“The Christian was never meant to be a kind of Robinson Crusoe living on his own desert island.”
The above sentence, which I read recently, struck me as so true and significant as to be well worth repeating and enlarging upon. For, though “never meant to be,” Christians are often found playing a “Robinson Crusoe” role as regards fellow-Christians—fellow-members of “the body of Christ.” Attending nowhere in particular, having no fellowship in the church, they describe themselves as “unattached,” “unsectarian” or in other such terms.
But whatever the term is used, there is no justification in Scripture for self-isolation. The believer in Christ is not a mere individual unit, having responsibility only towards God. The ties of common Fatherhood and spiritual sympathies do indeed exist between believers, drawing together the children of God scattered abroad in this hostile world. But there is a closer tie and stronger bond that links one believer with every other on earth. For not only are all Christians members of the one redeemed family of God, but they are members of “the one body” of which Christ Himself is the head: “For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body” (1 Cor. 12:1313For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. (1 Corinthians 12:13)).
What excuse has a Christian for withdrawing from attachment to his fellow-members in Christ? No Christian ought say that he will walk alone, or have his “man Friday” (to follow the figure of Defoe’s story), or several, as his own select company.
It is all a mistake. If a Christian voluntarily shuts himself off from the fellowship of his fellow-disciples, he will suffer from it in his spirit, and instead of his soul being “as a watered garden” it is more likely to be as the “heath in the wilderness.” It could not be otherwise, for one member of the body cannot say of another, “I have no need of thee” (1 Cor. 12:2121And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. (1 Corinthians 12:21)).
If asked why he maintains a position of aloofness from other believers, one “Robinson Crusoe” Christian will say that his brethren are so difficult to get along with that it is best for him to walk alone. Another will answer that the professing church is in such utter ruin that there is nothing left but to live apart from it. Still another will tell you that he once tried to walk in united testimony for the Lord with his brethren but was badly treated by them. Others, to their shame, will confess that they prefer quiet to conflict, peace to war, and so choose to stand alone. They like not the toil and exercises inseparable from a collective “striving together for the faith of the gospel” or standing shoulder to shoulder contending “earnestly... for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.” They leave to others the burdens and cares connected with the maintenance of a collective testimony for God and His Christ in the world.
We may learn a lesson here by what happened to the inhabitants of Laish, who dwelt “careless [carefree]... quiet and secure; and there was no magistrate in the land, that might put them to shame in anything... and had no business with any man” (Judges 18:77Then the five men departed, and came to Laish, and saw the people that were therein, how they dwelt careless, after the manner of the Zidonians, quiet and secure; and there was no magistrate in the land, that might put them to shame in any thing; and they were far from the Zidonians, and had no business with any man. (Judges 18:7)). They had taken themselves away from their fellows, preferring the quiet seclusion of their valley to the trials connected with the body politic of the nation. They were not amenable to established authority, and no magistrate was there to shame or call them to account for their lives. Thinking to dwell secure in their insular Utopia and shirking all responsibility was their undoing. When the fierce Danites fell upon them, they were an easy prey and were completely exterminated.
It thus often happens that Christians in isolation from their brethren become easy victims of the enemy. Frequently falling into error, in one way or another they pay the penalty of disobedience to the Word of God. “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching” (Heb. 10:2525Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. (Hebrews 10:25)).
A few plead that they can be more useful in God’s work if unattached, that they have access to many places where they could not otherwise preach or teach if they were identified with any particular fellowship. But putting service before obedience to the Lord and His Word is a great mistake, as the “judgment seat of Christ” will reveal. God’s servant cannot free himself from the responsibilities connected with “the house of God... the pillar and ground of the truth” (1 Tim. 3:1515But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. (1 Timothy 3:15)). Since this is the office and character of the house, “the church of the living God,” how can any servant of Christ ignore its claims and remain guiltless?
There are very practical reasons, too, why the Christian should avoid isolating himself from his fellow-believers. Another has said: “Fellowship is essential to the development of the Christian life. There is an element in the collective experience of the church which cannot be attained by the individual experience in isolation.... The highest graces and virtues of the Christian life cannot be grown in solitude. Monasticism has invariably carried within itself the seeds of decay. Two always count for more than two when they are united in common work, so we read, ‘How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight?’ (Deut. 32:3030How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, except their Rock had sold them, and the Lord had shut them up? (Deuteronomy 32:30)).” Thus the Christian should seek to walk and labor in fellowship with his brethren.
Then, too, as to worship the highest employment in which the Christian can be engaged the detached, independent believer is largely deprived. For that which is distinctively Christian worship, peculiar to the dispensation in which we live, can only be rendered in assembly with others. (There is, of course, a worship which can always be offered to God by the individual. Abel, Noah, Abraham and others rendered such worship.) Thus, by separating from my fellow-Christians I am robbing myself of this peculiar joy and privilege, where Christ, “in the midst of the assembly,” as the Leader of our worship sings praises unto God (Hebrews 2:1212Saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee. (Hebrews 2:12) JND).
There is also a ministry as exercised in the assembly according to 1 Corinthians 14 to which the independent Christian must remain a stranger—a ministry rendered through the various gifts for the up-building of the body.
There are many and good reasons, therefore, why the Christian should not remain separate from his brethren; he needs them as they also need him. Christ followed the two to Emmaus, not to “abide” with them, but to recover them and turn them back to the company of their brethren from whom they had separated. There He appeared to them all as they were assembled together in the upper room and gave them His parting instructions. Then leading the little flock out as far as to Bethany, He lifted up His hands in blessing and parted from them, carried up to heaven. What would they have missed had they not returned to the company of the disciples! See Luke 24.
C. Knapp (adapted from an article)