|
The Internet population has well surpassed five hundred million... that's a lot! If you are not on it now, you will be very soon. Companies are spending hundreds and hundreds of billions of dollars – not millions, billions – to lay cable and to put satellites in space in order to connect everybody in the world.
This week I did a little research and discovered that on land, in the next twelve months, 28 million miles of fiber optics will be laid around the world. Under the ocean, they'll lay enough cable to circle the entire globe five times in the next year alone. In the air there are now over fifteen hundred satellites dedicated to communications.
Today, I want to talk to you about another kind of connection. A relational connection. For the past thirty years there's been a strong emphasis in our society on personal individuality, self-expression, self-esteem, self-fulfillment. Focus on me, the individual. I've got to do what's best for me. As a result of that we've produced a very disconnected society. People don't know each other. You don't know all your neighbors. You don't know all the people you work with. You don't even know all the people in this church. You’re disconnected.
I read a few weeks ago about a man in an urban setting who’s going from community to community trying to restore a sense of community by getting neighbors to have a little pancake breakfast together just to get to know each other. We’re disconnected.
We weren't made to live that way. The Bible says in Genesis 2:18, God said, "It is not good for man to be alone." You were made for relationships. You were created for connections. Psychologists call this a universal need to belong. Even Jesus needed friends. The Bible has a very important word about connecting people at the deepest level. That spiritual connection is called fellowship.
We use the word "fellowship" to refer to just hanging out with people (which it is not), having a party (which it is not), being with friends (which it is not). Fellowship is more than socializing. Fellowship is more than networking. Fellowship is more than making contacts with contacts. It is even more than just spending fun time with people you love. Fellowship in its truest sense is soul to soul connection. Sadly most people on this earth have never enjoyed the true meaning of genuine fellowship. They have never had a spiritual connection with anybody. You may have had an emotional connection, a romantic connection, an intellectual connection. But almost nobody has ever had a heart-to-heart, soul to soul, fellowship connection unless you know the Lord and have learned to fellowship with other believers.
Why is it essential to connect with others? There are emotional reasons. There are physical reasons. You will live longer, lots of studies have proven that. There are spiritual benefits. Dr. Edward Hallowell has written a new book simply called Connect. He says, "We are a nation of doers. We hurry from place to place, filling our lives with all kinds of activities, sometimes over scheduling our kids and ourselves. But what really sustains us emotionally, psychologically and physically is connectedness, the feeling that we are part of something that matters, something larger than ourselves that gives life meaning. Just as there is a vitamin deficiency, there is a human contact deficiency and it weakens the body, the mind and the spirit. It's ravages can be severe – depression, physical illness, early death. Or they can be mild – underachievement, fatigue, and loneliness. Just as we need Vitamin C each day, we also need a dose of human contact everyday with other people.
We all know that we need food. We all know that we need vitamins and minerals. We know that we need air. Most of us know that we need sunshine. But most of us don't know that one of the other major factors in your health in life is you need deep human contact. Just as essential as Vitamin C is, the other Vitamin C – Connectedness - is essential to your life. There are many scientific studies that have proved that you have to have this in your life in order to really live and not just exist.
What does it mean to be spiritually connected? What's it like? The Bible gives us four word pictures or metaphors that says, "Being spiritually connected is like this..." We're going to look at these this morning because a lot of you have a misunderstanding of what church is all about. Church is not a place to attend. Church is a group to be connected to.
[from a sermon at New Life by Pastor Brent Drake]
|
top
