The Need To Belong

^"About noon the following day as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the roof to pray.  He became hungry and wanted something to eat, and while the meal was being prepared, he fell into a trance. He saw heaven opened and something like a large sheet being let down to earth by its four corners. It contained all kinds of four-footed animals, as well as reptiles and birds. Then a voice told him, “Get up, Peter. Kill and eat.”  “Surely not, Lord!” Peter replied. “I have never eaten anything impure or unclean.” The voice spoke to him a second time, “Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.” This happened three times, and immediately the sheet was taken back to heaven."  Acts 10:9-16

God was preparing Peter to help an entire new group of people belong to the Faith and particularly, the Church.

Belonging is a very important and necessary thing for everyone. It is essential to the human psyche and soul. The breakdown of the family over the past several generations has only intensified that need.

While the need for belonging is evident, the dynamics of it are not so clear. I think our look into the "Me to We" mindset has given me some fresh insights that have been helpful. When I find something helpful I like to share it!

What is involved in belonging? What needs to happen in order to feel like you belong?

There is a "Me" aspect to belonging and there is a "We" aspect to it. Belonging involves acceptance but it also involves commitment. Here is how it works:

Obviously, you or I cannot belong to something unless we are accepted into that group by the members. Acceptance is a warm welcome. Acceptance is permission to enter the group. You can't really be part of a group until the group allows you to join it.

Of all the groups that are available for people to belong to, a local church should be among the most welcoming. Anyone who comes to worship at a local church should find an immediate and sincere acceptance from the members of that body. No one should ever leave a worship service with the feeling they were not accepted.

Acceptance is essential but it is not enough. No matter how accepting a group is and regardless of how warm the welcome, a person doesn't belong until he is willing to commit to belonging and submit to its ways.

If you were to read on to the "rest of the story" followings Peter's vision of the clean and unclean animals you will see that Peter did extend acceptance to Cornelius and his family as God commanded. That obedience and acceptance allowed God's Spirit to work in a powerful way. But, then it became incumbent on Cornelius and the other Gentiles to respond with a commitment. Acts records that they did! They believed and were baptized and as a result, truly belonged to the Faith and the Church!

Acceptance is the role of the "We" in belonging and that acceptance should be as sincere as possible. But in order to belong, there must be a commitment made to the "We" by the "Me".

In my considerable experience in local churches, those who struggle to belong struggle as a result of a "Me" problem rather than the "We" problem. If you are not willing to commit and to submit to the group you will have trouble belonging.

Does that make sense?

April 19, 2018

^"Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love,which binds them all together in perfect unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful." Colossians 2:13-15

One of the reasons sports have always been so meaningful to me is the “we” nature of being part of a team.

The first day of tryouts is very tense and pressure-packed because several dozen “me’s” show up hoping to make the team. As I looked around at all the other “me’s” I wondered how good they were. Were they as good as me? How many were trying to beat me out for my position? Would I be good enough to beat them out? Would the coach like me?

As the tryouts progress it begins to sort things out I you get the chance to show how I can hit and throw and catch the ball. By the end of the day you have a better idea how many of the “me’s” will be part of the “we”.

On the fateful day when the “list” is posted, all the “me’s” anxiously gather around to search for their names on the “list” that defines which “me’s” will constitute the “we”.

What a relief to see my name on the “list”! But the list isn’t where the “me’s” become the “we”. It is only through those grueling days of conditioning and training and drills and scrimmages that the “me’s” begin to trust one another and respect one another and rely on one another that the “we” emerges from the group of “me’s”. Now it is about the TEAM! There is no “I” in TEAM!

It feels great to be part of the TEAM! Few things in life are better than when the “me’s” are molded into the “we”! The group of individuals has chosen to submit to the same coach and have committed to the same goals and sacrifice for the same purpose so OUR TEAM can win!

The key to shifting from “Me” to “We” is submission to something bigger and better and more important than just being me. “We” is always more effective than “Me”. In fact, each “Me” becomes better as part of the “We”.

Steve Packer, Dick Wickstrom, Jay Winterholter and me are forever linked because of what "we" accomplished as teammates on the Indiana Wesleyan University baseball team. We were all part of the first collegiate baseball team to represent that great university and this was just the second college baseball game of what has become a highly respected athletic program. But Steve, Dick, Jay and I pulled off the first triple-play in the history of IWU baseball.  Triple plays are very rare. Obviously, not one of us could have done it alone. It took all four of us!

This forever moment happened when Steve threw the pitch on a 3-2 with bases loaded and no one out.  The batter ripped a sinking line toward left field where Dick made a diving shoestring catch. Because it looked like the ball would fall for a hit, all the runners were running. Dick jumped to his feet after making the catch for the first out and threw to Jay at second base to make the out on the runner there. While all this was going on the runner on third had gone back to the base, tagged up and was barreling down the line toward home plate. When Jay fired the ball to me and I put the tag on the sliding runner, the triple play was completed!

