PRINCIPLE 27 |
The activities that make up the life of the local church can be divided into two main categories: evangelism and edification. Edification can be further divided into such elements as instruction, worship, fellowship, service, and prayer. Every church should include all of the elements on a regular basis. One more element, discipline, should be practiced whenever the need arises. The regular elements are illustrated in the life of the first church in Jerusalem (Acts 2:41-47) and most of them are commanded in other passages (Matthew 28:19-20; Ephesians 4:11-16; Hebrews 10:24-25). A balanced church program will include all of these overlapping activities.
In this chapter we focus on three elements: instruction, fellowship, and service. We also consider the purpose of meetings. The element of worship is discussed in chapter 28, and the place of music is discussed in chapter 29.
Instruction, or teaching, forms the logical basis for every other activity that makes up the life of the local church. As illustrated in the diagram below, proper instruction (instruction that is biblical, balanced, and applied) will eventually lead to all the other elements.
However, the same thing cannot be said for any of the other elements. Each of the other elements is dependent upon instruction. If there is no instruction, how will we know what message to give to the lost and how to go about evangelism? If there is no instruction, how will we know whom we worship and how to worship? If there is no instruction, how will we know what real fellowship is, how to go about service, how to pray and what to pray for, and whom and how to discipline? Instruction logically precedes all the other elements.
When we say that instruction precedes the other elements, we are referring to logical order for the church as a whole. In regard to chronological order for the individual, evangelism obviously precedes all the elements that make up edification. In regard to psychological order for the individual, fellowship probably precedes the other elements since it builds trust and thus clears the path for the other elements. But as far as the overall life and health of the church is concerned, instruction is the logical prerequisite to all the others.
When a church neglects teaching, it destroys the foundation of all the other elements. They will eventually disappear or become improper and unbalanced. This means that each church must give careful regard to its instruction. The church leaders (pastors/elders) must be "able to teach" (1 Timothy 3:2). And the educational program of the church must be one of the church's top priorities.
Why should Christians gather? As described in chapter 26, the purpose of the church gathered is edification. But this is only a general answer to the question of the purpose for gathering. Because of the importance of instruction in the life of the local church, we can be more specific and say that Christians should meet with each other in order to be edified through instruction. And, since the pastors or elders of the church are required to be "able to teach," it seems appropriate that they do most of the teaching. But that in itself is still an inadequate answer to the question. While it is true that Christians should gather in order to be taught by the church leaders, the New Testament also emphasizes another reason to meet.
In two different passages Christians are told that they should meet with other Christians, not merely to receive a ministry performed by others, but to minister to others. The writer of Hebrews states that Christians should go to church meetings in order to give something.
Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together ... but let us encourage one another (Hebrews 10:24-25)
Note that this command is in the active voice. It does not say that we should meet in order to be spurred on toward love and good deeds, or to be encouraged. Rather, we are the ones who are ministering to others by encouraging and spurring them on. This is not merely a meeting in which the ministry is one-way, from the pastor or teacher to the rest of the people. If each Christian comes to the meeting and carries out this command, all the believers will be building up each other. This is not just edification; this is mutual edification. Paul also emphasized mutual edification when he told the Corinthian believers to come to their meetings prepared to speak up.
When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church. (1 Corinthians 14:26)
Unfortunately, many Christians think of themselves as listeners at church. But the New Testament view is that each believer is an active participant. The church is viewed as an organism made up of mutually interdependent parts. The church needs the contribution of each person just as a body depends on the functioning of each different part. Paul made a major point of this in an extended discussion of the church as a body (1 Corinthians 12:12-20). He also emphasized the importance of each individual's contribution when he said that
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 4:16)
Thus, church meetings have a dual purpose: instruction and mutual edification. Every local church should maintain a pattern of activities which includes plenty of instruction and plenty of mutual edification. In other words, there should be regular opportunities for the people to learn from the teaching of their pastors or elders, and there should be regular opportunities for the people to meet in small groups where they can build up one another.
If Christians are going to have anything to share when they meet, they must be studying and applying their Bibles on a regular basis. Mutual edification meetings must not be allowed to degenerate into mutual gossip meetings, or endless theological debates, or merely sharing of opinions. They must center around the Bible. This means that it is important for each believer to develop the skill of independent, inductive Bible study. Mutual edification meetings can be truly beneficial if each person comes to the meeting already having carefully studied a certain scripture passage or topic.
