As we continue our series today on Teamwork, “Together We Make a Difference,” we’re going to look at “Solving Big Problems in My Life Through Teamwork.”
A lot of the problems I face in life, especially the bigger ones, often aren’t solvable on my own. Not only do I need God’s help but I also need the help of a team of friends. God didn’t create me to go through life alone and try to do everything by myself. I was intentionally designed to work together with others to get important things done.
Nowhere in Scripture is this more evident than the story we’re going to revisit today. We’re going to look together again at one of the most exceptional and interesting accounts of teamwork found in the Bible.
Here it is from Mark chapter two.
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!” Mark 2:1-12 (NLT)
We’re going to look at this story today from the perspective of the man on the mat - the paralyzed guy who had four friends who were determined to get their buddy to Jesus so that he could be healed.
This is not just a story about the four men who formed an unconventional problem-solving squad. It IS about them – and it’s certainly about Jesus – but it is also about a man who was in need of healing.
I want you to see this story today from the perspective of that hurting person. I want you to view it from the hurts in your life and in the lives of those you love and I want you to see that Jesus offers healing, hope, and help! Picture yourself on a stretcher being carried to Jesus by others.
This is a fabulous story but don’t leave today without applying the Word of God to your own life. God wants to deal with some big problems in your life. He wants to help you solve them! But He has chosen not to address some of them without your willingness to allow teamwork to play a role in helping solve those problems.
Three BIG Teamwork Solutions For My BIG Problems:
1. Teamwork can break the hold that paralysis has on me.
The man on the mat was paralyzed. I can’t imagine how tough that was. Everyone of us wants to be able to do as much stuff for ourselves as we can but for this man life was all about depending upon the help of others.
But this man is not alone in his helplessness. Some of us are paralyzed too. We may not suffer physical paralysis but we’re paralyzed nonetheless.
Some of us are spiritually paralyzed. We haven’t made any significant spiritual advancement in a long time because we feel helpless and we have come to the wrong conclusion that there’s no use trying anymore.
For others of us, our relationships may be paralyzed. Some of you suffer from paralyzed emotions. Some of you can’t move because fear has you paralyzed, or a lack of knowing what to do has you feeling helpless and hopeless. Others of us are paralyzed by bad habits.
What do I do when I’m stuck in a place where I think I have no options, no way to make any advancement in life, when I feel like its useless to even try anymore?
One thing I can do is rely on other members of the teams God has given me to help me succeed in my struggle.
This man couldn’t walk to Jesus in his own power. There was no way in the world that he was going to get to Jesus ON HIS OWN. His problem was too big for him to solve unless a team of people who loved him came to his rescue. Someone had to help him.
Did you know that many of the people Jesus healed during His brief earthly ministry were brought to Him? People who had faith in Christ transported other people who couldn’t, wouldn’t, or didn’t even know that they needed to be brought to Jesus, to Him.
For example, speaking of Jesus, the Bible says…
“News about him spread as far as Syria, and people soon began BRINGING TO HIM all who were sick. And whatever their sickness or disease, or if they were demon possessed or epileptic or paralyzed—he healed them all.” Matthew 4:24 (NLT)
“That evening many demon-possessed people were BROUGHT TO JESUS. He cast out the evil spirits with a simple command, and he healed all the sick.” Matthew 8:16 (NLT)
“Then a demon-possessed man, who was blind and couldn’t speak, was BROUGHT TO JESUS. He healed the man so that he both speak and see." Matthew 12:24 (NLT) (See also Matthew 9:32)
“When the people recognized Jesus, the news of his arrival spread quickly throughout the whole area, and soon people were BRINGING all their sick to be healed. Matthew 14:25 (NLT) (See also Mark 1:32; Luke 4:40)
“One day some parents BROUGHT THEIR CHILDREN TO JESUS so he could lay his hands on them and pray for them.” Matthew 19:13 (NLT) (See also Mark 10:13, Luke 18:15)
What I want you to see today is that we all need to be BROUGHT TO JESUS! Not just for salvation but for healing, for solutions to our BIG PROBLEMS. We need to let others play their role in helping us discover spiritual truth.
