“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?

Picture of Caesarea Phillipi 2022 with people from the Little Church. That’s where Jesus promised Peter that He would build His church. The cave you see, which descends into the darkness for hundreds of feet, is called the “Gates of Hell.” This was the location of human and animal sacrifice to the underworld.

“And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it” (Matthew 16:18).

The church is the only institution on planet earth that Jesus promised to build.

So when you give your time, resources, efforts to your church, you are joining Jesus at building His church. Conversely, when you do not give and serve through the church, you are not only missing out at what God is doing through His church, but you are neglecting the very body of Jesus Christ.

I thank God for you at the Little Church. You are amazing about loving God by loving His church. Thank you for your service, your tithes, and your talents that you devote to see the growth and vitality of the Little Church. You are linking hands with Jesus to build His church!

For those of you who have not, this is your wake up call. Get involved. Start serving and giving. It is not only a good idea to serve and give, but this is what loving Jesus looks like.

If you need help finding a way to serve and give, give us a call in the office. We would be happy to walk you through this.

God is building His church.

You in?

“Continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose” (Philippians 2:12b-13).

“Work out your salvation…”
“For it is God who works in you…”
“For God works in you to act in order to fulfill his good purpose…”

Sounds like a gym to me. That’s where you go to “work out”, to “work” the program, so that you can “act and fulfill his good purpose.”

These words are not passive. These are things you are actively doing.

Now contrast this with one of the most common complaints people have of the church: “I’m just not being fed in my church.”

What if the church doesn’t exist to feed people? What if the church exists to help people work out their salvation so that they can act and fulfill His good purposes? What if the church exists to make Christians more like Jesus?

If this is true, then the point of participating in the church is less about being fed as it is about working out.

Don’t go to church to be fed. That’s what your bible is for. That’s what small groups are for. That’s what adult bible studies are for. If you are growing up, at some point you have to take responsibility for your own feeding. Only babies demand to be fed.

Finally, what if the very way people are “fed” is precisely through serving, giving, and investing in God’s kingdom? Perhaps the reason people aren’t being “fed” and growing is because they are not serving, giving, and investing in the very things that will help them work out their salvation.

Hmmm…Something to think about.