Do You Really Need a Church? (Part 1)

Jesse: I can't see how we can
read though the Bible

and not clearly see the
call to a commitment

to a local assembly in person.

Mack: It would be like saying,

"Well, I want to play football,
but I don't want to be on a team."

It makes no sense.

Christianity is the people of God.

Christ has redeemed a people.

And it's a family the Bible says.

It's a body.

It's a building.

What good is a brick laying
on the grass by itself?

It's not functioning any
good for any purpose

until it's connected to other bricks

and it's cemented together

as a part having its place.

Kevin: You know, it's
so important for someone -

for a Christian to be
part of a local church.

That's the means God has given.

You don't get that impression in Scripture

where He just saves Christians

and has them dotted about just everywhere

just by themselves.

You know, when we're saved,

we become part of a body -

a localized body.

You know, God expects His Christians

to gather in local gatherings.

All the letters are
addressed to the churches.

You see that in whatever region

whether it's in Galatia or Thyatira

or wherever - in Ephesus.

You know, he's speaking
to people in that region.

Jesse: Some people struggle
with the word "membership."

And if you want to throw out
the word membership, I don't care.

But the notion, the
concept of being a part

of a family of faith in person -

so much of what we are
called to in the Scriptures

can not be fulfilled
without the understanding

of commitment to a local
group of believers.

Take for instance the
call given to pastors.

We are told that a pastor's
going to give an account

for those that they pastor.

How do we know who we pastor

without the notion of
there being a commitment

to a specific local group of people?

Who am I responsible for?

Everyone who logs into the website?

You take the notion of church discipline.

You can't fulfill church discipline

without the understanding
that you're a part

of a local assembly

and being put out of it would
have an impact on you

and lead you to repentance.

So, you can't fulfill it.

You can't fulfill the one anothers.

Kevin: The other Christians

with all their little quirks and whatever,

being in their lives, it
helps you grow together.

But again, someone's not going to get that

on the Internet.

And one of the evidences
someone is a true Christian

is we know we've passed from death to life

if you love the brethren.

It's very easy to say
"I love people" on Facebook

or whatever who you've never met

and around the world

and they're a nice person.

Well, you know, they may
be a horrible person.

(incomplete thought)

It may be a PR (public relations) job
what you're seeing on the Internet.

So again, the means is to find

a local church to be part of.

And generally, when one is truly converted

they will crawl over
broken glass to find one.

Mack: A Christian can only grow,

they can only be rightly related to Christ

as they're rightly related to the church.

Why? Because He's the head of the church.

And so, you can only
be related to the Head

if you're a part of the body.

If my finger's cut off
and it's laying over here,

(incomplete thought).

So we can only grow properly

as we're a part of the church

and all that that means.

The last verse of 2nd Peter says,

"But grow in the grace and knowledge

of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."

And the New Testament tells us

in teaching,

in exhortation,

and by example,

the believers were together,

were worshiping together.

And so there is no biblical Christianity,

there's no living the Christian life

or living out biblical Christianity;

there's no pleasing God

without being a part of a biblical church.

Jesse: When we look at that call

Paul gives to the church at Corinth

in 1 Corinthians 12,

regarding the gifts,

and he talks about that
each one has been gifted

for the edification of the body.

And I understand that that doesn't mean

that you can't use your
gifts outside the church.

It's not an exclusive thing.

But this is what it's written to.

It's written to a local church

to be used for the building up.

Paul speaks about it in Ephesians 4.

When each part is doing their role,

we're built up to maturity

fit for the head of Christ.

And so when you have someone out there

who is not committed to that,

you can't fulfill the one anothers

as they're given in Scripture.

And so this notion that
you can float around

or just glean from the Internet

and not be committed and accountable

to a specific group of believers,

it's unfounded in Scripture.

Kevin: One of the biggest dangers

for young Christians in our generation

is because we've become
an Internet society

where people tend to react on social media

rather than in real life.

And a lot of it's fake.

(unintelligible)

But the danger of that

is to translate it into the church

where you get these
so-called "Internet Christians"

where they have no interest

in being around real
believers in the flesh.

I don't mean in the flesh in a bad way,

but I mean in person,

because again, to actively
be in other people's lives

and submit to authority,

you can only do that in reality,

not in some kind of hypothetical

social media context.

Clint: I would say it's a necessity

to be a part of a biblical church.

To be isolated is no existence.

It's very difficult.

It might be for a season.

But the desire,

the motivation ought to be

to either start a biblical church,

become a biblical church themselves,

or become a part of a biblical church.

It's necessary for longevity.

You know, we live in a day and age

where the Internet supplies us

with vast resources of sermons.

Sermons at every hand.

Video sermons, livestream
sermons, and so on.

But there's nothing like being a part

of a congregation, sitting there,

with your mouth open

and your Bible open,

taking in what's coming
to you from the pulpit

with the solid belief that
what you're hearing right then

is God's Word for you on that occasion,

on that morning.

There's nothing like that.

And so the other Internet
sermons, CD's, and so on,

those can be auxiliary.

Those can be additional.

Those can be sort of emergency rations

if you want to call it that.

But we really do need to be a part

of a believing church.

Kevin: The thing that makes
a church most biblical -

it can become a cliche, so
you've got to be careful with it,

but it being Christ-centered.

And I say it can become a cliche

because it's very easy
for people to say that,

but is that what people center on there?

I don't mean that it's Israel-centered

where people are obsessed with Jews.

