Intro
Continuing in our series entitled "Myths." Today an idea that may be a little more common and expressed a little more openly...
Myth: I Don't Need Church
This idea might be expressed in similar ways with a little more subtly and nuance...such as:
• I don't need a church to have a relationship with God.
• I don’t need to go to church to be a Christian.
• If I have God, I don’t need people.
• Just Jesus and me is all I need.
As a pastor speaking you may think I have little sympathy for such an idea... that I simply want to dismiss it. Well I do have sympathy. I have felt some of the feelings that likly are behind such a thought.
In early seasons in my life I began to do my own thing. And through the years I have known enough disappointments to face disillusionment. We might feel disillusioned with hypocrisy...disillusioned with the limited forms and formality by which the church seems bound....disillusioned with the so many things that seem attached to the church that shouldn't be.
We have created an idea about what "church" refers to that is limited. There are some false ideas about the role of weekly gatherings in relationship to our relationship with God that we need to consider...
....so next week we are going to consider this myth: "All I Need is the Church."
But today I want to focus on what is generally implied by the idea that: "We don't need the church."
I believe that what we will find is that if we consider what is beneath this idea...is that the feeling reflects something very real... but the conclusion is wrong. The symptom may be real...but the diagnosis is wrong.
I think in many respects the idea that we don't need church is a reflection of our times....more than we realize. Before we can engage this idea we have to consider what is shaping our whole way of being individuals in this world.
So lets consider...
The Influences that Shape Our Relationship as Individuals to Community
Individualism - the spirit of our culture
By "individualism"...I am not simply referring to being individuals. The "ism" is referring to something that happens to the true nature of being individuals when that individual quality becomes the all defining claim to our personhood.
We are a culture deeply formed out of an individualistic ethos. We are a culture shaped by escaping the tyranny of other nations...of kings and state and dictators. And we pulled off a political freedom few have done so well.
> But it has always left us vulnerable to a false sense of what it means to be individuals.
We can be filled with a sense of absolute autonomy and self-existence.
We are such an individualistic culture that while we think we realize it, we don't really see how defining it is because it is the air we breathe... the ocean we swim in.
We can feel the tension in the mass of movies which depict the hero who operates on his or her own... often a loner (which is appealing... as they stand apart from the common masses)...and yet the storyline will usually also bring the inspiration of teamwork coming into play. (example - Avengers) It reveals how much we think that the coolest person is the one who doesn't conform...and yet we know that the most it's only in helping others that the hero can really be a hero.
The delusion doesn’t start with “I don’t need church”, the delusion starts with “I don't need other people. I'm safer without relying on others."
We were created for emotional, spiritual, and physical intimacy.
Today...we have new layers added upon our general independent spirit...
Consumerism - the role we have been trained to serve
Throughout nearly all of human history... economic exchange was rooted primarily on need. Food was exchanged based on needs. Only in the last century has that begun to dramatically change and now our western culture is based almost entirely on relating not as co-producers...but as consumers of competing goods and services. We don't join up at the marketplace of mutual needs...but rather we are defined and divided as consumers of wants.
> As we've noted over the years... community is never found in being consumers but in being contributors.
For years I have been drawn to things that are "user friendly"...
...and sought for us to be a "user friendly" church I've never stopped to consider what it says about how I see us in relationship with each other. What does the idea of "User friendly" imply? We are "users."
Technology - the means to meet some "form" of needs without our full presence and personhood.
Technology has made direct relationship unnecessary to still get inspiration and knowledge...and worship.
A few weeks ago we celebrated a birthday. You may have missed it. It was the 40th anniversary of the cell phone. Of course those first cell phone was the size of a brick and few had them. We've come a long ways. But those who study where we have come...would give us pause to think we are really more connected in our real humanity.
And of course we can find a lot with the internet...you can get all the information you want online. Why do you have to take time out and the trouble of driving out to get more involved with others who are seeking God?
There is something VERY powerful about the new freedom to find a form of connection without the energy and risk of your full presence and personhood. That is what defines the success of the pornography industry. And spirituality may not be all that different. Technology can offer the ability to meet some "form" of spirituality without our full presence and personhood.
Failures of others - fears of trust; reasons for avoiding association or participation
The flaw and failures of others is certainly not new... but it may seem more common and public than ever. And it fuels our individualism. Why risk disappointment with others when I can be the self-sufficient one?
When we consider these forces at work together...we can understand how natural it is to declare that we don't need the church.
Yet any reading of the Scriptures tells us that nothing should seem more unnatural. Few ideas should seem as alien. What seems so natural is not really natural at all.
