I hate to disillusion you, but we don't live in a perfect world. The Christian today is a far cry from the Catacomb Christian in ancient Rome who, in the dead of night, slipped into the caves in order to enjoy the spiritual growth that study of God's Word would bring. With some exceptions today's Christian applies himself diligently to studying and reading the Bible only while in the ecstasy of the new birth. Most believers (I believe, because we are not under real persecution in America) begin to grow apathetic a few months to a year after salvation, and many believers follow after the Charismatic "additional blessings" in an effort to re-kindle that emotional high they had at New Birth. We live in an age of enticement, where pleasure and self-satisfaction is king.
How can we, as teachers, draw students to the classroom? How can we hope to compete with all that the world has to offer? The Apostle Paul said:
1 Corinthians 12:25-26 "That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it."
What did he mean by the members should have the same care one for another? Paul meant that the Church, composed of individual believers, should each have an innate family tie to each other. We are all saved, we are all the adopted Children of God, we are Family. If the teacher, the classroom minister, cultivates and promotes this sense of family among the students, then each individual student will have a sense of belonging within that classroom. If the student feels that he belongs, really belongs, then he will consistently come to class to maintain that sense within himself.
Several things come to my mind when I discuss the Family of God. First, if we're really a family, then why do we spend so little time with one another? Why do we find it so easy to be flip with one another, so satisfying to cut one another apart with our tongues? Do our actions reflect what we teach, that we're brothers and sisters in the Lord?
One of the fastest growing and most popular cults in America today is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (The Mormons). Just the other day I was watching a beautiful advertisement on television. The daddy came in and, because the children hadn't done what he wanted (while he was hard at work) he exploded. He chewed those kids out. He next went into another room and reflected on his childhood, how his dad helped him learn how to dance. In a touching moment he went outside of the room and, in love for his family, helped them with their problems. I had tears in my eyes at this point. Here was Christian values at it's highest. Suddenly, in shock, I saw it was an advertisement for the Mormons! The Mormons, a cult that teaches that "As Jesus Christ was, we can become", and that "Jesus was no more than a glorified man", and "As God is, we can be", has grown by the millions in the last fifty years by promoting the sense of familial belonging that is (sadly) often ignored in our large orthodox Churches today. The Mormons went outside of the classroom, promoted a "you can belong" aura, and in doing so grew well beyond the small group that started with Joseph Smith. A cult is doing what the Church should be doing. We should be ashamed!
Which brings me to this question: Are you really a family? Paul believed that the Church was a gathering of believers who were family:
Ephesians 3:14-17 "For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love"..
"Family" is the Greek PATRIA, and denotes a group of people who all hold the same ancestry, lineage, or father. As Christians we are all family by association with Jesus Christ. It is by His blood that we have become the adopted of God, and have an inheritance reserved forever for us in Heaven. As we are all family we must promote this sense of unity and belonging among, not just our own people, but among those who visit who are from outside the group. If this sense of belonging is promoted, not just mechanically but with sincerity from the heart, those who visit will return in order that they can continue to belong to the group. If not, they will go where they can have this sense of belonging fulfilled. There are some Biblical ways to promote the sense of belonging within the class, and that's what we want to look at. Please keep this in mind, though: If you are promoting that sense of family and belonging mechanically, if you have no sense of love for those within your group, then it your actions be phony. People are not stupid, they can sense a phony a mile away. If they sense you're phony, if you're less than real in believing what you're promoting, then it is to no avail.
The following story by Wes Smith of San Antonio, Texas (I received it from Alan Smith of the Boone church of Christ in Boone, NC) illustrates what may happen when we do not really believe what we profess about the Family:
"For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence." (1 Corinthians 1:26-29)
Do you really believe what you profess about the Family
of God? If not, your efforts at class growth are useless, for your heart
is not right with God. If you do, your class will grow. Don't let apathy
destroy your ministry!
