I love My Church – 5

I love My Church – 5

Subject – The Community of the Mat

by Rick Welborne

Luke 5:18-26 (NLT2)
¹⁸  Some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a sleeping mat. They tried to take him inside to Jesus,
¹⁹  but they couldn’t reach him because of the crowd. So they went up to the roof and took off some tiles. Then they lowered the sick man on his mat down into the crowd, right in front of Jesus.
²⁰  Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the man, “Young man, your sins are forgiven.”
²¹  But the Pharisees and teachers of religious law said to themselves, “Who does he think he is? That’s blasphemy! Only God can forgive sins!”
²²  Jesus knew what they were thinking, so he asked them, “Why do you question this in your hearts?
²³  Is it easier to say ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or ‘Stand up and walk’?
²⁴  So I will prove to you that the Son of Man has the authority on earth to forgive sins.” Then Jesus turned to the paralyzed man and said, “Stand up, pick up your mat, and go home!”
²⁵  And immediately, as everyone watched, the man jumped up, picked up his mat, and went home praising God.
²⁶  Everyone was gripped with great wonder and awe, and they praised God, exclaiming, “We have seen amazing things today!” 

--Today we continue our series…I love My Church. I hope we are all getting a better understanding of how valuable it is to be in community. We truly need each other and we need you to be here.

--One of the great stories in the Bible about community involves a paralyzed man and his friends who brought him to Jesus. We all need friends.

Yogi Berra – If you don’t go to someone’s funeral, they won’t go to yours.

--It is so difficult for us to imagine how difficult life was for this paralyzed man, especially being a paralytic in the ancient world. His whole life was lived on a mat 3 feet wide and 6 feet long.

--Someone had to feed him, carry him, clothe him, roll him over so he wouldn’t get bed sores, clean him when he soiled himself. He will never know the sense of independence we prize so much.

--Nothing can be done for him medically—no surgeries, no rehab programs, no treatment centers. Because he has no way of contributing to society…he will be a beggar laid beside the road depending on mercy of others.

--Can you imagine how he would dream of having a healthy body. He walks, he runs, does good work, gets married, and plays with his children.

--He wakes up still staring at the ceiling he has seen a thousand times, in a room he can never walk out of, and looks at his broken body that holds him prisoner. His mat is his world.

--He has no money, no job, no influence, no family we know of, and seemly not much of a future. His “as is” tag is three feet wide and six feet long. So what does he have going for himself?

--He has friends…he has amazing friends. This is the killer small group of all time. This whole story takes place because of his friends. 

--Without his friends he never makes it to Jesus, never gets healed, and never gets forgiven. All this happened because years ago he decided to have friends. Choosing to be in community.

--Even today people with disabilities wrestle with attitudes of so called ‘normal people’ who do not know how to respond, who are maybe unkind, and may even look away to avoid any connection.

--The ancient world could be even harsher. The Greeks regularly disposed of newborn infants with physical abnormalities. In Rome during the fifth century there was a statute on the books. Quickly kill a deformed child.

Aristotle – Let there be a law that no deformed child shall be raised. 

--Even in Israel there was a belief that people who were in these situations brought it upon themselves. John 9, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Very judgmental. 

--Today I want us to look at the community of the mat…this paralyzed man and his friends:

1. They chose to become friends.

--Here we see a little band of men who refuse to let any obstacle stop them from accomplishing their goal. It was no accident these guys were friends. 

--In the face of formidable obstacles---social stigma, inconvenience, financial pressure, a high cost of time and energy---they chose to become friends. People rarely drift into deep community.

Psychologist Alan McGinnis – Assign top priority to your relationships. Ironically, we tend to devote massive amounts of time to making money, running errands, and succeeding at our jobs, but we neglect giving our most valued possession ---time---to the experience we were created for: community. 

--One of the most countercultural statements in Scriptures of the early church. In speaking of people’s oneness of heart and mind, the writer notes in Acts…They met together daily. 

--Catch this…they worshiped together, they ate together, they talked together, they prayed together---on a daily basis. No wonder they drew so close together in community. 

