Quote:
Originally Posted by Peter Debelak
Christians will and should work together. God made us social creatures and He has a corporate goal.
But natural groups and fallen humanity have built in faults. They are not anomalies. They are inherent. Thus, I am arguing, you need to build in protections. And I don’t think these are out of thin air. I think they have Biblical foundation.
The protection I am suggesting is two-fold:
1) a matter of emphasis: focus on believers learning their spirit and getting rooted in the Word – rather than focusing on the group assuming the individuals will fair just fine; The practical result of this may well entail Christians working together, but each individual has had to go through the process of checking with their indwelling Lord – rather than going along with the group, which is often too easy to do.
2) While Christians will work together and in groups, the initiation of “agendas” or any other “agency” is through direct commission from God to an individual (or several people, but to each one individually). That is, leave “the work” out of the assembly – though they may reinforce eachother. If no individuals have such a direct commission – that’s a good red flag that perhaps it isn’t something that should be done. Often, “workers” who are “full-time” end up manufacturing projects...
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I am interested in the group dynamics in the Bible. Sometimes they are referred to as "the multitude" or "a great crowd". They seem to behave, en masse, like extended individuals. Sometimes they surge toward God, and express Him (at least somewhat), and sometimes they get caught by a "bad spirit" and do quite the opposite.
Because of this tendency to fail, and because the multiplication of souls seems to multiply (intensify) the tendencies found within the crowd, there probably should be some safeguards, some "checks and balances". Because if the power of the mob gets harnessed by those who themselves are (at least temporarily) harnessed by Satan, surely no good can result.
And I don't think that on the day of Pentecost, or some time thereafter, "the church" became immune to this. Jesus did not trust the crowd, knowing full well what lay within the human heart (see John 2:24). I don't think this tendency ended after Acts chapter 2.
As a perhaps connected aside, related to the idea of us being pushed by whims, I notice how many of us got "caught" in the local churches of Lee under what might be called Shot-gun Wedding dynamics. One minute you are alone and adrift, and the next minute you are in the front row of a meeting yelling your lungs out. You get caught in the Group Pressure Dynamic to conform, and suddenly you are "in" (contrasted, perhaps, to the more cautious "do not lay hands quickly on anyone" in 1 Timothy 5:22).
A great example of group dynamics is the crowd in the gospels that wants to make Jesus king, then some of them start to argue with Him, then they try to tear him apart and he has to withdraw. Or the crowd that chants, "We have no king but Caesar"; 50 days later they are repentant in front of Peter, asking, "What should we do, brothers?" And if you think this crowd on Penecost was somehow a different group, read verse 23: "This man was handed over to you by God’s set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross."