Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - What Faith Looks Like | Mark | Mark 2.1-12

Episode Date: January 11, 2021

Faith is more than a feeling. And it's more than a set of actions. Learn what true faith really looks like from https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Mark+2.1-12&version=NIV (Mark 2.1-12) as https://www.thecrossingchurch.com/staff/keith-simon/ (Pastor Keith Simon) continues our series on Mark. Interested in more content like this? Check out https://www.thecrossingchurch.com/podcasts/what-to-do-when-religion-fails-you-learning-to-follow-jesus-luke-15-25/ (What to Do When Religion Fails You) and https://www.thecrossingchurch.com/podcasts/what-makes-faith-revolutionary/ (What Makes Faith Revolutionary) from our earlier series on https://www.thecrossingchurch.com/podcast-series/how-to-follow-jesus/ (Learning How to Follow Jesus). Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it with others, so others can find it too. To learn more, visit our https://www.thecrossingchurch.com/ (website) and follow us on https://www.facebook.com/TenMinuteBibleTalks (Facebook), https://www.instagram.com/thecrossingcomo/ (Instagram), and https://twitter.com/thecrossingcomo (Twitter) @TheCrossingCOMO and @TenMinuteBibleTalks.  Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now.

Welcome to Tim Minut Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life and the time it takes to get to work. My name is Patrick Miller. And I'm Keith Simon. It's possible that you might have the wrong idea about what faith is. You might think that faith is a feeling in your heart or an intellectual belief in your mind. Now, faith involves your heart and your mind, but genuine faith always results in action. To see the kind of faith that Jesus commends, we're going to look at one of my all-time. favorite stories in the Gospels. It's found in Mark chapter 2 versus 1 through 12.

The story takes place in a home. It's either Jesus's home or it's the home of Jesus's friends, Peter and Andrew. That's whose house they were in at the end of chapter 1. Either way, crowds of people have packed into this home. Not everybody who wants to get in can get in, and so people are standing outside the doorway. Jesus is inside and he's teaching about the kingdom of God. A group of friends approaches the house. They're carrying another friend who's paralyzed. And the reason they're taking them to this house is because they know Jesus is there and they want to get their friend to Jesus. But because of the crowds, they're unable to get inside. So what do they do? Just go home? No, not these guys. Instead of going home, they climb up on their

roof. Now, in this time period and in this part of the world, roofs or flat, they were the place that people would hang out socially or even maybe get away to say their prayers. So it's not really all that unusual for this group of guys to carry their friend up on the roof. But when they get their paralyzed friend on the roof, they aren't content to hang out and wait for the crowd to go home. Instead of waiting, they start digging. They make a hole and lower their friend down into the house right in front of Jesus. And when Jesus sees all this, he responds to their faith by saying, Son, your sins are forgiven. Now, this is where it gets really interesting for lots of reasons, because some of the teachers

of the law were thinking to themselves how inappropriate it was for Jesus to say this, because only God can forgive sins. So they're wondering, who does this Jesus guy think he is? And think about this if you're the paralyzed guy. Your friends carried you all the way to Jesus because you want to walk. I'm not sure that he was excited about hearing that his. sins forgiven. I'm not sure he was nearly as excited about having his sins be forgiven. Well, Jesus ends up healing the paralyzed man to show that he has the authority to forgive sins. The physical

healing demonstrated that Jesus had the power to heal him spiritually. So the crowd in the house, it's just totally blown away by it. It says it's amazed. But you finished the story with the impression that the leaders aren't very happy with Jesus or what he's done. for this paralyzed man. Now, the story has something powerful to say about Jesus. He has the authority to forgive sins. See, that was a radical idea because only priests could declare sins forgiven, and they could really only do that in the temple because that's where the sacrifices occurred. Jesus is forgiving sins outside of the temple, and when he's doing this, he's subtly undermining the religious system. Even more, he's claiming to do things that only God could do. That's

why the religious leaders are offended and charge him with blasphemy. But I promised you that this story would help you get a better picture of what faith in Jesus looks like. So think about the crowds here. They're standing around and listening. And Jesus doesn't really have anything positive to say about the crowds, not as far as we know. The four men who bring their friend, they're the ones that Jesus responds to. While the crowd observes, these men act. Their desperation drives. They're them to do whatever it takes to get to Jesus, even digging a hole through the roof. Faith trusts that Jesus is the only one who can meet our deepest needs. These men are not worried about what others will think.

They aren't afraid about damaging the house. Faith pursues Jesus regardless of the cost. And I think that's because faith knows that Jesus is the only one who can truly meet our needs. as long as you and I think that someone else can meet our needs, maybe us, maybe a friend, maybe a book, maybe a class, maybe a seminar, maybe a counselor, we won't really pray. We won't really pursue Jesus with the kind of faith that these men had. But when we realize that Jesus is really the only one who can meet these needs, even if he does so through a book or a counselor or a class or a friend, then we pray.

We go, Jesus, I desperately need you. I want to come to you. You're the one who can help me. So let's finish by thinking briefly about these religious leaders. They had just witnessed a man healed both physically and spiritually. Do they rejoice? No. Do they throw a party? No. Do they celebrate with a man and his friends? No. They have nothing to say other than to lob criticisms at Jesus. Jesus can heal a man of physical paralysis. But The larger question is can he heal the scribes? Can he heal the teachers of the law? Can he heal the religious leaders of their spiritual paralysis? The man was healed because he and his friends had faith. Their need drove them to trust Jesus. We should let our needs drive us to trust Jesus.

The religious leaders should have known all this. They should have known who Jesus was, but they didn't. They should have known their own spiritual neediness, but they didn't. They should have trusted. to Jesus, but they didn't. Religion won't save you, but Jesus will. Thanks for listening. If you've enjoyed this content, please subscribe and give us a rating. That helps others find this podcast more easily. Also ask yourself who you could share this podcast with. Texting an episode to a friend or family member is a great way to help them grow spiritually. If you want to go deeper, check out our show notes for book recommendations.