How do we SEE faith? Photo-covenanteyes.com
Any Tom T. Hall people out there? Country is, Old Dogs, Children, and Watermelon Wine, I Love, you know the tunes.
“That song is driving me crazy. I want to hear it again. The first time I heard it, I was with some friends. A simple little song, you can sing along. An old time melody. Would you play that crazy little song again for me.”
Today we look at living passionately, but what is passion?
There is the obvious answer that goes with this season in our church year and that is the suffering of Christ from the Last Supper through his crucifixion and death.
But the word goes beyond suffering. Synonyms are zeal, ardor, fervor, and enthusiasm.
You can be passionate about cats, work, baseball, and politics.
You can have passionate relationships.
Passion is more than emotion. It is more than what we pursue. It is more than desire.
Passionate people do the things that other people are going to do someday.
Passionate people live their somedays today.
I ask that you consider the story that we find in Luke 5:17. Jesus was teaching in a house. The Pharisees had come and obviously taken the best seats. Other people crowded around. Enter a few men, let’s call them a few good men, carrying their friend—a paralyzed man—on his mat.
The word was obviously out that Jesus is there and as we are told in that 17th verse, the power of the Lord was present for him to heal the sick. So these men arrived with their friend and there was no way they were going to fight their way through the crowd and get their friend to Jesus.
They could have said:
· We gave it our best
· We can wait and see if the crowd thins out—not likely
· Maybe next time that he is in town we’ll catch him earlier.
· Let’s just go to the priest and offer some more birds.
But they didn’t. We don’t even get an account of the thinking of these men. They came, saw the crowd, and went to the rooftop, removed some tiles, and lowered their friend into the house right in front of Jesus. We don’t even get an explanation of the logistics. How did they get to the rooftop? Rooftops were often used as living areas, but the stairs to them were often inside the house or courtyard area. Did they have ropes or maybe there were straps already attached to this man’s mat. We don’t know.
We do know that these men came to bring their friend to Jesus and no crowd or religious title was going to stop them. They sat him down between Jesus and the Pharisees.
Then we are told that Jesus saw their faith.
How do you see faith?
You see it in the way we live. You see the passion with which life is lived.
These guys didn’t have a plan B. Everything was about getting to Jesus. You notice that the gospel writer makes no mention of whether the man’s friends had to make amends for the roof damage or whether they were reunited with their friend or any of the collateral information.
These men got their friend to Jesus.
Now here is where the story takes an interesting turn. Jesus says, “Your sins are forgiven.”
We know that this femark sets off the Pharisees. They don’t say anything, but Jesus knows what they are thinking: “Who is this that forgives sins by his own authority?”
The text focuses on the rebuke Jesus gives the Pharisees, “Which is greater? To forgive sins or to heal?”
And we know the answer is to forgive sins.
The part of this story that is left out is the reaction of the man on the mat. He is surely thinking, my friends and I poured everything we had to get to this point. I was really counting on the healing part. But the man doesn’t get a word in edgewise.
Jesus in his rebuke of the Pharisees and concurrent teaching of his followers says, “so that you will know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins, ‘Take up your mat and go home.’”
Immediately the man stood, picked up the mat he had been laying on, and left praising God.
Jesus could have said, leave that ratty ole thing behind and go live.
I’m thinking if I had lived on that mat most of my life and now could get up off of it, even if it were also my bed, I would get something new to sit on or to sleep on. But Jesus said ‘take it with you.’
I’m wondering if it was not as a reminder of the life left behind prior to the day when a few men passionately got their friend to Jesus.
Most churches have a cross in the sanctuary. Most are shiny and some even lighted. If you have never come in the sanctuary before when only the cross is lighted, you have missed out on a special atmosphere.
But the cross should remind us of Christ’s passion for us and what we are able to leave behind.
So how are we to live? What roofs are we to break through? Let us consider Paul’s words to the church at Ephesus.
· Live in the light of the Lord. We are children of the light.
· Have nothing to do with darkness. Deeds done in darkness cannot produce good fruit. God’s light must shine on everything. We are not to expose ourselves to darkness, but expose darkness to the light.
· Find out what pleases the Lord. Find out are words of discovery.
· WAKE UP O SLEEPER!
· Live wise—make the most of every opportunity!
· Be filled with the Holy Spirit.
· Sing and make music in our hearts to the Lord.
How do we live passionate lives?
Cast off everything evil and self serving and truly live in the light. No more pretenses.
We begin a process of discovery and find out what pleases God. Find out how we were uniquely made to please God.
Then we wake up and come alive and make the most of every opportunity to please Him. We live with our eyes wide open.
We live filled with God’s Holy Spirit and make music in our hearts.
“That song is driving me crazy. I want to hear it again. The first time I heard it, I was with some friends. A simple little song, you can sing along. An old time melody. Would you play that crazy little song again for me.”
If I can carry a Tom T. Hall song with me throughout the day, I can carry the music that God put in my heart. He wants us to live that music. He is telling us what pleases him and here’s the real kicker, if we will just let God lead, we will be so full of life. He will please us more than following the desires that the world has infiltrated into our hearts.
I am certain that the man on the mat wanted to walk again more than anything else and he believed that if he could just get to Jesus that is what would happen. I believe he was so passionate about it that it became infectious with his friends. How could they not get him to Jesus?
And when his passion was realized, Jesus gave him the greater gift first. It’s not what the man thought he was after and he was probably dumfounded for a moment wandering, “how do I get out of here? My buddies are on the roof and I’m still stranded on this mat. I’m forgiven, yes, but I’m likely to be thrown in debtor’s prison for the roof damage.”
With passion comes risk and this man and his friends took the risk.
And Jesus provided the lesser gift as well. The man walked home praising God.
Jesus told us to seek God and his righteousness and all the other things will be provided.
So many people in this world have a passion for the things of this word:
· Money
· Possessions
· Title
· Prestige
· Power
· Safety
· Health
What good is it if we pursue these things passionately and lose our whole being? What can we give in exchange for our soul?
We can have all of these things that the world craves if we will find out what pleases God and pursuit it with all we have.
God wants to bless us with the stuff in this world and beyond this world because the most important thing to us in this world is loving Him.
And when God blesses us with these things, they won’t control us because our passion was never for money, or power, or comfort, but it was always to find the music that God put in our hearts and play it for him.
My prayer for us this week is that week find the music that God put in our hearts and sing it all day long. To live passionately is to love God all we can and to love God all we can is to live passionately.
Be very careful, then, how you live — not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is. Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.
Ephesians 5:15-21 NIV
Join the One Month to Live Challenge in Western Oklahoma
About being a servant in a society that says, that dog don't hunt.
What do you call a guy with degrees in Political Science and Biblical Studies? What do you call someone that served as a Marine Officer for over 20 years and now pastors a church? What do you call someone with this unique perspective of the kingdom of the world and the kingdom of God?
Most folks just call me Tom.
Take a look on the political side, try A Good Read.
Check out a leadership mix of Pastor, Parent, Marine, and American in Forward Deployed.
Comments