actually two groups of people present the day this man was
healed.
1. There was the masses of people huddled around the house listening
to Jesus.
a. I don’t have anything bad to say about that group.
b. If I had been there that day, that’s what I would have been
doing.
c. However, I have to observe that when it came to getting the
sick man to Jesus, this crowd wasn’t helping. They were
hindering.
2. Then, there were the four.
a. The four did not have the size of the masses.
b. The four did not have the strength of the masses.
c. The four did not have the resource of the masses.
d. However, the four were getting a man to Jesus and the masses
were just standing about listening.
B. As much as I would want to be a part of the group that listens to
Jesus, I want more to be a part of the group that is getting people to
Jesus!
C. What made the smaller group able to get a man to Jesus when the larger
group with more numbers, strength, and resources didn’t?
1. The smaller group had the power of duty.
a. At some point, these four men passed by the man who could not
walk and one or all of them was smitten with a sense of duty.
b. They felt the need to get this man to Jesus.
c. What is interesting is that dozens or hundreds or maybe even
thousands of others passed by the same man, saw him in his
situation, and sensed no need at all.
d. It was the power of duty that moved these smaller group to do
something that the larger group did not do.
2. The sense of duty may not seem like much of power, but I have
observed over and over again, that when it comes to church work,
those without this power aren’t going to do much for God.
a. Some people just don’t see the necessity for doing things for
God.
b. Whether that is of God or not, I cannot tell; but I know it is
so.
c. Maybe this is that call that we speak of and some have it and
God just doesn’t call the others.
3. What is interesting is that these same people do see the need to do
other things.
a. They may see the need to devote themselves to work.
b. They may see the need to devote themselves to their children.
c. They may see the need to devote themselves to the community.
(1) They may serve on the neighborhood ball committees, the
neighborhood PTA; like my own son, they may serve on
the neighborhood fire department.
(2) I am not criticizing. I am very proud that our people
serve in these capacities.
4. I am simply saying that what separates those who do something for
God from those who do not is that those who do have a sense of
duty to do so.
5. And I will go one step further and say that we need more people who
sense the call of duty to Christ.
III. God gave the people the power of UNITY.
A. These people not only could DO and had a sense of DUTY, they also had
the ability to work together.
1. I don’t imagine it is easy for four men to walk a long distance
carrying one man on a stretcher.
a. Most men want to lead.
b. Could you imagine how many times all four wanted to walk in a
different direction?
c. If they had each acted on their individual desire, the poor
man in the stretcher would no doubt have been dumped on the
ground a few dozen times.
2. Apparently, these men worked together, both in mind and body,
to get this man to Jesus.
3. That is what the Bible calls unity, working together in mind and
body to accomplish something for Christ.
B. The Bible makes much of being united in the cause of Jesus.
1 Corinthians 1:10 Now I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among
you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same
judgment.
2 Corinthians 13:11 Finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect, be of good comfort,
be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you.
Ephesians 4:3 Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
Philippians 1:27 Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of
Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your
affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for
the faith of the gospel;
C. Let’s take the picture of these four men working together a little
further.
1. Do you think it would be too much of a push to compare these four
men to the church?
a. I know the church has not be started yet.
b. I know that Matthew is the only gospel writer who will even
mention the church before Jesus dies.
2. However, what is the church?
a. It is a group of people who believe that Jesus is God and
Savior and who work together to glorify God and bring people
to Him.
b. When you get right down to it, isn’t that what these men are
doing.
3. If you look at these men like a small church, you see what a big
task the church could do if we would just work together.
a. None of these men could have individually carried this man to
Jesus.
b. Had they tried, they probably would have killed the man.
c. But, working together, they did something that no one of them
could do.
4. So it is with the church - The more believers who will put their
hand on the plow and work as one, the more we can accomplish for
God.
D. As part of the church, your place as a working, cooperating, united
member is essential.
1. Again, the more who labor, the more power we have—if we are of one
mind and one body.
2. Every believer ought to find their place in the body.
a. Your very presence ministers to others.
b. While you are here, you might as well do something encouraging.
(1) You could PRAY.
(2) You might even go a little further and sing, laugh, bring
food, speak to others, clean something, fix something
that’s broken, change a light bulb, bring a guest, speak
to visitors, work in the nursery.
(3) If you can’t do anything else, you can always give an
offering.
(4) If you feeling really spiritual, you can sing in the choir,
maybe sing a special, teach a class, become a prayer
warrior, use your car to transport someone, visit a
nursing home, visit the bereaved, minister to the sick,
the lonely, or the broken.
3. We need to understand what a great power all of us working together
in unity for the cause of Christ is!
IV. \\#20\\ God gave the people the power of FAITH.
A. This is actually one of the greatest powers God has given the people,
but I am not going to say very much about it tonight because I have
mentioned it several times in the last few weeks.
B. The text says THEIR not HIS faith. This is a reference the faith of the
four.
1. These men literally believed this man well.
2. You talk about a great power!
C. There are different kinds of faiths.
1. The first and perhaps the most important faith is PERSONAL FAITH.
a. Personal faith is your own personal ability to believe God for
things in your life.
b. You must have personal faith to be saved.
2. Another kind of faith is PRAYING FAITH. That’s when you believe:
a. God will hear and answer your prayers.
b. Some Christians are very good at praying and believing that God
will prick someone’s heart to do what needs to be done.
3. And another is PERFORMING FAITH.
a. That is where we pray first, then do something.
b. You could say that taking your faith out of the laboratory and
putting it into real life.
c. Not very many people have this kind of faith.
D. These four had all three:
1. They had personal faith in Jesus as God and Savior.
2. They had praying faith that God would do something for their
friend if they asked.
3. They had a performing faith that moved them to be the means to get
the man to Jesus.
\\#Luke 5:25-26\\ And in closing, we see the results of what happened with the
power God gave to the people.
1. A man got healed.
2. A lesson God taught.
3. A people marveled at God.
What do you suppose God might do if we used the powers that He has given us?
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