Anyone who has shared the Lord with a friend or a relative knows that there are many today who think they are Christians, but who want to have nothing to do with His church. These people seldom, if ever, attend a worship service or a Bible class, and they have never been involved in any activity or work of the church. Even more tragically, they never feel any guilt toward their lack of involvement with the church.
This AM I want to give some thought about our attitudes toward the church. What are some things the Bible says about the church and how vital it is that I be involved in a local congregation of the Lord’s people?
Let’s begin with the basics. The first time that Jesus used the word “church” was in Matthew 16:18 where He promised, And on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
The “rock” Jesus had reference to was the truth that Peter had just confessed that He is the Christ, the Son of the living God. To confess Jesus as the Son of God is to confess His deity — that He and His Father are one. This is the foundational faith upon which Jesus builds His church. This was also the faith that the majority of Jews totally rejected. When Jesus said I and My Father are one, the Jews took up stones to stone Him because they said that You, being a Man, make Yourself God (Jn. 10:31-33).
Jesus invested His personal ministry into proving He was one with the Father and that to reject Him was to reject His Father Who sent Him. He declared that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him (Jn. 5:23.
The world’s population is divided into believers and non-believers in Jesus. When the gospel of Jesus’ Death, Burial and Resurrection is preached, some believe and some refuse to believe. Jesus declared: he who believes and is baptized will be are saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned (Mk. 16:16).
Anyone who sincerely believes that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, will submit in the obedience of faith to Jesus as Lord. Whenever an individual obeys the gospel, Jesus adds another living stone to the temple of His church.
In view of these Biblical facts when we speak of “the church”, we speak of “the saved of God”; those who have been washed of their sins by the precious blood of Jesus. Paul spoke of “the church of God which He purchased with His own blood” (Acts 20:28).
There is no question as to the importance of the church in the sight of our Lord, for His church is the only blood-bought property that He claims on earth! Only those who believe in Him as Almighty God and Everlasting Father (Isa. 9:6) are redeemed by His precious blood.
When Jesus spoke of building His church, He had reference to the universal church throughout the world. Anytime that an individual believes and obeys the gospel he is added to the universal church of our Lord which is populated by God’s saved on earth, and the saved in heaven who are washed in the blood of the Lamb (Rev. 7:14).
The glorified church in heaven personally witnesses the glory of our Lord Jesus so that she no longer lives by faith as the church on earth does. The church in heaven joins God’s angels in singing a “new song” to Jesus: You were slain and have redeemed us to God by Your blood… (Rev. 5:9) The only act of worship we read of in heaven is praise to the Father (Rev. 4) and His Son (Rev. 5). The saved in heaven no longer observe the Lord’s Supper, give of their means, pray, or read the Word for they are in the presence of the Lord. The heavenly hosts praise Jesus through “the new song” and “in word” as they proclaim, “Worthy is the Lamb Who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing” (Rev. 5:12).
John concludes His glorious vision of the Son: And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying: "Blessing and honor and glory and power Be to Him who sits on the throne, And to the Lamb, forever and ever!" Then the four living creatures said, "Amen!" And the 24 elders fell down and worshiped Him who lives forever and ever. (Rev. 5:13-14)
The Bible not only uses the word “church” in the universal sense of all the saved of earth and heaven, it also uses the word in a local sense. Paul addressed his letter “To the church of God which is at Corinth…” (1 Cor. 1:2), and John addressed his letters “to the seven churches in Asia” (Rev. 1:4). While the church is a universal body, she also exists in the local sense of each community where obedient believers have been saved by the blood of the Lamb and “set apart” by the Holy Spirit. In this sense we are the church of God in Danville, Arkansas.
