What the Church Is NOT, Part 4

In the first article of this series, I suggested that the local church is not merely a human organization, but a divinely-instituted body, called by the Father and incorporated into Christ by the Holy Spirit. In the second article, I asserted that the local church is not a supermarket of spiritual groceries, but members of a family that calls for commitment. In the third article I said the church is not just a gathering of a few believers, but an organized society with certain unique marks and works.

In this final article I want to conclude by making something very clear…

The Church is Not an Option

“He’s not going to church anymore.”

“She hasn’t been to church for a while.”

“It’s been months since I’ve been to church.”

Like me, you’ve probably heard these words said about (or by) a person who has confessed Christ but who has left the church scene. Their individual stories vary. Some were beat up by an abusive church. Others were “forced” into church by their parents and finally got out from under their thumb when they left home. Maybe some slid into a sinful lifestyle and church just got too convicting. I don’t know many people who would neglect local church involvement to such an extreme, but most people I know place a much lower value on the local church than the Bible does.

In the earliest church, believers met together at least every Sunday, the first day of the week (Acts 20:17; 1 Cor 16:2). Many met more often than that (Acts 2:46). For Christians pursuing spiritual health and growth, local church involvement was not an option. Hebrews 10:24–25 says, “Let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another.” No Scripture is more clear on the necessity of sticking close to the church.

Why do many Christians place their local church far down on their list of priorities? Part of the problem is our mystical, individualistic view of the spiritual life. So many of us have been misled into thinking that our spiritual health depends entirely on a direct personal relationship with God—that the key to spiritual growth is a private quiet time that somehow summons the Holy Spirit and flushes away our sins. While I don’t reject the importance of personal spiritual discipline, this is only a small part of God’s plan for spiritual health and growth. The truth is, God intended Christians to grow together as a community.

For Christians seeking spiritual growth, the church is not an option. The Holy Spirit baptized each of us into the Body of Christ so that all members could minister to each other, not so we could later amputate ourselves from the body and fight our spiritual battles on our own.

Grow Together . . . Wither Alone

The award-winning television series Lost chronicles the adventures of airplane survivors forced to live together on a bizarre island reminiscent of the Twilight Zone. In one episode a main character, Jack Sheppard, breaks up a brawl and iterates a truth that has become a major theme of the series: “If we can’t live together, we’re going to die alone.” The same theme is true of Christians today. If we can’t learn to grow together, we will wither alone.

The absolute necessity of the Christian community in spiritual growth becomes obvious in Ephesians 4:11–16.

And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as 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. As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.

To grow in Christ, believers need each other. In fact, when the apostles spoke of actually “growing” in Christ, they almost always referred to Christians growing together as a community (see 1 Cor 3:6–9; 2 Cor 10:15; Eph 2:19–22; 4:14–16; Col 1:3–12; 2:19; 1 Pet 2:1–5). Without denying a personal relationship with Christ, Scripture clearly emphasizes corporate spiritual growth. In fact, God gave our “individual” spiritual gifts for the growth of the community: “But to each one [individual] is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good [community]” (1 Cor 12:7). As radical as this may sound to those of us brainwashed by an individualistic, me-centered cultural Christianity, I reject the idea that balanced spiritual growth can occur outside a local church.

But growing in community means more than just showing up on Sunday morning. It means submitting to the teaching and shepherding of church leaders (Eph 4:11–16; Heb 13:17). It means actually going to church to minister to others, not simply to be ministered to (1 Cor 12:7; Phil 2:1–4). It means staying committed even when you feel put out or offended (Col 3:12–23). Local church involvement isn’t a game. It isn’t a convenience. It isn’t something you shoehorn into your schedule. God is serious about your involvement in the local church—dead serious (see 1 Cor 3:12–17).

In short, for Christians pursuing spiritual health and growth, the church is not an option.