How Christians Become Better Together
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“How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity!... For there the Lord commands His blessing!” (Psalm 133:1).
“Together” is a special word in Scripture. It’s used hundreds of times, and whether we realize it or not, the basic principle is that God commands His blessing on our “togetherness.” For example, when speaking of the disciples, the Word says the world was changed by their togetherness: “These who have turned the world upside down have come here too” (Acts 17:6, TPT). It wasn’t that one superstar disciple changed the world; rather, they did it by working together.
In fact, it’s an overriding principle in life that we are simply better together! As it is often said, “teamwork makes the dream work.” So it appears if we are going to reach our potential as individuals and as the Body of Christ, and fulfill the assignment that God has for us, we must embrace the power of team.
Fortunately, a certain account in the Gospel of Luke, the healing of the paralyzed man, can help us understand how God wants us to embrace teamwork as we walk out His will in our lives.
“One day as he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law, who had come from every village of Galilee and from Judea and Jerusalem, were sitting there. And the power of the Lord was present for him to heal the sick. Some men came carrying a paralytic on a mat and tried to take him into the house to lay him before Jesus. When they could not find a way to do this because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus. When Jesus saw their faith, he said, ‘Friend, your sins are forgiven.’ The Pharisees and the teachers of the law began thinking to themselves, ‘Who is this fellow who speaks blasphemy? Who can forgive sins but God alone?’ Jesus knew what they were thinking and asked, ’Why are you thinking these things in your hearts? Which is easier: to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up and walk'? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins,’ He said to the paralyzed man, ‘I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.’ Immediately he stood up in front of them, took what he had been lying on and went home praising God. Everyone was amazed and gave praise to God. They were filled with awe and said, ‘We have seen remarkable things today’” (Luke 5:17-26).
I would argue that the Church becomes a spiritual dream team when we simply follow these foundational principles:
Principle 1 – Turn Me into We
The paralyzed man’s “dream” was to walk, but clearly, he couldn’t do it alone. If he had determined to go see Jesus by himself, I believe he would have remained paralyzed. But with the help of his friends, men who would not be deterred by the crowd or the barrier of the rooftop, his dream to walk became a reality. In his case, teamwork made the all the difference, because they decided to help their friend, and work together for a common cause. It’s the first principle taught to us in Scripture:
“And the Lord God said, ‘It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him’” (Genesis 2:18).
During creation, God determined that Adam couldn’t do everything asked of him all by himself, so God turned Adam’s “me” into a “we” by giving him Eve for a helpmate.
I love that term. A helpmate – someone to help Adam bring God’s purposes to pass.
Over the years, God has sent us many “Eves” so that we as a local church body could accomplish our divine purpose in our community. Mother Theresa probably said it best: “You can do great things that I cannot do. I can do great things that you cannot do. But together we can do great things.” Great people and winning teams realize that in order for potential and purpose to be realized in life, we must decide to help one another and work as a team.
And because God blesses us as we work together, and as each person does his own part, we will experience God doing great things through us.
Principle 2 – Embrace the Power of Partnership
When we think in terms of partnership, it’s usually understood that both parties in the partnership will bring something of benefit to the table and share in the rewards. However, at first glance into this account in Luke 5, it appears as if the friends are the only ones that “bring something to the table,” and that the paralyzed man is the only one who benefits.
It also would have seemed to be an unlikely partnership because of the man’s disability. In Hebrew culture at that time, there was an enormous moral stigma attached to being disabled. People believed it was a sign to the rest of society that either you (or your parents) were horrible sinners who were being punished by God Himself. That’s why when Jesus’ disciples encountered a man who was born blind, they asked Him: "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" (John 9:2).
It’s likely the paralyzed man had lived for a long while, maybe even his entire life, with that stigma hanging over him, eating away at his heart. Somebody had to feed him, carry him, clean him, and help him do the most basic things. He was dependent upon somebody else for absolutely everything to sustain life.
He would have had no real job, wealth, or social influence. He probably didn’t have much to offer anyone, which meant he was not a likely candidate to enlist in any kind of partnership. But the truth we see in Luke is that the friends’ “partnership” with the man allowed them also to experience some amazing rewards, including building the character component of commitment.
