Easter | The Question of Jesus

I want to welcome you.

Welcome to Freedom.

Welcome to Easter at Freedom.

And so glad that you're here.

Like Bethany said.

Man, we're again, it's an honor that you'd celebrate Easter with us here this weekend.

I listen, I I was I was thinking, you ever had one of these moments where you are absolutely sure that you were right about something, only to find out that you are absolutely wrong about that thing.

Yeah, you ever had one of those moments?

All the married people, if you forgot, your your spouse will remind you later of one of those moments.

You're absolutely sure.

It's the as a parent, it's the worst when it involves your kids, you know?

You're like you're you're telling them something only to find out later.

Oh man, I was wrong.

One of those moments.

You know, I I uh um, you know, I think this is honestly, I think this is what happens a lot of times around the topic of Jesus.

Um we're absolutely sure that we think something about Jesus only to find out later that maybe we weren't exactly we weren't exactly right.

In fact, a lot of people will say, a lot of us will say, we believe in Jesus.

We will say, I believe in Jesus.

The question is, is which Jesus do we do we believe in?

Because we all got all kinds of opinions.

Do we believe in the in the polite Jesus?

Do we believe in the in the therapist Jesus?

Come on, the inspirational Jesus, the the harsh and angry Jesus?

Like we got all kinds of versions.

The the love me and help me, but don't ever correct me, Jesus.

Like we got all kinds of versions of of who he is.

And and today we're gonna take a little bit of time because it's Easter, and I think it's appropriate because I think it's one of those days where we walk in and it's we're all pretty confident we know what we're gonna talk about today.

It's not gonna be a surprise.

You you're going, this is the one, this is your only, this is your second time to go to church, maybe, I don't know, all year, right?

You Christmas, and then you're here, maybe I don't know, but you're here at Easter anyway, and you're like, I'm pretty sure I know what we're gonna talk about.

Jesus died on a cross, he was dead for three days and he came back to life.

There you go.

We're gonna talk about resurrection.

And then we can't talk about that enough.

But I'm gonna throw you a little curveball this this morning because because all while we are gonna we are gonna circle back around and we're gonna we're gonna land there.

That's where we're gonna go and we we are celebrating Easter, we are celebrating resurrection.

I'm gonna throw you a little bit of a curveball because a lot of us have a lot of opinions about what it means to be a Christian, what it means to be a Jesus follower.

In fact, I would bet that for some of us that's not even part of our our language, Jesus follower.

We have a lot of ideas about what it means to be a Christian, to be a good person, to to believe a certain thing, uh to maybe act a certain way.

We've we've got all kinds of opinions about it.

But I'm I'm just gonna tell you, at the end of the day, we can we can we can say we we we can say we believe in him, we can and we can have an opinion about what that what what that means, but at the end of the day, when it comes to being a Christian and whether you're in Jesus or or not, it really all comes down to well, Jesus.

What do you do with Jesus?

And there's some really key things because the Bible is complicated.

I can't be the only one that's had that problem with the Bible.

I read this thing and I'm like, my goodness, it did that really happen?

Come on, everybody had that?

Especially getting that old, that first part of the book, you're like, my goodness, did that really happen?

It's a hard book.

Lots of things to try to understand, but at the end of the day, what it really all comes down to is who do you who do you say Jesus is?

And what are you gonna do with him?

How are you going to respond to him?

And we're gonna talk about that this morning.

I'm gonna teach out of kind of an unlikely story, probably not a story you expect to hear on an Easter morning.

We've been in a series as a church all on miracles.

We've been in it's about an eight-week series, and I know a lot of you are in groups and we're going through this together, and so great, great, great job continuing to go through that.

And uh, we're actually gonna dive into a miracle.

I'm I'm gonna dive into a miracle that that doesn't look like it has anything to do with with Easter, but you're gonna see toward the end that that it kind of does.

And and and so it's actually out of Mark chapter two, and and I'll and I'll give I'll give you some context because I'm confident that for for many of you, you you're familiar with the story, or at least you've heard something around it.

There's this it's this story where where Jesus He heals this guy, heals this guy of leprosy.

It's right at the beginning of Mark, right?

Or it's at the end of Mark chapter one, he heals this guy of leprosy, and word gets out.

Like there's this guy going around, he's teaching, and he is healing.

Like people get by him and he's healed.

