Sermon Mark 2:1-12 Engage, Going Deeper into Our Spheres of Influence

Rev. Jeffrey T. Howard

First Presbyterian Church of Ocean City

Sermon Mark 2:1-12 Engage, Going Deeper into Our Spheres of Influence¹

July 19, 2015

This is the final of my six week series on evangelism. Let's review where we are. 

 Over the last fifty years or so the world has changed. Christendom, the idea of a close relationship between the church and the state, which had been a governing principle in Europe and North America since the fourth century has ended. The church no longer enjoys a privileged position in our culture. On Sunday mornings people work, or sit in coffee shops, or just stay home. Many don't go to church. And so we have to get out of the church to meet people and talk about Jesus Christ to bring them to faith.

Before we can talk with people about our faith we must first develop our own story of how Christ has transformed our own lives. We do this by engaging in ancient spiritual practices. We pray every day. We read scripture every day. And we gather for worship every Sunday. We do these things not because we must for salvation, because salvation is always a gift from God. We do these things because we will experience transformation to new life. And it is this story of our own transformation that we must share with others.

We must also share the big story of what God is doing in our world. This story must include that the God we worship is the creator God who made the world good. It must also include the story of how men and women have messed it up by disobeying the creator. And it must include what God is doing to fix the problems of the world by sending us his son, Jesus Christ, and giving us the church to advance the Kingdom of God.

Once equipped with our story and the Big story of God we are ready to talk with others. We start with people we know, our friends and family. Then we tell our story to other people who look like us and dress like us and talk like us and act like us. Finally we tell our story to people who aren't like us until everyone in world has heard the story of Jesus Christ.

Today we will ask the most important question, “How much do we want to bring people to Christ?” Is our desire to evangelize others so great that it overcomes our fears? Or do our fears overcome our desire to bring people to Christ? We will get to this, but first let's pray.

May the words of my mouth, and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our rock and our redeemer.

Mark2:1-12  A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. 2 They gathered in such large numbers that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. 3 Some men came, bringing to him a paralyzed man, carried by four of them. 4 Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus by digging through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on. 5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”

6 Now some teachers of the law were sitting there, thinking to themselves,7 “Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

8 Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, “Why are you thinking these things? 9 Which is easier: to say to this paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’? 10 But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.” So he said to the man, 11 “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” 12 He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God,saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”

A group of four men wanted to bring their paralyzed friend to Jesus. They really, really, really wanted to bring him to Jesus. Really! They carried him to where Jesus was speaking, but couldn't even get close to the door. What to do? They really wanted to get their friend to Jesus. So they climbed up on the thatch roof to look for a way in. When no way was found they cut a hole in the roof and lowered their friend to Jesus through the hole. That's how much they wanted to bring him to Jesus.

How much do we want to bring people to Jesus? I know many of us fear evangelism. We are paralyzed by fear with just the thought of sharing our story with others. So let me repeat the question. How much do we want to bring people to Jesus? Is our desire to evangelize strong enough to overcome our fears?

I believe that God is testing the churches of North America and Europe. God wants to know how strong our desire to bring people to Christ is. If our desire is strong enough to overcome our fears then God will bless us richly. But if we allow our fears to paralyze us into inaction and we refuse to evangelize others, God will allow the church to die and then will start something new. This is the test the church is facing.

There was a day in my life many years ago when God tested me. God wanted to know how much I wanted to bring people to Christ. So God setup a test to see if I could overcome my fears of evangelizing people. Here is the story of my test.

Twenty years ago I joined the National Presbyterian Church in Washington DC. My reasons for joining that church were simple. The church had a large number of singles in its fellowship and I felt certain that if I joined that church I would find a wife. In short order I started dating and found a nice girlfriend. I also became involved in leadership with the singles group. I began the sense that God was calling me into ministry of some kind. Things were going very well and I was very happy.

Then God tested me to see how much I desired to serve Him and bring people to Christ. So God took the girlfriend away. I was hurt, angry, and afraid to set foot in that church again because of the shame I would experience for knowing that everyone there knew that I had been dumped. I told God in prayer of my intention to find another church. It was then that God decided to test me.

That night I received a call from a member of my church's nominating committee. He told me that they were impressed with what I had done with the singles group. The committee wanted to nominate me as a Deacon. This would require me to make a three year commitment to serve the church. I told him I had to pray about it.

You can image what those prayers sounded like. “Why God do you want me to stay at this church? I want to leave it and go someplace else.” The last thing I want to do was to make a three year commitment to a church I intended to never go to again. But what I didn't realize was that God was testing me. God wanted me to be in ministry, and was testing my desire. God wanted to know if my desire to serve his church was greater than my feeling of embarrassment at being rejected.

At this point, however, I was ready to say no to serving as a Deacon. I was too angry to attend this church. Certainly I could find another church that needed a Deacon. So I asked God in prayer to help me find another church. But then I found out that the test wasn't over. Let me tell you what else God did.

For two years I had attended a overview of the Bible called Bethel. I loved the class and had asked the pastor if I could attend a teacher training class in the Bethel series the next time it was offered. The pastor let me know that a new teacher class was beginning next week. I would receive from him two years of intensive Bible training but first would have to commit to teaching in the program for the following two years.

So I had a most important decision to make. On the one hand I didn't want to go back to a church where I would have to watch my ex-girlfriend date other guys. On the other hand that church was asking me to serve congregation as both a Deacon and a Bible teacher. If I left the church I would be starting over. If I stayed at the church I would be heavily involved for the next four years. What should I do?

What I didn't realize at the time was that God was testing me. God wanted to know how much I valued bring people to Christ. Did I value this so much that I would ignore my fears and do it anyway? I prayed a long time about this and finally made a decision. I decide that serving God and the church was more important than my personal fears. The next Sunday I went to my church. I was ordained as a Deacon and served three years. I was trained as a Bible teacher and taught for four more years. Six years later I finally left that church and went to seminary to become a pastor. Serving God was such a great value that I ignored my fears to do it.

Had I made a different decision that night I would not be here today. I would not be a pastor. I would have never met Grace. I don't know where I would be or what I would be doing right now. My life would be very different if I had failed the test. But I didn't fail the test. I overcame my fears. I did what Christ wanted me to do.

So what about us? I know that many of us have a great fear of evangelism. I know that many of us are terrified of telling others their story of faith. This is a test from God for the church. Are you willing to talk to others about faith and bring people to Christ in spite of your fears? If you are then God will bless this church with abundance. But if you let your fears paralyze you into inaction, and you don't talk with others about Jesus and what he has done in your lives then God will let this church die and start over. Will we pass the test or not? Let's pray.

Father in heaven we are scared to death to talk about our faith with others. We need your help. Send your Spirit to help us overcome our fears so that we may boldly proclaim the Good News of forgiveness through your son. Help us to share our stories with others. A bless us with abundance in your church. This we pray in you son's name. Amen.

1http://www.pcusa.org/resource/engage/