November 15, 2015

Luke 5:18-19 NIV84 - Some men came carrying a paralytic on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus.  19 When 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.

I consider this passage in the Gospel of Luke to be one of my favorites because it serves as such a wonderful example of our role in the ministry.  The world is full of hurting people.  The size and scale of their brokenness is often overwhelming, so much so that many of us stop even trying to reach out.

This passage reminds us that the healing and the miracle come only from Jesus.  So the supernatural activity is not our responsibility, it is His. Likewise, these men did not bring EVERYONE to the Lord, but they did bring SOMEONE.  This is such a beautiful truth.  The Lord knows that we are limited in both our ability and our spheres of influence.  He never asks us to do what we can’t, He’ll do that; instead He asks us to do what we CAN, and he’ll do the rest.  All of us can bring a friend to Jesus.

This brings us to the last part of ministry that I want you to consider today.  The friends of the paralytic had to tear a hole in the roof to bring their friend to Jesus.  Their effort is both commendable and rewarded: their friend is healed. But, someone has to pay for the roof!  The Owner of the House who is hosting the “ministry event,” bears the cost of the ministry so that others can receive from the Lord.

This is part of what we do, even today.  As we will have a luncheon this afternoon to celebrate the Holidays, but also it is designed to raise money to help others receive from Jesus during this Season.  Sometimes we bring a friend to Jesus, and other times we have to pay for the roof.  Please join us in some “roof repair work” at the Campus Community Center after service. :-)