And and like you could imagine, if that guy was walking around Williston today, and we heard, you know, he has cancer, now he doesn't have cancer, we'd all be going, like, okay, everybody figure out where this guy is, right?

That's what that's what's happening.

And so you get to the beginning of Mark chapter 2, which is what we're gonna read.

Mark 2 · chapter mention

And here's what ends up happening uh people got word, and people are flocking to Jesus.

He's going into this town called Capernaum, and he's there, and he's he's walking, he's actually in a home, and people find out where he's at, and they just start coming in droves.

In fact, so much so that there's people that are everybody wants to see him, but but nobody can because everyone's really pressing up against the place and the space that Jesus is in.

They can't even get around him, they're just like everyone's trying, and there's people in there's make no mistake, there's people in the crowd going, you don't understand, you just want to see a miracle, and people are in there going, I need a miracle.

People are trying to get get to Jesus.

They don't even know what this guy's about, they just know for whatever reason, when you get close to him, you get better.

Like, I need to get close to the guy that's gonna make me better.

And so here they are in Mark chapter two, and there's actually this guy, he's he's paralyzed, and he's got four friends, and his four friends are like, We're gonna help you out, we're gonna get you to Jesus.

And so they climb to the top on the roof of where Jesus is at, and they start digging, they start digging a hole through the roof, and you can only imagine all the noise that's beginning to make, and then they they get the hole, they open the hole.

I can't even imagine what everybody in the room is thinking.

They're like, My goodness, these people are cheating.

Like you're not supposed, like you're supposed to wait outside with everybody else.

They literally dug a hole in the roof.

I mean, it's not even fair, and they're just lowering their paralyzed friend right in front of Jesus, and this is verse five.

Look what look what Jesus, look how look how look what it says.

Jesus notices.

He says, when he saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, Son, your sins are forgiven.

Well, you know that was a bit anticlimactic, my goodness.

Now some teachers of the law were sitting there thinking to themselves, why does this fellow talk like that?

He's blaspheming.

Who can forgive sins but God alone?

Skip down to verse 10.

Look how Jesus responds, because Jesus knows what they're thinking.

Jesus is fully aware of exactly what he's doing, and he knows exactly what he's doing to those in the room.

He's just kind of like, he's kind of getting them.

He knows exactly what they're thinking in the room.

Skip down to verse 10.

He says, But I want you to know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins.

So he said to the man, I tell you, get up, take your mat, and go home.

And he got up, took his mat, and walked out in full view of them all.

And this amazed everyone.

And they praised God, saying, We have never seen anything like this.

I wanna, I wanna, I wanna give you three like big categories that you have to answer about Jesus.

All of us do.

We can we can have opinions, we can say and insist that we're Christians, we can we can believe all we want, however strongly.

Listen, confidence is not a substitute for accuracy.

We can be confident about what it means all day long, but at the end of the day, there's some pretty broad categories and answers that we have to account for about who Jesus is, and and that's really what it all comes down to.

And and here's the first one, and we see it right here in this in this story, and it's and it's this the person of Jesus.

Who is he really?

Like who do we really believe Jesus is?

Because again, we have we have lots of opinions, and truthfully, we have a lot of hurdles and a lot of challenges that keep us from really accepting who Jesus actually is.

I mean, we live in a we live in a time where even we're even in the pro, I mean, there's even whole groups out there right now that are trying to question, throw, throw question marks around the historical accuracy of how we understand Jesus and whether he existed.

We start with this idea of like, well, we already know that miracles are impossible.

Jesus claimed to do miracles, therefore, the history, the historical accuracy of Jesus must not be accurate.

Do you see how that the philosophical starting point is a little bit how it affects where you end up?

This is often what we're what we're doing.

I don't think that's most of our problem, though.

I don't think that's how most of us are thinking.

I think where most of us, the challenge that we face is that Jesus feels like one more religious option amongst many others.

And see, we live, I love, I love where we live.

I I love the United States.

I love that we live in this place, and but you know, one of the things about living in a place like we do is that is that we place a high value on being able to live at peace with people who don't think like us.

And that's great.

In fact, that's a very Bible-oriented perspective toward other people, that God isn't in the business of making me do things, and so we're not in the business of making other people do things all the time either.

And so we there's a there's a level of there's a level of uh of peace that we're able to live with one another, even if even if they don't follow the God of the Bible, like maybe maybe we do.

