Imagine you sit down at a restaurant. You look on the menu and you decide to order the salmon; it's lemon pepper salmon and it was caught fresh in Alaska. As usual, it comes with a side of rice and some mixed vegetables. When the waiter or waitress brings the plate out to you it contains the salmon filet, mixed veggies, and a single kernel of rice.
Naturally, you respond, "Excuse me, I thought this was supposed to come with rice." To which the server responds, "Yes, it's right there."
"That is not a side of rice, that is a single kernel of rice."
"All the menu says is that it is 'served with rice and mixed vegetables.' I'm sorry, but that is what you got."
"That may be what the menu said, but that's not what you should serve at a restaurant."
This conversation is all too familiar in our church culture and in our broader circles. No, it's not framed around food in general and rice specifically, but it is framed around whether or not a person can be a Christian and not be part of a church. Most of the time the reasoning sounds something like a devotion to follow Jesus but a hesitation with "organized religion." Or maybe someone had a "bad experience" with a particular church in the past.
Whatever the reasons, there are two definitive things that can be said about this issue. First, nowhere in the New Testament does it mention that church attendance has anything to do with salvation - that is, becoming a Christian. Second, the New Testament, both in example and explicit statement, assumes that being a Christian and being a member of a Church go hand in hand; you don't have one without the other.
The first thing you must understand is that simply attending a church will never make you a Christian. You could come to church every time the doors are open for 80 years and never be a Christian. Galatians 2:16 makes it clear that a person's sins are forgiven ("justified," and they become a Christian) when they put their faith in Christ. To put your faith in Christ is to believe (synonymous in Gal. 2:16) and turn to Christ (away from sin) and surrender to him as your Lord (boss). Jesus says it this way in Mark 1:15, "repent and believe in the gospel." So, you become a Christian by faith alone, in Christ alone - not by attending church on a regular basis.
Although the previous is true, and church attendance and membership is not a prerequisite for salvation, the Bible makes it clear that when you become a Christian you are united to Christ (Galatians 3:28, Romans 12:5) and by being united to Christ also united to all those who are united to him as well. All Christians are part of the body of Christ, not simply Christians who are like the lone kernel of rice on a plate. When a person eats rice, they expect many kernels served together. So it is with the New Testament and Christians.
The Apostle Paul defends this concept heavily in 1 Corinthians 12. Toward the end of the passage (v.27) he sums up the argument by saying "you are the body of Christ and individually members of it." This tells us that there is but one body of Christ. The individuals who are Christians are each part of that one body. Earlier in the passage he tears down the idea of so many who want to be Christians without ever going to church. He says, "For the body does not consist of one member but of many." In other words, you on your own do not make up either "a" or "the" body of Christ. He also argues in verses 15-18, that individual members of the body don't get to choose whether or not they want to be a part of the body, or what their role is, God has appointed that for them. That means the option is not open to be a Christian but not part of a Christian body.
Why does Paul write these things to such a people as the Corinthians? Why does he urge such a dysfunctional church to remember their unity in Christ, and call them to live that unity out? Because The Church is a picture of the gospel. It is a visible image that provides a powerful testimony that God can take a diverse group of people, with different backgrounds, different personalities, different struggles, hurts, and sins, of different age groups, professions, and interests and unite them all together by a singular act, for a singular purpose. He unites such a people by the saving power of faith in Christ to display the fullness of forgiveness in Christ and to live on mission for God's gospel. God does this not for the glory of the individuals, not for the glory of the local church, not for the glory of The Church, but for God's glory in Christ and that glory ALONE! (Btw, check out Mark Dever's book, The Church: The Gospel Made Visible)
Christian, if you find yourself today outside of a church body, FIND ONE and jump in with both feet! Not because you need to check off a box on your list, but to be a part of magnifying the glory of God through the church. You can't do that on your own, and you don't function well as a Christian that way either. By the way, not every building with sign in front of it that says "Church" is a local part of the body of Christ that Paul mentioned in 1 Corinthians. Find a gospel-centered, biblically-sound church!
Naturally, you respond, "Excuse me, I thought this was supposed to come with rice." To which the server responds, "Yes, it's right there."
"That is not a side of rice, that is a single kernel of rice."
"All the menu says is that it is 'served with rice and mixed vegetables.' I'm sorry, but that is what you got."
"That may be what the menu said, but that's not what you should serve at a restaurant."
This conversation is all too familiar in our church culture and in our broader circles. No, it's not framed around food in general and rice specifically, but it is framed around whether or not a person can be a Christian and not be part of a church. Most of the time the reasoning sounds something like a devotion to follow Jesus but a hesitation with "organized religion." Or maybe someone had a "bad experience" with a particular church in the past.
Whatever the reasons, there are two definitive things that can be said about this issue. First, nowhere in the New Testament does it mention that church attendance has anything to do with salvation - that is, becoming a Christian. Second, the New Testament, both in example and explicit statement, assumes that being a Christian and being a member of a Church go hand in hand; you don't have one without the other.
The first thing you must understand is that simply attending a church will never make you a Christian. You could come to church every time the doors are open for 80 years and never be a Christian. Galatians 2:16 makes it clear that a person's sins are forgiven ("justified," and they become a Christian) when they put their faith in Christ. To put your faith in Christ is to believe (synonymous in Gal. 2:16) and turn to Christ (away from sin) and surrender to him as your Lord (boss). Jesus says it this way in Mark 1:15, "repent and believe in the gospel." So, you become a Christian by faith alone, in Christ alone - not by attending church on a regular basis.
Although the previous is true, and church attendance and membership is not a prerequisite for salvation, the Bible makes it clear that when you become a Christian you are united to Christ (Galatians 3:28, Romans 12:5) and by being united to Christ also united to all those who are united to him as well. All Christians are part of the body of Christ, not simply Christians who are like the lone kernel of rice on a plate. When a person eats rice, they expect many kernels served together. So it is with the New Testament and Christians.
The Apostle Paul defends this concept heavily in 1 Corinthians 12. Toward the end of the passage (v.27) he sums up the argument by saying "you are the body of Christ and individually members of it." This tells us that there is but one body of Christ. The individuals who are Christians are each part of that one body. Earlier in the passage he tears down the idea of so many who want to be Christians without ever going to church. He says, "For the body does not consist of one member but of many." In other words, you on your own do not make up either "a" or "the" body of Christ. He also argues in verses 15-18, that individual members of the body don't get to choose whether or not they want to be a part of the body, or what their role is, God has appointed that for them. That means the option is not open to be a Christian but not part of a Christian body.
Why does Paul write these things to such a people as the Corinthians? Why does he urge such a dysfunctional church to remember their unity in Christ, and call them to live that unity out? Because The Church is a picture of the gospel. It is a visible image that provides a powerful testimony that God can take a diverse group of people, with different backgrounds, different personalities, different struggles, hurts, and sins, of different age groups, professions, and interests and unite them all together by a singular act, for a singular purpose. He unites such a people by the saving power of faith in Christ to display the fullness of forgiveness in Christ and to live on mission for God's gospel. God does this not for the glory of the individuals, not for the glory of the local church, not for the glory of The Church, but for God's glory in Christ and that glory ALONE! (Btw, check out Mark Dever's book, The Church: The Gospel Made Visible)
Christian, if you find yourself today outside of a church body, FIND ONE and jump in with both feet! Not because you need to check off a box on your list, but to be a part of magnifying the glory of God through the church. You can't do that on your own, and you don't function well as a Christian that way either. By the way, not every building with sign in front of it that says "Church" is a local part of the body of Christ that Paul mentioned in 1 Corinthians. Find a gospel-centered, biblically-sound church!