Live, Alive: Stand Together

When I was growing up, there was one sound I dreaded hearing…the sound of my dad's chainsaw starting. He'd pull that old chainsaw out of the shed, and I'd secretly hope it wouldn't start.

I'd hear him yank the cord...
Sputter.
Yank it again...
Sputter.
One more time...
Sputter.

I was always hoping it would just give up. 

Dad would yank on that cord – start cussing and call that chainsaw names that would make a sailor blush…But eventually...VROOOOOM.

 The chainsaw came to life. And I knew exactly what that meant. My weekend was over. It was time to go to work. We'd head into the woods of Pennsylvania... and later Tennessee... looking for dead trees. Not just any trees. My dad wanted trees that had been dead for a long time. Because the longer a tree had been dead, the drier it became. And the drier it became, the easier it was to cut. Easier to split. Lighter to carry. Dead trees were useful because they were completely dried out.

But dry bones tell a different story…
In Ezekiel 37, God took Ezekiel into a valley filled with very dry bones. Dried out because they had been dead a very long time…

Ezekiel 37:1-14 (NLT2)
1  The LORD took hold of me, and I was carried away by the Spirit of the LORD to a valley filled with bones. 2  He led me all around among the bones that covered the valley floor. They were scattered everywhere across the ground and were completely dried out. 3  Then he asked me, “Son of man, can these bones become living people again?” “O Sovereign LORD,” I replied, “you alone know the answer to that.” 4  Then he said to me, “Speak a prophetic message to these bones and say, ‘Dry bones, listen to the word of the LORD! 5  This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Look! I am going to put breath into you and make you live again! 6  I will put flesh and muscles on you and cover you with skin. I will put breath into you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the LORD.’” 7  So I spoke this message, just as he told me. Suddenly as I spoke, there was a rattling noise all across the valley. The bones of each body came together and attached themselves as complete skeletons. 8  Then as I watched, muscles and flesh formed over the bones. Then skin formed to cover their bodies, but they still had no breath in them. 9  Then he said to me, “Speak a prophetic message to the winds, son of man. Speak a prophetic message and say, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Come, O breath, from the four winds! Breathe into these dead bodies so they may live again.’” 10  So I spoke the message as he commanded me, and breath came into their bodies. They all came to life and stood up on their feet—a great army. 11  Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones represent the people of Israel. They are saying, ‘We have become old, dry bones—all hope is gone. Our nation is finished.’ 12  Therefore, prophesy to them and say, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: O my people, I will open your graves of exile and cause you to rise again. Then I will bring you back to the land of Israel. 13  When this happens, O my people, you will know that I am the LORD. 14  I will put my Spirit in you, and you will live again and return home to your own land. Then you will know that I, the LORD, have spoken, and I have done what I said. Yes, the LORD has spoken!’”

 The bones were SCATTERED everywhere across the ground...and completely DRIED OUT. SCATTERED... and DRIED OUT. Every bone was DISCONNECTED from every other bone. And before they attached themselves as complete skeletons…CONNECTION came before LIFE.

And when they finally stood up, they did not stand up as a crowd of individuals doing their own thing. They stood up TOGETHER... as a great ARMY. Which brings us to the first truth...

Isolation dries us out. Stand together and live.
(1 Cor. 12:21-27)

 We are the most CONNECTED people in human history, yet somehow the most ISOLATED. We have 847 friends online, and nobody to help us move a couch. We can work from home. Order groceries from home. Watch church from home. Have dinner DELIVERED to the front porch by a stranger who was INSTRUCTED not to knock. We can go DAYS without looking another human being in the eye.

Look, I get it. People can be exhausting. People can be messy. People can hurt you. Isolation FEELS safe, but isolation DRIES us out.

 A follower of Jesus DISCONNECTED from other believers... will eventually begin to dry out spiritually.

 You miss one weekend of worship...
Then two...
You drop out of your LifeGroup because life got busy...
You stop serving...
You stop returning calls...
And little by little... without even noticing...
...you become a scattered bone on a valley floor.

Not one Israelite sitting alone in Babylon lost hope all by himself. Israel lost hope TOGETHER…and since the scattered dry bones represented the people of Israel…they lost hope TOGETHER because they were DISCONNECTED from each other. And the only thing those scattered people still SHARED...was HOPELESSNESS.

Isolation did not PROTECT them. It DRIED them out. So God restored hope the same way it was lost...

TOGETHER.

You were never meant to follow Jesus like John Wayne, John Rambo, or John Wick... completely on your own. You were not CREATED to do LIFE alone.

In First Corinthians, Paul described the church the SAME way God rebuilt those skeletons...as a BODY... where every part NEEDS every other part.

