Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash
Richard Wurmbrand
Now largely forgotten, Richard Wumbrand was imprisoned by the Communists for 14 years.
“All the biblical descriptions of hell and the pains of Dante’s inferno are nothing compared with the tortures in communist prisons” he wrote in Tortured for Christ. So terrible were some, “my heart would fail if I should tell them again.”
Three of those years were spent in solitary confinement. How did he survive, especially in those years of isolation? Well he was, of course, never alone, and to play his own part in the preservation of his mind he set himself to writing and then memorising hundreds of sermons, of which he was able to remember over 300 when he came out. You can read them for yourself in Sermons in Solitary Confinement.
Some of those sermons are frankly strange. That strangeness is sometimes because his walk with God was closer than the reader's: we the spiritually poorer are the truly strange ones. But at other times the eccentricity can only be attributed to his lack of human companionship.
Every human being needs other human beings.
Adam enjoyed the unclouded vision of God and yet of him it was said "it is not good for the man to be alone." Humans need humans and without others we grow strange at the least and crackers at the most. Many fellow prisoners around Wurmbrand lost their minds.
The question arises - "If Richard Wurmbrand could survive and perhaps even grow as a Christian on his own, surely, so can I."
To which we reply, "God is able to keep and grow his people in situations of extremity but that grace does not extend to Christians who have the opportunity to meet with other Christians but refuse to do so."
Christians cannot grow on their own. Full stop.
And here is why.
#1 God has created us to be in human relationships
That Genesis 2 statement about Adam is startling and foundational. Startling because Adam had God in his life: Who more could he need? And since Adam was sinless he experienced God in full measure. No sin clouded Adam's vision of his Creator.
"It is not good for the man to be on his own" is therefore foundational. Although initially addressed in the context of marriage, it could easily be extracted and allowed to float away from Genesis chapter 2 on its own as a fundamental and principle for all human beings - you cannot make it on your own, fullstop. You were designed to be in relationship with other human beings.
Of course!
We were made (Genesis 1) in the image of a social God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, dwelling eternally in loving relationship and love. Made like God we too are intrinsically social.
#2 Jesus gathered together Twelve
So when Jesus started the first church, he set the pattern, and gathered 12 men to be with him. He knew he needed their support (yes, sure, 'fine support at many crucial moments' you say) and they needed him, and they needed each other too.
The idea behind that first church of Thirteen was community. The most perfect Man who has ever lived needed other people around him. Listen to Mark 3:14:
"Jesus appointed Twelve - designating them apostles - that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach..."
The first reason he appointed Twelve was "to be with him" and then, oh yes, and by the way, also to preach and so on.
If the Perfect Man needed others, so do we.
#3 The Body-Image of the Church reveals the way we grow
The most persistent image in the New Testament of the church is of a human body. Jesus is the mind and each believer in the local church is a body part - a hand or a foot or an eye or an ear.
And in one of Paul's last letters, and in his most developed Holy Spirit meditation on this anatomical analogy he makes it clear that spiritual growth occurs only by connection to the body:
"..speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work." (Ephesians 4)
We grow, as connected to the body (which in turn is connected to the Head), we all do our different roles as interconnected parts.
For myself, I am convinced that God had in mind the interdependency of the church before all time, and then designed the body to be a reflection of the church.
So that every Christian has a walking talking illustration of the church when they look in the mirror every day and as they walk down the street.
There is no such thing as a thumb which can either survive or grow on its own. There is no such thing as an arm or ear or foot that can make it without being connected to the rest of the body.
In exactly the same way there is no such thing as a Christian who can grow or survive on their own.
The only fingers or eyeballs or hands that we find all on their own are... dead ones. The very thought is ghoulish.
#4 Spiritual Growth is becoming more like the Person Jesus
Spiritual growth is not primarily defined by an increase of knowledge, it is defined by our whole characters becoming more Christ like. And that just aint possible in a bedroom or a library. It is only as we relate to other believers in all the mess that that can be, that we learn about ourselves and become more patient, forgiving, loving, etc.
If spiritual growth was determined by attaining a certain grade on an exam paper then we could swat up in the privacy of our own universes. But it is not.
But, why can't I be directly connected to the Head?
But isn't it possible to be connected to Jesus directly and miss out all this messy relationship people stuff? Can't I be a thumb sewed directly to the Skull? No, that's not how biology or ecclesiology works. We are connected to the Head through our connection to the body. You can't miss out the church.
But what if I read my Bible all day long and pray all night long all alone in my bedroom? Won't I get close to God all on me tod?
No, not at all. Since that is not God's method of growth into Christlikeness it's not possible. You may grow in knowledge but you deceive only yourself if you think you are becoming more Christlike. Paul had to pop the bubble of someone who thought they were getting close to God through knowledge alone, "He has lost connection with the head." (Colossians 2:19) Ouch!
We grow together
The only way we grow in Christ is in close and accountable community with other brothers and sisters.
When we're in those relationships we grow, we stabilise and we are protected from the prowling seek-out-the-lone-ones lion.
When we try to make it on our own, we end up strange and weird and unbalanced and supremely, unlike Jesus.
Richard Wurmbrand (again)
When RW came out of solitary confinement, he spent time in the West preaching. He spent some time in London with an English pastor who years later brought to mind the days he spent with RW. RW was a strange man, he recalled. Strange because he had spent years all on his own.
True Christlikeness is impossible to attain on our own. It's only achieved in the sometimes messy relationships we experience in the glorious church of Jesus Christ.
There our foolish imbalances are moderated and our weaknesses and foibles both born and exposed by our brothers and sisters.
Too many Christians, post-pandemic, have opted for isolation. But that way lies only spiritual stagnation and the real possibility of backsliding.
No comments:
Post a Comment