Gathering together…
Philip at “Churchless Christian” has written an excellent post called “Reflections on Gathering Together“. He makes many of the same points that I’ve made on my blog. Of his five points, this one is very important to me:
I really try and remind people when they gather that they should spiritually and physically (eg food) give something to the gathering and take something from the gathering. If everyone does that it is a powerful time in Christ.
I’ve talked to many believers who understand that God desires to work through them using the spiritual gifts that He gives them. But, when it comes to meeting with other believers, they do not think they have anything important to bring to the gathering. Some feel that others within the body are more important, and perhaps their gifts are dispensable, contra 1 Cor. 12:22-24.
God’s plan for growing the church, at least according to Eph. 4:16, is for each believer to do his or her part. As each one serves in the power of God and speaks as God directs (1 Peter 4:10-11), God is glorified. While the meeting of the church is not the time for prima donna believers, it is also not the time for passive, sit-and-soak believers. The meeting of the church is a time for all believers to come together in order to edify one another.
Answers to Questions…
Last week, I celebrated my first anniversary of blogging. In my blogiversary post, I listed some of the questions that I have been researching – questions that I asked a year ago in a post called “Questions“:
- What is the church (essence, nature, purpose, etc.)?
- When does a group of people become a church?
- Is one church dependent, independent, or interdependent on other groups?
- What is the purpose of the gathering of the church?
- How are the various spiritual gifts exercised in the meeting of the church?
- What is the nature of church leadership?
- How should church leaders interact with others in the church?
My friend Ed – also known as tenjuices, one of the many members of the blogless tribe, though we are trying to convert him – asked me (in the comments of the blogiversary post) if I had any answers to my questions. I promised that I would share the answers that I have discovered so far. These are not full answers, but summaries. My study is continuing. I would love to hear how others would answer these questions. One thing about these questions/answers. I do not study for the academic value. I study to know how to live in a way that pleases God. So, I have tried to implement many of these “answers” in the way that I live. These are my answers… so far:
1. What is the church (essence, nature, purpose, etc.)?
This is a huge question. In fact, I have tossed around the idea of making this the subject of my Ph.D. dissertation. I don’t think I’m going to, because the topic is probably even too big for that.
The church is the people of God. Period. God gathers his people regularly. This is important to me. The church is not the people who choose to gather together. The church will gather together, but the church cannot be defined by its meetings.
The church exists to bring glory to God and to demonstrate God’s glory. This happens in many ways. When the church is gathered, the church brings glory to God by building up one another toward maturity in Christ.
2. When does a group of people become a church?
Again, this is another tough question. I do not know exactly “when” a group becomes a church. I do not believe that a group of people can decide for themselves to be a church. Either God brings them together or He does not. I do believe that believers should treat one another (and non-believers) the same at all times.
3. Is one church dependent, independent, or interdependent on other groups?
I find very little indication in Scripture that churches are independent. Churches depend on God and, therefore, should depend on one another because God works through different parts of His church to strengthen the church. I prefer the term “interdependent” to describe how churches should relate to one another. Churches are interdependent because all believers are dependent on God and are part of the same family.
4. What is the purpose of the gathering of the church?
Okay. This is one question that I think I can answer – though some may disagree. The church gathers together in order to edify (build up) one another toward maturity in Christ.
5. How are the various spiritual gifts exercised in the meeting of the church?
This is also something that I have studied. I think 1 Corinthians 12-14 – taken together, not just a verse here or there – is important to answering this question. 1) Realize that all gifts are given by the Spirit for the mutual benefit of others. 2) Recognize that the church needs every gift that God has provided through every believer. 3) Act as if those believers and gifts who seem less necessary are actually more important. 4) Say and do everything motivated by love for God and love for one another. 5) When the church is gathered, believers should only exercise those gifts that build up the church. 6) Give preference in exercising gifts to another person. 7) Allow the entire church the opportunity to exercise their gifts.
6. What is the nature of church leadership?
According to Jesus, leaders are servants. Leaders should be known as servants of all, not decision makers or power brokers. Believers should follow those who are good examples of following Christ and who serve others.
