A PLACE TO BELONG
Scott Bayles, pastor
Church in the Park, Modesto: 8/26/2012
Good morning again and welcome to Church in the Park. Whether you’ve been attending church your whole life or you’re just sort of testing the waters right now, I want you to know we’re glad you’re here. I love moving our churches outside and getting away from our regular worship routines, because it reminds me that church isn’t a place—it’s people. Church isn’t just something you attend; it’s something you are!
Have you heard about the little boy who attended church for the very first time? His parents asked what he thought and he replied, “Well, the music was nice but the commercial was too long.” I hope the “commercial” isn’t too long for you today. I just want to take a few minutes to talk to you about belonging.
Everyone needs a place to belong. A place that fits you like a favorite pair of jeans, that’s as welcoming as your much-loved and much-worn recliner at home. That’s the way we’re made. Not to be isolated. Not to be alone. But to be together—experiencing life with others.
And yet, Vance Packard calls America “a nation of strangers” and studies show that 4 out of 10 people experience feeling of intense loneliness. Our American culture produces people who more closely identify with characters on a weekly TV series than with their next-door neighbors. Everywhere you look, there are signs that people are hungering for fellowship, community, and a sense of family.
Every week this sweet little old lady waited in line at the post office to buy two stamps. One day, as she got to the counter, the postal worker told her, “You know, you don’t have to wait in line to buys stamps. You can get them from the machine over there in books of twenty.” The little old lady responded, “Yes, but the machine doesn’t ask about my arthritis.”
People long to be connected.
The Bible uses a lot of metaphors to describe the church, but the most persistent is that of family. In the New Testament, believers call each other brothers and sisters and, in his letter to the church in Ephesus, Paul writes: “Now you…are not foreigners or strangers any longer, but are citizens together with God’s holy people. You belong to God’s family” (Ephesians 2:19 NCV).
Maybe there’s a pew in your home church worn in the shape of your bottom. Maybe you’re as comfortable in your church family as you are in your favorite pajamas. On the other hand, maybe you’ve never felt like you really belong somewhere. Maybe you’ve never known the blessing of being a part of something as big as the family of God! Either way, I’d like to share with you something that Solomon once wrote about the benefits of belonging:
Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up. Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken. (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 NIV)
In his unparalleled wisdom, King Solomon says, “Two people are better than one…” He then goes one to describe three benefits of belonging.
• STRENGTH
First, belonging to a church family provides strength. Let me read that first verse again from the New Century Version, which says, “Two people are better than one, because they get more done by working together” (Ecclesiastes 4:9 NCV). Solomon had discovered a principle that holds true for every epoch of time—none of us can do alone what all of us can do together. There is strength in numbers.
In an old Peanuts cartoon, Lucy walked into the room and demanded that her brother Linus change TV channels. “What makes you think you can walk right in here and take over?” asked Linus.
“These five fingers,” said Lucy. “Individually they are nothing, but when I curl them together like this into a single unit, they become a force to be reckoned with.”
“What channel do you want?” sighed Linus.
Turning away, he looked at his fingers and said, “Why can’t you guys get organized like that?”
That’s the power of teamwork.
I don’t know what it’s like at your church, but at our church it seems like there are never enough volunteers to go around. None of us can do everything, but all of us can do something.
You know, the Jerusalem church in the book of Acts was a hodgepodge of believers from a variety of backgrounds, with different personalities, and sometimes conflicting opinions, yet they found a way to work together. They understood there is strength in numbers. And because they did, lives were changed—history was changed.
And as you follow their example, the same will happen.
Whether you want to help feed the hungry, or house orphans, or rebuild tornado ravaged towns, or clean up your community, or share the gospel—none of us can do alone what all of us can do together. Belonging to God’s family provides us with the strength to get more done by working together.
