Why Go To Church? Part 2: The Dialogue of Faith
Four years of solitude.
Four years without another human being with which to interact or converse.
This is Tom Hanks' experience in the epic film "Castaway," and as the film shows us, when we are left only with monologue, only conversing with ourselves, it can drive us a bit nuts. Like, "talking-to-a-volleyball" nuts. We will invent another person in our minds and attribute an entirely fictional personality to them, if only for the purpose of having a place for our own thoughts to be reflected.
We were made for a life of dialogue, not just monologue.
It is through dialogue that our ideas are sharpened, affirmed, and, when necessary, challenged. How often have you had an idea that never would have taken off without the small tweak or correction by another? How often has someone else's comment sparked an entirely new thought in your own mind, something you would never have considered before? And how often have your seemingly brilliant ideas been (thankfully!) challenged by another before they wreaked havoc on your life?
Dialogue isn't just helpful, it's necessary for our survival.
When I pledged my men's social club in college (the Christian school version of a fraternity), many of the challenges our pledge class faced involved accomplishing difficult objectives without talking to each other. Resorting to crude gestures and charades, simple tasks suddenly became enormous obstacles. The ability to communicate ideas and dialogue with other people about those ideas is a gift we can never fully appreciate, until it is taken away from us.
It goes without saying, then, that the more important an idea, the more important it is to be able to dialogue with others about that idea.
Especially when it comes to our ideas about God.
When Apollos spoke with great fervor but knew only the baptism of John, it was others like Priscilla and Aquila who enhanced his understanding so that he could be an effective evangelist. Through dialogue, Apollos gained an even greater appreciation for what God had done for humanity through Jesus Christ, and he would go on to share that gospel with the lost.
When Peter was slipping into an elitist and works-driven mindset that segregated him from his Gentile Christian brothers, it was Paul who opposed him and brought him back to a right view of Jesus and the Law. Through dialogue, Peter was reminded of the power that Jesus' death and resurrection had over the Law of Moses, and that because of that event, faith in Christ was the only requirement for being made right with God.
And when the early church faced an internal debate over whether Gentile Christians were obligated to follow the Mosaic Law, the apostles and church elders met together in Jerusalem to talk it out, share perspectives, and prayerfully come to a decision about the path forward. Through dialogue, the leaders of the early church came to see more clearly how God's mission had developed from the time of the prophets until their own day, and how Jesus was the fulfillment of all that had been promised.
In each of these moments of dialogue, as Scripture was brought to bear on current events, three wonderful things happened:
1. Fellow believers talked with each other. Notice that no one was a "lone eagle" in trying to understand these complex faith issues. They either sought out each other, or were accepting of and listened to the teaching of others. Apollos accepted this new instruction well, because it was presented in love from others who were also following Jesus. Peter obviously took Paul's words to heart and changed his heart and his understanding. And the church leaders in Jerusalem knew they needed input from multiple Godly men in order to chart a way forward for the church in this new landscape of Jew and Gentile. In the end, individual believers and the church as a whole were strengthened because rather than assuming they had everything figured out, or that they didn't need anyone else to potentially challenge their beliefs, these early Christians humbled themselves and came together to talk about faith issues. They met...as a church!
2. Scripture was the common ground of discussion. Obviously not all spiritual dialogue brings about positive change. It was dialogue with Paul that corrected Peter's views, just as much as it was Peter's dialogue with "certain men from James" that misdirected them in the first place (Gal. 2:12). All church splits begin with some kind of "group spiritual dialogue." The difference is whether or not Scriptural truth serves as the table around which you are gathered, a "litmus test" for your thoughts and perspectives about God. In the end, the Word of God should be just as much a voice in your dialogue as the people present, if not more so! After all, it is "breathed by God" and "useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness" (2 Tim. 3:16). It is "living and active...dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart" (Heb. 4:12)!
3. Clarity about God led to stronger Christians and a stronger church. Most Christians who leave the institutional church today will say they are doing so out of a desire to be a better Jesus follower. They want to deepen their relationship with God, so they are headed out of, instead of into, the church community. In other words, continued clarity about God is to be found in isolation, rather than in community. But for Apollos, Peter, and the early church, a clearer picture of God and His mission wasn't found by going it alone- it was found in communion with other believers. In going solo, misguided ideas are allowed to fester, grow, and become dangerous theological cliffs...sometimes taking us so far off course we can't find the way back.
In going solo, Apollos never hears about Jesus' baptism for forgiveness, Peter never sees the unifying power of grace, and the divide between the Jews and Gentiles in the early Christian community becomes toxic. In the weekly gathering of the church, misguided ideas and anxieties about God are redirected to healthier places from which to better understand Him, all done in the context of love and concern for each other.
It is the Christian life as God intended- in community with each other.
"Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work." Ephesians 4:15-16
Four years without another human being with which to interact or converse.
