(Submitted anonymously)
For those who are skeptical about church, or perhaps feel church is unnecessary, Ephesians reveals the vital purpose of the Church. As we read Ephesians we find that Paul explores the functions and responsibilities of the Church, including its role in the spiritual development of believers and the fulfillment of the Great Commission (Matt. 28:19-20) We can’t easily accomplish these things without being taught, trained, and edified by God’s word through others.
Before we talk about why we need church, it’s essential to explain that the Church is the body of believers that create community with one another. Church can also mean the building where we all meet each week. This writing is intended to explore why we need the body of believers, the Church, which we obtain by going to church.
We all have to realize we can’t do life alone, which was never how God designed it to be. Paul talks a lot about leaning on each other, and He even speaks of his gratitude towards many other believers and how God used them in his life. That’s why we all have different gifts, talents, personalities, and abilities so that God can use us to work and benefit in the lives of others for edification, to tell others the hope of the gospel, and to glorify God. As Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 12:12-27(ESV), “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit. For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body.”
Don’t fool yourself into thinking you don’t need the Church or use one bad experience to think Church is bad or unnecessary. God has so much more for you! He wants to restore you, grow you, and then use you for greater things. The joy you’ll experience will be beyond what this world or you can ever do. No church is perfect, as there are no perfect humans; you can’t have a perfect church. Only Jesus lived a righteous life, free of sin. We are reminded of this in 2 Corinthians 5:21: “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
You have to be understanding and realistic of the fact that we all battle against our sinful nature and not use that as a reason not to go to church. There’s the excuse given by many saying, “I don’t go to church because Christians are a bunch of hypocrites!” Well, to be honest, that can be true, but then we need to look at the whole human race and see that being a hypocrite is a human sin problem. Whether you are a Christian or not, no one can perfectly live up to God’s standards. We all fall short; Christ had to die for us because we could not measure up. Romans 5:8 (ESV) “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
God loved us despite what we’ve done, but sin still had to be dealt with because God is holy and just. Jesus took the penalty for all humans and died in our place, and now all people who receive this gift and repent can be cleansed from their sins, forgiven and made a new person, set free, redeemed and restored, and then used to glorify him. This positions us to be part of the Church. Paul reminds us in Ephesians 2:19-22 (ESV)“So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.”
So here we are doing life, but as believers, we are called to do life together. We are all on a journey continuing to grow in sanctification as Christ continues to conform us to His image, and that will be a lifetime process until we are with Christ. So we must be humble and understanding, knowing we are all on this path together. We must recognize that which God is asking us to do: “...speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.“ (Eph. 4:15-16)
We are all in different stages of our walk with Christ and need to learn to be gracious to one another. But of course, there are times we need to speak the truth in love. Sometimes, this can be the hardest part. We don’t want to be in the business of tearing others down, but as Paul says, “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” (Hebrews 10:24-25 ESV) This means God wants His people to get together regularly and push each other toward that which is good and right.
Even if you have had a bad church experience in the past, God is calling you. There are churches out there who speak truth in doctrine and who live the best they can according to God’s word with the help of the Holy Spirit. They care and love others the way Jesus commanded it. I know those churches exist because Grace Baptist is one of those churches where people love others and support one another, who speak and teach the truth, growing together in God’s grace and truth.
I am so thankful for my church people and could not imagine my life without them. We not only benefit one another by teaching, serving, and using our abilities but also love one another and are knit tightly together as a family would be. Jesus said you would know my true disciples by their love.
When you find a church like that, they will be like your second family. They will support your growth, and your heart will be so thankful for those people God put in your life! Give it a chance! It will be worth it, and there’s nothing to lose, but what you gain will change your life. Coming together, growing together, and making disciples together, all for God’s glory, is what the Church is all about!
Matthew 28:19-20 ESV
“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”