Personal from Joseph Tkach Personal from Joseph Tkach
The book of Acts tells us that the first Christians "devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer" (Acts 2:42). Three basics of Christian life are illustrated here: 1) Discipleship, or growing in grace and knowledge; 2) Fellowship, or a sense of community among the believers; and 3) Worship, represented here by prayer, perhaps also by the breaking of bread.
Discipleship, fellowship and worship are three "ships" that form the basic framework for what the church does today. In order to keep the church ship-shape, we also need to devote ourselves to discipleship, fellowship and worship.
The WCG has traditionally had a strong sense of community. Through friendships made at the festivals, through connections made at Ambassador College and the Summer Educational Program, through a wide variety of social opportunities, through the WN, we have an extensive network of friends.
As people of Jesus Christ, we still need to be devoted to building and strengthening our fellowship. We still share a common spiritual journey, still share many of the same circumstances in our churches, still share in the WN, still share in many of the same songs.
But our greatest sense of unity should come from our faith in Christ our Savior--it is he who gives defining purpose to our lives. Our lives are in him, united to him, and through him, to each other.
We are all pressing toward the same goal, drawing on the same strength, praying to the same God, basing our lives on the same Book. It is this Book that tells us we need to strengthen the bonds between believers.
One proof of the true church, said Jesus, is that his disciples love one another (John 13:35). This means a respect for all, a humility that knows that Jesus died for other people just as much as he died for us.
It means a willingness to follow Christ, to serve others rather than just ourselves. It means positive relationships between different races, social classes, temperaments and personalities--relationships that transcend the normal barriers of human society.
As James said: "If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, `Love your neighbor as yourself,' you are doing right. But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers....
"Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, `Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,' but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead" (James 2:8-9, 15-17).
The Old Testament prophets said something similar: Our worship is in vain if it is not accompanied by good relationships with others (Isaiah 1:11-17; Hosea 6:6; Micah 6:6-8). Jesus also condemned the profession of worship when it was not accompanied by the performance of love.
Paul criticized the Corinthian church for having social divisions between rich and poor (1 Corinthians 11:18-21), between those who had certain spiritual gifts and those who did not (1 Corinthians 12). He gives the solution in chapter 13: love that is patient and kind; love that does not show off, but humbly serves others.
Paul exhorts that everything in church meetings should be done for the strengthening of the church (1 Corinthians 14:26). Instead of continuing the divisions in the church, the Corinthians were to concentrate on strengthening the unity of the body.
This is good advice for us today: to seek unity--not through enforcing uniformity of diet, not through enforcing preferences about days of worship, not through limiting the kind of worship songs we sing, but through mutual respect and love, rooted in Christ's love for us, working within us, transforming us to become more and more like him.
We are to love not just those who are similar to us, but also those who are different. "As we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers" (Galatians 6:9-10).
As followers of Jesus Christ, we are given numerous responsibilities toward one another. Simply meeting together for worship does not fulfill all these responsibilities--we are also to have active interrelationship with others in the church.
Small groups are perhaps the best way for us to grow in our interrelationships, as we gather in the context of prayer, of reliance on Scripture as the basis of our beliefs and practices, and of concern for one another. We are growing together, worshiping together, strengthening our community.
For some members, a small group is formed for the specific purpose of growing together in love and faith; sometimes the group is formed around a task that needs to be done within the church; sometimes it is the women's ministry, or the children's ministry, or a music group. Many different types of groups can help strengthen the church.
Most people in the church should be able to join a group, to be able to contribute in times of strength and to be helped in times of need. God created us to be social. All people want to be loved, to be appreciated, to be able to contribute meaningfully to others.
P.S. I want to mention also a few points about a topic that could weaken our sense of community, our devotion to our fellowship--worship days.
Can we remain together when members observe different sets of annual days? If Christ is in us, I believe we can. This wars against our human nature, but with Christ it is possible--even imperative--to love people who have different opinions and practices on this topic.
Let me point out some principles:
* Paul teaches that no days we select for worship should cause animosity between members (Romans 14:5). That applies equally to Easter, Unleavened Bread, Pentecost, Tabernacles and Christmas. If we have the "right" day of worship, but the wrong attitude, we gain nothing (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).
