Every one needs to be in community with some one else. Sometimes families will provide community. Sometimes the people from work will provide a sense of community but the fact is that every human needs other people in their life.

Being in relationship with others will allow you to find out who you really are. Being in a relationship with others will allow you to practice the fruit of the spirit in your life.
Discipleship occurs only in community.

Very few people are expert in anything all by themselves. They need a supporting community. Do you know a good musician who was not trained, nurtured and sustained by the music community? Show me an athlete who achieves excellence all alone, apart from the athletic community. Very few wise men become so without the accumulated wisdom of the centuries as expressed in colleges and universities and libraries. Medical people are more like ensembles and symphonies than soloists. What business tycoon does it all on his own without dedicated experts in finance, engineering, personnel, and marketing? Excellence requires participation in, and support of, a community of like-minded people.

Likewise in the church -- a forerunner of the new kingdom. Very few achieve Christian maturity all by themselves. Seldom is the Bible studied diligently without the aid of scholars and teachers. Rarely are people led to generosity by their own impulses.

Maurice A. Fetty, The Divine Advocacy, CSS Publishing, Lima, Ohio.

There is a story found in two of the Gospels. Both Mark and Luke record a story that took place during the ministry of Jesus Christ on earth. It is the story of a man who was in need and who obviously had people who cared about him.

When Jesus returned to Capernaum several days later, the news spread quickly that he was back home. Soon the house where he was staying was so packed with visitors that there was no more room, even outside the door. While he was preaching God’s word to them, four men arrived carrying a paralyzed man on a mat. They couldn’t bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, so they dug a hole through the roof above his head. Then they lowered the man on his mat, right down in front of Jesus. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, “My child, your sins are forgiven.” Mark 2:1-5 NLT

One day while Jesus was teaching, some Pharisees and teachers of religious law were sitting nearby. (It seemed that these men showed up from every village in all Galilee and Judea, as well as from Jerusalem.) And the Lord’s healing power was strongly with Jesus. Some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a sleeping mat. They tried to take him inside to Jesus, 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. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the man, “Young man, your sins are forgiven.” Luke 5:17-20 NIV There are some things in life you can’t do by yourself. There are some situations in life that can only be endured or understood and resolved by allowing ourselves to be in community with others.

1. Sometimes even the church can be a barrier to someone connecting to Christ

In this story from the life of our Lord it is interesting that even in the midst of trying to see Jesus those who gathered around Him became a barrier to those in need.

“Soon the house where he was staying was so packed with visitors that there was no more room, even outside the door.”

    a. The house was full

“They couldn’t bring him to Jesus because of the crowd”

Sometimes people find comfort in a crowd. They like to be lost in the crowd because it saves them from having to deal with what is going on in their life.

I just spent the last week with 29 pastors from around the USA who pastor large churches. There are crowds of people who come each week to their churches just like they come here. They come to worship and learn about Jesus Christ and yet every one I talked to acknowledged how important it was that the crowd would find a way to be in community with each other.

If we are not intentional about it the crowd can become a hindrance and a barrier for others to see Christ.

    b. The people in the house were so focused on Jesus they had their backs
    to the person with a need.

You might put it that way. Can you envision what it must have been like on that day? Jesus had drawn great crowd wherever He went. Now He has entered a house and the people are pressed into every opening. Windows and doors have become portals to view and listen to what Christ had to say.

Do you know that it is very easy to become so wrapped up in church and our own needs that we can easily forget that there are people around us who may be hurting? There are people sitting around you today in this church that you don’t know. Maybe you’ve seen them before but you have never taken the time to introduce yourself or taken the time to meet someone new.

In essence when you and I don’t reach out to others we are excluding them from the benefits of community.

The people in the house were so focused on Jesus they had their backs to the person with a need.

    c. ...or were they?

