Individualism: Undermining the Power & Presence of God

I would like us first to remember that this series has not simply been about calling out bad behaviors and replacing them with good ones. It is nothing less than that, but it is certainly more than that. It was born out of a longing to see the power and presence of God unhindered in our life together.

Reading of Scripture

“Please stand with me for the reading of Scripture”

Change things up: have everyone close their eyes and slowly read these passages over them. First, pray for God to quiet our minds and open our hearts and imaginations so we will see what God is doing in our midst in this moment.

1 Corinthians 12:12–14 NLT

The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is with the body of Christ. Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles, some are slaves, and some are free. But we have all been baptized into one body by one Spirit, and we all share the same Spirit. Yes, the body has many different parts, not just one part.

Romans 12:3–5 NLT

Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us. Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other.

Romans 12:10 NLT

Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other.

Ephesians 5:1–2 NLT

Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children. Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God.

Ephesians 5:8–10 NLT

For once you were full of darkness, but now you have light from the Lord. So live as people of light! For this light within you produces only what is good and right and true. Carefully determine what pleases the Lord.

Ephesians 5:15–17 NLT

So be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise. Make the most of every opportunity in these evil days. Don’t act thoughtlessly, but understand what the Lord wants you to do.

Ephesians 5:21 NLT

And further, submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Pray

WHAT IS INDIVIDUALISM?

What Individualism Isn’t

It isn’t the understanding and acknowledgment that we are actual individuals vs. some sort of shared being or hive mind sentients. We are indeed individuals with the ability to think, reason, and feel.

Individualism is a Philosophy

Individualism is a philosophy which governs our lives - the way our motives are shaped and the way we think, reason, and feel. It shapes our ethics, our politics, and even our view of God.

But before I attempt to give a modern definition of the individualism we know today, let me first give a brief history.

A Brief History

Late Iron Age

Individualism shows up here and there in Scripture pretty early, and we can see some early hints of it in the writings of Ezekiel around BC 593 (Ezekiel 4:12-15, Ezekiel 18:2 - use of irony). It is nowhere near the development we see today, but there are early fingerprints.

One of the reasons for this distinct shift was a major change in social structure. Society was moving from the nomadic life of the desert to the agricultural and commercial life of Canaan. The new environment and industries militated strongly against the continuance of the clan spirit and organization. Land-ownership became individual rather than commercial. Agricultural life, with its diversity of industry, naturally brought the individual to the front. The growth of large towns, like Jerusalem, Samaria, and Bethel, furnished greater scope for individual effort and enterprise, and the ever-increasing ramifications of trade and commerce constantly afforded new fields for the development of individual talent.

John Merlin Powis Smith, “The Rise of Individualism among the Hebrews,” The American Journal of Theology X, no. 2 (1906): 252.

Renaissance

The first major development would be during the Renaissance period from AD 1300-1600.

The Renaissance was essentially a cultural renewal that was effected as medieval peoples, institutions, and study awoke from a deep sleep, if you will. Due to the political, religious, and economic control of Roman Catholicism (one of the only surviving institutions from antiquity) during the Middle Ages, the cultural epicenter of the world at that time became Italy. It also happened that the Renaissance was predominantly an urban phenomenon, as learning in the city began to impact the surrounding areas and education.

A renewal of the mind raised Europe and the world from the ashes of stagnation. This movement began in Rome and also concurrently in Florence, in Orleans, and then Naples and Salerno, Italy, and then to a lesser degree in Paris and also London, but through the Renaissance, it occurred there in the backyard of Catholicism.

It was also being partially fueled by orthodox scholars that were fleeing the East from the onslaught of Islam because they were running for their lives and migrating toward the West. As they did, they found themselves converted into Roman Catholicism and that brought scholarship with it. Except for that, the movement of the Renaissance was not essentially a Christian movement. In fact, the spirit of the Renaissance often conflicted with the ideals of Christianity.

It was primarily focused on the physicality of earthly life while Christians were still thinking in terms of the Kingdom of God, which was both physical and spiritual.

The Renaissance leaders (e.g., humanist philosopher Pico della Mirandola, artist/inventor Leonardo da Vinci, poet Dante Alighieri, artist Michelangelo, political philosopher Niccolo Machiavelli) were very earthly and for the most part had enough of politicized church (i.e., Christendom) and its excesses because they had seen and been subject to it for several centuries.