* In Christ, we are free to meet on any day of the week, any day of the year. But no matter when that is, we are to preach Christ, not the day. Our worship and our messages must focus on him, not on the day.
We certainly do not want anything in our messages to imply that people who observe one day are better or more obedient than those who observe another.
* The focus is on Christ. We worship him, and we commemorate salvation in him.
I believe that traditional Christian holidays do that more directly than traditional Jewish festivals do. In Western nations, almost everyone knows that Easter commemorates Christ's resurrection, whereas almost no one has even heard of wavesheaf Sunday, much less know that it foreshadowed the resurrection.
In other words, Easter presents a clear picture, whereas wavesheaf Sunday presents a picture that requires lengthy explanation before it is understood.
* The Old Testament tells us that the Israelite festivals picture the Exodus from Egypt, and the Israelite harvest seasons. (See Bible Study, pages 25 and 26).
Colossians 2:16-17 tells us that they also foreshadowed Christ, but this was in an indirect and undefined way. The entire old covenant ritual system foreshadowed Christ (Hebrews 10:1), but different rituals pictured different aspects of spiritual redemption.
After Christ, we can look back and see points of parallelism, but it is difficult to start only with the Old Testament rituals and from them get a clear picture of what Jesus Christ would actually do.
Some details had significance, and others did not. The Old Testament simply does not give us a clear picture. Perhaps it would be like trying to determine the color of an object by the shape of its shadow.
* The principle of the old covenant days was that God's people were to commemorate the saving events in their history. The same is true for Christians today.
The Israelites looked back to a physical salvation, but we look to a far more important spiritual one. We look back not so much to the Exodus, as to Jesus Christ, specifically his crucifixion and resurrection, and also his birth.
His crucifixion is vital to our salvation, his resurrection is vital to our faith, and the birth of Jesus was a cause for celebration among the holy angels.
* Despite the limitations of the Israelite annual festivals, they can be used to worship Christ, just as other days can be. The early church apparently worshiped at the temple on the festivals--with no complaint from Paul. He did not castigate the Jewish believers for any deficiencies in their understanding.
Paul strongly objected to seeing the old covenant days as requirements for gentiles, but he seems to have no objection to them as options. Paul felt free to go into the temple, and free to preach on Sunday.
* Since days do not matter, we offer worship services according to the needs and desires of our members. In most congregations, that means that we offer worship services for the traditional WCG seven annual festivals.
It also means that most congregations in America will offer worship services for Easter and Christmas, too. It also means that a few congregations will not observe the annual festivals at all, and a few will not observe Easter and/or Christmas.
Our desire throughout is 1) that Christ is preached and 2) that no one judges others because of the days they happen to observe.
* Every pastor will, however, support and encourage those who wish to meet on any of these days, and will lead in such a way that Christ is honored, preached and taught.
That means pastors will not be teaching that the Israelite festivals are in any way required or expected, or that keeping them is an act of obedience to God, as we formerly believed and taught.
Logistics and numbers may require some festival worship meetings, whether Israelite festivals or Christian festivals, to be held in homes.
* The trend within the WCG in the past four years has been that a decreasing percentage of our membership is devoted to the annual festivals, and an increasing percentage wants to observe Easter and Christmas (and perhaps a few other traditional days).
I expect that this trend will continue, though interest in the Israelite festivals may never completely disappear. We intend to offer worship services on these days as long as members want them.
It would be inconsistent to preach grace and freedom while forbidding worship on days that have origins that we don't like. Wherever and whenever we gather as God's people, we have an opportunity to preach and worship Christ!
Christ should be our focus. As we draw closer to him, as we become more like him in love, days on a calendar will decrease in significance.
The days on the calendar are useful for worship, but they are not our primary goal. Our goal is not to force one set of days in, or to force another out--our goal is to lead people to Christ, and to let him live within us, to let his attitudes dominate us--attitudes of love, of respect for others, of humility, of being God-focused.
Our sense of community, our devotion to fellowship within the church, must be based on these internal truths, not the external matter of considering one day better than another.
Copyright © Worldwide Church of God, 1998