ONE Weekend

Jesus established the church to be a public, earthly institution that consists of, affirm, and oversee those who profess to believe in him (Matt. 16:18-19, 18:15-20). Through the church we publicly declare that we belong to Jesus, in order to give the world a display of the good news about him (John 17:21, 23; see also Eph. 3:10). How is the world to know who belongs to him and who doesn’t? They are to see which people publicly identify themselves with his people in the visible, public institution he established for this very purpose. They’re to look at the members of his church. And if some people claim to be part of the universal church even though they belong to no local church, they reject Jesus’ plan for them and his church. Jesus intends for his people to be marked out as a visible, public group, which means joining together in local churches.

Christ loves the church and gave Himself up for her (Ephesians 5:25); if you love Christ, you must love His church and commit yourself to her well-being. Jesus established the local church and all the apostles did their ministry through it. The Christian life in the New Testament is church life. Christians today should expect and desire the same.

When we trust Jesus and begin to follow him, we don’t just have our sins forgiven. We also have a new family. We are adopted into God’s family, and his adoption gives us not only a new Father, but new brothers and sisters as well. And to not commit to this new, spiritual family as a member makes no more sense than not committing to our families here on earth.

Church membership helps us distinguish between “neighbor” and “household of faith.” God calls us to love everyone. We are to love our neighbor as ourselves. But Galatians 6:10 says, “Let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.” Paul is making some distinction here between the quality of love we give to non-Christians and that which we give to our fellow Christians. Membership helps you to know which Christians on planet Earth you are specifically responsible to love, serve, warn, and encourage. It enables you to fulfill your biblical responsibilities to Christ’s body (for example, see Eph. 4:11-16; 25-32). God has given each of his children specific gifts and talents for the unique purpose of building up and encouraging one another.

Church membership lets Christian leaders know which Christians on Planet Earth they will “give an account” for (Acts 20:28; 1 Peter 5:2). Hebrews 13:17 says, “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account.” If we hop from church to church, or refuse to join a church, how will we obey this verse? And if there are no criteria to determine who is “inside the church” and “outside” (1 Cor. 5:12–13), for whom are church leaders responsible?