Thursday, December 19, 2013

Belong (part 3)

So what is the least that I can do to belong to the church of Christ? (Yes, I'm still asking the question)

In the first part of this series we discussed what it means to belong to another and that the least we can do is belong to the church.
In part 2, we looked at what belonging is not.
So now we finally get to our answer...

INDENTIFY

In my opinion the least we can do to belong to the church is to identify with this group of people.

In a practical way this means that when referring to the church we will use the term "WE" and not "THEY" or "YOU GUYS"

In nearly 10 years of full time ministry I have had way too many conversations with members of Christ's body who amazingly did not identify themselves with His church!?

It's like they are not a part of the body. They are some kind of fashion accessory.
You and I are the arm and the leg and they are the necklace, knee brace or iPod armband. If the body gets too sweaty or smelly or just doesn't pay enough attention to them they may leave. It is more likely that they will stick around to cause a rash or some other kind of allergic reaction. Oddly, most of these people attend church meetings regularly, are often involved in ministry and are sometimes even a part of the church's leadership.

The least we can do is be like Moses (Hebrews 11:24-26)
24 By faith Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. 25 He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. 26 He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward.

So where are we going wrong?
Are we too selfish to let "die to self and live for Christ" include being joined to the church?
Is the church so far off from where it should be that people should not identify with her?
If it is, how can her course be corrected except if faithful and righteous people do identify with her and right the ship?

To identify oneself with the church means that we take ownership.
This, actually fits in perfectly with what the scripture is saying in Romans 12:5, all the parts belong to each other. In order for me to correctly belong to the church I have to understand that everyone else belongs to me. In order to identify with the church I have to take ownership of the church.

Part 1: The Least We Can Do to Belong to the Church
Part 2: The "what" vs the "who" of belonging.

Part 4: What is the least I can do to belong to the church? Ownership

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