Again, we commonly consider cracks to be bad. "I can give you a real good price on this new truck. There is a crack in the front axial." "The price on this house is a real steal. The reason the price is so low is the foundation is cracked." "I will sell you this dozen of eggs for a quarter. Six of the eggs are cracked."

Do you personally want any of these things? A cracked tooth? A cracked bone (called a fracture)? A cracked pair of eye glasses? A camera with a cracked lens? A cracked windshield? A cracked window? Cracked skin? Cracked fingernails?

Because this kind of crack is associated with the undesirable, we have developed a phrase everyone understands. The phrase is "falling through the cracks." When a person, a thing, or a situation "falls through the cracks," it is never good. To say something "fell through the cracks" never refers to a desirable situation. The ideal is for nothing to ever "fall through the cracks."

1. Each of the four gospels acknowledges that Jesus spent much of his ministry spiritually rescuing people "who fell through the cracks."
   1. Jesus commonly ministered to people who "fell through the cracks"; the list is astonishing.
      1. "What do you mean by 'people who fell through the cracks'?"
         1. I mean people who were rejected.
         2. I mean people who "did not fit" in their religious structure of that day.
         3. Jesus taught, cared for, and healed people for whom there was no help and no hope in Israel's first century establishment.
      2. "What are some examples?"
         1. These lists are not comprehensive and do not note the many occasions when Jesus helped numbers of people. Several of the examples are included in the accounts of more than one gospel.
         2. Matthew:
            1. The man with leprosy (8:1)
            2. The centurion and his servant (8:5)
            3. The two men with demons (8:28)
            4. Matthew, the tax collector (9:9)
            5. A gathering of tax collectors and sinners (9:10)
            6. The woman who had a hemorrhage for 12 years (9:20)
            7. The blind man (9:27)
            8. The demon possessed man who could not speak (9:32)
            9. The demon possessed man who was blind and speechless (12:22)
            10. The Canaanite woman's daughter (15:22)
            11. The demon possessed child (17:15)
         3. Mark:
            1. The man with an unclean spirit in 1:23, and another in 5:2
            2. The man with a withered hand (3:1)
            3. The blind man (10:46)
         4. Luke:
            1. The paralyzed man (5:18)
            2. The man from Nain who was raised from the dead (7:14,15)
            3. The sexually immoral woman (7:37)
            4. Mary Magdalene (8:2)
            5. The woman who was bent double (13:11)
            6. Zaccheus (19:2)
         5. John:
            1. The Samaritan woman (4)
            2. The man who had been sick for 38 years (5:5)
            3. The man born blind (9:1)
   2. Why did these people "fall through the cracks"?
      1. That is both an interesting question and a very worthwhile question.
      2. Jesus was God's son.
         1. He perfectly understood God's will and God's purposes.
         2. Nothing Jesus said or did misrepresented God.
         3. Jesus said these people should not spiritually "fall through the cracks."
         4. Jesus revealed that God cared as much about these people as God cared about anyone else.
      3. Yet, socially and spiritually, the entire religious system allowed these people to "fall through the cracks."
         1. Israel's religious system made the cracks.
         2. Not only did they not meet these people's needs, but they also taught God willed for these people to be rejected.
         3. Religiously, there was no place for them in their system of religion.
      4. That was the basic problem: for a long time the religious leaders took all of God's teachings and laws and produced a system.
         1. God did not create the "cracks"; their system created the "cracks."
         2. Their system said God did not want certain kinds of people.
         3. Their system said God rejected certain kinds of people.
         4. Something was basically wrong with the system they created from God's teachings and laws.
      5. Jesus, not the system, perfectly represented God.
         1. Jesus said God did not reject those people.
         2. Jesus in his actions and his teachings said God willed to unburden those people and give them hope.
         3. Jesus said those people were encouraged to come to God; God would welcome them.
         4. Jesus said Israel's system misrepresented God's priorities in His law.
         5. Jesus said God's two greatest (most important) commandments were:
            Matthew 22:37-40 "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets."
         6. The system said, "Love had nothing to do with God's law; it was basically a matter of obedience, not love."
         7. Jesus said, "Love for God and your fellowman is the foundation of the entire law. God's law depends on love."

