Our residency is reading Baptist Foundations this month. Highly recommended! The following stuck out to me the other day, and I am just now getting around to posting:
Any who know the Father are adopted into his family, which is the church. Some may recognize the intrinsic connection between being a child of God the Father and belonging to the church, his family, but try to restrict their involvement to membership in the universal church. But to do so is to ignore the overwhelming emphasis of the New Testament, which is on local churches, and the nature of the church, which demands visible manifestation.
So, why church membership? It is inescapable for anyone claiming to be a Christian. Salvation itself plunges a believer into God’s community, under God’s Fatherhood of his family, the church. Believers are called to relate in numerous ways to “one another,” including gathering. Some of the others they are to recognize as leaders; others they are called upon to hold accountable, and, if necessary, discipline and restore. They cannot fulfill these commands apart from membership in a local church. The propriety of referring to one’s relationship with the church as membership is sustained by recognizing the church as body, kingdom outpost, and family. The New Testament leaves no room for anyone to claim to be a follower of Jesus and avoid church membership.
Baptist Foundations, pp 172-173
Reacting to the quote
Part of me wants to ask what you, the reader, think. But I think that is the wrong question. The right question is, “What does Scripture say?”
When Acts describes the new believers being “added to the number”
When Paul calls out the Galatian church body (not just the leaders) for not properly dealing with the false teachers who were perverting the gospel
When we are commanded to obey and follow the example of leaders
When we are reminded that we should make sure we behave in such a way that those leaders, when held to account, can say we were a joy to disciple
When we are warned that separating from the local body speaks ill of our profession of faith in Christ
When we view the intersection and trajectory of Matthew, John, Acts, Corinthians (1 and 2), Ephesians, Galatians, the pastoral epistles, Hebrews, Peter’s missives and Revelation (just to name a few), it is hard to come to the conclusion that the local church is a “nice to have,” instead of central to God’s work in Christ Jesus. We aren’t off the hook due to church members that misbehave or entire churches falling short of spiritual health. Moving cross-country and finding less than stellar churches is no excuse. Our desire for autonomy, control and self-protection doesn’t negate Scripture’s call to messy, embodied discipleship and God-ordered authority. Saying we aren’t “joiners” won’t excuse the call to “one another” submission and care.
So, we should ask ourselves, “What does Scripture say?” And then we must look in the mirror, to use James’ metaphor, and ask, “Are we satisfied with being hearers, or will we be doers?” Why do we so readily resist what is clearly taught, that we be a meaningful part of Jesus’ bride, here and now?
