The Family

Yes, those are my people (missing the GrAndrew because he wasn’t born yet) and they are so pretty, and precious! I love them so! You know I love them because I talk about them, I share life with them. But this post is not about them. This post is about the family of God, the Church, the Body, the Bride of Christ. Recently, I began a quest to discover God’s reason for church because I‘ve lived most of my life (until last week really) believing its a Christian “duty” thing - going to church and serving there. I’m thankful to have been brought up in church and to have been immersed in church. Some good times were had. And some really not so good times have happened with church and church people because we are people, after all. I’ve grown up in the Lord by His grace and partly by being involved in church.

I guess like every other area of life, I needed a deeper meaning to keep going to church. Duty is not enough and I felt myself not wanting to be involved in the church anymore, just to serve God and walk my own path with Him, occasionally going to worship. My experience with church over the past decade had left me “over it.” But God wouldn’t let me have peace there, separating myself from the Body. The quest for meaning began!

Truly, when I started digging and studying for God’s plan for the Church, I thought I was building a case against the way we do it. Instead, I discovered God’s plan for the Church and His heart for the Body. The scripture references that helped me most hear God on this subject are: Ephesians 3 & 4, Acts 2:42-47, and Acts 4:32-35. Just read them if you’d like to. God also gave me great insight and direction through the study, Secret Church, by David Platt.

In summary, here’s what I now believe. Going to church is not merely a Christian duty. It’s not something we must do, but something we get to do. (Quoting my husband here - insert eye roll and don’t you dare tell him I quoted him). God’s plan for His Church is that we, as followers of Jesus Christ, would gather together, devotedly, for the purpose of bringing Him glory through spreading the gospel by serving each other and the world. That we would consider nothing we have as “our own” but we would share everything He gifts us, with each other and the world.

God’s intent is for His Church to make Him known. He deserves our glory and the glory of those souls waiting to know Him as Lord. Being part of the Church is not a duty. Being part of the Church is a destiny of Divine design! How can we display His glory for the Church Jesus died to save if we don’t devote anything to it?

So, if you want to know why I am committed to a local church as part of the global and eternal Church... because God allows me to be part of His Body. As a member of God’s Body, a member of His Family, I choose to use this life He gave me - when Jesus saved me - for His glory. As a member of God’s Church, I choose commitment to a local church, so together we can grow up in love and increase the Kingdom by worshipping God together through serving each other AND THE WORLD for the purpose of brining Him all the glory He deserves!

Now, I leave you with this. We as a church can do better. We gather for worship just fine. It’s high time we get out there and serve the world, share the gospel with the world, making God known! It’s the way we love each other in the Family and how we use His love that let‘s the world know about God. Keeping it all in the ”house” keeps the world from seeing Him fully. Let’s go! Let God out of the house and into the world for His glory and everyone’s good!