But see, what ends up happening in that process is that the temptation is we end up relegating Jesus to just another religious leader, and it goes, you got your thing that works for you, and I got my thing that works for me, and you just do your thing, and I'll do my thing, right?

As long as we're all what good people at the end of the day.

Whoa, there's one of our definitions of what it means to be a Christian.

Religious pluralism.

Religious pluralism, this idea that Jesus is just one option amongst many.

You know, they say don't go to the grocery store, don't go grocery shopping when you're hungry.

Y'all ever done that?

My problem is if I don't go hungry, I end up not buying all the things I need.

I don't even know what to do.

Go hungry, not go hungry.

If I go hungry, I end up with like two different types of Oreos.

I'm like, I didn't even need those to begin with, but I got two different types.

I don't even know how this happened.

See, but this is this is what we do with this is what we do with religion.

This is what we do with Jesus.

We're just kind of going through the grocery store of things that are gonna make us feel good for that day, things that are gonna help us get along.

In that moment, we're just like, you know what?

That's a philosophy that seems to really hit what I'm missing here at work.

And so we put that in the cart and we come over here and we go, oh, I'll put that in the cart.

And we're just like, actually, Jesus kind of answers some of that.

At least I remember that from Sunday school when I was a kid, so I'll put that in the cart, and we just have this sort of like grab and take just another religious option amongst many.

We do it without even thinking.

By the way, that's not just for the skeptic in the room, that's also for those of us who would call ourselves religious.

We just have made a habit of some of this.

But Jesus, but Jesus doesn't, he don't let it, he don't let that slide.

In fact, even the story we just read.

Look at this.

Verse 6 and 7.

We just read.

I'll read it again.

Some of the teachers of the law were sitting there after they heard him say, look at the paralyzed man, your sins are forgiven.

And look at look what they said.

They they heard him and they're thinking to themselves, why does this fellow talk like that?

He's blaspheming.

Who can forgive sins but God alone?

You want to know something?

They're exactly right.

Who does this guy think he is?

I'm just telling you, this is a moment in the room where Jesus is drawing a line in the sand.

And they're exactly right.

They have to reconcile.

Is Jesus just an rel another religious narcissist on the scene?

Come on.

These are the options.

There's not a lot of options here.

We love Jesus the helper, Jesus the teacher, Jesus the the guy that accepts us, but Jesus draws a line and he says, He's either Jesus the religious narcissist or he's the one that can forgive sins.

Boy, that's a that's a line in the sand.

Jesus just doesn't, he just doesn't leave any room for any other options.

He's just he's he's either he's either somebody worth rejecting or like like they noticed he's God and he can forgive sins.

I this is just this is the room Jesus leaves around who he is.

This is what Jesus is saying.

If Jesus can forgive sin, then Jesus can't be placed in any category like helpful religious leader.

It won't work.

Here's another one.

That's the person of Jesus.

Here's the next one that we have to come to grips with, okay?

Next one you have to answer about Jesus, and that's his plan.

And again, this isn't just for the skeptic in the room.

This is for those of us that would call ourselves religious, people who say, Oh, I've been following Jesus for a long time.

This is a big one.

This one gets in the way a little bit.

The person of Jesus, some of us like, okay, I can get on board, I can I can get that.

Now, now here's the plan of Jesus, and this one, this one will confront some stuff in us because we like things to make sense.

Come on, I like things to make sense.

I want to know.

You tell me we're gonna go somewhere, we're gonna do something.

I want to know how, I want to know when, I like some of the details.

I'm and I'm one of those people, I'm like, I probably got a better way to do it, you know.

So, like, let me know, maybe I can help.

Y'all know exactly who you are, right?

You want all the details, yeah.

You want to know, and then Jesus just comes along, he just got different, he just got a different idea.

Sometimes he doesn't even tell you what he's up to.

So see, for some of us, our our idea around Jesus and answering the question of not just who Jesus is, but what's his purpose?

Like, well, why did he come?

And and for a lot of us, the the popular cultural assumption around Jesus is that he is here mainly to improve my life.

Jesus is here to improve my life.

You know what?

I uh I sowed my oats, you know what?

Now my kids, I got kids, I got I'm married, or at least I want to be maybe.

And and I, you know what?

I this will be good for the children.

It probably will be.

That's probably true.

But yeah, this is this is this will be good, you know.

It'll make my girlfriend happy, it'll make my wife happy.

We kind of go down this road over here.

