(Excerpt from Adventure in Biblical Thinking Study Series, Volume 2, 2021)
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16).
When you are the one and only, you are alone. Consider the concept “only”. Looking at the math concept of sets as represented by a parenthesis we would write (1). The parenthesis is a border or boundary. Sets have members and a set of “only” would have one member. Looking at the concept of categories represented by a circle the circle is a border or boundary. In the circle, there would be only one member. Both sets and categories have names. Using our John 3:16 verse the name of the set and category would be Jesus. Only Jesus is the one and only Son of God. Jesus is alone in the set and in the category.
Are you curious about where I am going with this topic? I am planning on exploring the concept of alone. I have started by introducing the concept of “only” and will develop it some more. There is only one me and there is only one you. We are individuals. We are unique. We are alone in our set and category.
In my family of origin, I am the firstborn. There is only one firstborn. I am the only firstborn. I have a brother who is the second born. There is only one second born. I have a brother who is third born. There is only one third born. I have a sister who is fourth born and the only girl. There is only one fourth born and only one girl. I have a brother who is the fifth born and the last born. There is only one fifth born and only one last born. I bet you’re glad that I didn’t have more siblings but I made the point. Being only is a factor in being alone.
Part of being alone is we can each have secrets. Secret thoughts that nobody knows. Secret deeds that nobody knows. Secret fears that nobody knows. Secret special desires that nobody knows. Secret forbidden desires that nobody knows. These secrets are secrets that we don’t want anyone else to know. These secrets are personal and we want to keep them hidden. These secrets are ours alone. Said another way, we are alone in our secrets. This is true for everyone.
Jesus was alone in the Garden of Gethsemane. His disciples went to sleep.
Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” (Matthew 26:36).
Jesus was alone on the cross. There was no one else on the cross with Him.
Carrying his own cross, he went out to the place of the Skull (which in Aramaic is called Golgotha) (John 19:17).
There is only one God alone and one Jesus alone.
Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent (John 17:3).
Everyone has alone times. During my working years, I commuted to work. My longest regular commute was over thirty miles. So, I traveled alone each morning to work and back home alone. My shortest commute was about three blocks and I often simply walked but I walked alone. Sometimes I hunt or fish alone. Often, I work alone. My wife and I love to do things together but we still have our alone times. We live in the country and the nearest town is thirteen miles away. I am alone when she does her weekly shopping. She is alone when I go to town for coffee with my cronies or go get a haircut. You have your alone time list as well. These alone times are not a bad thing or not a problem. This is just the way life is.
However, being alone can sometimes be scary. This story is an example of scary. Many years ago, I lived in a country home on Colorado’s eastern planes. The home was at the dead-end of a road a mile from the highway. At that time, I had seven children. One Sunday the family was going to drive to the nearest town seven miles away to meet some fellow believers for worship. We took two vehicles. The older boys took the pickup and I followed in the van. When we arrived at our destination, we realized that we did not have five-year-old Amy. We had just assumed that she was in the other vehicle. Needless to say, I hurried back to get Amy.
Switch to Amy’s side of the story. The house had a nice porch at the front of the house where the children liked to play. Amy was out there playing all by herself. The family exited the house through the back door located on the other side of the house. As we drove off no one noticed Amy franticly waving as she watches the vehicles drive away. Although she is a grown woman with three adult university graduate children when she tells this story of being left alone her voice changes to that of a frightened little girl. This was very scary for her.
Maybe you have your scary story of being all alone. Sometimes when I am hunting alone even though I have hunted in the same woods for sixty years, I become aware that I am not sure where I am or where the pickup is parked. Usually, this happens if I have been tracking big game. My manliness self-image keeps me from admitting that I am lost and a little bit afraid. I just think that I am not lost, I just don’t know where I am. But truthfully just between you and me for a little while I am concerned because after all, I am all alone.
Another situation that can be unnerving and scary is if you find yourself in an unfamiliar place where you do not know anyone. There may be a crowd of people but they are all strangers and you still feel like you are alone. In my professional career, I have attended many classes and conferences full of strangers. I feel alone but sometimes I will see and recognize someone that I know. I must admit that when this happens there is a little relief from the alone feeling. I am guessing that something similar has happened to you.
Belonging is a relief from being alone. The Lord’s design is for his creation to live in families and communities. That means we were not meant to be alone. Think about belonging. I belong to my family of origin. I belong in my marriage. I belong in my local Christian fellowship. In a broader sense, I belong to the entire body of Christ, the church. I belong in my neighborhood and community. I could go on and on and so could you in listing settings in which you belong.
Going back to our original model of sets and categories notice when we bring belonging into the model the sets and categories have more than one member. No one in the set or category is alone.
Remember the scary alone times. There is a sense of safety that comes with belonging and escaping being alone. In each of the belonging settings, there is some sense of caring as a sense of someone else having your back. In many of these belonging settings, the care is characterized as love. This is all a very good thing. Once you belong you are no longer a stranger.
Let’s look to the very beginning to look at God’s response to being alone. This story takes place in the Garden of Eden. The Lord has created Adam and given him the task of naming the animals. I picture the animals parading by Adam much as we see pictures of Noah loading up the ark with the animals entering the ark in pairs. Adams goes about naming the animals saying you are call elephants, you are called cats, you are called robins. I am using imagination here. Perhaps the animals passed by in pairs or maybe small groups but however, they passed Adam noticed that each kind of animal was not alone. It occurred to him that in his kind, the humankind, he was all alone.
He gave names to all the livestock, all the birds of the sky, and all the wild animals. But still, there was no helper just right for him (Genesis 2:20 NLT).