God engages us as individuals whose very nature is bound together (communal)
• God - The eternal Trinity of Father, Son, and Spirit (Three Persons bound in unity)
God has revealed Himself to us as Father, Son, and Spirit... three persons eternally bound as one. Do you realize that individualism does not exist in the eternal realm? God has eternally existed as a relationship of individual and community. It shouldn't surprise us that that is what he designed us to be...and what he set forth for us.
• Israel - calls Abraham to form a "people"
God initially called out Abraham to Himself...but in that very initial calling He told Abraham His intentions....that out of him He would create a new nation...a new people.
Eventually those people of Israel were saved by God from Egypt in the Exodus. They met at Mount Sinai to be formally constituted as God’s people and to receive his laws. They were called to be his special nation and to be distinct from those around them. (Ex 19:5,6) [1]
Jesus drew upon this very understanding and rhythm in life.
Luke 4:16 (NIV)
He (Jesus) went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom.
No one commanded Him to "gather with the community"... it was His "custom."
• Jesus - calls individuals but always into a new community...which would become his "living Body."
He called each by name...spoke of things unique...and he sees each of us with the same uniqueness. But he could not call them simply as individuals.... because it does not exist. He call them to be bound together.
In his final prayer to God the Father he says, 'Father make them one even as we are one.' (John 17:21). Just as it exists in God....it is to exist in us.
He said that the world will only see God in us when they see our love. Only in our unity is God able to be fully known.
Matthew 18:20 (GW)
"Where two or three have come together in my name, I am there among them.”
He lives "in" us...but also "among" us. There is a mystery to this reality...but I know I experience it when I gather with others.
Sometimes it's subtle but I realize I am simply more connected to Christ having been with others. Sometimes it's more tangible...in worship or prayer. It's a his presence.
And it simply is not the same as listening to Christian radio or television.
Finally we see this in the reality of...
• Paul and the First Followers
When the apostle Paul spoke of this central and sacred meal... he began stating:
1 Corinthians 11:20 (NLT)
"When you meet together..."
Not "if you meet"...but "when..."
There are over 60 references in the New Testament of how we are to relate 'one to another'... love one another...encourage one another... serve one another..
They understood they were bound together.
1 Corinthians 12:27 (CEV)
"Together you are the body of Christ. Each one of you is part of his body."
• More than an institution, the Church serves as the incarnation of Christ; his Living Body, through whom he extends his presence and work in the world.
• More than an organization, the church is an organism, as it embodies the living Christ and operates by the Spirit of God.
We are beckoned as individuals... out of our individualism...out of our autonomy.
God is not calling you to give up your true self for the sake of others.... the autonomous self has never been your true self. You were always created to be a part of life that is shared.
You were never the product of a test tube placed left alone on an island.
Ephesians 2:19 (NIV)
"...you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household."
If one is a member of a family… belonging is not a choice… the only choice is how we belong and function together. It is not the ‘house’ that makes us a family… we may never own a house or stay in one place… yet we remain a ‘household’… a family bound by something that transcends place or program.
But neither can we dismiss all forms of structure or expectations… for these are what allow lives to actually relate and function in any meaningful and constructive way.
We can understand this better when we consider the qualities of that shared life. I want to press into the tensions that of how we relate. We could consider several... but let me just help us see three ways in which we were designed for being in relationship with others.
God has designed us to develop...
1. Connection that is rooted in common grace by which we live, not an ideal we must first create
I can appreciate how we may get frustrated or disappointed by others. Not friendly. Not including us at times. Crossing boundaries. Too politically minded.
But lets not forget... each of us has a lot to put up with.
When I hear someone say they don't need the church...I hear disappointment... unmet expectations and disillusionment...but I also hear arrogance.
It usually doesn't reflect someone who is generally arrogant...but there is still something that is missing the basic pride in what is being implied.
There is generally a sense that others are not what they should be...without realizing that is a shared condition...and sort of a prerequisite for being able to receive Christ.
Since the church is simply those who are now united in Christ...I think what one is really stating is that they will now be a church of one.
The very nature of the church is to gather around the grace of God that teaches us to endure with one another, to forgive failures, and to love the unlovable.
Ephesians 4:2 (NIV)
Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.
How can you obey this directive if you have no “others” to bear with?
We will all have to navigate some disillusionment in life... between what is hoped for and what is real.
