5.3. Belonging – Family – Deep Convictions

“A deep sense of love and belonging is an irreducible need of all people. We are biologically, cognitively, physically and spiritually wired to love, to be loved and to belong. When those needs are not met, we don’t function as we were meant to. We break, we fall apart, we numb, we ache, we hurt others and we get sick”

1. The Movie:

In the movie “The Jungle Book” starring Scarlett Johansson, Ben Kingsley, Bill Murray, Idris Elba, Lupita Nyong’o,  Giancarlo Esposito, and Christopher Walken. The plot is about living among the wolves in the jungle, young man cub Mowgli quickly learns to live life among his wolf pack and all the animals that inhabit the jungle, but when the villainous tiger Shere Khan threatens Mowgli’s life, black panther Bagheera offers to take Mowgli to a nearby man village where he will be safe from the tiger’s wrath. Along the way, Mowgli gets tangled up in a series of encounters with a sly snake named Kaa, a swimmingly ruthless gigantopithecus named King Louie and a lazy bear named Baloo, who quickly becomes his guide to the ‘bear necessities’ of life.

2. Quotes from the Movie:

“Are you alone out here?”

“I know where you came from.”

“If you can’t learn to run with the pack one day you will become someone’s dinner.”

“The jungle is no longer safe for you. But this is my home. Only man can protect you now.”

“My ears got ears. Only I can protect you.”

“Forget about your world. That is a song about the good life.”

“He will stop at nothing untill he has this boy.”

“I will keep you close. Let go of your fear now and trust in me.”

The Jungle Book Hans is about a boy who is lost in a jungle, sometimes like us in the world. He is chased by a tiger who did not have a good human encounter, sometimes hurt people hurt people. He has to let go of his fear and trust his close jungle friends to keep him safe, being independant and self reliant will not get you to your end goal. The snake apparently wants him to trust in him him, like Adam and Eve who listened to a snake. Mowgli has to ask himself, does he know where he comes from. Your perception of your identity shapes how you handle yourself and situations in the world also spiritually. Sometimes there are real people that can protect you and take you under their care. When life gets too tough we can always forget about our world and think of the good life that we have dreamed about. There is always someone / something in your life that wants to take you out because you do not belong, that is like satan that is after you. If you stick close to your real friends you will not be alone you can trust them and not be afraid. So who is your real friends in the world, can you trust them to help you get to heaven to spend eternity with God?

3. The Bible Scriptures:

Paul describes the church as the “Body of Christ” Hans. 

A Living Sacrifice

12 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. ² Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Humble Service in the Body of Christ

³ For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. ⁴ For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, ⁵ so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. ⁶ We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; ⁷ if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; ⁸ if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully – Rom 12:1-8

 

– Hans how does giving yourself first to God need to lead to giving yourself to other people in the Body of Christ?

• Well Francois it says here that I should offer my body as a living sacrifice. 
• It is presenting of the living person to God, a life lived dedicated to the service of God. 
• A life committed to doing God’s will.
• A life lived in faith and lived out in faithfulness. 
• In the old covenant it was required to slaughter an animal for the forgiveness of one’s sin. Raising an innocently animal and then killing it was heart wrenching to see the animal die and then even to eat some of it’s meat as an act of worship.
• The animal offered has to be unblemished.

– Notice particularly v.5 which says, “each member belongs to all the other,” or “we are all members of one another“. How does this fit with or conflict with the often popular idea of individualism?

• Francois my foot cannot say to my body it takes a break and is going on holiday by itself.
• If we are different parts of the body, the body functions as a unit. 
• If something is operating  individually than that of  the body it is seen as a virus and the body will attacks and kill it. 
• There can’t be a lone range Christian Francois according to the Bible.

– List three things that you already know you can do for other members of the Body of Christ? Share these with someone who is close to you and get their reaction.

• Well Francois if I think how a body functions is that your blood feeds to each cell nutrients, so like the Bible says we can encourage one another through daily contact. 
• Share my emotional state of being affecting my life’s decisions to help other disciples to be open with their lives; openess breeds openess.
• Confess sin to humble myself before other men and help them also be open with their lives. 

– List at least three things that you know you need from the Body of Christ in order to grow in Christ?

• Help with my lifes decisions seeing that I am emotionally involved in my own life and do not always see my life in perspective. 
• Daily encouragement through messages or phone calls, find out what needs people have.
• Spiritual food through Bible study, prayer and deep love. 

4. Close

– We might think we are an island Hans, but that is self deception. Like they say, who you are will be determined by what books (The Bible) you read and the closest people in your life that has influence over you.

• Yes that is true, it is like the Bible say if one man “either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up” (Ecc 4:10).

– Hans would you like to pray for us?

• Yes, thank you. 
• Father this is a little kids movie but it has so many life’s lessons in it. 
• I know I want to be self sufficient Lord and be my own man but I need real friends who will encourage me when I am knocked down by life’s challenges. 
• It is like a statistic I read yesterday on Facebook, a successful baseball player only hit 3 out of the 10 balls thrown at him. So in essence he fails 7 out of the 10 shots. Unbelievable hey!!! He has to overcome the 7 disappointments to focus on the 3 shots that will make him successful and that is life. 
• God sometimes we can feel lost in this world and it might feel like a bad dream, but if we have our identity in You and how You feel about us I can stand strong.
•  “With your help I can advance against a troop; with my God I can scale a wall”.(Ps 18:29)
• God I know that Your help comes through people in my life and miracles that happen. 
• If those people in my life is real wholehearted disciples they will help me get to heaven because God that is what You want for me and it will be on their hearts. 
• Father the snake will always be there to mislead me and make me fall so I will start doubting your love and care for me.
• Help me to trust You and put my faith in You and the disciples and not the world or myself or my circumstances. 
• Amen.