2024-04-17 Wired Word

Before we get into our Wired Word study let’s start with a question posed last week.

John 20:19–23 (LSB) So while it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and while the doors were shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” 20 And when He had said this, He showed them both His hands and His side. The disciples then rejoiced when they saw the Lord. 21 So Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” 22 And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 “If you forgive the sins of any, their sins have been forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they have been retained.”

Complete Biblical Library: 20:23. Some commentators have given this statement an extreme interpretation. The prerogative of forgiving sins belongs only to God. Jesus had just commissioned His apostles. Their message was to be the same He had proclaimed. Those who heard had a choice, to accept or reject the message. The apostles could assure those who accepted that their sins had been forgiven, and those who rejected that they were still guilty.

Luke 5:21–25 (LSB) The scribes and the Pharisees began to reason, saying, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins, but God alone?” 22 But Jesus, knowing their reasonings, answered and said to them, “Why are you reasoning in your hearts? 23 “Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins have been forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? 24 “But, so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins,”—He said to the paralytic—“I say to you, get up, and, picking up your stretcher, go home.” 25 And immediately he rose up before them, and picked up what he had been lying on, and went home glorifying God.

Jack Hayford’s Spirit filled life study Bible: 20:23 The disciples are to preach both the way of salvation and the way of damnation explaining how sinners can be forgiven and the danger of rejecting the gospel. Whether or not the hearers’ sins are forgiven depends on their acceptance or rejection of Christ.

The NET Bible First Edition Notes: 39 sn The statement by Jesus about forgive or retaining anyone’s sins finds its closest parallel in Matt 16:19 and 18:18. This is probably not referring to apostolic power to forgive or retain the sins of individuals (as it is sometimes understood), but to the “power” of proclaiming this forgiveness which was entrusted to the disciples. This is consistent with the idea that the disciples are to carry on the ministry of Jesus after he has departed from the world and returned to the Father, a theme which occurred in the Farewell Discourse (cf. 15:27, 16:1–4, and 17:18).

Matthew 16:19 “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.””

Matthew 18:18 “18 “Truly I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall have been bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall have been loosed in heaven.”

John 8:21–24 (LSB) Then He said again to them, “I am going away, and you will seek Me, and will die in your sin. Where I am going, you cannot come.” 22 So the Jews were saying, “Surely He will not kill Himself, since He says, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come’?” 23 And He was saying to them, “You are from below, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world. 24 “Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins. For unless you believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.”

John 5:24 (LSB) “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.

Lenski:

… the function of the disciples (church), … is to do more than to preach, teach, and make known the contents of the gospel in the world of men; they are also personally and directly to deal with individual souls

1 Corinthians 5:3–5 (LSB) For I, on my part, though absent in body but present in spirit, have already judged him who has so committed this, as though I were present: 4 in the name of our Lord Jesus, when you are assembled, and I with you in spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus, 5 deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of his flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.

2 Corinthians 2:5–11 (LSB) But if any has caused sorrow, he has caused sorrow not to me, but in some degree—in order not to say too much—to all of you. 6 Sufficient for such a one is this punishment which was inflicted by the majority, 7 so that on the contrary you should rather graciously forgive and comfort him, lest such a one be swallowed up by excessive sorrow. 8 Therefore I encourage you to reaffirm your love for him. 9 For to this end also I wrote, so that I might know your proven character, whether you are obedient in all things. 10 But one whom you graciously forgive anything, I graciously forgive also. For indeed what I have graciously forgiven, if I have graciously forgiven anything, I did it for your sakes in the presence of Christ, 11 so that no advantage would be taken of us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes.

1 Corinthians 5:12–13 (NLT) It isn’t my responsibility to judge outsiders, but it certainly is your responsibility to judge those inside the church who are sinning. 13 God will judge those on the outside; but as the Scriptures say, “You must remove the evil person from among you.”

James 5:13–15 (NLT) Are any of you suffering hardships? You should pray. Are any of you happy? You should sing praises. 14 Are any of you sick? You should call for the elders of the church to come and pray over you, anointing you with oil in the name of the Lord. 15 Such a prayer offered in faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will make you well. And if you have committed any sins, you will be forgiven.

Lenski (continued)… when my neighbor comes and says,

‘Friend, I am distressed in my conscience, say an absolution to me’;

then I may freely do this, preach the gospel to him and tell him how he is to appropriate the works of Christ and is firmly to believe Christ’s righteousness is his, and his sins are Christ’s.

This is the greatest service I may render to my neigbor! Who can fully set forth what an unspeakable, mighty, and blessed consolation this is, that with one word one man may unlock heaven and lock hell for another!”