It'll, it'll, maybe it'll be it'll be, it'll be some like good guidance to kind of help my life out a little bit, right?

He's there to, he's mainly there to improve my life.

Listen, he'll push on a few things.

He'll push on your comfort, he'll push on your sense of purpose and what it means to have meaning and satisfaction in your life, he'll push on on your sense of authority, who has the right to say yes, no, go, stay, stop, all of that in your life.

He'll push on, he'll push on all of that in your life.

I mean, think about the story we just read.

Here's this guy.

He's paralyzed for goodness sakes.

And Jesus looks at him and he says, I know you plan to lower him down here so that he could be healed.

Instead, he goes, Your sins are forgiven.

There we go.

Plan of Jesus seems he's a pushing against I'm putting he's pushing against this guy's comfort.

Clearly, his comfort isn't the biggest priority for Jesus.

His sense of purpose.

Why is he here?

I mean, most of us, most of us have been groomed to live our life through a lens of a hierarchy of needs.

In fact, we have a whole model for that.

We have a whole model that says your whole life is meant to be viewed through this lens based on what I don't have, what I what I need, and what's gonna, what's gonna be the things that I can either acquire or accomplish that will satisfy my deepest needs.

And in the hierarchy of needs, culturally says I have to have those things in order to experience the deepest satisfaction.

And then Jesus comes along and he gives you a much bigger vision for your life.

And I know it doesn't seem like that on the surface because of a lot of us, some of us we're convinced that we have a huge vision for our life.

Oh, my vision's big, and I don't know really, I don't really know if Jesus fits in that category.

And here's what Jesus comes along: He says, You actually can't do anything worth doing apart from me.

He says, if I'm not part of the vision for your life, you think you have major league vision, you got little league vision.

And Jesus comes along, he says, You are actually made for way more than just consuming.

You're actually made to know him, to enjoy him, to enjoy your life even, and to offer your life in service to his mission.

He'll push on your sense of authority.

My goodness, your sense of authority.

I mean, following Jesus demands surrendering our personal ambition to a much larger purpose.

And I'm gonna tell you, for most of us, that's precisely what we resist.

In the last couple weeks, my uh my 14-month-old Walker, he he got he got like he got like a double ear infection, got like all run down.

That's that's heartbreaking.

You see, you're like 14-month-old, he's all crying, we couldn't figure out what was going on with him.

And then out of nowhere, he started pulling on his ear, and it was like, oh my goodness.

Come on, all the parents in the room, you know, you're just like, oh goodness, there it is.

They can't tell you anything.

So they're just like, you're just trying to figure out what's going on.

And then and then our and we we took him to the doctor, and you know, I gave him a little antibiotic, trying to get this ear infection stuff taken care of.

And you know, I was just thinking, how silly would it be if you walk into that, you walk into that room and and and it's like he's pulling on his ear, but but you're like, hey, can you look at his scraped knee for a second?

It would just kind of be silly, wouldn't it?

It's like and there's a priority here.

When I was in the when I was in the military, and uh, especially when you're preparing for a deployment, you we would spend weeks doing like combat medicine, training on combat medicine.

And I remember going through through some of that, they would they would teach you how to how to triage.

You triage you, how to how to identify what what needs the attention first.

And and there's a good reason for it because because when you're in that kind of a moment, if you're in a if you're in a in a bad situation, especially in a combat situation, and and maybe you're maybe your your your buddy gets hurt and and you look down and his leg is just like it looks bad, and he's in a lot of pain, and he's sitting there and you're just like, oh my goodness, all the adrenaline starts rushing.

They teach you all these acronyms so that you so that you go in order, right?

So you so you make sure you stay focused so you triage properly.

And and there's good reason for it because if you if your buddy's there and and his leg is really messed up, all the adrenaline's rushing, and you go, oh my goodness, I gotta fix his leg.

And so you go down there, and this is what's happened.

It's it's sad, but this has happened many times to a lot of people.

They see their buddy and they start going down like, oh my goodness, his leg, and they just start focusing on his leg and they're fixing his leg and they get his leg all patched up, and 30 minutes later, is their buddy's dead.

And they go, What and what happened?

It's because he had an open pneumothorax in his chest, and they didn't follow the the the acronym and they didn't triage properly.

And so their friend ended up dying, and he maybe didn't have to.

Do you see that?

This is exactly what G Jesus is doing in this moment.

