01-22-12 Churchmembership - belonging to the people of God

Church membership – knowing what it means to belong to the people of God"If it is disagreeable in your sight to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves today whom you will serve: whether the gods which your fathers served which were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD." Joshua 24:15 (NASB) It was an excellent gift; two egg laying chickens, proudly presented to Susie and me on the front steps of the home our daughter Betsie had been living in as a Peace Corps worker in Benin. I was glad I knew something about how to handle live chickens and gratefully grabbed the birds dangling upside down from the outstretched arms of the beaming giver. Since an egg layer is too valuable to fry up I wasn’t sure what do with the hens, so after the crowd who had witnessed the event dispersed I handed them over to the man of Betsie’s compound.My question was how he would get those chickens to stay in their new home? I had not seen a single chicken pen anywhere in the village, just chickens running loose everywhere. So I watched the man tie a string around one leg of each hen and fasten it to the coop the chickens belonging to the compound returned to every evening. He explained that after a few days they became assimilated into his compound’s flock, they would think that this where they now belonged, then he would take the string off.I have thought about employing this method when it comes to teaching people to belong to and be a faithful member of a church, of Jesus’ flock. There are way too many people who profess to be followers of Christ who do not yet understand that they are meant to belong. They are in a sense running around like loose chickens. They have not understood that choosing God also means that God has chosen us to belong to, to be assimilated into, to be counted among His people, His assembly, His congregation, His church. So much so that we do not have to be tethered or even be reminded of it, but that naturally, eagerly, and habitually we would build our lives around a local Christian community, a church.When Joshua confronted the entire assembly of the Israelites about the choice they had to make in regard to God, they also had to decide who they would identify themselves with, who they would belong to, and what it means to be a people of God.So what about you? Is your life as Christian fully integrated into a local church? If not, why not? Do you understand what it means to belong to the people of God? Are you running loose, or are you fully integrated into a flock? If he could, would your pastor tether you for a while, or can he enjoy seeing you run free because you know what it means to belong to the body of Christ?To God be all glory, love you, Pastor Hans