Through the roof

I think my particular concern and vision for this part of the family of God during 1991 is summed up in the words of Paul writing to the Corinthians in the first letter, chapter 12. And I'm just going to read two verses. God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honour to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other.

If one part suffers, every part suffers with it. If one part is honoured, every part rejoices with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.

Just two particular thoughts from these verses. The first, God has combined the members of the body. We are, in fact, one body, and as the church of God here in this place, we are the body of Christ here.

Every part of that body is necessary and vital for its proper functioning. We are, as we all know, a very large fellowship, and sometimes it's difficult to get to know everyone here. We don't know all that happens, but my prayer is that during the course of this year we shall become more deeply concerned for one another, more interested in a real way in what goes on and in what we are doing together as a church, and that we will each one recognise that although we may not be personally involved in actively doing a certain part of the job that the church is doing, we are nevertheless a part of it and very much involved.

We are a whole. We are united. We are not to be divided.

We may have differences and we may talk freely about them, and I hope we do, because we can all have different views, where every one of us is different, but together we are the body of Christ, and we are united as such, and we are all fully involved in the work here. So I hope that each of us, I hope that I will, take a much greater interest in this coming year, a much greater prayerful concern, and a much greater support for all that is happening, recognising that I am part of it. The second part, Paul says, each one of you is a part of it, and my second prayer is that everyone in this fellowship, every member, will feel really needed and loved during the course of this year.

Paul says every part is necessary, and everyone has a role to play, and if I am not playing my role in the family of God, or you are not playing yours, then the whole body suffers. I wonder what part of the body you think you are. If you're not sure, I suggest that you ask God to show you.

It is vitally important that we, each one of us, do know what we ought to be doing in the family of God and in the church of God, so let's ask him to show us. Perhaps you'd like to find it helpful to talk to your pastoral group leader and share with him, but each one of us has a role to play, and we ought to be playing it, and if we're not playing it, then the whole of this church is suffering as a result. What should I be doing? There are many who feel perhaps they can't do very much.

Some folk may feel that because they're elderly there's not much they can do. Well, I would just say to you there is, because you can pray, and that is the most vital ministry of all, so I hope you'll keep on praying, and I hope that you'll perhaps get linked up in some specific way with some ministry so that you can pray for that. You say you can't speak.

Well, maybe you can steward and stand at the door and greet people. David White would love to have some more people to steward for him, so why don't you offer your services in that capacity? What part of the body are you? Some of you may feel that you're an arm or a leg, and you may well play a very conspicuous and important, apparently, public part in the church life, but Paul says that it's the humble tasks, it's the humble, the lesser parts of our body that are more important. Maybe you feel you're only a toenail.

Well, I know that if my toenail comes off or gets injured, I suffer very, very much. You may only be a toenail, which no one can see, which is kept covered all the time, but you have a part to play. It is the lesser parts that have the greater honour.

They are vital, and everyone in this fellowship is absolutely vital to the life of this church. There are plenty of things to be done. If you haven't got a job or don't know what you should be doing, ask for one.

Talk to your pastoral group leader or an elder, spend time trying to find out. Ask God what your role should be, and my prayer for this church is that every single person, every single member of this church will feel that they really do have a specific role to play and know what it is and be doing it. If we do that, it will unite us further as a family.

It will make us want to join together to pray. It will make us a church where every member is fully involved, where membership of the church becomes realistic, where each contributes his or her part and knows his or her role. In that way, we shall glorify God, and we shall see many, many people being drawn into this fellowship and brought to know Jesus Christ.

Brothers and sisters, let us unite together. Let us find out what God wants us to do. Let us pray together, and let us glorify him together.

Excuse me, I'm sure that as we head into a new year, that as we look back, each of us have done things which we regret. And last Saturday, there were two particular things which I'm rather sorry happened. The first was that I forgot to turn up for the early morning prayer meeting on the Saturday, which I was supposed to lead in Brian Berry's absence, and I was also supposed to open the church, and so the people had to go home.