We all need to be a part of spiritual teams so that others can do for us what we cannot do for ourselves, and so that we can do for others what they cannot do for themselves.
A lot of Christians suffer from spiritual isolation syndrome. We worship God and we love others, we just don’t want to rely on others. We don’t want to get any deeper than surface relationships.
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 an 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)
Guess what happens as a consequence of this shallow stuff that’s called “fellowship?”
There are some big problems in our lives that we aren’t able to overcome because we’re too proud, or too busy, or too self-absorbed or too uncompromising to work with others.
We’ve convinced ourselves that we don’t need to be a part of ministry teams or small groups or any setting where we have to share in the lives of others and AS A CONSEQUENCE WE ARE MISSING OUT ON ONE OF GOD’S MOST POWERFUL REMEDIES FOR OUR BIG PROBLEMS!
So, first of all, teamwork helps me conquer the BIG problems in my life because, working with others, I can break the hold paralysis has on me.
I’ve got to be willing to open up and share my life with others! God didn’t create me to go it alone. I’m not just here to help others – I’m here to let others help me!
Secondly, teamwork can offer solutions to my big problems because…
2. Teamwork stimulates creativity.
I don’t know if the four friends had a formal brainstorming session or not. But somehow they decided to think outside the box. My educated guess is that their conversations with one another provided fresh ideas until one of them came upon a workable, yet unconventional solution: “Let’s raise the roof!”
It was common in those days for the roof of a house to be flat with an outer stairway leading to it for access. When these concerned friends couldn’t get through the door they didn’t give up. They didn’t say, “Well, looks like we didn’t get here in time. Our friend is just going to have to remain paralyzed.”
I wonder how many times I’ve given up when hope was right around the corner? Did I give up too soon when I should have looked for an unconventional solution?
During the Second World War, the Jewish philosopher Walter Benjamin fled across Europe from the Nazis. After weeks of running and hiding through occupied France, he reached his longed-for destination of Spain, from which it would have been possible to escape to America.
But on the day that he arrived, the Spanish border, which had been known to be open up to that point, was closed. Benjamin committed suicide in despair. With the most bizarre of paradoxes, the border re-opened the very next day. The closure had been only a temporary contingency.
I suspect that it is part of God’s plan sometimes to make me think outside the box. And sometimes he may want me to rely on others. There’s great creativity when friends rely on one another. Jesus may have wanted just such a memorable occurrence to leave an indelible impression on His critics who were in the audience. This incident made it very clear to Christ’s enemies what lengths His followers were willing to go to in order to get to Him and how they were willing to work together.
How far outside the box are you willing to go to express your faith in Christ? Are you willing to settle for the status quo or will you do anything and everything you have to do in order to get people to Jesus? When a BIG problem faces you are you willing to work together with others to find a creative solution to the difficulty?
Sometimes God intentionally puts you in tough spots and makes it so the only way out is some outside the box solution so that everyone around will know that your faith is real and so is God’s ability. But He also does it so that you will work together with others to find a solution.
You say, “but I just have some difficulty working with others. Either I don’t want them to see me as I really am or when I see them for who they really are I just don’t like some things about them.”
It’s decision time. Which would you rather have – BIG problems, or a proven method of solving big problems called teamwork?
When you and I get together with others our potential to come up with solutions raises exponentially! We must learn HOW to work together. And some of our BIG problems are God-given so that we’ll be forced to quit playing “lone wolf.”
Just think about how many creative solutions there are if you work together with others?
1. Teamwork can break the hold that paralysis has on me.
2. Teamwork stimulates creativity.
And the third BIG reason I need teamwork when I encounter BIG problems…
3. Teamwork can bolster my faith.
Verse 5 says, “Seeing THEIR FAITH, Jesus said to the paralyzed man, ‘My child, your sins are forgiven.’” Circle “seeing their faith.”
Jesus saw the faith of the four friends who lowered the paralyzed man through the roof and He responded.
There are times when the faith of others will keep your hope alive. Your faith may grow weak and that happens. But when it does, look for someone else on the team that has strong faith. We need to encourage one another’s faith. That’s one of the vital reasons we need to be on spiritual teams.
