Pastor Ricky Jones, from River Oaks Church in Tulsa, Oklahoma, wrote a letter to his congregation in 2014 about how people in America, claiming to be Christians, had stopped attending their weekly church services. His pastoral words were written no doubt in love and humility. Interestingly, Jone’s words were relevant then, and they may be more relevant now, what with all that’s happened in our land during the last few years. So, it seems quite appropriate to ask one other, “Do followers of Christ even need to attend church?” Pastor Ricky wrote; “I want you to understand that being a part of the universal church without submitting to a local church is not possible, biblical, or healthy.” He included in his pastor’s letter a reminder that when believers say they don’t need to attend a church gathering, that philosophical reasoning isn’t found anywhere in the Bible. Every letter in the New Testament assumes Christians are members of their local church. So as professing believers, we should start this conversation by first, remembering it's been a typical practice of Christians throughout history to seek God’s Wisdom when our human wisdom starts to percolate a grand plan. And not attending weekly church service would seem to be a pretty big plan. So, we open our Bibles and see what God wants us to know. For our own good. What does God say about the faithful attending church? In our Bibles, we read the word "ekklesia" 110 times in the New Testament and there are four precise definitions for this Greek word. First, “ekklesia” is called “A gathering.” Second, it’s called “a local church.” Third, it’s referred to as, “Christians in a geographical area,” and finally it’s referred to as, “the Body of Christ.” These four New Testament definitions of ekklesia indicate that two of our most common uses of the term church in society today - that is, a church being a denomination or a building - are alien to the New Testament. As we dig deeper into our Bibles, we read frequently about the faithful gathering together as a people, not a building. The church is called the blood of Christ’s New Covenant in 1 Corinthians 11:25. The church is built upon Apostolic foundations hades will not prevail against in Matthew 16:18. It’s built with those baptized by the Spirit in Mark 1:8. With members in union with each other in 1 Corinthians 12:12. With Christ in Romans 6:22. With those who are freed from sin in John 8:32. With those enslaved to the Son in 1 Corinthians 7:22. With those who are no longer separated from the Father in Ephesians 2:1-22. By those having obtained sanctification and eternal life in 1 Peter 1:9. By God’s divine progressive workmanship Ephesians 2:8-10, and God’s will in Philippians 2:12-13, as a fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23, and for the glory of God in John 11:4. It seems pretty clear, Scripture has much to say about church, and so during a recent Bible study at church held prior to the morning worship service, I shared a similar loving, humble mid-Michigan commentary with our congregation here in Grayling, just as pastor Ricky had done with his congregation almost a decade earlier. I shared; "So, why all the fuss about the church? Well, besides the things in the passages we’ll read today, I can only think of one other reason worthy of consideration. The church is what Jesus Christ says He will build. He's in charge. Matthew 16:18; “And I tell you that you are Peter (Greek: Petros), and on this rock (petra) I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.” Ephesians 5:23-25; … as also Christ is the head of the church. … just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her.” The world teaches that the “head” of something is like a CEO. The manager. The boss. But the church is not Ford. It is not Southwest Airlines or the American Medical Association or a restaurant or a police station. These are all important but none of them can claim Christ’s Headship. Only the Church can. No matter how it appears to others, no matter how many people claim not to need it, even with all its human faults, the church still ranks right up there at the top because it belongs to Jesus and all who profess to follow Jesus are here because of the church. The church is something God has chosen, and which God is pleased to use. It's a Very. Big. Deal. Praise God it wasn’t finished in a day, or a week, or a month, or 1000 years because here we are, 2000 years out, with Jesus still using his church, started with twelve and now gathering millions upon millions (including us) until Jesus returns.” - Pastor Mark and his wife Donna have 5 children, 11 grandchildren and are avid outdoors folks.
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We Chase After being Addicted to Being Busy
Blaise Pascal was a French scientist, inventor, philosopher, and religious writer during the 1600’s and once wrote; “I have often said that the sole cause of man’s unhappiness is that he does not know how to stay quietly in his room.” Fast forward 350 years, and it doesn’t seem like much has changed because folks habitually tell one another they’re busier than they’d like to be. They say that the hustle and bustle of our post-modern living is gobbling up their quiet time. Devouring it like a hungry lion. But how can that be since we’re the lucky recipients of technological advances since the time of Pascal, designed (we’re told) to make our lives easier, more productive, less physically demanding, and less time consuming?
