Community or Isolation?
I must be getting old. I read some of the ideas that are being put forth by Christian leaders who are described as being on the cutting edge [whatever that means] and I cringe. I recently read where some are saying that Christians and the local church must reach out and embrace the various forms of technology that has infiltrated society today and see those technologies as venues for what they call Christian community. I think that they use that particular term as a reference to what is most often called fellowship. The thinking is that believers can have wonderful fellowship with one another via technology without ever being in the presence of one another. I tweet you and you tweet me and we have fellowship. You go to someone’s page on Facebook and engage in a wonderful time of fellowship. You read a blog or watch a video on YouTube or a streaming webcast of a church worship service, and you have fellowshiped with other believers. Throw in text messaging, PM’s and I think you get the picture. Now what I do not get is this: how can this be fellowship?
I do not want this post to be a polemic, so I will not mention the post at another blog that provoked me to think about this issue. I simply want to respond to what I perceive to be a great fallacy: we can have fellowship with other believers though various forms of technology while remaining physically isolated.
As I have stated in previous posts, I have nothing against technology. As a matter of fact, I have always been intrigued by technology. My only gripe with technology is that we keep it in its proper place. All of the tools I mentioned above [Twitter, Facebook, blogs, and so forth] are good means of disseminating information. They are good tools for the transmission of information from one person or group to another. However, they are poor tools for building or strengthening fellowship.
Look at what Paul wrote to the Romans. In his letter to them, he told them that he was not content to simply send them a letter, which was certainly cutting-edge technology for that day, but that he longed to visit them and see them face to face [Romans 1.11-15]. He understood that he could convey in person what could never be conveyed by a letter. He understood the need to be with them physically. In our hunger and thirst to be creative and on the cutting edge of all things technological, is this something that we have forgotten?
Imagine what would happen if a married couple tried to relate to one another only by means of the technologies I mentioned above. They tweet back and forth throughout the day; they talk on Facebook; they blog about one another; they send lovely text messages to each other. They do all of those things, but they are never together physically. What sort of marriage would that be? There would be a great deal of isolation, but no intimacy. This, I fear, is also what happens when we substitute physical presence with technological presence. We breed isolation, not intimacy.
The better route is the Biblical route. We need to keep in mind and obey what the writer to the Hebrews put forth in Hebrews 10.24-25:
and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, 25 not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more, as you see the day drawing near.
Fellowship, or community, cannot be built apart from our assembling together. The people of God need to be with the people of God in a physical sense and not just in a technological sense.
So I say, use Twitter and Facebook and blogs and other forms of technology, but do not let them substitute for being with other believers physically. Make sure you are in the Lord’s House with other believers on the Lord’s Day. Spend time in God’s Word with other Christians. Pray together, eat together, minister together, share the Gospel together. Build intimacy, not isolation.
Saved To Worship
On this past Lords’ Day I preached from Acts 2.46-47 on the worship of the early church. Acts 2.42-47 puts forth various matters that were true of those first Christians. In that section Luke shows us what it was that characterized those first believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. One of things that characterized them is that they were people who were absolutely committed to the worship of the One who saved them. Luke says in verses 46 that they continued with one mind in the temple and in verse 47 that they were characterized by praising God. Both of those statements are expressions of worship and they show us that worship was not some sort of incidental or secondary matter with those first Christians. It was something that was of paramount importance to them and it became a characteristic feature of their lives. As I shared in an earlier post, one of the resources that I read as I prepared for this message was the little book, Whatever Happened to Worship? by A.W. Tozer. In that book Tozer makes the statement:
Christ turns rebels into worshipers.
What Tozer meant by that statement is that true worship of God is made possible only as one is born again. God’s great and gracious work of salvation takes people who once were the avowed enemies of God [Romans 5.10] and makes them into worshipers. Another way of saying this is to say that a person cannot truly worship God unless they have been born again. The new birth is a prerequisite for worship that honors and glorifies the Lord God Almighty. In John 3 Jesus told Nicodemus, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God” [John 3.3]. Jesus did not simply mean that a person cannot go to heaven apart from the new birth, which of course, is true, but what Jesus ultimately was telling Nicodemus was that no person could ever begin to understand anything of a spiritual nature unless they are born again [see 1 Corinthians 2.14]. This includes the matter of worship. You cannot truly worship God unless you are born again.
God has created all people with not only a capacity for worship but also a desire to worship. Man is going to worship someone or something as is made evident by all of the rampant paganism that is in the world today. But the only people who worship rightly, that is, who worship the One True and Living God are those who have been born again.
