#41 The Joy of Belonging (07/09/02)

By Dr. Robert H. Schuller

There is tremendous joy in belonging. I have the joy of belonging to the Schuller family and the joy of belonging to the human race. But more important, I have the tremendous joy of belonging to the family of God.

There are many people who are in a place where they don't have joy in their families and can't find joy in the human race. They may be in a situation or a place in life where there isn?t much joy. But there is one place I know where everyone can find joy, and that is belonging to the family of God.

The Apostle Paul says in Romans 1:6, "You are called to belong to Jesus Christ." I promise you can find joy in belonging to Jesus Christ. You may not find it anywhere else, but you will find it there.

It's interesting that the Apostle Paul said, "you are called." It has been said that we cannot seek God unless He has already found us. Isn?t that an interesting statement?

We cannot even seek Him or look for Him, unless He has already found us. It illustrates and shares with us the tremendous sovereignty of the power of God and the incredible umbrella of love that covers us when we call to Him.

Every single person reading these words is being called and chosen by God to seek Him and become a member of His family. God is calling you to begin realizing the joy of belonging to Jesus Christ.

A very dear friend of mine is a very successful man. He is the CEO of a giant food company with 20,000 employees. His name is Ken Relyea and his company recently offered him a raise, but he turned it down.

He told me, "The board offered me a raise and I turned it down."

"Why did you do that?" I said.

"I didn?t want more money," he said, "I just wanted more time. I asked for a longer vacation."

"Well, Kevin," I asked him, "What do will you do with the extra time?"

"I travel around the world bringing the Good News of Jesus Christ to people in tiny little villages in remote areas of India, Africa or South America, or wherever God leads me to," Kevin said.

"You, Kevin?" I said. I really had no idea he did that.

"Yes," he answered, "That is what really turns me on. I go to these villages, sometimes I have to travel for two or three days to get there and the inevitable always happens."

"I walk in," he continued, "And usually the chief is standing in front and he comes forward and says, ?where have you been? We have been waiting for you. Our gods told us that you were coming and we have been waiting for you.?"

"I go to these villages," Kevin said, "And I share the Gospel of Jesus Christ and when I leave a week later, all the people thank me for coming."

Isn?t that a beautiful story? It's amazing how God calls His people from all corners of the globe. From the very depths of India to the jungles of South America, He calls His people and He?s called you.

He?s called you to come and read the Good News of Jesus Christ and he says that anyone who calls upon His name will have everlasting life. That's the message that Kevin goes out and shares with people on every corner of the globe. He shares the message that Jesus loves them.

The angels announced the birth of Jesus saying, "I bring you Good News of great joy that will be to all people. Today, in the town of David, a Savior has been born" (Luke 2).

I bring you Good News of great joy today. It is the joy of belonging to Jesus Christ. And we enter that joy with the assurance and the knowledge that we have been called and chosen by Him to have a relationship with Him to say, "I belong."

What a tremendous feeling to be able to say, "I belong." Not just to some organization, or to some church, but to say, "I belong to Jesus Christ." Wow!

But it doesn't have to end there, it continued with us belonging to one another, to the body of Jesus Christ and to the collection of His people living out their faith for Jesus.

There is a wonderful passage in Philippians that says, "For it is God who works in you to will and to act according to His good purpose. Therefore, continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling" (Phil 2:12).

Isn?t that an interesting statement? "Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling." When I first read those words, I was very confused because the foundation of Christianity is that salvation is a gift from God. How can I work it out with fear and trembling?

It didn?t make sense to me, but as I studied it I realized what it meant. It meant that our joy is completed as we continue to live out the gift that God has given us.

So, if I revised or translated that verse, it would say, "Live out your salvation breaking through your fears and trembling." Let me explain what I mean.

I went with my son?s sixth grade class on a three-day camping trip to Catalina Island to study marine biology.

One of the activities of this trip was to go snorkeling to see the fish and underwater plant life. So all these kids are struggling into their wet suits and it was really funny to look at.

So after about two hours of squeezing kids into wet suits, they were ready to go in the water. My son, who is very good in the water took off with another group. But the kids who had no experience were bobbing in the water because the wet suits make them very buoyant, and were having difficulty getting their heads in the water to look at the fish.

They were very wet and cold, and what they were doing wasn?t fun. So the next day, the boys who didn?t have an easy time in the water didn?t want to go back again.

The kids had great excuses not to get into the wet suits again. "I can't breath, my asthma," one of the boys said. The rest tried to get out of it, but they couldn?t.

