Greetings to you, friend! I’m Mack Lyon. The program is a Bible study, “In Search of the Lord’s Way.” We’re so glad you’ve joined our study today. Many people say they want Jesus, but, well, they’re not sure about the church. What does the Lord say about being a member of the church? Phil Sanders has prepared a lesson about that. Oh, I think you’re going to appreciate his message. So, don’t go away.
Thank you Mack and God bless you! Hello, I’m Phil Sanders and this is In Search of the Lord’s Way, where we search the Scriptures to find the Lord’s way to please our Father in Heaven. Thanks for sharing this time with us. We really appreciate hearing from you that you are watching or listening; and we want to be a part of your life each week.
Many people today say, “Jesus, yes; but the church, no.” They want to be Christians but not members of any “organized religion.” Some people have decided to become Christians “at large” or establish small “house churches”; but they don’t want to be a part of the organized church with elders and deacons like is mentioned in the New Testament. But can a Christian please God and live apart from the church? Is attending church and being a church member optional? Or can a person just live a good life without the church and without the association of brothers and sisters? Should Christians be church members?
I’m told that eighty percent of Americans believe that you can be a good Christian and yet not be a member of a church. This seems odd to me, since the New Testament is full of references to the church. People forget the church is made up of the called-out people of God, who are saved by the blood of Jesus and are devoted to following Him. The church is not man’s idea but God’s. If you could be a member of the church Jesus Christ built, if you could believe and practice what the Lord teaches, wouldn’t you want to be part of that church? The good news is that you can be a member of the Lord’s church.
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Ken Helterbrand’s going to lead us now as we sing; and then we’ll read from Hebrews 10, verses 22 to 25.
Our reading today comes from Hebrews chapter 10, verses 22 to 25. “…let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another in to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.” That’s God’s Holy Word. Let’s pray together. Father, we are grateful for the church and we are thankful that You love us enough to give us Your kingdom, the church, Your family, so that we might be able to encourage one another. This we pray in the name of Jesus, Amen.
In trying to understand the place of the church in God’s plan and scheme of things, the first thing we must do is see the connection between Christ himself and the church. There are a number of passages that show such a close relationship that one can hardly think of Christ and not also think about His church. In Matthew 16:18 Jesus responded to Peter’s confession that He was the Christ, the son of the Living God; and He said, “…and I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock (that is the confession) I will build my church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” The church itself is built upon the fact that Jesus is the Son of the Living God. Jesus built His church, and it belongs to Him!
In Acts 20 and verse 28, the apostle Paul told the elders of the church at Ephesus, “Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, (that is bishops) to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.” Now, when I think of the purchase price that Jesus paid for the church, I can only conclude that the church must have been very, very important to Him. You know people only die for the things that are most important in their lives. If the church were that important to Christ, perhaps it ought to be that important to those who love the Lord and want to follow in His steps. I might add the church is the only thing mentioned in Scripture that Jesus purchased with His blood. And for this reason, we cannot please God and act as if the church were an optional matter.
Paul said that the church is so closely related to Christ that it may be called his body, suggesting that the church is how God is working in the world today. In Ephesians 1, verses 22 and 3 Paul said, “And He put all things in subjection under His feet, and gave Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all.” Now, the head and the body are so inner connected that they should never be divided. Christ without the church is like a head without its body. And those who want Christ but reject the church, they need to think through their theology. The church after all was Christ’s idea.
In Ephesians 5, verses 25 to 27 Paul said, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her; so that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she would be holy and blameless.” Christ loves the church with the same fervor that a husband loves his wife. When people criticize and slander the church, Jesus must feel the pain. How would you feel if people said ugly things about your family? You see, Jesus thinks of every member of His church as His family.
