In his brand new book, Preaching to a Post-Everything World (2008, Baker Books), Zack Eswine says the nature of our times demands that preachers embrace a more dialogical approach to exposition. Which doesn’t imply preaching where parishioners are invited to stand up and interject during the sermon (that could get dicey!) but it does refer to preaching that anticipates questions and doesn’t attempt to resolve every tension.
Well, our five-week series on the church (Isn’t She Beautiful!) definitely sparked some dialogue. And some superb questions. (Man, I love this church family!) So, in light of those questions, let me attempt to briefly respond (while leaving, I’m sure, plenty of questions unanswered).
In the last few weeks, we've talked about the purpose of the church, and we’ve observed from Scripture that the primary reason that we gather together as a group of believers is not to win the lost but to edify and equip one another so that we would be spurred on to faithful service and more effective Christian witness.
In at least 33 different ways, the Scriptures implore us to do the ‘one-anothers’. But that inward focus represents a huge paradigm shift for many of us, especially those of us who grew up in a church which emphasized "inviting people in" as the essence of true biblical evangelism.
So...
1. Should we invite unbelievers to church? This is a great question. And let me respond this way: there’s clearly a benefit for unbelievers who attend a worship celebration. First, they are exposed to the unparalleled community and oneness that we enjoy as followers of Christ (they see first-hand what it means to truly love each other.) And second, they’re confronted with the Living God through the life-piercing Word of God. So there’s value for them being here. And so-called seekers should feel welcome and respected should they decide to join us on a Sunday. Having said that, though, since church is by definition a group of believers or ‘called out ones,’ our focus on Sundays has to be equipping one-another and not winning the lost. There’s a reason that there’s only one reference in the Bible to an unbeliever ever being in church (I Cor. 14). It was the exception, not the norm. After all, Jesus never told anyone, “Come to church," he said, “Come to me.” True biblical evangelism is not bringing people in, it’s going to where they are with a message of redemption.
2. Do I have to be a church member to be a Christian? Absolutely not. Although, the question is valid. When I said a couple of weeks ago that your salvation depends on your involvement in a local church, my point was not that membership saves anyone, but that we desperately need each in order to thrive spiritually. (Just last week I had someone approach me after the sermon who was totally despondent and hopeless—with a real spiritual struggle. And the first thing I asked this person was, “Are you around other believers who can help you carry your burden?” The answer was ‘no,’ and I said that’s what you need. We were never intended to walk alone on this spiritual journey. This idea of a Christian not being part of a church would have been absolutely foreign to the first followers of Jesus. As I said last week, it never would have crossed their minds. Because without each other, they would never have survived in the midst of real hardship and persecution.
3. If the primary purpose of our gatherings is edification of believers, what about worship? NT scholar extraordinaire John Frame says in his book Worship in Spirit and Truth, “It is true that the NT does not describe early Christians as meeting for “worship”. When I first read that I thought, What!? Are you kidding me? What did the early Christians do, then, when they got together? Well they met for prayer, teaching and the sacraments. They publicly pronounced church discipline on unrepentant sin and they received gifts for those in need. There was intentionally a horizontal focus. But does this mean that we shouldn’t worship God when we come together. Certainly not. Throughout redemptive history, we see God drawing near to his people in a special way when they willingly gather together. And there’s a precedent established in the OT that when God visits his people in such a way, it should incite their praises and corporate adoration. And even though all of life is worship, there something special about our gatherings. When God visits us, the majesty of his presence demands our praise.
