I Want to Belong

Larry Kirkpatrick -- Mentone Church of Seventh-day Adventists -- 8 June 2002

I want to belong. I want to belong. I want to belong to Jesus. I want to be part of His kingdom, part of a movement that matters. I want to become like Him. I want to do what He says. I want to walk in the pathway of life.

The cry of our souls goes out across the sky. And our prayers are heard. Our Lord Jesus has a church. He has a family. That church under His direction carries forward His mission. And we want to be a part of that.

Today we look at but two points: (1) following Jesus in baptism, and that continuing question (2) will the church make it through? To the first we may say unequivocally that Jesus commands us to follow Him in baptism. And to the second we may say, oh yes indeed. The best step you can take today is to join God's end-time church. Wait until you hear what heaven has to share concerning this today!

Belonging to Jesus

First, belonging to Jesus. He has called us. We know the sound of His voice, the voice of the true Shepherd. Weigh with me Matthew 11:28-30.

Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

Jesus calls us to Him. To belong to Him. "Come unto Me," He pleads. He knows we've labored and toiled under the unbearable burden of the world's sticky spiderweb of nothingness. He knows we've sinned and felt ourselves lessened even as we've paid some tiny measure of the price of those sins. It has never been any atonement. Jesus paid that price. No; the price in some small measure paid has been the wretched knowledge that we have crossed God's moral line and voted against Him who gave for us His Son. The more we sin, the smaller we become; the more the moral force of this universe that our God has made crushes down on us and reminds us that the pleasures of sin sure include a lot of pain. The tonnage of sin takes its toll. We cannot outlast it. In the end, it will crush everyone who keeps on and clings on.

But we may gather round the cross of Christ. We may bow at its foot and lift up our heads to see love so undeserved. A price paid for us. From that aspect below its outstretched crucible we may look up to the heaving breast of Christ, wrenching out all His bones as He breathes His last for a race of sinners, and for us in particular.

He did it for me. He did it for me.

His mercy reaches out, he knows I want to belong. He knows I cannot belong. Unless He makes a way. Unless His perfect life is given in place of my condemned life. And He comes, voluntarily, and defeats sin in human flesh, and makes His way to the cross. And with the sorrows of a sin-bent race crushing Him into the dust of death, He looks down from that cross. From the strange pagan throne He calls out to you and to me, and He says, "I love you. You can belong. Accept this and what it means. I'm doing it all for you."

From time to time people hear that call. And they answer. Today is such a time.

Jesus said we must be born of water and of the Spirit to see His kingdom. So we go. We teach those who would follow Him to do all He commands. When people are ready to make their public commitment, we baptize in the name of the Father, and Son, and Holy Spirit. This is the plan of Jesus. It is a good thing.

Belonging to Jesus' Church

But today there are those who think that they should operate independent of any restraint or counsel from their brethren. Some of these are sure that in the end the church organization will be broken up into countless fragments, if not that the gates of hell have already as much as triumphed over her.

yes, we see troubling things. But the question is, are we reading them aright? Would it not be better to read with the eyes of God than our own?

All Aboard

Some would be ready to go out and ignore the body of Christ. Thankfully not these nor yourselves. We have been rather plainly counseled that no matter how thick the trials gather around God's people, he will lead and guide if we'll but permit Him to. Listen to this powerful word:

It is God's plan that His people shall work together in church capacity. There is to be no disarrangement of His plan. Satan would hold a jubilee, the forces of hell would triumph, if the church of God, becoming disorganized, were to break up into separate atoms." (Manuscript Releases, vol. 21, p. 42).

How much "disarrangement of His plan" is there supposed to be? None. Shall Satan hold a jubilee? Not on our watch, yours and mine! But what about it. Could the church, in the end, be broken up into nothing but independent atoms? We have a word of hope here. Listen to this. hardly four years after 1888, while Ellen G. White was still unpacking amidst the mosquitoes of Australia, when things looked incredibly dark, do you know what she said?

"I know that the Lord loves His church. It is not to be disorganized or broken up into independent atoms. There is not the least consistency in this; there is not the least evidence that such a thing will be" (Selected Messages, vol. 2, pp. 63, 68, 69).

She said there would be no consistency in such a thing happening, and what's more, in the years immediately following the aftermath of the problems our church faced in 1888, she said, under inspiration, that "there is not the least evidence that such a thing will be."

We have not boarded a train whose next stop is disintegration! I stand with those, (certainly not with those who duck their head in the sand), but I do stand with those who know that what God starts, He finishes, and that this work will be finished with a power even greater than that of Pentecost.

If, "There is to be no disarrangement of His plan," then God plans for His church to continue. If, "the church of God, becoming disorganized, were to break up into separate atoms," we know that "Satan would hold a jubilee." But Satan will hold no jubilee. The forces of hell will not triumph. A wake maybe, but no jubilee -- not with the army God is putting together to fight His battles over the battlefield of earth.

If "The Lord loves His church," if, "It is not to be disorganized or broken up into independent atoms," then I will agree with the statement that "there is not the least evidence that such a thing will be." That's where I'm at. And I will keep watching with my eyes what I see around me, but I will submit my viewpoints to God's viewpoint. And He hasnÕt kept you or me guessing. He speaks plainly. Today I thank God for His Seventh-day Adventist Church. Jesus is our Head, and though battle-scarred and sometimes needing to rally, let's have faith. Our weakness is made strong in His strength. He shall triumph, donÕt you doubt it. "Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence: a fire shall devour before Him, and it shall be very tempestuous round about Him." (Psalm 50:3).

On Board With Jesus

Perhaps some here recall the waters of their baptism. Was the water cold? Hot? A pond or lake or baptistery or stream? The ocean maybe? The water itself didn't matter. But the fact that now, now, without question you would belong -- that was what mattered. And then it was over. Then you knew that you were home. Then you knew it was the right thing.

And whatever has befallen since then, whether your steps have been firm, or have trembled, you know this is the right way. And this is what you want to do. You want to belong. You want to be where god wants you to be. You wish to be connected to His church on earth. You want to stand where He wants you to stand, in the yoke of service that means obedience to Him.

Conclusion

And so today, through His church having in its midst the presence of the Holy Spirit, God still works. "Lo, I am with you alway" said Jesus. And He has not forsaken us. Today we are glad and rejoice, because today the gateway of the kingdom swings free, and these souls enter. Let us praise His name. Let us take His yoke. Let us connect formally with His church on earth. Let us embrace Him as our Head. And let us go forward belonging to Him, belonging to His church. And may all the world tremble at the approach of our Lord, who triumphs today in these four precious lives and in the life of this congregation. The Mentone church is alive. And the family is increasing. Amen.

The next few minutes _____ will lead the congregation in singing while we move up tot the baptistery.

Pastor Larry Kirkpatrick is an ordained minister of the gospel. Since 1994 he has served in the American Southwest as pastor to several churches. He received his BA in Religion from Southern Adventist University in 1994 and a Master of Divinity from Andrews University in 1999 with a specialization in Adventist Studies. While in Michigan he was employed by the General Conference at the White Estate Berrien Springs branch office. More important than his scholastic preparation has been his immersion in the biblical and Spirit of Prophecy materials. He is author of the 2003 book Real Grace for Real People. Presently he serves as Pastor of the Mentone Church of Seventh-day Adventists, located near Loma Linda, California. Larry is married to Pamela. The couple presently live in Highland, California along with their two children, Etienne and Melinda.