The apostle Paul also reminds us that Jesus is “the head of the church” and “the Savior of the body” (Ephesians 5 and verse 23). Now, the church does not save; the church is the “saved.” Christ is the Savior of the church. In Acts 2, verse 47 we learn that the Lord adds the “saved” to His church. And, my friend, if you are saved at all, the Lord has added you to His church. And if you are not in the church, then (Biblically speaking) you are not among the saved. You see, the church is not an optional thing that you can take or leave at your will. It’s the Lord’s called out body of people whom He has saved, whom He loves, and whom He purchased with His own blood.
And it is for this reason that Paul said, “For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” That’s 1 Corinthians 3 and verse 11. People need to be careful with what the Lord has founded. You cannot substitute something else in its place. You cannot build your own spirituality, your own arrangement, or your own church and expect to please the Lord. Jesus the Lord said that, “Every plant which My heavenly Father did not plant shall be uprooted” (Matthew 15 and verse 13). Man-made religion doesn’t work with God. Some think they can reinvent the church, but it may end up back-firing on them. You see, the Lord’s foundation is the only one.
Now, we ask, “What was the church like in the New Testament?” The word “church” refers to an assembly, a congregation that was called together for a specific purpose. After Paul had established several congregations on his first missionary journey, he returned to those congregations, strengthening and encouraging them. Acts 14, verse 23 says that, “When they had appointed elders for them in every church, having prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed.” Later, in Philippians 1 and verse 1 Paul wrote, “To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, (that is, in that church there) including the overseers and deacons.”
Now, these early churches were organized with established leaders. They were visible congregations, meeting at set times and in set locations. And Paul mentions many of the members of the church, whether it’s at Philippi or Rome or Corinth; he mentions them by name. Yes, sometimes churches met in families’ houses. But in those days a large house could hold a congregation; and in some cases, congregations met outside or in caves. You have to remember that the church was often persecuted and considered illegal. There were no church buildings before about the year 250 AD. Although they couldn’t openly show themselves, the people, not the building, they were already well organized.
When the church of the New Testament faced a problem, they brought it to the apostles and later to the elders of each congregation. They didn’t get mad and go out and start their own church with their own doctrines and their own ways. And the Hebrew writer gave instructions to members of the church in Hebrews 13, verse 17; he said, “Obey your leaders, and submit to them; for they keep watch for your souls, as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you.” God wants His people to fulfill His plan and His purpose for the church, not reinvent the church with their own ideas or designs.
David said about the temple in Psalm 122 and verse 1, “I was glad when they said to me, Let us go to the house of the LORD.” And we too ought to be glad when we meet today with the household of God, that is, the church. The church is God’s temple today according to 1 Corinthians 3 and verse 16. And I must tell you, that some of my most treasured moments have been spent with God’s people worshiping and serving. My dearest friends are fellow members of the church. They’ve helped me and blessed me richly through the years. I look forward to being with my spiritual family at church each Lord’s day; and I’m glad when they say, “Let us go to church.”
The notion that we can “be the church” but not be a part of any local congregation; that’s a human idea. God’s people assemble with one another. The Hebrew writer, you remember, said, “and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as the habit of some is, but encouraging one another; and all the more, as you see the day drawing near” (Hebrews 10, verses 24 to 25). In the New Testament, when a Christian quit assembling with the church, he was falling away from God. He was leaving the faith. He was hurting himself and hurting the church by returning to the world.
I remember an elder decided to visit a member of a congregation who had stopped going to church. And he came to the door that cold evening and he talked and gave a greeting to the member. Well, the member knew why he was there, and though not a word was spoken about it, about in his absence from the church, they sat there quietly and they were by the fireplace. Well, at one point the elder approached the fireplace and he pulled one of the burning coals away from the others and off to itself. Now for a while that coal burned bright, but eventually without the heat of the others around it began to lose its luster. Much faster than normal, its flame went out. Well, the member got the message: we need each other to stay warm for God.