This brings me to the point put forth in the title of this post: we are saved to worship. We who know Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord have been born again [John 3.3]; we have been brought from spiritual death to spiritual life [Ephesians 2.5]; we have been made new creatures in Christ Jesus [2 Corinthians 5.17]; we have been transformed from the enemies of God into His dearly loved children [Romans 5.10, 8.16]. In the words of Tozer, we have been turned from rebels into worshipers. What a wonderful and glorious thing is this! God has saved us and transformed us into worshipers [John 4.23-24].
As a result of His work of salvation, you may now bring glory to God with your lips and life [1 Corinthians 10.31]. You may worship Him in spirit and in truth. That is certainly something that we see in the first Christians. Is this what is seen in your life? Do you understand that you have been saved to worship? Do you long to worship the Lord? Is that the desire of your heart?
Come, let us worship and bow down; Let us kneel before the LORD our Maker. 7 For He is our God, And we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand.
[Psalm 95.6-7a NASB]
Whatever Happened To Worship?
On this coming Lord’s Day I will be preaching from Acts 2.46-47 on the worship of those first Christians. As a part of my preparation I re-read the little book Whatever Happened To Worship? by A.W. Tozer. This is a simply wonderful little treatment on the matter of worship in the church today [actually the last half of the 20th Century] and an assessment of how far from the Bible believers have strayed when it comes to the matter of worship. The book is insightful and penetrating. It really gets right to the heart of the matter. We were created by God to worship Him but on account of sin we are unable to do that. Jesus Christ, therefore, has saved us that we might fulfill the whole purpose of our being: to worship God in Spirit and Truth [see John 4.23-24]. Having been made true worshipers as a result of the grace of God that is displayed in the salvation of our souls, we are then to worship the Lord in the manner in which He has prescribed in His Word.
Again, this is a great and powerful little book. I thought it might prove to be a profitable exercise to share some quotes from various portions of the book.
Jesus was born of a virgin, suffered under Pontius Pilate, died on the cross and rose from the dead to make worshipers out of rebels! [11]
I can safely say, on the authority of all that is revealed in the Word of God, that any man or woman on this earth who is bored and turned off by worship is not ready for heaven. [13]
True worship of God must be a constant and consistent attitude or state of mind within the believer. [24]
The whole import and substance of the Bible teaches us that God who does not need anything nevertheless desires the adoration and worship of His created children. [37]
The brief summary of this important matter is that God still desires worship, but we must learn that we cannot have our own way and worship God just as we please. [38]
Men and women continue to try to persuade themselves that there are many forms and ways that seem right in worship. But God in His revelation has told us that He is spirit and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. God takes the matter of worship out of the hands of men and puts it in the hands of the Holy Spirit.” [44]
It must be by the Holy Spirit and truth. We cannot worship in spirit alone, for the spirit without truth is helpless. We cannot worship in truth alone, for that would be theology without fire. [46]
Yes, worship of the loving God is man’s whole reason for existence. That is why we are born and that is why we are born again from above. That why we were created and that is why we have been recreated. [56]
We need to be delighted in the presence of utter, infinite excellence.” [87]
We are saved to worship God. All that Christ has for us in the past and all that He is doing now leads to this one end. [94]
In Israel’s days of journeying, God have the visible cloud by day and the fire by night as a witness and an evidence of His glory and constant protection. If God was still giving the same signals of His abiding Presence, I wonder how many churches would have the approving cloud by day and fire by night. [98-99]
Many whom we have raised in our churches no longer think in terms of reverence–which seems to indicate they doubt that God’s Presence is there. [117]
In too many of our churches, you can detect the attitude that anything goes. [117]
If you cannot worship the Lord in the midst of your responsibilities on Monday, it is not very likely that you were worshiping on Sunday! [122]
Well, it is my experience that our total lives, our entire attitude as persons, must be toward the worship of God. [123]
I can offer no worship wholly pleasing to God if I know that I am harboring elements in my life that are displeasing to Him. I cannot truly and joyfully worship God on Sunday and not worship Him on Monday. I cannot worship God with a glad song on Sunday and then knowingly displease Him in my business dealings on Monday and Tuesday. [124-125]
Powerful words, indeed, from a man of God who had a true and Biblical grasp on what he saw around him. I would encourage you to obtain a copy of Whatever Happened to Worship? and read it for yourself.
Welcome to my blog. I am Mark Fuss and I serve as Pastor-Teacher of Sovereign Grace Bible Chapel in Englewood, FL. I have been married to my wonderful wife, Kristy, since 1986 and we have three beautiful daughters and one precious granddaughter.
