The Cure for Our Loneliness
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Introduction:
Introduction:
On the first page of your Bible you are introduced to God. God is sometimes depicted as being an old white man, in a white robe, sometimes with a staff, but this is far from the truth. In fact, Genesis 1:26 tells us God is a plurality, what we refer to as the Trinity.
Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
We know Him now as God, the father, Jesus, His Son, and the Holy Spirit. God is a community. Another page over we see God creating man, but realizing that His creation was not meant to be alone either.
The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”
God is community and in His wisdom He realized that we were never meant to live life alone. Yet, today in our world we are more alone than ever.
A recent survey done by the insurance company Cigna found that 61% of Americans report that they are lonely.
When asked why they feel lonely. Here are some responses:
47% feel left out.
46% sometimes or always feel alone.
43% Feel their relationships are not meaningful.
43% Feel isolated from others.
27% Rarely or never feel there are people who really understand them.
20% Rarely or Never feel close to people.
Only 18% Have people they can talk to.
So, in a world where people are more connected than ever, we are also the most loneliest.
Even in the church people are feeling lonely. I believe this has come about because of another staggering statistic.
56 percent of Christians feel their spiritual life is entirely private.
From <https://www.barna.com/research/discipleship-friendship/>
We have been deceived into believing that our spiritual life is only our business. What I do with my life is none of your concern. How I choose to live, you have no right to speak into. Maybe, you have heard it said, “It’s just me and Jesus?” This has led us to isolate, especially when our lives do not line up with God’s purpose and plan for our life.
But the reality is different in the New Testament. In fact, when the word “you” is used to refer to Christians in the New Testament, it is mostly used in the plural.
Like good old southern folks it is best translated as “Y’all” because the God of community never intends for us to live this life alone, but in community.
God’s answer to the loneliness in our world today is a healthy community of believers. A healthy church...
The Text
The Text
So, this morning I want to give you a point, a picture and a push.
So, here’s my point...
The answer for a lonely word is a healthy church.
Everybody is thinking, okay, we agree. But maybe, if I were to ask you what a healthy church looks like I would probably get a whole lot of different answers.
I want to bring a little unity to our responses by allowing the apostle Paul speak to us this morning about what that church looks like.
Our reading this morning will come out of Ephesians 4:11-16.
So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers,
to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up
until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming.
Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.
From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.
What does a healthy church look like? This morning I want us to see five pieces of guidance Paul gives us to being a healthy, growing community of Jesus followers.
A healthy church looks to Christ for leadership.
A healthy church looks to Christ for leadership.
Paul says earlier in this letter in Ephesians 1:22-23
And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church,
which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.
A healthy church recognizes that Jesus is its head.
So, in Ephesians 4:15
Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.
How to we speak the truth in love? We look to Jesus for how to do it. We see how he spoke to people who were seeking a savior. We look to his example of how to value people and love them the way He loves us.
How do we grow and mature? we put ourselves behind Christ and let Him lead. Trusting that He has our best in mind. We use our gifts.
A healthy church seeks to equip and serve.
A healthy church seeks to equip and serve.
Paul is clear here in verse 11, in Romans 12:4-8, and 1 Corinthians 12:7-11 that it is through Jesus that gifts are distributed to His people, through His Spirit.
So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers,
Here Paul mentions 5 titles of people with gifts. The apostles, the prophets, the evangelist, the pastors and teachers. But, we have no reason to believe these are the only gifts that matter.
In fact 1 Corinthians 12:7 tells us
Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.
Each gift given to the church by Christ, through The Spirit is for use in building up the church. Our job as parts of this body is to serve this body in equipping our community to carry out the mission of Jesus and serve as Jesus wants us to serve.
How do we do that?
We figure our how we have been gifted. How do we do that? Well you can take a spiritual gifts inventory, there are plenty of those online. But, I have found an even better way is to think about what things you already like to do and pursue ways here that you can do things?
How does this address loneliness? Sure, you could serve by yourself, but in the church we serve as a team. Teams allow us to hang out and get to know each other.
We also mature together. One way we do that here is in family groups? In family groups, we get together with other Christians who are wanting to mature in our faith and we do life together. We share good times and bad, we serve together, we experience life side by side. That surely is an answer to a world of people who feel like they are alone.
A healthy church finds unity not in how they look or think, but in their shared identity.
A healthy church finds unity not in how they look or think, but in their shared identity.
Sometimes churches become more exclusive than inclusive.
You find churches that are primarily white or black, rich or poor, Baptist, Catholic, Methodist or church of Christ, the list could go on and on. But Paul tells us here that unity comes in our shared hope and in our knowledge of Jesus.