This is what's happening in this story because these people, listen, these people, they're like they're like you and me.

These are these are mostly blue-collar folks.

These are people that in the room, you know what they're saying?

They're going, I came here to watch Jesus heal.

When are we gonna get past the useless teaching and get onto the practical healing?

That's what they're saying.

When can when are you gonna do something, Jesus, that we can actually work with?

Like, like we came here, Jesus, because we heard you were healing and you just decided to preach.

They're all a little disappointed in this moment.

They're all a little disappointed.

Jesus, um, when are you gonna move on?

And here's what's happening they they they dig the hole and they they lower their friend, and you know what they're all thinking?

Finally, get this guy to stop talking and heal somebody, and they're forcing him.

Here it is, paralyzed man.

Everyone's like, hey, okay, finally, yeah, you can you can stop.

Okay, here, pay attention now.

Wake up.

Here it is.

He's finally gonna do what we came here for.

So here he is, and he's like, he's finally gonna, he's finally gonna heal him.

And do you know what Jesus does in that moment?

He triages the moment and he looks at him and he goes, Oh, paralyzed man, not your biggest problem.

Your sins are forgiven.

He triages the moment.

Triages this man.

And he's not looking at him and he's not going, hey, your body doesn't matter.

He's not looking at your life and going, your marriage doesn't matter.

The fact that you're lonely doesn't matter.

He's not looking at your life and going, the fact that you want to be married and it's been so many years and it's not working out doesn't matter.

He's not saying that your career doesn't matter and your financial situation doesn't matter.

He's not saying that your kids have gone sideways and you're wondering, are they ever coming back?

He's not saying that.

That doesn't matter.

He's saying your soul matters most.

That's what he's saying.

See, his plans versus our plans.

What we believe is most important versus what he said.

And see, for most of us, we're convinced that the most important, like the most, like the biggest problems in our life are all external.

Well, most of them, we're just convinced of that.

Not just for our life, but for everybody else's life too, for that matter.

It's like, you know what?

Because here's what's going to happen.

It happens every Easter.

And make no mistake.

Somebody's going to leave here today.

You're going to have a moment.

You're going to feel all guilty.

Like, okay, whatever.

Once again at Easter, I feel guilty because I haven't been in church.

And then I know and I feel like I need to make some changes.

And I feel like I need to I need to take some steps.

And then here's what's going to happen.

You're going to leave here and you're going to go, I'm going to make some different decisions.

I'm going to get my act together and then I'll be back in a few weeks, Pastor.

Happens every year, every Easter.

Why?

Because we're convinced that our biggest problem is an external problem.

You know what?

Maybe it's not your own life.

You're like, you know what?

We you know what would really make a difference in the world right now?

If this whole group of people would start thinking differently, acting differently, voting differently, and et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

Why?

Because we're convinced that our biggest problems are external problems.

And Jesus comes along and he goes, I got a little bit of a different perspective on the source of you and I's problems.

Listen, he's all about he's in the business of patching up circumstances.

He's in the business of healing.

We already read the story.

He does heal the man.

He's in the business of restoring, but he came to deal with the deepest rune in our lives.

And that's our sin.

That's our sin.

Here's the third one.

You got the person of Jesus, you got the plan of Jesus.

Here's the third one that we all have to answer.

And that's and that's around this the people of Jesus.

The people of Jesus.

I was a kid when I watched the movie Jaws.

You remember that movie when you were a kid?

Maybe you were a kid when you watched that, Jaws?

Yeah, that that must you know that the music, right?

It's like I actually read an article not that long ago.

It's like one of the most iconic sound bites ever.

Everybody, uh you may have never even seen the movie, but if I started going, dun dun, dun-do dun, dun dun, you just know.

You're like, oh yeah, that's Jaws.

My kids actually knew it was Jaws.

They've never even seen it.

I was like, how did you know that?

You know?

Okay, this my wife and I, we, we, we use this term shark music, right?

See, I remember when I was a kid and I watched that, and that Jaws soundtrack starts going, and all then all the hair on the back of my neck started standing up, right?

Because I was a kid, I was just like, oh my goodness, man, a shark's gonna eat everybody, you know?

And just like you're on the edge of your seat.

And see, and then there's things that happen in your life where we go, oh, this is like this is like shark music to me.

One of those things is like is when my kids start fighting, right?

I hear them screaming and fighting with each other, and it's like shark music.

