Do you love the local church? That is a very important question to answer. Your answer will undoubtedly be rooted upon your personal experiences with a local church. There are some who have had wonderful experiences with a local church, while others have had a very hurtful experience. Still others have had no experience whatsoever with a local church.
We do know this from the Word of God, there is nothing more powerful, life-transforming, and even culture changing than the local church when it is operating as God designed it to. Friend, I hope you love the local church because Jesus loves the local church and is the founder of it.
Why is the local church so amazing when it is operating as God designed? The answer is found in the Holy Scriptures. Let’s take a look…
The local church is a place where…
The Flame of Encouragement Burns Brightly…
God, the great architect, laid out the church to be a place where we come together and encourage one another, especially when life is hard. Look at these great verses,
Hebrews 10: 24-25
“And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”
Through the writer of Hebrews, God inspires us to come together as one spiritual family and to spur one another on with encouragement. He refers to the “Day” approaching. He is speaking in regards to the second coming of Christ. Each day we are one day closer. Satan, our enemy, knows that his time is short and he is on an all-out assault against God’s most loved creation – YOU. Therefore, Christ-followers cannot stop assembling and encouraging one another.
The local church is a place where…
The Weight of the World is Lightened.
Do you ever get tired, frustrated, discouraged? God created the local church to be a place where not only are we encouraged, but where we can share with other Christ-followers our worries, our fears, and our burdens. The Church is a place where we cry together, weep together, mourn together, and pray together. Jesus taught us that when we carry each other’s burdens, the day will come when we will once again laugh and dance together.
Galatians 6:3,
“Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.”
Matthew 11: 28,
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.”
The local church is a place where….
Communal Accountability is a Norm.
No one is perfect. The fact is, we have all sinned and fallen short of God’s glory (Rom 3:23). Our salvation is a gift of grace received when we place our faith in Christ as our Lord (Eph 2:8). We are not perfect that is for sure, but by grace we are in a process of becoming like Christ. On this process, we will often fail. That is when God calls us as believers to reach out in gentleness and humility and help each other overcome sin.
The church is not filled with perfect people, it is filled with imperfect people who love a perfect God and have the responsibility to help each other become more like Jesus. It is every believer’s responsibility to inspire one another in the church to live holy and to be a testimony of God’s saving grace.
Here is some food for thought, if communal accountability would be practiced in all points of life and society, wouldn’t our world be a better place? There would be less depression, less oppression, fewer broken marriages, fewer broken lives, and we as a nation may not be about to fall off the fiscal cliff! Just saying… Though it is sometimes painful, accountability is a beautiful thing.
Do you know a brother or sister who is living in unconfessed sin? If so, follow Galatians 6:1 and Matthew 18 and gently restore them to the faith.
Galatians 6:1,
“Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted.”
The local church is a place where…
Shoulder to Shoulder Serving is the Expectation.
In His short ministry, the Lord Jesus Christ made the largest impact on the world of any person to ever walk on this planet. When He ascended back to Heaven, He gave the charge to His Church to go and be His hands and feet. That means, Me…You…and every believer…we have been called, gifted, and given our marching orders to join shoulder to shoulder and serve within the local church and do ministry projects in our local communities and around the world.
God knows that when the local church is reaching out and serving in love that hope is restored, tears are wiped away, needs are met, and souls are saved.
1 Peter 2:9,
“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”
When you really think about it, the local church is an incredible place because of one little four letter word….LOVE.
Matthew 22: 37-39,
“Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”
John 13:35,
“By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