I apologise if you were one of those that turned up. The day got rather worse as later on, I drove into a petrol station down the Broadwater Road, filled up with petrol, and immediately drove away without paying. A couple of hours later when I realised, I quickly dashed back to the petrol station and they said, well, we're very pleased to see you.

You've rather caused a lot of embarrassment, not least to the police who have arrested the wrong man. So I'm looking to 1991 to try and not get a criminal record. The 1990s have been declared a decade of evangelism, and we here in the TAB have been challenged in the last few days, each of us, to resolve to bring one person to the Lord.

Well, how can this be achieved? I have two suggestions. One, it's going to be by prayer, two, it's going to be by friendship evangelism. Now thinking of the youth work at the TAB and at Maybridge, for which I have some responsibility, consider this, as a conservative estimate, we have in the region of 200 children and young people passing through our premises each week.

And my vision for the church for 1991 is that we use, to a greater extent, this tremendous opportunity to win young lives for Christ, 200 young people. But how? Number one, prayer. I want us to pray more for our youth work.

I want us to pray specifically for our leaders. I want you to take one particular youth group and I want you to put it on your prayer list. Don't attempt to pray for them all.

Take one and put it on your prayer list. I want us all to be encouragers of our youth leaders. As parents, we are rightly concerned as to what our children are taught.

But above all, let us be encouragers. I love all our young people, all our boys and girls, to be prayed for more. Again, can I encourage you, pray specifically, regularly for particular children, maybe those in your house group.

And when you've selected the youth group that you want to pray for, then seek out a leader and ask for the name of one particular child or young person for whom you can pray. Two hundred young people need our prayers. Two hundred young people setting out in life and if they don't meet with Jesus Christ, well, what hope is there? So by prayer, I believe that we can reach many young lives for Christ.

Two, by friendship, I'd like to say to all the youth workers here present that we really do appreciate all the time and the effort, the sacrifice that you make. Can I encourage you to pray more for those in your charge? Plead with God that they may find salvation. Seek him for their salvation.

Make real friends of those for whom you're responsible. They're looking to you. Many of us can think back on people who had tremendous influence on us when we were in our teens or younger.

As they look at you, oh, may they see Jesus. Two more things. One, the boys and the girls club.

Too often we lose young teenagers around the ages of 14, 15, 16, 17. When they make the transition to the older group, to the manor group, and I'm looking to the Lord for 1991, that come September of this year, we will have a good strong group of boys and girls moving up from the clubs to manor. My concern is that our youth groups produce young men, young women who know their God, who are going to stand at the Sycthorn College for Jesus, who are going to stand at Davidson School, at St. Andrew's School, who are not going to be ashamed to say, I belong to Jesus.

Finally, manor. To all members of manor, I want to say this. This is a great time of opportunity for you.

You have the contacts at college, at school, at work. My vision for you this year is that you will continue to learn to pray together, that you will discover God for yourselves as individuals, but as a group also, that you will discover just how great is our God. That as a group, each of you will know what it is increasingly to share Jesus with your friends.

Thank you. Heal with your touch. Humbly we bow and call upon you.

Have mercy on us. O Lord, have mercy on us. O Lord, have mercy on us.

Come and heal our lands with your fire. Heal with your touch. Humbly we bow and call upon you now.

Have mercy on us. O Lord, have mercy on us. Let's turn in Scripture to Mark 2. It's not my intention to preach for very long because this is a service in which a lot of contributions are being made and the jigsaw puzzle is being put together as various pieces are slaughtered, but it's right for us before we come around the table of our Lord just to take another look at Scripture.

As you turn to Mark 2, let me read to you a verse which strikes me as most important from Ecclesiastes where we're going to be making track Sunday by Sunday. I hope you're going to be present on Sunday evenings when we go through the book of Ecclesiastes. It is in the Old Testament.

In my Bible it's 616, the page. At least the end of the book is 616. That probably won't help you, but why not look it up? When you came into the tab, you should have, if you haven't, complained softly as you go out, notes and news, and in notes and news should have been a beautifully designed little card which gives indication of the topics that we'll be taking from Ecclesiastes on these following Sundays.

