Created to Belong

In the beginning God created (Genesis 1:1). This is the starting point for all you need to know about Biology. God created people in Genesis 1:26. God’s original reason for creating humans was fellowship. You were made for a relationship:

Your first and most important relationship is with God. This is what Jesus teaches in Matthew 22:36-38.

36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment

But you were also created to be in relationship with other people. This is what Jesus teaches next in Matthew 22:39.

39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

The person that is not in a relationship with God is missing out on the most important aspect of their life. People who are not in good relationship with each other are also missing out on an integral part of why they were created. God made you to know him personally but he also made you to get to know others deeply.

I like to say that faith is a team sport. There is both an individual and a corporate aspect to following Jesus.

Faith is intensely individual because no one can force you to believe anything else. It doesn’t matter how you were raised or what kind of home you grew up in, you come to faith as a conscious personal decision. No one can force their faith on you.  And you can’t force your faith on someone else.

Even though faith is an individual decision it should be practiced in community. That means you need other good people around you to help you be a great man or woman of faith (Proverbs 27:17). It’s not an option, it’s a mandate from the Bible (Hebrews 10:24-25).

If you call yourself a follower of Jesus, there’s something missing in your life, if you don’t have good people holding you accountable. At 2 Cities Church we call this LifeGroups.  LifeGroups are more than just Sunday school classes. They are much more than a teacher delivering a lecture to students. LifeGroups is a commitment to do life together. Joining a LifeGroup is a commitment to live your faith with one another outside the walls of the church during the week- not just inside a church classroom on Sunday morning.

God is looking for disciples. The word disciple just simply means someone following in the footsteps of Jesus. The best way to make disciples is to find someone and model your faith after them. A good disciple must have a mentor.

All Christians are commanded by God to make disciples (Matthew 28:19-20). Being a “disciplemaker” means we must have others following in our footsteps of faith. Who would you call your disciple? Who is following in the footsteps of your faith?

A church is a place to belong. The word church refers to a group of people not a place. A church is not a building it is a group of people that meet in a building. Do you “belong” to a church? By “belong” I mean do they know you well and do you know them well? Do they miss you when you’re not with them? Do you miss not being with them? Do you have the kind of relationship that God created you for? Do you have a deep relationship with God and his people by having deep relationships at church?

Don’t just go to church- “be the church”. Be the church by going deep with a group of godly people.  Be the church by doing life with other believers. Be the church by living out your faith outside the walls of the building with other believers. Be the church here on earth until Jesus calls his church to be with him in Heaven. If you want to know more about what makes 2 Cities Church a great place to belong be here for our State of the Church sermon on Sunday, or catch it on one of our media pages next week.