1.  It’s not a matter of if you’re influenced, but how.

You can be as headstrong, independent and stubborn as you want, but in Proverbs 27, Solomon knows better:

As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.  (v. 17)

Just as water reflects the face, so one human heart reflects another.  (v. 19)

Without good direction, people lose their way; the more wise counsel you follow, the better your chances.  (11:14, MSG)

A person who refuses correction will end up poor and disgraced, but the one who accepts correction will be honored.  (13:18, NCV)

Plans go wrong for lack of advice; many counselors bring success. (15:22, NLT)

Over and over again, Solomon reminds us that no man is complete in and of himself.  John Donne wrote:

“No man is an island, entire of itself.  Every man is a piece of the Continent, a part of the main.  If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less.  Any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind.  And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.”

It’s not a matter of if you’re influenced by someone, but how.  There is a deep-seated need in all of us for partnership and companionship.

If you don’t believe me, consider two signs of our times:

Chuck Swindoll talks about a Kansas newspaper where someone took out a one-line ad that read, “I will listen to you talk for 30 minutes, without comment, for $5.00.”  Swindoll said, “It wasn’t long before the person was receiving 10 to 20 calls a day. The pain of loneliness was so sharp that some were willing to try anything for a half hour of companionship.”

Here’s another example.  A Japanese entrepreneur understood the need for community and decided to offer a service to bring relief to loneliness.  For about $500 an hour, his company will provide three trained “stand-in family members” for up to three hours.

Not only does he have a booming business, he has a waiting list.  “Rent-a-family” works like this:  The hired actors play the roles of children, grandchildren, daughters, sons-in-law, whatever the clients require.  Normally, says the founder, they just sit around and talk.  That’s sad enough:  perfect strangers pretending they’re family.  But often, he has found, his clients rent a family for another purpose:  to criticize and berate their “pretend” children for leaving them so alone and sad.

Just as the triune God is complete through His community, so we, his children, are only complete through our community with Him and with each other.

It’s no coincidence that we at UpperRoom feel so strongly about the community God intended His church to be: a nurturing, caring family that knows you and loves you just the same.

The church sometimes gathers for worship, sometimes for instruction and learning, and sometimes to celebrate.  But we need to also meet just for the sake of meeting, just for the sake of being together, to draw strength and hope in a world where both are often in short supply.  When we find ourselves in a selfless community, we find ourselves most like the community of God Himself.

The chicken clucked and scratched, raised her head and said, “Mr. Mouse, I can tell this is a grave concern to you, but it is of no consequence to me.  I cannot be bothered by it.”

The mouse turned to the pig and told him, “There is a mousetrap in the house!”  The pig sympathized, but said, “I am so very sorry, Mr. Mouse, but there is nothing I can do about it but pray.  Be assured you are in my prayers.”

The mouse turned to the cow and said “There is a mousetrap in the house!”  The cow said, “Wow, Mr. Mouse.  I’m sorry for you, but it’s no skin off my nose.”

So, the mouse returned to the house, head down and dejected, to face the farmer’s mousetrap alone.  That very night a sound was heard throughout the house — like the sound of a mousetrap catching its prey.  The farmer’s wife rushed to see what had been captured.  In the darkness, she did not see the venomous snake whose tail had been caught by the trap.  The snake bit the farmer’s wife, and the farmer rushed her to the hospital.

She returned home with a fever.  Everyone knows you treat a fever with fresh chicken soup, so the farmer took his hatchet to the farmyard for the soup’s main ingredient.  His wife’s sickness continued, so friends and neighbors came to sit with her around the clock.  To feed them, the farmer butchered the pig.  Unfortunately, the farmer’s wife did not get well; she died.  So many people came for her funeral, the farmer had the cow slaughtered to provide enough meat for all of them.  The mouse looked upon it all from his crack in the wall with great sadness.

So, the next time you hear someone is facing a problem and think it doesn’t concern you, remember — we are all connected.  When one part is hurt, we all hurt.  When one of us is threatened, we are all at risk.

This is why we’re so passionate about small groups:  it’s where community happens.