This is Tom Hanks' experience in the epic film "Castaway," and as the film shows us, when we are left only with monologue, only conversing with ourselves, it can drive us a bit nuts. Like, "talking-to-a-volleyball" nuts. We will invent another person in our minds and attribute an entirely fictional personality to them, if only for the purpose of having a place for our own thoughts to be reflected.
We were made for a life of dialogue, not just monologue.
It is through dialogue that our ideas are sharpened, affirmed, and, when necessary, challenged. How often have you had an idea that never would have taken off without the small tweak or correction by another? How often has someone else's comment sparked an entirely new thought in your own mind, something you would never have considered before? And how often have your seemingly brilliant ideas been (thankfully!) challenged by another before they wreaked havoc on your life?Dialogue isn't just helpful, it's necessary for our survival.
When I pledged my men's social club in college (the Christian school version of a fraternity), many of the challenges our pledge class faced involved accomplishing difficult objectives without talking to each other. Resorting to crude gestures and charades, simple tasks suddenly became enormous obstacles. The ability to communicate ideas and dialogue with other people about those ideas is a gift we can never fully appreciate, until it is taken away from us.
It goes without saying, then, that the more important an idea, the more important it is to be able to dialogue with others about that idea.
Especially when it comes to our ideas about God.
When Apollos spoke with great fervor but knew only the baptism of John, it was others like Priscilla and Aquila who enhanced his understanding so that he could be an effective evangelist. Through dialogue, Apollos gained an even greater appreciation for what God had done for humanity through Jesus Christ, and he would go on to share that gospel with the lost.
When Peter was slipping into an elitist and works-driven mindset that segregated him from his Gentile Christian brothers, it was Paul who opposed him and brought him back to a right view of Jesus and the Law. Through dialogue, Peter was reminded of the power that Jesus' death and resurrection had over the Law of Moses, and that because of that event, faith in Christ was the only requirement for being made right with God.
And when the early church faced an internal debate over whether Gentile Christians were obligated to follow the Mosaic Law, the apostles and church elders met together in Jerusalem to talk it out, share perspectives, and prayerfully come to a decision about the path forward. Through dialogue, the leaders of the early church came to see more clearly how God's mission had developed from the time of the prophets until their own day, and how Jesus was the fulfillment of all that had been promised.
In each of these moments of dialogue, as Scripture was brought to bear on current events, three wonderful things happened:
1. Fellow believers talked with each other. Notice that no one was a "lone eagle" in trying to understand these complex faith issues. They either sought out each other, or were accepting of and listened to the teaching of others. Apollos accepted this new instruction well, because it was presented in love from others who were also following Jesus. Peter obviously took Paul's words to heart and changed his heart and his understanding. And the church leaders in Jerusalem knew they needed input from multiple Godly men in order to chart a way forward for the church in this new landscape of Jew and Gentile. In the end, individual believers and the church as a whole were strengthened because rather than assuming they had everything figured out, or that they didn't need anyone else to potentially challenge their beliefs, these early Christians humbled themselves and came together to talk about faith issues. They met...as a church!
2. Scripture was the common ground of discussion. Obviously not all spiritual dialogue brings about positive change. It was dialogue with Paul that corrected Peter's views, just as much as it was Peter's dialogue with "certain men from James" that misdirected them in the first place (Gal. 2:12). All church splits begin with some kind of "group spiritual dialogue." The difference is whether or not Scriptural truth serves as the table around which you are gathered, a "litmus test" for your thoughts and perspectives about God. In the end, the Word of God should be just as much a voice in your dialogue as the people present, if not more so! After all, it is "breathed by God" and "useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness" (2 Tim. 3:16). It is "living and active...dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart" (Heb. 4:12)!
For that reason, in all of our dialogue about God, let Scripture speak the loudest- over and above our own assumptions, feelings, and biases. Then, and only then, can the tenuous activity of spiritual conversation, filled with potential but also fraught with dangers, become fruitful and profitable.
3. Clarity about God led to stronger Christians and a stronger church. Most Christians who leave the institutional church today will say they are doing so out of a desire to be a better Jesus follower. They want to deepen their relationship with God, so they are headed out of, instead of into, the church community. In other words, continued clarity about God is to be found in isolation, rather than in community. But for Apollos, Peter, and the early church, a clearer picture of God and His mission wasn't found by going it alone- it was found in communion with other believers. In going solo, misguided ideas are allowed to fester, grow, and become dangerous theological cliffs...sometimes taking us so far off course we can't find the way back.
In going solo, Apollos never hears about Jesus' baptism for forgiveness, Peter never sees the unifying power of grace, and the divide between the Jews and Gentiles in the early Christian community becomes toxic. In the weekly gathering of the church, misguided ideas and anxieties about God are redirected to healthier places from which to better understand Him, all done in the context of love and concern for each other.
It is the Christian life as God intended- in community with each other.
"Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work." Ephesians 4:15-16
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