LONGING FOR
BELONGING
Most
people want to belong to something. We want to feel connected to a group or a
movement that is bigger than our selves.
There are several reasons for this:
pride in the purpose of the group; acceptance or knowing that this is one place
you belong; or the safety of the familiar.
I was not into sports much as a
child and so had never been part of a team. Involvement in sports was
discouraged by my parents who felt that teams invariably practiced on Sunday
morning. Church came first; sports were sacrificed.
As an adult I had the opportunity to
join a team in the Winnipeg Sponge Puck Hockey League. I can’t tell you what a
thrill it was to put on a team jersey with my chosen number on the back. I
belonged to a team! I was in a league with 2000 players. I was part of
something really big. That was cool.
Even though I was part of a team
there was still a measure of individuality. On the one side was the team name
and logo: Freezer Burn. On the other side was my number: 89. And I had a role
to play: right wing checker.
This is a dim picture of the church,
the community of faith. Through faith in Christ we become a part of the body of
believers while maintaining our individuality. We are part of something bigger
than ourselves while playing a unique role that contributes to the good of the
whole body.
As we continue in our series
Building Community we want to look at what it means to belong to the community
of faith. How does my personal faith connect me to other believers? What does
it mean to belong when we are all so different?
For a backdrop to this study we will
base the principles of belonging on 1 Corinthians 12:12-27.
1.
“My Faith” and Our Body
Having
talked about the threat of individualism to community, we continue to see this
theme in how we view salvation. Faith in our times has been labeled a private
or personal thing. Individualism has made my
faith no one else’s business.
Consider even how the gospel is
presented. The following is a typical presentation of the gospel in many
churches and university campuses: (see
slide).
The Bible says that you have to
deal with God as an individual. Your family, friends, or colleagues at work are
not the issue here. It is you and God. You have a need for God. Think of the
pain you have in your life. Your anxiety and stress come from sin. If you will
accept Jesus as your personal Savior, you will be saved. Your sins will be
forgiven. You will experience peace within – a peace that will always be with
you. When you have problems and difficulties, you will have someone to help you
and support you. Not only that, but you will be prepared for heaven. Rather
than spending eternity in hell, you will enjoy heaven forever. All you have to
do is make a decision. Accept Jesus into your heart. He will meet your needs…
What do you notice about the way the
gospel is presented? There are three critical problems with this witness:
1)
It is a very rationalistic approach devoid of a spiritual dynamic process. The
decision to receive Jesus is based on God meeting your needs; those needs
revolve around problems.
2)
God’s role in this conversion is minimal. Decision making has replaced
discipleship as the metaphor for conversion. Getting “in” is most important;
what you do when you are “in” is not considered.
3)
There is no hint of becoming part of a fellowship of believers as being crucial
for salvation and growth.
Such an overly personal version of
salvation will create in the new believer a non-communal approach to
Christianity. This relationship with Christ is captured best by inner happiness
and peace. You gain a lot personally but have little to contribute to the
community of faith.[i]
We don’t read this in the gospels.
Biblically, you would be hard-pressed to find such an individualistic reference
to the gospel. Conversion to Christ in the NT always leads to participation in
the body or community of faith. “For we
were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body… and we were all given
the one Spirit to drink. Even so the body is not made up of one part but of
many,” (12:13-14).
Working extensively with community
building, Scott Peck describes a community as a “group of individuals who have
learned how to communicate honestly with each other, whose relationships go
deeper than their masks of composure, and who have developed some significant
commitment to ‘rejoice together, mourn together, and to delight in each other, make
others’ conditions our own.’” Peck goes on to note that communities are
characterized by three qualities: inclusivity, commitment, and consensus.[ii]
2.
We include every person who follows Jesus
While
country clubs and various organizations tend to be exclusive, the community of
Christ is inclusive. Everyone who loves Jesus belongs to the church family.
The reality is a little tougher for
some folks. Many Christians have stood in church singing, “I’m so glad I’m a
part of the family of God,” while feeling terribly lonely and alienated. The
question on their minds is, “Do I belong here?”
This is not unusual. The church in
Corinth must have had individuals asking the same question. This is why Paul
said earlier that the Spirit baptism drew everyone together – “whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free…”
(13). Gentiles felt funny joining a faith that began in Judaism; Jews were
uncomfortable hanging out with Gentiles; slaves struggled with the reality of
calling their bosses “brother.”
Paul addressed this with his body
metaphor. In contemporary language you might say, “Because I am not a Mennonite
I don’t belong to KEMC.” But what does it mean to be a Mennonite? Is this not
just a way of viewing Christ and reading his Word? It has nothing to do with
your ethnicity or your last name. Wherever believers gather to worship God in
Christ’s name, you belong unreservedly.
A more important question to ask is
this: “Do I have something to contribute?” Paul moved our attention from
belonging to contributing: so you are not an eye, we need ears too. However, contributing
to the body is a major way that you increase the sense of belonging we desire.
When I first counseled at Bible Camp
in my teens I had a strong desire to serve the Lord. What I soon found was that
I differed from other counselors. I was not a beach bum; I was not into
volleyball; I did not enjoy power-tanning – all major activities of those I
worked with. I felt that I did not belong to this group of believers. Worse, I
was waiting for them to affirm and invite me into their lives.
