Don’t just go to church. Be the church.

Ever hear that? I like that.

I began thinking – what does that look like? What does it mean to be the church?

Maybe we are thinking of extraordinary things – leaving our home, family, and friends, for the jungle to spread the gospel, or selling everything and giving to the poor to see God multiplying the church – and that’s great when and should that happen. But I think this may be missing the point of what it means to be the church.

What if being the church means a whole lot more ordinary?

What if being the church means to be extraordinary in the ordinary things of life?

We don’t have to go away to far away jungles and lands to evangelize. What if being the church looks a lot like being extraordinary God ordained and commanded weekly gatherings we call worship?

What if being the church looks like giving our best in loving our spouses and children?

Perhaps being the church has much more to do with giving our best to the ordinary things in the life we are already living – daily prayer, daily study of God’s word, small groups, service opportunities, and sabbath gatherings.

Can you imagine what the Little Church world would look like if we all sought to give our best to these ordinary practices on a daily basis?

The more I think about it, the more I’m convinced, GOD WOULD CHANGE THE WORLD THROUGH A CHURCH LIKE THAT!

You in?

“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer…And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved” (Acts 2:42, 27).

Church people love the last part of this verse – “And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.”

Wouldn’t that be awesome?!?! I want to see that. Who wouldn’t want that.

It’s interesting that we get so fixated in that last part that we miss an important word in the first section of this passage: devoted.

DEVOTED.

Take an honest look at your involvement and relationship with God’s church. Would the word “devoted” describe our relationship with God’s church?

• Devoted to the apostle’s teaching – the Bible
• Devoted to fellowship
• Devoted to the breaking of bread – worship
• Devoted to prayer

What would need to change so that “DEVOTED” would be express our relationship with God’s church?

Wes Huff writes, “If you love Jesus you should love what Jesus loves. And that means you should be an official, active, and serving and giving member of your local church.”

Francis Chan is one of my favorites authors and pastors. He simply says, “In our impatient culture, we want to experience Biblical awe without Biblical devotion.”

Sadly, I think he’s right.

DEVOTED.

You in?

“Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior” (Ephesians 5:23).

“I love Jesus. It’s just the church I have issues with.”

“I love Jesus, but not the church.”

Ever hear something like that?

I get it. The church is flawed and the church and her people have messed up plenty of times. No particular congregation represents the totality of the Church of Jesus Christ. However, having said that, each particular congregation is an expression of the greater church. No particular congregation can represent the whole universal church, but each local congregation is an expression – albeit not a perfect expression – of God’s church.

Ok. James. What are you getting at? I’m glad you asked.

Even though no congregation is perfect, if you want to belong to Christ, you belong to a local church.

There is no other way to belong to Jesus without belonging to His body, the church. There is no other understanding of the church in the New Testament.

A person who says something like “I love Jesus but not the church” is claiming a relationship with the Head while rejecting the body He died to save. This is a relationship that the Bible knows nothing about.

Christ is the head of the church, His body, of which He is the Savior. If you love Jesus, you love and serve a local congregation because the church is His body.

You in?