Solomon said, “Iron sharpens iron, So one man sharpens another” (Proverbs 27 and verse 17). People in the church make each other stronger, and better, and more faithful and committed; and each Christian needs the example of love and faith that his brothers and sisters give to him. Each Christian needs to so live and so love that he provides an example of commitment to the cause of Christ. Saying, “I love Christ, but I won’t go to church,” sends a mixed signal. It says I love God, but I’ll choose which commands I’m going to obey and which I won’t. And such a person really is not obeying God at all, but is obeying his own wishes and his own mind. Solomon said in Ecclesiastes 4, verses 9 to 12 that, “Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor. For if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion. But woe to the one who falls when there is not another to lift him up. Furthermore, if two lie down together they keep warm, but how can one be warm alone? And if one can overpower him who is alone, two can resist him.” And then he says, “A cord of three strands is not quickly torn apart.” God knew that his people needed the strength and love that each one could give to the other to grow and to remain strong in faith. Two are better than one, because they have each other.
Where would each of us be without good teachers and good examples? In the early church God gave apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers, “for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4, verses 11 to 13). God knew that His people needed training and equipping to do the work that He called them to do: to take the gospel to the world, and to build up the church, and to render help to the needy.
Through the years, the church has been so good to Jackie and me. Over twenty years ago, when our four children were small, my lovely wife Jackie had to be in the hospital for several days with a back problem. And we didn’t have any physical family within 500 miles. The church was our family. The church we attended in Senatobia, Mississippi, helped us with food and cleaned our house. An older lady, Doris Edwards, watched our children when we had to go to the doctor. Oh, it was the hardest year of our lives but it was made better by the goodness of people who loved and cared for us. We can never forget that we had loved ones who helped us when we needed it.
When Katrina destroyed much of Louisiana and Mississippi, churches all over the country raised funds to send their brethren that were affected by the hurricane. I watched truck after truck loaded with supplies and food go to churches, where the needed items were distributed among people. There wasn’t any red tape, just brothers and sisters helping brothers and sisters and others. One church of 100 members in Gonzales, Louisiana, fed 300 to 500 people every day for weeks. Churches of Christ gave millions of dollars to relieve this disaster. They didn’t get much publicity, but the people there knew where to go to get help. And they got it from God’s people. They got it because God’s people loved them. Oh, the church, how wonderful! Let’s pray. O Father, help us to love You and to love the church as You loved it. In Jesus’ name, Amen!
Someone says, “Phil, you just don’t understand. We had a bad experience in church and won’t be going back.” My friend, many times the problem is not with the whole church but with an individual who has not acted as he should. The Bible teaches that when a fellow Christian sins against you that you are to go to that person privately and talk to him, trying to restore the relationship (Matthew 18, verse 15). Many times people, rather than following the instructions of the Lord, simply quit and separate themselves from the godly people that they need in their lives. My friend, don’t quit the church; don’t slap Christ because somebody slapped you. It’s the devil who does evil, not the Lord. Talk to that person and work it out.
I became a Christian because of Jesus. He is my Lord and Savior. I want to live with Him forever; and my pride is not as important as going to heaven. And I’m not going to let anything or anyone come between me and my God. I will always have to deal with rude, selfish, or immature people; but if the Lord was gracious enough to forgive me of my many sins, I can be gracious to forgive those who sin against me. I don’t want to risk my soul by refusing to forgive a brother or sister in the church. I’d rather forgive and be forgiven than to die lost.
There is no greater honor and no greater blessing than to be a child of God. And you can be one today, if you will. The Lord opens His heart and His hands reaching for you with the gospel, the good news. And if you’ll accept that good news—that Jesus died for your sins, was buried and arose on the third day—by believing in Him, repenting of your sins, confessing His name before others, and by being baptized in water for the forgiveness of your sins, then you too can be a child of God and the Lord will add you to his church. You can be His child, an heir of eternal life. Oh, my friend, won’t you do that today?
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Please visit one of the churches of Christ in the area served by this station or network. The church of Christ loves guests, and will be glad that you visited. Well, Mack and I will be back next week, Lord willing; so keep searching God’s Word and until then God bless you and we love you from all of us at In Search of the Lord’s Way.
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