Messy Church
The church is the family of God to bring the hope and love of Jesus to a hurting and broken world. But sometimes when we gather together it can feel like a family reunion gone wrong. Let’s be honest, the church is messy because we, people, are messy. And it is the mess that has turned some of us off or caused us to search for a new church. We need a new vision for how to embrace the mess and carry one another to Jesus. Join us for part 4 of our series, Not Your Ordinary Church Service.
More from Not Your Ordinary Church Service
Teaching Notes
What if the church was once more known for how we love one another?
How do we become a church that deeply cares for one another and carries one another to the feet of Jesus?
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, and he preached the word to them. Some men came, 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 through it and then lowered the mat the man was lying on. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralyzed man, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”
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?”
Immediately Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts, and he said to them, “Why are you thinking these things? Which is easier: to say to this paralyzed man, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’? 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.” He got up, took his mat and walked out in full view of them all. This amazed everyone and they praised God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this!”
Mark 2:1-12
4 DIFFERENT GROUPS OF PEOPLE:
The Crowd: They were UNAWARE that they hindered ACCESS to Jesus.
The Friends: They CARED enough to CARRY their friend to Jesus.
The Paralytic: His deepest DESIRE wasn’t his greatest NEED.
The Religious: Their KNOWLEDGE of God blinded them to their NEED for God.
A JESUS-CENTERED COMMUNITY:
1. Makes room for ALL people to have ACCESS to Jesus.
2. All we can do is CARRY, only Jesus can bring HEALING.
3. We all are MESSY and need to be CARRIED to Jesus.