God Loves Lonely People

 True discipleship can be lonely.

Jesus was rejected by his neighbours in Nazareth and his natural brothers did not believe in him before his resurrection.

Joseph was prophetically gifted, but his brothers sold him to human traffickers. 

After his conversion, Paul was a faithful preacher. He was constantly persecuted.

There are faithful disciples even today who are misunderstood and rejected by their families or churches

There are Christians who have a burning heart to save lost souls. They pray for people on the street. They witness miraculous healings and conversions, but in some places and in some churches they are looked down upon because they are seen as wild fanatics.

If you act exactly like Jesus and the first apostles, many Christians will criticise and reject you.

Consistent discipleship is like a coin with two sides. On one side you will see misunderstanding, rejection and sometimes loneliness. But on the other side you will find new friendships and deep fellowship with God and others.

Then Peter spoke up, “We have left everything to follow you!”

“Truly I tell you,” Jesus replied, “no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel

will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields—along with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life. Mk 10:28–30 NIV

Paul was constantly persecuted, but he had close friendships with Luke, Timothy, Epaphras and other faithful Christians.

It is better to have a couple of real friends than just superficial fellowship in your family and church.

God is love. God is kind.

The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”
At the very beginning, God declares that friendship is positive and necessary. Gen 2:18 NIV

Many misunderstand this verse. Eve was to be a help to Adam, but the Hebrew word in no way implies subordination.

The Hebrew word EHSER appears in 21 verses. Twice Eve is referred to, but in 19 verses THE HELPER is God Himself.

Many single women have experienced a close friendship with God. God cared for them like a husband or father.

There are also many lonely people who are not alone because of discipleship and persecution.

In the Bible, Jesus not only healed despised women, lepers and demonised men, but freed them from their shame and isolation.

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Heb 13:8 NIV

Jesus loves you. He understands your loneliness. He wants to help you. He has never changed.

Community, Identity and Belonging.

 We all have a longing for community. Without a sense of belonging, we often feel insecure and lonely.

Then the LORD God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner.” Gen 2:18 NRSV

On the other hand, we are afraid of rejection by being excluded from our family or community.

Our identity can hardly be separated from our sense of belonging.

Your name identifies you as a member of a nation or religion. Ahmed or Mohammed Ali is probably Muslim. Aaron Goldstein is probably Jewish, and Ashkenazi. Siobon is a woman of Irish origin and Vladimir is Russian.

At a football match, we not only see the footballers, but also most of the spectators belong to one team or another.

Within a nation, many people identify with their region. Many Bavarians regard northern Germans as outsiders. In the Rhineland, there is a rivalry between Düsseldorf and Cologne and there is a rivalry between Melbourne and Sydney in Australia.

In England, Italy, Germany and the United States, we still see a rivalry between North and South. In Germany today people speak of Ossis and Wessis. (East and West Germans.)

In the New Testament, the religious leaders in Jerusalem looked down on the Galileans.
The conflict between north and south in Israel lasted for centuries.

Muslims told me that Muslims should never kill other Muslims. I have asked why there are so many wars between Muslims. The usual answer is that the enemies are not true Muslims.

Once I asked why the enemies in a war are not considered Muslims, but when the pilgrims gather in Mecca every year, all kinds of Muslims are recognised. The Muslim couldn't explain it.

But we Christians are sometimes no different. Some Protestant Christians are convinced that no Catholic can go to heaven. There are also Catholics who believe that only Catholics can be true Christians.

There are Lutherans who condemn all free churches as sects, and there are free churches that look down on Lutherans.

There are also free churches that do not recognise Pentecostals as Christians.

But you are not saved because you belong to a denomination, but through your personal relationship with Jesus.

Shortly before his arrest and execution, Jesus spoke some especially important words to His disciples.

 
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. Jn 15:1 NRSV

I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. Jn 15:5 NRSV

Your membership does not primarily consist of your membership of your family, your church, your denomination or your nation.

When you live in close fellowship with Jesus, you can get rid of your insecurities. God loves you as his own child.

Are you then no longer who you are? You still remain American or Canadian, man or woman, teacher or taxi driver, perhaps Pentecostal or Baptist or ....

You are you and God has created you uniquely. No one is like you.

But you belong to God's family and you are no longer an ordinary citizen, but a son or daughter of the almighty King in heaven.

Help for the Lonely

 I know a half-blind widow in our neighbourhood. Christian neighbours visit her and help her from time to time. Another neighbour takes her for a walk.

Another neighbour is a very elderly widow. A Christian woman visits her and stays for hours because she is very lonely and depressed.

There are lonely people all around us.

• Many drink because they are lonely.

• Others are addicted to porn because they are lonely.

• Some visit brothels because they are lonely.

• Others become obese because they seek comfort in food, but other people look down on them and they become even lonelier as a result.

• Many men and women desire sex with many partners, but this does not satisfy their loneliness.

Even in the church there are often very lonely Christians. Some pastors have no close friends.
A good pastor knew about a woman who was very active in a large church. She sang in the choir.

One day she went home, took a gun and shot herself.  

There are so many substitutes for real companionship..

There are thirsty people in poor countries who don't have fresh water. They drink dirty water and get sick.

You probably sometimes see a Muslim woman with her head covered. What do you think?
Many Europeans react very unfriendly because they feel they are flooded with unfriendly Muslims.

But Jesus loves these women. They often experience rejection from Europeans or bullying from their husbands. Many are lonely. They need neighbourly love.

Prostitutes are rarely alone, but they are often lonely. They need real kindness.

There are also very rich people who can't buy real friendship with a heap of money.

If you look at all your fellow human beings with God's neighbourly love, God will help you to comfort a lonely person here and there.

In the Bible, lepers were very lonely. They were not allowed to have contact with family or friends. Jesus touched them and healed them.

Jesus said that his disciples must help lonely people with love. Whoever helps a suffering person with God's love helps Jesus himself, because Jesus loves such people.

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.

For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,
I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ Mt 25:34–36 NIV

“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ Mt 25:40 NIV

For many people, Christmas is the loneliest time of the year. How can you comfort someone?