The idea that we don’t need anyone else to grow spiritually or to accomplish the plan and purposes of God in our lives is not only foreign to Scripture it is also contrary to the natural world.
Irwin McManus in his awesome book ‘The Barbarian Way’ speaks of rhinos and their limitations. ‘But my favorite of all is the group designation for rhinos. You see, rhinos can run thirty miles an hour, which is pretty fast when you consider how much weight they’re pulling. They’re actually faster than squirrels, which can run up to twenty-six miles an hour. And even then who’s going to live in dread of a charging squirrel!
Just one problem with this phenomenon, Rhinos can see only thirty feet in front of them. Can you imagine something that large moving in concert as a group, plowing ahead at thirty miles an hour with no idea what’s at thirty-one feet? You would think that they would be far too timid to pick up full steam, that their inability to see far enough ahead would paralyze them to immobility. But with that horn pointing the way, rhinos run forward full steam ahead without apprehension, which leads us to their name.
Rhinos moving together at full speed are known as a crash. Even when they’re just hanging around enjoying the watershed, they’re called a crash because of their potential. You’ve got to love that!
I think that’s what we’re supposed to be. That’s what happens when we become barbarians and shake free of domestication and civility. The church becomes a crash. We become an unstoppable force. We don’t have to pretend we know the future. Who cares that we can see only thirty feet ahead? Whatever’s at thirty-one feet needs to care that we’re coming and better get out of the way.”
Your potential to advance in those faith-testing times and situations of life is not limited to what you alone can accomplish. God created you to be a part of a team so that you don’t have to remain hopeless and helpless.
The quartet who tore a hole in the roof to let down their friend, remain unnamed, but one of them had to be the first to verbalize the idea.
Ever been the first to say something bold? To believe the impossible can be done? People look at you like you’ve lost your mind. It takes faith to do that.
“Tear a hole in the roof! We can’t do that, not with Jesus and a big crowd looking on! Everyone will think we’re religious fanatics!” But faith won out when one of the guys no doubt said something like, “We’ve just got to get our friend to Jesus any way we can! It doesn’t matter what people think!”
They didn’t wait for a church committee to approve their idea. They didn’t check with the zoning board. They expressed their faith in Jesus! You and I need to be a part of a team so that we can have others express their faith for us!
What happens when others express their faith for us! Our own faith begins to grow! Faith that has been weakened by the tough trials of life finds new strength by witnessing the extraordinary faith of others!
You say, “I need that kind of encouragement. I need the faith of others to overcome the big problems in my life that I can’t handle on my own.”
Then you’d better make investments in ministry teams and small groups!
Once again, you have a choice. You can keep on leading a life of quiet desperation or you can step up to the faith-enhancing experience of being involved in the lives of others by going deeper than just surface relationships. You can become an active, integral part of teams.
We can get to know each other very much in a crowd. We can’t really go much deeper than the surface unless we spend more time together than just before and after the worship gatherings. We have to have small groups.
I’m going to give you a really practical way to apply this message. Today, on this first Sunday of the month, I’m declaring this month, TEAMWORK MONTH.
Starting today, and ending on the last Sunday of the month, you’re going to have two distinct opportunities to become a member of two or more teams.
The first type of teams is MINISTRY TEAMS.
The second type of teams is SMALL GROUPS.
In the worship folder and out in the entrance hall you’ll find information about how you can join a small group and become a part of various ministry teams. It’s up to you whether or not you will utilize this great tool for solving the BIG PROBLEMS in your life and in the lives of those you love.
After seeing this team of four, lower their friend down through the roof on a stretcher, and after Jesus forgave the man’s sins and healed him the Bible says,
They were all amazed and praised God, exclaiming, “We’ve never seen anything like this before!”
Do you want to see God do things that people have never seen before? I certainly do! With all my heart and mind and soul I do! I’m going to recommit myself today to be a paralysis-breaking, creativity-stimulating, faith-bolstering part of the teams God has equipped and led me to be a part of.
How about you?
Let’s pray.