This AM I want us to give some brief thought as to what I owe my local church family as a faithful member of the body of Christ. Such a question is vital to my spiritual health and well-being because the attitude that I have toward the local church, as the blood bought property of our Lord, reflects the attitude that I have toward the Lord Jesus Himself. In Acts 8, Saul of Tarsus was making havoc of the church by persecuting Christians. In the next chapter Jesus miraculously appeared to him and asked him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” (Acts 9:4) In persecuting the church of Christ, Saul was persecuting the Christ of the church! This is true because the church is the body of Christ and the way we treat His body (in attitude and action) is the way we treat the Lord Jesus Himself. Therefore, it is impossible to be faithful to Jesus while remaining lukewarm or negative toward His church. This AM let’s look at 3 things that I owe the local church if I am going to be a faithful Christian:
1) I Owe the Local Church My Presence. The Lord expects every Christian to assemble faithfully and regularly with other believers if at all physically possible. We need the attitude of Psa. 122:1 that, I was glad (not “sad” but “glad”) when they said to me, “Let us go into the house of the Lord”.
The church in Danville is the spiritual family in which your spirit and my spirit are joined to the Spirit of the Lord (1 Cor. 6:17). Jesus promised “where 2 or 3 are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them” (Matt. 18:20). When we gather with the saints, we each bring the Spirit of Jesus into the assembly so that as we gather Jesus is in our midst. Surely that is sufficient motivation for any true lover of God to never willfully forsake the assembly (Heb. 10:25).
Brother John Gibson once mentioned in a bulletin article that as they were driving home from worship one Sunday, his little 4 year old grand-daughter said, “Look at those people outside playing golf when they ought to be inside worshiping God. I guess they just want to mind the devil.” Out of the mouths of innocent babes, huh?
Brother Gibson went on to mention a national survey among regular church attenders and what gave them gratification in church attendance. 77% said it was the experience of feeling closer to God; 60% said it was the experience of worshiping God and 54% said it was the companionship or fellowship with other believers. All are excellent reasons for faithfully attending worship services. Such reasons may reflect why the Lord has commanded us to take church attendance seriously. He knows we need time together to stir one another to love and good works. The bottom line is, there is no way I can please God if I fail to take the local church seriously.
2) In The 2nd Place I Owe The Local Church My Involvement. As His spiritual body, the Lord wants us to do the same work He Himself did while on this earth as a Man which was to seek and save the lost (Lk 19:10).
The early church reached out to the lost and less fortunate through evangelism and benevolence. Just as Jesus reached out in love to the poor and suffering of His day, so the church (as His spiritual body) must do the same. And just as Jesus preached the gospel to save the lost, we are to do the same today.
Jesus taught that in reaching out to others we are reaching up to Him. In His prophecy concerning the judgment day, Jesus said that those who ministered to the hungry, the thirsty, the homeless, the naked, the sick and those in prison actually ministered to Him: “Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.” (Matt. 25:40).
How much easier our yoke and how much lighter our burden for Christ if we would only remember that as we minister to others we minister to Jesus Himself. Such an attitude makes our efforts a work of faith and love toward our Lord Jesus Himself.
In The 3rd Place I Owe the Local Church My Giving. The most precious gift I can give is my heart to the Father and Son Who gave all. When I give my heart, I am returning to the Lord what He has already given me. This is true of every financial gift I may give as “where (my) treasure is there will (my) heart be also (Matt. 6:21).
Our “receiving” and “giving” is like a mother who gives her little girl a piece of cake, and she offers to share some of it with her. Don’t you know the mother values the gift, not because she needs or wants the cake, but because she sees her precious daughter learning to overcome selfishness!
Every good and every perfect gift… comes down from the Father of lights
(Jms.1:17). Our Father longs for us to learn to give back to Him of what He has shared with us. This is far from the demand of a hard taskmaster, but the loving call of a Father and Savior who knows that every gift we bring to Him will draw us ever closer to His Spirit. Every sacrifice we make will but open our hearts even wider to the heavenly flow of His Spirit of love, joy & peace.
Submitted by: Ralph Weinhold
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