Commitment to the Church

The sharing of our common life, the building of friendships, the bearing of burdens, mutual The story is told of a man stranded on a desert island who built two shacks.

When he was finally rescued, he explained what the buildings were. One was where he attended church, the other was where he used to attend church. Even all by himself he couldn't stay committed to one church.

That's just a humorous story but it raises some serious questions. Should you leave your church simply because you want a change of scenery? And with so many shapes and local fellowships out there, why commit to just one? For answers and to see how crucial a role the local church plays in your spiritual life, stay here as John MacArthur continues his study called, Foundations Volume 2, with a message titled, Commitment to the Church. I love the church.

Through the years of ministry, I have had occasion and opportunity to consider other kinds of ministry as to mission field ministry and educational ministry and various and sundry kinds of opportunities that have come my way. But no matter how wonderful they might have been, no matter how attractive, no matter how great the need, I have never found myself able to disassociate from the church and the ministry in the church. I love the church.

It is my life. It has been the center of my life since childhood. When I was born, my father was the pastor of a church. I grew up in church. It is the place where I was led to the knowledge of God, where I learned about Christ, a place where I gained the knowledge of saving and sanctifying truth. It was in the church that I learned all the stories of the Scripture, Old Testament and the New Testament. It was in the church that I learned God's moral standard for life. It was in the church where I learned how to pray.

It was in the church where I learned how to sing. In the church where I learned how to live and love and serve. It was in the church that I set the standards and direction and goals for my life. It was in the church that I experienced the leading of the Spirit of God and directing me into a life of ministry. Church is where I met my life partner, my wife. Church is where I've raised my children, now my grandchildren. The church is where I've made my lifelong friends, and the church is my life. I have other titles and other responsibilities, but they're just sort of on the fringe in the periphery of the church, which is my life.

And frankly, it will be forever. Even in eternity, we will be the gathered church redeemed and glorified. I am committed to the church with every ounce of being that I have. I'm committed to it with all my heart and all my soul.

And there are people who say to me, why do you always write these books that deal with issues and why are you always concerned about all of these things going on? Can't you just sit back and enjoy your Christian experience in ministry? And the answer is, I love the church so much, I want to see it be all God wants it to be. And that means I need to be a pastor because if I wasn't the pastor, I'd be driving the pastor crazy.

The Lord knew that. I don't understand people who don't love the church. I don't understand people who don't have a love affair with the church and can't wait to assemble with its people. I don't understand people who say things like I heard a person say recently, boy our church has a Saturday night service and it's great you get the deal over in one hour and it doesn't mess up Sunday. That's inconceivable to me.

Cannot understand that. Or someone else who said, I like our early morning Sunday service, it's over in an hour and it doesn't blow the whole day. I can't wait to get here on Sunday morning and I can't wait to get back on Sunday evening. And it's been that way in my life for all my life. There was a time when coming to Christ meant coming to His church. There was a time when salvation meant union with the visible gathered body of Christ. Becoming a Christian meant fellowship.

That's really changed. The emphasis, the contemporary emphasis in evangelicalism is having a personal relationship with Christ. And in the process of personalizing this and banging on this issue of personal relationship to Christ, which has become the pervasive theme of contemporary evangelism, rarely is there any discussion about the church. It is extremely rare to pick up a gospel tract or a gospel presentation that ends with any discussion of a believer's relationship to the church. There is a very low emphasis on church involvement, church membership, being a part of the family of God, the visible gathered household of redeemed saints.

And in our massive effort to make personal salvation the issue, we have really left the church behind to detriment of many, many souls. Many churches don't have memberships. They don't want memberships. They don't want people to join their church. They, in fact, teach against that. There are churches that doesn't require membership, doesn't require baptism, doesn't require any doctrinal statement, doesn't require anything, and calls itself an evangelical church. The reality of this low commitment to the church is upon us.

It's evident everywhere. Let me just summarize it in three ways. If I look at this low level of commitment, I look at it in several ways. Number one, I can see it by the pattern by which professing Christians relate to the church. People just don't relate to the church as significant. They tend to be, I guess what I would call, ecclesiastical consumers, church hoppers. They don't really have any loyalty or any commitment to a given assembly of redeemed and gathered saints. They feel little or no attachment or obligation or regular attendance to church involvement is not a priority with them.

They just sort of bounce and float and hop and skip and jump around. The church may meet, but it certainly doesn't mean they need to be there. The church may gather to study or to pray or to be trained or learn or whatever, but that doesn't really apply to them. They're after all involved with a personal relationship with Christ and don't understand their involvement, their life connection to the church. Much of their Christianity exists outside the church, and there are plenty of things outside the church that are under the Christian banner which can occupy their life without ever getting very committed or involved in the church.

