Belonging to a Covenant People

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The wall has been finished for some time, and now we come to the point where the Jews are ready to dedicate the wall to the service of the Lord in Jerusalem.

Great Moves of God Create Belonging

Nehemiah 12:27-42
Because the wall had been built, we come to this time where the people of God are gathering to celebrate what God has used them in order to do. Now that the Wall has been complete, the people of God are coming together in a mighty way.
Look at v. 29! They’re like hippies at Woodstock out there, creating makeshift villages and whatnot.
The mass gathering of people shows two major things about how Israelites viewed their faith and culture:
They believed a win for the community was a win for them personally.
They viewed God as the One who was to be praised for the building of the Wall.
Much of this came because they had developed a sense of belonging to their community. Much like feeling a sense of belonging to your country, there was an innate sense in which the Jews were connected to their fellow Jews and to God.
Further, this act of the wall being built brought them together.
Any time a great move of God happens, the people affected are brought together in a unique and important way. This happened in Israel, and it happens in churches in a lot of different ways.
At salvation, a great move of God occurs, and we are brought into the Body of Christ, the church. These are not separate events.
In the life of a church, when something momentous happens, those who are there to witness it are brought closer together by this common bond. It creates talking points and camaraderie. Like brothers in war.
When people work together toward something, it causes them to grow closer together through a shared experience.
All across humanity, belonging is vital. Listen, I’m going to say this next part and I have a feeling things are going to click for you like they did for me. It’s common sense.
I’ve been learning a lot about attachment recently. Attachment is that bond that we build with our children from a very young age. And if healthy attachment is not built early on, it can cause real deficiencies in mental health and our relationships. Many of us in this room probably deal with attachment issues even into our adult lives. Hear me clearly, attachment issues are very real, and they are very much the result of sin. You can’t pray them away. You do have to pray over them, but you also have to do the work of healing. When God steps in, He brings you to Himself, attachment issues and all, and gives you a place and a people to belong to, even in spite of your flesh’s resistance to those attachments. Embrace them.
So, wait a minute, right? I’m going on and on about attachment and belonging. Two words not found in the Bible… So am I up here preaching psychology or Bible? Turns out there is a biblical word for it… FELLOWSHIP. The reason I use the term, “belonging” is because fellowship is all too often associated with bowling parties, and I hate bowling.
But really, the concept of fellowship is very deep. Family-team, you’ve heard me talk about that before, and if you haven’t, it’s central to the idea of church, and in my opinion… This is opinion now… A lot of churches sacrifice fellowship on the altar of church growth. You can grow a church through fellowship. But you can also grow a church by skipping fellowship altogether, and that creates an anemic church.
We must have belonging.
In the New Testament, Peter tells us that just as Israel was called into belonging, so are we as His Church:
1 Peter 2:9–10 ESV
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
In this passage, Peter is calling the church out of sinful behavior and into behaving as the people of God. The principle still stands: we are His people, and He is calling us all to belong to one another and to Him!
Those who were once not a people… Those who were once not a people are now a people united by the blood of Christ.

Belonging Leads to Deep Worship

Nehemiah 12:43
Next, we see the Jews coming together for the worship that they had been preparing for. Sacrifices are made, rejoicing is happening. And look who gets the credit… God does.
The women and children also simply means that everyone is involved!
And it was heard for miles.
Isn’t this the kind of worship we should see on earth?
In one sense, it is. On Sundays, here’s the beautiful thing, churches all around the world are gathering to praise the name of God.
Now listen, there are things I do and say around my family that are just for my family. There’s a sense of silliness that I’ll engage when it’s just me, Katie, and SK. I do this because I know I won’t be rejected, or lose their respect, or whatever. I’m able to be silly and let my guard down around my family because I know they love me and embrace all of me.
Our church should be like this, in a sense. Are you afraid to sing praise to God? You’re among family. Is there a lack of a sense of belonging that causes you to withhold your singing? Let’s address that.
When we truly belong to a church family, it ought to allow us the freedom to engage with God among the body of believers. Listen, I can’t sing worth anything. Ask Katie. I can’t keep rhythm, sing a consistent tune, or anything along those lines. But I will look like a fool if I must in order to sing praise to God.
Some people will sing whether their heart is in it or not. Some people will not sing for fear of what the people around them think. Some will not sing because they don’t believe the words they’re being asked to sing.
But worship isn’t just singing, either. If you were here for my Colossians sermon on worship, you’ll remember that I made mention of the Hebrew meaning of the word worship was really more akin to “service” or “obedience.” Our obedience to God is worship.
When we think of worship, we shouldn’t just think of singing. We should certainly think of singing, but that’s not all. No, we should live lives of worship to our Lord!
And notice in these next verses how Israel went about this.

Belonging Creates Serving Opportunities

Nehemiah 12:44-47
In this passage, people are given serving responsibilities. There are people appointed over all the items brought to worship. People are given responsibilities to watch over what was brought to the Lord, and to make sure they would get where they needed to go. It was a stewarding role, much like Benny does for us in collecting and delivering our offering. Or like our deacons do in administering the Lord’s Supper. Or like our Sunday School teachers do in teaching their classes. Or like Michelle has done in getting our building painted. Or like Mike and Joyce Bryson showing up to do anything and everything. Or like Hayden, arguing with me over the phone about replacing our tech needs in the booth. Or Kim Harris working diligently to make Wednesday nights happen again. The list goes on and on of volunteers who care deeply about the ministry of Cassville Baptist Church. I can’t name them all, there’s too many of us.
Reminds me of this passage:
1 Corinthians 12:12–14 ESV
For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit. For the body does not consist of one member but of many.
Concept of belonging in a church over time.
We’re all called to belong to the church. If you are a Christian, God hasn’t just saved you, He’s brought you into His people. “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood…”
But we’re not just called to belong. We’re also called to serve others in helping them belong, too. You know what that looks like? Saying hello or welcome to someone you may not know yet. Taking the time to have a conversation.
We have to facilitate an atmosphere of belonging at our church.
Why?
The church is a family. And in a world filled with broken families, we are set apart to show the world what true family looks like. Beyond just the mom + dad + kiddos equation. A family goes beyond each family unit. It involves community… and belonging… I celebrate that my child will grow up with church family. I love watching her play with all of her church family.
This is so vital because it’s what Jesus invites us into: the family of God. As a church, we are an expression of that body.
If you don’t have a church home, or you want to express, “Hey, this is my home church,” you can come up at the invitation. I’d love to talk with you about joining our church. I talked with someone about this recently and they asked, “So is there some kind of hazing or initiation?”
If you’ve never trusted Jesus and want to be forgiven of your sin and adopted into the family of God, there’s an opportunity during the invitation.
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