Even though we typically label our regular church meetings "worship services" and "prayer meetings," we are never commanded in the New Testament to meet in order to worship or to pray. While it is true that we will certainly worship and pray when we get together as believers, these are not the reasons for gathering. An analogy may clarify the point. No one goes to a committee meeting in order to breathe. Since breathing is a natural and continuous part of life, however, we will certainly breathe while we are at a committee meeting. Likewise, worship and prayer should be a spontaneous and frequent part of the Christian's life. So Christians will certainly worship and pray both when they are alone and when they are meeting with other Christians. But neither worship nor prayer is the reason for the meeting. The fact that we use the words "worship" and "prayer" to label our regular church meetings shows how dependent we are on tradition.
Some insist that we should go to church to meet God. They may even feel that God is present in a church meeting in a special sense, that he is more available or more at work when Christians gather than when they are scattered. This mistaken notion probably arises from four sources.
First, it may be a hangover from the Roman Catholic notion that there is a special presence of Christ in the Eucharist (Holy Communion). But the New Testament clearly teaches that the bread and wine which are used in a communion service are symbols meant to cause believers to remember the Lord's substitutionary death (1 Corinthians 11:23-26). Christ is no more present in the Eucharist than he is in any other experience of life or worship.
Second, many Christians mistakenly take Old Testament passages about God's presence in the temple and apply them to our times. While it is true that there was a time when Old Testament saints were commanded to go to the temple for sacrifice and worship because God was present in the temple in a special sense, according to Jesus that old arrangement has been changed (John 4:19-24). God does not indwell a building today. Instead he indwells each individual believer (1 Corinthians 6:19).
Third, some people take Jesus' promise that "where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them" (Matthew 18:20) and assume that Jesus was talking about church meetings. Rather, Jesus was reminding his disciples that he would be with them to give them special help when they had to carry out church discipline, which is always difficult because it requires both boldness and readiness to forgive. (Verse 20 must be interpreted in light of its context, which includes verses 15-35. Especially compare verse 20 with verse 16.)
Fourth, evangelical and conservative Christians may be reacting to liberal churches, whose meetings can be no more than social gatherings because they deny the personal existence of God. In contrast, we affirm the personal existence of God, and we worship him and talk (pray) to him when we are in our church meetings. But that does not mean that we should overreact and say that we go to church to meet God. As evangelicals and conservatives we believe in both the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and the priesthood of each believer. We have the Lord's presence continually and we can talk with him at any time. We, more than any other group, should realize that we do not have to go to church to meet God in either worship or prayer. Instead, we go to church to interact with other Christians.
We must remember that both worship and prayer are forms of interaction between us and God. In contrast, instruction, fellowship, and service are forms of interaction between us and other Christians. We cannot instruct, fellowship, or serve without interacting with someone else. This is why we meet, to interact with fellow Christians in instruction and mutual edification. Of course, while we are meeting and talking with our fellow believers, we will also talk to the Lord in worship and prayer because such divine interaction comes naturally to Christians whether they are scattered or gathered.
Fellowship is shared experience. An experience can be shared in the sense that several people go through the experience together. Or it can be "shared" in the sense that one person tells another person about his experience.
Christian fellowship is shared Christian experience. Human fellowship is shared human experience. But these two are often confused. The conversation about the weather over coffee and doughnuts that takes place in "fellowship hall" is not really Christian fellowship at all. It is merely human fellowship. Any person, whether he is a Christian or not, can eat, drink, and talk about the weather. It does not become Christian fellowship until the experience that is shared is a Christian experience. Some people assume that whenever two Christians have fellowship, it is automatically Christian fellowship. But it all depends on the activity or experience that is being shared.
Since Christians are both human and Christian, they need both human fellowship and Christian fellowship. Human fellowship should not be confused with worldliness or friendship with the world. There are many neutral activities than Christians can enjoy with non-Christians. Such human fellowship is fulfilling for both the Christian and the non-Christian, and it builds a basis for mutual trust and sharing the gospel. Christians also benefit from human fellowship with other Christians.
But nothing can take the place of genuine Christian fellowship between fellow believers. Such Christian fellowship is facilitated in small groups, whereas large groups tend to be impersonal. Small groups have a great potential for intimate fellowship around the Bible and prayer and discussion of the Christian walk. People get to know each other much better in a small group. The interaction is much deeper and more meaningful. In time, mutual respect and trust grow deep. The individual's willingness to open up and expose his true thoughts and feelings always takes time, but it will happen much more easily in a small group than a large one.
