A Place to Belong

Today across our country, churches everywhere are placing a special emphasis on “Belonging” as a part of Back to Church Sunday. I’m glad you are here. And I mean that. I want to talk to you about “belonging.” We all need a place to belong. Have you ever noticed around breakfast time at Jack’s or Popeye’s how a bunch of old men gather. They are looking to belong. A place that fits like our favorite chair or an old pair of worn out jeans.

Some of you may be in church today for the first time in a very long time. I read a bout a little boy who went to church for the first time with his parents. When it was over they asked him what he thought. He said “The music was alright but the “commercial sure was long.” I hope that’s not how you leave today.

Someone has called us a nation of strangers, with as many as 4 of 10 admitting to expressing deep feelings of loneliness. Like the lady who goes to the post office each week to buy two stamps. When the clerk told her she could buy them from the stamp machine and not have to wait in line she said “the stamp machine doesn’t take the time to ask me about my arthritis.

Solomon wrote about “belonging” in Ecclesiastes 4.9-11

Ecclesiastes 4:9–11 HCSB

Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their efforts. For if either falls, his companion can lift him up; but pity the one who falls without another to lift him up. Also, if two lie down together, they can keep warm; but how can one person alone keep warm?

Now realizing that those verses were written to people living in bedouin tents trying to make it in the desert, there are three great benefits to “belonging.”

Strength

Ecclesiastes 4:9 HCSB

Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their efforts.

Peanuts cartoon about Lucy demanding Linus change the channel.

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?”

There is strength in numbers. We need each other. We can do more in life with others. Belonging to God’s family, in a local church, provides us with strength to get more done by working together. Whether its military bible sticks, or disaster relief, or work at the mission center, or talking to others about their need for Jesus, there is strength in numbers.

When you go through hard times, its good to do it surrounded by others. That leads to:

Support

Ecclesiastes 4:9–10 HCSB

Two are better than one because they have a good reward for their efforts. For if either falls, his companion can lift him up; but pity the one who falls without another to lift him up.

Remember that old tv ad “I’ve fallen and I can’t get up?” Many people, including me, found great humor in that. But if you have ever found yourself down, the importance of having support is huge. All of us have had the breath knocked out of us before by life. I’ve been hit hard and when that happens, genuine Christian people have gathered around me and loved on me.

Jesus said we would have trouble in this life but told us to take heart because had overcome the world.

Bear one another’s burdens.

Spiritual Warmth

Ecclesiastes 4:11 HCSB

Also, if two lie down together, they can keep warm; but how can one person alone keep warm?

Can this pastor make a confession? I try to be a spiritual leader, with spiritual strength to loan others in their time of need, but there are times when I find great spiritual warmth from being with others who love the Lord, who are trying to live for Him, trying to raise their kids right, trying to make it through the week without hurting someone… on purpose .. in Jesus’ name.

Hebrews 10 says we ought to look for ways to stir one another up toward love and good works. We need each other to keep each other going.

There is an old story about a pastor who went to visit one of his attenders who had quit coming.

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.”

Many of you in this room, you have felt the warmth being rekindled in your heart as you have spent some time with others who belong to the Lord today.

We all need a place to belong. It always seemed sad to me that the modern fulfillment of “sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your name and theyre always glad you came” was a song about a bar. God has made you for community… Made you to belong… together… in his family… With His people.

Belong....

To the Lord?

To a local church family?

To a small group Sunday School Class.