That's tragic. This low level of commitment shows up not only in the pattern by which people relate to the church and just sort of float around and make no commitment, but secondly by the neglect of the ordinances of baptism and communion. There are many people who would call themselves Christians who have never been baptized. There are many more who call themselves Christians and may well be Christians who have little or no interest in attending the Lord's table.

And if it happens to hit on a night when they can schedule, then they'll come, or a morning when they can schedule, then they'll come, but in general that's not a priority for them. This is even more serious, by the way, and many churches are now de-prioritizing baptism and de-prioritizing communion, just sort of relegating it to some backwater because they feel that if done in the public service, it becomes offensive. It's a sad thing because baptism itself is the single greatest testimony that the church has as to the changing power of Jesus Christ, right? Why would you put on a church skit to dramatize that when you can have a living testimony? On the other hand, they de-prioritize communion because they feel communion would offend an unbeliever who happened to be there because it shuts him out, and the Bible says communion is how we show forth the Lord's death until He comes.

And what is our message? Some ignore baptism altogether, and many churches don't require it. They don't require it after you're saved.

They don't talk about it. They don't require it for church membership, and they're not concerned about the Lord's table. And that is to say it's not required for everyone. It's not an urgency in the lives of people, and yet those are the two things that Jesus said we were to do. And even where baptism and communion are administered, for the most part they're directed at the personal faith rather than at the unity of the church. They don't celebrate the commonality of the church, all being baptized into one body, namely the church of Jesus Christ, and all gathering at the foot of the cross to share in the Lord's table in common as mutually recognizing our sin and repenting of it.

People can attend many churches and never experience a baptism, many churches and never experience a communion. Thirdly, another dramatization, another evidence of this disinterest in the church is the massive development of ministry outside the church. There has been a significant evangelical power shift, if I could call it that, away from the church. Church ministries have developed and proliferated beyond imagination. And for every Christian who seems to have a little idea about what he'd like to do, there's liable to be a Christian organization started. And then that Christian organization creates an environment in which it can exist and raise money and do whatever it needs to do without any consideration to the church, usually indifferent to the church and not accountable to the church.

The best of these succeed, the most inept of them fail. Highly promoted, slick, wealthy ministries led by unusually talented and gifted people supported by wealthy patrons will survive and they'll use sophisticated marketing methods to engulf millions of dollars and they can build a very highly successful operation. Some of what they do is very good, it just doesn't have anything to do with the church. It isn't the church.

It's out there. It was intended to come alongside and help the church. At the turn of the century, the church liberalized and that's what caused independent churches to grow up because the denominations were so corrupt and heretical and along with the denominations came all of these independent ministries. And now in the typical noble independence of the American spirit, we continue to proliferate that kind of thing until there are so many of them you can't even keep up with them.

Some of you know how many there are because they come to your home in the form of mail unendingly. National Christian personalities have become the heroes of evangelicalism and local pastors are basically unappreciated and often maligned. This is the shift, significant shift in the power of evangelicalism.

I think that shift is even going further. Now we're having a shift from just para-church power, para-church organization to mega-power church organization. And the mega-para-church organizations are redefining Christianity and they're establishing who the heroes are and the sad part about it is they tend basically to be a-theological...a-doctrinal without regard for doctrine, theology. In the educational side of evangelicalism has fallen victim to this in some ways.

I can give you an illustration of that. There is a journal called the Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society. To belong to that society, you have to affirm the inerrancy of Scripture and be associated with some scholarly endeavor in terms of theology. And in the Journal of Evangelical Theology, they have been printing articles of original research and insight on things scriptural if they have produced one article on the nature of the church, one in 1969, none before and none since. Evangelicals are systematically turning away from the church. It's sort of a pervasive kind of thing, busy winning people to Christ but not to the church. This is totally foreign to Scripture. Belonging to Christ is coming to the church.

Any idea of experiencing salvation without belonging to a local church is totally foreign to the New Testament. The epistles of the New Testament were written to churches and in the case where they were written to individuals such as Philemon and Timothy and Titus, they were in key roles of leadership in churches. And the general epistles seem to have been directed at assemblies of saints even though they are not identified in any given locale. Sometimes as in the case of James, scattered believers who were meeting in various places.

You only need to start to read the epistles of the New Testament to know that the Lord assumed that believers would be in gathered assemblies, not running around loose. The Holy Spirit wanted to communicate a message to believers. The title of it is 1 Corinthians and this is what it says, Paul called as an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God and Sosthenes our brother to the church, the church which is at Corinth. And when the Holy Spirit wanted to send another letter, 2 Corinthians, Paul an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God and Timothy our brother to the church which is at Corinth. And when the Lord wanted to reach saints and give them instruction about the law and freedom and grace, He inspired Paul to write and Paul wrote the book of Galatians, Paul an apostle and all the brethren who are with me to the churches. First Thessalonians 1 says essentially the same thing, Paul and Silvanus and Timothy to the church.