Some people say that they like a small church better than a large one. But, of course, the real question is not the overall size of the church. Rather, the question is the level of interaction and fellowship that is present. A small church can be cold. A large church can have many functioning subgroups in which genuine fellowship and edification occur.
A wide variety of spiritual gifts are mentioned in Scripture. Some of these gifts could be called "sign gifts" since they were more obviously miraculous in nature. They were used primarily to establish the authority of the apostles. Other spiritual gifts, which we will call "service gifts," continue to function today as a necessary part of the life of every church. Here we will consider only service gifts.
A service gift may be defined as a Christian's Spirit-directed and Spirit-powered use of his ability to make a contribution to the spiritual birth or growth of others. The main Scripture passages which teach about service gifts are Romans 12:3-8; 1 Corinthians 12:1-31; and Ephesians 4:11-16. These passages list a wide variety of service gifts, including prophesying, serving, teaching, encouraging, contributing, leadership, showing mercy, wisdom, knowledge, faith, the ability to distinguish between spirits, the ability to speak different languages, the ability to interpret different languages, evangelism, and pastoring.
What makes a spiritual gift spiritual? The gifts listed above are spiritual in two ways. First, spiritual gifts are God-given abilities. Some gifts, such as faith and the ability to distinguish between spirits, are probably given more directly by God to the saved individual. Others, such as serving, teaching, contributing, and leadership are probably given to individuals in a more indirect manner. They are the result of a long series of experiences, perhaps extending back to childhood, which gradually develop certain abilities the individual can use to serve others when he becomes a Christian. The rain which falls upon the unrighteous is considered one of God's gifts (Matthew 5:45); so it also seems appropriate to consider the abilities which an unsaved person develops to be God's gifts. Thus, all spiritual gifts are God-given; some are spiritual abilities received more directly from God, while others are more natural abilities, from God, indirectly.
The second way in which spiritual gifts are spiritual has to do with the use of the gift rather than the gift or the ability itself. If the gift is used with the proper motivation and intent, it makes a spiritual contribution. That is why the definition refers to a spiritual gift as something that is used in a Spirit-directed and Spirit-powered way. Even a natural ability, which is used under the guidance and power of the Holy Spirit and thus is used for edifying another person and for glorifying the Lord rather than for selfish reasons, becomes a spiritual gift.
Many Christians make the mistake of asking themselves the question, "What is my spiritual gift?" and then look for some strange mystical power. Instead, we should ask ourselves, "What are the needs of others, and what are my abilities?" that is, "How may I help?" Then we should use those abilities under the Holy Spirit's direction and power to make a contribution to the spiritual birth and growth of others.
This self-examination will require two things. First, we must know ourselves. We must honestly appraise both our abilities and our inabilities. We can gradually increase our abilities through study, training, and experience. Second, we must know the needs of the group or individual we want to serve. As we compare their needs with our abilities, we will probably find at least one way and perhaps several ways we can serve them. And our gift, our contribution to them, will change from group to group. One group may need insight into some Bible passage, and we may be able to share some of our knowledge about that passage. So with that group our spiritual gift is the gift of knowledge. But another group, which includes several people who know more about the Bible than we do, may need something different. And if we have the ability that matches their need, then that particular ability is our spiritual gift to them. Thus, which particular gifts we exercise depends both on what abilities we have and on what the people around us need.
Spiritual gifts are always used for the good of others and for the glory of God, which requires a humble, yet honest, assessment of our own abilities.
Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. (Romans 12:3)
Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. (Romans 12:10)
It also requires a continual sensitivity to the needs of those around us.
Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. (Ephesians 4:29)
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus … (Philippians 2:3-5)
The more static view of service gifts, which tells us to look for our one or two special abilities and call them our gifts, does not require this continual sensitivity. The view that is being recommended here is a more dynamic view of service gifts because one's gift or gifts in any particular context depends on the needs of the group, and different groups have different needs. Each believer may have several dozen abilities to call upon, but each context of service may call for only one or two of those many abilities. In any given situation we should say to ourselves both, "What do they need?" and "How may I help?"
Everything that has been discussed in this chapter (instruction, mutual edification, fellowship, and gifts) involves interaction. We have defined the local church as a group of professing Christians in a given locality regularly involved in Christian interaction. Interaction for the purpose of edifying Christians is what the gathered church is all about.
Having our name on the church roll is not interaction. Attending meetings in which we merely sit and listen is not interaction. Some churches are dead because their doctrine is not biblical. But, unfortunately, some churches which have conservative and evangelical doctrine are also dead because their people are not interacting.