I'm like, all the hair on the back of my neck is standing up, and I'm like, oh, this is with this this can't stay like this.

Y'all know what I'm saying?

Yeah, all the parents are, you know, exactly what I'm talking about.

It's like shark music.

Okay.

And then it goes on long enough.

I'm like, okay, what are y'all doing?

And I end up raising my voice, I end up saying things, and then I'm like, look what you made me do, look how you made me respond, you know.

Ah, now I gotta repent.

Then when my kids will look up at me and they're like, Well, dad, you're responsible for your response.

Don't quote me to me.

Don't do that.

Don't don't quote me to me.

No, no, no, no, no, no.

I don't think so.

I don't think so.

So everyone's had that mo.

Hey, if you got siblings, they start fighting.

This is what siblings do, don't they?

Like you might be in the room with your siblings, so you don't have to admit, you can pretend like this isn't you.

But every sibling has had this thought at one time or another.

They're like, you know what, life would have been better if mom and dad had left you at the hospital.

That's right.

Every sibling has felt that, and somebody you're just like, why?

Why God?

Why me?

You know, why, why them?

You know, uh, it's just like, and hopefully that goes away as you become an adult.

Some of you are like, I'm an adult, that's exactly how I feel right now.

We all have these moments, right?

That's just what happens, and that's family, that's that's siblings.

You know, one of the things around the people of Jesus is a common thing.

We think we can take Jesus privately without his people.

It's the same thing.

It's like, oh, I'm I'm good.

I just wish Jesus would have left one of y'all at the hospital.

You know, it's like, eh.

See, that's the thing.

That this guy's not alone.

This guy's not alone.

He he's got four friends.

He's got four, he's got four people that take him.

He can't even throw himself at the feet of Jesus.

He actually needed somebody to bring him to the feet of Jesus.

He he can't he can't even, he's not even in a place to ask for healing, much less forgiveness of his sins.

He's not even in that place.

He actually needs needs somebody.

And there's some of you, you're you are you you you've been a Jesus follower for a long time.

I think sometimes we forget, we forget that we didn't we didn't just get here by ourselves.

Like it wasn't just like some singular moment in our life where it was just me and the Lord, and that, and that was it.

I get it because for some of us, the the people of Jesus is the number one hurdle why we just go arm's length with all of Christianity.

We're just like, ah, if it weren't for the people, if it if it weren't for the Christians, I might be a Christian.

Can I can I tell you the dirty little secret?

You ready?

Sometimes my biggest problem with Christianity is the Christians.

I get it.

I get it.

I I I I really do.

Because there's something about like God has chosen the church, and it's like, my goodness, Jesus, is this the best?

This was the best method, the church?

Don't you know who makes up the the church?

Don't you know who's who's there?

It's like unfortunately I do because I'm there.

So I kind of got a little bit of an idea of of who's there, and and I get it because some of us, and I don't want to minimize this.

Don't don't don't don't misunderstand me.

I'm not minimizing this because there are some of us who've experienced a lot of deep pain in the church.

Other people, the people who are claiming to be of Jesus.

And I and I get that, and and I and it's not a contest, but it but if it were if it were a contest, I I'll be, I can't just say, I'm gonna throw my hat in the ring with you, who's been hurt the most.

I'm not saying I'm gonna win, but I'm just saying, like you you stick around long enough, you're gonna you you you're gonna experience something.

And but can I can I tell you why that is?

Because it doesn't matter if it's the PTA, your kids' little league team, some social club you want to be a part of, it doesn't matter.

Wherever there's people, the opportunity for offense, and you stay there long enough, it will come up.

Do you want unique about the church?

Is that Jesus has implemented a system in a way for you to actually get healed inside of the very place full of the very people that may have hurt you and I?

That's what's unique about this.

And I know, and then see, and this this becomes this becomes a big problem, but but we have to understand, it's like, especially for those of you that have been following Jesus for a long time, you I think sometimes we forget.

It's like, aren't you grateful?

I know he saves us as individuals, but he doesn't leave us isolated.

He actually brings us into community with with other people.

And and for those of you who've been following Jesus for, aren't you grateful for your for the grandma in your life who who was praying for you for all those years?

Aren't you grateful for the mom and the dad who just wouldn't let go?

Aren't you grateful for your spouse who wouldn't let go?

Aren't you grateful for the friend who just kept talking to you?

Aren't you grateful for the coworker who was bold enough to keep inviting you?