More intriguing still, is how 60% of us tell pollsters that we’re too busy to enjoy life. Or that women report being busier than men. How can it be that as a culture we’ve crafted categories to describe our nature of being this busy? Categories like time-starved, time-poor, time poverty, leisure gap, harried, overworked, overscheduled, and more. Many times, we blame work. At times, we blame each other. Often times, we blame kid’s sports or our commute times. Most times, we set our hopes upon that day in our future when a different job, less of this, more of that, or retirement (whatever that is) finally gives us peace and quiet.
For now, however, many of us live out Pascal’s words and we admit we still don’t know how to stay quietly in our rooms. Why? Because we chase after being addicted to being busy.
Peter Kreeft, in his book “Christianity for Modern Pagans; Pascal’s Pensées edited, Outlined and Explained;” writes; “We ought to have much more time, more leisure, than our ancestors did, because technology, which is the most obvious and radical difference between their lives and ours, is essentially a series of time-saving devices. In ancient societies if you were rich, you had slaves to do menial work so you could be freed to enjoy your leisure time. Life was like a vacation for the rich because the poor slaves were their machines… (But) now that everyone has a slave-substitute (machines), why doesn’t everyone enjoy the leisurely, vacation lifestyle of the ancient rich? Why have we killed time instead of saving it?”
Kreeft’s question is legit and the answer to his question is that we chase after complexity in our lives. With gusto. We’re addicted to it. We want to be harried and hassled and time poor. Time restraints is our teddy bear friend, and we find comfort in all its warmy chaos. We scurry here and there (Pascal was right) spending our lives repeatedly chasing the things we complain about. We desire the busy because we know deep down inside that if we were relaxed, if we are at leisure, if there was ease in our lives, and if we were totally and unashamedly honest with ourselves (and no one else is there to give us advice as people often do), we don’t want to be “quiet in our rooms.” Why? Because in the quiet we find time to reflect inward, rather than outward. The outward can be altered and changed if need be. Inward not so much. Quiet time has the uncanny ability to bring about an internal confrontation within us, including all manner of dredging up what psychologists call, “junk in the trunk.” We don’t want to reflect on the junk. We prefer to bury it. Cover it up. Cover the elephant in our room with 10,000 mice (idols, addictions, behaviors), and so we become mice herders, only to discover that the junk in our trunk has a super-hero ability to reappear and affect our heart > which steers our mind > which leads our behavior. It’s a vicious cycle, and many of us are caught in its deadly web. Busy is not a bad thing per se. It’s simply a lifestyle. A result of the behaviors we choose and the consequences of those choices.
But God, and his Word we call the Bible, helps us to know what’s really true and what’s truly false. God’s Story helps us to know that our flesh (our sinful habits), the world (our society), and the enemy (those opposed to the God of Creation) all conspire together to lead us towards brokenness, despair, heartache, and more junk in our trunks. But God, who created us, desires everyone to live in peace. Hippies can want it, but only Jesus who was killed and was buried for three days, and then was resurrected from the grave has the authority to deliver it. Jesus’ timeless words are aimed at anyone caught on the hamster wheel of busy. Jesus said; “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30).
There’s never been a more loving invitation offered to people. And there never will be. Jesus covers the elephant in our room and the junk in our trunk. Like nothing else can. God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are active in our world, no matter what the foolish say, and God quite often does His best work using a quiet voice. Others shout. God speaks in whispers. It won’t be easy, but if you can start to begin to break your addiction to the busy and carve out some quiet time for God’s Word, it’ll bring the necessary nourishment for your mind, body, and soul. It’s very typical in those quiet moments to witness God’s plan for our lives. You’ve heard, “God knows best.” It’s true.
As a pastor sitting and listening to people at the end of their life on earth, I’m amazed at the clarity people bring to these moments. I oftentimes hear people say they couldn’t chase busy well enough to land at a happy place during their lives because happy is a selfish, fleeting emotion and busy is a selfish consuming god. Many of them have come to realize after many years, that joy (not happy) is where we find our peace. Our rest. Joy gets us through the good times and the bad times just as King David of Israel wrote about long ago; “For all the gods of the peoples are idols, But the Lord made the heavens. Splendor and majesty are before Him, Strength and Joy are in His place.” (1 Chronicles 16:26-27).
I learn a lot from those who think clearly at the end of life. I listen well during the quiet of it all. I pray the same for you.
Mark June is a pastor at the EFree church of Grayling. He and his wife Donna enjoy all things outdoors (especially fishing).