What is true of great team is also true of great churches.They accomplish great feats for God that no one Christian could do alone!

Will you help your pastor build a great church? 

Will you submit to that team?

The "Me To We" Mindset

"He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the Lord has laid on him he iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away. Yet who of his generation protested? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was punished." Isaiah 53:4-8

The "Me to We" mindset is a shift from building barriers to building bridges.

By nature we build barriers instead of bridges.

If you own a home you probably have a fence around your back yard. Your fence sends the message, "Everything inside this fence belongs to me!"

Fences have pros and they have cons. While they keep some things in they also keep some things out. They keep strangers from wandering into your yard, but they also keep friends from coming in. If it is a privacy fence it prevents people from looking into your yard, but it also keeps you from looking out. Fences have a certain beauty and a serve a purpose but they also are expensive and require a lot of maintenance.

Unfortunately, not only do we build fences to protect our houses but we often build fences around our hearts because we feel the need to protect them, too. Sometimes these fences are constructed intentionally but more often they are put up subconsciously.

Often it happens when we mentally size up others with "ME" questions like these:

1) How is this person like me?

2) How is this person different from me?

3) How am I better than this person?

4) How much should I trust this person?

5) How much can I benefit from this person?

In the very process of uploading these questions we begin considering where we need to stake out our boundaries and construct fences.These fences become barriers to intimate and meaningful relationships in our families, our workplaces and in our churches, in other words, the places where belonging is most necessary and needed.

Amazingly, Isaiah tells us that Jesus refused to construct any barriers to protect His self from those who were a mortal threat to Him. Rather, He submitted to the will of His Father and let the power, grace and love of the Father be His protection as He died to remove the need for fences.

This morning prayerfully consider, "Do I tend to build barriers or bridges?"

April 17, 2018

^"He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God."  John 1:11-13

Sadly ironic isn't it?

Jesus came from Heaven where He was not only accepted but exalted and worshiped to earth where He would be largely rejected. As the Prophet Isaiah foretold, "He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem." Isaiah 53:3

If anyone SHOULD have been accepted it would have been Jesus, the Son of God Who shared in the creation of the world. Don't you agree? But clearly, these Scriptures tell us He wasn't.

On further thought, acceptance implies among other things, belonging. From that standpoint Jesus didn't really belong here, He belonged in Heaven. He certainly didn't belong in a feed trough in a stable in a tiny place like Bethlehem. Nor did He belong on a cruel cross beaten to a pulp though innocent and holy. The Son of God was out of place in a borrowed tomb for three days.

Maybe those are reasons to explain why He wasn't accepted even by His own. Maybe He wasn't accepted because He didn't belong. Maybe He was too good for this planet.

This wasn't a surprise to Jesus. He was well aware of Isaiah's prophecy when He came to earth. Not only did He know He would be rejected and reviled and crucified, it was the very reason He came!

What if He HAD fit in? What if He would have been accepted and lauded? What if he had been wildly popular and loved by all the religious establishment? Either He would not have been crucified OR it would have made it MUCH harder for Him to have submitted to such a degrading torturous death.

He had to be rejected on earth so you would have a chance to belong in Heaven. It isn't important that He be accepted by all those who rejected Him but it is extremely important for Him to be accepted by you!

".......Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God....."

April 16, 2018

"He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God — children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God."  John 1:10-13

It was April 15, 1947 that Jackie Robinson ran to his position at first base with the rest of his Brooklyn Dodger team mates. While they were greeted by cheers, he heard jeers and boos and racial slurs. That historic moment 66 years ago changed the course of Major League baseball forever. But the first black man to play in the modern era of Major League Baseball was forced to endure threats, humiliation and in order to fulfill his dream.

On May 13, 1947, during Brooklyn Dodger infield practice at Crosley Field, Cincinnati, Pee Wee Reese, the Dodger shortstop and captain, suddenly stopped the practice. He walked diagonally across the infield and placed his left arm around the shoulder of Jackie Robinson, who was playing first base. 

He looked into the Cincinnati dugout and the grandstands beyond. Ballplayers and fans had been taunting Robinson with terms like ''shoeshine boy'' and ''snowflake.'' Reese, a slim white Southerner who wore No. 1, kept an arm draped in friendship around the sturdy black man who wore No. 42. 

Reese did not say a word. But his look shamed the racists into silence. ''After Pee Wee came over like that,'' Robinson told me years later, ''I never felt alone on a baseball field again.''

Jackie Robinson belonged in a major league baseball uniform. He was one of all-time greats as evidenced by these career stats: 137 HR, .311 BA, 734 RBI, 2B/3B/1B, inducted into Hall Of Fame in 1962, 1949 NL MVP, 1947 ML Rookie of the Year, 6 x All Star, Dodgers 1947-1956

But the prejudice against his skin color kept him from showcasing his talents until well-respected men, Dodger general manager, Branch Rickey and popular teammate, Pee Wee Reese risked their reputations to help him find acceptance.