1 Corinthians 12:21-2, 25 (NLT2)
21  The eye can never say to the hand, “I don’t need you.” The head can’t say to the feet, “I don’t need you.” 22  In fact, some parts of the body that seem weakest and least important are actually the most necessary.…25  This makes for harmony among the members, so that all the members care for each other. 26  If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it, and if one part is honored, all the parts are glad. 27  All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it.

There are some things I can do by myself…
I can mow the yard. Wash the car. Do the dishes. Fold the laundry (unless it is a fitted sheet) Walk the dogs…
But I can’t DO LIFE on my own.

 Paul says the eye can NEVER say to the hand, “I don't need you.” Yet that is EXACTLY what we SAY when we isolate.
“I can worship at home” Translation: “I don't need others.”
“I've got my Bible and a podcast.”... “I don't need others.”
“Me and God have our own thing going.”... “I don't need you.”

 But according to God's Word... you DO need them…and…THEY need YOU.

When you disconnect from the body, the church doesn't just miss your ATTENDANCE...the body LOSES a part of itself.

Somebody in this church needs the encouragement only YOU can give.

Somebody needs to hear the story only YOU can tell.

Somebody needs the prayer only YOU will pray.

A disconnected bone leaves a skeleton INCOMPLETE. But connection to each other is not ENOUGH. The bodies were fully assembled. Bone connected to bone. Muscle. Flesh. Skin. A valley full of PERFECTLY CONNECTED bodies...that could not move an INCH.

Because one connection matters more than every other…
...the connection between the BODY and the HEAD.

A body that ignores the Head is paralyzed
(Colossians 1:18)

 Think about how God designed the human body. Your heart can be strong. Your muscles can be healthy. Your bones can be solid. But if the signal from your HEAD cannot reach your body your body cannot MOVE. Doctors call that PARALYSIS. Everything is connected... but nothing is moving.

And churches can become paralyzed, too. A church can have connected people...Full calendars...events…baptisms...and still be completely PARALYZED...because the body stopped listening to the HEAD.

 So who IS the Head of the church?
It is not the pastor.
It is not the elders or the deacons.
It is not the loudest family...
The Bible tells us clearly that…

Colossians 1:18 (NLT2)
18  Christ is also the head of the church, which is his body. He is the beginning, supreme over all who rise from the dead. So he is first in everything.

Jesus IS the leader of the BODY of BELIEVERS here at Beach Church RIGHT now. He is FIRST in everything.

Not first in MOST things. Not first when it's CONVENIENT. EVERYTHING.

 So when the Head says FORGIVE... the body forgives. When the Head says LOVE your neighbor... the body loves. When the Head says “Lead people to Jesus,” the body leads people to Jesus…Otherwise – paralysis sets in…and the church becomes ineffective. Motionless.

But a BODY that is connected to the head and listens moves forward…

Alive people keep moving forward
(John 15:2)

Once these bodies had LIFE, they stood up as a great ARMY. Armies MARCH. Armies move FORWARD.

 In all those years of cutting firewood, my dad never once had to CHASE a dead tree. The dead trees stayed EXACTLY where they fell. Dead things STOP. But living trees GROW.

They stretch toward the sunlight.
They push out new branches...
New leaves...
New fruit...
Year after year after year.

You can tell whether something is ALIVE by one simple question...

Is it still GROWING?

Jesus said the same thing about His followers...

John 15:2 (NLT2)
2  He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more.

Jesus only mentions TWO kinds of branches: Branches that get CUT OFF, and branches that get PRUNED.

 So if God is trimming things out of your life right now—An attitude...A habit...A relationship that keeps pulling you away from Him—do not read that as REJECTION. Read it as CONFIRMATION.

God does not prune dead branches. He prunes LIVING branches... so they produce even MORE. So for seven weeks, we have stood at the edge of this valley together.

We have learned that God moves FIRST.

That dry bones CAN live.

That God's promises AWAKEN life.

That hope is CONTAGIOUS.

That the Holy Spirit makes DEAD people LIVE.

That God FINISHES what He starts.

And today... the bones stood TOGETHER.

So here is your next step... and it is simple. Do not walk out of here as a scattered bone.
Commit today to sign up for a LifeGroup when registration opens next month.
Use the Beach Church app and sign up to serve.
Complete the connect card you were handed on the way in and begin to take a STEP forward to get connected.
Check out Celebrate Recovery, Friday night at 6:00 PM at Adventure Beach.
Worship WEEKLY... not occasionally.

Stay CONNECTED to the body.

Stay SURRENDERED to the Head.

If you have not yet been baptized since surrendering to Jesus, open up the Beach Church app and sign up…

 Whatever you do…keep MOVING forward. God never intended for you to live life ALONE. Because bones dry out ALONE...but the army of God stands TOGETHER...and LIVES.