A Cloistered Church is Catastrophic for a Culture

A Cloistered Church is Catastrophic for a Culture

"The sin of respectable people reveals itself in flight from responsibility." Eberhard Bethge (commenting on his good friend Dietrich Bonhoeffer)

When the church remains cloistered our culture faces catastrophe. The church has become adept at cloistering itself and moving carefully from one comfortable Bible study to another, and from one service to another. We gather as fishermen who carefully discuss the various and sundry elements of the fishing business, but we never actually get the smell of fish on our hands. We remain confident and smug in the illusion of our safety, content to let culture rot and get her just reward as we smile securely in our ultimate salvation. We privately worry that we are now post modern and post Christian. Perhaps this means that we should retreat even more since maybe Jesus is coming even sooner than we expected?

Meanwhile, our culture, our history, our heritage, our future is hurling itself at a breakneck pace into the abyss of spiritual apathy, moral irrelevance, self-absorption and eternal destruction. The value of tolerance has been raised as the highest banner to fly in this land, but its meaning has been changed so drastically that it is no longer a value. Where tolerance once stood for a respectable sympathy for another’s view of a matter even though it may be wrong or different than my own, it now means that there is no right or wrong and that everyone’s opinion carries equal weight and that everything is right in a man’s own eyes.

The church’s response has been to sit back and watch culture self-destruct. We have bought into the lie, as have the majority of the people of our land that the separation of church and state is a Constitutional principle. In fact, it is not! But even if it was, the church has a mission that cannot be set aside. It is true that we are citizens of heaven, but we are also citizens of this land serving as ambassadors.

As ambassadors we are given the almost incomprehensible privilege of sharing the good news that God so loved the world that He sent Jesus Christ the righteous one to die for our sins, rising again, eternally triumphant over all His enemies, so that there is now no condemnation for those who believe.

The church collectively and its individual members specifically are called to be salt in a corrupt world and light in a dark world. Of course, this cannot happen until and unless the church decides to engage culture—though not embrace it. Jesus said that the very gates of hell would not prevail against His church, which is a clear picture of a contending and not cloistered church. We are also called to go into all the world and make disciples. One cannot carry this out in the continued cloistered confines of one meeting after another. The ‘making’ happens when we intentionally determine to engage our culture and the people who live in it. D. A. Carson rightly observes that "Christians learn to do good in the city where they live, knowing full well that the prosperity of their city is both for the city’s good and for their good."

There must be a biblical balance between faithful evangelism and the teaching and absorption of the Bible, as well as active concern in ministries of compassion and justice. We cannot minimize our obligations to fulfill the Great Commission, nor marginalize our obligation to fulfill the Great Commandment and the carrying out of the message of the gospel. It is not an either one or the other decision, it is and/ both decision.

The great men who have gone before us have set the examples of how to do keep the proper balance and to present the gospel, while at the same time engaging culture by helping the poor, setting up nonprofit institutions for various social ends, being involved in local school districts, voting, writing letters to editors, presenting biblical views in legislative discussions, running for office, and much more. Men such as George Whitefield, John Wesley, D. L. Moody, William Wilberforce, and Abraham Kuyper were all fine examples of how to keep the right biblical balance of feeding and nurturing the flock, along with taking the gospel to a lost and hurting world through a clear presentation of the spoken Word and active offerings of physical help.

The early church did not seek influence through politics but power through prayer. As a result through the power of prayer they began to have a biblical influence upon culture. They actively began to engage the culture in times of great distress, and as a result the people both heard and saw the gospel and responded. We should be actively involved in all biblical means to influence our culture, but the influence does not stand as a substitute for prayer, but is rather informed and strengthened and given direction by prayer.

Charles Spurgeon said, "Stones are not broken, except by an earnest use of the hammer; and the stone-breaker must go down on his knees. Use the hammer of diligence, and let the knee of prayer be exercised—and there is not a stony doctrine in Scripture, which is useful for you to understand, which will not fly into shivers under the exercise of prayer and faith….Prayer is the lever which forces open the iron chest of sacred mystery, that we get the treasure hidden within…."

Informed prayer through the diligent and consistent meditation upon the Word of God is necessary to know how to engage our culture and the individuals who live within it. We have no excuse to not have our minds sharpened by the Word of God. We have no excuse to not have our hearts made tender by the Word of God. We have no excuse to not speak to others in mercy and truth about temporal and eternal matters. In other words, we have no excuse for soft minds, hard hearts, and apathetic spirits.

Peter said, "Always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame." Think of the irony of the one who once denied Christ making the statement above.

We are to start our days by sharpening our minds to think clearly and be ready with a reasoned defense of our faith and biblical position on cultures issues. We are to start each day by asking God to tenderize our hearts so that we are sensitive to the hurts of others even as we engage them with sound and biblical arguments for our reasoning. We are to start each day by humbling ourselves under God’s mighty hand knowing full well that except for the grace of God we would have gone the way of our own lost culture. And yes, we are reminded that not all will respond and that many will ridicule and revile and rebuke us. We not should not run from this, but embrace it as a badge of honor for so they did the same to our Lord.

Let us gather together regularly as we are called to do for worship and edification and nurturing and fellowship. But then let us leave the meeting places to engage our culture with mercy and truth, lifting up the name of Christ, and raising the banner of His glory. Let us together look forward to the days in eternity where we will share war stories together and not stories of cloistered comfort and playing it safe. Our focus is not on winning the argument, but on saving the soul and offering our culture hope. If we do not engage our culture with the hope of the gospel then who? If we do not do so now then when?

