More Then a Club

Think back to your old neighborhood days, you know, when you were a kid. How many clubs were you part of? Did you ever build a fort, a pretend house, or a special club? Of course, the obvious answer is yes! It just seems like a natural part of childhood.

If I closed my eyes and take a few seconds to remember, I can think of several clubs, forts, or tree houses. The qualifications to be included were simple: “boys only, girls stay out!” Or we would exclude the younger siblings.

Even as children we had a strong desire to be included. We have an innate sense of loneliness that haunts us. Even before the Fall of our first parents, God said it is not good for man to be alone. We bounce from one “club” to another just to feel less alone.

Looking back, I often hurt some friends just because I wanted to be included with others. I so strongly desired a place to belong, that I was willing to exclude friends. I also remember being in youth group and hearing the new youth pastor say that his youth group was for younger teens and I felt excluded. It is never fun to be on the outside.

I could try to make a “new club” that would accommodate the many issues teens face, trying to attract them to it and help them feel like they belong. However, it would be a fruitless endeavor. I cannot compete with the world. I cannot make a club that is more fun, has more toys or more appeal then what the world has. One lonely person cannot come up with the answers for other people’s loneliness.

We Need A Hero

The great truth is this: Jesus is the answer! Jesus came to provide a place for us to belong. He has given us the Church, a community of Christ-followers who are like a family. Loft youth group is a local expression of this community and it is only a benefit to the teens when it is built on the foundation of Jesus Christ!

“So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.”

Ephesians 2:19-22

We who were on the outside, we who were alone, Jesus has made members of the community through faith. When you placed you trust in Jesus, He secured your spot in His household. It’s not about what you can do to earn and keep your acceptance. It is about what Jesus has done.

Move beyond the individualistic tendencies that our American mindset has imposed on the faith, and see the beauty of the community. When we gather God is building us into a holy temple for His dwelling. In the gathering of the saints, we can experience God in ways we cannot do on our own.

I don’t want to take away from our personal time with God, our own responsibility to pray and grow. But the gathering of the saints, the corporate study of the Word of God brings us into a close fellowship with each other and God.

Welcome to the Party

The gathering of the saints should be a joyous occasion. Nobody ever wanted to be a part of the boring club. We joined clubs because they offered us something we wanted, it excited us. Jesus wants us to come together and celebrate in a way that builds us up!

“Addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.”

Ephesians 5:19-2

The secret handshake, the sign that you belong, in this community is the joy of your heart being expressed in words. Sometimes in songs, sometimes in thanksgiving, but it should be encouraging. This community begins to see that the others are more important than I am. I want to encourage them and help them understand God more.

Loving Support

Jesus provided the community that comes together to worship God and encourage each other, but we also have a responsibility to our members. We are to be growing together into the image of Christ, but what happens when we fail? What do you do when you realize you are sinning? Especially when you like your sin? You want to run away from accountability, withdraw from communion and escape judgment.

“Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.”

 Hebrews 3:12-14

Notice this in the above passage, everyday we are to have contact with fellow believers to encourage them in righteousness. We are to do this in an attitude of love and safety. Nobody likes to be judged. Nobody wants a bunch of fingers pointed at them. So how does a loving community call us back to a repentant life?

I read an article about the Himba tribe of Namibia, Africa. I was excited to learn about how they “discipline” the wayward in their tribe. A brief summary is this, that the parents would create a song for the birth of their child. They would sing this song to their child through each phase of life. The community would learn the song of the child. When the child rebelled, they, as a community, would surround the child and sing their song to them, to remind them of who they are and where they come from.

It is a culture of love. A gentle reminder of their parents love and desires for their life. I thought this was an amazing picture of how we should encourage each other to forsake sin and pursue righteousness. We should gently remind each other of what our Hero has done for us, the price He paid to provide this community. In this we reflect the love of Christ.

Truly, a community like this provides us security and hope in a dark and lonely world. The Church should be home to us. May we seek to daily encourage each other in these truths.