IT TAKES LOVE TO KILL A MAMMOTH
Since January I've been explaining our church's statement of faith. We began with the Bible as God's authoritative Word. We took a long time looking at who God is, how sin broke our relationship with God, and finally how the God worked to turn the human race from sin and back to Himself.
I turn now to what we believe about THE CHURCH. If evangelicalism has a deficiency, it is our underdeveloped understanding of the church. We perceive our faith as being personal, and therefore as being individualistic. My faith is my business and mine alone; it is between me and God - period.
It is that 'period' that is the problem.
In the Genesis account, everything about God's creation is good until Genesis 2.18 when God observes: It is not good that the man should be alone.
Technically, Adam wasn't alone. He had God. But God Himself says this isn't enough. You need someone else with skin on them. Thinking that all you need is God may sound spiritual, but that notion is contrary to God's own Word!
We all know it's not good to be alone. Remove the biblical narrative and observe our species. The drive to reproduce is one of the most powerful forces in the world, and it drives us to connect with a mate. When children are born, parents must deal with the group dynamics of a family. Then a clan. Then a tribe. Then a city. Then a nation.
We work best in groups. You didn't kill a mammoth or a buffalo (or large predators) alone. We need others - and we know it. We inherently know that it is not good to be alone. It is part of the fabric of reality.
Reality is that way because God the Creator is that way. God is three persons living and working in harmony as one God. God is not alone, and mankind, created in His image, is like Him. We require connection with others.
This is why love is a good thing. When the Bible says that God is love, it affirms that God in and of Himself is not (and never has been) alone. He has always been the harmonious and cooperative Trinity, the three-in-one: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Because this is who and how He is, love and connection is a good - and it is not good to be alone.
God's work in the world is always about building a loving and cooperative group. God called Abram to make him a great nation - and He did. Israel was given the law to teach them how to live together in love.
In the New Testament, Jesus surrounded Himself with a circle of apostles, and when he ascended into heaven, He sent the Holy Spirit to build the church - a loving society of people committed to obedience to Christ.
When you become a Christian you are not a Lone Ranger. You are baptized by the Holy Spirit into the body of Christ and connected to other believers. Yes, each soul must exercise its own faith to be saved. But Christianity only begins there. Unfortunately, for many evangelicals it ends there. Many see spirituality as an isolated individualism, believing that connection to others in a church is inauthentic artificial 'religion'.
Love is the language of heaven, and we are to be learning that language now. You do not love in isolation. You love others. The ability to love others is the greatest witness for Jesus (John 13.35).
We are not made to be alone.
I turn now to what we believe about THE CHURCH. If evangelicalism has a deficiency, it is our underdeveloped understanding of the church. We perceive our faith as being personal, and therefore as being individualistic. My faith is my business and mine alone; it is between me and God - period.
It is that 'period' that is the problem.
In the Genesis account, everything about God's creation is good until Genesis 2.18 when God observes: It is not good that the man should be alone.
Technically, Adam wasn't alone. He had God. But God Himself says this isn't enough. You need someone else with skin on them. Thinking that all you need is God may sound spiritual, but that notion is contrary to God's own Word!
We all know it's not good to be alone. Remove the biblical narrative and observe our species. The drive to reproduce is one of the most powerful forces in the world, and it drives us to connect with a mate. When children are born, parents must deal with the group dynamics of a family. Then a clan. Then a tribe. Then a city. Then a nation.
We work best in groups. You didn't kill a mammoth or a buffalo (or large predators) alone. We need others - and we know it. We inherently know that it is not good to be alone. It is part of the fabric of reality.
Reality is that way because God the Creator is that way. God is three persons living and working in harmony as one God. God is not alone, and mankind, created in His image, is like Him. We require connection with others.
This is why love is a good thing. When the Bible says that God is love, it affirms that God in and of Himself is not (and never has been) alone. He has always been the harmonious and cooperative Trinity, the three-in-one: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Because this is who and how He is, love and connection is a good - and it is not good to be alone.
God's work in the world is always about building a loving and cooperative group. God called Abram to make him a great nation - and He did. Israel was given the law to teach them how to live together in love.
In the New Testament, Jesus surrounded Himself with a circle of apostles, and when he ascended into heaven, He sent the Holy Spirit to build the church - a loving society of people committed to obedience to Christ.
When you become a Christian you are not a Lone Ranger. You are baptized by the Holy Spirit into the body of Christ and connected to other believers. Yes, each soul must exercise its own faith to be saved. But Christianity only begins there. Unfortunately, for many evangelicals it ends there. Many see spirituality as an isolated individualism, believing that connection to others in a church is inauthentic artificial 'religion'.
Love is the language of heaven, and we are to be learning that language now. You do not love in isolation. You love others. The ability to love others is the greatest witness for Jesus (John 13.35).
We are not made to be alone.