Second Thessalonians says Paul and Silvanus and Timothy to the church. The assumption in all of this is that people are gathered in a local assembly where the Word of God is disseminated. They are a gathered community of worshiping saints belonging to the church, not just the church invisible, but belonging to the visible gathered militant church, as it's been called in the world, is at the very heart of Christianity.

It is the expressed unity of the body made visible. The church gathers to participate in worship and baptism and communion and ministry, expresses its spiritual reality and its corporate identity. The Lord never established any institution except the church. Christ is the head of the church and under His headship come a plurality of godly pastors and elders who lead those who serve, and that's the definition of the church.

And there's nothing beyond or outside that. There are many, many now Christian organizations, parachurch organizations that are led by people who are not qualified to be pastors or elders, who have no accountability to an assembly of redeemed gathered saints, who have no regard for things like baptism and communion. Frankly, the idea of an unbaptized Christian isn't even in the New Testament. Baptism even becomes a term that is a synonym for salvation. One Lord, one faith, one baptism. That's talking about the baptism that is the outward expression of an inward relationship, an inward identification. Failure to be at the Lord's table in a New Testament setting was cause for grave concern and perhaps church discipline.

In fact, even coming to the Lord's table without having your heart right could be a cause of sickness or death. It's obvious that the early church knew its flock. In Acts 20, the Apostle Paul wrote to the elders at Miletus and said, you're to shepherd the flock of God. It's very difficult to shepherd if you don't know who your flock is.

And sheep don't survive well just roaming around on their own. In Acts, just to give you an illustration of this sense of belonging, in Acts chapter 2 verse 41 where the church is born, it says, so then those who had received His Word, the words of Peter as he preached, were baptized. Of course, that was obvious, inevitable, immediately they would be baptized. And there were added that day about 3,000 souls. Added to what?

Added to the others. Who were the others? Well, at least 120 that gathered in the upper room would be on the list. And it must have had a secretary or somebody who could take the names of these people who were baptized and they were all added to the list. And then in verse 47, the Lord kept adding to their number day by day those who were being saved. And the church was meeting day in and day out, celebrating its life and its joy in the Messiah. And the Lord was by the power of the Holy Spirit converting many and they were being added to the church. Come over to chapter 5 of the book of Acts, verse 14, and the more...all the more believers in the Lord, multitudes of men and women were constantly added to their number.

And this thing was growing. Somebody was keeping a list of who was in the flock. The indication of these being added implies there was some place where they were added. There are references, of course, throughout this period in the book of Acts to the whole church. The church saved, baptized, continuing. Remember that in Acts 2, 42 in the Apostles' Doctrine and Prayer Fellowship and the breaking of bread. They were all together. They were all one.

This is how it was. And then the church was started in Antioch and developed from there and then the church went west in the ministry of Paul and those who traveled with him. The church was seeing people come to Christ and then being baptized and then being gathered in a local assembly. Any time somebody moved or relocated, as people do today, they would send letters. In Acts chapter 18, I think it's verse 27, we read about that kind of thing. This is a passage talking about Apollos. And when he wanted to go across to Achaia, the brethren encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him.

This is very typical. Here's a Christian brother. He's going from one place to the next. They're going to write a letter of commendation so that the church that's receiving him knows he comes with the blessing of the church from which he came. In Romans, the last chapter, chapter 16, there is a commendation in verse 1 of a lady named Phoebe, apparently who was on her way to Rome. And when she arrives in Rome, she is going to come with commendation because the Apostle Paul says in Romans 16, I commend to you our sister Phoebe who is a servant of the church which is at Cenchrea. Receive her in the Lord in a manner worthy of the saints and help her in whatever matters she may have need of you, for she herself has also been a helper of many and of myself as well.

Here is a typical letter of commendation. Here is a member in good standing named Phoebe moving from Cenchrea to Rome. The Roman church needs to accept her. That's the church keeping track of its sheep and letting other congregations know that this individual is to be received as one who is genuine in naming the name of Christ. The church was very concerned to keep the tares out, to maintain its purity, and to be sure that those coming in were not factious, heretical, or sinful people.

There was this tremendous concern to keep the church pure. In Colossians chapter 4 and verse 10 it mentions Aristarchus, my fellow prisoner, sending his greetings. And then it mentions Barnabas' cousin, Mark. And then there's a parenthetical comment about Mark in Colossians 4, 10, about whom you received instructions.