Like, aren't you grateful for these for these people in your life?

See, we forget, we we have this idea that somehow following Jesus is just a it's a me thing, it's a private thing, it's me and whatever I decide to make it kind of thing.

It's like, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on a second.

Who is Jesus?

What's his plan?

Who are his people?

And and and he doesn't call me by myself, he actually calls me to be with other people.

Maybe this is the big question right here for all of us is if that's who Jesus is and that's what it means to be a follower of Jesus, if that's what Christianity looks like, the question is will I become part of the people?

At the end of the day, will I become part of the people of Jesus?

You know, this this verse, this story, it's it's easy to over overlook, but we we sort of keep drilling in into it and we've we've kind of skipped right over it a coup a couple times.

But this is this is a really important there's something that puts Jesus outside the category of just another helpful religious leader.

Look how Jesus says it.

He says, when they when he saw their faith, when he saw their their faith, faith in what?

Faith in what?

It's faith in Jesus.

When he saw their faith, they don't even understand it.

Listen, these guys are coming in, they don't understand.

They have no idea.

Nobody knows.

That's why everybody's caught off guard every time Jesus opens his mouth.

They have no idea what Jesus is up to, they have no idea what he's planning to do in this moment, what he's gonna say next.

But they just go, I heard this guy heals, I heard he's got power, I heard he's got some authority, I don't really recognize it.

I don't, I don't I've never seen anything like it.

But they just go, everything else doesn't seem to be working out, Bob.

So I'm gonna I'm gonna go with this guy.

They put their faith in Jesus.

Then that next phrase, we've already said it maybe three times already.

Look at it.

He looks at the moment.

You know what he does in that moment?

He triages them, he says, Your sins are for your sins are forgiven.

Do you know why Jesus isn't like any other religious leader?

Because anybody can die for you.

That's the truth.

Anybody can die for you.

Somebody could give their life for you, somebody can do that.

Did you know there's not you know what separates Jesus from every other religious leader?

There's only one that did not stay dead.

That's it.

Do you know why Jesus can forgive their sins?

Because he knows what he's there for.

He knows his purpose.

He knows that he's not only going to die, but he's actually going to come out of the grave.

See, that that actually is, that is actually that's the that's the that's the fulcrum right there.

Everything hinges on that.

In fact, Paul says that if he didn't resurrect, this might be the stupidest thing we could be doing right now.

We are we are beyond hopeless, especially those of us who are hinging our lives around this.

Resurrection.

He looks at this man and he says, Your sins are forgiven because he knows exactly what he's there for.

He's not just there to die, he knows they want to kill him.

He also knows he's not gonna stay dead, he knows he's gonna get out of the grave, he knows he's gonna resurrect, and he knows that this paralyzed man, whether he can walk or whether he can't walk, whether it's now or on the other side of eternity, he knows that he's gonna forgive his sins, he can forgive his sins, he has the authority to forgive his sins, and when he's raised to new life, he's gone, I'm gonna raise you to new life with me.

I'm just this is what he's doing.

Listen, you want to know what happens in this moment?

He looks at him.

Paralyzed man.

Your sins are forgiven.

The whole room is split right there in that moment.

Whole room.

You got this group over here, and you got this group over here, just like that.

Boom, right down the middle.

You know what's exactly what happens today?

It is exactly what happens today.

We could take the last 30 minutes and we can just kind of funnel this all down to the resurrection of Jesus.

We funnel it all down to the person of Jesus and asking this question how will you respond to Jesus?

And just like Jesus, in that moment, he splits the room, and in that moment, some are where some are ready to worship him.

He says, Some of them are in wonder.

What we've never seen anything like this, and some of them continue to resist.

That doesn't make sense to me.

That that doesn't make sense to me.

I know how will I respond to Jesus?

So this is this is uh this is a defining moment for us.

Who is the person of Jesus?

Who do you say the person of Jesus?

Is he another religious narcissist, leader?

Or is he who he says he is?

Is he the one with the authority to forgive the deepest the deepest issue of our life?

Are we are we are we in a place where we're ready to go?

I can I can submit myself to the plan of Jesus that Jesus has triaged you and I's life.

And in full view of the pain you walked in here with, with he sees all of it.

You got a smile on your face, but inside it's something else entirely.