The reason why I'm going to America is because I couldn't preach from Ecclesiastes. It's far too complicated. So I decided to leave the others to sort it out, and I took a look at Revelation and decided that I'd stay for quite a long time until they got through the more difficult passages and I'd just check them on the tapes when I got back and congratulate or issue warnings as the case may be.

Now, why did I say all that? Because I was going to read to you, wasn't I, from Ecclesiastes. This is what it says about the teacher. Verse 9 and 10 of the last chapter of Ecclesiastes.

Not only was the teacher wise, but also he imparted knowledge to the people. He pondered and searched out and set in order many proverbs. The teacher searched to find just the right words, and what he wrote was upright and true.

Congregations deserve better preachers. Congregations deserve better pastors. Pastors and teachers deserve better congregations.

So let's, in the grace of God, try to correct what needs to be corrected during these years, during this year to come within His grace. And let's ask Him as we open Holy Scripture, the most sacred act in any service, that He will speak to us through His Word. Now here is our Lord Jesus, Mark 2, and it's a homely passage.

He's in northern Galilee, familiar to him because there he was brought up as a lad. And it seems as though they shifted home from Nazareth to Capernaum. A few days later, verse 1, a few days later when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that He had come home.

So many gathered that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and He preached the Word to them. Some then came, bringing to Him a paralytic, 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.

And after digging through it, Lord the mat, the paralyzed man was lying on. When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, 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, Which is easier to say to the paralytic, your sins are forgiven, or to say, get up, take your mat and walk? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins. Let's all read what's next if you've got the NIV. He said to the paralytic, 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. I want to talk about going through the roof, which is an expression that has certain implications taken as a metaphor, which I'll home in on later.

But to take it fairly literally, that is what confronts us, not so in the opening verses of this chapter. Do you have a flat roof? Not many homes in Worthing have flat roofs, because it's difficult with our weather to cope with a flat roof. But in India, if you lived there, or you went to the Middle East, if you had the option, you would go for a flat roof.

For what reason? Well, this, early in the morning, it's a beautiful place, a bit of quiet, and it's cool, and late at night. Most flat-roofed houses have access to the roof by an external staircase. When you climb up the flat roof, if you were to examine the sort of primitive, simple architecture, you'd discover that there were beams across, perhaps four or five feet in length, and two feet between each beam, and that would be covered with a sort of bush, and on top of that would be mud, and in Palestine there'd even be soil and grass would grow.

It's convenient to have a flat roof in Palestine. And should it be that anyone felt like going through the roof, then you don't need Cobson and Davis to straighten things out, because you'd just get some more bracken and some more mud. So, here is this situation where a group of men actually want to come to the Lord Jesus, and they find that they can't approach Him, because, well, people know that He's back in Capernaum, and the house in which He is in is absolutely packed.

So, what do they do? They go up the external stairway, they dig up the roof, they drop the guy through it. Number one goal this year, what about opening your home for Jesus? Letting someone, so to speak, into your house, if not through the roof, we'll settle for the door, the usual mode of access. You know, Peter and Andrew had met Jesus just a little bit before, and it seems as though their encounter with Jesus precipitated them inviting Him to their home.

I often wonder what the reaction of Peter and Andrew would have been when the first time Jesus comes into their house and there are all these friends, suddenly the roof falls in. Some years have gone by since Rowena and I were married. Do you know what was the best thing that ever happened to us in our home? We didn't have much money, it's a tear-jerking story I'm just embarking into.

Eventually, when we did get a flat, my dad, who was always the epitome of generosity, he bought us a three-piece suite in our lounge, L-shaped lounge. By this time, we'd become part of a church fellowship in North London and we brought the youngsters back to our home. The first thing that happened on their coming into our house was one of them just knocked the coffee pot right across the three-piece suite.

It takes a little bit of discipline to smile when something like that happens. I'll tell you something, it's one of the best things that ever did. I don't want people to come into my home to rough it up deliberately, but accidents do happen.

