The Illiteracy of the Church
This is a series addressing the problem of theological illiteracy using the results of the 2022 State of Theology survey by Ligonier Ministries, available here. For an overview of the results and methodology used, see the first post here.
Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 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 is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
-Hebrews 10:19-25, ESV
As important as the doctrines of salvation are to the Christian faith, they are just the beginning of the precious theological concepts the Christian should be constantly immersed in. Jesus Christ did not merely save individuals, but He saved individuals to be part of a His body, family, army, and Bride: the Church. Therefore, a proper understanding of the Church is vital to Christianity. Only a few questions from the 2022 Ligonier State of Theology survey covered the topic of the church, which revealed some crucial deficiencies in the American understanding of what Jesus Christ holds most precious. To discuss these, we must introduce a few key theological concepts about the church:
Universal Church: All Christians everywhere and across time are part of the universal Church. This includes Old Testament saints who trusted in the future work of Christ (Hebrews 11) as well as all who have trusted in Christ in the past, trust in Him now, and will trust in Him in the future. Men, women, children, people of all nations, ages, and backgrounds make up the universal Church. Scripture teaches that belonging to Christ as part of the universal Church is the most important distinctive for any person, far superseding any human categories.[1] (Psalm 22:22, Ephesians 2:14, 19, 2 Timothy 2:19)
Local Church: The Christian life is to be lived within the context of the local church, which is the body of believers who gather together in a particular place. The local church is differentiated from parachurch ministries by the preaching of the Word (2 Timothy 4:1-2), right administration of the sacraments (sometimes called ordinances) of baptism (Matthew 28:19-20) and communion (Matthew 26:26-28, 1 Corinthians 11:20-28), and the practice of church discipline (Matthew 18:15-20).[2] (Acts 20:28, 1 Timothy 3:15)
Corporate Worship: The local church is to gather corporately weekly on Sunday for the preaching of the Word, administration of the sacraments of baptism and communion, worship of God in song, confession of sin, reading of Scripture, and biblical instruction. While all of the Christian life should be lived in worship to God (Romans 12:1), God is particularly honored and has chosen to be particularly present in corporate worship, equipping the saints for ministry in corporate worship in ways He does not work in us individually.[3] (Acts 2:42-47 and 20:7)
Proper Worship: While there is some debate between churches as to the specifics of how God is to be worshipped, all can agree that God must be worshipped in accordance with Scripture. God must be worshipped in spirit and truth (John 4:24). To worship in spirit means that the only worship that can be acceptable to God must come from those who have been regenerated and indwelt by the Holy Spirit (i.e., those who trust in Christ). To worship in truth means—at the very least—that only worship coming from a true knowledge of who God is can be acceptable to God. As previously discussed, to imagine God in any way that deviates from the way He is portrayed in Scripture is to worship a false god. This means worship that portrays God in any way contrary to Scripture is false worship—i.e., idolatry that is abhorrent to God.[4] (Exodus 34:14, Deuteronomy 12, Psalm 145:18, Mark 7:6-7, 1 Corinthians 14:26-40, Philippians 3:3, Hebrews 12:28)
The Ligonier 2022 State of Theology survey questions on the church showed the worst results of all the categories I looked at. Sadly, this is not all that surprising when we contrast the corporate nature of the life of the church in Scripture with our individualistic society. Only two questions clearly fit into the category of the church, with an additional question fitting better in that category than any other (which I will explain later). Results are shown below:
State of Theology: Proper Worship
One question did not fit cleanly into any category: worship from other religions. Since this question deals with how God is worshipped, I thought it fit best within the category of the church.
3. God accepts the worship of all religions, including Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.
This question yielded the worst results of any question. Only 42% of nationwide and regularly attending evangelicals and a mere 18% of Northeasterners affirmed the necessity of proper worship. Scripture is clear that God cares deeply about how He is worshipped. As early as Cain and Abel, God established correct ways to worship Him and did not honor incorrect worship (Genesis 4:3-7). This is most vividly seen when Israel made the golden calf to worship God as they saw other nations worship their gods (Exodus 34) and when Nadab and Abihu improperly worshipped God by offering “strange fire” (Leviticus 10). God brought a plague on Israel and killed Nadab and Abihu for worshipping Him improperly. The call to worship God properly and the condemnation of improper worship are seen throughout the Old Testament (e.g., Jeremiah 14:12, Amos 5:22, Malachi 1). There may have been some confusion over the term “accepts” in this question, since there are times in Scripture where God seems to accept the attempts of pagans to worship Him. For example, when the Philistines capture the Ark of the Covenant, resulting in God sending a plague among them, they respond with an offering of gold as they send the Ark back to Israel. God seems to accept this attempt at worship and removes the plague (1 Samuel 6:3-12), which could be seen as a precedent for God accepting the improper worship of people who are ignorant of the proper ways to worship Him. However, Scripture does not explicitly say that God accepted the offering. When I discussed the immutability of God, I stated that God only ever does what He has always intended to do. Regardless of the Philistines’ intentions or actions, God chose to glorify Himself among them by showing His power over both them and their idols, which He accomplished by removing the plague once they returned symbol of His presence to His people. Conversely, God chose to glorify Himself by killing seventy Israelites for handling the Ark improperly once it was returned, since they had the Law on how to handle the Ark and were therefore without excuse (1 Samuel 6:19-22). Thus, it cannot be said that God accepted improper worship in the Old Testament but only that He did not always punish people for it.