Jesus looks at that, he looks at you, he looks at your questions, he looks at your brokenness, he looks at your life, he sees all of that, and he's triaged your life, and he goes, I want to fix you, I want to heal you, I want to restore you, but I've triaged your life and I've determined that the most important part is your soul, not making you a better person, but making you alive.

His who he is, his plan.

And will I become part of the people?

Will I let the people be the hurdle or will I become part of the people?

What will I do with them?

What do I do with Jesus?

What do I do with them?

Sometimes we just need to make this commitment now.

You know, I you know what I love about the you know what I love about the disciples when I read the Bible?

See, we we have the benefit of kind of looking back and we get to see the whole picture.

You know, these disciples, they had no idea.

It's like Jesus, like, come and follow me.

They had no idea where their life was headed, they had no idea what was ahead.

And I think sometimes, I think sometimes we put too much pressure on ourselves because we got a lot of questions around the Bible, but I'm gonna tell you this right now.

Follow Jesus.

Follow the one who came back to life.

He has a way of sorting the rest out with you.

That's the call to action.

What will I do with Jesus?

What will I do with Jesus?

Some of us right now, just with our eyes closed, we just need to make a commitment to follow him right now.

All of us, we're just gonna close our eyes.

So we just need to tell him right now, Jesus, I want to follow you.

I mean, I don't understand everything, but I want to follow you.

I accept that you are the one with the authority and the ability to forgive sins.

That I believe that only God has the authority that, and I recognize that and I accept that.

I accept that you are exactly who you claim to be.

And I accept your plan.

I I I I have things that I that I'd really, if you have the ability to fix, I'd really like you to fix these things in my life.

My health, I I I am coming to you because I do need some, I need you to fix my health.

I need you to fix my marriage, I need you to fix my kids, and I need you to fix this this problem, I need you to fix this deep void of of dissatisfaction that I have with my life.

I need you to fix it, but I'm willing to submit to your plan, and I accept that you are triaging my life and you've determined that my sin is the thing that you need to address first.

And so I submit to that.

Forgive my sins.

Will you forgive my sins?

Will you will you bring my dead soul back to life again?

Will you will you will you heal me from the inside outward?

Will you start with my soul?

Will you make me one of your people?

Will you make me one of your people?

The church is full of broken people, and there's a part of me that's kind of grateful because I know how broken I am.

So thank you.

Make me one of your people.

Thank you, Jesus.

How will I respond to you?

I respond by confessing that you're my Lord.

I respond by saying you're my savior.

I respond by saying I'm committed to following you for the rest of my life.

Even for those of you that are been following Jesus for some time.

I think Easter ought to be one of those moments where you revisit the covenant that you have, the promise, the binding, this thing that binds you, that Jesus on a cross, dying for you, resurrecting, ascending to the right hand of the Father.

I think I think Easter is one of those moments where we revisit and we go, hold on a second.

Have I let this become cliche?

Have I let this become just what I consider bottom shelf?

Is that what this has become?

Jesus, forgive me.

Reinvigorate my soul.

Give me fresh perspective.

This is for all of us right now.

We're just asking Jesus, breathe fresh wind into our souls and help us to get a better understanding, better clarity over what it is you did on the cross for us.

And that not that you died, not that you just died, but that you actually resurrected.

And that you have raised us with you.

Help us to get a hold of that for all of us.

Jesus, we're committed to following you for the rest of our lives.

We love you.

We love you.

For those of you that have prayed that prayer right now, nobody's looking around.

Would you just raise your hand and say, Yeah, that's me.

I'm committing my life to Jesus today.

Good job, good job, good job back there.

Any other hands?

Any good job.

I see you.

Any other hands?

Very good.

Any other hands?

Any other hands?

Any other hands?

Good job.

I see you.

Good job.

Any more?

Very good.

Be bold.

Be bold.

Way to go.

Way to go.

Jesus, good job, sir.

I see you.

I see.

Listen, I Jesus sees your hands.

He sees what you're doing.

Jesus, I thank you for the people in this room, right?

Especially those who have the boldness to raise their hand.

Father, I thank you.

That you don't just you don't just call us to make static decisions.

Your call is to follow you, to take steps with you, to go on a journey with you, that you would take us places we didn't see think you would ever take us to do things in our lives we didn't think possible.

Thank you, Jesus, that you invite us into a life with you.

Thank you, Father.

We're with you, we're with you, Jesus.

Thank you.

We love you, and it's in your name we pray.

Everybody said Amen.

Amen.

Come on, church.