The Believer's Obligation to the Local Church

Somewhere along the line, Satan has been very successful in convincing people that church is not necessary. It is a lie from the Father of lies.

If you are a born-again believer, church is not optional. In this, the church age, the church is the vehicle being used by God to reach a lost world.

If you are saved, God expects you to belong to a local church body, to attend a local church, to serve in a local church, and to give to a local church. If you are not doing those things, you have a problem, and you blame me as the reason you do not come, or you may claim to have a grudge, but dear friend, it is you that has the problem.

The New Testament clearly teaches that we are to be active in church so we can WORSHIP with other believers and for our SPIRITUAL growth.

The early church set the example for us.

Acts 2:42 “And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.”

Acts 2:46–47 “And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.”

The early church had no designated church building, but the true believers belonging to that church met every day. They fellowshipped, prayed, learned, and worshipped together, and souls were being saved daily, and they met at night because they worked during the day. They let nothing interfere with time together, and that includes the Romans and the Pharisees who were out to stop the church before it got going good.

Compare that early church at Jerusalem with the church today. Many thing the church is blessed by their attendance to one morning worship service once or twice a month.

Well, dear friend, if that is all the concern you have for the body of believers you have pledged your fellowship to, you might as well stay home because you are not getting anything from the church, and the church is certainly not getting anything from you.

You can believe this or not, but if you are saved, you are supposed to be active in a local congregation of believers.

Active does not just mean attendance. Active means that you are supposed to serve the local body with your time, talents, testimony, and treasure.

“Well, Jimmy must want a raise because the New Testament does not say anything about tithing.” Well, you are right. The New Testament does not say anything about you giving 10%. It says you are to give as you have been blessed which for some of you might mean that you should give 20% because of what the Lord has blessed you with.

2 Corinthians 9:5–8 “Therefore I thought it necessary to exhort the brethren, that they would go before unto you, and make up beforehand your bounty, whereof ye had notice before, that the same might be ready, as a matter of bounty, and not as of covetousness. But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully.

Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:”

If your attitude toward giving is begrudgingly writing a check for 10%, just keep your 10%. We are to give based upon how we have been blessed, and we are to give cheerfully.

***You and I, if we are truly saved and truly pledged to Beech Grove Baptist Church, are to meet when this church meets, and each of us are to give generously of our time, talents, testimony, and treasure.

Let me tell you this. You can look at any dictionary you want, and you will never find a definition for active that says active means sitting. Active in the church means being involved in the church’s ministries and using your spiritual gifts given to you when you were saved for the glory of Christ.

Sometimes, people in the church get mad because it seems the same people do everything. The reason, often, that the same people do everything is that some have not made it known that they are willing to do. If this church or any church waited on some people to get something done, it would never get done.

Being involved and active in church is not a suggestion. Both are God’s will for the believer.

Hebrews 10:24–25 “And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.”

People in the church say that Christ could come back for His church any minute, but attend church like He is never coming back. If you really think He is coming back, the writer of Hebrews said that thought would cause us to meet more often in order to exhort each other to finish the race.

I really do believe this, and I am going to tell you that some of you are not going to like this one bit, but it is the truth.

If you can just pop in and pop out of church without conviction blaming someone else for the reason you do not come, you have a serious issue either with your salvation or with sin.

2 Corinthians 13:5 “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?”

1 John 2:19 “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.”

Listen to me, dear friend. This world is going to hell in a hand basket, and God does not have time for believers to be casual toward the church.

With all that being said, what is your obligation to the local church? Why is church important?

I am going to give you 7 reasons. I am going to be very brief on 6 of those reasons, but on one reason, I am going to give a little detail.

1. Church is the place where believers LOVE one another.

1 John 4:12 “No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.”

The world hates believers in Christ, but in the Church, all believers find love.

2. Church is the place where believers ENCOURAGE one another.

Hebrews 3:13 “But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.”

I am going to use this example again. When Colin was lying in a coma in University Hospital in Memphis on March 20, 2022, you guys held a special prayer meeting for Colin but also for Hope and me. You guys were unified in prayer and purpose, and I promise you that Hope and I could feel that encouragement.

Scoffers will dismiss me on that, but I swear to you that we could feel that encouragement.

3. Church is the place where believers SERVE one another.

Galatians 5:13–14 “For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.”

This church has some that upon every opportunity serve the other members of this church. They do this through prayer, encouragement, and fellowship as some of you are so eager to take food and other things to other members who are sick or having to stay home because of a surgery or whatever.

