Just joining me on this one? Click here for part one.
This is a big problem in the church—people feeling like they don’t ‘fit in.’ Maybe they never did, maybe they once did and no longer do. Whatever the case, disconnected is disconnected and just as the goal in seeking forgiveness is ultimately reconciliation the goal here is ultimately ‘reconnection.’
When drift occurs, both parties have a responsibility to make an effort to reconnect. And the effort needs to be right. There are a lot of wrong ways to go about connecting or reconnecting but they just end in an ever increasing feeling of loneliness and disconnection. Here are some popular ones:
- Start shopping for another church
- Start trying to change the one you’re at.
- Find an individual (or group) who is angry or discontented with leadership or direction with the vision and direction and become a thorn.
- Become a Lone Ranger and give up trying to connect all together.
While we are told to be a part of the body, we need to be very careful to go about it in a way that honors God.
This is a 2 way street. remember what I said a few days ago…
That’s right—being connected in a body of believers is our own responsibility. The Lord will help, but it’s a partnership—not a lottery. God works with us to bring about our sanctification. It doesn’t happen by osmosis. Right now I am going through the book of Ephesians in my personal time with the Lord and I love what Ephesians 4:1–7 says in The Message…
“…here’s what I want you to do. While I’m locked up here, a prisoner for the Master, I want you to get out there and walk—better yet, run!—on the road God called you to travel. I don’t want any of you sitting around on your hands. I don’t want anyone strolling off, down some path that goes nowhere. And mark that you do this with humility and discipline—not in fits and starts, but steadily, pouring yourselves out for each other in acts of love, alert at noticing differences and quick at mending fences.
4-6You were all called to travel on the same road and in the same direction, so stay together, both outwardly and inwardly. You have one Master, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who rules over all, works through all, and is present in all. Everything you are and think and do is permeated with Oneness.”
And the church has a responsibility as well. In fact, we will be talking about this very thing the weekend after Mother’s Day as we come to John, chapter 10. This chapter is all about the Good Shepherd (Jesus) and how He cares for (loves) and gathers (connects) His sheep. Why don’t you read it and become familiar with it beforehand? Specifically verses 11–18…
“ I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd(I) lays down his life for the sheep. 12He who is(J) a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and(K) leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and(L) scatters them. 13He flees because(M) he is a hired hand and(N) cares nothing for the sheep. 14(O) I am the good shepherd.(P) I know my own and(Q) my own know me, 15(R) just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and(S) I lay down my life for the sheep. 16And(T) I have other sheep that are not of this fold.(U) I must bring them also, and(V) they will listen to my voice. So there will be(W) one flock,(X) one shepherd. 17(Y) For this reason the Father loves me,(Z) because(AA) I lay down my life that I may take it up again. 18(AB) No one takes it from me, but(AC) I lay it down(AD) of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and(AE) I have authority to take it up again.(AF) This charge I have received from my Father.”
And know that this is no minor issue with God. The Lord desires for all of us to be connected to His Bride—the Church. And one very serious reason why is that disconnection with others in the body of Christ can quickly lead to the age old problem of disconnecting from God Himself!
“But that’s not it. We did it because we cared. We were anxious lest someday your children should say to our children, ‘You’re not connected with God, the God of Israel!” Joshua 22:24
“All who have raged against him will be brought before him, disgraced by their unbelief. And all who are connected with Israel will have a robust, praising, good life in God!” Is. 45:24
“18 Don’t let anyone condemn you by insisting on pious self-denial or the worship of angels,[a] saying they have had visions about these things. Their sinful minds have made them proud, 19 and they are not connected to Christ, the head of the body. For he holds the whole body together with its joints and ligaments, and it grows as God nourishes it.” Col. 2:18–19
And for more on the church’s responsibility, read,
Eph. 4:20–25, “20-24But that’s no life for you. You learned Christ! My assumption is that you have paid careful attention to him, been well instructed in the truth precisely as we have it in Jesus. Since, then, we do not have the excuse of ignorance, everything—and I do mean everything—connected with that old way of life has to go. It’s rotten through and through. Get rid of it! And then take on an entirely new way of life—a God-fashioned life, a life renewed from the inside and working itself into your conduct as God accurately reproduces his character in you.
25What this adds up to, then, is this: no more lies, no more pretense. Tell your neighbor the truth. In John 21:15–17, “15 After breakfast Jesus asked Simon Peter, “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?[a]”
“Yes, Lord,” Peter replied, “you know I love you.”
“Then feed my lambs,” Jesus told him.
16 Jesus repeated the question: “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
“Yes, Lord,” Peter said, “you know I love you.”
“Then take care of my sheep,” Jesus said.
17 A third time he asked him, “Simon son of John, do you love me?”
Peter was hurt that Jesus asked the question a third time. He said, “Lord, you know everything. You know that I love you.”
Jesus said, “Then feed my sheep.
So, you want to connect? Reconnect? Stop running from the very people God called you to do life with and make a connection.