The NIV Standard Lesson Commentary, 2014–2015

C. Authority Granted (v. 23)

23. “If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”

Some are troubled by this verse, but we should remember that Jesus is speaking to his chosen apostles. They will become his personal representatives in this world. As Jesus came to deal with the problem of sin, the apostles will also continue this ministry of liberation. As the apostles share the message of the gospel, they can, under Christ’s authority, assure those who accept the gospel message that they are forgiven. The apostles are to announce the forgiveness that God offers. When people hear the gospel, they either accept it or reject it. Accepting the gospel means forgiveness of sin; rejecting the gospel means the opposite.

Some students see here an extended application to church leaders beyond those of the first-century apostles. As the church grows, it will become necessary for her members to maintain a doctrine and lifestyle in line with Jesus’ message; this verse is thought to confirm the fact that Christ will work with the human leadership of the church as long as they operate in harmony with his own mission and under the guidance of the Spirit. Sometimes it will be necessary to expel an errant member to protect the church’s purity and bring that individual to repentance. In such cases, Christ, through the Holy Spirit, will affirm the prayerful decision of the majority.

If this teaching seems unusual to us in view of our experience in the church today, we should recall that it is consistent with what Jesus teaches the disciples before his death (see Matthew 18:15–20; compare v. 18 there with John 20:23; compare also 1 Corinthians 5 and 2 Corinthians 2:5–11). The Spirit thus not only empowers the proclamation of Christ’s message but also provides wisdom for ensuring that the church remains pure.

John Stonestreet and Shane Morris

Last week, Richard Dawkins, one of the so-called “four horsemen” of the New Atheists and longtime implacable foe of Christianity, made a fascinating confession to host Rachel Johnson of LBCNews. The Oxford biologist and author of The God Delusion, expressed concern after seeing Islamic Ramadan lights on a street that once featured Easter lights.

I call myself a cultural Christian. I’m not a believer, but there’s a distinction between being a believing Christian and being a cultural Christian. … I love hymns and Christmas carols, and I sort of feel at home in the Christian ethos. … We [in the U.K.] are a “Christian country” in that sense.

Dawkins then told Johnson that he’s “horrified” to see Islamic holidays and mosques taking the place of Christian feasts and cathedrals in Europe.

If I had to choose between Christianity and Islam, I’d choose Christianity every single time. It seems to me to be a fundamentally decent religion in a way that I think Islam is not.

A torrent of interesting and often funny reactions followed the interview. Rod Dreher pointed out that for Dawkins to claim he likes cathedrals and Christmas carols but is glad church attendance is declining is like saying he enjoys eating but is glad his country’s farms are closing.

Writer Henry George remarked that “Rebuilding [civilization] means accepting the source, not the effect, of Christianity.” He then quoted historian of philosophy Remi Brague who said, “We owe European civilization to people who believed in Christ, not to people who believed in Christianity.” Another posted on X that Dawkins’ desire for a Christian society without allegiance to Christ is a “hydroponic Christian culture that doesn’t actually have its roots down in that dirty soil of actual belief in God.”

Perhaps the best response was from historian Tom Holland, also not a Christian but who has long made the case that Christianity is responsible for the freedoms, science, and belief in human rights that made the West. He has also argued that even militant atheism, enlightenment, and progressive politics are ultimately garbled echoes of a biblical story in which “a people walking in darkness see a great light.” Holland wrote:

[S]ecularism & Dawkins’ own brand of evangelical atheism are both expressions of a specifically Christian culture—as Dawkins himself, sitting on the branch he’s been sawing through and gazing nervously at the ground far below, seems to have begun to realise.

They’re all right, of course. Dawkins’ comments were a tacit admission that, for decades now, he has been wrong to claim that science and secularism are the source of all that’s good in Western culture. In fact, it is the worldview centered on a God who became man and died on a cross because He “so loved the world” that is the source of hospitals, churches, esteem for women and children, human rights, and even the music, art, and culture that Dawkins cherishes. For one of the world’s most outspoken God-haters to realize this is quite remarkable.

Still, there would be none of the fruits of Christianity without its roots, specifically the essential beliefs in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth; Jesus Christ, His only begotten Son, our Lord; and the rest. Another Oxford professor, C.S. Lewis pointed this out in the 1940s in The Screwtape Letters. Lewis wrote,

“Men or nations who think they can revive the Faith in order to make a good society might just as well think they can use the stairs of Heaven as a short cut to the nearest chemist’s shop.”

Lewis knew, better than Dawkins, that God will not be used as a means to an end. He is the end.

Of course, this isn’t the end of Dawkins’ journey. Given the things he’s said lately, Christians should be quicker to pray for him than to say, “I told you so.” Pray that God, in His kindness, would open the eyes of Dawkins as He did for Saul of Tarsus. Perhaps, he too, will be confronted by a Savior who asks, “why are you persecuting me?” Even more, we should pray that this atheist’s candid admissions are a wake-up call to a Western world who wants to feast at Christ’s table without bowing at His feet. The God who raised Jesus from the dead is more than capable of reviving a secular society.