7. How should church leaders interact with others in the church?
Leaders are believers. They are part of the church and should be treated like all other parts of the church. They are not more important nor less important. They have responsibilities like the other believers in the church have responsibilities.
Summary
I enjoy asking questions. Sometimes, just asking the question is an important first step. You may not agree with some of these answers. First, I would love to hear how you would answer the questions. In your answer, I hope that you will give a scriptural defense. I know that I have not quoted Scripture here, but that is only for brevity. I try to build all of my answers (and questions) from Scripture. Second, please be gentle and patient with me and with others as we seek to understand what God is teaching about the church.
Also, perhaps you have other questions about the church. I hope you will share those with us as well.
Laying on of Hands…
Since my review of the chapter “Laying on of Hands” in Watchman Nee’s book Assembling Together generated some interest, and since admittedly I know little about this practice in the New Testament, I thought I would examine the passages where we see this. There will be very little analysis in this post. First, before we make any decisions about laying on of hands, we should look at the activity in Scripture:
And what they said pleased the whole gathering, and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch. These they set before the apostles, and they prayed and laid their hands on them. (Acts 6:5-6)
Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent to them Peter and John, who came down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, for he had not yet fallen on any of them, but they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then they laid their hands on them and they received the Holy Spirit. Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money, saying, “Give me this power also, so that anyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit.” But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money!” (Acts 8:14-20)
Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” And he said, “Here I am, Lord.” And the Lord said to him, “Rise and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul, for behold, he is praying, and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight.” (Acts 9:10-12 ESV)
So Ananias departed and entered the house. And laying his hands on him he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he rose and was baptized; and taking food, he was strengthened. For some days he was with the disciples at Damascus. (Acts 9:17-19 ESV)
Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a member of the court of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off. So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus. (Acts 13:1-4 ESV)
And it happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the inland country and came to Ephesus. There he found some disciples. And he said to them, “Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed?” And they said, “No, we have not even heard that there is a Holy Spirit.” And he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” They said, “Into John’s baptism.” And Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people to believe in the one who was to come after him, that is, Jesus.” On hearing this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands on them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began speaking in tongues and prophesying. (Acts 19:1-6 ESV)
It happened that the father of Publius lay sick with fever and dysentery. And Paul visited him and prayed, and putting his hands on him healed him. (Acts 28:9 ESV)
Do not neglect the spiritual gift within you, which was bestowed on you through prophetic utterance with the laying on of hands by the presbytery. (1 Timothy 4:14 ESV)
Do not be hasty in the laying on of hands, nor take part in the sins of others; keep yourself pure. (1 Timothy 5:22 ESV)
For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands, or God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. (1 Timothy 1:6-7 ESV)
Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. (Hebrews 6:1-2 ESV)
These are all the passages that I could find in Scripture that deal with the laying on of hands. There are a couple of other passages, but they seem to use the phrase “laying on of hands” in a different way: i.e. to lay hold of someone in order to arrest them.
There are several interesting things about this list from Scripture. First, “laying on of hands” is only mentioned in three books: Acts, 1 Timothy, and Hebrews. This certainly does not mean that the topic is unimportant; but, it is an interesting observation to me. Second, everything that seems to be “caused” by the laying on of hands is mentioned elsewhere in Scripture without mention of the laying on of hands. This makes it difficult for me to say that something “always” happens through the laying on of hands, or that something “never” happens without the laying on of hands.
So, what do we see associated with the laying on of hands, at least on occasion?
1. Setting apart for service.
2. Receiving the Holy Spirit.
3. Healing.
4. Spiritual gifts.
Also, I do not see a command to “lay hands on” people, such that we see with making disciples, or baptism or sharing the Lord’s Supper or many other activities.
What would you add about “laying on of hands” from these passages of Scripture?
Who is your pastor?
Rob, whose blog is appropriately titled “home of the voracious blogging of rob horton“, has written a post called “is our inherited ‘pastor’ vocation in jeopardy?” He says:
pastor is latin for shepherd. many grew up referring to the person with the primary leadership responsibilities for the group of Jesus followers that they shared the journey with as “pastorâ€. even today you hear many people say things like “my pastor gave a great message on sundayâ€. do they realize they are saying “my shepherd gave a great message on sundayâ€? if they did, would they think twice about it.
