Speaker 1 0:02

I'm grateful to be with you this morning. You know, I just want to dive right in. There's a word within so many of our churches that has kind of lost its meaning. It really needs to be redefined or, or maybe rebranded. The, the word is really simple. I'm sure you've

Speaker 2 0:17

Heard it. The word is community.

Speaker 1 0:21

That word community is such a buzz word that we have forgotten what it actually means or even more so we've forgotten

Speaker 2 0:31

What it could mean or maybe what it was intended to mean community.

Speaker 1 0:36

Uh , when we think of it, I'll oftentimes we think of being face-to-face or in the same room, somehow sharing space with one another. And that is true, but it could be so much deeper than that. I remember , um, in the midst of this pandemic, someone

Speaker 2 0:54

Saying the word community to me, and it

Speaker 1 0:56

Felt like an attack of sorts. It felt like that word was, was taunting

Speaker 2 1:02

Me because

Speaker 1 1:04

I will admit we need it more than ever. And yet it feels more elusive

Speaker 2 1:10

Than ever before. Community is not something that is optional. It is something that we need desperately psychologist.

Speaker 1 1:20

Erik Erikson is quoted saying, life doesn't make sense without interdependence.

Speaker 2 1:26

We need each other.

Speaker 1 1:28

And the sooner we learn that, the better

Speaker 2 1:31

For us all I don't know about you. I don't feel very interdependent in this season. In fact, if I'm honest, I feel pretty isolated alone. Like it's kind of all

Speaker 1 1:47

Up to me to figure this out and make it happen.

Speaker 2 1:52

But this in mind, I want to take some time with you this morning.

Speaker 1 1:58

And I want to look at one of my absolute favorite

Speaker 2 2:01

Stories in scripture.

Speaker 1 2:03

It's found in mark chapter two and listen, as we read through it, as we go to it and find it in your Bibles, mark, chapter two, starting in verse one. I want you to be on the lookout for where you see and feel community as we go through it. And then as we move forward, we're going to lean in a little extra and unpack more of what it means.

Speaker 2 2:25

So mark chapter two, starting in verse one,

Speaker 1 2:30

A few days later, when Jesus, again, entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. They gathered in such large numbers that there was no room left, not even outside the door.

Speaker 2 2:45

And he preached the word to them. Some men came

Speaker 1 2:49

Bringing to him, a paralyzed man carried by four of them since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd. They made an opening in the roof above Jesus, by digging a hole through it.

Speaker 2 3:02

Then they lowered him. When

Speaker 1 3:06

Jesus, I saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, son, your

Speaker 2 3:11

Sins are forgiven. You catch it such an incredible story right now.

Speaker 1 3:20

I got to tell you, I've taught this passage many times over the years and just about every time I've taught it, I focus on the, the trust that it must have taken for the man on the mat to allow these people, to carry him to be so vulnerable in that moment. Oftentimes when I talk to friends or people in church about this passage, we identify with the man on the mat

Speaker 2 3:45

And it makes total sense.

Speaker 1 3:48

Primary focal point of the story. He's the one that wasn't able to walk. And then all of a sudden miracle in front of everyone, eyes, he stands to his feet

Speaker 2 3:58

And walk south the door makes sense to identify with him, but let me encourage you this morning. Try something a little different.

Speaker 1 4:07

Let me encourage you this morning to identify

Speaker 2 4:10

With the friends who carried the paralyzed man to Jesus. Imagine

Speaker 1 4:17

The conversation that would have happened

Speaker 2 4:18

Before making that journey. One friend

Speaker 1 4:22

Walks into a room of friends and family and he says, and he says, there is a rabbi that heals the lame and he brings sight to the blind. And I hear he's going to be in Copernum . We've got to go see him , him and his friends. They take it upon themselves to take their friend, a man who couldn't have made it on his own and to care to where

Speaker 2 4:45

They heard. Jesus would be amazing. I imagine walking with my friends, are you sure he's going to be there? I don't know, man. And I ,

Speaker 1 4:57

I heard he was going to be there. I think it's kind of the only shot we've got and we arrived after a little bit of time. And , and to our dismay, the home where Jesus is, is so crowded that there is no way to even squeeze past, to get anywhere near Jesus. Imagine their disappointment.