So the boys were suited up again, but three of them just refused to put on their wet suits. So we finally got them to put on their wet suits and they went back in the water. But when they did, they kept bobbing along with their heads above the water like the day before. So I stayed back with them and I decided I would teach them how to snorkel.

"First of all," I told them, "Put these tubes in your mouth and breathe through them as you put your faces in the water. Until you put your face in the water, these things in your mouth are useless."

We are standing in the water waist deep, and I'm finally getting them to float and look at the bottom, and the kids were having fun.

We had a boogie board and that gave them a little more confidence. One of them climbed on the boogie board and I got the others to hold on to the board and let them float for a while. I had to keep telling them to keep their faces down, telling them that they wouldn?t be able to see anything in the water unless they kept their faces in the water.

Not long after that we started drifting away from the beach into the deep water. Soon we were headed towards the rocky area where all the neon colored fish were. The water was crystal clear there and the view spectacular.

But one of the boys got scared and he started swimming to shore. The second boy stayed with me, and the one on the boogie started drifting off. He stuck his head out of the water and said, "It's getting deep." But I reassured him it was okay and I was there.

I calmed them down by pointing out different fish and asked them to point out fish they saw to me. Finally, the two boys decided that the water was getting too deep and they wanted to go back to shore.

Meanwhile, the boy who had gone back to shore was there, frolicking in the sand. "Climb on the boogie board, and I?ll take you out to show you how beautiful It's out there," I told him.

"No, I'm not going," he said.

"Let?s go out to those rocks and I?ll show you how beautiful it is, you?ll see some fish," I told the boy again.

"No, I ain?t going," the boy said firmly.

His teacher, who was watching standing on the shore said, "I?ll give you five merits and take away five demerits if you go." But the boy stood firmly saying he wasn?t going and all he got to see was sand.

There was nothing I could do to convince that boy to go back into the deeper water. It was perfectly safe, there was no way he could drown and I was there with him. I'm a certified scuba diver and I could take care of him. But he just wouldn?t go with me.

Now, here?s the lesson. Some people in life never suit up. They never put on a wetsuit and they never say "yes" to this beautiful gift that Jesus Christ is offering them to belong to His family.

Then there are others who will suit up and say "yes" to Jesus Christ. They'll make a profession of faith and that is everything for them. Jesus is sitting with you and He is holding your hand. He can help you and keep you from drowning. Trust and believe Him.

Some people won?t stretch themselves and won?t go beyond the safety net of being close to shore because they know that they can stand up anytime they want to. They never get in water that is deeper than waist deep.

Then there are the people who will trust their teacher and They'll keep their faces down in the water and They'll start to see life. They'll see the colors and the brilliance and the beauty because they put their faith in Jesus and what He is all about. His love and the fact that He cares for them.

Our joy is found in belonging to Jesus Christ. First to Jesus, then to His family where we can experience the fullness of living that comes out of the freedom He gives us to become all we can be.

Rich Ruffalo is a beautiful example of that. He doesn't let anything hold him back. We can always make excuses and come up with millions of reasons why things can't be done. But with God all things are possible. That's some statement!

One of the challenges we have in looking at the sovereignty of God and the presence of His grace in our lives is to sit back and to say, "Okay, Lord, I'm going to let you do it for me."

The balance of the sovereignty of God is in the free will of man. It's important for us to get in the game and work to take responsibility for things. That's hard for some people to do.

It reminds me of the two ladies who were driving down the street and they run through the stoplight. The passenger sat there and thought to herself, "Did we really go through that light? I would have sworn that light was red."

When they came to the next light, they went through it a second time. Again, she said to herself, "Now that light was red. I know it was. I'm really going to pay closer attention the next time."

So they come up to the third light and they fly through it once again. With that she yells to the driver, "Mildred stop! What are you doing?"

"I'm driving," Mildred says.

The challenge that Christians have is to realize that we are in the game sometimes. God is in control, right? I'm going to trust Him, so I'm going to let Him take control. All we have to realize is that when God takes control, He sits in the passenger seat giving the directions and we are driving. We still have to put our foot on the gas and go. When the red light come up, we have to break to a stop.

Sometimes we forget that we have personal responsibilities to care for each other and to love each other, to lift up each other and to encourage each other, and to give each other hope.

The joy of belonging is a wonderful message. We belong to Jesus Christ. We have the message of joy and the message of belonging.

Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for belonging to you. That you are calling us right now as your voice is echoing in our heart and we hear you calling us today. Give us the will, the drive and the motivation to break through the boxes that holds us back to swim into the deeper water and to experience all the joy that you have for us today. How we love your Lord, and we praise your name always and forever. Amen.