Approach With Boldness: Why We Can Presume Upon God

Four men approach Jesus with a paralytic. It’s an incredibly familiar story, told in a couple of different settings in the gospels.

But did you notice what comes out of Jesus’s mouth? As it’s translated here, “Take heart” (Matt. 9:2b), or (more accurately), “Stay courageous.”

“Your sins are forgiven.”
And he also says, “Your sins are forgiven” (Matt. 9:2c). And that kind of passive voice is, in fact, intentional. It’s not the same as if Jesus were to say, “I am forgiving your sins.” He’s offering, in essence, a declaration that has already been determined.

Determined by whom? By God himself. I mean, Jesus is at this point speaking on behalf of the holy Trinity: “Your sins have been forgiven.”

Of course, this is why all the questions show up on the part of the religious: “Wait a second. Who is he to forgive sins?”

And Jesus calls out their thoughts and speaks to them directly. “Who has the authority? The Son of Man has authority to forgive sin. And I’m doing it. And just so you know that what I’m doing is accurate and a sign from God, I say to you—to the paralyzed man, ‘Take up your bed and walk’” (cf. Matt. 9:4b-7).

And the man, of course, gets up and walks away.

And people are astounded.

 “Take heart.”
What I want to bore in on, is, though, the play of what happens. The first words out of Jesus’s mouth are, “Be courageous. Take heart” (Matt. 9:2b). I love that!

But do you know what I love about that? These men, as well as the man on the mat, are acting in an incredible manner. You see, they presume a lot by coming to Jesus.

They presume his goodness. They presume that he is not going to treat them the way others might, as in, “Well, if you’re lame, for this to have befallen you, then God must have something against you. Maybe you need to think about what you’ve done to see if you, in fact, deserve some kind of healing.”

Because it’s clear that’s what the four men are doing. They’re bringing this man to be healed.

And yet Jesus says none of that. No scolding. No condemnation. In fact, he blesses their boldness in essence by saying, “Be courageous. This is right.”

“Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness.”
Again, I love that about God. That it is, in fact, right to presume his goodness, and to know the declaration that Jesus gives on behalf of the holy Trinity: No matter what has happened, you have been made right with God. Come on in. Come closer. Enter into what Hebrews describes as the very holy of holies, where the writer says, “Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness” (Heb. 4:16).

That is, in fact, God’s invitation to us. He is looking for men and women to step out, based on what he has done. He wants us to step out in boldness both in terms of their approach to God and, later, in acting on his behalf to speak with that kind of grace and that kind of clarity. In essence, he invites us to step out based on this declared relationship that happens between us and God.

About His Business
And how can I do that? I can only do that if I know that I’m secure in who I am in Christ: that my sins have been forgiven, I have a place in heaven when I die, and therefore I can be about, as it were, my Father’s business because I belong to him, and he’ll never let me go. That he has my back. He is working in me that which is good. I can trust in him and know that no matter what happens, I can be about his business, that he is Lord, and that I can trust him for myself as well as my circumstances.

Are you acting upon the good promise that your sin is forgiven? Are you willing to step out into the place of mission and service? The qualifiers to say yes to God are, in fact, none.

We can say yes to him and receive that assurance. And out of that, our lives are changed, and we can be about his business.

“Stay courageous. Your sins are forgiven.” Do you approach your Father with the boldness that comes from embracing this truth? Share this blog and your comments on Twitter and include my username, @revgregbrewer.

(This post is an adaption of Bishop Brewer’s sermon on June 30, 2016, in the Bishop’s Oratory of the Diocesan Office, Orlando).

Unless otherwise noted, scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.