Colossians 1:18 "And he is the head
of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead;
that in all things he might have the preeminence."
Christ is head of the church. If we do not love His church, including that
local body of people who can be simultaneously underwhelming and annoying, what
are we saying about Him who heads up that church? Can we say, "Don't get me wrong, man, I
like you. I just don't like your
organization," since He actively builds and sustains His church? This isn't a rotary club of people with
differing interests. Christ and His
church are one body, together with Christ at the head. He actively calls people into His church,
equipping them there, and uses His church as a hub for sending them out to minister
in the world. He is intimately involved
with His organization.
Ephesians 5:25-27 "Husbands, love
your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; that
he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he
might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or
any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish."
Jesus loves His church. He sacrificed Himself for it. He cleanses and nurtures His church with all
tenderness. And for what purpose? That the church should be given as a
"glorious" bride to Jesus, "holy and without blemish." Shall we judge Christ's bride before her
wedding day? I do not think the great
bridegroom would like us to do that.
John 17:9-10 "I pray for them: I
pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are
thine. And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in
them."
Jesus in His great prayer before Judas'
betrayal says that God the Father gave His Son a gift. And that gift was a people. This precious gift from God, does Jesus claim
them? After all, we are talking about
the church, historically noted for misunderstanding Him, acting without His
love, frequently prideful and fearful, and governed by ungodly passions. YES!
Jesus claims them as His very own.
Moreover, He glorifies Himself in them.
Romans 12:5 "So we, being many, are
one body in Christ, and every one members one of another."
Who does "we" include? While it specifically refers to Paul and the
Christians in Rome, Paul's church, and several others, it also includes all
Christians... including your local church.
I am one with my local church, and it's not because I have a lot of
artist friends there. Our hobbies do not
unite us, nor our favorite teams, nor our socio-economic status, nor our
favorite movies—Christ unites us! If you
are in Christ, you are intimately connected with those saved in your local
church, no matter how you feel about it.
II Corinthians 1:21-22 "Now he which
stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; who hath also
sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts."
Our bond with our brothers is not a
tentative bond, easily broken, but God Himself has established us with each
other. We are sealed with Christ. The Holy Spirit acts as a downpayment of our
future complete unity. It's bigger than
just our feelings in the moment—the Trinity is completely involved with His
church.
I Peter 2:4-5 "To whom coming, as
unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious,
ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood,
to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ."
Ahh, the glory of being chosen by God...
and precious in His eyes. But He does
not choose us in isolation, and we are not His only solitary treasure. We are placed, one by one, next to other
people treasured God. He doesn't place
us in our circumstances on accident, but He is building us in our lives through
the generations into a glorious building—a temple. We both make up the temple and staff it, for
the ultimate goal of serving and glorifying God. Notice that our sacrifices are not made
acceptable by our own talents, but it is through Jesus that God accepts our
sacrifices. It through Jesus that we
have the privilege of serving in the church of God. He chooses us, makes us lovely, and allows us
to serve Him—with those He has also chosen to make lovely and serve Him....
Ephesians 2:10 "For we are his
workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before
ordained that we should walk in them."
God doesn't save us just to make us happy
in Heaven. God has good works that He
has prepared for us. Too often we think
of these good works as if we could put them on our resumes and wonder what
these projects or positions are, but God clearly has other ideas. If we are going to look for good works to do,
shouldn't we start with the works God has already said are good? He doesn't leave us up in the air: He's given
us His word to guide us in what is good.
I Peter 4:10 "As every man hath
received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards
of the manifold grace of God."
Before we talk about what good works we
are specifically called to do, let us note a couple things: 1) God gives us the
means to do these good works, and 2) God expects us to use these gifts for
others—specifically for His church.
Don't forget when you are reading the epistles that Paul is talking to a
church or a group of churches. Whenever
he says "one another" he's not referring to a church member's pagan
friend down at the fish market. Usually
when we see "one another," Paul is giving us instructions on how to
interact within the church. So God has
prepared us to do good works; He has empowered us to do these good works
through gifts; and He has purposed that these good works build up His church.
John 15:12 "This is my commandment,
That ye love one another, as I have loved you."
The greatest commandment in the New
Testament, from Jesus Christ Himself, is a command to love His church. Elsewhere He commands us to love our
enemies. Here on the night that He is
betrayed by one of His own, abandoned by all, and marched off to die for His
fickle bride... He calls us each to love one another sacrificially, in the same
way that He loves us.
Hebrews 10:24-25 "And let us
consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: 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."
This passage speaks powerfully against
abandoning church, but then it goes into interesting territory. The opposite of abandoning church is not
attending church, but rather it is encouraging our brothers and sisters in
Christ. That powerful idea: "let us
consider one another..." Are we
focused on what we get out of church, or are we considering each other and how
we can encourage each other in our walk?
I Corinthians 12:15-18 "If the foot
shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not
of the body? And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of
the body; is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where
were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? But now
hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased
him."
God in all wisdom has placed us in our
particular church. He has chosen us for
our particular church. Why? One reason: we need each other. Without the rest of the body of Christ, we
are lame, deaf, and blind. We need the
older and wiser members of our church to share their experience with us. We need opportunities to serve others. We do not need to be constantly
surrounded by people who think just like us and who like the things we do. When we like those who like our favorite
ideas and stuff, we do not get the chance to love sacrificially. God has put us together in our particular
church, so that we would grow to love and serve our brethren—to become more
than we are all by our lone selves—to be the body of Christ.
Matthew 13:38 "The good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one."
Don't get me wrong: sometimes churches
rot at their core. They lose their focus
on Jesus. The members stop acting like
the body of Christ, stop doing the basic ministering that the Bible lays out
simply for us, stop loving each other sacrificially, and sometimes really bad
things happen. In those cases, the Bible
gives us clear instructions on how do deal with the rot. It never tells us to abandon our churches. If members or leaders in your church are
destroying lives with their sin instead of uplifting lives in holiness,
spiritually mature believers should, with much prayer and humility, confront
those members of your church and deal with them Biblically. But if your church is not perverted, then you
must do your Biblical duty to consider how you can encourage those in your
church in Christ.
John 17:20-23 "Neither pray I for
these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;
that they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they
also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And
the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as
we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one;
and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as
thou hast loved me."
Jesus prayed for us, shortly before dying
for us to give us His life, that we would be one with each other. In fact, as we are one with our local church,
we somehow experience our relationship with God on a deeper level of
intimacy. And not only does this oneness
perfect us, it displays God's love to the world. Christ deeply cares about us, and through the
churches God puts in our lives, He shows His love.
I Corinthians 12:27 "Now ye are the
body of Christ."
Let me remind you again: if you are in
Christ, you are connected to your local church.
It needs you and you need it. If
something is the matter with it or with you, then you need to find a Biblical
way to fix it, but abandoning your church is not the way. Your church is a part of who you are in Christ. As Christ has loved you, love one another.