Let me ask you this: Within your own immediate family, don't you often spend time with your wife and kids? Don't you occasionally take the wife (or husband) out to dinner? Don't you take the kids to the zoo, or a park, or to a baseball game? In other words, don't you spend a little quality time with your family every now and then just because you love them? If you do this with your earthly family how much more should you be doing this with your Heavenly family?
Fellowship isn't a word that the Southern Baptists created, nor a concept that the Presbyterians, Methodists, Episcopalians, and Lutherans just stumbled upon. It is a Biblical concept based on the premise that As we who are Christians are of the Family of God, we should occasionally break bread together in love. For some reason (perhaps the lure of the world) we find it easy to go out bowling with our unbelieving friends. We make time to go to company picnics. We organize and participate in softball and other sporting events. Yet we often fail to make time for our Christian brothers and sisters.
2 Corinthians 6:14 "Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?"
In essence the average Christian seems to follow the opposite of what God has ordained: We should be spending more time with our classmates, with our Christian brethren, and little to no time with those who reject the Gospel of Christ. After salvation you no longer belong to the world, you belong to the Christ, you are a member of the Church. That's where the fellowship should be concentrated, not on that old dead life but on the new Everlasting Life.
Phillipians 2:1-5 "If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies, Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus."
All Christians (the Teacher in particular)
should emphasize unity within the Body by seeking opportunities for fellowship.
When the teacher leads to class to fellowship outside of the classroom
environment the common feeling of unity, of belonging, is increased.
The Apostle calls this sense of belonging being
of one accord, of one mind. If you
will not seize every opportunity to promote unity within your classroom,
you will not see growth (either physical or spiritual) among your
students. Let me say it one more time: "If people don't feel that they
belong to your class, they will not come to your class!". You must
promote that sense of belonging by fellowship outside of the classroom.
James 5:16 "Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much."
While in fellowship each believer is required to confess his faults and shortcomings to his brethren and, after confession, have his brethren lift these faults up in prayer. Only by confession within the group can we as believers expect to be healed (to grow). Sadly, in most Churches today we sit in large classrooms and listen to professors of theology lecture on the Bible. After Sunday School we go into sanitized sanctuaries and listen to Doctors of Theology preach high and often seemingly unattainable goals for spiritual growth. We may speak to a few friends, we may even have an artificial time of "fellowship" while we go around the sanctuary and shake hands, welcoming people to the Church. But, my friends, we have indeed fallen far short of what God decreed for Christian fellowship.
Fellowship in the early Church was a time where believers got to know one another. As they grew in knowledge of their fellow worshippers the sense of Family grew. Once that sense of Family was in place each believer felt that he could share his intimate failures with those in his periphery. This sharing actually led to an unburdening as that believer discovered, "Hey, I'm not alone after all". Once the burden was shared, the healing process could begin.
The best illustration I can think of is from an incident that happened in my life. Many years ago I and several other male believers shared an apartment in the little town of Valdosta, Georgia. We all shared the bills, all studied our Bibles together, and made every effort to fellowship together. One day our unofficial leader (Jim) said that he wanted us to participate in an AGAPE, or a "Love Feast". I was a little skeptical so I asked what he was talking about. Jim explained that, during the "Feast", we would each share our faults with those in the group, and those faults would be kept within the confines of the group (not spread to the world at large). During the Feast there would be no condemnation, no self-righteousness, just listening one to another. Frankly this scared me. There were sins in my life that I'd just as soon keep between myself and God. I'm sure you're thinking the same thing.
Anyway, we all agreed, and Jim started
the ball rolling. As he confessed his sins, out loud, so that all could
hear, I heard him vocalize sins that were those "secret sins" that I was
so ashamed of. Suddenly it dawned on me: We weren't that different, Jim
and I. As we went around the group, with each member (and finally myself)
confessing their sins, our sense of unity exploded into something more
than just words. We were brothers together, each as fallible as the next,
each struggling with the same weaknesses in our lives. The love within
our group was tangible at that moment, so thick that you could see it.
