May 25, 2008

 "Faith In the Power of Forgiveness"

Luke 5: 17- 28

I presently reading a book from the library called God's Problem: How the Bible Fails to Answer Our Most Important Question-Why We Suffer.  It's written by Bart Ehrman, a professor of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina.  Ehrman used to be a Christian, but now has rejected the faith, because in his words, "I could no longer explain how there can be a good and all-powerful God actively involved with this world, given the state of things.  For many people who inhabit this planet, life is a cesspool of misery and suffering.  I came to a point where I could no believe that there is a good and kindly disposed Ruler who is in charge of it."  In the book Ehrman analyzes all the Biblical reasons for suffering and finds them either deficient or contradictory.  Now, you may wonder why I would read such a book.  But, as is see it:  if we are to reach out to this world with the gospel, we must be aware of where people outside the church are in their thinking.  And books like this help me with that. 

But, let's go back to the problem raised by this book?  That is why people suffer.  Now, for most of us this is not some academic question that we study.  Rather this question hits home when tragedy strikes us or one of our loved ones.  And night after night we wonder why.  Why Lord?  And sometimes our crisis of faith is not so much that we doubt God's existence, but that we worry that we have done something to deserve what we are getting.   I have to say, as a pastor, that the people I have counseled tend to bring up that question much more often than the other.  But, if you are struggling with either of these or a similar question, our scripture for today has good news for you.  Let's read it together.  Luke 5: 17-26

Luke 5:17 - 26 (NIV) ¹⁷One day as he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law, who had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem, were sitting there. And the power of the Lord was present for him to heal the sick.  ¹⁸Some men came carrying a paralytic on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus.  ¹⁹When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus. ²⁰When Jesus saw their faith, he said, "Friend, your sins are forgiven." ²¹The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, "Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?" ²²Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked, "Why are you thinking these things in your hearts?  ²³Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, ‘Get up and walk'?  ²⁴But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins...." He said to the paralyzed man, "I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home."  ²⁵Immediately he stood up in front of them, took what he had been lying on and went home praising God.  ²⁶Everyone was amazed and gave praise to God. They were filled with awe and said, "We have seen remarkable things today."

The story begins by mentioning the Pharisees.  If you been around here for a while you might recall that in another sermon I explained that the Pharisee movement began during the period between the Old and New Testaments when Judah was under the rule of the Greeks.  The Pharisees took part in the Maccabees' revolution which freed their land.  But, they were convinced by their reading of Ezra and Nehemiah and some of the Old Testament prophets that the reason that their people suffered under foreign oppressors was because of they were disobedient to God's laws.  And so they began a movement calling people back to obedience.  And they gave them practical rules to help them understand what God's law was calling them to do in their everyday lives.  As they saw it, when God's people obeyed his law they were blessed; when they didn't God punished them.  They also tended to see sickness as well as poverty and tragedy as evidence that the sufferer was not living an obedient life.  Since the Law of Moses declared that those who suffered from certain illnesses were religiously unclean, they tended to avoid sick people, often pointing judgmental fingers at them.

Now, the scripture certainly supports the teaching that sickness and disease and suffering are related.  The reason that sickness has come into the world is because of the rebellion of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.  They are part of the resulting death and corruption that came into God's once orderly and beautiful world.  But they are more than just a general curse.  Both Old and New Testaments are clear: God sends sickness as punishment for specific sins.  Listen to these words from Deuteronomy 28: 58- 61

If you do not carefully follow all the words of this law, which are written in this book, and do not revere this glorious and awesome name-the LORD your God-⁵⁹the LORD will send fearful plagues on you and your descendants, harsh and prolonged disasters, and severe and lingering illnesses. ⁶⁰He will bring upon you all the diseases of Egypt that you dreaded, and they will cling to you. ⁶¹The LORD will also bring on you every kind of sickness and disaster not recorded in this Book of the Law, until you are destroyed. 

Listen also to 1 Corinthians 11: 30,

For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself.  That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep.

Now, the Bible never says that all individual sicknesses are punishments for particular sins.  Clearly righteous Job, who suffered with painful boils all over his body, is a case in point.  And so is the story of good king Hezekiah, found in 2 Kings 20,  Although he was one of the most righteous kings in Judah's history, he was struck with a terminal illness.  Granted God healed him, but only temporarily-he died 15 years later.  There is also the New Testament example in John 9 of the man born blind.  When his disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" Jesus replied  "Neither this man nor his parents sinned;  this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life."

But lets get back to our story.  Jesus did not use this opportunity to challenge the Pharisees on their contention that the paralyzed man probably deserved his condition.  Note again to what he said to the man.  He could see the struggle this man's friends had to bring him to him.  Yet, what were the first words from Jesus mouth? 

"Friend, your sins are forgiven."

The man came for healing, but instead of just healing him Jesus talked about his sin.  To get this into perspective, image you were in the hospital and you called for me to come and pray for your healing.  But, instead of asking God to heal you, I prayed, "Heavenly Father please forgive all her sins."  How would you feel?  But that is similar to what Jesus did, isn't it?  Instead of healing the man, Jesus talked about his sin.  Clearly Jesus also saw the connection between sin and sickness. 

.But, there is a difference isn't there between Jesus and Pharisees.  The Pharisees saw sickness as evidence of a person's sin: Jesus saw sickness as an opportunity for forgiveness and victory.  I remember when the AIDS epidemic first became public in 1980's.  Many popular evangelical preachers used this crisis as an opportunity to condemn our nation because of its immorality.  And they specifically targeted homosexuals.  But, that is not the approach Jesus used with the man in our story.  Instead, with love in his eyes, he said, "Your sins are forgiven."