“Commit everything you do to the Lord. Trust Him, and He will help you” (Psalm 37:5).
True commitment is when you stick by someone or something even when you can’t foresee the personal benefit. Such faithfulness is one of the fruit of the Spirit highly prized by the Lord (Galatians 5:22-23. When we embrace the power of partnership, we all benefit from success, but sometimes our rewards come in unusual and supernatural ways.
Principle 3 – Be Willing to Pay the Price of Teamwork
Some people pay the price by faithfully volunteering every week to prepare bulletins for the weekend church service. Some people pay the price by serving the toddlers juice and cookies every Sunday morning. Some people pay the price by honing their musical skills in private, and bringing the congregation before the Lord in public worship.
The ways people pay the prices of teamwork are nearly endless. But it truly takes everyone doing their part in order to make a great team and to fulfill the Great Commission.
The paralyzed man’s friends were willing to pay the price. They had a hot, difficult trip to hand carry the man on a stretcher to the house where Jesus was. They had to fight through a crowd who wanted to touch Jesus for themselves. They had to go against social decorum and vandalize someone’s roof to cut in line. And they had to risk being rebuked by Jesus instead of rewarded with a miracle.
Perhaps it was a bigger task than they initially thought, with the price getting increasingly higher and the inconvenience becoming greater as the day wore on. But they were a great team and great teams don’t focus on the price they have already paid to get them to where they currently are. Great teams are willing to keep on paying the price until they see the full dream come to pass: whatever we need to do, we will pay the price.
Now we don’t hear about what happened to these men after this encounter with Jesus, but I would argue that they experienced God’s blessing because of the good they did for the man. As the Apostle Paul tells us, when we help bring someone else’s dream to pass, it opens us up to experience the same from God.
“Knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord…” (Ephesians 6:8, KJV).
Principle 4 – We Embrace “Crazy Faith”
The reward that partnership builds into us is true commitment; it positions us to experience the “power of together.” But working together for God’s Kingdom is so unusual in our modern world that our teamwork is a type of crazy faith that testifies to God’s love for a desperate world.
That’s exactly the kind of faith the paralyzed man’s friends had. It was crazy for them to carry their friend for miles to Jesus, to fight the crowd, and climb the roof.
It was crazy to think that they would find favor with Jesus by destroying the roof of the homeowner. Crazy to us, but Jesus saw a crazy faith He could work with.
“When Jesus saw their faith, he said, ‘Friend, your sins are forgiven’" (Luke 5:20).
Surely at that word, all the air was sucked from the room! The friends were likely stunned by the implication and reference to the cultural stigma. Little did they know that Jesus was rewarding their crazy faith with so much more than they originally came for.
The man spent his days on that mat, living under the weight of that stigma that he was being punished by God because he was a sinner. Jesus saw their faith, and in effect said, before I heal you, let me first publicly remove the stigma of this disability from you!
Before He healed the man’s body, He healed the man’s heart and sense of self-worth. He affirmed that the man was a miracle waiting to happen, and his healing was used to declare the glory of God to the world.
Son, your sins are forgiven!
It was a word that was blasphemy to many of the listeners. But Jesus knew their thoughts and followed it up by granting the men their miracle:
“Which is easier: to say, 'Your sins are forgiven,' or to say, 'Get up and walk'? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins… He said to the paralyzed man, ‘I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.’ Immediately he stood up in front of them, took what he had been lying on and went home praising God” (Luke 5:23-25).
In other words, the man whose team was comprised of friends who had crazy faith – the kind of team that paid the price to make the dream work – received his miracle and walked home!
And because they were willing to work together, the men showed their entire community, in that jam packed house, the love of God in action.
“Everyone was amazed and gave praise to God. They were filled with awe and said, ‘We have seen remarkable things today’" (Luke 5:26).
Like these men, when we partner together with others, we become better able to accomplish God’s will in our local church and community. By our crazy faith, we testify to the love of God, and draw people to Christ and the miracle of salvation. As we work together as a spiritual dream team, God commands His blessing on us, and like the disciples, we can turn the world upside down!
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Photo credit: ©Getty Images/Luis Alvarez
