The Church - A Place of Belonging
An article about the church can put some people off. They're disinterested in such subjects. However, it is Biblical and a word and concept used many times by our Lord. "I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it" (Matthew 16:18). If we trust our Lord at all, we must take some interest in it. My purpose here is to help us want to, if you are yet to have such a desire. So if you're not a Christian, or a Christian, but not yet serving God as you should be, I want to ask you to listen honestly to what I have to say.
God is seeking for Himself a people.
These will be special people, that is, they will make themselves special to Him (1 Peter 2:9-10). Jesus seeks these special people among lost people: "for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost" (Luke 19:10). The "lost" can be a terrifying word in one sense, but hopeful in another. If I am lost it also means I belong somewhere. I couldn't be lost if I did not belong somewhere. One man said the first memory he ever had was of walking down the road in somebody else's hat wondering who he was. Malcom Muggeridge said, "I've always felt like a displaced person." I don't know if you've ever had that feeling, but let me tell you, we all are displaced persons.
The Bible opens with a statement of the problem that plagues all human beings. When confronted with the choice between trusting God who made us, cared for us and blessed us or trusting in our own intellect, our own plan at some time or other in our lives is to put up shop for ourselves and leave God out of the picture. The Bible calls that sin, a word that stands for human pride and rebellion. It is ugly and the result of it is that we have been lost far away from where we belong, cut off from God. Many have wandered so far off and have been gone so long they really don't think about it that much anymore.
Always, the Bible tells us, God has cared, wanted us, longed for us and worked for our well-being. He has longed for the day when we would come back to Him. He is pictured in Luke 15 as the Prodigal Son's father, seeing the boy a great way off as he returns to his father, running to him. We think of such a person, without the one they love, lacking what they need that their lost loved one could provide, mistreated in the past but still loving that one and longing for his return as weak, but God does not love us because He needs us. It is a choice He has made, but not a choice based on any need of His for us.
The lost state of those connected to God, but not in Jesus
In Acts 17, Paul is in the city of Athens, a city founded on the wisdom of Plato, Socrates and Aristotle. A city proud of its accomplishments in art and philosophy. Paul dared accuse them of ignorance, "the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you" (v.23). Then he said, "God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. Nor is He worshiped with men's hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things. And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and have our being" (v.24-28). We are the offspring of God because He created us, but that does not mean we are His special people. In order for that to happen we must make a move (v.27). Have you sensed in some way that your purpose in life is to find God? And in finding God, you will find your place? The place you belong? And to fail to find your place is to fail utterly and miserably? It won't matter how many successes in life you have, now many things come through your life to cheer you and warm you, if you fail to find God you failed in the only thing that truly matters. That isn't to say that our task is impossible. "Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead" (v.30-31).
We didn't choose to be born - some call that fact to God's attention from time to time. True, but we continue to eat, see, hear and enjoy God's blessings. We never complain about the blessings that we enjoy, but as soon as we make a mess of everything and God calls our attention to it, with a call to repentance and change, we complain about how we didn't ask to be here. There's only one Man who asked to be born. He even asked to die! Although we didn't choose to be born, we did choose to disobey and go out own way, and now we must choose to go His way if we desire our meeting with God in Judgment to be a happy occasion, a good conclusion to our life. In choosing to go God's way we have taken the first step to become one of God's special people.
God's invitation to become one of His special people is a special invitation.
His concern for you is as personal as if He wrapped your Bible up and put it in your mail box with your name on it. Do you ever wonder if all these events happening in your life are about you? YES! You may not be the only one, but make no mistake, God's efforts are all about you. These events are not an accident, they are not random! If all good things come from God (James 1:17) and it is a good thing for you to find Him, how can we call that a mere coincidence? Understand, God is not concerned about an institution or organization, He is concerned about people. We wants fellowship, a family to share love, to save souls and to change lives. In the church we not only become His special people, we become special by changing our minds, the way we think, react and thereby changing our actions.
To accept God's invitation, we agree to become a special person.