The Bible's purpose in mentioning the connection between sin and sickness is not so much that we might know that God is just in his punishments as it is that we might know forgiveness.  Listen to these words from Psalm 103: 2- 3,

Psalms 103:2 - 3 (NIV)    Praise the LORD, O my soul,  and forget not all his benefits-  who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases,

Sin and sin are mentioned, so that we might know the healing power of God's grace.

And who do the Old Testament prophet's say will bring that healing power.  Isaiah 53 speaks of the coming Messiah, declaring

Isaiah 53:3 - 4 (NRSV) ³    He was despised and rejected by others;   a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity;   and as one from whom others hide their faces; he was despised, and we held him of no account.  Surely he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases.

Jesus told this paralyzed man that his sins were forgiven, so that he and all others around might know that Jesus was that Messiah.  He could forgive sins not only he was God, but also because he was ready to pay the price that it took to forgive not only this man's sins, but yours and mine and the sins of all who believe in him.

Luke 4 records Jesus' sermon in his hometown of Nazareth.  Beginning in verse 17 we read,

Luke 4:17 - 21 (NIV) ¹⁷The scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him. Unrolling it, he found the place where it is written:    "The Spirit of the Lord is on me,     because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.  He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed,   to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. Then he rolled up the scroll, gave it back to the attendant and sat down. The eyes of everyone in the synagogue were fastened on him, ¹and he began by saying to them, "Today this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing."

Today, this scripture is fulfilled.  Today!  That is the message we must bring to those who suffer.  And if you are suffering this morning, that is the message that the Lord wants you to know.  Today this scripture is fulfilled.  Today your sins are forgiven.

It is interesting to note the reason why Jesus healed the man.  Verse 24,

Luke 5:24 (NIV) But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins...." He said to the paralyzed man, "I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home."   

He did it so that all those around might know the truth of what he said: that he had the power to forgive sins.  The real miracle wasn't the healing.  The real miracle was forgiveness. 

And when you know forgiveness your sickness really doesn't matter.  Why?  Because you know that your continued illness has nothing to do with your sin.  Even if your sin and sickness were once connected they are no more.  When your sins were forgiven through the blood of Christ, the link between them and your sickness was broken forever.

"If Christ has set you free you are free indeed."

This week a dear brother, Jim Schaalma, whom many of you knew, was laid to rest.  He struggled with cancer for that 6 or 7 years and this past week the Lord took him.   I did not attend the funeral, but I doubt very much whether anyone there remotely thought about the connection between sickness and sin.  Why?  Well because in his case it wasn't relevant.  We don't know why Jim developed cancer, but we do know that it had nothing to do with sin in his life. He trusted in Jesus.  His sins were forgiven.  All anyone could remember was the fruit of Spirit in this kind gentle man's life. 

That's all it takes:  If we confess our sins and trust that Jesus forgives us then the link between our sins and whatever we suffer is broken.  And we can know that what we suffer has nothing to do with any sin we may have committed.

But, let me say just a word about what it means to "trust in Jesus," what it means "to believe."  Look again at verse 20,

²⁰When Jesus saw their faith, he said, "Friend, your sins are forgiven."

Look especially at that first line,

²⁰When Jesus saw their faith 

It doesn't say when Jesus heard them say,"I believe," but rather when he saw their faith.  In James 2: 18, the apostle James inspired to write,

James 2:18 (NIV) But someone will say, "You have faith; I have deeds." Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do. 

What did these men do that showed their faith?  Think of how they managed to transport their friend to Jesus.  A terrible obstacle stood in their path. The crowd was so thick they couldn't possible get to him.  So, they lifted their friend to the roof of the house, removed the roof tiles, and lowered him down on his stretcher right in front of our Lord. 

Sometimes the path of faith is hard.  And there are many obstacles.  But, we show our faith by our perseverance.  We show our faith by continuing to trust in Jesus in spite of suffering, in spite of our dismal prognosis, in spite of our doubts, in spite of any obstacle.  Unlike Professor Ehrman, we don't demand proof before we will believe; we believe in spite of what we see, trusting that someday our faith will be sight.

It is also important to note that Jesus didn't see so much this man's faith; he saw the faith of his friends.  When I think of that, I think of the woman from my church in Iowa, whom I've mentioned I other sermons.  She too was paralyzed, suffering from rheumatoid arthritis.  If you remember her story, you might recall that after she was diagnosed with this disease her husband left her.  Over the years her faith was severely tried.  She struggled with how she could believe in a God who allowed such grief in her life.  Yet, through it all she believed.  You might ask why.  In no small part her faith was nurtured by the loving deeds of her church family.  That is what she told me.  Forsaken by her husband, she saw God's love and acceptance in the compassionate deeds of her Christian brothers and sisters.

We began by reflecting on why God allows sickness.  God's Word doesn't tell us a clear consistent answer to that question.  Instead, it shows us how we can know Jesus' love and forgiveness in our suffering.

In Colossians 1: 13- 14 we read

For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Brian Chapell often preaches sermons about God's grace.  In one of them he tells the story his wife's childhood friend.  She and her friend were playing in the woods behind their home, when the other girl fell onto a nest of ground bees. As the bees began to swarm and sting, the girls began to scream for help. And her dad came crashing through the woods. He grabbed up a girl under each arm and ran away as fast he could to get away from the bees. His grip bruised the children's arms, branches scratched their thighs, and thorns grabbed at their clothes and skin. The rescue hurt, but it was better than the bees.

In this world we may know the sting of living in a world of death and we may know the pain of our rescue.  But, because of the forgiveness we have in Jesus, the stings will not destroy us and they will not last.

Where, O death, is your victory?

            Where, O death, is your sting?"

 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.   AMEN!