Church: An Essential Service

There are some professing Christians in the world who have a very poor attitude toward the church. Sometimes they have been hurt by others; other times they have just never come to understand the purpose of the body of Christ. I always hate to hear someone claiming the name of Christ out of one side of his mouth, while down-playing the importance of regular local church fellowship out of the other.

Consider this: "For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body...Now you are Christ’s body, and individually members of it," (1 Corinthians 12:13a, 27). Jesus Christ doesn't save merely to impact someone's individual life on his or her own; He saves to add another member to His body as He builds it through the Spirit. Bodies cannot function if all of their parts are scattered. Body parts cannot function on their own; they must be connected.

So, the body of Christ is fundamental to salvation in the sense that believers are saved to be functioning members of it. Add to that the reality that we are each necessary to one another's function. When it comes to the local church, the truth is that we simply cannot live without it.