We Are Not Alone

 

“You’re not alone.” Sorry, did I scare you? That might have sounded a little ominous, but it’s meant to be more of a statement of fact. And thank goodness for that fact too! Why, because we need others in our lives! Let me prove it to you in these situations: Your favorite team wins the championship, what do you do? You fall and break your leg, what happens now? You return home from an overseas trip, look at all those pictures! You lose your job, where do you turn now? In all of those moments, of either celebration or heart-ache, we need and want other people in our lives. We need people to help us celebrate the moments of victory (kind of hard to do a chest-bump by yourself) and we need other people to lean on when difficulty comes around.

For me, I have found that my church family has always been the place where there were those who came beside me and helped me both celebrate the joys and bear the burdens of life. In the last 6 years that I have been at Calvary, our family has experienced so much loss. Taima’s grandfather passed away in 2018, our beloved Associate Pastor Richard Bartel passed in 2019, my father also passed away in 2019, and my mother passed away in 2021. During each of those difficult moments, my church family was right there walking with us through the pain. I specifically remember being at the funeral home in 2021 and looking at the plants in the room with notes from our church family on them. It encouraged me so much to know that there were those who called, sent messages, and even those who drove 4+ hours to be at the funeral!

        There are things that we will face in life that we are simply not meant to face alone. This is one reason why Christ created the church. We often forget that the church is not a building, but the people. The church is not a man-made invention, but is formed by Christ’s own design and desire. The church is not only His means of grace and the extension of His redemptive purpose to the lost world, but His means of declaring what His Kingdom is like! Christ has redeemed us and placed us in a family of other believers in order for us to accomplish His mission of making disciples of all nations, but also so that we will encourage one another through this part of our journey. The Apostle Paul reminds us in Galatians 6.2 to “Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.”

Our fellowship and care for one another are based on our common relationship with Jesus. In the body of Christ, there is an amazing diversity. Not just on the exterior, but through our experiences as well. Some of you grew up in God-fearing homes where you we brought to church every week. Some of you never heard the name of Christ until you were already and adult. Some were born in America and some of you were born in another country. Although our backgrounds and experiences are different, we have all responded to the Gospel message in the same way: by faith. And because of that, we are brought into an incredible family who is to seek to maintain the bond of love and peace with each other!

The church is meant to be together! We are meant to spend time with each other, learning about each other’s joys and sorrows. We are meant to care about each other’s personal situations. We are meant to share meals together and do life with one another! Jesus is our example on this. Think about how many times we see Jesus gathering around a meal with someone or with groups of people. Some of His most well-known miracles happen around a meal!

In John 13.35, Jesus tells us how the world will know that we belong to Jesus: “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” It’s not because we have fancy church buildings, Christian bumper stickers on our cars, Christian tattoos, or because we have big bibles that we carry around. We proclaim to the world that we have been redeemed by Christ by our love and care for one another.

Based on your Koinonia (fellowship) within the body of Christ, how have you shown the world that you belong to Christ? How have you shown your brother/sister in Christ how much they matter to you?