Speaker 2 5:24

We came all this way now, what are we going to do? And then someone speaks up now focus on this person for a minute. He points

Speaker 1 5:36

Up most of the time they didn't look like our houses. They were typically made out of dirt and clay and straw. He points up and he says, I bet we could dig through that roof. If we really want to get them in there to Jesus. I bet we can host him up, make it happen.

Speaker 2 5:54

Now let's pause for a second. There I am a firm believer

Speaker 1 5:59

That every friend group, as what I would refer to as the

Speaker 2 6:04

Wild friend, maybe you are

Speaker 1 6:07

In fact, the wild friend. If you're thinking of your friend group and can't figure out who it is, maybe looking in the mirror, cause it could be you. I know in my friend group, oftentimes I end up being the wild friend, but I imagine it has to be that kind of person that would stand there and disappointment and look at all of the friends around him and say, let's dig a hole in that stranger's roof.

Speaker 2 6:29

What's more crazy than that. They do it.

Speaker 1 6:34

The people that he's with decide, sure, why not?

Speaker 2 6:40

They climb the roof of a home. They did not own.

Speaker 1 6:44

They, they , they do everything they can with all of their strengths. They hoist their paralyzed friend up onto the roof and begin to dig to where they believed Jesus would be. Imagine being in that house, imagine standing there while clumps of dirt are falling around. You imagine owning that house and realizing that you were getting a skylight. You did not order.

Speaker 2 7:12

I don't know about you, but I'm in need of friends like this in my life. I am in need of a community

Speaker 1 7:24

That will gather around and lift each other up. Maybe in your life, you can think of a time where it felt like everything was closing in around you. And no matter how hard you work, no matter how hard you push , you just couldn't make any headway

Speaker 2 7:41

Until someone came into your orbit, a friend, a family member community, and they lifted you up. I can think of that in my own story. I don't know if you would know it now, but growing up, I was a really angry kid. Like

Speaker 1 8:04

There's one of those kids that, that like in , in your school, in your youth ministry, like you should want me in there, but you didn't. Cause I was so disruptive and so disrespectful. I was known for fighting and it wasn't until I met in high school and my junior year of high school, I met this group of students and their youth pastor.

Speaker 2 8:28

And somehow they , they pushed past this barrier of anger that I had you see at the time, I just seriously didn't understand

Speaker 1 8:38

Christians. It felt kind of weird, weird

Speaker 2 8:40

To me to call yourself a Christian that is until I met these people. And I saw

Speaker 1 8:48

The way they loved Jesus with everything they did had . I saw the way they love each and I experienced

Speaker 2 8:57

How they cared for me, how they, they didn't let my barrier

Speaker 1 9:04

Stop them. You see , uh , it wasn't until I met them that I understood what it meant to be a Christ follower and decided to give my life over to it. And more than that, decided to give my future over to being a part of it and being that for other

Speaker 2 9:17

People in ministry, it was as if they had lifted me above their shoulders and brought me to a place that there is no way I could have entered on my own. Maybe you have an example like that. Maybe for you, you recently lost a job and it just felt hopeless.

Speaker 1 9:46

Maybe a relationship just was torn down and you, you feel alone and like there's no way out. And you are in need of people to be around you or you've experienced what it's like to be lifted

Speaker 2 9:59

Up in a season. You couldn't do that for yourself. I think today we are in need of this more than ever before

Speaker 1 10:13

When we're so unclear of what community looks like, and it's remains this

Speaker 2 10:19

Buzzword where now we can't always be in the same room. And even in those

Speaker 1 10:27

Seasons that we could, we allowed community to be this once a week experience that we just kind

Speaker 2 10:33

Of walked into rather than contributing. Do you notice these friends who, who carried the paralyzed man to Jesus notice that they never asked for anything from Jesus, for themselves?