This Breakpoint was co-authored by Shane Morris. For more resources to live like a Christian in this cultural moment, go to breakpoint.org.

Wired Word

Agnostic Weighs What 'Churchgoing Bust' Has Taken From America The Wired Word for the Week of April 14, 2024

In the News

A staff writer for The Atlantic who is a self-declared agnostic and has long thought of the decline of religious faith in America as a mostly positive development has admitted coming to a "different view" in recent years. His new view was reinforced after reading the results of a new survey of 5,600 U.S. adults conducted by the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI).

That survey found that more than a quarter of Americans now identify as atheists, agnostics or religiously "unaffiliated," the highest level of non-religiosity in the history of the PRRI poll.

Agnostic: a person who believes that nothing is known or can be known of the existence or nature of God or of anything beyond material phenomena; a person who claims neither faith nor disbelief in God.

The writer, Derek Thompson, stated his new view as follows:

"Maybe religion, for all of its faults, works a bit like a retaining wall to hold back the destabilizing pressure of American hyper-individualism, which threatens to swell and spill over in its absence."

While that may sound like faint praise to Christians who are actively involved in congregations and to members of other religious faiths who attend their own houses of worship, it's likely that those worshipers know what Thompson means. Christians, for example, use such terms as "faith community," "fellowship" and "church family" to describe the ethos that develops when believers gather regularly for worship, study, mission work and other activities related to the purpose of the church.

But the ranks of nonbelievers have surged since the 1990s, Thompson said. And over the same time period, the United States has experienced "a historically unprecedented decline in face-to-face socializing," Thompson noted, adding, that "The social collapse is steepest for some of the groups with the largest declines in religiosity," including young people and working-class Americans.

For example, according to the American Time Use Survey, low-income, unmarried men have more alone time than almost any other group, Thompson said. Likewise, according to the same source, there is no statistical record of any period in U.S. history where young people were less likely to attend religious services and also when they have spent more time on their own.

When reading the PRRI survey, the emphasis on community caught Thompson's eye, leading him to wonder if "the decline of religion cut some people off from a crucial gateway to civic engagement," since people who attend houses of worship also tend to volunteer more.

Thompson quoted sociologist Eric Klinenberg, who reported in his book Palaces for the People, that Americans today have fewer shared spaces where connections are formed. "People today say they just have fewer places to go for collective life," Klinenberg said. "Places that used to anchor community life, like libraries and school gyms and union halls, have become less accessible or shuttered altogether."

To that, Thompson added, "Many people, having lost the scaffolding of organized religion, seem to have found no alternative method to build a sense of community."

Thompson blames some of this on our current relationship with technology, especially the smartphone "that in many ways, is the diabolical opposite of religious ritual" in that it connects us to the internet -- which has no opening or closing times and no daily, weekly or annual structures to organize our lives. "In other words, digital life is disembodied, asynchronous, shallowand solitary," said Thompson."

A current meme on the internet calls it ironic that we have phones that make it easier to not talk to anyone.

"Religious rituals are the opposite of that in almost every respect," Thompson continued, because they put us in our body, with movements -- such as bowing our heads or kneeling -- that mark an activity as devotional.

"Finally, religious ritual often requires that we make contact with the sacred in the presence of other people," Thompson said, "whether in a church, mosque, synagogue, or over a dinner-table prayer. In other words, the religious ritual is typically embodied, synchronous, deep and collective."

While Thompson said he is not advocating that atheists and agnostics choose a religion and commit themselves to weekly participation in a house of worship, he went on to posit that "in forgoing organized religion, an isolated country has discarded an old and proven source of ritual at a time when we most need it." He noted that making friends as an adult is often hard, especially "without a scheduled weekly reunion of congregants." Likewise, finding meaning in the world is hard too, he said, especially "if the oldest systems of meaning-making hold less and less appeal."

He concluded, "It took decades for Americans to lose religion. It might take decades to understand the entirety of what we lost."

Applying the News Story

We maintain in this lesson that Christian fellowship is a vital connection and support for our faith and our well-being that is perhaps second in value only to the system of Christian beliefs upon which the church is built.

The Big Questions

1. Thompson described digital life as "disembodied, asynchronous, shallow and solitary," and contrasted it with religious ritual that is "embodied, synchronous, deep and collective." What are the meanings of each pair of words (e.g., disembodied/embodied) and how accurately do they describe digital life or religious ritual? When might one be preferable to the other?

disembodied - embodied

asynchronous - synchronous

shallow - deep

solitary - collective

2. What is your reaction to Thompson's thesis in his article that "Many people, having lost the scaffolding of organized religion, seem to have found no alternative method to build a sense of community"?