The mistake the Israelites made was thinking they were special because of their pedigree, a child of Abraham. When John the Baptist came preaching for the people to repent, for the kingdom of Heaven was at hand, Pharisees and Sadducees came out to be baptized. John said, "But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them,"Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not think to say to yourselves,'We have Abraham as our father.' For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire" (Matthew 3:7-11). We need to understand that God did indeed call a people out of the loins of Abraham, but there was far more to it than that.The world is filled with people making the same mistake the Jews did. The Jews thought that God did it all when he made them Jews, but that was only one step in the process, and not even the most important one. It enabled Him to bless them in a way He did not bless other nations and peoples. It enabled Him to teach them how to think and how to live. They thought that didn't matter, but that was the heart of the matter. We must not make the same mistake, for this world is filled with people who say, "Jesus did it all on the cross, we don't have to do anything but have faith." Other think all you have to do to be saved to be a member of the church He established. Both of these are merely a step in the process and we are blessed to have all God has given us, but they mean nothing if we do not change! The apostle Paul wrote, "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God" (Romans 12:1-2). The point of all this is to make us special to God by changing our lives. The perfect symmetry of God's wisdom is seen in that we change our lives by conforming to the image of Jesus who chose us, chose to change Himself by coming to this world in human form and chose to die on the cross that all men might have the chance to make themselves special in eternity.
Of the Israelites God said, "Oh, that they had such a heart in them that they would fear Me and always keep all My commandments, that it might be well with them and with their children forever!" (Deuteronomy 5:29) Can we see how God loves us and wants good for us? The question now becomes, are we willing to do this? The Jews thought because they were Israelites they had it made. Many today think, "I'm a Christian." Yes, but are you a special person because you unwaveringly follow everything God says to the best of your ability, trusting in the blood of Jesus as you repent of the sins you do commit?
You belong to God because you are his creation, but you haven't reached your destiny yet. You belong in His family. Are you interested in joining that family? God has told us what we must do: believe, repent, confess Jesus as the Christ and be baptized into Christ. Even that is just a step in the process of molding your heart and life into the image of Jesus Christ. When you do this you are now in a special family, now go make yourself special by doing His will always.
Questions about this article? Contact us. We promise a Bible answer: book, chapter and verse.
God is seeking for Himself a people.
These will be special people, that is, they will make themselves special to Him (1 Peter 2:9-10). Jesus seeks these special people among lost people: "for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost" (Luke 19:10). The "lost" can be a terrifying word in one sense, but hopeful in another. If I am lost it also means I belong somewhere. I couldn't be lost if I did not belong somewhere. One man said the first memory he ever had was of walking down the road in somebody else's hat wondering who he was. Malcom Muggeridge said, "I've always felt like a displaced person." I don't know if you've ever had that feeling, but let me tell you, we all are displaced persons.
The Bible opens with a statement of the problem that plagues all human beings. When confronted with the choice between trusting God who made us, cared for us and blessed us or trusting in our own intellect, our own plan at some time or other in our lives is to put up shop for ourselves and leave God out of the picture. The Bible calls that sin, a word that stands for human pride and rebellion. It is ugly and the result of it is that we have been lost far away from where we belong, cut off from God. Many have wandered so far off and have been gone so long they really don't think about it that much anymore.
Always, the Bible tells us, God has cared, wanted us, longed for us and worked for our well-being. He has longed for the day when we would come back to Him. He is pictured in Luke 15 as the Prodigal Son's father, seeing the boy a great way off as he returns to his father, running to him. We think of such a person, without the one they love, lacking what they need that their lost loved one could provide, mistreated in the past but still loving that one and longing for his return as weak, but God does not love us because He needs us. It is a choice He has made, but not a choice based on any need of His for us.