The most we can say is that in the time before Christ, God overlooked the ignorance of such attempts to worship Him, but that should not be taken as acceptance of that worship. Regardless, Scripture is clear that since Christ has come, God no longer overlooks improper worship, instead calling on all people everywhere to repent of that improper worship (Acts 17:29-31). Since anything that does not come from faith in Christ (including worship) is sinful (Romans 14:23), the worship offered by those practicing other religions is abhorrent to God. And since I previously established that any understanding of God that does not align with Scripture is a false god concocted by human imagination, any worship of such a god is idolatry, which is constantly condemned in Scripture. Religions such as non-Messianic Judaism and Islam deny the Trinity and therefore worship false gods, no matter how genuine and devout they may be or how closely those gods may resemble the God of the Bible. It is only God’s amazing kindness that keeps Him from striking them dead for improper worship like He struck Nadab and Abihu—or striking us dead every time we fail to worship God properly. That kindness is supposed to lead us to repentance (Romans 2:4), so the American church must repent. God takes His worship seriously and we should too, worshipping Him in the only way we can properly worship Him: in spirit and truth (John 4:23-24).
State of Theology: Corporate Worship
22. Worshiping alone or with one’s family is a valid replacement for regularly attending church.
This question is rooted in the clear teaching of Scripture on the importance of the local church regularly and physically gathering together. Scripture is clear that Christians must not neglect the corporate gathering of the local church (Hebrews 10:25). The terms “neglecting” and “habit” imply that this does not mean that it is never acceptable to miss church but that missing church should be the rare exception and not the norm. Less than half of respondents across all categories affirmed the importance of the corporate gathering of the saints, with only 49% of Midwestern and Northeastern regularly attending evangelicals, 46% of regularly attending evangelicals overall, and 21% of Northeasterners affirming what Scripture clearly teaches in this area. This is disheartening but unsurprising, considering the effect of the pandemic on the church as a whole. For the first time in anyone’s memory, the American church was faced with a widespread challenge to what Hebrews 10:25 means. Some churches closed entirely (at least temporarily) while others continued to meet virtually. While many churches have resumed in-person meeting, many believers enjoy the convenience of virtually attending live-streamed or pre-recorded services from the comfort of their homes and thus consider that an acceptable substitute for the physical gathering of the saints.
But this did not start with the pandemic. Long before 2020, the American church like the American culture grew individualistic, emphasizing personal faith and experiences over the corporate nature of the church. The mantra “just me and my Bible” was popular long before “social distancing” became a household term. To justify this, some take Matthew 18:20 out of its context of church discipline to say that it makes any gathering of the saints equal to Sunday worship. The pandemic therefore merely gave an excuse for people to neglect the corporate gathering of the local church in favor of merely family gatherings. Family worship is extremely important (and often undervalued in the church), but it should never be considered a substitute for corporate worship. The church since Pentecost has worshipped both publicly and privately, so that must be the expectation. While live-streamed services are a blessing for those who are sick, traveling, or otherwise unable to attend church physically every now and then, they are no substitute for the blessing of meeting together with the saints. It is possible to sing praises alone or along with a live stream, but that can never compare to singing with the saints in the same physical place. At the very least, the sacraments are greatly diminished if they are attempted alone—and I would argue that they cannot be adequately and faithfully practiced outside of physical corporate worship. In the Reformed understanding, these are means of grace—practices that God chooses to use to impart grace to His people. Some means of grace can and should be utilized privately, such as prayer, Scripture reading, and meditating on the truths of Scripture.[5] But no matter how much you partake of these means, neglecting the means of grace that can only come through physical participation in the corporate worship of the local church is to have a woefully inadequate and unbalanced diet of grace. God has also ordained that everyone in the church needs everyone else in the church. The local church is not a group of individuals but a family, a body, and an army. Just as a family relationship is negatively impacted by prolonged separation, a well-functioning body needs all of its parts to be connected, and an uncoordinated army cannot succeed, so the local church cannot flourish (or even survive) the prolonged absence of its members. God takes the corporate, physical gathering of the local church very seriously, so we should too. Christians all across America must therefore reject the individualism of our culture and commit to participate in the regular, physical gathering of the saints.