As the power of the Holy Roman Empire splintered the world now focused primarily on human life, here and now, and human potential. One was empowered by a new focus on things like personal identity, rather than a shared identity through the church. This had not really happened up until this time, but it was now becoming a conviction that the person is the primary unit of reality, that the person, the individual, is the primary unit of worth and value and that every person is an end unto himself/herself.

It is during this period the Reformation and development of the protestant church via Martin Luther took place and felt the effects of the Renaissance. This is where our understanding of salvation became personal and focused on individual experience rather than seen in light of the community to which one belonged.

The phrase, “Man is the measure of all things.” is a rugged type of individualism that began in the Renaissance, and is the idea that the individual is not inferior to the collective whole. The individual is not inferior to institutions and is not fundamentally subject to them. This time of Renaissance was a sloughing off of all the authority and the authoritarian leadership that these people had seen from the previous centuries.

Frederick Cardoza, ED205 Discipleship in History and Practice, Logos Mobile Education (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016).

Some of this was good in that we start to see the coercive nature of Christendom being challenged and torn down. However, like any major cultural reaction, there came with it some negative side effects, individualism being one of them.

Enlightenment

The Enlightenment, from AD 1650-1800, really codified the dominant brand of individualism we see and practice today, both inside and outside of the church. It became a social and ethical motive that would ostensibly dominate all of Western culture to our present age. It’s philosophical leaders (John Locke, Descartes, Immanuel Kant, Voltaire), were no longer seeking validation in Greco-Roman philosophers like those of the Renaissance, but rather validation in and through rationalism and empiricism.

The political philosophy of the Enlightenment is the birthplace of modern Western liberalism: secular, pluralistic, rule-of-law-based, with an emphasis on individual rights and freedoms. Note that none of this was really present in the Renaissance, when it was still widely assumed that kings were essentially ordained by God, that monarchy was the natural order of things and that monarchs were not subject to the laws of ordinary men, and that the ruled were not citizens but subjects.

It was the Enlightenment, and thinkers who embodied its ideas, like Voltaire and the beloved Benjamin Franklin, who were the intellectual force behind the American Revolution and the French Revolution, and who really inspired the ideas behind the political documents of the age like the American ‘Declaration of Independence’ and the French ‘Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen’.

As a new social and ethical motive, individualism presupposes an exclusive and self-sufficient individual in all of life. This becomes the new norm. It drastically changed the way we raised and educated our children, the way we saw our rights, the way we approached justice, the way we wrote theology, the way we preached in our churches, and even the way we understood the church altogether (i.e., the church went from being who to what/it).

Warner Fite, in his Harvard Theological Review journal entry titled “The Motive of Individualism in Religion”, writes:

It is clear that most of the historic formulations of individualism, especially those of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, presuppose an exclusive and self-sufficient individual. Mind your own affairs—do as you please—every man for himself—laissez faire—that government is best which governs least—such expressions imply, upon their face at least, that no individual is directly interested in his neighbor.

Warner Fite, “The Motive of Individualism in Religion,” The Harvard Theological Review VII, no. 4 (1914): 479–480.

Which brings us to today...

What Individualism Is (Our Cultural Moment)

A definition of modern individualism...

Modern individualism is an approach to social and ethical theory that suggests the location of decision and action lies in the individual human person, and that people derive their personal identities from the choices that they make as individuals, more than from the groups or communities in which they participate.

Transition

So, I want to first take a brief look at how individualism corrupts and then talk about what it looks like to move away from its corrupting influence to something life giving.

WHAT INDIVIDUALISM DOES

Individualism Corrupts Identity

Identity is about belonging and finding our location in all of creation.

Last week Michel talked about tribalism and how it is a displaced desire for the community God made and wired us for. How when this desire is corrupted it goes after locating one’s self in groups/tribes based on affinity (i.e., preferential tastes, hobbies, etc.). But he made a really critical point that even this is influenced and rooted in our individualism.

“I will be a republican or democrat and locate myself in that party/tribe as long as that party/tribe aligns with my personal beliefs, decisions, and actions.”

As Christians our belonging and location is found in the family of God, but this is so very difficult for us to understand because of how deeply we are influenced and governed by individualism.

Individualism strongly reinforces our tendency to compartmentalize church, reduce it to a place or product rather than seeing the church as a family to which we belong and are devoted. This best explains our propensity to abandon, rather than work through awkward and painful relationships we can often find ourselves in.