2. They created the problem, and we reproduce the same problem when we replace love obedience with system loyalty.
   1. System loyalty measures everything with check lists.
      1. Consider a common check list in Jesus' day in Israel:
         1. "Eat the right foods." Check
         2. "Do the right things on the Sabbath day." Check
         3. "Keep the religious ceremony of hand washing before you eat." Check
         4. "Pray three times a day." Check
         5. "Offer the right sacrifices." Check
         6. "Keep the Passover." Check
      2. A devout Jew could check everything on that list without any faith, without any love for God, and without any love for people.
      3. Consider one of our common check lists today:
         1. "Attend church on Sunday." Check
         2. "Take communion." Check
         3. "Sing a cappella." Check
         4. "Give." Check
         5. Then comes a long list of "don'ts"-drunkenness, adultery, lying, stealing, etc. Check
      4. A devout Christian can check everything on the list without faith, without love for God, and without love for people.
   2. When we use God's teachings to create check lists, people "fall through the cracks."
      1. When someone is troubled, tell him or her that he or she is not following the check list.
         1. Tell him or her, "Christians don't have those kinds of troubles."
         2. Tell him or her, "Get with the system and follow the check lists."
         3. Result: troubled people "fall through the cracks."
      2. When someone is burdened, tell him or her that he or she is not following the check list.
         1. Tell him or her, "Christians don't have burdens like that."
         2. Tell him or her, "Get with the system and follow the check list."
         3. Result: burdened people "fall through the cracks."
      3. When someone is struggling, tell him or her that he or she is not following the check list.
         1. Tell him or her, "Christians don't struggle like that."
         2. Tell him or her, "Get with the system and follow the check list."
         3. Result: struggling people "fall through the cracks."
      4. Systems that rely on check lists create cracks.
      5. God's love and forgiveness have no cracks; for those who repent, there are not cracks to fall through.
   3. Godliness cannot be reduced to a system that uses check lists to measure spirituality.
      1. Why? Because godliness is based on a heart relationship with a Savior.
      2. Love cannot be reduced to a system with a check list.
      3. Repentance cannot be reduced to a system with a check list.
      4. Spiritual life cannot be reduced to a system with a check list.
      5. Spiritual integrity cannot be reduced to a system with a check list.
      6. The spiritual kingdom of God cannot be reduced to a system with a check list.
      7. Trusting God cannot be reduced to a system with a check list.
      8. God's love that gave His son on a cross cannot be reduced to a system with a check list.
      9. Jesus' love that let him die for each of us to be our Savior cannot be reduced to a system with a check list.
   4. We must not reduce loving God to nothing more than a responsibility.
      1. Loving God must produce a living relationship with God.
      2. Certainly relationships based on love are responsible relationships.
      3. But loving relationships go far beyond just being responsible.
      4. Obedience arising from love always will exceed obedience arising from necessity--every time in every way.

A couple has been married about three months. Every single day the wife becomes more and more exasperated. One evening about 7 p.m. she said, "Okay, big man, we have to talk. Sit down and listen to me, and hear me well! I thought you would catch on. But no-o-o-o-o! Nothing is changing around here. I am going to make you a check list, and, if you love me, you will follow that list every single day. You WILL take the garbage out. You WILL pick up your dirty clothes. You WILL take your shoes off when you come in the house. You WILL hang up your towels. You WILL lift the seat, and you WILL lower the seat. You WILL keep me informed concerning your whereabouts at all times. And you WILL do everything else on this list. If you do not, I WILL be out of here."

When a marriage is reduced to a system of conduct and its check list, that marriage will die. The man and woman may continue to live in the same house under the same roof, but the marriage will die. Marriage must be responsible, but love must be the foundation of the relationship.

When spiritual existence is reduced to a system and its check list, Christianity will die in that person's life. He or she may continue to come to church and go through what is regarded as the necessary motions, but relationship with God and Jesus Christ will die. Christian existence must be responsible, but love must be the foundation of the relationship.

When you love God, when in love you responsibly maintain a relationship through repentance, you will never "fall through the cracks"--there will be no cracks.