More than all of that, however, small groups are like biblical safe guards in our rocky lives. Jesus promised us in the Word that we would ALL stumble at various times in our lives. "Impossible it is to avoid these stumbling blocks," is what the original text from the Bible translates to. There will inevitably be things in this life which we do not foresee and which we will stumble over. Some of us will stumble out of the church because of a lecture that we hear from an atheist professor which causes us to doubt our faith. Some of us stumble over the deceitfulness of riches and wealth or the distraction of dwindling finances or what the economy is doing at the moment. Stumbling is something that we will all do in our lives and for some of us it will cause us to draw away from the Lord.
It is TOO easy to stumble out of the church and to get out of the habit of going each week. Very easily we fall into the routine of staying up too late on Saturday night and sleeping in on Sunday mornings. Or we choose to go to a service on Sunday nights and end up skipping it because we're too busy preparing for Monday and the upcoming work week. It is also too easy to fall out of the discipline of spending time alone with the Lord, whether that be in prayer or time spent in the Word. None of us, especially me, is exempt from these stumbles in our faith walks. And yet, Andy preaches that it's almost impossible to fall out of community. Too many people are involved at that point - too many people notice our absence at church or at small group. And too many people have our contact information and can track us down when we withdraw. When we belong to a small group, we are surrounded by people who love us and can help pick us up when we fall.
Andy reminds us that when we're down and out, for whatever reason, we rarely listen to our families and loved ones. It's been that way since we were kids and didn't want to take our parents' advice. And it's that way now, that when we're hurting and in pain we don't usually want to listen to our families. But when you're involved in a small group and a community, they can rally around you and call you and come by the house and pray for and with you and help lift you up off the floor. They can bind together and basically say, "We know you're down for the count and we're not going to let you just stay there. We're going to help you up and we're not going anywhere, even if you want us to!" The power of the group is stronger than you might think!
Soloman knew the idea preached here to be true, and he was the wisest man to have ever lived after Jesus. In Ecclesiastes 4:9-10, Solomon writes:
"Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor.
If either of them falls, one can help the other up.
But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up."
"Pity the man who falls without anyone around to help him up." If you are involved with a group of fellow believers and you stumble and fall, then there's always someone there to help you back up. Enter the importance of belonging to a small group or community group. And no, going to church doesn't count here. Because, if we're honest with ourselves, we all know that when we're hurting and in need of God the most, those are the times when we're least likely to go to church and listen to the sermon. Rows don't always work, Andy says. But circles do! Church rows can't reach out to a person the way a close circle of believers can!
When you stumble, what you NEED the MOST is often what you WANT the LEAST. Andy's very wise words, and they apply to all of us sinful and prideful people. I don't know about you, but I think I need to take more seriously my involvement in my small group!
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