Over the past three Sundays, I have been preaching on some of the major objections people have to faith in the God of the Bible – issues like Hell, the exclusivity of Christ, and the resurrection – in a series I’ve called Why Believe?. One of the most meaningful aspects of these Sunday worship gatherings, however, has been giving individuals in our church the opportunity to share some of their story of why they believe. Sharman Anderson, Danny Cordero, and Maggie Proulx have all shared about how they came to faith in Jesus and the difference He has made in their lives, and in the process have helped me (and hopefully others) to see God in new ways. I have found that there is something about hearing a testimony of how God has worked in someone else’s life that can be incredibly strengthening for our own faith.
I think that this is church at its best – each member bringing his or her own experience and words from God to church instead of simply sitting back and expecting the church to produce worship in them. Listen to the way Paul put it: “What then shall we say, brothers? When you come together, everyone has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. All of these must be done for the strengthening of the church” (1 Corinthians 14:26). How rarely this describes churches today! When each member of the church shows up ready to share what God has laid on their heart in the appropriate time and manner, the church’s worship of God is strengthened.
I’ve been using this space the last few weeks to discuss a question related to Why Believe?: Why go to church? For many, the question isn’t whether or not to believe in God, but why I should bother being a part of a local church. Why deal with all the people and the getting up early on Sundays and all that when I can just listen to sermons or worship or pray on my own at home? It’s an important question, on which I’ve been trying to offer some thoughts for consideration.
C.S. Lewis was one of the greatest Christian writers and theologians of the 20th century, and he experienced that struggle with going to church. This is how he described it:
When I first became a Christian, I thought that I could do it on my own, by retiring to my room and reading theology, and I wouldn’t go to churches and Gospel Halls; I disliked very much their hymns, which I considered to be fifth-rate poems set to sixth-rate music. But as I went on I saw the great merit of it. I came up against different people of quite different outlooks and different education, and then gradually my conceit just began peeling off. I realized that the hymns (which were just sixth-rate music) were, nonetheless, being sung with devotion and benefit by an old saint in elastic-side boots in the opposite pew, and then you realize that you aren’t fit to clean those boots. It gets you out of your solitary conceit.
In Lewis’ book The Four Loves, he shares some profound insights into how important community is to our worship and understanding of God that I think help us to understand the importance of church. He uses the analogy of how each of our friends brings out a different aspect of us in order to explain how God is more fully known and worshiped when we worship and follow Him in community instead of by ourselves:
Lamb says somewhere that if, of three friends (A, B, and C), A should die, then B loses not only A but “A’s part in C,” while C loses not only A but “A’s part in B.” In each of my friends there is something that only some other friend can fully bring out. By myself I am not large enough to call the whole man into activity; I want other lights than my own to show all his facets. Now that Charles is dead, I shall never again see Ronald’s reaction to a specifically Caroline joke. Far from having more of Ronald, having him “to myself” now that Charles is away, I have less of Ronald… In this, Friendship exhibits a glorious “nearness by resemblance” to Heaven itself where the very multitude of the blessed (which no man can number) increases the fruition which each has of God. For every soul, seeing Him in her own way, doubtless communicates that unique vision to all the rest. That, says an old author, is why the Seraphim in Isaiah’s vision are crying “Holy, Holy, Holy” to one another (Isaiah 6:3). The more we thus share the Heavenly Bread between us, the more we shall all have (C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves, 61-2).
I love this insight. Lewis’ point is that in human relationships, we know someone better as we share them with other friends – not, ironically, when we have them all to ourselves – because when we share them with others we get to see sides of them that our relationship can’t bring out on its own. Think of a young man and woman who are dating, and then one day she sees him with his guy friends and gets freaked out and says something like, “I’ve never seen you that way before – I feel like I don’t even know you.” Each of my friends brings out something different in me – one brings out my silly side; another, my philosophical side; a third, my competitive side; and yet another (my wife) my romantic side. If this is the way it is with humans, how much more is this true of God? We know God better as we share Him with other friends – not, ironically, when we have Him all to ourselves.
This is why it has been so valuable to have people sharing testimonies, why we promote home fellowships, and why we are always encouraging people to be in relationship with each other. We see God more clearly and worship Him more fully as we learn how each other sees and has experienced God (assuming we see what is true). I have never been in poverty, but as I listen to someone who has seen God care for them financially day by day, I learn that God is our provider. I have never experienced His miraculous healing, but when I hear from someone who has had his cancer miraculously healed by God, I learn that God is a healer. I have never used drugs, but when I hear from someone who used to use and has experienced God’s freedom, I learn the power of God to break strongholds. As I listen to the experiences and wisdom of other believers, I gain a fuller understanding and deeper worship of God.
And, just as importantly, as I share what God has done in my life, those around me grow in their understanding and worship of God as well. When you are absent from the fellowship, we lose part of our understanding and worship of God, because there is something about God that your relationship brings out that no one else has experienced. When you keep your voice quiet, your experiences to yourself, and your insights hidden, we all suffer in our understanding and worship of God. So, why come to church? Because our understanding and worship of God, and yours, become so much richer and truer when we share God with each other.
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