As we prayed for one another at the end of the feast the sense of brotherhood
and unity was something that I have never experienced since, but that which
I'm convinced should be the norm within the Christian Church. Fellowship
promotes growth, my brethren. I know, I have seen it's power, and long
to see it again.
Romans 12:9-10 "Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good. Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another"
How do I know that you love me? How do you know that I love you? We can mouth the words back and forth incessantly, but unless we show our love to each other by our works we in essence have no love at all.
When I was seventeen years old I was saved in a little Church in Raleigh, North Carolina. Unlike many Churches in America today these people believed in the power of fellowshipping. After an hour of Sunday School the Pastor would preach until he got tired, which often lasted about two hours. We frequently had dinner on the grounds and after that we went back and heard more fine preaching. We shared and testified, told each other our faults, and grew. If you missed Church two or three brothers would come to your house to see if you were all right, and there were different activities nearly every night of the week. My friends, this is the Love which causes growth!
I was a young man, all alone in the world, and the Church provided that sense of belonging that promoted my growth. If they had done otherwise would I still be in the Church today? Perhaps, but perhaps not. Many who accepted Christ as Savior have fallen away from the Church because it just isn't meeting their needs to belong.
Imagine this all too real scenario: A man becomes a believer during Worship Service and joins the Sunday School the following Sunday. He comes to class and fills out a "membership card" that gives his birthday, anniversary, and so on. He attends class faithfully each Sunday, slowly becomes to feel that he's a member of the group, and then misses a Sunday. No one calls and asks where he was, this in itself implying that he's not really a part of the group. The next Sunday rolls around and, since he worked late the night before, he misses class again. Again, no one calls. The next Sunday it's no longer an issue. He knows he's not really a part of the group so he stays home, forsaking the Church in favor of the bed. After about two months the Church Visitation Committee goes by his house and invites him back to Church. Will he go? Maybe, but likely not. If it took two months to miss him, he doesn't belong there anyway. Another Warrior for Christ falls because of apathy in fellowship.
Imagine this all too real scenario: A woman, a faithful member of the Church falls sick and enters the hospital. She stays in the hospital several weeks without hearing anything from either her Pastor or her class. She doesn't want to call her teacher and complain for this seems like begging though, all the while, the lack of concern hurts her emotionally. When she comes out of the hospital and heads back to Church she meets a well meaning (but misguided) classmate who utters these ten hypocritical words: "Where have you been? We've been missing you in Class.". What passes through the woman's mind at that point is, "Really, then why didn't you call? You didn't miss me, you ____".
If the student doesn't feel that
he's a part of the class then he won't come, my friend. Years ago when
Christians had to come to Church by horse and buggy you might have some
excuse for failing to keep in touch with your students. In this day of
the telephone and the Postal Service there's really no excuse. Teachers
are busy with full lives, usually holding down a full time job outside
of their Church work. Nevertheless there are ways to keep in touch with
your students and thereby promote that sense of belonging.
Ephesians 2:18-22 "For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit."
That we all belong is a reality, but if we do not feel like we belong that sense of disunity often overwhelms that which is real. The Outreach Leader's job is pretty straightforward, but very important if you want these visitors to become regular members in your class. The Outreach Leader(s):
2 Timothy 2:24-26 "And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will."
When Christians think of the devil they think of a conquering angel, boldly coming into the fellowship of the saints and sowing strife and discord. In reality the devil is far more cunning, far more devising in his successful campaigns against the Church. It is he who quietly whispers, "You come to Church faithfully, that's all God requires, you need do no more". He intones, "They really don't think you belong as a part of this group, or else they'd call. You'd be better off at home". When we as believers allow apathy into our lives we give place to the devil, aiding him as he slowly shaves the numbers of the Church down to naught. You must reach out to your class, you must instill a Godly sense of belonging in that which God has given you. If not, you contribute to the problems rather than spread the Gospel of Christ. Think about it!
Review questions for this lesson can be found here. God Bless!
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