By Shafer Parker

Blogging through Doug Wilson’s book Gashmu Saith It: How to Build Christian Communities that Save the World now brings us to chapter 3. But to get started I need to remind you of some fundamental realities. (1) The world has always needed saving, but for Westerners the need to make a difference in the world around us, i.e., to “save the world,” is now blindingly evident. (2) Throughout his book Wilson repeatedly hammers a subject that should be obvious, but that is often missed by too many church leaders, namely, that before the church can “save the world,” it must first save itself. (3) The church-related topics Wilson focuses on reforming in chapter 3, membership, likemindedness, and loyalty, arguably constitute the biggest challenge facing the church today.

To draw out the modern church’s blindness to the need for loyalty within the membership, Wilson points out that, despite the numerous biblical passages calling Christians to unity and loyalty (many listed in the book), we “have a very poor understanding of what disloyalty actually smells like.” Wilson’s negative exposure of our ignorance of what constitutes disloyalty, is, in my view, a very telling phrase. Many of us have difficulty defining abstract concepts, such as love, but when someone is blind to love’s absence in a relationship, they are pretty far gone. It should, therefore, bring most of us up with a short, sharp, shock, and force us to ask, what do we really know about Christian loyalty in the local church? And why can we not recognize its absence?

You’ve probably already guessed this, but Wilson quotes I Cor. 8:1 to point out that pride is the rock upon which church membership and church loyalty frequently founder. “Now concerning food offered to idols,” Paul writes, ‘we know that all of us possess knowledge.’ This ‘knowledge’ puffs up, but love builds up.” Now, when a preacher or writer is found railing against pride, the typical solution is to call for humility. But Wilson is far from a typical teacher. He reminds his readers that likemindedness as an aspect of loyalty “is a function of humility,” and that humility “is in fact a work of the Spirit.”

I hope you won’t mind if I insert a personal word here. It seems to me that Wilson is speaking primarily of the “fruit of the Spirit” (Gal. 5:22-23), more than the gifts of the Spirit. Yet many Christians place an emphasis on the gifts. Why? Well, let me put my reply in the form of another question. Which is easier to fake, the gifts of the Spirit, or the fruit of the Spirit? Think carefully before you answer. It seems to me that too many modern churches, like the Corinthian church of old, “are not lacking in any gift” (I Cor. 1:7) but where fruit is concerned, they are somewhat short of a full basket.

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How did we arrive at this state of affairs? Wilson suggests we may be lacking Spiritual fruit because we never really embed ourselves into a single church family. Think about it. If you spend the night at someone’s house, you and your host will probably have little difficulty getting along. But moving in together long term might be a different story. Now let me ask you this. How many church attenders do you know who are prepared to stick with one congregation through almost anything that comes up, especially if the thing that comes up involves personal discipline, or personal cost? This is where Wilson lowers the boom, reminding his readers of the following biblical commands.

Heb. 13:7 Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation. (Emphasis added)

Heb. 13:17 Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you. (Emphasis added)

From these verses Wilson gathers the following: (1) these two verses provide a strong argument for membership in a local congregation; (2) They argue for a church structure where leaders are expected to lead and the congregation is expected to follow; and (3) the led should be expected to know the identity of those they follow, and the leaders should be expected to know the identity of those they lead. To Wilson, the logic is simple. “If you don’t know who your rulers are,” he writes, “you cannot consider the outcome of their conduct or way of life. And if you don’t know who you are responsible for, you cannot watch over their souls.”

I would be very surprised if at this point some of you aren’t thinking, “This is ridiculous. I would never let Wilson, nor anyone else tell me what to think or how to behave.” And Wilson responds, “When it comes to life in our modern congregations, we think we have to guard against mindless conformity when what really threatens our spiritual health is our radical individualism.” As shocking as his words may be, he is, I think, on to something. He realizes that the devil’s trick has been to warn Christians so strongly against being caught up in a cult that we end up jettisoning all meaningful connections.

If, then, you’re determined to change the church in order to change the world, Wilson recommends the following: (1) learn the meaning of true independence of mind, i.e., the ability to disagree without demonizing the other person, (2) strive to reach this point by letting Scripture “instruct you on how to distinguish things that are of first importance and things that are of much lesser importance,” and (3) remember that “unity and likemindedness are a function of being [in] Christ. He is the one in whom every joint and ligament joins (Eph. 4:16).”

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