30 Apr The Need to Belong
As we move through our “How to Follow Jesus Christ” series, the topic of Christian discipleship comes more and more to the front of what we are talking about. To help us “get there,” we are in a four-part email series about the “4 Es”. The 4 Es are our more fully-fledged discipleship principles at Mosaic: Engage, Establish, Equip and Empower, and we are introducing these more and more into our internal church conversation and systems to help us do “disciple-making” better. To continue with the second “E,” I asked Brett Millican, pastor of discipleship, to share the importance of getting “Established.” Enjoy!
– Morgan Stephens
As Americans we pride ourselves on individualism. Our clothes, our music, our social media profiles, our cars, and our homes are all attempts to be unique. Have you ever noticed, though, that in all our attempts to set ourselves apart we sure seem to look like everyone else? Why is that? Why, in our pursuit to stand out, do we still seem to want to fit in?
The answer is that we were made to belong.
“And God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, in Our likeness.’” (Genesis 1:26)
Father-Son-Spirit — the Trinity — three unique persons make up one divine God. Within this Holy Community exists unconditional love, deference, and belonging, and it is that image that humans were created to bear. This is why God said it wasn’t good for man to be alone (Genesis 2:18). Adam could not fulfill his God-given design to reflect who God is as an isolated human being. He needed to be in community with someone equal to him in substance (humanity), but someone uniquely different than him within that substance (woman). The need to belong courses through the very fabric of our DNA. This explains why we are so quick to form tribes around things like politics, sports teams, and even mobile devices (I’m on team Apple).
The desire to belong isn’t bad. It’s how we build community. However, if our need to belong centers on any of those lesser identities rather than on who God has called us to be, then we will never truly feel settled in our belonging. God hardwired us for community because it is through a community (the Church) that He desires to reveal who He is to the world. And that is why after the first E (Engage) in our discipleship process, comes the second E — Establish.
Truly following Jesus means establishing a relationship with Him and with His people.
It is literally impossible to follow Jesus apart from those two realities. And though most of us have no problem with the idea of belonging to Jesus, it’s belonging to one another that tends to cause problems, isn’t it? Community can be difficult at times. But there are some things I have learned over the years about belonging to a people.
First, committing to relationships with people not like myself helps me to see Jesus more clearly. It’s like shining a light through a prism and getting the various colors, in all their brilliance, refract on the wall. What you saw as just light becomes something glorious that you could have never seen on your own. Belonging to the community of God’s people allows me to see the various colors of Jesus’ glory as I get to know the stories of those I’m committed to loving. The reality of God’s faithfulness, as seen through the prism of community, has the power to transform our hearts.
Second, being in community helps us better understand idolatry in our own hearts. Left to myself, I am the world’s best Christian. But, the moment I belong to a people, I begin to see my fears, insecurities and my self-righteousness come to the surface. And in those moments, I can either let that be a mirror calling me to change, or I can let it become a wall that separates. The former will soften my heart and conform me to the image of Christ. The latter will harden and deform my heart into something else. The difference comes down to one word…commitment.
Belonging to Jesus is more than just reading your Bible or attending service. It is pursuing His heart no matter the reward and no matter the cost (that’s a line from Pastor Alvin’s sermon last Sunday in case you missed it). Likewise, belonging to one another is more than just sitting in the same room together on a Sunday morning. It is pursuing each other’s hearts no matter the reward or the cost. Is that scary? Yep. Does that require sacrifice? You betcha! Will you experience pain at times? I hope not, but probably. And, in the process, you will grow to better understand God’s heart for you, as well as how He wants to reveal His heart through you to others.
Listen: the world doesn’t need another church. It needs another kind of church. The world needs to see that the Gospel truly is the only thing powerful enough to heal the brokenness we all experience. And the lens through which they will see that is a broken people committed to loving one another when it is most difficult and least deserved. The world needs to see the image of God reflected through His community. This is what getting Established is all about at Mosaic.
If you’re reading this email, it means at some level God has engaged your heart through this local church. I believe He is now inviting you to get Established — to belong to Jesus and belong to His people.
Committed and Established with you,
Brett Millican