"Christian brotherhood is not an ideal which we must realize; it is rather a reality created by God in Christ in which we may participate." -Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Lauren Winner is a newly popular author and now Duke Divinity Professor. [2]
In her latest work, “Still: Notes on a Mid-Faith Crisis,” she writes about the period following the loss of her mother and more... during which she experienced doubt and despair. She writes of how this is becomes a natural part of the spiritual journey in life. She says:
"I think that it is perhaps a blessed reality that most of our spiritual life is not spent in ecstasy. For me, the most sustaining and sustained rote, unshowy behavior is just going to church.
I recognize that sometimes people have very good reasons for not going to church. Sometimes people have been really burned in a church situation. But for me, the kind of routines and rhythms of the local church are bedrock in my spiritual life, and they’re terrifically rote and unshowy.
That’s the behavior that holds me to the Christian story and allows me to sometimes notice when God shows up. I don’t think that I would have the capacity to ever notice if I were not moored in the patterns and habits of communal life."
She recognizes that to stay centered...we need moorings... and that involves a community that centers itself in God's perspective...God's truth.
1 Timothy 3:15 (GW)
God's family is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.
The church is not simply an event to entertain us... although we can value quality. Nor is it simply a party for enjoying friends... although we gather around more to celebrate than anyone. The church is a pillar and foundation of truth... life giving truth.
God has designed us to develop...
2. Identity that is supported by communal influence, not control
So much of what we contend with is for control. I believe we often struggle between fighting being controlled...and accepting the responsibility of our own control. That is why cult type groups can meet a need. They simplify some of the decisions that we face...and may feel uncertain about.
I have seen the faces of those who leave such groups. They don't know how to relate to others again.
The sooner we settle the issue of control the more we can embrace the vital life-giving power of influence.
God extends a level of control to each of us.
Jesus never controlled anyone.
Any control by others is an illusion.
But neither do we thrive or even survive by independence. What we really need is influence.
"In our effort to not be conformed to the expectations of others....we can become conformed to nothing but the most limited understanding of ourselves."
Individualism gives the feeling of being free...larger than that of being contained by a group. But without influence...we simply become a different version of small...as small as our own self awareness, self comfort, and self oriented needs.
The Scriptures are very strong in their denouncing any such delusion of today's individualism... and independence. The Scriptures call us to "submit" to the community and leaders. I think what has created a false tension is that when the church became more institutionalized in it's authority...it took such submission as involuntary and absolute.
I would suggest that what God seeks is not that of submitting to the control of others...but to the influence of others. This involves a sincerity of heart. It means asking ourselves: Am I truly open to what others may see and reveal?
In that sense...I need the church as a community of influence.
Hebrews 10:25 (GW)
We should not stop gathering together with other believers, as some of you are doing. Instead, we must continue to encourage each other even more as we see the day of the Lord coming.
We may think we are strong....but to remain centered and strong against all the influences of this world requires being partnered with others... who have discovered the same center and are focus. [3]
Weight lifting... there is the value of someone who will "spot you"...one is there to help when we press our limits...which allows us to go for it. Some of us may be feeling tremendous weight in our lives...in our your marriages. You may feel like it's about to collapse and you can’t do it. You can’t push that weight any more. What do we need when we feel like we can’t lift any more? We get the lift from others.
God has designed us to develop...
3. Growth that is bound in interdependence, not self-sufficiency
I can understand how some feel that communal life can become a form of unhealthy dependence on a group...or mere conformity to some group mindset. We're going to engage that some next week. But the simple truth is that so much of our growth as persons comes from aspects we do not even initially bear in ourselves.
1 Corinthians 12:12-22, 27 (NLT)
The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is with the body of Christ. 13 Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles, some are slaves, and some are free. But we have all been baptized into one body by one Spirit, and we all share the same Spirit. 14 Yes, the body has many different parts, not just one part. 15 If the foot says, “I am not a part of the body because I am not a hand,” that does not make it any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear says, “I am not part of the body because I am not an eye,” would that make it any less a part of the body? 17 If the whole body were an eye, how would you hear? Or if your whole body were an ear, how would you smell anything? 18 But our bodies have many parts, and God has put each part just where he wants it. 19 How strange a body would be if it had only one part! 20 Yes, there are many parts, but only one body. 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... 27 All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it.
We cannot actually be the body of Christ alone.
Some of us independent types may do well to face these words in all their humility:
"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.” - 1 Corinthians 12:21
We are like severed fingers and toes. It may be helpful to do a little demonstration. (Pull out knife and towel).... "Can I get a volunteer?"
> Its' rather telling that we are reluctant to do to our bodies... what we do to Christ's body.
You and I are not all you and I are meant to be without our relationship to others.
Only in some means of uniting in common grace do we stay rooted in our eternal life and home.
Only in some means of uniting in our new identity can we maintain our true identity.