--We try to create 1^st Century community on a 21^st century timetable and it does not work. Maybe the biggest barrier to truly connecting is the pace of our lives. 

--How often do we hear from people…Let’s get together when everything slows down. Let’s do lunch in a few weeks when I am not so busy. In two weeks we are just as busy as we are now.

John Ortberg – The requirement for true community is chunks of unhurried time. If you think you can fit deep community into the cracks of an overloaded schedule---think again. Wise people do not try to micro-wave friendship, parenting, or marriage. You can’t do community in a hurry. 

--Think about it…you cannot listen in a hurry, you can’t mourn in a hurry with those who mourn, or rejoice in a hurry with those who rejoice. 

--Many people lack great friends for the simple reason that they have never made pursuing community a high priority. You can’t carry someone’s mat in a hurry. 

--Yes, it takes time to clean the house, it takes time to go to Connect Group or church, it takes time to make the effort to worship together instead of figuring out how we can pull apart. 

2. Everyone has a mat. 

--Think about what the paralyzed man has to go through in order to be friends with this group of men. I am sure he wrestled with how much he had to depend on these guys for anything and for everything.

--He had to be jealous of their independence or at least he had given thought that after they had spent time together, he was the only one who could not walk home.

--More than likely, deep in his heart he wished he could trade places with any of his friends. He wondered daily what these men thought about him and his disability. Am I a burden to them.

--It is a vulnerable thing to have someone carry your mat. When they carry your mat, they see you in your weakness and they might hurt you if they drop you.

Otberg – There is this gift between these friends: trusting vulnerability and dependable faithfulness. This mat, which according to society should have created a gulf between him and them, instead became an opportunity for servanthood and acceptance. This group becomes the Fellowship of the Mat. 

--Wherever human beings love and accept and serve each other in the face of weakness and need, there is the Fellowship of the Mat. Here is a truth we must all understand…we all have a mat. 

--This mat stands as a picture of human brokenness and imperfection. It is what is “not normal” about me. It is the little “as is” tag that we most desire to hide. 

--As a community…it is only when we allow others to see our mat, when we give and receive help with each other, that healing becomes possible. 

--Every effective Alcoholics Anonymous meeting is a Fellowship of the Mat but so are healthy families, connect groups, and churches because everyone has a mat.

--Anger can be your mat, fear can be your mat, inability to trust can be your mat or maybe you always need to be in control is your mat. Maybe there is a dark secret that is your mat. A sense of failure or loneliness. 

--So many Christian communities are filled with people who are really into mat management. They pretend they don’t have a mat. They appear to have it all together but they know and God knows what their mat is.

--They have the gift of identifying everyone else’s mat but never reveal their own. Their primary goal is to hide their brokenness from everyone’s eyes. You may get good at hiding your mat.

--You may be able to convince everyone else of your strength and your competence but you will never be able to live in community that way. Listen to the Apostle Paul:

2 Corinthians 12:7-10 (NKJV)
⁷  And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure.
⁸  Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me.
⁹  And He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness." Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
¹⁰  Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

3. You must allow someone to carry your mat.

--Who carries your mat sometimes? Who do you show your weakness and struggles to? Who do you ask to pray for you? Who do you let see your brokenness in this community? 

Jean Vanier – There is no ideal community. Community is made up of people with all their richness, but also with their weakness and poverty, of people who accept and forgive each other, who are vulnerable with each other. Humility and trust are more at the foundation of community than perfection. 

--If you want a deep friendship, you can’t always be the strong one. You will sometimes have to let someone else carry your mat. 

--That is what happens with this man in this Bible story. This small group of people becomes friends. They become a community. They have to be formidable and intentional to be friends.

--Because one of the men’s weakness is so obvious and so visible, they all become more honest about their mats. This community becomes the Fellowship of the Mat.

John 15:13 & 17 (NKJV)
¹³  Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends.
¹⁷  These things I command you, that you love one another.

Hebrews 10:24-25 (NIV)
²⁴  And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.
²⁵  Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another--and all the more as you see the Day approaching.