God taught us in the early years that a home was not a museum to show off in, but a place to be used. Peter and Andrew bring Jesus into their home and within minutes he's got the roof in. Open your home for Jesus.

There are a number of fellows that you come across here and they're not named, I'm glad they're not, because I think they stand for everybody. All the anonymous people in the church, so to speak, all those little toenails that Brian referred to so graphically. Everyone who's got some part to play in the church, behind the scenes, thank God for behind the scenes men and women, far more vital than the people up front.

We never have problems with getting people up front. It's getting consistent people backstage, that's the difficulty. Well, these men come along, they can't get their friend, who's in trouble, to Jesus.

He's a paralyzed man and he's almost in the same condition, indeed he is, as the man by the pool of Siloam. When the waters there were troubled, they believed in those days if you jumped into the pool first of all, you would get the benefits of the troubling of the waters, which were reckoned to have healing property. Well, this man's in the same dilemma.

He's not by the pool of Siloam, but he does need help to get to the presence of Jesus. And some unnamed men bring a mattress and they carry him along. They can't get into the house, so they nip up the back steps, they dig open the room, the roof, and they drop him down.

And I wonder who would be most surprised? Him? Or the scribes? Or even our Lord Jesus? You know, there's a limit to what even our Lord can cope with in terms of disturbance before he stops. Remember in my earlier years here once, Tim, you've never had this problem, those three blinds fell down in one service. Then somebody fainted and had to be carried out.

It's all in the space of 20 minutes. And I was just about to award game, set, and match to whatever evil force there was that was creating difficulty. There's a limit to how you can continue as a preacher even if you're the Son of God with this sort of disturbance.

So the Lord stops and directs his attention just to what is happening. But these men, they took time to bring another to Jesus. Here's another goal.

Stretcher bearers for Jesus. SBJs. Could you be one of these? Everybody bring someone else within the span of 360 plus days.

You know, to get a big campaign in which you had three, four, five hundred converts would cost an awful amount of money. We'd bring in the big names. We'd have the posters and so on and so forth.

And at the end of the road, possibly there would only be a handful of folk who'd be one. I know this is a very humanistic way of approach, but really it's not the big event that wins people to the Lord Jesus. It's when the unnamed stretcher bearers bring their friends to the Lord.

Will you try and do that? Pray for one person. Isolate one individual in your mind and don't give God any rest until you've brought them under the sound of the gospel. A stretcher bearer for Jesus.

You see, these men who get their friend and drop him into the presence of the Lord, they're utterly convinced, aren't they, that what Jesus has to offer is worth receiving. What Jesus has to offer is worth receiving. I seem to spend a lot of my time in airports these days, and I was last Thursday at Heathrow Airport saying a very tearful adieu to my dad-in-law, who I love dearly.

And you know, there are umpteen people pushing these trolleys. It's just like Sainsbury's, but they're a little bit more skillful in the way that they handle them. And these trolleys have got a text on, inverted commas.

No tax, no duty, no problem. It's really sort of singing the virtues of the tax-free shop inside when you've gone through the passport area. No tax, no duty, no problem.

And as I was looking at that, I thought, you know, Charlie Spurgeon, if he was here, he'd be noting this down. He's a great preacher of yesteryear. I should refer to him as Charles.

He would have been noting this down. Here is an illustration that you could take from real life and apply to Christianity. When a person goes to Jesus, there's no tax, because the tax has been paid.

There's no duty that's demanded. And the way that he leaves someone after dealing with them, there's no problem. Do you think that's the reason why this house was opened? For people to hear Jesus? Because they got the sort of Heathrow philosophy, had Peter and Andrew.

Do you think this is the reason why they tore open these unnamed men? They tore open that roof and allowed this paralytic man to be dropped into the presence of Jesus? Because if he could get there, then there's no duty, there's no tax, and there will be no problem. Now, here's one below the belt. The difficulty with most Christians is that we don't really believe that.

