In Hebrews 10:25, we’re told not to forsake “the assembling of ourselves together” as a body of believers. The church is supposed to be a place where we unite in fellowship, in order to build up one another in the faith. Paul said, “Comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing . . . Be at peace among yourselves” (1 Thes 5:11, 13). The church should be a place where people can turn in times of difficulty; a place where they can feel secure; and a place they can call home.
Home is a location, or perhaps even a state of mind, that everyone’s searching for; whether they’ll admit it or not. For example, in the movie “Garden State,” the character Andrew Largeman observed,
You know that point in your life when you realize that the house you grew up in isn’t really your home anymore? All of a sudden, even though you have some place where you can put your stuff, that idea of home is gone . . . You won’t have this feeling again until you create a new idea of home for yourself . . . for your kids, for the family you start . . . Maybe that’s all family really is – a group of people who miss the same . . . place.
Notice how he mentioned creating a family around the idea of home. For the believer, the church is “our family created around the idea of home.” I once saw a church logo that expressed the kind of safety and security that we’re all seeking. It read, “A place to belong. A place to begin again.” Too many times, however, we don’t feel like we have a church family; it doesn’t really feel like home. I want to share with you an illustration, which I’ve edited in order to cut down on length:
Many years ago in England a circus elephant named Bozo . . . [had a change in] personality. Several times he tried to kill his keeper, and when the children came near his cage he would charge toward them as if wanting to trample them to death. It was obvious he would have to be destroyed . . .
[One day] the huge circus tent was packed . . . [and] out of the crowd came a short, inconspicuous man in a brown derby hat. [He told the manager], “There is no need [to kill this animal] . . . give me two minutes in the cage alone with him” . . . “All right,” he said, “but first you will have to sign a release absolving the circus of all responsibility.” The small man signed the paper . . . The door to the cage was unlocked, the man stepped inside, then the door was locked behind him . . .
At the sight of this stranger in his cage the elephant threw back his trunk, let out a mighty roar, then bent his head preparing to charge. The man stood quite still, a faint smile on his face as he began to talk to the animal . . . He seemed to be speaking some foreign language. Slowly, as the man continued to talk, the elephant raised his head. Then the crowd heard an almost piteous cry from the elephant as his enormous head began to sway gently from side to side. Smiling, the man walked confidently to the animal and began to stroke the long trunk. All aggression seemed suddenly to have been drained from the elephant . . .
After a while the man bade farewell to the elephant and left the cage . . . He told the manager, “You see, he’s an Indian elephant and none of you spoke his language, Hindustani. I would advise you to get someone around here who speaks Hindustani. He was just homesick.” And with that, the little man put on his coat and hat and left. The astounded manager looked down at the slip of paper in his hand. The name the man had signed was Rudyard Kipling.
There are countless people lost without Jesus Christ, searching for home. Many times they enter the church to discover that it doesn’t feel like home. It might feel like a country club, or possibly a war zone; but not home. If we fail to create an atmosphere of home, then people will leave the church, never knowing what it is to have a real home in Jesus and in heaven. If we want to present a safe-haven and a home to the lost, then we need to start speaking the language of home.
Allow me to share what an atmosphere of home looks like, from the words of nineteenth century pastor Frederick W. Robertson. He said, “Home is the one place in all this world where hearts are sure of each other. It is the place of confidence. It is the place where we tear off that mask of guarded and suspicious coldness which the world forces us to wear in self-defense, and where we pour out the unreserved communications of full and confiding hearts. It is the spot where expressions of tenderness gush out without any sensation of awkwardness and without any dread of ridicule.”
The author of Hebrews said, “Let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching” (Heb 10:24-25). In order to create an atmosphere of home, we must consider others first; be certain to love people; present opportunities for individuals to serve according to their giftedness; be sure to encourage others; and provide venues for people to fellowship with one another as often as possible.