00:04:32.860And what's the value of people being present on Sunday if they can do the exact same thing
00:04:38.700at home, which is listen to a handful of worship songs and a sermon and not get other people
00:04:43.700sick? These are good questions that poke some pretty major holes in the modern expression
00:04:50.260of church. But these questions stem from both an incorrect definition and an incorrect experience
00:04:58.060of biblical church. Biblical church, in my opinion, is far more than a sermon and worship
00:05:04.980songs. I actually did an entire episode on this topic titled, Can Watching an Online Sermon
00:05:11.880Be Considered Church? That's episode 90 if you want to take a listen. But biblical church is the
00:05:17.800physical communing and fellowshipping of those who have been redeemed by Christ. It's the central
00:05:25.520local place of weekly edification, which is far more than information. Too many pastors
00:05:32.200have taught that edification is solely accomplished by preaching. It's not.
00:05:38.800Okay, preaching is critical and maybe even primary, but it is not the solitary form of edification of
00:05:44.520the saints. Christians are edified by a variety of things that go beyond preaching, from just
00:05:50.700having a listening ear of a pastor, to the prayers of their fellow saints, to the laying on of hands
00:05:57.820in a moment of sickness, to the joy and laughter of close brothers and sisters in Christ, to the
00:06:04.300correction from a more mature believer, and to the confession and repentance of a fellow child
00:06:11.900of God. These are all ways of edification, and they're critical. And this is why there's over
00:06:18.880100 one another's in scripture. Christianity is a family. Family is dependent on connection.
00:06:28.860Connection is dependent on presence. But sadly, this has not been the case for Western Christianity.
00:06:35.580We don't fight for presence because we're not connected. And we're not connected because we
00:06:40.520don't believe we're a family. And this is a fundamental flaw in modern Christianity or0.69
00:06:45.220churchianity, and we must realign ourselves to Scripture. We must remember that attendance0.86
00:06:51.200really is a form of ministry. Church is not only for you to receive, but also for others to receive
00:06:57.640from you. I think about Hebrews 10, 24 through 25. It says, let us consider. It's a command. Let us
00:07:03.900consider. This is a main clause. Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works,
00:07:11.940not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some but encouraging one another and all the
00:07:20.420more as you see the day capital d there the day the day of his return drawing near so all that
00:07:26.080to say we are still faced with a dilemma how can we both gather as a family while also respecting
00:07:33.280the health risks of those who are vulnerable in our communities during this time so here's my
00:07:37.760thought. The internet is not a valid option. Yesterday, I tweeted, in the same way that you
00:07:44.800can't raise a child or do marriage over the internet, you can't do church online. The internet
00:07:52.380was a bridge to the real thing. It's not the real thing itself, end quote. Now, these are blanket
00:08:00.140statements. It doesn't mean that the internet can't function for somebody who might be on hospice
00:08:05.240care, right? It's the best that you can have. Or if you do have asthma, extreme asthma, you shouldn't
00:08:12.480be out because of the risks. These are, again, our blanket statements. They're general statements,
00:08:17.680not talking about the exception to the rule. But in other words, what I'm saying in the general
00:08:23.420sense is that online church is not a valid alternative for biblical church. Okay, you can
00:08:29.120do a lot of things on the internet, but you cannot do long-term family relationships online. In fact,
00:08:36.520many of you will feel this tomorrow as you try to live stream your Thanksgiving dinner with some of
00:08:40.520your family members. And I want you to remember how empty that feels. And then think about doing
00:08:44.840that weekly with the church. It just doesn't work. People need physical connection. The rising stats
00:08:52.040of depression, loneliness, anxiety, anger, suicide during the pandemic are definitely evidence of
00:08:57.440that truth. The church is both universal as a body and local as a body. And I can't think of a more
00:09:04.740connected metaphor for the church than what's used in scripture. We're a body, right? Try living
00:09:10.200without your arm and your waist and your thumb and your left leg. You can't do it. They are
00:09:14.880connected. And so here's my suggestion, and it's a bit of a doozy. So just hold on to your seats
00:09:21.020for a second because it's not going to be easy, but it's what we do here. Decentralize the church.
00:09:28.800That's my thought. Maybe temporarily, maybe completely and forever, but decentralize the
00:09:37.240church. Kill off audience Christianity. Break one large church of, say, 100 families into 10 house0.99
00:09:43.220churches with 10 families each. And think of it like a big ship versus 10 lifeboats, right?
00:09:48.840But don't, however, create this mini magisterium, multi-site church model where the pastor acts as the pope and preaches a message and everybody that gathers in houses watches it over a TV and sings some assigned worship songs and answers a few pre-written questions.