Have you thought about this? Pastor means shepherd. Are you willing to say that another person is your shepherd?
It is true that “pastor” or “shepherd” is listed among the gifted individuals in Ephesians 4:11, along with apostles, prophets, and evangelists. But, besides this one reference, “shepherd” or “pastor” is always used of humans in the verbal form. Unless… and this is a big “unless”… the noun is being used to refer to Jesus himself. Jesus is referred to by Scripture as our shepherd (John 10:16), good shepherd (John 10:14), pastor and overseer (1 Peter 2:25), and even Senior Pastor (1 Peter 5:4).
So, who is your pastor?
Gifts and Giving…
My good friend Maël from “The Adventures of Maël & Cindy” posted several interested blogs last night. I’m hoping that at least two of those blogs result in good discussions.
First, there is his post called “Ephesians 4:11 – Spiritual gifts or positions?” In this post, he discusses Ephesians 4 and 1 Corinthians 12 and the relationships between spiritual gifts, spiritually gifted indivduals, and positions/offices. I know my thinking on this, but I’m wondering what others think. Mainly, I wonder, do you think it matters whether or not Ephesians 4:11 describes individuals serving through the gifting of the Spirit and offices within the church? Why or why not?
Second, in his post called “Entertain strangers” Maël builds on one of my earlier posts called “Justice, Kindness, Mercy…” In this post, Maël describes an encounter with a lady who asked him for money; he offered food, and she ended up having specific (expensive) tastes in food. He bought her food (not the expensive food she asked for, though), but he wonders if the lady took advantage of him. This brings me to the question that I plan to ask on his blog, and I ask here for my readers. When it comes to giving money/food/etc. to people in need, does God always ask us to use reason and logic?
The Spirit, Ministry, and Theology…
Mark at “Gospel Driven Life” shares his thoughts concerning spiritual gifts in a blog called “Thoughts on gifts“. He makes some points that I have attempted to make from time to time. I especially appreciate his last paragraph:
What most strikes me is how little I have expectation and faith for the active working of the Spirit of God in a church and how much my heart drifts to a natural-ized view of ministry. I am learning to ask for God to work as we meet and am grateful that he does not give me according to my feeble faith. I am grateful the Holy Spirit does his work and our theology is not the measure of his activity.
This post is worth reading.
Spiritual Gifts and the Gathered Church…
One of the most interesting books that I have read in the last few years is Paul’s Idea of Community (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 1994) by Robert Banks. In one part of this book, Banks discusses the purpose of Spiritual gifts for believers, especially when believers are gathered together:
We have seen how gifts were distributed to every member of the community by the Spirit and that through their mutual sharing these were exercised amongst them. Guidance on matters affecting the community’s life was principally granted to members when they met together to discern what God required of them. They received this guidance from the Spirit through their exercise of gifts of knowledge, revelation, wisdom, and so on. In all this Paul never tires of insisting that every member of the community has the responsibility to impart the particular insights they have been given…
Thus, the most characteristic setting in which the community received guidance was when Christians assembled to share and evaluate the gifts given to them. Here, in a variety of complementary ways, the guidance was conveyed through each to all and through all to each.
Both nurture and discipline within the congregation, then, should arise spontaneously from the concern of every member for the quality of its life and the involvement of every member in decisions affecting the whole. (137-138)
Banks describes exactly what Paul writes about in 1 Cor. 12:7: Spiritual gifts are given for the benefit of others, not for our own benefit. Perhaps, Acts 13 includes the best biblical example of the Spirit communicating to the community through the gifts of those within the community:
Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a member of the court of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off. So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus. (Acts 13:1-4 ESV)
Notice that it was in the context of exercising spiritual gifts (i.e. to the benefit of other people – 1 Cor. 12:7) that the men were serving the Lord. (Now, I know that the ESV says the men were “worshiping”, but the word is probably better translated “serving”.) While they were serving people and the Lord, the Spirit communicated both to the men being sent, and also to the church. The men listened, and the church listened. The Spirit spoke. The people responded. Interesting, this passage says that both the church “sent” the men and that also the Spirit “sent” the men.
