So, please watch, thoughts?
Dec 18, 2011
Re-Doing Church...
A friend on Facebook posted this not long ago, and I am really intrigued by this thought provoking sermon by Francis Chan. First, let me say, one of the biggest reasons I love Francis Chan's speaking is his humility. I appreciate his perspective on the Bible and on Christ and what it looks like to lead a Christian life. I do not pray for him as often as I should, but his ministry is amazing.
So, please watch, thoughts?
So, please watch, thoughts?
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1 comment:
I think his basic point is valid, which is we need to be living lives that do all the "one another's" on a regular basis; we need to be witnessing on a regular basis; we need to be much more invested in this walk than we are now.
The unfortunate irony of his message is that he is using a definition that is not found, nor even hinted at in the bible: that "getting together is called church."
Biblically, when you get together, it is NEVER called "church." The "church" is the people, NOT the building, and not the meeting, and not what you do when you get together. They did not use "church" as a verb (we are "doing church").
Not only that, but the first century church actually DID get together in these huge corporate meetings where some people gave messages, and they sang, and so on, because Paul gives instructions for things they should and should not do in those meetings.
So the unfortunate irony of his message is that if I went back to the Bible and let it tell me how do all this, it would never occur to me to use the word "church" to describe what we "do" when we get together. We are the church. It is not what we do, it is who we are. And we are supposed to be that 24/7.
Thus, his basic assumption, that getting together is called "church" already IS a redefinition of the word "church." So his question, "do we have the right to call this church?" is on par with the question, "are you still beating your wife?" It is assuming something that is false: "church" is a reference to something we do (i.e. get together).
There was no special name for "getting together" in the bible. They called it . . . "getting together." There was nothing special about it, and it was done for all kinds of different reason, in all kinds of different sizes. The modern focus on that weekly get together is in and of itself unbiblical.
The better question is "are we BEING the church?" Are we doing what the early church did on a regular basis in our normal, day-to-day lives? Are we the church at work? Are we the church while shopping? Are we the church while out with our friends? Are we living all those "one anothers" on a daily basis?
That is a biblical question, and the answer to that is much more compelling.
Love you, sweetie,
Dad
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