Incidentally, Branch Rickey was a devoted Christian. I encourage you to go see the inspiring movie "42" that tells this story.

In the same way, Jesus left Heaven where He was loved, accepted, worshiped and adored in order to face a rejection much worse than that endured by Jackie Robinson. And He did it to make it possible for you to overcome the barrier that kept you out of Heaven - your sin.

Jesus longs to come beside you and place His arm around you and declare you ACCEPTED. Will you believe in Him? Will you accept Him in order to be accepted?

April 15, 2018

"Speak and act as those who are going to be judged by the law that gives freedom, because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment!" James 2: 12-13

How do you respond under pressure?

It has been suggested that who you are under pressure is revealing of who you really are. I tend to believe that.

You must keep in mind as you read and study James that these are Christians under pressure. Pressure most of us have never known, the pressure of persecution.

As James describes what faith should look like and how people of faith should live, it is being lived out under pressure. Faith is giving your best when life deals the worst! Do you return mercy for malice?

In these verses he reminds you that you will be judged and your faith will be judged based on how well your actions and attitudes match those of the Savior. If you say you have faith but do not demonstrate love your faith will be judged as insincere.

The context for faith in this instance is within the meeting of believers. How do you show love to a guests who comes into you meeting? Do you size them up or do you serve them? Do you act differently to a wealthy looking person than to a shabbily dressed one? Faith looks for what it can give rather than what it can gain. Here's an example:

In his autobiography, Mahatma Gandhi wrote that during his student days he read the Gospels seriously and considered converting to Christianity. He believed that in the teachings of Jesus he could find the solution to the caste system that was dividing the people of India. So one Sunday he decided to attend services at a nearby church and talk to the minister about becoming a Christian. When he entered the sanctuary, however, the usher refused to give him a seat and suggested that he ought to worship with his own people. Gandhi left the church and never returned, “If Christians have caste differences also, “ he said, “I might as well remain a Hindu.” That usher’s prejudice not only betrayed Jesus but also turned a person away from trusting Him as Savior.

Bad judgment.

Your faith is being continually judged by how you treat others. You will be ultimately judged by how you treat others. If you want to be judged mercifully, give mercy. Ask God to help show kindness and grace today even when  under pressure.

April 14, 2018

"Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people."Proverbs 14:34

What does it mean when a nation is exalted? That sounds like a good thing, but how good is it? What are some specific benefits wrought by righteousness?

Let me share at least three things that are meant by "exalted".

Exalted means "lifted".

Righteousness lifts a nature and a culture. It lifts the morality of that people. It lifts the civility of that society. The morale of that nation is higher than cultures where people don't value righteousness. Doing the right things obviously results in positive and constructive outcomes.

Exalted means "lightened".

Righteousness flows from truth. Truth originates in the character and very nature of God. With God as your source and His Word as your resource there is going to be knowledge and wisdom. Jesus said that He is "the light of the world". When you have Jesus you have light and in Him is no darkness. From the light of God's Word, truth and wisdom beam forth revealing what is right and what is wrong. Being "lightened" by righteousness leads to rightness in actions, attitudes, values and moral decisions.

Exalted means "liberated".

A people who are lifted by the truth and lightened by the truth will find freedom and liberty from His Word. Truth results in freedom. Ignorance leads to bondage. Ignorance leads to confusion and doubts. Ignorance leads to strife and fear.

A people lifted by truth and lightened by truth are free to become who they want to become in Christ. They will act right and have the right attitudes which will enrich their relationships and increase their opportunities for freedom. Listening to His truth and living in His truth shape a godly character that is free to pursue godliness.

How is a nation exalted by righteousness? Simple!

A nation is exalted by people who are lifted by the righteousness of God's Word. As a result they tend to think right, which leads to right decisions, which translates into godly living. Godly living results in lifting God high in the estimation of those who may be seeking for solid answers. God is exalted by the practical everyday decisions, actions and values you make.

A nation is exalted when lighted by the truth of God's Word and the principles it gives to live by. It makes better decisions and is better able to make quality decisions. Truth reveals the right thing to do in all decisions, and clarifies the application of that truth in daily situations. God is exalted by a people who know and show His truth.

A nation is exalted when God's children live in the liberty of His knowledge and His love. God's children live within the law and finds freedom in self-governing his thoughts, feelings, and attitudes. An ignorant nation will not endure as a free nation. Study history. You will see.

I know you love the USA and desire to see her rise to the exalted standard. You, of all people will understand the value of self-governing and liberty of self-discipline. God WILL set you free!

"Righteousness", or "rightness", allows God to get involved personally in that project. God will be strong and powerful in the life of those who have chosen to walk in the light of His power and glory. And over time, people will be set free and God will be glorified!