Church is Not the Answer
“And, behold, men brought in a bed a man which was taken with a palsy: and they sought means to bring him in, and to lay him before him. And when they could not find by what way they might bring him in because of the multitude, they went upon the housetop, and let him down through the tiling with his couch into the midst before Jesus.” Luke 5:18-19 underlining added
When a bunch of men went to exceeding lengths to help a paralyzed man get through the crowd to get the healing he needed, they didn’t lift him up and lower him through the roof to get to a church pew. They went to any lengths to BRING HIM TO JESUS. The Bible says “they sought means to BRING HIM IN” and “by what means they might BRING HIM IN,” and that they succeeded in bringing the paralytic “into the midst BEFORE JESUS.” (bold added) The man didn’t get healed because he went to church that day. He was healed because he was BROUGHT TO JESUS.
For YEARS I dragged people, from loved ones to strangers, to churches, pastors, and believers in Christ, convinced they needed the perfect church, pastor, or Christian to help them. Then God by His Spirit and through His Word taught me THE TRUTH. This world needs repentance from sin, faith in JESUS CHRIST, salvation by Him, and a life devoted to God and His ways. We need our minds renewed by God’s Spirit through His Word whereby He transforms our hearts and lives and draws us ever deeper into an intimate forever relationship with Him. This world needs to be brought to JESUS Himself.
Church pews are packed with lots of people who don’t even believe in Christ and/or don’t live to love, obey, and glorify the Lord; pastors are never perfect and tragically are sometimes false teachers and false prophets; and Christians are fallible. There is nothing wrong with Bible-teaching churches, truly called and devoted pastors, and Christians who are sold out to Christ. In fact, God calls us to assemble with other believers and to be planted in the Body of Christ, and he gives us biblically sound pastors and teachers to grow in our relationships with Him.
The story of the paralytic shows what I was missing. The only perfect, true, righteous Savior of the world is Christ, and our primary relationship MUST be with God through faith in Christ. Dragging people to churches, pastors, and Christians is not what we need to do. We need above all else to introduce people to the Lord Jesus Christ, to the pure Gospel message, to the Word of God, and to encourage them in turning away from the world’s wickedness and to live to love, worship, serve, and glorify God forever!
May we go to exceeding lengths to BRING PEOPLE to the Lord!