How To Change a Life

If you’ve read or listened to many of my teachings, then you probably know that I really love the story of the paralytic whose friends carried him to Jesus. It is such a beautiful story, and I’ve taught on it many times before, but today, I want to specifically focus on the kinds of people who we see in the story, especially the kind that we want to be.

When I look at Mark 2:1-12, I can see four different kinds of characters, and I think we all fall into each of these categories at one time or another: There’s the paralytic, there are the spectators, there is the doubting crowd, and of course, there are the four friends.

If you’re like the paralytic, it might not mean that you’re literally paralyzed in your body. Maybe instead you’re paralyzed in your mind or your emotions. Maybe you’re stuck in a habit of sin, and that sin is hurting others. Maybe you’re trapped in a harmful attitude or a frightening situation. In other words, maybe you’re the one who desperately needs a touch from Jesus. 

Or maybe you’re just one of the crowd who came to see what is going on. You’re not sure what you think about Jesus. You’ve heard He is a Healer and a Miracle Worker, and you’ve heard that people come to Him, but you’re still wondering, “Is this really true?” Maybe you’re even thinking, “If what I’ve heard is true, maybe this Jesus could help me. I should go check it out.”

You might even be that part of the crowd that is critical. They see what Jesus is doing, and they don’t understand. It doesn’t agree with their lifestyle, and they have opinions about that. So maybe you feel like what Jesus is doing doesn’t match up with what you think He should be doing, and it is causing you to have doubts and questions.

Lastly, you could be one of the four friends, and I think it is so important that we try to fit into this category as much as we can. If you are like these friends, you are striving with all your heart, with all your faith, with prayer and fasting, and with all your energy to get someone to Jesus. Maybe you’re praying for a family member, witnessing at work, or even teaching a Bible school or leading a home group. It can look all sorts of different ways, but the main thing that is in your heart, the thing that I want to talk to you about today, is that you’re trying to get people to Jesus. 

So what does it take to be like these four friends? Well, let’s look at Mark 2:1-4:

And again He entered Capernaum after some days, and it was heard that He was in the house. Immediately many gathered together, so that there was no longer room to receive them, not even near the door. And He preached the word to them. Then they came to Him, bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men. And when they could not come near Him because of the crowd….

Let’s stop there and just picture this scene. As this story opens, there are all these people gathered around this house that Jesus is preaching in. While He’s teaching, four men come along, and they’re carrying a paralyzed man who they want Jesus to heal, but because of the crowd, they can’t even get in the house!

I would imagine that at that point, they started talking amongst themselves: “We can’t get in. What are we going to do?” “We’ve come all this way. I’m so tired of carrying this man around.” “Maybe we could try tomorrow.” “No, no, we can’t do that, because He might not be there. I’ve heard this Jesus moves around from town to town.” “What are we going to do?”

In the middle of all this confusion, one of the friends finally says, “Okay, I know what we’ll do: We’re going to climb on top of the roof, and we’re just going to make a hole to lower our friend down.” 

You can imagine that the paralytic is hearing this and thinking, “I don’t know about that plan. What if they drop me? I don’t want to be any more paralyzed and hurt than I am already.”

But he has good friends, and they want to get him to Jesus, so one of them looks at him and tells him, “I’ve heard that Jesus does miracles, and I just know we can get you to Him. I promise we won’t drop you, and He’s going to heal you.”

Once they have a plan and everyone’s on board, Mark 2:4 tells us, “And when they could not come near Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was. So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying.”

If you can imagine, this probably isn’t a quiet event. With all the activity on the roof, there are dust and roof particles falling on people, and they’re saying, “What’s going on? Look at that!” Every person in the place has got their eyes up to look at the most ridiculous thing they’ve ever seen: a man coming through the ceiling. He’s probably screaming, “Oh, don’t drop me!” Maybe some of the people are laughing, and some are confused or frightened. Some of them could even be judging these friends, because they are just so shocked that anyone would be rude enough to break through somebody’s ceiling. 

I want you to imagine all that, because I need you to understand how important faith is in this situation. When you’re trying to get someone to Jesus, it might be difficult: you might have to push through the resistance, doubts, and fears of the person you are trying to help. You might have to do some hard work like breaking through a roof or carrying a mat across town. You might even face ridicule or judgement from other people. 

But what if those four friends had listened to the voices in the crowd? What if they had said, “Do you hear those people? They’re making fun of us. They’re saying we’re rude. Let’s just bring him back up”? If they had done that, their friend would never have gotten to Jesus. He wouldn’t have received his healing.

Friend, I know that sometimes when we are believing, fasting, praying, forgiving, and just doing all we can to get someone to Jesus, it’s a struggle. Maybe sometimes you’re tired and you don’t see anything happening, so you want to give up, but you can’t give into that. That is an attitude that could rob the person you are working so hard for of their chance to be in front of Jesus.

If you really want to be like these four friends, then you have to remember that they did not give up. They had that “no-giving-up” attitude, and that’s what you and I need when we’re bringing people to Jesus. When you’re praying for that sick person who doesn’t seem to be getting healed, that lost loved one who’s far from Christ, or that spouse who’s mean and difficult to live with, you have to decide that you’re going to keep believing in what Jesus can do. You have to keep on going, and I want to tell you something that’s really going to encourage you: Jesus sees it.

In all the chaos — with a man being lowered through the ceiling and all these people shouting and staring — the Bible only mentions one thing that got Jesus’ attention. It says, “When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, ‘Son, your sins are forgiven you’” (Mark 2:5).

Those friends did all this hard work, carrying the paralytic all the way to the house and then up the stairs, breaking through the roof, and then using their strength to lower him down. They refused to give up, and Jesus saw that faith, and He stepped in and not only healed the paralytic man so he could walk but also forgave his sins!

There might be some real big problems that you’re facing with the person you’re believing for, but I want to remind you that it’s not a problem to Jesus. Maybe they’re sick or injured in their body. Maybe they sin a lot or they’re difficult to be around, but for Jesus, forgiving sin and healing the body are the same. It’s all within His power! All you need to do is get that person to Him — Just let Him see your faith and do the rest.

I hope this story encourages you. I hope it shows you how important you can be to another person’s life. Friend, you are necessary to getting people to Jesus. You are necessary to completely changing their lives. If you refuse to give up — if you say when you face obstacles, “I won’t quit! I won’t quit believing, praying, forgiving, or extending mercy. I have a ‘no-giving-up’ attitude, and I am going to get my friend to Jesus, because I have faith in His power to help them!” — Jesus will see that. He will see your faith, and He will provide exactly what that person in your life needs.