Philippians 2:1-2
“Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind.”
This next series of posts will be all about why Christians need the Church. In a world that seems to become more divided and divisive every day, I want to encourage other believers to value their relationships with brothers and sisters in Christ. My goal of this series isn’t to sugarcoat what it means to be involved in a church or to pretend that churches have no problems. Instead, I want to paint a picture of Christ’s beautiful bride, the Church, and why we are called to love her as our Savior does, even in her imperfect state here on earth. Church community is necessary so that we can stand strong on the Word of God and keep pointing each other back to the Cross.
While life is full of many different priorities and distractions for each of us, church community should not be neglected or an afterthought to everything else going on. It is worth it to prioritize church community because God created the Church for His purposes and for our good through our shared union in Christ. The opening verses from Philippians 2 challenge us to love others and pursue unity as believers in light of that union to our Savior. That is just one of many times in the Bible where God calls us to love and value His people. There are many reasons given in Scripture that explain the importance of the Church, but today’s post will just focus on two.
1) The Church demonstrates God’s design for a people
One of the reasons why church community is important for a believer is because God created and redeemed a people for Himself, not just a person. This is demonstrated throughout redemptive history. In the beginning, God created Adam and Eve to live and make Him known by increasing in number (Genesis 1:28). Later we see that God called Abraham and said He would have community with Abraham’s descendants, which would outnumber the stars in the sky (Genesis 15:5). Throughout the Old Testament, God protected and guided His people, Israel, a community of those He had made a covenant with.
In the New Testament, we see Jesus building a close community around Him through His disciples, and a larger community with all those who chose to believe and follow Him during His earthly ministry. Before He ascended into Heaven, He promised that where He was going, He was preparing a place with many rooms (John 14:2), space for a community of people to live together with Him some day.
In Revelation we see those who are saved described as a “a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language” (Revelation 7:9). From the beginning to the end of God’s Word, we see God calling and saving a people for Himself. This design is intentional and studying these stories can be a great way to understand the value of Church community.
2) Church community is necessary for growing in obedience
Another reason we need the Church is because biblical community is integral to obeying God’s commands. Throughout the Bible, it is clear that God expects us to live in community! First, we see this in the Mosaic Law given to the Israelites. Consider the 10 Commandments (Exodus 20:12-17): 6 of the 10 commandments involve our relationship with others, specifically within the community of God’s people. These commands directly impacted the way the Israelites treated and lived with one another. The rest of the Law of Moses gave extremely specific directions for how God wanted His people to interact with each other and with outsiders as a testimony to the One True God (Deuteronomy 4:6-8).
The New Testament is full of instruction on what Church community should look like now for the Christian—how we are to live as His chosen people (1 Peter 2:9). Jesus taught about how to relate to others and the purposes of church community (Matthew 18), and one of the most detailed set of instructions comes from the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7. The other New Testament writers expand on His commands with more specific instruction and application for the Christian life (Galatians 6:10; Hebrews 10:24-25; Colossians 3:16).
Considering all these teachings, how can we obey all of God’s Word if we’re not living in community with other believers? The answer is: we can’t. It’s impossible for believers to live out the life that Christ has called us to live apart from being a part of His Church. Believers who choose a more reclusive or antisocial way of life, or believers who simply don’t go to church or have a church home, must recognize how that doesn’t align with what God’s Word teaches. The passages I’ve referenced today are just a few that can help us see the beauty of living life with Christ’s Church. Only in Church community can we find others to speak truth into our lives, which helps us grow in maturity.
In the following posts in this series, I’ll be focusing more specifically on how we are to live out community among groups of imperfect people, as well as on some of the common descriptions of the Church and what that means for us. I’ll look at more detailed purposes for the Church in the Bible, as well as where “church hurt” fits into the picture. My prayer is that the Scriptures we’ll cover together will help us see just how wonderful our God is for saving us into His family. As always, thank you for listening or reading to Speaking Truth!
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