I want us to think about someone who was brought to Jesus by a friend (four of them, actually):

Mark 2:2-12
A crowd gathered, jamming the entrance so no one could get in or out. He was teaching the Word. They brought a paraplegic to him, carried by four men. When they weren't able to get in because of the crowd, they removed part of the roof and lowered the paraplegic on his stretcher. Impressed by their bold belief, Jesus said to the paraplegic, "Son, I forgive your sins." Some religion scholars sitting there started whispering among themselves, "He can't talk that way! That's blasphemy! God and only God can forgive sins." Jesus knew right away what they were thinking, and said, "Why are you so skeptical? Which is simpler: to say to the paraplegic, 'I forgive your sins,' or say, 'Get up, take your stretcher, and start walking'? Well, just so it's clear that I'm the Son of Man and authorized to do either, or both . . ." (he looked now at the paraplegic), "Get up. Pick up your stretcher and go home." And the man did it—got up, grabbed his stretcher, and walked out, with everyone there watching him. They rubbed their eyes, incredulous—and then praised God, saying, "We've never seen anything like this!" (The Message)

Do you think this is what the friends expected to happen? Especially the first part. Do you think they were disappointed when it looked like Jesus wasn’t going to heal their friend? Did they find what they were looking for or what they needed?

Next week is when we’re having our “Bring a Friend Day” that we’ve been planning for. I trust you’ve been praying about who you’re going to invite and maybe you have already invited them. If you haven’t, do that soon!

Have you ever realized how similar the modern people are to the people in Biblical times? Lots of people come to church—or even come a step further and come to Jesus—without realizing what he’s really offering.

Surveys have shown us that there are 3 things people want to know when visiting a church:

1. Does anyone notice me?

2. Do they care about (have something for) my children?

3. Where’s the restroom?

Romans 3:23
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (ESV)

or, as The Message puts it,

Since we've compiled this long and sorry record as sinners (both us and them) and proved that we are utterly incapable of living the glorious lives God wills for us

What everyone who walks through the doors of this building has in common—newcomers, attendees and long-time members—is that we are all sinners. We share a need for salvation from our sins.

Not everyone who walks through those doors, though, realizes that relief from sin is their most pressing need. What they’re wanting to know is whether anyone here cares about them or their children and they want to know if their physical needs are being met. If they perceive the answer to any of these questions to be no, they may walk out before we had a chance to address their big (real) need.

Now, there is something to consider here. When Jesus forgave the man of his sin, all of the man’s real needs were taken care of. Paralysis was of secondary consequence because it was temporary—it was only going to last for this lifetime. Jesus chose to address the paralysis. Why? To show that he had the authority to forgive sins as well. Jesus addressed the temporary so that the man (and the observers) could see the eternal!
You and I, when we reach out to a friend and bring them to church, pray with them, quote a scripture to them (all this done in love remember!), we are trying to address their spiritual needs. For them to listen to such love, though, we’re probably going to have to address their physical needs.
We have put up signs to more clearly indicate where the restrooms are in our building. We have painted the walls here in the Family Room.

Neither of these things will save someone. But if a person comes in here and really “has to go” but can’t find the restroom, they probably won’t hear the gospel being preached. The walls won’t save a person, but if the building looks unkempt they may be such a distraction that a person seeing them wonders whether we are concerned about them. We could tell them walls aren’t important, but this newcomer may not be mature enough to realize what is important yet and think if we stint on the building we’ll probably stint on taking care of their needs as well.

I’ve had talks with other ministers or church leaders and one of the things that was frequently lamented—especially in regards to youth—was that it was so hard to compete with soccer (or basketball or band or whatever was in season). Some of these sports/activities met on Wednesday evenings which meant the kids had to choose between that and church.

You know what? That’s something to think about, but if it were just a matter of that, we could move our mid-week service to Thursday (or Tuesday or whenever). The problem with the youth—and with adults—isn’t that they have practice on Wednesday, it’s that they have practice on Monday through Friday, and club memberships to maintain, and games on Saturday (and sometimes Sunday), and school and work and when they get home they’ve got 200 channels of TV and computers and Internet and on and on.

What these people don’t want is another activity, or another “event”. Some of them even think church is a good thing, but there’s just no time for it in their schedule.

I think the only hope we have is to build relationships with people. This man on the pallet, just as he couldn’t get there without his friends, up until Jesus healed him he couldn’t leave without them. Our friends rely on us more than we probably realize—more than they realize.

Our friends are going to come in here and they are aching with sin. But what they acknowledge is that they are looking for someone who cares about them (does anyone regard me?); they are looking for something that will be good for their family (do you have anything for my kids); and they are wondering what we’ll do about their most basic needs (where’s the restroom?).

What do I DO with this?

1. Invite your friends.

2. Make sure you notice (greet, say hello, etc.) everyone who comes in here.

3. Do what you can to support the children’s ministry (tell your friends about it, volunteer to walk the kids to the nursery, introduce your
adult friends to Mike and Gerald—who teach the adult Sunday School class).

4. Be prepared to address physical needs so that when spiritual needs are realized you can address those as well.