This explains the deep desire in people to pair-up and find a mate. This desire is much deeper than just physical sexual desire. I often tell my wife that there is a lonely place inside of me that is beyond words and she is the relief for it. This is all part of God’s plan for creating a special place where a man and a woman can belong and belong to each other.
This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one (Genesis 2:24 NLT).
The Lord’s plan was for persons not to be alone. He created relational beings. God is relational. Think of the Trinity. God’s intention was for mankind to have a relationship with Him. Mankind is made in the image of God.
So, God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them (Genesis 1:27)
Relationships are based on love. Just look at His commandments. You can’t show love and be alone.
He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.'” (Luke 10:27)
A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another (John 13:34).
But what if we are not alone? The Lord created us. The Lord knows everything. Therefore, the Lord must know us. The Lord is everywhere. We are somewhere. Somewhere is part of everywhere. So, the Lord is where we are. That being true no one is ever really alone. God is there. This is true for every person that God created.
Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account (Hebrews 4:13).
However, we see in Scripture that there is a special relationship for those who are believers in Jesus Christ, for Jesus followers. There is a special not being alone for believers. There are special connections and benefits that are a promised reality. We will look at some of these relationships and belongings.
Back to the basics. Remember John 3:16 back at the beginning.
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16).
Initially, we looked at this verse to look at the concept of only and its relationship to alone. Now, we will examine the people in this verse. Who is the “world” that God loves? The world is everybody. This world is perishing because everyone is a sinner and under the judgment of death. Then this large category of everybody is divided into two categories, those who are perishing and those who are not perishing but have eternal life. The path to getting out of the category of perishing is to take advantage of God’s intervention of giving His one and only Son, Jesus, and believing in Him. This new category is the “whosoever” of the verse and the wonderful thing is anybody can become part of the “whosoever”.
The relationship with God in the perishing category and eternal life category is very different. Look at this distinction clearly stated in the next two verses.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son (John 3:17-18).
The perishing category remains separated from God and those in that category have no personal relationship with God even though God knows all about them and He still loves them.
The eternal life category is a completely different story. The Jesus follower is never alone again because Jesus has promised always to be with them. Look at these promises.
Look at the end of the great commission.
Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20 NLT).
This verse is an assurance that the Lord will be there for the believer. Notice the word, “never”.
Don’t love money; be satisfied with what you have. For God has said, “I will never fail you. I will never abandon you.” (Hebrews 13:5 NLT).
When a person becomes a Jesus follower they were born again as explained in John chapter three. In that born again experience, each believer receives the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit actually is in the believer.
Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own (I Corinthians 6:19).
This is what Jesus told the disciples before He went to the cross and promised them the Holy Spirit.
And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you (John 14:16-17).
Notice that the Holy Spirit is actually in the Jesus follower. If God is in the Jesus follower in the form of the Holy Spirit, the Jesus follower cannot be alone. This is wonderful news. What does the presence of the Holy Spirit mean for the Jesus follower? Let’s explore.
The Holy Spirit is a teacher.
All this I have spoken while still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you (John 14:25-26).
The Holy Spirit will testify about Jesus.
When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me (John 15:26).
You may have heard the phrase, “Signed, sealed, and delivered”. This is what the presence of the Holy Spirit in the Jesus follower does for the Jesus follower.
And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory (Ephesian 13-14).
Earlier we explored how belonging keeps a person from being alone. Scripture shows belongings for the Jesus follower. Let’s look at some of these not alone categories. The Jesus follower is a member of God’s family. In God’s family, the Jesus follower has many brothers and sisters.
And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ, we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering (Romans 8:17 NLT).
God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure (Ephesians 1:5 NLT).
In the Good Shepherd analogy found in John 10, Jesus followers are identified as sheep. Although each individual sheep is in a personal relationship with Jesus there is a flock of sheep. The Jesus follower is part of that flock not alone category.
“Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom (Luke 12:32).
The fellowship of Jesus followers is identified as the body of Christ. Their gathering together in assemblies is what is called the church. In this not alone category Jesus followers demonstrate loving, caring, supporting, and teaching each other.
Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it (I Corinthians 12:27).
From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work (Ephesians 4:6).
Another not-alone category for Jesus followers is as members of the kingdom of God sometimes referred to as the kingdom of heaven. We already saw that it was the Lord’s good pleasure to assure the little flock that he would give them the kingdom. Notice some characteristics of the kingdom and the Jesus followers that are in the kingdom. Notice that Jesus followers are trusting as little children, thankful worshipers, humble, and willing to suffer for righteousness.
Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe (Hebrews 12:8).
But Jesus said, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who are like these children.” (Matthew 19:14).
And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 18:3).
“God blesses those people who depend only on him. They belong to the kingdom of heaven! (Matthew 5:3 CVE).
Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 5:10).
The good news for the Jesus follower is they are not alone because the Lord is always with them. Even though a Jesus follower may feel that they are disconnected from others, they are not alone. Even though a Jesus follower may find themselves in physical isolation, they are not alone. There could be no safer place than being in the category of with Jesus.
More adventures in Biblical thinking about being alone and being not alone.
These exercises can be used for reflection on the content of this adventure in Biblical thinking or they could be used as discussion starters for a small group Bible study.
- Describe a time when you were all alone and felt all alone. Was is it scary?
- Think about situations where you are the “only”. Name them.
- Is thinking in terms of categories helpful? Explain.
- List some places or settings where you belong.
- Reflect on some times when you have been lonely. Do they still exist? If not, what changed?
- Explain how everyone is not really alone even if they do not have a relationship with the Lord.
- List the ways a Jesus follower is not alone. There are several.
All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®. Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved worldwide. www.zondervan.com The “NIV” and “New International Version” are trademarks registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office by Biblica, Inc.™
Adventures in Biblical Thinking 