Speaker 1 10:52

I don't know about you. That would be a tough opportunity for me to pass up. I mean , uh, Hey Jesus, you know, since during the healing mood, you know, my back's kinda acting up or , or Hey, on the walk here, I stub my toe or something's going on with my, with my son. And I really love for you to pay attention to the thing that I need right now, but they don't do that.

Speaker 2 11:10

Do they know they'd come for their friend? It says in verse five that Jesus saw their faith. And he was healed.

Speaker 1 11:27

I say that he saw his faith because this man couldn't have gotten there on his own. It took his friends. It took his community. You see, community is what we need more than ever, whether in the same room or not, we need to be individuals that raise each other up. It is more than a casual gathering, not something that we turn off when life gets difficult or scary, a lifestyle that we choose time and time again. And his book, irresistible revolution. Shane Claiborne shares a story from , uh , a season where he volunteered with the Teresa at

Speaker 2 12:06

The house of the dying. And it

Speaker 1 12:09

Says that he noticed her feet right away when he, when he got there. I mean, I imagine like I'm completely enamored with mother Teresa have read all of the books around her life. Just, just thinks she's incredible. I can't imagine being there. And the first thing I noticed being

Speaker 2 12:22

Heard feet, that's what he notices, but he didn't muster the courage right away to ask her what had happened. So a week goes by and another. And finally ,

Speaker 1 12:33

Uh, he, he, he gets the courage and he asks not her, but one of the other nuns that was working there with her and they said , uh , what

Speaker 2 12:40

What's going on with with mother Teresa's feet, it's done smiles. He says and tells them a story. She said,

Speaker 1 12:51

Every few months, we get a shipment of shoes

Speaker 2 12:54

Delivered here for everyone that's volunteering. And

Speaker 1 12:58

With , without fail, mother, Teresa runs as fast as she can to be the first one to

Speaker 2 13:04

Was out her shoes. Now,

Speaker 1 13:07

If the story stopped there and you're like me, I'm kind of a shoe person. Maybe you would think, well, obviously she's running to get the best pair of shoes,

Speaker 2 13:15

But no , she

Speaker 1 13:17

Goes on. And she said she wants to be first. So she can be sure

Speaker 2 13:20

To get the worst, a pair of shoes that were donated. And year after year of wearing the worst shoes have deformed her feet community, putting the needs of others above your own there . When is your win to be like minded? My question for you

Speaker 1 13:46

Good morning is if you were to really be honest with yourself and you were to do a little bit of an assessment as to how you were doing, I, I would, I would wonder where you would fall on that scale. How

Speaker 2 13:57

Are you doing when it comes to being a bringer of community? In what ways has fear caused you to turn inward in this season? How

Speaker 1 14:09

Has inconvenienced allowed you to forsake or community? Got to understand? We have been conditioned as a culture to look out for number one, we have been taught at a young age to fight

Speaker 2 14:26

For what is that ? Ours ? That is not what Jesus intended community to be

Speaker 1 14:34

Community of believers. We have the power to literally pick people up and bring one another to the feats

Speaker 2 14:43

Of Jesus when they can't get there on their own. We are need of this kind of community today. Unity that you are in is in need

Speaker 1 15:00

Of someone like you being that kind of friend

Speaker 2 15:06

Church, let us be people who choose one another. Let us be people who in the

Speaker 1 15:15

Midst of difficult circumstances, where it is easier to choose isolation or self-preservation let us

Speaker 2 15:23

Choose community.

Speaker 3 15:26

Will you pray with me, father? We thank you for who you are and the way that you challenge us to be more than we are today, help us to learn from and emulate these friends who would be so bold to carry those that can't get there on their own to the feet of you, father. We love you, and we praise you for the way that you are moving in this community. We pray all of these things.