06/26/11 - A Church Full of Crazy Folks - Pastor Tony Ashmore

Pastor Tony Ashmore teaches on "A Church Full of Crazy Folks" in this Sunday morning celebration.

A Church Full of Crazy Folks
Pastor Tony Ashmore
Sunday, June 26, 2011

www.mylifegatechurch.com


Sermon Notes:

Big Idea:  The local church, God’s plan for the world per Ephesians 3:10, is supposed to change the city in which it is located.  It must gain influence and to do so, it must be healthy, life-giving, strategic and outsider-focused. 

Jeremiah 29:7 “And work for the peace and prosperity of the city where I sent you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, for its welfare will determine your welfare.” 
Jeremiah 29:7 (NCV) “Also do good things for the city where I sent you as captives. Pray to the Lord for the city where you are living, because if good things happen in the city, good things will happen to you also."

Mark 2:1-12 1 When Jesus returned to Capernaum several days later, the news spread quickly that he was back home. 2 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, 3 four men arrived carrying a paralyzed man on a mat. 4 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. 5 Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, “My child, your sins are forgiven.”
 6 But some of the teachers of religious law who were sitting there thought to themselves, 7 “What is he saying? This is blasphemy! Only God can forgive sins!”  8 Jesus knew immediately what they were thinking, so he asked them, “Why do you question this in your hearts? 9 Is it easier to say to the paralyzed man ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or ‘Stand up, pick up your mat, and walk’? 10 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, 11 “Stand up, pick up your mat, and go home!”  12 And the man jumped up, grabbed his mat, and walked out through the stunned onlookers. They were all amazed and praised God, exclaiming, “We’ve never seen anything like this before!”

*    Church is built by Jesus to be significant. Matthew 16:18
*    Church is not a hobby, not a “part” of our life, not something we do.  Ephesians 1:20 (Message) “The church, you see, is not peripheral to the world; the world is peripheral to the church.”
*    We don’t go to church, we are the church—His body in action, His bride.  (Ephesians 1:23; 5:31-32)
*    We, the local church, as the Body of Christ, are to reproduce His ministry—so the things we “see Him do” in the Gospels are models of what we do in our cities  (John 14:12)

What can we learn about “being the church—the body of Christ who does what He does” from this story in Mark 2?
*    Vs. 1: Make sure Jesus feels at home
*    Vs. 2: When Jesus is in the house (church—1 Timothy 3:15) there will be growth
*    Vs. 3: Our homes, church, and city have those who are paralyzed: physically, mentally, socially, spiritually
*    Vs. 4: The crowd, those in the house, are “insider-focused”.  They do not see the paralytic trying to get in or, if they do, they don’t make room for him.  4 “Crazy Friends” are outsider-focused and they will not be stopped by any obstacle.
*    Vs. 5: Their faith (the friends’) touches Heaven and changes Earth.  Our homes, our neighborhoods, our circle of influence, our churches, our cities are full of people who don’t have faith to push past the obstacles—we must exercise ours in spite of the crowd!
*    Vs. 5:  The paralytic didn’t want to hear “Your sins are forgiven.”  He wanted to hear “rise up and walk”.  Jesus knows what we need, we know what we want.  Our mission is not to provide all the answers, or take the pressure to have the answers.  We don’t even know what they need, what we need.  We see the wants, the symptoms.  He knows the need that will heal the disease instead of treating the symptom.  Our mission is to get them to His presence where those needs are met. 
*    Vs. 6-8: interlude to address the “That’s not the way we do it” group.  “We’ve never seen it done like this before”, “That’ll never work”.  “Wait and see” before I jump in.   Note the paralytic waits for the touch of God during this.  The mission of the church is put on hold while we debate.  (I think Jesus gives him a wink to reassure him everything is going to work out fine)  Gather around mission, not doctrine or theology. 
*    Vs. 9-12: Everybody wins except the critics.  When “…good things happen in the city, good things will happen to you also”.

So What?
1.   Love the church, be the church.  Let Jesus bring wholeness to our “church dysfunctions”.
2.   Stay “outsider-focused”—see the Harvest
3.   Tear off “the roof”—what separates the lost, the hurting and the next generation from the presence of Jesus?  Be a crazy friend who challenges every obstacle that stands between people and Jesus.
4.   Make Jesus “at home”—create environments that honor and please Him.  Be a church full of people who don’t judge, who love recklessly, and who worship with heart, soul, mind and strength.

One more story:  Jesus (our model for what the church does) on the cross and the criminal next to Him is promised a place with Him for eternity.  Grace is the trademark of the church.