I don't mean where people are obsessed

with end times or conspiracy theories

and that's the thing that
gathers them together.

You know, some professing churches,

the big uniting factor is
they're all of a certain race.

But they shouldn't be race-centered.

Let me clarify on that one.

It's like in America, you
go to certain parts

or certain parts of the world.

Everyone will be pretty
similar if you like,

but in a city like San
Antonio or Manchester

where I come from,

it's very multi-cultural.

The church should reflect that

if the uniting factor is Christ there.

It shouldn't be that people are
home-schooled-centered.

Or anything else basically.

Or the big thing is we
do street evangelism

or we meet in a house.

But are the people
enamored with Christ there?

Once you see the real thing,

it's very easy to see the difference.

Again, what makes a biblical church

is not someone doing a big PR video

saying we're so lovely here

and everyone's no nice and loving.

But you come there

and Christ should be the drawing thing.

Now if He is the drawing thing,

then the other things generally

will all be true anyway.

The preaching of His Word is essential -

that they're getting the
sermons from Scripture.

Not a pastor putting a verse of Scripture

up on a screen

and then talking about
whatever else for the time.

Are they expositing the Scriptures there?

And being truthful to them?

You know, not trying to explain them away

and things like that,

but does this church follow the Bible?

Are the people living it?

Because that's the thing.

True conversion -

are there true Christians there?

(Incomplete thought)

And that's where the Christ-
centeredness comes.

When people are centered on other things -

of course, a Christian can get
out of balance for a time.

But when it's all the time,

it tends to be a lack of
true conversion there.

And another thing with dealing with that

is of course church discipline.

Will a church be faithful
with people souls?

When they go astray,

when they go on in sin,

will they come and correct them

and put them out of the church if
necessary for their own good?

And for the good of
the church and so forth?

Because you don't want to be somewhere

where if you go astray,

no one's going to come and correct you.

They're just going to put
their arm around you

all the way to hell.

So those things definitely

are the most important:

true conversion,

the preaching of the Word.

Are the sermons challenging?

As in, do they engage you?

What I'm saying is you can
teach through the Bible,

but it can all be Bible trivia

where it doesn't engage your life.

I'm not saying that every sermon

needs to give you a kicking.

For instance, if you hear
a sermon on giving,

and you're faithfully giving,

you shouldn't be convicted.

You should be encouraged by that.

Because some Christians
get into that mentality

where every sermon needs
to knock them out.

(incomplete thought)

We should be challenged there.

It shouldn't be just about:

we're the perfect church,

but look at those out there

and all their faults.

It should be engaging my life

and helpful to me.

Tim: When you have God come down

and break into your life -

the God who is love -

and save your soul,

if God is saving men,
women, boys, and girls,

there's going to be love.

He said of course there is.

There always is.

And any community that does not have love,

John tells us in these verses,

he tells us in v. 8,

"Anyone who does not love

does not know God because God is love."

Brethren, if you find churches

where there's no love,

it's because it's not a church.

It's not one of His churches.

It's not a candlestick.

That's John's conclusion.

That's what we see here.

Think about these words again.

"Beloved..." I'm going
to read verses 7-10.

"Beloved, let us love one another,

for love is from God.

Whoever loves has been
born of God and knows God.

Anyone who does not love

does not know God because God is love."

Kevin: The churchless person -

realize this, they have an evidence

of salvation missing

until they're part of a
church with believers.

I'm not saying they're not saved,

but you know, we know he's passed

from death to life because
he loves the brethren.

Don: There is no such
thing as lone ranger -

I call it being a lone ranger -

me being saved out here

apart from my fellowship

and my participation in the local body.

I can't know that I'm a real Christian

unless I'm in the local church.
You can't know.

You can't have any assurance
that you're a real Christian

by reading books

and by listening to sermons

and being out here isolated and say,

well, it's wonderful.

We love God.

Listen, if we walk in the light

as He is in the light,

we have fellowship one with another

and the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son,

cleanses us from all sin.

By this we know that we have passed

from death into life because
we love the brethren.

We have to have brethren around us

to prove that we are Christians.

And we have to have brethren

to show that we really love the brethren.

And how can we love God -

this is such a theme in
the little epistle of 1 John -

how can we say we love God

and not be in union and fellowship

and in love with brothers
and sisters in Christ

in a local body?

(incomplete thought)

There's going to be contention.

There will be division at times.

There will be misunderstandings.

There will be differences of opinion.

But these have to be in grace.

These have to be worked through.

You have to live through these things.

You have to walk through these things.

You have to submit to one another.

You have to learn that we've been called

and called out from the world,

and we've been put into
an assembly upon earth.

If we forsake the assembling

of ourselves together,

we fall out of the realm of teaching.

We fall out of the realm of oversight.

We fall out of the area of
communion and fellowship.

We're no longer participating
in the ordinance.

There's no way in the world
you can sit alone by yourself

and take the Lord's Supper.

There's no way in the world
you can baptize yourself.

You're baptized by someone else.

You take the Lord's
Supper with other people.

It's a supper and it's for the family.

So, I would say again,

there's a lot of misguided,
misdirected souls

that don't want to have any part to do

with a local church.

They're greatly in error.

And I would not go so far as to say

that all of them are completely lost,

but I'm saying this,

they are going to be very stunted

and have an accounting -

if they're not going to be willing

to be accountable here,

they're going to have to give an
accounting to Him one day.

And I sure wouldn't want to be

standing before the Lord
Jesus Christ when He says,

"Why wouldn't you be a part of My church?"