Transcript
Ben Fallon: Paul, you have written and taught all over the place that, as Christians, our walk with God is designed to be a community project. You say that we're supposed to live in an intentionally intrusive, Christ-centered, grace-driven, redemptive community. Allie responds, “That's great, but it's hard to find that type of community,” which has been a somewhat common reaction to your teaching. So, “Should we expect to find this community in every church, or are we supposed to be the ones who facilitate it and cultivate it? And if the latter, how do we do that?”
Paul Tripp: I think this is a really important question. It really gets back to the nature of the church, and I want to talk about that first. God has established His church and the regular gathering and community of His church for three important reasons. One, I constantly need solid gospel instruction because I can become a gospel amnesiac and because I always need to deepen my understanding of the Word of God and the truths of the gospel. So, the first purpose of the church is instruction.
The second purpose is for worship, that we gather for a time of formal, external, intentional, corporate worship. It's very important that as we're singing the truths of the gospel, we realize that we're also singing those into the ears of the people that are next to us. That corporate worship is a very significant part of our remembering who we are and what we've been given in Christ.
The third reason for the church is fellowship. Most of what we call fellowship isn't, you know, those casual, meaningless conversations about sports, weather, recipes, and politics. Fellowship really is a calling to be part of the sanctification of the person next to me. It's that calling to intentionally intrusive, mutual ministry, relationships. We need to remember that Ephesians 4 says that “We grow into maturity in Christ as each part of the body does its part” (Paraphrase). And so that mutual ministry of the gospel to one another, to people that we meet with, we've gotten to know, they know us, we have trust, we see them with some accuracy, and we can speak into their lives, is a very essential function of the church. So, I think we need to look for churches that provide all three of those for us, not just a big Sunday blast, but also really encourage the intentionality of fellowship in the members of the church.
Now, if I don't have that, I shouldn't sit and be passive. Be hospitable. Open your home to people. Be active. Invite people in your church into a Bible study or a study of a book. So do things that engender those kinds of relationships and fellowships. Have a picnic with two or three couples and begin to develop relationships with them. Even things like playdates where your kids are playing with one another, but you can talk about your lives and begin to look for ways of developing relationships that go below the surface and begin to become the kind of relationships that God can use in both people's lives.
I want to say one other thing. It's really striking that Paul in Ephesians, when he talks about the church, doesn't call the pastor the “Minister of the church.” He says the pastor's there to “equip the saints,” the members of the body of Christ, “to do the work of the ministry.” So, we have to live with that kind of ministry mentality.
BF: Another response to this theme in your teaching recently, Paul, came from Laurie, who asked, “I'm curious what you would say about being in a church for over twenty years and having no real relationships like the one you describe.” Your response?
PT: So I always want to say with these questions that I don't know this church, and I don't know this person, and so I'm going to have to answer this in a more general way. If I was sitting with her, I would ask a bunch of specific questions that would help me. But when people ask me this question, I always think of Hebrews 10:23-25. Listen to what it says, it says:
Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
Now notice, when we think of this passage and we hear the words, “not neglecting meeting together,” we think of Sunday morning. But there's something way deeper and way more relational that's being described here. For example, is “consider how to stir one another up to love and good works.” That's not generally what happens on Sunday morning. Or “encouraging one another all the more as you see the day drawing near.” That doesn't usually happen on Sunday morning. And so, this passage is describing a relationship to a church that is deeper and fuller and more intensely relational than just the Sunday gathering, but that we are a committed community living with one another, looking for ways to stimulate God's work in one another, encouraging one another as we all live in this broken, fallen world where hardship and temptations, all around us, and disappointment, greets us every day. That is essential to holding on to the gospel hope that we've all been saved unto. And so, there's something dramatically wrong if I've been in a church for twenty years, two decades, and I've never experienced this thing that the church is supposed to be.
Now, that either means there's something about me and the way I approach relationships that's off-putting and keeps that from happening; or I'm in a church that has not emphasized something that Scripture clearly says should be the norm for every believer. And so, if it's me, then how is God calling me to change in the way that I relate to people that will help me to engender these kinds of relationships that are God's norm for keeping me committed to gospel living? Or, if it's my church, maybe this is not the church that I should be in because it's not offering everything that the church is meant to offer. It's just not spiritually healthy to be long-term in a place where what God says is essential, I'm not receiving. It's sort of like deciding that making food and eating is too much of a hassle–I'm just not going to do it anymore! Well, you can do that for a while, but after a while, you're not going to live. And so, if God says something is essential, it's essential! It means I need it in my life, and I must be in a place where that can happen.
BF: Thanks, Paul. And if you want to learn more about what it looks like to be in an intentionally intrusive, Christ-centered, grace-driven, redemptive community, you can check out Paul's video series, “Your Walk with God is a Community Project.” It's available at paultripp.com/community.
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