Social scientists have a label for the pervasive cultural orientation of modern American society that makes it so difficult for us to stay connected and grow together in community with one another. They call it radical individualism. What this amounts to is simple enough: We in America have been socialized to believe that our own dreams, goals, and personal fulfillment ought to take precedence over the well-being of any group to which we belong. The immediate needs of the individual are more important than the long-term health of the group. So we leave and withdraw from the group, rather than stay and grow up, when the going gets rough.

~ Joseph Hellerman

We have been trained from childhood to believe personal happiness and fulfillment should take precedence over the connections we have with any group we may belong to and sadly this includes the church family. So we run from the painful but redemptive relationships God has placed us in.

This goes back to the sin of Eden. The lie promised was they would “be like God” (Genesis 3:5). Only they were already like God (Genesis 1:26-27)!

Genesis 1:26–27 NIV

Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

This was not about being “like God,” this was about being like God independent of God and one another!

Individualism corrupts our ability to properly identify ourselves in the family of God.

Individualism Corrupts Authority

Individualism corrupts authority and confuses it for power.

It is really important to understand the distinction between the two.

When I was living in Chicago I once saw this petite woman police officer directing traffic downtown at a Michigan Avenue intersection and I remember being totally amazed at how she was handling this larger than life situation like a complete and total boss. The reality is she was powerless in the situation and all it would take is one car ignoring or not paying attention to her to prove this. However, because of the authority she had been given by the Chicago Police Department she was able to serve everyone well who came through that intersection and keep everyone safe from harm.

When we locate ourselves as individuals apart from others, we are really making a power move and placing ourselves over and above one another - because everyone is constantly grabbing for power as though it something to be attained.

Sadly, this is why both inside and outside of the church we continue to perpetuate things like hierarchy, patriarchy, racism, and nationalism just to name a few.

Power is God’s and God’s alone. We have been given authority, but not over and above one another. Even the one instance in Luke 9:1-2 where Jesus gave power and authority to cast out demons and heal the sick is referring specifically to the power of God the Holy Spirit as a gift of authority being given to serve others.

Authority when not confused with power is a gift that submits itself to others and serves them - just like that petite police officer in the middle of the intersection in Chicago.

Individualism corrupts our ability to properly understand the gift of authority and its purposes.

Individualism Corrupts Interpretation

Individualism corrupts our ability to interpret both Scripture and culture well. We view and judge everyone and everything through a bias lens which is primarily concerned with self-preservation, self-fulfillment, and self-advancement.

An example of doing both:

The whole notion of a “personal relationship with Jesus” is a modern Western idea derived from individualism. This is not to say salvation is not personal, it is, but it is not individualistic. It is absolutely corporate.

This really picked up steam with the 18th century revivals and then later the 19th and 20th century evangelistic crusades lead by Billy Sunday and later Billy Graham.

Building off what started in the Reformation, an American evangelicalism took shape which separated salvation and church. Only after salvation was someone encouraged to find a church. God’s group only comes into the picture as a sort of utilitarian aid to individual growth in the Christian faith. The goal of evangelism became getting someone to say a sinners prayer not join a group.

But in recent decades the inherent weaknesses of such an approach to the gospel have become increasingly apparent. As we are now painfully aware, the social values that once exerted pressure in favor of relational commitment are gone. Now that we have become relationally disconnected, the poverty of our "group-less" gospel is glaringly manifested.

The practical ramifications of all this for our lives and for our churches are enormous. By separating salvation from church involvement, in a culture that is already socially fragmented and relatively devoid of relational commitment, we implicitly give people permission to leave God's family when the going gets rough—to take their "personal relationships with Jesus" to another church down the block or, worse, to no church family at all. And this is precisely what they do.

So here is the tragic result of driving a wedge between soteriology (salvation) and ecclesiology (church). We have removed from the gospel what the Bible views as central to the sanctification process, namely, commitment to God's group. In doing so, we invariably set ourselves up for the relational shipwrecks that happen in the lives of countless Sunday attenders who opt for individual satisfaction over loyalty to God's group. After all, "I can leave my church and my personal Savior will happily accompany me wherever I go.”

…and this is just one example of how individualism corrupts interpretation.

Transition

So, where do we go from here?