LOST IN SPACE, DROWNING ON FB, MISSING FELLOWSHIP

LOST IN SPACE.

Whatever happened to the real sci-fi TV shows?

WARNING, WILL ROBINSON! For me the height of irony of that show is a futuristic robot (a.k.a. The Robot) crying out emotive responses of warning to the Robinson family of imminent danger, which in a sense should be heeded today.

The world of technology has advanced us in incredible ways in so many good and profitable discoveries. Who among us would not want indoor plumbing, electricity, microwave ovens, Q-tips, automatic drip coffee pots, and penicillin? Yet, there is a word of warning that I think the almost human Robot would cry out for today.

The industrial age and the age of technology have propelled us into a race to pursue the accumulation of things at the expense of lives lived out in fellowship with people. We pursue jobs that remove us from a lifetime of growing up with family, friends, and the establishment of fond memories in order to move across the land for better jobs, bigger houses, and bulging retirement plans.

This modern age has already robbed us of the precious margin (buffer room) we need in our intellectual, emotional, physical, and spiritual lives. We feel tired, run down, exhausted, overworked, over committed, and over burdened. But to what end? At the end of the day we accomplished numerous tasks, but there are many more awaiting us tomorrow. It never really ends.

We are overloaded with the busyness of duties with no room to spare for the delight of fellowship. We multi-task in the pursuit of activities thinking this is a worthy badge of honor, yet we starve ourselves of meaningful interaction with people and the quiet moments of silence and solitude spent with God for refreshment and worship. The most beautiful sunrise happened the other day in the little town of Street, Maryland that caught the corner of my eye, but I was too busy trying to get to work to actually stop for a few minutes and enjoy the work of God’s hands.

I am finding more and more that FB can be an addictive and dangerous substitution for real life—at least for me. I read posts that seem to me to be more about the promoting of the individual in subtle and some not-so-subtle ways. The reason I recognize that is because I catch myself doing the same. FB is not the real world and we can too easily present a façade of us that simply is not the real ‘us’. We present ‘self’ in the best of light to solicit praise, and also sometimes exaggerate situations of life to pursue sympathy. How much time is wasted playing games, etc., in lieu of meaningful dialogue and fellowship with people face-to-face? We were not meant to live in isolation.

This modern age has made communication instant and easy, but technological communication does not have the same effect as person(s)-to-person(s) fellowship. I enjoy FB and am glad to be a part of its community. I enjoy reading the stories and posts, and seeing the pictures and videos. I am especially moved and touched by the sharing of the stories that involve the people of God, doing the work of God, for the glory of God. I find moments to pause and pray in reading some of the posts. Some things make me laugh. Some things make me scratch my head. Some things make me think. But, none satisfy the need of my soul for relationship and fellowship.

My point is to slow down and to not allow technology and industry to rob us of margin. We must take the time to rest, pause to reflect, stop and watch a sunrise or smell a blossom, slow down and enjoy a meal over good conversation, write a hand-written note to someone you hardly see anymore, call someone and ask them ‘how they are doing’, make a date with our spouse, or just hang with family and friends. Yes, spending time with people can be a messy business. It does not take long before we realize we are all somewhat different and peculiar. We can get hurt and be disappointed. I wonder at times why anyone would spend time with me when I can be so annoying. Yet, without the interaction with fallible people we will never experience the beauty of fellowship and friendship, laughter and love.

My greatest memories all revolve around people. I have fond memories of good conversations regarding God and life over a cup of coffee and a cinnamon crunch bagel at Panera Bread. I love being around my friends socializing and fellowshipping during a cook out. I look forward to long drives with my wife over the summer to the Eastern Shore trying to find out-of-the-way restaurants. I have the most awesome friends in the world at both Calvary Baptist Bel Air and First Baptist of Aberdeen. It is with an almost child like impatience that I anticipate planned times of going out together with them. There are times that a spontaneous desire for fellowship will overwhelm me and I will start calling around to see who can come out to play. All of these involve real people with real conversation at real places.

Jesus never really seemed to have an interest for prime time. People wanted to draw attention to Him by forcing Him to be King. His response was to simply withdraw to a quiet place. He was more interested in pursuing His Father’s will, and the establishment of the Kingdom of God over popularity and notoriety. It seems that most of His time was spent with friends. He preached and ministered to large crowds, but His heart was largely revealed as He interacted with smaller groups and individuals. He took the time to fellowship with His disciples. He took the time to socialize with people at a wedding. He took the time to be with children.

He took the time to socialize with people in order to fellowship with people in order to share the things of God. We were made for intimate relationship with God. We were created for fellowship and interaction with people. Look at all the ‘one-another’ passages in the Scriptures. Acts 2:42ff tells how the people of God met regularly for fellowship, prayer, teaching, and the breaking of bread.

I have made the decision to intentionally fellowship with people for fun, food, and fellowship, and not let busyness be an excuse for missing out or technology a substitute for coping out. Some of you may soon get a last minute phone call from a certain person in Street, MD asking you to do something so pointless as to walk a promenade, take a ride to no particular place, plan a vacation together, fire up a grill, throw around a football, ride a bike, go out and eat, grab a cup of coffee to talk about what God is doing in your live, or watch a basketball game hoping that WVU beats whoever they are playing and that Duke looses to whoever they are playing. Yes, I will still be on FB, but not as much. I hope when I call you to come out and play that you aren’t too busy with FB that you will not.