WHY YOU (AND THEY) BELONG

Nothing get’s etched in your memory quite like those awkward moments where you realize you don’t belong.

The party you show up to that you THOUGHT you were invited to. Turns out you weren’t.

The time you didn’t dress up. Everyone else looked like they were ready for the Oscars.

That moment when you gaze around the room, helplessly realizing you are the only male in the place and there is no way to escape because you are helping to run errands with your wife (not that this has ever happened to any of us married men).

A few years back Amber and I traveled to Cabo San Lucas for a little vacation in the sun.  There are few things that I like better than a warm location, with warm water, beautiful beaches and time with my wife!

When we arrived at the resort that we were staying at my wife noticed some of the activities that were going on.  One specific activity really peaked her interest: water aerobics.

To me, it sounded like something I didn’t belong at.  Turns out my feelings were correct.  Not only did I feel like I didn’t fit in doing water aerobics, everything around me seemed to communicate that same reality…I didn’t belong.

Silly example.  But all too often there are people who walk in and out of the doors of our youth ministries and churches who have a similar feeling: I don’t belong.

This needs to change.

The role of the church is to communicate and reflect the truth that God made a way for all to belong.  Not just a select few.  Not just people who have it all together, dress right, talk right, act right…

The Cross made a way for all to belong.  So often it can become easy for those who are in the church to look at those who are outside and expect them to “get things together” before they are welcomed and made to feel like they belong.  We see something different in the bible.

In Luke 15 Jesus tells the story of a son who decided to take his inheritance early and go have some fun.  It was tragic.  Soon all the money was gone and there was no one left around to party with after the funds ran out.  We see an amazing picture of the love that God has towards all people.

Luke 15:20-24

“So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him. His son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son.’

 “But his father said to the servants, ‘Quick! Bring the finest robe in the house and put it on him. Get a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet. And kill the calf we have been fattening. We must celebrate with a feast, for this son of mine was dead and has now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is found.’ So the party began.

The father told and demonstrated to the son that he BELONGED.  The son didn’t belong because he did everything right, read his bible enough consecutive days, fulfilled all of the moral obligations of the law…he hadn’t done any of that.  There was one reason why the son belonged: The father said he did. 

That is what the finished work of Jesus has done for you and I.  He made a way for us to belong.  He didn’t wait till we had it all figured out or put together.  He made a way for us to belong while we were still in a broken state of life (Romans 5:8).

If this is true that God made a way for ALL of us to belong…

What’s my response as an individual?

What’s our response as the church?