What I failed to realize then is
that I had to take a step to get involved in their lives, to find out what was
beneath those tanned surfaces. I had something to contribute to their lives by
caring for them as individuals.
Do you belong here? Yes. Do you have
something to contribute? Yes, if you are willing to include yourself.
3.
We are committed to each other
We
have obvious differences between us. With these differences there is a greater
need for commitment. Individualism is counterbalanced by commitment to one
another.
Paul makes five clear statements
regarding the requirement to be committed to each other:
a) Independence
is not an option
(12:21) – Paul’s body metaphor has the eye saying to the hand, “I don’t need
you.” But how many times do I need my hand to rub my eyes in a day? Independent
eyes are a ridiculous notion. It is equally ridiculous to try and live the
Christian life apart from other Christians.
Christian community is the place of
our continuing growth in Christ. As individuals, we work together to become
mature in Jesus recognizing spiritual pitfalls, defining sin, and becoming
Christlike. We rub off on each other – those we hang out with tend to have that
influence. So who is influencing you the most?
b) We need you! (12:22) – The
word that stands out in this verse is “indispensible.” No matter how unseen, or
unimportant, or weak you see yourself, you are indispensible to the body of
believers. You may think that no one notices when you are not here, but they
do, and it bothers them – they worry about you, pray for you, think about you.
Your very presence here is an encouragement to others whether you know it or
not.
c) We are
interdependent
(12:23-24) – Some people stand out in the church – they just do – they are the
ones who lead up front and are visible or verbal at meetings. Others are quiet
and blend into the woodwork, but play the unseen role of intercessory prayer.
Whatever role you play we are a team, interdependent in the work of the
kingdom. Paul wrote, “But God has put the
body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it…” (12:24).
God did this; God purposely made us a body that works better together than
single stars.
d) Each person
is significant
(12:25) – I truly wish this were the reality. My prayer is that each person
would feel and were treated as significant in this church. Commitment to each
other means that we consider every person’s interests as worth exploring and
listening to as our own. To feel that you have been heard is such a blessing;
it contributes to this point that the body’s parts “should have equal concern for each other.”
e) I feel what
you feel
(12:26) – I actually admire those people who can cry when others cry,
especially when a loved one dies. “If one
part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part
rejoices with it,” Paul said. There is a powerful witness of the compassion
of Christ seen in our mutual interest in these matters. It is commonplace to
us, but I believe that those on the outside marvel at how we rejoice with our
grads and cry with our people who grieve.
These five statements of commitment
make us a community of hope and healing for those who seek to belong to
something real and bigger than themselves. Christian community is the visible
expression of the work of God through Jesus Christ, in the church. The message
that Christ is here is authenticated by how we love each other (Jn 13:34-35).
4.
We “consent” to being the body
“Now you are the
body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it,” (12:27).
Belonging to the body of Christ involves a conscious recognition that your
voice is one voice among many. For this reason, decision making does not come
through votes but through consensus, a process that has something inherently
almost mystical about it.
Consensus decision making is a way
of reaching agreement between all members of the body. As a congregationally
run church we often vote on matters giving what looks like the majority their
way. Consensus, on the other hand, is finding a solution that everyone supports
or at the very least, can live with.
To be honest, I am not sure I have
seen a pure example of this – I may have and just not recognized it. The
principle of belonging, however, carries a responsibility on my part to support
and promote my church and its decisions even if my first choice is not the one
affirmed. If things do not go my way, do I go off and grumble? I might. But if
I am concerned about the whole community and its welfare I will come to my
senses and support the direction of the body.
Remember, this is not “my church”
but “our church.” My decisions and preferences must give way, even submit, to
the body’s decisions and preferences. Having said that, it is also my
responsibility and yours to speak up about matters and give my views so that
together we have the fullest revelation of the facts.
If
we think back to the presentation of the gospel that we critiqued in the
beginning, we will acknowledge that faith in Christ does begin in a personal,
individual way. Each of must accept that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the
living God, and that through him we have been forgiven of our sins.
With that said, our faith needs to
be expressed in a community of believers where we are responsible for each
other. To develop a faith that is all about me without connection to other
believers is the same as offering a form of religion that is simply preparation
for the future. I have a passport to heaven but the present matters very
little. This is the influence of individualism.
But the present does matter to Jesus
and to us. That is why he gave us community, to work out our salvation, to
suffer together, to rejoice together, to use our gifts, and to grow in maturity
becoming like him. None of us alone is capable of being “Jesus” but together we
resemble him a lot more. Each of us reflects a facet of Jesus uniquely;
together we are the many facets of Jesus to the world.
Several years ago, two students
graduated from the Chicago-Kent College of Law. The highest ranking student in
the class was a blind man named Overton and, when he received his honor, he
insisted that half the credit should go to his friend, Kaspryzak. They had met
one another in school when the armless Mr. Kaspryzak had guided the blind Mr.
Overton down a flight of stairs. This acquaintance ripened into friendship and
a beautiful example of interdependence. The blind man carried the books which
the armless man read aloud in their common study, and thus the individual
deficiency of each was compensated for by the other. After their graduation,
they planned to practice law together.[iii]
This is why we need to accept the
imperfect but spiritual communion of the church. We belong to each other like
pieces of a puzzle. Inside each of us is a longing to belong to this body, just
as God intended. Every believer needs a community of saints, a local body, a
place to belong.
AMEN
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