If he comes to you, welcome him. So again, when Christians moved from place to place, there was a letter, a letter authenticating their conversion and their good standing in the life of the church. And then in 2 Corinthians chapter 3, Paul says, are we beginning to commend ourselves again? In other words, do I have to start all over again with you Corinthians like you didn't know me? Do we need some letters of commendation to you or from you? They were treating him like a stranger and he said, do I have to go back through that process again?

What I'm calling to your attention there is just that there was a process. Letters of commendation, recommendation, transfer and the relocation of believers was a part of church life. And so the early church knew nothing but baptism and assembly in gathered groups of believers in a local area for the purpose of worship, the Lord's table, prayer, fellowship and witness. My heart is really grieved at the nature of the evangelical church today. And I do feel responsible to confront it because I know the Lord loves His church, He died for His church, He shed His blood for His church. I know the church is not only the body of Christ through which He will work His will in the world, but it is the bride of Christ, the object of His affection and love.

And He wants a chaste and pure bride, He wants the church to be all it should be. According to Hebrews 13, I have to give an account to God for you. How can you shepherd the flock to which you must give an account to God if you don't even know where the sheep are or who they are?

It's very difficult, very difficult. It's very difficult, for example, when someone leaves the church who's not a member of the church to have any way to know they ever left, except in a small group of people that may know them. Sometimes a person will leave a church and we will try everything we can to track them because we feel responsible for their spiritual life. And so we hear that they end up in a church in another place and so it may come down to a letter that says, we think this person was at our church until so and so. Now we think they've gone to your church, we're not sure.

That's very difficult. And we may get a letter back and say that the person you think was in your church who you think is in my church, I don't think is in my church. How can we be responsible for shepherding? How can we be responsible for keeping account of people to which we have to give an answer to God? So if you want to do it, as Hebrews 13, 17 says, so that we can do it with joy and not with grief, then you learn to submit and obey and be a part of the flock with which you identify. Challenging words from John MacArthur, Chancellor of the Master's University and Seminary. Today's lesson is titled Commitment to the Church.

It's part of his study called Foundations Volume 2 here on Grace to You. Now you know, John, by emphasizing the centrality of the local church, the necessity of being involved in a local church as a Christian. I can imagine some of our listeners wondering if a parachurch media ministry like Grace to You should even exist. What would you say to someone who sees Grace to You as a viable alternative to involvement in a local church? It is not an alternative to a local church.

It serves as an adjunct. It serves as a companion to the individual believer who listens to the Word of God or reads the books or downloads the sermons or whatever. We can never take the place of the church, and you are commanded in Scripture not to forsake the assembling of yourselves together, but to be together to stimulate one another to love and good works, to use your spiritual gifts, to come under the biblical authority of those who are over you in the Lord, to have accountability and mutual ministry, all of that.

We're no different than a book. I mean, we provide resources, books and messages on audio or on television. This is a supplement, and this is not the church, nor is it intended to be in place of the church. We come alongside the church by coming alongside the people who are in the church and helping the process of spiritual growth and sanctification through the resources that we provide. Again, we're no different than a book or buying a DVD or a CD or downloading a message.

That's what we do. We supplement the teaching that the church provides. And I have to say, in all honesty, that we may be giving sound biblical teaching to people who are not getting it in their church, and we understand that, but that doesn't mean you should use grace to you as a substitute for your church. We're here to support the church through the means that the Lord has given us. Can I ask you to pray for us now and into the future? That's the most important thing. Thanks for standing with us as we keep grace to you, a resounding voice for biblical truth.

Yes, thank you. And if you or your church are benefiting from our resources, maybe from John's sermons or his commentaries, would you let us know? Contact us today. You can write to Grace to You, Box 4000, Panorama City, California, 91412, or you can email us at letters at gty.org. And if you're looking for more resources to enhance your study of Scripture, go to gty.org.

That's our website. You can download 3600 of John's sermons in MP3 and transcript format, all for free. You can also read daily devotionals, or watch episodes of Grace to You television, or catch up on posts from the Grace to You blog featuring practical articles from John and our staff addressing issues that affect your life and your church. And if you don't know where to start, check out GraceStream. That's a continuous loop of John MacArthur's sermons. It starts in Matthew and ends in Revelation, and then it starts over. So whether you have 15 minutes or a couple of hours, you can jump into GraceStream and just start listening.

All of that and more is available at gty.org. Now for John MacArthur, I'm Phil Johnson. Be back tomorrow to find out how far your commitment to your local church should go, even if your pastor says things you don't agree with. It's another 30 minutes of unleashing God's truth, one verse at a time, on Grace to You.