One day while Jesus was teaching, some Pharisees and teachers of religious law were sitting nearby. (It seemed that these men showed up from every village in all Galilee and Judea, as well as from Jerusalem. Luke 5:17

The account of this story as told in the book of Luke suggests that many in this crowd weren’t really focused on Jesus for the right reasons. I was standing with a crowd of people by a body of water recently when the desperate call came for a lifeguard. I watched as some friends pulled a woman who had quit breathing and was turning very blue out of the water and onto the bank. They began CPR and eventually brought life back into here body. I noticed that people ran from everywhere a formed a big circle not to help but to see. (Rubbernecking) In fact when professional help arrived the crowd didn’t even move naturally to make room for the paramedics. Someone had to push them back and yell at them to move back.

May I talk for a moment to those of us who have been in church for years? Why do you come to church? Is it just because of what you can get out of it? Is it just because you want to feel something emotional and go home? I have said this recently and I need to say it again. You will never know everyone in the church but if everyone would go out of their way to try to meet someone they don’t know occasionally both parties would be better for it.

Bill Hybels recalls a time when Dr. Gilbert Bilezikian was speaking for a leadership conference at Willow Creek Community Church. He writes about it like this… “Dr. Bilezikian said there’s life-changing fellowship in biblically functioning community. That was a far cry from the childhood experience of a lot of his audience! The only kind of fellowship that many of his listeners had witnessed revolved around the fifteen or twenty minutes after the service when the men would stand around the church patio and ask each other superficial questions.

‘So how’s it going at work Jake,’ one of them would ask.
‘Fine, Phil. Say, you driving a new pickup?’
‘Used,’ Phil would reply. ‘What do you have going this week?’
‘Not much.’
‘Well, great fellowshipping with you, Jake.’
‘Same here.’

That was about it. They’d (find their wives who) were having similar conversations, and go home until next week.

But the Bible says true fellowship has the power to revolutionize lives. Masks come off, conversations get deep, hearts get vulnerable, lives are shared, accountability is invited, and tenderness flows. People really do become like brothers and sisters. They shoulder each other’s burdens - and unfortunately, that’s something that few of the people in that audience had experienced while growing up in church.

In many churches it just didn’t seem legal to tell anyone you were having a problem. Families that sat in the same pew for years would suddenly disappear, because the husband and wife were in turmoil over marriage problems. Instead of coming to the church for help and prayer and support, they fled the other way, because they didn’t feel the freedom to say, ‘We love Jesus, but we’re not doing very well. Our lives feel like they’re unraveling. We need some help!’

The implicit understanding was that you shouldn’t have a problem, and if you did you’d better not talk about it around the church.

I learned that lesson well. When I got old enough to stand on the church patio after services, someone would say, ‘So, Bill, how are things in high school?’

And I’d give the response that I thought was expected. ‘Fine, Ben,’ I’d say. ‘They’re just great.’

I didn’t feel I could tell him that my heart was being ripped to shreds because my girlfriend and I had broken up. Or that I was flat-lined spiritually. Or that I had and older brother who was drinking too much and driving too fast, and I was scared about where his life was heading.

I didn’t say anything, because I felt that a good Christian just didn’t admit to having those kinds of real-life difficulties. And in many churches, that’s called fellowship. It shouldn’t be.” (Rediscovering Church, p. 159-160)

2. Four friends is all you need when you can’t walk.

In a 1991 poll, George Gallup, Jr., reported seven needs of the average American:

        1. The need for shelter and food,
        2. The need to believe life is meaningful and has a purpose,
        3. The need for a sense of community and deeper relationships,
        4. The need to be appreciated and respected,
        5. The need to be listened to and be heard,
        6. The need to feel one is growing in faith,
        7. The need for practical help in developing a mature faith.

    a. They brought him to Jesus.

This man couldn’t walk and so he needed someone to care about him enough to bring him to Christ. Four corners on a stretcher means four men needed to be in his community.

    b. They weren’t deterred by the crowd.

“they dug a hole through the roof above his head. Then they lowered the man on his mat, right down in front of Jesus.”

Imagine this story in the context for a moment. The houses in those days were made of sod and the roof and walls could have been at least a foot thick. This would have been a big hole. It would have taken time to dig. It would have made a bit of a mess while Jesus was teaching. Imagine the noise and the dirt above his head as he spoke. Do you realize that they were so concerned that they didn’t worry about anything but getting their friend some help? They were precise in their intent. They didn’t dig a hole in the roof anywhere but right in front of Jesus.

