Transcript What I Owe The Local Church

What I Owe The
Local Church
What Is My Duty Towards
My Fellow Christians In The
Local Church
Introduction
• When a person is baptized into Christ and
saved from sin, he or she is added by the
Lord to His universal church.
• The universal church is a spiritual
relationship which has no specific
organization or work – it’s simply made up
of individual Christians who live for the
Lord and do His will on a daily basis.
Introduction
• However, God has ordained that His
people band themselves together in local
churches that they might assemble for
worship and labor collectively for him.
• In God‘s New Testament pattern, these
local churches are given a specific work to
do and the necessary organization with
which to accomplish it.
Introduction
• We have a personal relationship with Jesus and
God and we maintain fellowship by our
individual actions.
• There is also a relationship to the Lord that
Christians sustain in the local church.
• Sometimes these two different relationships are
maintained in the same way by the same things,
but in some ways, they are different.
• So what do I owe my brethren?
I Owe Them My Allegiance
• Of course, our first and foremost
allegiance is to Christ, but the church is
the body of Christ: Eph. 1:22-23.
• The simple fact is that we can’t show
allegiance to Christ, who’s the head,
without showing allegiance to His church,
which is His body.
I Owe Them My Allegiance
• One way to show this allegiance is not leaving the local
church every time a problem arises—the church at
Corinth had many problems, yet how did Paul identify it?
• There may come a time when we have to leave, but until
it becomes absolutely necessary for doctrinal or moral
purity, it’s best to stay and strive to solve problems rather
than just running away.
• Too often people find it easier to leave than to take a
stand for the truth.
• Most likely, these people are not well grounded in the
truth anyway, and would not know how to confront any
possible error being introduced.
I Owe Them My Allegiance
• Another way to show allegiance is by
faithfulness: Matt. 25:21, 1 Cor. 4:2, Rev. 2:10.
• Some declare their allegiance to the church, but
not during hunting season;
• they want to be used, but not when the fish are
biting;
• they say they wish to be active for the Lord, but
not on Sunday night.
• Such allegiance is cosmetic and superficial—we
owe better allegiance to the local church than
such divided loyalties.
I Owe Them Exhortation
• The apostles and other early Christians
saw fit to strengthen and exhort each
other: Acts 13:21-22
• There are always those in the local church
who are in special need of this exhortation
and admonition: 1 Thes. 5:14
• After all, we are human and have our
human frailties and weaknesses.
I Owe Them Exhortation
• Therefore, we should do whatever we can to
exhort one another as much as possible: Heb.
3:12-13.
• It’s so easy in life to become discouraged by
pitfalls, especially as the world exhorts us
through TV, music, and other media to sin, and
there’s strength in numbers, so that by exhorting
one another in the local church, we encourage
our brethren and we ourselves are also
encouraged.
I Owe Them My Presence
• This is not to suggest that others are
blessed simply because you have graced
us by your presence. Some people want
to be treated as such.
• Any kind of club or other organization will
simply die out if people don’t attend the
meetings, and the same is true of a local
church—we have the example of the early
Christians: Acts 2:42
I Owe Them My Presence
• The whole idea of being a local church necessarily
implies that we all come together in one place from time
to time: 1 Cor. 11:17-21, 14:23-26
• Therefore, we must not forsake the assembling of
ourselves together with the church: Heb. 10:24-25
• Given the attendance habits of some who claim to be
members of the local church, the congregation could
close its doors and they wouldn’t know it for several
weeks or even months—and that’s sad!
• Presence alone is not enough, we owe the church our
participation
I Owe Them My Support
• The fact is that God has given the local church a
work to do: Eph. 4:11-12
• Another fact is that doing this work takes money;
• So how does a local church obtain the funds that
it needs to do its work? 1 Cor. 16:1-2
• But, support does not always mean financial.
I Owe Them My Support
• It’s true that television evangelists have made a
mockery of the idea of giving, but we still have a
responsibility to give in support of the work of the
local church: 2 Cor. 9:6-7.
• The local church will always have need of funds
to do the work of evangelism, edification, and
benevolence assigned to it by the Lord, and
when we give into the treasury of the local
church to support that work, we are in fact giving
to the Lord.
I Owe Them A Proper Attitude
• This means a proper attitude not just
towards the church itself but toward all the
members: Jn. 13:34-35
• We must view each other as a part of not
only ourselves, but of Christ.
• If we truly love one another, then we’ll
strive for the kind of unity that God wants
in the local church: Eph. 4:1-3
I Owe Them Prayer
• Prayer is to be an important part of the Christian’s life in
general: Phil. 4:6-7
• While we certainly can make our own requests known to
God, we should also pray for our brothers and sisters in
Christ: Eph. 6:18-20
• But why pray? Because prayer works: 1 Pet. 3:12, Jas.
5:13-16.
• It’s been suggested that the more we go to God in
earnest prayer for our fellow members of the local
church, the less likely we’ll be to engage in biting and
devouring one another.
I Owe Them A Proper Example
• Not only do we belong to the Lord, we
belong to each other.
• When I am out in public, I represent the
church of which I am a part.
• If I act like the world when I am in the
world, I possibly have brought shame on
my brethren and on Christ.
• So do your best to behave like a Christian.
Conclusion
• There are individual activities which we ought to do because
of our relationship to Christ in His universal body—we act as
citizens, do our jobs, and conduct our families with the
realization that we’re under Christ 24 hours a day, 365 days
a year.
• However, in addition to these responsibilities that we have
as members of the universal church, we also have a
relationship in the local church that places certain
obligations upon us.
• Those who are Christians need to recognize and fulfill these
obligations as taught in the scriptures so that they might be
pleasing to God in everything that they do.
• Of course, if you’re not a Christian, first you need to obey
the gospel, be saved from sin, and be added by the Lord to
the universal church, then identify yourself as one who
works and worships with a faithful congregation of God’s
people.