Where do you belong?
Where is the place in which eyes light up as you enter the room?
Where is the place in which voices raise to celebrate your successes?
Where is there a circle of arms to receive you when you ache…a circle of healing among those who care?
Where can you join your strengths with the strengths of others to get things done?
Where do you feel safe, and free and challenged and nurtured?
Where are you rooted?
Where do you belong?
To be rooted is perhaps the most
important and least recognized need of
the human soul.
Simone Weil
My guess is most of you will say family. I feel rooted the most, I belong the most to my family. It’s days like this one that accentuate that.
…And I sure hope you can claim your family as you place of belonging… but even if you can claim your family that is not enough. Why?
· Families change over time –
o 60% of Americans leave the place in which they were born
§ Penny and I have lived apart from extended family all of our adult lives
o the dynamics of belonging are radically altered in divorce
o as generations pass rootedness shifts
· On top of all that… in many lives, the internal dynamics of families actually make a sense of belonging worse – you may have even rolled your eyes as I suggested family was for many the place of belonging
All this to say that family is unfortunately, frequently not a place of great belonging. And yet our hearts long for it! It is a great need of the human soul!
Where do we find it? For those of you who find your heart moved and your longings stirred … I want to suggest the place where you can belong and find all of those desires met – the church.
The church is where you belong.
The church of Jesus Christ is a real community embedded in a lonely world. The church is a harbor from which you can sail. The church is a hospital for broken souls. The church is an army through which you can change the world.
The church is a rock upon which you stand and a great source of courage in a confusing world.
The church is where you belong.
Now…let’s be honest for every person who would nod in agreement there are 2 who would squint in skepticism… we are living in a time in which many are blasé, cynical and even hostile about the church
1. First, there are the “I love Jesus but not the church” folks
a. case in point – Jeff Bethke – video “I hate religion but not Jesus video…21 million + views.
2. There is an entire generation of 20somethings are leaving and not coming back. they believe “the churches in which they were raised are not safe and hospitable places to express doubts. Many feel they have been offered slick or half-baked answers to their thorny questions. The institutional church has failed them” David Kinnaman, You Lost Me
3. Then there is the majority of Americans 66% who claim to be Christian – who according to recent research
a. Less likely to go to church than ever
b. Little desire to invest in a faith community
c. Happy to attend a church but won’t attach deeply. ( Only 1 out of 5 believe maturity includes church commitment)
d. 2 out of 3 believe happiness > holiness and they put family first…even above their faith.
“Rather than allowing the Christian faith to shape their minds and hearts, they have chosen to fit Christianity within the Box THEY have created for it-….George Barna
The real truth is that only 20% of Americans attend a church regularly. And even that term is shifting. Attendance patterns are clear – here, we are an every-other-week church.
My point to all this is despite the trends and the valid concerns and skepticism this does not at all change the truth that…
The church is where you belong.
For the rest of our time I want to show you why…and help you to see that rather than fritter away your engagement with the church the time has come for you to up your involvement, connect deeply, and serve passionately.
Why is the church where you belong? Romans 12: 4
Context: Paul writing to a Roman church in its early stage of being…letter rich in theology and rich in ecclesiology – how the church should exist.
He is trying to paint a picture of the ideal community of faith:
4 Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5 so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.
You belong to an interdependent, richly historical, wonderfully universal community
· interdependent - a part of a body
· richly historical – we who are “in Christ” span thousands of years
· wonderfully universal – we who are “in Christ” are of all nations, tribes and races
· belongs = Lit. each one is indeclinable – you can’t decline this union
I want you to imagine for a moment the wonder and power of this union you have…stop thinking of the future for a moment and consider the past…
· you are not a part of a fly by night cult but a rich tapestry of truth and community. Your roots run deep and wide throughout the world.
You belong to the universal church – your faith is not simply your own! …you have roots.
You belong in a place where your unique calling joins with others to change the world!
6 We have different gifts, according to the grace given us.
· we are a collective of passions and abilities and calling… an army of purpose
If the church suddenly disappeared the world would collapse into itself…the church is holding the world together. And if you do not play your part we are the lesser for it.
What follows is a list of those peculiar gifts. The best churches have all of these folks doing their thing at the same time. Imagine that happening here and what it would be like for you if it was.
You belong in a place where someone can believe for you when you can’t.
6If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith.
· Some of the most amazing people in this church are those who seem to know the future and they speak of it with such courage and conviction. People of faith.
You need them as do I when you are all out of faith. They are here!
You belong in a place where you can be taken care of.
7 If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach;
· In most of life you are the responsible one. You are on point. People depend on you. You need to belong to a place where someone else will serve you…teach you for a change – that place is the church!
You belong in a place where when you are down you can be lifted up.
8 if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously;
· Sometimes we need someone to bring a meal, mow our lawn, or pay the light bill, or come to our dad’s funeral. Or just put and arm around us and speak soothing words of encouragement.
You belong in a place like that!
You belong in a place where you can be led well.
8if it is leadership, let him govern diligently;
· Those who know me know how passionate I am about leadership. Good leaders inspire and rally others to the good cause.
· Good leaders define a path through the mess and confusion. Good leaders know how to weave together the disparate gifts of the community to turn it into an army that will change the world.
· The world is dying for great leaders. You need to be in a place where good leadership is a given. Even if you don’t find it in government or school or other social communities…you must find it in a church!
You belong in a place where you won’t be condemned when you fail.
8if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.
· the church should never shoot its wounded. It does but I trust not here!
· this isn’t to say you should be treated with kid gloves when you are stupid and sin but you must be allowed mercy that leads to repentance.
· You belong in a place that won’t condemn you when you fail but love you well until you are restored.
I could go on to describe what this church and others should be…and how you should belong to such a community but let me just highlight in the remaining verses a few characteristics of a wonderful community:
Vs 9 - Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.
· you belong in a place that stands for what is right and against what is wrong
Vs 11 - 11 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord
· you belong in a place that fires you up spiritually
Vs 16 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.
· you belong in a place of great diversity where we live in harmony among all kinds of people not like us. A place where I cannot place myself above anyone.
Summing this all up…
The church is where you belong.
I want you to be able to stand upon this truth:
We believe the Church is the universal community of all Christ followers. The Church finds its best expression in unique, local communities of Christ-followers united for the purpose of evidencing the values of the Kingdom of God in the world.
And I want you to belong here. Grace Church.
Now, does this church give evidence to all of those qualities I listed?
Is Grace church a place where…
- your unique calling can join with others to change the world!
- people believe for you when you can’t.
- you can be taken care of.
- when you are down you can be lifted up.
- where you can be led well.
- where you won’t be condemned when you fail.
- that stands for what is right and against what is wrong
- that fires you up spiritually
- place of great diversity
Yes! and I certainly hope so!
· So…it is time for you to stop being a tourist here.
· It is time you up your game here. Let’s put church first in your schedule. Let’s put your small group or team first!
· It is time to connect and engage. Go right out to the hub and they’ll get you started.
You belong here! You should put your roots down here! In a rapidly changing world you need the rock of the church upon which to stand!
The church is where you belong.