Often we have encountered Christian brethren that
have stopped assisting to Church and to worship in community with other fellow
Christians. Most of these people allege to have suffered some sort of abuse or
disenchantment with the way they were treated in the congregations they
assisted originally. They, without being expelled from the local Church, chose
to stop assisting in order to live a life in solitude, while still reading the
Bible, praying and even watching religious programs through the media, which they
consider to be enough for a healthy spiritual life in communion with God.
As justified as it may appear those claims, the
decision to isolate it is not the correct one according to the spiritual advice
of Scripture.
CHRISTIANITY IS NOT A PHILOSOPHY
Christianity is not just a philosophical theory that
can be adopted and lived out in everyday life individually. Christianity is a
religion, and like any other religion, it has a mystical aspect and a physical
reality at the same time.
Certainly, Christianity contains spiritual
principles that can be lived and indeed are requested to be lived faithfully on
an individual, personal basis. Values like forgiveness, mercy, modesty, pursuit
of truth and nobility, charity, love for one another, prayer, study of Scripture,
and many more, are Christian principles that need to be put into practice in
order to progress spiritually towards our glorification. But Christianity has
also other elements of a very material nature, that also are fundamental to our
personal redemption. As humans are not only spirit, but also matter; Lord Jesus
took care that also our material aspect should be attended in order to attain a
wholesome complete development.
Communal worship, communal study of Scripture,
communal participation of the Sacraments and communal living, are also
essential to our Christian human nature.
GOD WANTS A COMMUNITY
From the times of the OT, God wanted to be
worshipped by the whole of his people in community, and not in the form of
isolated individuals (Exodus 5:1; 8:1, 20: 9:1); and for this reason He made a
nation out of Israel (Genesis 12:2), to be worship by them together as one
(Exodus 6:7; 29:45). He gave Israel the circumcision as a sign of belonging to
a group, which would have been pointless if God have not had in mind to create
a community of believers. He also gave them social laws, and national festivals
to be observed as a nation (Deuteronomy 16:16), and communal temple worship
(Exodus 30:16).
Lord Jesus on his part, told of the establishment of
an ἐκκλησία,
or Assembly of Believers (Matthew 16:18), and even spoke of the whole group of
believers in future sense, as a community, not in individual terms (Matthew 18:17).
Jesus established Sacraments or Ordinances to be
practiced by the Community of believers, like Baptism and the Holy Supper, and
so did the Apostles (1Corinthians 11:26; 12:12-13; James 5:14); Ordinances that
would not be possible to keep in isolation, neither we can disregard as not
important, since Jesus would not command something to be done and expected to
be fulfilled if they were non important.
A second aspect of communal living is that we are
measure within the Christian community, by neutral third-party criteria, and
not under our own personal opinion. Our conduct, our spirituality, our
progress, spiritual discernment and many other issues, are brought into proper
perspective by the testimony of the community, which in turn can help us to
have a real image of ourselves, not a false impression, and help us to see our
mistakes, shortcomings, and become better Christians.
By studying the Scripture in community, we are safe
guarded of falling into heresy and all forms of false teaching. By listening to
the Gospel being preached to us, we can see other angles of the Scripture that
we did not notice before and that are useful for our lives.
A fourth aspect of communal living is that we have
the opportunity to put into practice Christian values and charity, and help one
another, that is the opportunity to receive, as much as to give spiritual and
material support from and to the community. As well as having Pastoral care
over ourselves.
The idea that the Christian life can be lived in
isolation, not having an active intercommunion with another organized group of
Christians, it is a deception, used by the devil, who wants us to separate
ourselves from the flock of God, to weaken us spiritually, socially and
doctrinally.
WARNING ABOUT ISOLATION
In isolation, the devil starts corrupting our
understanding of the Word of God, building fantasies and a deceiving self
-image, either in the form of a “hero”, or a “victim” in relation with other Christians.
Once these deceptions have taken root, the problem becomes too strong to be
broken easily. Usually, believers in this condition, reject all kind of
external help or invitation to commune with other Christians, under the false
deception that they do not need anyone, and that they are ok, by living a
“virtual communal life”, through random contact with other renegades, who
instead of building each other, they usually only comment on the reasons of
their isolation, blaming anyone and anything else, except themselves for that
condition, and transmitting each other the bad doctrines and errors they may
have fallen victims already by satanic deception.
This is a serious problem that affects more and more
all Christian communities around the world, and the greatest part of the blame
falls actually on the Ministers of those congregations, but also in the
community itself.
IT IS OUR RESPONSIBILITY
A Christian community has to look after the most
vulnerable of its members. And these are not usually from the well-established
and professional folk among us, but the poor, the lonely, the marginal. Human
beings under those conditions already suffered social rejection, and they come
to Church looking for the Christian love and acceptance they read about in Scripture
that Jesus taught. If we, active practicing Christians who are the Body of
Christ on earth, do not live up to the teachings of Jesus, we will not be able
to provide these weaker brothers and sisters with what they need. And the
responsibility to make sure this goes well, resides on the pastor of the
congregations.
It is the job of the Minister to ensure the path of
salvation and sanctification of the community he has in charged from Jesus. In
other words, if his community is falling short, he is falling short of his
duties. If some one walks away disenchanted, the Pastor has failed to provide
proper welcome to the new arrival as well as the weaker brother or sister, who
left because he or she felt better off in the world that in the House of God.
It takes all of us to stop this from happening.
Pastors, community, and isolated brethren. What ever the problem that has moved
someone to not congregate, it is better off to move to another congregation
that not to congregate at all. THAT IS A DEMONIC LIE, THAT ONLY WANTS YOUR
ETERNAL DAMNATION.
LAST WORD
Isolation is not the solution. No congregation is
perfect, neither is any of us, isolated included. If you think, isolated
brother and sister, that you do should not congregate because you are better
than them, that’s a deception, you are probably as bad as they are in other
things. If you think they mistreated you, worse things suffered Jesus and the
Apostles, even from their own family members, and they persisted in living the
way god wanted them to live.
The best way to prove wrong those who let you down,
is to remain faithful and strong, and not by falling victim to their errors.
“Not giving up meeting together, as some
are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another--and all the more as you
see the Day approaching.”
Hebrews 10:25
Omar Flores.
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