Again, it is not enough to simply say, “Now that you know the very basics of individualism and how to identify it, stop doing it!” We have to have an imagination and appetite for something transcendent — something better.

I believe, along with the church for many centuries, this to be the church as a family. Let’s revisit our Scripture readings.

FROM INDIVIDUALISM TO THE CHURCH AS A FAMILY

Church as a Family of Identity

If our identity is truly in Christ then it is in the body of Christ. We belong in and to the family of God.

1 Corinthians 12:12–14 NLT

We don’t “join” the body of Christ because of affinity. We are reborn into it and just like the families we are born into we don’t get to choose them, for better or for worse.

This reorients our thinking, our priorities, and our actions. It is only in this context Scripture like Acts 2:42-47 makes any sense!

Acts 2:42–47 NIV

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

To be Christian is to find your identity Christ, which is to find your identity in the family of God, and this family takes priority over our lives as individuals.

You guys, this is hard. It rubs against everything we have been raised to think through parenting, education, and for some probably many sermons.

The truth is, this is the place where true freedom exists. Not independent of God and one another, but dependent on God and one another.

Church as a Family of Mutuality

Let me read the rest of our passages...

Romans 12:3–5 NLT

Romans 12:10 NLT

Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other.

Ephesians 5:1–2 NLT

Ephesians 5:8–10 NLT

Ephesians 5:15–17 NLT

Ephesians 5:21 NLT

And further, submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Jesus and His gospel of the Kingdom, showed us a way for the first time in human history to unwind the oppressiveness of hierarchy, which leads to other corrupt ideologies like patriarchy, racism, and nationalism. His gospel demonstrated both real power and authority in submission to others.

Mark 10:45 NIV

For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

This concept of mutuality that Jesus gave us subverts the idea of one being over and above another — one in power while the other serves — and shows us a way of mutual submission, where both parties submit to the other and both parties serve the other.

Mutuality was and is a new possibility in Jesus - a new way of living life was born and we are participants in that way of life.

It is important to note, a new way of living takes time to work out.

After Ephesians 5:21 Paul goes on to talk about several types of relationships which once functioned within the framework of hierarchy and calls us to reimagine them in light of mutuality — submitting ourselves to one another. Husbands and wives, parents and children, masters and slaves / bosses and workers - these are all things we are still trying to work out.

Which leads me to this last point. If we are to work these things out we have to work them out as a family of discernment.

Church as a Family of Discernment

One of the realities we now live in is a church full of individuals who are working out their theology, ethics, and worldview in isolation through YouTube, Google, and social media. I am not saying reading and studying on your own is wrong, but landing the plane on things in isolation is so dangerous.

Now, I understand how we got to this place. It’s a reaction to the only other alternative that most of us have seen and know, which is a hierarchical church with a man (usually a man) at the top determining these things like theology, ethics, and a worldview (usually in isolation) while the rest of the church follows. If those are our only two options then yes, I get it. I know which one I choose.

However, when we belong to a family who prioritizes one another and who lives out this new reality called mutuality, we can start to imagine a place where we can open up space for the Holy Spirit to work as we submit these things to one another. A place where we do not have to work these things out as individuals in isolation, but instead working them out together as a discerning community.

I genuinely believe if we are going to work things out like theology and Christian ethics on sexuality, gender, violence, war, politics, social justice, and the list goes on and on, we are not going to do so effectively outside of a community/family of discernment.

Proverbs 11:14 NIV

For lack of guidance a nation falls, but victory is won through many advisers.

Paul writing to the collective church family in Philippians says this:

Philippians 1:9–10 NIV

And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ,

Pray

God in heaven, give us an imagination, excitement, and longing to be a people who experience Your power and presence as we leave behind our individualism for a new identity found in Christ and His family - the church, as we leave behind our individualism for a new way of life where we freely submit ourselves to one another, and as we leave behind our individualism for a community of discernment where we work out what it looks like to be Your people who have always been called to go and bless the nations.

COMMUNION

1 Corinthians 11:23–26 NLT

For I pass on to you what I received from the Lord himself. On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took some bread and gave thanks to God for it. Then he broke it in pieces and said, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” In the same way, he took the cup of wine after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant between God and his people—an agreement confirmed with my blood. Do this in remembrance of me as often as you drink it.” For every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are announcing the Lord’s death until he comes again.