Are you in that kind of relationship with anyone? Are you in a group or community of people that would go to this extent for you if you shared a need? Are you being that kind of a friend for anyone else besides your family and yourself?

Community is scriptural and biblical and has been practiced since Christ left this earth.

    c. They did whatever it took to get their friend to Christ

These men were unselfish. They took time for this man. They worked hard to make it happen. They thought more of him at that moment than they did their own agendas and schedules.

Two friends were walking in the forest one day when suddenly they stumbled upon a large grizzly bear who decided that they looked like a good snack. The two started running away when all of the sudden one of them stopped. The other said, "What are you stopping for? Don’t you know the grizzly bear is right behind us?" His friend replied, "I am tying my shoe so I can run faster." At this he couldn’t help but laugh, "What you think you’ll outrun the grizzly?" The friend replied, "I don’t have to outrun the grizzly, I only have to outrun you." In our selfish society, how often do we act like this "friend." As we try to exist in community, it is essential that we eliminate the self-centered nature that is all too prevalent in our churches today.

“You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.” — Dale Carnegie

3. The objective of community is to bring focus and healing through Christ

“Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, “My child, your sins are forgiven.”

There is nothing like the local church when it is working right. “Its beauty is indescribable. Its power is breathtaking. Its potential is unlimited. It comforts the grieving and heals the broken in the context of community. It builds bridges to seekers and offers truth to the confused. It provides resources for those in need and opens its arms to the forgotten, the downtrodden, the disillusioned. It breaks the chains of addictions, frees the oppressed, and offers belong to the marginalized of this world. Whatever the capacity for human suffering, the church has a greater capacity for healing and wholeness. Still to this day, the potential of the local church is almost more than I can grasp. No other organization on earth is like the church. Nothing even comes close.” (Hybels)

Conclusion:

What are you doing to practice community?
Who are you in community with?
Who is in your “fav five?” Who needs to be in your “Fav. Five?”

Are you in a small group?
If you are a mature believer do you need to be leading a group so that others can have and experience community?

Acts 2:44-45, “All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need.”

Acts 4:32, “All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had.”

Acts 4:34, “There were no needy persons among them, for from time to time those who owned houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need.”

Romans 12:1-3 “1So here's what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life--your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life--and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. 2Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.”

In Charles Dickens classic story, A Christmas Carol, He describes Ebenezer Scrooge as wealthy and miserable. Scrooge was caustic, complaining and horrendously greedy. The description of the transformed Scrooge is delightful:

“He went to church, and walked about the streets, and watched the people hurrying to and fro, and patted children on the head, and questioned beggars, and looked down into the kitchens of houses and up to the windows; and found that everything could yield him pleasure. He had never dreamed that any walk—that anything—could give him so much happiness.”

He once scoffed at charity but now on the last page of the book you will read:

“Some people laughed to see the alteration in him, but he let them laugh, and little heeded them . . . His own heart laughed, and that was quite enough for him. And it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Christmas well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge.”

Do you know what happened to Ebenezer Scrooge? He learned the secret that what you do on this earth for others is what will last when you are gone.

Randy Frazee has written a book called "The Connecting Church." He has a son who was born without a left hand. One day in Sunday School the teacher was talking with the children about the church. To illustrate her point she folded her hands together and said, “Here’s the church, here’s the steeple; open the doors and see all the people.”

She asked the class to do it along with her – obviously not thinking about his son’s inability to pull this exercise off. Then it dawned on her that the boy wouldn’t be able to join in.

Before she could do anything about it, the little boy next to his son, a friend of his from the time they were babies, reached out his left hand and said, “Let’s do it together.” The two boys proceeded to join their hands together to make the church and the steeple.

Frazee says, "This hand exercise should never be done again by an individual because the church is not a collection of individuals, but the one body of Christ."

I call us today as a church to stand together. I call you as an individual to reach out to others and realize that while you may not know everyone you can know someone.

Let us love as Jesus taught us to love. Let us live as Jesus taught us to live. Let us care as Jesus taught us to care.