Now you are Christ's body, and each of you is a member of it.(1 Corinthians 12:27 – NET)
I don't know why some people change churches; what difference does it make which one you stay home from? Now, let us take this further than that, because some people are in church nearly every week, but they aren’t a part of any church in reality. Now, it is a good thing to at least be in a church every week. However, if you never settle on having a local assembly as your primary, home church, then you might be worshipping congregationally every week, you might be fellowshipping with people of like precious faith every week, and you might be hearing the word of God preached to your edification every week, but you are still missing out. And you are robbing a local body of your ongoing support, witness, and their knowing you and growing with you, beyond the superficial. You are not being knit together with a group, working together, growing together, not just individuals growing, but growing tighter as a unit, and that unit growing up.
Are you a vital part of a church,
or do you just go to church?
Some speak harshly about the church as an “institution” as if the excesses of some local bodies exempt them from being a part of any local body. However, God is the one who instituted the institution of the local church. When rebels refuse to be integrated into a local church, but only serve as they see fit, without being submitted to what others might ask or impose upon them, this shows that they still want to be the masters of their own way, and not incorporated into God’s way. We must be incorporated into the corpus, the Body of Christ, by being incorporated into a local assembly. We must be willingly submitted to a group, and intently looking to be submitted to authorities established by God. We must stop thinking we can serve as attaches or ambassadors to the Body at large at our own will without having to serve the body local at its command.
Those that do this are acting as spiritual tourists, and they are deceived. Without being incorporated in to the local body they are dead. They might be of real service to the Body of Christ, because God can animate dry bones, but they are only fooling themselves into thinking that their service renders them exempt from incorporation into a local body. Church matters to God; not just that you go to church, but that you are a part of a church. Not just a part of The Church, but also part of a church. The Bible gives no assurance to those who claim to be a part of The Body without being part of a body.
7 comments:
This post leaves no room for misinterpretation. I'm sure that it is a message that burns within every pastor. But so many fail to articulate it the way you have here.
I like the way you included the folks that go every week and serve as they will. That is the group that fails to see the value in being an integrated body working for the good of all the parts.
Indeed, too many people today think they are exempt...
Too many pastors exempt people for fear of losing support, not realizing they don't have it anyway...
I was there at one point in my life.
I either went to church where there were 4000 in each service, and becoming part of the church was difficult because you never got to even meet the pastor.
Or, I would go to the small church where the pastor needed total control of everything and made you feel excluded, or the participating church members were such a click that no one could get involved in anything.
Maybe those were just my excuses..........
Either way, boy is it a good thing to be in fellowship, and to be part of the body of Christ.
Grace has given me and my family a home.
Delighted to have you and your family Chris...
I loved the small church in upstate New York where I use to attend. The people there were so filled with the love of God and it showed! When I moved, I was so attached to the people there, that I had a very hard time committing myself to another small group of fellow Christians. I did the whole large church thing too,but I was not going to get too close to anyone. It took many years, and by God's grace, I am now committed again to a local body, and hopefully :) being a helpful servant to the church.
This was originally posted Wednesday, February 13, 2008...I will post again sometime, but also need to show the original date of some posts, for various reasons...
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