Where do i belong? (2)

Finding Our Place in God's Family

Bible Passage: Psalm 100:3

Summary: Psalm 100:3 emphasizes our identity as God's people, highlighting the joy and significance of belonging to Him and His family.

Application: This sermon can help Christians understand the deep sense of belonging they have in God's family, providing comfort during feelings of isolation or rejection. It encourages believers to embrace their identity and community within the church.

Teaching: The sermon teaches that belonging to God transforms our perception of self and others, fostering unity and love among the congregation, and reminds us that we are all created by Him and for Him.

How this passage could point to Christ: In the larger narrative of Scripture, Jesus embodies our belonging to God, as He brings us into intimate relationship with the Father, making us co-heirs and members of His body through His sacrifice.

Big Idea: True belonging is found in knowing and being known by God, which empowers believers to live authentically and serve in community.

Recommended Study: As you prepare this sermon, it might be beneficial to explore the Hebrew context of the term 'people' in Psalm 100:3 using Logos to understand its original implications. Additionally, look into how the themes of belonging are echoed throughout the New Testament, especially in the teachings of Jesus and the writings of Paul, to illustrate the amplified meaning of community in Christ.

1. Celebrate God's People

Psalm 100:3

You could highlight that recognizing ourselves as God's people provides comfort and assurance in times of loneliness. The passage suggests that belonging to God is not just a theological concept but a personal transformation that enhances our identity and encourages us to find joy and purpose in His family. It reminds us of the intimate relationship we have with our Creator through Jesus, making us part of a larger divine story.

So where do we belong? Depending on who you asked this question would determine what type of an anwser you would receive.

A Muslum would say he belongs to Allah, or an atheist would say they belong to no one for they are autonomous and live for themselves. And of course if you asked a Christian we would say we belong to the Lord Jesus Christ, and to Him only. We will look at this last one in more detail in a few moments.

Myself and the family spent the afternoon walking around Nephine National Park in Co.Mayo the friday before last. A absolutley breautiful park, with forests, lakes and stunning walks and gorgeous scenery, and as i looked around i thought to myself surley looking at all this creation around us must promt the question where in all this beauty do i actually belong, surley it must cause man to think, what is my place in all this or is it all just meaningless creation and i have no belonging at all within this life.

Unfortunity, this is the view that many take, that life just happened by chance therefore it has no real meaning, its just here to be enjoyed in whatever way you find that enjoyment, and of course the problem with this view is that you dont have a real sense of belonging to anything and your constantly chasing enjoyment trying to fulfil your need for some sort of belonging.

This path ultimitley leads you to emptiness, after chasing every type of promised enjoyment only to realise none give true fulfilment, this can lead to confussion, demotivation or depression, which can lead to worse things, even suicidal thoughts, and so forth. You know many who sadly take their own lives cant make sense of life and feel like there is no meaning or purpose, and feel no beonging, so sad.

Many of us do feel a great sense of belonging to different things, my wife, my kids, country, my culture..

Belonging gives you meaning, it gives you a feeling of purpose, a feeling of something worth protecting or fighting for. My wife comes from the beautiful country of Venezeula, and because of her dictator of a government she had no choice but to flee her country for a better life. She has been here for the past 11 years and has only being home once because things are to unstable to take the chance of going home to her country, but she still has this very strong feeling of belonging to her country, her culture she misses her family, friends, foods, the beaches everything about her country she misses, why because its a huge part of who she is therefore she has a great sense of belonging to her country and countrymen and i think i can say this for many in this room this morning.

And if we feel a great sense of belonging to these earthly things well how much more should we have a sense of the heavenly things that as christians from all different parts of the world with different cultures, foods, and languages, how much more do we all have this sense of belonging to our great and sovreign king Jesus, how much more do we yearn to go home to the kingdom not of this world.

The bible clearly teaches us that man was created by God and for God, therefore man belongs to God.

Open your bibles to: Psalm 100:3

Know that the Lord, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his, we are his people , and the sheep of his pasture.

The Psalmest clearly states that we are made by God and we are his. We belong to Him.

But what does it mean that we belong to God, what are the implcations of this? Does this change who i am? Does it change my perspective on life? Does it change how i even view God?

This brings up many questions regarding our identity in our God.

This morning i want us to look at 3 of these questions:

1 Who is the God we belong to. Surley if we confess our aligence to God we must know who our God is.

2 Who are the people who belong to God? Does everyone belong to God or are there only some who are his, hasnt God created all people.

3 What does it mean to belong to God? Is that it, i belong to God so just keep living as i am or does this belonging bring with it new ways of living.

You may think that this first question is an easely anwsered question, who is the God we belong to? And you maybe right to think that, after all im in a room full of people who confess to know God, so why ask this question. My anwser is simply this, to glorify Him, to glorify his name, and by glorifily my Lord it will humble us.