• SUPPORT
Furthermore, belonging to a church family provides support. Again, King Solomon put it this way: “Two are better off than one, because…If one of them falls down, the other can help him up. But if someone is alone and falls, it's just too bad, because there is no one to help him” (Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 GWT).
Do you know what it’s like to get knocked down? Of course, you do. We all have troubles, don’t we? It reminds me of an Army Chaplain who had a sign on his door that said, “If you have troubles, come in and tell me all about them. If you don’t have troubles, come in and tell me how you do it.”
Calvin of Calvin and Hobbs cartoon fame gets dressed in his special clothes for school. He goes to school. He sits on some bubble gum, gets beat up by a bully, fails a test at school and gets rained on the way home. At bedtime he says, “You know, Hobbes, some days even my lucky rocket ship underpants don’t help.”
We all have days like that, don’t we? And Jesus promised us that we would. He said, “In this world you will have trouble.” But what did he say next? “But take heart! I have overcome the world” (John 16:33 NIV).
Jesus is all about helping people up, isn’t he? When Peter tried walking on water and ended up sinking like a rock, Jesus reached out, took him by the hand, and helped him back to the boat. When a woman was caught in adultery and publically humiliated for it, Jesus could have thrown the first stone. He could have kicked while she was down. But instead, he reached out his hand, lifted her up, and gave her a fresh start.
That’s what we’re supposed to do for one another.
The Bible says, “Help carry each other’s burdens. In this way you will follow Christ’s teachings” (Galatians 6:2 GWT). We all have burdens to bear and bad days to endure, and some days even wearing your lucky underpants won’t help. But having a church family that cares about and is willing to lift you up whenever you fall down—that will help. Belonging to God’s family provides us with the strength to get more done and the support we need to get through troubled times.
• SPIRITUAL WARMTH
Finally, belonging to a church family provides spiritual warmth. “Two people are better off than one, for… two people lying close together can keep each other warm. But how can one be warm alone?” (Ecclesiastes 4:9-11 NLT). While this is practical advice for a nomadic people living in the desert, it also serves as spiritual metaphor. You don’t have to live in a tent in the tundra to feel cold and alone.
Anytime one of God’s children gets separated from the family, our fire starts to go out and spirits grow cold.
The Bible says, “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another” (Hebrew 10:24-25 ESV). The one of the most important reasons the church meets together every Sunday is to stir each other up.
A pastor went to visit a man who had been absent from church for some time. When the pastor arrived at the house of his wayward parishioner he found him sitting by a fire of glowing coals. The man fully expected his pastor to rebuke him for his tardy attendance at services. But instead the pastor drew up a chair alongside the fireplace where the man was sitting just peering into the fire.
With the tongs the pastor reached into the fire and took one of the red hot glowing coals and placed it by itself out on the hearth. In no time at all the coal began to lose its glow and in a few minutes it was cold and black.
The man looked up into the face of his pastor who hadn’t said a word and he said “I'll be there next Sunday.”
He understood what Solomon was saying.
That warmth you feel inside your chest as we worship together here today—that’s your coals being stirred. That’s your passion for Jesus, your love for God and for people being rekindled. When you first gave your heart to Jesus, he lit a fire in your soul. Belonging to a church family that you worship with and fellowship with fans the flames and keeps you spiritually warm.
Conclusion:
Everyone needs a place where they belong, where people smile when you arrive and say, “See you soon!” when you leave. Maybe your family is far away, maybe you're feeling alone, or maybe you could just use a new friend or two.
God doesn’t just call us to believe; he calls us to belong. The entire Bible is the story of God building a family that will support, strengthen, and stir one another up to love and good works for all eternity—and he created you to be a part of it.
Invitation:
If you are a believer in need of a place to belong, please talk to one of your neighbors here today and get connected with a church family. If you’ve never joined God’s family, I’d love to talk with you about being born again. Believe me, there's nothing like belonging to God’s family. So as we stand and sing, if there is any way I can help you find a place to belong, please come talk to me.
