The Church: A Place to Belong Acts 28:11-16

I want to ask a question this morning as we come to this passage: Can you be a hermit, or a monk off in the desert, and still enjoy God? Can't we just be private Christians and live out our lives of discipleship without having to deal with other Christians with all of their problems? Let's listen carefully for what God says about it. (Acts 28:11-16).

This morning, I want to borrow the expression of an ad that I have used in church planting and entitle this message: The Church: A Place to Belong.

I was in one school for most of my growing up years and was spared the childhood pain that comes from changing schools. My wife, the daughter of a Methodist clergyman, whose ordination vows caused him to have to move every two years or so, was not spared. I have listened to her and to others and have heard about the deep feelings that are associated with those childhood memories: the fear of being the "new kid," the feelings of isolation that come from being "left out" when choosing up sides for a recess ball game, the emptiness that sometimes comes from just not having a place to belong. For some of you, it may not be a big deal, but for most of us, moving, and the process of adjusting, and finding a place to belong, is a major challenge in life. It is a universal experience of humankind. And it's not relegated to only childhood moves. Each of us, all of us, every person needs a place to belong.

Now, I know some of you are hearing the theme song to "Cheers" running through your mind. I don't deny that clubs and other associations - even bars, and more illicit sorts of gathering places - may be qualified as places to belong, a place where everyone knows your name. But by the end of this message from Acts 28:11-16, I would hope that maybe the theme song to "Cheers" would be replaced with the tune of "Blessed Be the Tie that Binds." For in this part of God's Word, we come to see that God has provided a solution for the pain of humankind by creating the Church as a Place to Belong.

It's a place where, even if they may not know your name, everyone knows your condition, your need and your only salvation. That becomes a vital message to us in the early years of the twentieth century, when we find ourselves in a very mobile society.

I have little interest for those who spend all of their time criticizing the contemporary scene in this area. I too agree that relocation brings pain. It brought pain to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. It brought pain to our Pilgrim forefathers and mothers who left their home country to found this nation. It brought pain to Paul when he left his career, his home and his prestige to follow a risen Savior's mandate. But relocation, displacement, moving, transferring is a part of life now and has always been a part of life. I have little tolerance for religious social critics, well meaning as they are, not only because they are too often historically myopic, but because the Scripture spends less time criticizing and more time solving, healing and helping us in the midst of our experiences in life.