3. What, if anything, makes Christian fellowship something more than simply friendship or camaraderie?

4. What did you conclude about the importance of Christian fellowship during the pandemic lockdown?

Do you think online worship can ever fully replace worship as a physically gathered community? Explain your answer.

On a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the most important, what number would you assign to the spiritual value of Christian fellowship?

5. Do you think the growing body of unbelievers and religiously unaffiliated in America is a permanent loss? Why or why not?

Surveys taken over the last few decades seem to indicate it is permanent.

Confronting the News With Scripture and Hope Here are some Bible verses to guide your discussion:

Acts 2:41-42 So those who welcomed his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand persons were added. They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. (For context, read Acts 2:37-47.)

This is from the earliest days of the church, right after the first Pentecost, when new converts were joining the followers of Jesus in droves. Notice that among the things the new believers prioritized were the apostles' teachings, the Lord's Supper, prayers and fellowship.

The word rendered here as fellowship is from the Greek word koinonia, which can be defined as "holding something in common" or "sharing," and is used 20 times in the New Testament. It means more than simply enjoying one another's company, though that can be part of it; it more directly refers to sharing with others what one has, in order to meet their needs. It also covers the idea of mutual support, comfort and help, and cooperation in God's work, and it is also the underlying word for "communion," when referring to the Lord's Supper.

Questions: Why do you think the apostles encouraged koinonia right alongside learning, communion and prayer?

How might koinonia function in your church if next Sunday, 3,000 new converts suddenly showed up?

Philippians 2:1-4 If, then, there is any comfort in Christ, any consolation from love, any partnership in the Spirit, any tender affection and sympathy, make my joy complete: be of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or empty conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests but to the interests of others. (For context, read Philippians 2:1-11.)

In this passage, koinonia has been translated as "partnership in the Spirit." Some other English versions render it as "common sharing in the Spirit," "a community of the Spirit," "brothers [and sisters] in the Lord, sharing the same Spirit" and "any participation in the Spirit." No matter the wording, the implication is that the Spirit of God is involved in the fellowship we experience in the faith community. This becomes abundantly clear when you read the context verses, which call us to the humility of Christ.

Questions: Reading between the lines of this passage, what do you suppose prompted Paul to write these words to the Christians at Philippi?

How is humility related to unity?

How does the last sentence in the passage fit with the concept of fellowship?

Hebrews 10:23-25 Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful. And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching. (No context needed.)

While not using the word koinonia, this passage spells out some of the work of Christian fellowship: provoking one another to love and good deeds, encouraging one another.

Questions: In what way do you and your fellow worshipers provoke one another to love and good deeds? Regarding what areas of life do you and they encourage one another?

1 Corinthians 12:14 Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. (For context, read 1 Corinthians 12:12-27.)

Paul uses the human body as a metaphor for the church, and he makes a lot of the fact that no part of the body exists in isolation from the other parts. Continuing the metaphor, he says, "The eye cannot say to the hand, 'I have no need of you,' nor again the head to the feet, 'I have no need of you'" (v. 21). There is an energy and power in the whole body that is not present in any individual part of it.

Questions:Who are the "eyes" of your church, setting vision and goals? Who are the "ears" who are good listeners? Who are the "hands" doing good deeds? (Feel free to continue questions in this fashion with feet, arms, voice, knees, etc.) Would you be able to do all these things yourself? Would you want to?

For Further Discussion

2. Discuss this: Is physical presence necessary for Jesus' words in Matthew 18:20 to be met? Is there a generational disconnect with the necessity of being in physical community for worship? Youth and young adults conduct a great deal of communication and "fellowship" through mobile devices and typed chats instead of speaking, even sometimes in each other's presence.

3. Comment on this, from Kenneth Priest, who is an adjunct professor in church revitalization at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary: "Solo Christianity is an inward desire to seek after spiritual matters without the realization [that] biblical community is what will fulfill the desire they are seeking,"

4. Respond to this, from TWW team member Stan Purdum: "While the church has a prime responsibility to help us in our life of faith, we as individual Christians always have a prime responsibility to our church to help it be a place where the preaching of repentance, baptism and seeking the Holy Spirit happen. The church should also ensure that the practices of the early converts -- worship, fellowship, caring for one another, common goals in mission and ministry, an active prayer life among the membership, a thorough Christian education for children and newcomers to the faith and so on -- are carried out. We have a responsibility to tend our own spiritual life and the life of the church."

Responding to the News

This is a good time to think about what God might want to happen when you go to church, and in what ways you might help that to be so for others who are part of that congregation.

This is also a good time to think of someone you know who might not feel connected to others to join you for worship and experience the fellowship of your congregation.

Prayer

Help us, O Lord, to know what role we are called to as part of the Body of Christ, and help us to fill it as we too are filled by your Spirit and the fellowship of those who walk the Christian path with us. In Jesus' name. Amen.

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