In one of our last gatherings, the leading pastor said, "By the pattern we have in Acts 20.7, we are to meet on Sundays and Sundays only, based on necessary inference." My question is, "If someone cannot meet on Sunday, or it is inconvenient for them, do you think God is concerned if they meet on some other day to partake in communion, fellowship with one another, give generously, and worship Him?
Four of the gathering said, "It would be wrong to meet on any other day because this is the pattern we have." My friend and I said, "Is there anything biblical that shows God would frown upon this, if you view commands as being of higher importance than examples?" No answer, except several verses taken out-of-context. I said, "God does not find favor in our rituals, but in our hearts. I believe that God finds more joy in His people meeting together on other days of the week and having passion for Him and His kingdom more than He finds joy in people meeting together on Sundays because it is the pattern and doing it only because they have to."
What do you think are the "essentials" and "nonessentials" of the Christian faith? "Essentials" meaning where all Christians, despite being conservative or liberal, Protestant or Catholic, Baptist or Church of Christ, are to "come together" in unity?
Adam and I talked about this last week, and I was interested in hearing what they have to say. Not only did I hear (outside the study) that liberals aren't Christians, Catholics aren't Christians, and Baptists are not full Christians, but I was told that an "essential" included women wearing head coverings in worship (with blatant disregard to the marriage culture in Corinth in the first century). It really bothered me when I asked, in essence, "What is essential for salvation?" and received the response, "Every command is essential. Jesus said that if we love Him, we will obey His commandments." So are we now toting salvation based on the "law code" of the New Testament (I thought the New Covenant and Old Covenant were different? Apparently, the New Testament is the "Torah" for Christians).
If we praise God with or without instruments, what does it matter, as long as we are worshipping God in "spirit and in truth," meaning centered upon Christ (truth) and not mere ritualistic observance with no heartfelt indulgence (spirit)? It seems to me that the method--in this case instruments or no instruments--is mere personal taste either way.
If you're familiar with the Church of Christ movement, the "split" between Church of Christ worship with or without instruments took place around the time of the Civil War; as the north gained new technology such as organs and began implementing them into worship, the southern churches looked for a way to separate themselves from the northern churches and, because they were relatively poor without these new instruments, they banked on being non-instrumental. The issue is not so much a theological one but a divisive one, though advocates use out-of-context scriptures to say that worship with instruments is sinful (referring back to patterns and examples holding the same weight as commands). Those with us are non-instrumental, and they refuse to come to Southwest because we use instruments. Our conversation on this matter went nowhere; eventually, my friends and I were hungry and decided to end the pointless meeting with a trip to Subway. (Disclaimer: while I am a fan of worshipping God with musical instruments just like Old Testament times, I have no grudge against non-instrumentalists; it is a matter of preference and tradition, but when we hold tradition up to the same standard as commands, we have errored).
This gathering led me to investigate what is called "pattern hermeneutics." Basically, this way of interpreting the Bible sees the Bible--especially the New Testament--as a rule-book, not as a guide (as, I believe, the Bible is to be used). Since the Bible is authoritative (interestingly, the Bible never makes this statement for itself), then examples hold the same authority as commands. This shone through vibrantly in our conversation on the essentials of the Christian faith when an associate pastor of the church said, "We look to the Bible to see what is essential and nonessential." I though, "Good, someone understands where I'm coming from." He proceeded to say, "One example is how we travel to our mission fields. We see that the Apostle Paul rode a boat, swam, and walked to his mission fields. These are essential. We don't know whether or not he rode an animal, so this is nonessential." How legalistic is that? Tyler looked over to me and said, in essence, "This is legalism!"
3 comments:
Although I agree with the core of this discussion, I do want to make a couple of remarks. First, "inconvenience" is never an acceptable reason, well, for anything. The very word "inconvenient" is, simply put, a selfish word. I have no problem worshipping on other days. In fact, if we really wanted to follow the church of Acts' example, we would be meeting together every day. I DO have a problem with not worshipping on Sunday (or any other day) because it will disrupt my life or my schedule, hence - inconvenient (Hebrews 10:22-25). I would say this also applies to attending small group; working in a soup kitchen; visiting someone in the hospital; going on a missions trip, etc.
Second, when we discuss the non-essentials (once again using worship on Sunday as an example), I believe that if the issue concerns a "non-directive" or is clearly a cultural directive that we would use example as the next guidemark. For instance, worship on the first day of the week is traditionally (as far back as the writing of the epistles) and symbolically (Christ rose on the first day of the week) significant. What better day to gather as a body and worship the risen Lord and commune with Him around His table?
Regarding the salvation question and (much less importantly), the instrument question; I couldn't agree more. But, again, let's be very careful about making the obeying of commands as equal to re-instituting the law. The law was twisted by man to become a thing of duty and "have-to". However, following the commands of Christ out of love for Him and love for our brothers is not replacing one twisted law for another. It is changing the emphasis of those commands and the core from whence they come.
As always, my ear is always available.
Yeah, good point with "inconvenient." It was a bad word to use. I meant it in the sense of unavoidable inconvenience due to work, school, or family-related matters ("My daughter went to the emergency room on Sunday morning, so it was inconvenient for me to go to church this morning.").
Yeah, there is definitely tradition involved with Sunday AND symbolism. I belong to a church that meets on Sundays. Tradition serves as a guide but not as a law, which we both agree on; turning it into "law" is where things go wrong (as you express in your third paragraph).
I believe that we are to obey all the commands of Jesus, for both Jesus and his disciple John (amongst others) say, "If we really love God, we will obey." However, obedience is the produce of salvation, not an act of receiving salvation.
I apologize if I mis-read you on anything :). Thanks SO MUCH for commenting.
Hey Anthony -
Reading your piece reminded me of a piece I wrote on my blog back in May - "Why Do We Argue?". It has to do exactly with what you have just talked about. Most of what I wrote comes from a dvd that Rick Atchley spoke on. He discussed the divisions in our churches and why man has divided them. It's not only 'equipment' that seperated us in the church but man made traditions.
He challenged us to look at the NT house churches as a preliminary drawing not a blueprint. Blueprints already have things set in stone as far as exact locations in a structure. The early church did not, it was a preliminary with room to give. Much like that of a human cell. It has a purpose and it adapts to it's setting.
Rick looks like a typical church of christ minister but his thoughts are right on target.
It always amazes me what man has the capability to screw up for his own creature comforts!
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