Paul has already in chapter 4 shared a set of beliefs that formed the identity of the early church. They read as follows:
Ephesians 4:3–6 (NIV)
Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.
There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called;
one Lord, one faith, one baptism;
one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.
This is how Paul identified those in community with him in Christ . Does this mean this everything? No, but it is a place to start. A community of believers has a shared set of beliefs that identify us as followers of Christ.
Does this mean we cannot have differing opinions? Not at all, but it means we do not bind those opinions on others.
Thomas Campbell, said it this way “We speak where the Bible speaks, we are silent where the bible is silent.”
These are things we call traditions. They are shared opinions that a community holds. For example, I grew up in a church of Christ where the tradition was only acappella music. Some, made it a mandatory belief to the exclusion of those who would not practice acappella music. Others grew up in churches who told you who to date. Some practice advent or lent. It is not necessarily wrong for a church to decide to practice these traditions, but to bind them on others to the point of exclusion is not what Paul had in mind when he talked about unity.
So, for example, should we be baptized? Yes. The bible is clear that each person who wants to be follow Jesus should be baptized.
Does it mean we should have a coffee area in the church? The bible says nothing about that, so that is a matter of opinion. If the group decides we should have a coffee bar, awesome, but don’t make a person like me who hates coffee, drink coffee.
The goal is not to nit pick about matters of opinion, but to bond and unite over our share identity and traditions.
A healthy church faces storms together.
A healthy church faces storms together.
God does not mean for us to face the storms of life by ourselves, whether they are an illness, a death, a loss of a job, or someone trying to sway us to add beliefs that God never gave us to believe.
How are we to face these storms together? we speak the truth in love.
Sometimes that means being like Job’s friends and sitting in silence together while we mourn.
Sometimes that means standing together when we are being attacked.
Sometimes it means providing a meal or giving up some of our time.
Sometimes it means helping people see their sin.
There is a great verse in Ecclesiastes 4:12 that illustrates this point.
Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.
An ancient proverb that speaks depths into this idea of facing storms together. We are called to lean on one another. By ourselves we can be overpowered. Two of us can stand back to back and face attack, but three or more of us are a froce to be reckoned. Lonely people do not have people to lean on.
One note on this, don’t hide your storms. We cannot help one another if we don’t know how to help. If you need help get the attention of one of us today and allow us to help.
A healthy church is one where everyone does their part.
A healthy church is one where everyone does their part.
Listen to verse 16 again.
From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.
We will never be a completely healthy, growing church until we are all doing our part.
Imagine if the Mona Lisa had been only a pencil outline? Would it still be admired as much as it is today.
Imagine if we took the tires off your car. It would start up. But it won’t get you very far.
A church where some our doing their part can communicate the gospel to the world and we can mature, but not do it in the same way that it would if we all do our part.
How does our world become a less lonely place? By encountering a healthy church.
The PUSH
The PUSH
I hope I painted a picture today of what that looks like according to Paul.
A healthy church looks to Christ for leadership. Kris and Alison do a great job of leading this church, along with those one the board, but they will be the first to point you to Jesus.
A healthy church also seeks to equip and serve. God has given all of His children a place in this church to serve and grow. But it is your choice to serve and thrive.
A healthy church finds unity not in how they look or what they think, but in their core beliefs. Paul gives us a foundation and we work out together our understanding of scripture as we mature together.
A healthy church faces storms together and in order to do that we have to be open with each other about our storms.
Finally, we cannot be complete without your contribution. So, a healthy church is one where each of us commits to doing our part to serve, encourage and live life together.
A lonely world needs a healthy church.
We are almost done, but I promised you a push. Bear with me for a few more minutes.
If I could have the family group leaders and the ministry leaders join me on stage.
I want to ask you today to commit to two things to help us become the healthy church God wants us to be. I want to ask you to join a family group and find a place to serve.
It is in family groups that we can experience the intimacy that we can have when we live life together. It is here that we find ourselves.
(Have family group leaders share.)
Finally, there are many places in our church where we can grow and serve. Over the next few months we will be adding more opportunities. I have asked the Ministry Leaders to speak about their ministries briefly and how you can get involved.
(Have ministry leaders share.)
So there you have it two opportunities for you to help this body grow and mature, now the choice is up to you.
Will you help us be the answer to a lonely world who want what we have by committing to being a part of a family group and a ministry? If you are already in a family group and serving in a ministry, awesome! But if not, I ask you today to make the choice to grow with us and become the church that God intends for us to be. A church that answers the worlds epidemic of loneliness by showing them Jesus.