This Sunday in Sunday school we were talking about learning
as a spiritual discipline, then this week I’ve been reading a few books that go
along well with that theme: Think: The Life of the Mind and the Love of God, by John Piper; Good to Great in God’s Eyes, by Chip Ingram; and If I Had Lunch with C.S. Lewis, by Alister McGrath. Piper makes the
following comment in regard to “anti-intellectual impulses” within the church:
“If we were to succeed in raising a
generation of people who give up serious, faithful, coherent thinking, we will
have raised a generation incapable of reading the Bible… The problem with those
who debunk the gift of thinking as a way of knowing God is that they do not
spell out clearly what the alternative is. The reason is that there isn’t one.
If we abandon thinking, we abandon the Bible, and if we abandon the Bible we
abandon God” (123).
Ingram urges believers to “think great thoughts” and “read
great books” that help us to understand Scripture, meditate on it, and apply it
to our lives. One author quoted by McGrath wrote of C.S. Lewis, “Rational
argument does not create belief, but it maintains a climate in which belief may
flourish.”
It seems in many
churches that members don’t feel any need for spiritual nourishment outside of
an hour or two on Sunday morning. Something I listened to recently (I forget
who it was) made the claim that churchgoers are receiving too many messages
with no chance to apply them. Maybe that was true when the primary social
activities of a community revolved around the church—Sunday morning, Sunday
evening, Wednesday night, etc. Barna Research states, “Regular attenders used to be people who went to church
three or more weekends each month—or even several times a week. Now people who
show up once every four to six weeks consider themselves regular churchgoers.”
So I doubt that these folks are hearing too many messages
for them to apply. I believe the real problem is that people don’t want to have
to think. They want to be spoon-fed a simple message that does not challenge
them to consider how they should respond. They will forget the message as soon
as they leave the pew, and won’t think about their faith until the next Sunday
morning when they decide whether to go to church or not.
That’s a mindset I can’t really understand. In addition to being
raised in the church, I’ve spent about 9 years in formal education at Christian
colleges and seminaries, and much of my free time since then has been spent in
reading and study of a wide variety of Christian books. The more I read and
learn, the more I want to learn and the more I want to truly know God. I shared
this quote recently on Facebook:
“A real Christian’s hunger may
begin slowly, but it will grow over time, so that by the end of life a real
Christian is hungrier than ever for God. By contrast, someone who is not real
may have hunger that starts off strong, but it will diminish over time, so that
eventually this person is less hungry for God, if at all” (Todd Wilson, Real Christian).
I’m afraid that’s what has happened to a lot of church members.
At one time they realized a need for God, but they haven’t fed that need with
the solid food of the Word and have gradually lost interest. Apathy has set in
and they are satisfied with occasional appearances at church services to
maintain the illusion of real faith. I wonder how many will hear those
terrifying words, “Depart from Me, I never knew you” (Matthew 7:23). I don’t
want that to happen to any of the people I love. I want us all to be confident that
He knows us and that we are seeking to know Him as well as we are humanly able.
"And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength." –Matthew 12:30 ESV
