Introduction
We took a vacation this summer. We went to the beach. Those first few days at the beach feel like nothing else. The sun is warm, the water is blue, my feet are in the sand, total relaxation. It almost feels like I could live there and just relax forever.
3 days later...the sun is too hot, the water is too rough, I’ve got sand everywhere and I really can’t relax anymore.
Too much of a good thing is just too much, period.
Any of you know what I mean?
Did you have things you did this summer that got old?
Did you spend time with people this summer that got old?
Those people start to annoy you...a lot. Too much of anything gets old after a while.
Sometimes it’s not just one person either. Sometimes it’s everybody, right? Everybody is getting on your nerves. So you disengage, you hole up in your room and turn on some music and just stay away.
In truth, sometimes life seems a lot easier without people around.
Eventually even that gets old though...
A part of us still craves that tension of learning to live in relationships with people despite how difficult and trying people can be.
Tension
How many different ways can you think of to communicate with other people?
- Text
- Email
- phone
- face to face
- FaceBook
- MySpace
- instant messaging
- Twitter
What do all of these examples tell us about ourselves? (We want to relate to each other)
Still, with all of these connections, we still need someone around every now and then.
At our core, we all long to connect. We all want to belong. We’re desperate for contact with other people. We desire relationship. God CREATED us to connect with others. You can feel it when you walk into the cafeteria at school, alone. You feel it when you get on the bus looking for the person who might have saved you a seat. How many of you compulsively check email, Twitter and Facebook? Why? Because your looking to see who reached out to you.
We want people who know us, really get us. That need is deep within you. God put it there!
We not only need a relationship with God, but we need relationship with others.
Truth
We’re going to see that God gave us that desire today.
“In the beginning” - what book?
Most of you can tell me which book along with a lot of the details about that book.
“It is good” - how many times does God say that in Genesis 1 and 2?
Someone read Genesis 2:4-7
For the next 11 verses God is alone. Describe his life though, sounds pretty sweet right?
Do you think Adam complained?
What would God have said if he did?
Adam may not have known that he was alone, but God did, God knew Adam needed something more. So what does God do?
Someone read Genesis 2:18-23
No other creature could give Adam what he needed. It is good, it is good, it is good. Whoa, wait a minute, it is NOT good. Loneliness, alone-ness is NOT GOOD. Adam needs a friend, somebody who really ‘gets’ him. Adam needed something more.
He got it.
Application
Like we talked about, sometimes you really don’t want this community. No parents, no drama, no chores. We could just escape. But it doesn’t stay that way. Eventually we realize it not what we want.
1990, Christopher McCandless was a recent graduate from Emory university...set out for a quest of independence. He changed his name, cut of contact with his family, donated all of his savings to charity, abandoned his car.
Inspired by writers like Jack London and Henry David Thoreau, he set off for the wilderness. Seeking the ultimate freedom and a pure union with nature. He hitchhiked, journeyed all over, finally ended up in the wilds of Alaska. He brought 10 pounds of rice, a .22 rifle, ammunition, camera, camping gear and a journal. No map, no compass. Alone.
Chris lasted 112 days out in the wilderness. He had been dead for 20 days when some moose hunters found his body in early September 1990. He either starved to death or ate something that was poisonous on accident. We can’t do this alone. Into the Wild(1996) by Jon Krakauer writes about him. At the end of his life, Chris started to realize his need for people. Just days before dying he wrote this: “An unshared happiness is not happiness...happiness is only real when shared.” He had tried to get back civilization just a couple of days earlier but realized he was lost, and trapped by a raging river too cold to swim. He confessed to being scared, afraid, and...LONELY.
We need other people. That doesn’t make us weak, it makes us human.
Following Jesus Christ was never meant to be a completely personal, private thing.
We were meant to stumble through this with other people, learning about Him, them and us while we do it.
Is this just having friends?
Community is not just having friends, it’s having a group of people that really know you, not just your name, but who you are. They know the things you want them to see and the things you don’t want them to see. They know what scares you and they know what you charge through.
Gina needs food
I need time alone
This is what God had in mind when he made Eve for Adam. Not just a spouse, but someone to really get him. He created community.
How do you think community is different from a clique? (similar, different)
What’s the difference between having a ton of friends on FaceBook and having community?
If you were God, why would you want people to live in community? What might be some benefits?
These is a spectrum here:
- Some of you don’t think you need it. You can handle it on your own. People are more trouble then they’re worth, so you stay removed.
- Some of you have tried it in the past and things got ugly. Things were good and then they got really painful, people said things or did things that hurt.
- Some of you feel like you have community just because you love being around people. You are with them all the time. Everyone signs your yearbook and is in your phone. You think you have community but no one really knows you. No one has permission to dig deep in your life. No one knows your insecurities or your fears. Even though you’re surrounded by people, loneliness is close by. You can be around people all the time and still feel alone.
No matter where you are on the spectrum, the point is that we are all the same and that we need community.
Right relationships, community and intimacy with people who truly know us - that is what God had in mind, that is what God says is good.
Landing
Where are you when it comes to community? Scared? Searching? On the fence?
A lot of where you are on the spectrum comes down to your personality and how you are with people.
What comes to mind when you hear that God did not create you to live in isolation?
If you’re alone, it isn’t good.
If you have been burned by people, it isn’t good.
If you think you can handle high school and life beyond alone, it isn’t good,
You need a helper, and when you don’t have one you’ll notice that something is missing.
Today we need to agree that we need other people.
If you don’t believe this or don’t have this, know that it’s holding you back from knowing God on a deeper level.
Challenge
How do we get real community going in our class? Youth group? Church? Town? You’ve got to start somewhere!