State of Theology: The Importance of the Local Church
24. Every Christian has an obligation to join a local church.
This question showed the strongest results in this category, though only 67% of regularly attending Northeastern evangelicals and a mere 34% of Midwesterners affirmed the Christian’s obligation to the local church. This isn’t overly surprising considering the response to question 22, but it is equally concerning. What was surprising is that the Northeast performed better than the Midwest on this question, which may point to a local cultural emphasis on church membership in the Northeast that is lacking in the Midwest. Still, the overall results showed that many Christians feel no obligation to join a local church. This reflects a general view of church as just a place you go (physically or virtually) on Sunday morning, to which people have no real commitment. Scripture teaches the opposite, referring to the church as a family (2 Corinthians 6:18, Galatians 6:10, Ephesians 2:19), army (Ephesians 6:10-20, Philippians 2:25, 2 Timothy 2:1-4, Philemon 2), and body (Ephesians 1:22-23 and 4:15-16, Colossians 2:19)—all of which imply long-term commitment. Our culture in recent generations balks at such commitment. Our consumer mentality has replaced long careers at the same organization with job hopping, committed marriage to no-strings-attached hookups and no-fault divorces, and long-term investments with get-rich-quick investing strategies. We buy now and pay later, going into crippling debt because we are impatient, unwilling to commit to put in the effort for the long-term, especially when times get tough.
It should come as no surprise then that we view the church in the same way. To many Christians, the church is providing them a service—and they evaluate it as such. We “church shop”, comparing the entertainment value of the music, the way the sermon makes us feel, the quality of the coffee bar, the toy and snack selection of the nursery, whether the service gets done in time for the game, and many other selfish criteria. When the church doesn’t serve us as we desire, we are quick to leave it and find a church that will. This bears zero resemblance to what Scripture teaches about the church being a family and an army, both being organizations where participation is not optional. There is no such thing as family hopping, and switching armies is called treason. A lack of commitment to the church needs to become equally absurd to American Christians. The default should be commitment to a single local church for life unless circumstances like moving to a different area, changing theological convictions, persistent systemic sin within the leadership of the church, being sent out as a missionary, leaving on a church plant, or generally being called by God to ministry in some other way force you to leave a church. My present life situation requires me to move frequently, so I cannot commit to a church for as long as I would like. Nevertheless, at each location I emphasize quickly finding a faithful local church and committing to that church until God moves me somewhere else. One day, this season will be over, enabling me to commit to a local church for the rest of my life unless God moves me somewhere else. The American church needs to restore the need for commitment to the local church.
Key Takeaways
Since the survey revealed that the American church has an improper view of God, an overly exalted view of man, and a cheapened view of sin that cheapens the Gospel, it should come as little surprise in light of our individualistic society that results on the doctrines of the church were dismal. Satan must be reveling in how effectively he has been able to tempt so many who call upon the name of Christ in America to so comprehensively cheapen and largely reject the local church. He knows that lone Christians apart from the local church are largely ineffective, so he is happy to oblige thoughts of self-sufficiency and individualistic false worship that keep people from the church. Conversely, God views the church very highly. Since Christ purchased the Church with His priceless blood to be His Bride (2 Corinthians 11:2, Ephesians 5:32, Revelation 19:7-9 and 21:1-11), God promises to destroy whoever destroys the Church (1 Corinthians 3:17). Therefore, we should be very apprehensive to leave that which Jesus so loves, especially for any of the aforementioned reasons that can only be describe as petty and ridiculous.
Satan is equally happy to facilitate selfishness and its resulting conflict within the local church that greatly hinders the church’s effectiveness (Romans 16:17, 1 Corinthians 1:10-3:23 and 11:18, 3 John 9, Jude 19). The American church needs to grieve for and repent of these grave sins. Every American Christian should commit to the local church, regularly (weekly) attend the Sunday gathering of the local church (in person, not virtually) and seek to serve the church rather than consume from the church. We also need to ensure we are worshipping God rightly and not offering false or ignorant worship that is abhorrent to Him. God will not long endure churches that tolerate false worship (Revelation 2:20-23), so if we don’t repent of our neglect of the church and distortion of worship, we risk God removing the American church entirely like Ephesus (Revelation 2:4-5), Sardis (Revelation 3:1-3), and Laodicea (Revelation 3:15-16). Only in the church does God promise spiritual victory (Matthew 16:18), so we are foolish to think we can have any lasting success in the Christian life or advancement of the Kingdom of God apart from the context of the church. We need to love what Jesus loves, and Jesus loves the Church! Therefore we must heed the warning of Revelation, for if only the Church as the Bride of Christ will feast with Him in heaven, so we must be part of that Bride to be invited to that feast. Final blessing is only found in the church, so let us be found there as well.
Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”—for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints….And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son. But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”
-Revelation 19:6-8, 21:2-8, ESV
NOTES
[1] Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine, Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan: 1994: 853, 855; Louis Berkhof, Systematic Theology, Edinburgh, UK: Banner of Truth Trust: 2021: 587, 589.
[2] Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine, Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan: 1994: 864-866; Louis Berkhof, Systematic Theology, Edinburgh, UK: Banner of Truth Trust: 2021: 601-602; John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion: Translated from the First French Edition of 1541 by Robert White, Edinburgh, UK: Banner of Truth Trust: 2014: 264, 270.
[3] Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine, Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan: 1994: 950-952; Louis Berkhof, Systematic Theology, Edinburgh, UK: Banner of Truth Trust: 2021: 630-632.
[4] Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine, Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan: 1994: 1003-1013.
[5] Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine, Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan: 1994: 950-952; Louis Berkhof, Systematic Theology, Edinburgh, UK: Banner of Truth Trust: 2021: 630-632.