At least we don't believe it in such a hot-blooded fashion as we ought to. Remember my quote. It always gets John McConaughey giving an amen about the founder of the Salvation Army.

It's just come out of my mind. General Booth. When I was a school teacher, and I put the question, Who founded the Salvation Army? One of my kids put Ian Paisley.

Booth, I like my religion like I like my tea. Hot. Ought to be warm.

Hot in wanting to bring people to the Lord Jesus. Here's a goal. Be convinced that the gospel can resolve problems.

First goal, open your home for Jesus. Second goal, be a stretcher-bearer, bringing to Jesus. Third goal, be convinced that what the Lord Jesus has to offer is so absolutely necessary to the people that you bring along.

I'm an addict to Time magazine. There's a lovely heading in one of the articles of this last week, or a week before last. And it said this.

It caught my attention. How can anyone... How can anyone not love this woman? How can anyone not love this woman? That was a tremendous tribute to George Bush's wife. How can anyone not love this woman who has made wrinkles respectable in the United States, following the ironed-out face of her predecessor? And I think there is something very delicious about the personality of Mrs. Bush, fast becoming the American ideal mother.

And I need a mother figure at the moment. How can anyone not love this man? Not love the Lord Jesus. That's surely the reason for wanting to bring to people to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Because, well, they're so much better off in His company. These men who dismiss what's happening, especially when Jesus speaks to the paralytic and talks about sins being forgiven. They say, who does this fellow think he is? That indicates the lack of understanding of the claims, the increasing claims of Jesus.

He's more than just a fellow. He's implying that He is because He's talking about not just addressing sickness, but also addressing sin. Jesus says, your sins shall be forgiven.

And these men who are the insensitive bystanders rightly say, who can forgive sins but God alone? And immediately, Jesus, knowing what they're thinking, He says, well, what's the most difficult thing to do? To say to this paralyzed man, get up and walk? Or to say, your sins be forgiven? All right, I'll do both. Jesus recognizes that there is a connection, indirect though it may be, direct for some people, between sickness and sin. And He is the Lord.

He's the Lord over sickness. He is the Lord over the ministry of giving out pardons. And it's because Jesus deals so tenderly with sinners that I ask the question, what about Mrs. Bush? How can anyone not love this man? Jesus is more than just an ordinary man.

So here's another goal. Gift to Jesus the Lord this year the honor due to His name. Gift to Jesus the honor due to His name.

Not just a fellow. Not just an ordinary man. Not even just Jesus.

The Lord Jesus Christ, the revelation of God to this world. Splendid, powerful, beautiful, friend of sinners. These men are utterly amazed at what the Savior does.

I mean, they can't deny that He has an incredible power. He speaks to this paralyzed man and He says, Get up, take your mat and walk. And he got up.

Verse 12. He took his mat. And in full view of everyone, this fellow who'd been lowered down from the broken up roof now walks out and eyes are made like saucers and jaws gay.

This amazed everyone. Friend and critic. They couldn't but agree to the fact that something extraordinary had happened.

We have never seen anything like this. Final goal. To know a manifestation of the power of God in Worthing Tabernacle and Mayberry's Christian Fellowship and because I'm not parochial, every aspect of the body of Christ here in this town.

We've seen God move before. We remember Him last decade, two decades, three decades ago. But we've never, we have never seen anything like this before.

I want you to hold on to that. I want you to pray that into realization. I want this to be one of the several goals that I brought from Scripture and some of the goals that have been listed at the back of notes and news.

This year, come on, this year let's go through the roof. As far as our service for the Lord Jesus is concerned, let's go through the roof. As far as loving one another is concerned, never anyone in the foyer left unspoken to because they weren't in that little group.

It honorably relates more closely to one another. You can't know 500 people intimately but you can ensure that the intimacy that you enjoy does not make you so exclusive that you miss the lone person who's looking for fellowship. Open your home.

Open your pocket. Open your heart. This year, Worthington, I speak reverently and I weigh my words like the teacher in Ecclesiastes.