I Went to Church Yesterday

The twelfth of an undetermined number in a series on the character and need for corporate worship.

I went to church yesterday. I'm part of the body of Christ. In it the union between God and his people is sealed. Christ's body is the temple, the place in which God dwells with his people, Jn 2:19. It is a community, a communion of the saints. Now, it is true that the Lord saves us individually – each one of us must confess with our mouths that Jesus is Lord and believe in our hearts that God raised Christ from the dead, in order for us to be saved, Rom 10:9. As Jesus Jesus taught the baffled Nicodemus ".. unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." Jn 3:3; see also vv. 5, 8.

However, the Scripture also goes on to tell us that our confession of Christ is neither something that we do of ourselves nor is it an action that is unto ourselves, that is, that it terminates on us. Our confession of the Lord Jesus Christ is effected by the Holy Spirit: ".. No one can say "Jesus is Lord" except in the Holy Spirit." 1 Cor 12:3. Secondly, the Holy Spirit sovereignly equips each person with different spiritual gifts, vv. 4-11. Thirdly, it is in (by) this Holy Spirit that "… we were all baptized into one body--Jews or Greeks, slaves or free--and all were made to drink of one Spirit., ", v. 13. The summary of these verses is that as man the sinner is regenerated by the Holy Spirit, he is at the same time equipped with at least one spiritual gift with which he is to glorify God and serve other believers, 1 Pe 4:10-11, in the context of the local church, into which he is divinely placed. In the same way that parts of the physical body are organically interconnected, so "God arranged the members in the body [the church], each one of them, as he chose." 1 Cor 12:18. Essential to the understanding of the word member is the notion of a relationship with others; to be a member is to be a part of a group, collective or community. "For the body does not consist of one member but of many… If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body." vv. 14, 19-20. The one church is constituted of many different members.

From the foregoing we can safely conclude that genuine faith is a faith that terminates upon the Person and work of Jesus Christ and that expresses itself in the communion of saints, which is also termed the assembly or congregation of the faithful. This community is the church. While the Scripture teaches that the word church may be used in a variety of ways – the company of believers in one house, Rom 16:5; 1 Cor 16: 19; etc.; one city, Acts 8:1; 11:22, 26; etc.; a particular province, Acts 9:31; and in a universal or catholic sense, 1 Cor 12:28; Eph 1:22; 3:10, 21; etc., "Very frequently the word is used in the plural to designate the plurality of churches, that is to say of units, scattered throughout a certain area of lesser or greater geographical proportions.. Acts 14:23; 15:41; 1 Cor 16:1, 19;.." (John Murray, Christian Baptism, p. 33). It is with particular reference to this latter application of church, that is, the local, visible church, that saving faith is expressed and verified. As the late Professor Murray elucidates, "Union with Christ and the faith through with that union is effected, though in themselves invisible and spiritual facts, are nevertheless realities which find expression in what is observable." p. 34. In other words, one cannot claim to have faith in Christ and thereby to be a part of the universal church without being a member of a local, visible community. Saving faith is anchored in ".. visible association and organization [which] are implicit in the very nature of what constitutes the church." Ibid. Membership in the local church therefore is an inevitable consequence of saving faith. As such, it is a privilege to be enjoyed, a responsibility to be willingly undertaken, a union to be displayed, for it is one of the "… far-reaching implications of faith and conduct." Such action necessarily follows our confession which is "… an intelligent and consistent profession of faith in Christ and of obedience to him." Ibid., 36. (Emphasis added)

Well, some would argue, what about the thief on the cross? Was he not saved? Did he not make a genuine profession of faith in Christ? Surely he was not a member of the local church! All of these are true. However, the major point of Jesus' extending saving mercies to this thief is to demonstrate, not the possibility of deathbed salvation – (note that of the countless biblical examples of sinners coming to faith in Scripture, this is the only one of its kind. Therefore, it can be correctly described as extremely limited- only one is recorded in Scripture, but nevertheless, real- it was genuine; Christ did save this sinner)- but his absolute faithfulness in honoring his promise that ".. Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame… For "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." " Rom 10:11, 13.

So what did I learn in church yesterday? I was strengthened in the truth that being a member of the local church is an immense privilege. I was fortified in the biblical teaching that the saving faith we are given and which ".. comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ." v. 17, is the very faith that directs us to the place where Christ dwells on earth, his church, his body, his historical community which he created and over which he rules by his Word and Spirit. In church I learned that membership in (t)his body is not a peripheral or incidental matter, nor is it simply a personal matter. On the contrary, church membership is one of the crucial evidences of true saving faith, the faith that is worked in the heart of the sinner by the Holy Spirit in conjunction with the Word of God but that which, essentially, is a faith that is evinced in corporate communion. In church I gained a deeper understanding of the fact that on the Lord's Day, all believers are to answer the Holy Spirit's summons to “Adeste fideles, .. Venite adoremus, Domine,” that is, to "Come all ye faithful.. Come and adore him, Christ the Lord." In so doing, we demonstrate our faith is genuine. In so doing, we demonstrate that in our corporate worship and in our service to our brothers and sisters, we are not living for ourselves but for him who lived, died and was raised for our sake, 2 Cor 5:15.

I learned all of this in church yesterday.