Following Jesus Means Joining a Local Church

I was reading Ephesians this morning in my personal devotions, what an amazing letter this is, and

for so many reasons! But what struck me this morning was the culmination of Paul's prayer for the saints

in Ephesus, that they “may know him better (1:17).” Not that there is anything wrong, in particular, but

that the Christian life is one of progressing in our understanding of God and the “the riches of his glorious

inheritance in the saints.” Then Paul concludes this section by proclaiming God's ability to answer this

prayer for the saints according to His previous work in exhalting Christ “above all rule and authority,

power and dominion, and every title that can be given.” He further states, as a way to boost our

confidence in God, that “God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over

everything for the church” (1:22). This is the part that that amazes me. Jesus is exhalted over everything

for the good of His people, the church. He rules over everything, and so everything must in some way,

serve the purpose of building up His Body. There is much that could be said about this, but what I want to

focus on here is God's exaltation of the church. The church is central to God's work in Christ.

If the church is so central to God's work in Christ, then it has to be asked why the church has

become so marginalized in the mind of many evangelicals today. The church has become an after-thought.

For many, what really matters is personal devotions and a heart-felt commitment to Christ, not

membership in a local church. This can even be a point of spiritual pride. A person can feel so “liberated”

in Jesus, so “awakened” by God's free grace, that they are beyond any “guilt trip” about joining a local

church. I would propose on the basis of the apostolic authority of Paul's letter to Ephesus, that heart-felt

and mind-filled commitment to Christ includes a commitment to a local church, as a visible manifestation

of the universal Body of Christ. I would propose that Christ has freed us from sin, but has made us “slaves

of righteousness” and that it is a righteous thing to love His Body, the church. Paul rejoices over the

church in Ephesus because of their “love for all the saints”(1:15).

The first thing to note about Paul's letter, is that it is written “to the saints in Ephesus, the faithful in Christ

Jesus”(1:1). This is not a letter written first and foremost for personal devotions. This was written for

public reading in the gathering of believers. The saints in Ephesus were not just a collection of individuals

scattered throughout the city worshiping God in their own way. They were individuals who expressed

their love for Christ in many ways, certainly in personal devotions, but also by gathering together as a

collective, to serve one another and to hear apostolic words.

Secondly, the idea of a collective is contained in the word “church” itself. The “church” did not begin

with the calling of Jesus' disciples, the word “church” comes from the Greek word ecclesia. That word

occurs throughout the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint) in reference to the public gathering of God's

people. It was impossible to consider yourself part of the people of the covenant, yet refuse to attend

her public gatherings. Of course, with the New Covenant, the church consists of people from every tribe

and nation. We must also think of the church in a universal sense. However, it is a biblical impossiblity to

think of yourself as part of the universal church, while willfully neglecting a commitment to her local

manifestation. We cannot say we are part of the universal church, while refusing to participate in her

local and physical presence. This is like saying “I love God” while hating your brother. As the apostle

John wrote, “For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he

has not seen”(1 John 4:18). Whoever does not love the local body of Christ, which he has seen, cannot

love the universal body of Christ, which he has not seen.

This supposed love for the universal Body of Christ, while remaining aloof and uncaring about the local

Body of Christ is a fiction, a dream. It is a love for your own imagination about an ideal community of

your own creation. This spiritual dream does not require anything from you, you don't need to “bear with

each other” or “forgive grievances you may have against one another” or “carry each others burdens, and

in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.” How many people have turned away from a local Body of

Christ because of its troubles? Because to belong to her, they would have to do the very things Paul

commands us to? The church has never been a dream, an ideal invention of the human imagination. The

church has always been a real gathering of people with real problems, and real sin to overcome. No one

knew this better than the apostle Paul, but even the disciples, while following Jesus Himself, argued

among themselves about who would be the greatest. Would we dare turn away in disgust, feeling

ourselves to be in some way superior?

There will be some who contend that they do meet with Christian friends for Bible study and prayer on a

periodic basis, and this satisfies the biblical mandate for gathering as the church. Meeting with friends for

Bible study and prayer is a good thing, as are personal devotions, but it is not what Paul means by the

gathering of the church. This is another sort of “dream” community. This community has no elders or

deacons, it has no authority that the apostles mandate for the building up of the church. Paul is clear that

these servants are a necessary component of the local church. In these informal and ad hoc communities,

there is no one to require biblical fidelity of another, there is no authority to whom we must submit. To the

free spirit, this is all well and good, but it is not the church. These ad hoc communities do not require of

us what the gathering of people from all walks of life requires of us. Elders and deacons may not be our

friends, they have their own personality quirks that need to be borne with. They are not what we imagine

in our dreams. For this it is easy to click on YouTube sermons from gifted orators of our own choosing.

These are not bad things, but it is not ths same thing as submitting to eldership in a local Body. The

teaching elder may be more or less gifted in his oratory or have a more or less likeable personality. For

Paul, this was not the central thing. Neither should it be for us.

For God, the church is central, because it is the manifestation of Christ on earth. God exhalts the church

accordingly, and we should as well. To follow Jesus Christ is to have personal devotions, to meet with

friends for prayer and Bible study and last but by no means least, bind ourselves to a local Body of Christ

as an expression of our commitment to Him. Let us not despise what our Lord exhalts! So let's grow and

in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, and commit to a local church.