Scripture only gives two requirements for someone to exercise their gift when the church is assembled: whatever they do must be motivated by love (1 Cor. 13) and must edify the church (1 Cor. 14:26). No gifts should be refused, and no gifts should be elevated above the others – as long as the gifts are used to edify other people. Similarly, the people should be given the opportunity to use their gifts when the church is assembled, and they should be reminded that God holds them responsible for this. In other words, if someone is in charge of the meeting time, that person should make sure that others are given opportunity to edify the church. And, the people gathered should be reminded that God wants them to participate and expects them to participate in building up the body.
Do you expect God to communicate to you through the Spiritual gifts of the entire body, or just through the gifts of a few leaders within the body? Do you expect God to communicate to the church through the Spiritual gifts that he gives you? Are you obedient to God in building up his church and allowing others (with different gifts perhaps) to have the same opportunity?
Are you involved in church growth?
God has a church growth method:
Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. (Ephesians 4:15-16 ESV)
According to this passage, every believer should be involved in God’s church growth method. Lately, I have been asking myself what part I play in making the body grow and build itself up in love. So, what are you doing to make the body grow?
Update: Perhaps a better way to ask this is: How is God working through you to grow (that is, edify) his church?
Mutual Edification and Reverence…
(Part 4 in a series on the implications of mutual edification as the purpose of the gathering of the church): I have argued previously that the purpose for the gathering of the church in the New Testament is mutual edification (1 Cor 14:26)—each believer building up other believers and being built up himself or herself (see here, here, and here). If most churches understand their purpose in gathering to be something other than edification (i.e. worship or evangelism), then this change in understanding will have significant implications for the contemporary church. These implications fall into both philosophical as well as practical categories.
This series will examine several of the implications of mutual edification for the gathering of the church.
Fourth, Christians should adjust their understanding of what it means to please God during the gathering of the church. In many gatherings and for many people, “reverence†during the meeting equates with silence for everyone except for those who are specially qualified to speak.
However, there is no indication in Scripture that an “untrained†person’s silence pleases God nor that education, training, knowledge, or role in the body qualifies anyone to speak. Instead, only the indwelling of the Spirit of God and the prompting of the Spirit makes someone eligible to speak during the meeting.
The body should allow any of its members to speak as long as the Holy Spirit directs that person to speak, love motivates the person, and mutual edification is their aim. Notice that in 1 Corinthians 14, Paul does not give these instructions to church leaders. He gives his instructions to the entire church. Everyone is responsible to edify the church, and to make sure that Paul’s instructions are carried out.
Implications of Mutual Edification Series:
1. Mutual Edification and Individualism
2. Mutual Edification and Leadership
3. Mutual Edification and Excellence
4. Mutual Edification and Reverence
5. Mutual Edification and Activities
Gifting vs. Office 6…
This is the sixth post in a series concerning Spiritual Gifts and Church Offices. This series was inspired by Harold Hoehner’s ETS presentation, “Can a Woman be a Pastor-Teacher?”
If Scripture intends apostles, elders/overseers, and deacons to be offices within the church, then those positions exist apart from the person or persons holding the office. For example, there is a governmental office called “President of the United States.” When a president dies, the office still exists.
Furthermore, if apostles, elders/overseers, and deacons represent offices, then people who take those offices begin functioning differently and carrying out different responsibilities once they begin to hold those offices. For example, the person who takes the office of “President of the United States” begins to function differently and to have different responsibilities once that person takes the oath of office.
However, Scripture always focuses on the person, not the position. Looking specifically at elders/overseers, Scripture always describes a person, not an office. The church is instructed to identify persons who meet certain expectations – those who are good examples to the church – and recognize them as their leaders. The church is not to choose people to place in an office, as if the office-holder now has new responsibilities and functions because he or she now holds an office. Instead, the church is supposed to recognize that some people are ALREADY living as examples to the church. The church is then to follow their examples.