The lost state of those connected to God, but not in Jesus
In Acts 17, Paul is in the city of Athens, a city founded on the wisdom of Plato, Socrates and Aristotle. A city proud of its accomplishments in art and philosophy. Paul dared accuse them of ignorance, "the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you" (v.23). Then he said, "God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. Nor is He worshiped with men's hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things. And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and have our being" (v.24-28). We are the offspring of God because He created us, but that does not mean we are His special people. In order for that to happen we must make a move (v.27). Have you sensed in some way that your purpose in life is to find God? And in finding God, you will find your place? The place you belong? And to fail to find your place is to fail utterly and miserably? It won't matter how many successes in life you have, now many things come through your life to cheer you and warm you, if you fail to find God you failed in the only thing that truly matters. That isn't to say that our task is impossible. "Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead" (v.30-31).
We didn't choose to be born - some call that fact to God's attention from time to time. True, but we continue to eat, see, hear and enjoy God's blessings. We never complain about the blessings that we enjoy, but as soon as we make a mess of everything and God calls our attention to it, with a call to repentance and change, we complain about how we didn't ask to be here. There's only one Man who asked to be born. He even asked to die! Although we didn't choose to be born, we did choose to disobey and go out own way, and now we must choose to go His way if we desire our meeting with God in Judgment to be a happy occasion, a good conclusion to our life. In choosing to go God's way we have taken the first step to become one of God's special people.
God's invitation to become one of His special people is a special invitation.
His concern for you is as personal as if He wrapped your Bible up and put it in your mail box with your name on it. Do you ever wonder if all these events happening in your life are about you? YES! You may not be the only one, but make no mistake, God's efforts are all about you. These events are not an accident, they are not random! If all good things come from God (James 1:17) and it is a good thing for you to find Him, how can we call that a mere coincidence? Understand, God is not concerned about an institution or organization, He is concerned about people. We wants fellowship, a family to share love, to save souls and to change lives. In the church we not only become His special people, we become special by changing our minds, the way we think, react and thereby changing our actions.
To accept God's invitation, we agree to become a special person.
The mistake the Israelites made was thinking they were special because of their pedigree, a child of Abraham. When John the Baptist came preaching for the people to repent, for the kingdom of Heaven was at hand, Pharisees and Sadducees came out to be baptized. John said, "But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them,"Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not think to say to yourselves,'We have Abraham as our father.' For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire" (Matthew 3:7-11). We need to understand that God did indeed call a people out of the loins of Abraham, but there was far more to it than that.The world is filled with people making the same mistake the Jews did. The Jews thought that God did it all when he made them Jews, but that was only one step in the process, and not even the most important one. It enabled Him to bless them in a way He did not bless other nations and peoples. It enabled Him to teach them how to think and how to live. They thought that didn't matter, but that was the heart of the matter. We must not make the same mistake, for this world is filled with people who say, "Jesus did it all on the cross, we don't have to do anything but have faith." Other think all you have to do to be saved to be a member of the church He established. Both of these are merely a step in the process and we are blessed to have all God has given us, but they mean nothing if we do not change! The apostle Paul wrote, "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God" (Romans 12:1-2). The point of all this is to make us special to God by changing our lives. The perfect symmetry of God's wisdom is seen in that we change our lives by conforming to the image of Jesus who chose us, chose to change Himself by coming to this world in human form and chose to die on the cross that all men might have the chance to make themselves special in eternity.
Of the Israelites God said, "Oh, that they had such a heart in them that they would fear Me and always keep all My commandments, that it might be well with them and with their children forever!" (Deuteronomy 5:29) Can we see how God loves us and wants good for us? The question now becomes, are we willing to do this? The Jews thought because they were Israelites they had it made. Many today think, "I'm a Christian." Yes, but are you a special person because you unwaveringly follow everything God says to the best of your ability, trusting in the blood of Jesus as you repent of the sins you do commit?
You belong to God because you are his creation, but you haven't reached your destiny yet. You belong in His family. Are you interested in joining that family? God has told us what we must do: believe, repent, confess Jesus as the Christ and be baptized into Christ. Even that is just a step in the process of molding your heart and life into the image of Jesus Christ. When you do this you are now in a special family, now go make yourself special by doing His will always.
Questions about this article? Contact us. We promise a Bible answer: book, chapter and verse.