Only in some means of uniting will we grow from all that God had provided through the various gifts that others bear.
Henri DeLubac speaks to the heart of our heightened, lonely individualism when he says: "Our personal destiny can only work itself out in the common salvation of the Church." [4]
Conclusion:
As I said at earlier...the idea that we don't need the church may reflect some very real feelings.
There are real disappointments to explore and come to terms with.
There is a place for healthy and holy dissatisfaction. I have plenty of it.
I struggle to be associated with many of the cultural perceptions of the church.
> But to deny her is to deny the very grace that gives life.
To believe we don't need the church bears something false at it's very root....which is that we are the church. We are her! To hate the Church is to hate ourselves...to deny her is to deny our very life.
The closer I am to Christ...the more I discover a love for the church...his body...his bride.
I love the Westside Vineyard...and I have found more and more over time two complimentary truths about that love.
My love must ultimately be for the whole church...in all her expressions. That's why I can honestly encourage any newcomers that I'm more interested in helping them find a community to give themselves to than to promote this community as being better.
At the same time I've come to discover that such love for the whole church is given it's real meaning through the local tangible community. Some have claimed to love the whole church by belonging to no local church community. [5]
I love the whole of Christ's church ONLY through how I learn and live in love with you.
Communion
We are going to conclude exactly as Christ led his church... on his last night of bodily presence.
When Jesus shared in the Last Supper...he was taking up what was the regular Passover meal...that which was always a shared re-enactment of God's provision from judgment and liberation from slavery. He didn't teach them how to eat the bread and drink of the cup at home...he clearly was revealing that he was now the eternal lamb who provided freedom from judgment and freedom from slavery. On that night as he made it clear that this was a shared reality...a communal reality in which he shared the bread and passed the cup.
In the bread and wine... representing his body and blood...we becomes one...reconciled to God and one another. It defined them as a community.
As we prepare to receive these elements, let understand that we cannot receive his body reflected in these elements if we do not receive his body which is now the church.
We may need to offer him our fears of others... or our disappointments... and bring them to the common tagle of grace. Remember...he shared this meal as a sign that was going to give himself...and he did so 'on the night he was betrayed.' There on one side of him...Judas...and another...Peter who would deny him. Why did he not check out of the group? Because they were safe? No. Because they were a special group? No. It was because they were us. They were those who were bound in grace...those God loved.
Resources: Gavin Ling
Notes:
1. Leviticus 23:2 speaks of Israel's call to certain gatherings as "sacred" and "holy.
"Speak to the Israelites and say to them: 'These are my appointed festivals, the appointed festivals of the LORD, which you are to proclaim as sacred assemblies.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible explains:
The feasts - literally, the appointed times. So in Leviticus 23:4, Leviticus 23:37, etc. This section Leviticus 23:1-38 sets forth for practical guidance the relation in which the appointed times of the Lord, weekly as well as annual, stood to the ordinary occupations of the people.
Holy convocations - Days of sabbatical rest for the whole people; they owed their name to gatherings for religious edification, which, in later times, were probably held in every town and village in the holy land. There were in the course of the year, besides the weekly Sabbaths, seven days of holy convocation Exodus 12:16; Numbers 28:18, Numbers 28:25-26; Numbers 29:1, Numbers 29:12, Numbers 29:35, with a distinction between them as regards strictness of observance (compare Leviticus 23:3, Leviticus 23:28 with Leviticus 23:7).
Through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise of Christ Jesus.
Ephesians 3:6 (NIV)
"This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus."
2.Lauren F. Winner - interview - April 24, 2012
http://www.faithandleadership.com/qa/lauren-f-winner-most-our-spiritual-life-not-spent-ecstasy?page=full
3. Other Scriptures that reflect the need for encouragement and strength from one another:
Two are better off than one... if one of them falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up! Eccl. 4:9-10
As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. Prov. 27:17
Encourage each other every day, while it is called today and beware that none of you becomes blind and deaf to God through the delusive glamour of sin. Heb. 3:13
Brothers, if someone is trapped in some sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently... carry each other's burdens & in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. Gal. 6:1-2
4. Henri DeLubac - from Splendor of the Church, p. 45
5. "We have clearly two different aspects of the Church before us—Church and the churches, the universal Church and the local churches. The Church is invisible; the churches are visible. The Church has no organization; the churches are organized. The Church is spiritual; the churches are spiritual and yet physical…The invisible Church does not test our obedience to God, but the visible churches test us severely by facing us with issues on the intensely practical plane of our earthly life."
- Watchman Nee. The Normal Christian Church Life. Anaheim CA: Living Stream Ministry, 1980