Those of you that do that I appreciate you, and I know you do not expect any appreciation. You are just serving your fellow believers.

4. Church is the place where believers MOTIVATE one another to love and good works.

Hebrews 10:24 “And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:”

Matthew 25:34–36 “Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.”

The more people that become engaged in the church the more we are motivated to love and good works because we share ideas and opportunities to do the works Christ would have us to do.

“Well, Jimmy, I am saved by faith not works.” Yes, you are, but faith without works is dead according to James.

5. Church is the place where believers INSTRUCT one another.

Romans 15:14 “And I myself also am persuaded of you, my brethren, that ye also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another.”

Did you know that we are to instruct each other in God’s Word? We are to instruct one another. We are to fill each other with the knowledge of God and His Word. You cannot do that to another member if you are sitting at home watching on Facebook Live.

6. Church is the place from where the GOSPEL is shared.

Mark 16:15–16 “And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.”

Yes, you are to personally share the gospel, but this church is the vehicle chosen by God to systematically share the gospel to the world. Think about it organizationally. How many people have been reached by missionaries sent by the local church? How many local people have been saved by outreach efforts by the local church?

7. Church is the place in which God intends for you to EMPLOY your spiritual gifts.

UH-OH!!!!!

1 Peter 4:10–11 “As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God. If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth: that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.”

1 Corinthians 12:3–5 “Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost. Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord.”

1 Corinthians 12:7 “But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal.”

Romans 12:4–5 “For as we have many members in one body, and all members have not the same office: So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.”

Each of you when you were saved were given a spiritual gift at your conversion by the Holy Spirit with which you are supposed to serve Christ and His church.

The spiritual gifts are listed in the New Testament because the New Testament is where the church is found.

Spiritual gifts:

Prophecy (Being able to see events in the context of God’s Word)

Ministry (Being able to see to the needs of others)

Wisdom (Being able to determine God’s will for any situation)

Knowledge (Being able to grasp the truth contained withing God’s Word)

Teaching (Being able to teach God’s Word, and all of us at times are expected to teach God’s Word.)

Exhortation (Being able to uplift others)

Giving (Being able to give above and beyond what is expected. This means your time, talent, testimony, and your financial resources)

Ruling (Being able to conduct the church’s business in a godly manner)

Showing mercy (Being able to see the need for God’s mercy and grace in any situation)

Preaching (Being able to share the gospel with the lost world)

There are four more spiritual gifts that we will save for another time, but I, personally, do not believe they are applicable to today’s church.

The gifts, however, that I listed are very applicable to the church today, and you were given at least one of those when you were saved. It was given to you supernaturally by the Holy Spirit.

Have you identified your supernatural spiritual gift? Are you using it to serve Christ and His church? Spiritual gifts are given for the profit of the entire body. That’s why if someone asks you to do something in the church and you say you cannot do it, you are not wrong. You could not do it before you were saved, but the Holy Spirit makes it supernaturally possible for you to do what God needs you to do.

I dare say that less than 30% of the body of Christ uses their spiritual gifts, and the reason they do not is because they will not let God be God in their lives.

By the way, leading in prayer is not a spiritual gift. It is an opportunity that when called upon all true saints of God can do if they let God be God. I ask people about leading in prayer in public, and they are shocked that I would ask them. “I just cannot do that.” Well, yes you can if God is God. He is your Father.

CONCLUSION:

When a person accepts Jesus Christ for salvation, he or she becomes a member of the body of Christ. As a member of the body of Christ, that person is to be actively engaged in a local church. For a church body to function properly, all of its “body parts” need to be present and working.

It is not enough to attend once a week or once a month. If you are saved, you should be using your God-given spiritual gifts to serve Christ and the other members of the body.

Ephesians 4:11–13 “And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:”

You will never reach spiritual maturity unless you employ your spiritual gifts, unless you serve, love, and encourage other believers. You will never reach spiritual maturity if you do not give of your time, talent, and money.

If you do not have the desire to do that, dear friend, you might need to be saved.

2 Corinthians 13:5 “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?”

1 John 2:19 “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.”

If you are not a member of the body, you need to be saved before it is entirely too late. We have a lot of ability in this church. Can you only imagine if each one of us that are truly saved would allow God to grow supernaturally in us what He has given each of us what we could accomplish for the Kingdom of God? We would be able to be bold in the Day of Judgment.