You have no right to separate yourself from the gift Jesus gave you: His Church.
Ephesians 4:11-16 (NIV)
11Â So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12Â to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13Â until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
14Â Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming. 15Â Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. 16Â From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.
Listen to passage & devotional:
Belgic Confession of Faith, Article 28: The Obligations of Church Members
We believe that
since this holy assembly and congregation
is the gathering of those who are saved
and there is no salvation apart from it,
no one ought to withdraw from it,
content to be by himself,
regardless of his status or condition.
But all people are obliged
to join and unite with it,
keeping the unity of the church
by submitting to its instruction and discipline,
by bending their necks under the yoke of Jesus Christ,
and by serving to build up one another,
according to the gifts God has given them
as members of each other
in the same body.
And to preserve this unity more effectively,
it is the duty of all believers,
according to God’s Word,
to separate themselves
from those who do not belong to the church,
in order to join this assembly
wherever God has established it,
even if civil authorities and royal decrees forbid
and death and physical punishment result.
And so,
all who withdraw from the church
or do not join it
act contrary to God’s ordinance.
Summary
If you were to stand at the church doors after a service and ask people what it is that Christ gave us, hopefully most people would mention forgiveness, perfect righteousness, or something along those lines. And yes, that's absolutely true! The fact that we are washed clean in the blood of Christ and are now at peace with the Father having been given His perfect righteousness is the very heart of the gospel!
But here in Ephesians, we read of a gift that most of us likely would forget to include if asked. "Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers..." (v11). In other words, one of the biggest gifts Christ gave us is the holy catholic Church!
This gift is eminently useful and practical. It's meant "to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up." But this gift is temporary. We only need to use it "until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ" (v12-13). But until Christ returns or calls us home, we'll always need what He provides through His Church as we, both collectively and individually, wage war against sin.
Therefore the Church is indispensable in the sanctification process. It's through the ministry of the Church that you "will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ" (v15) and are built up "in love, as each part does its work" (v16).
Dig Deeper
It's become fashionable for some to claim that they love Jesus, but not the Church. They look at the Church with all its warts and problems and sanctimoniously decide that they don't want to be a part of it. Such an attitude is not Biblical and has no place among true Christians. It's an insult to the very One who gave the Church to us.
Today's passage clearly explains the result of separating oneself from the Church. These people are "infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of people in their deceitful scheming." It's only those who are "equipped" by Christ's ecclesiastical gift who "will no longer be" stuck in this precarious position (v14).
The Church, which is itself a "gathering" of those who are at the same time sinners and saints (Luther's famous quote in Latin is simul justus et peccator), does often reek of the lingering sins of its saints, and sadly it does sometimes hurt those it's been given to help. But yet it is Christ's gift to us, and as such He has an expectation that those He came to save make themselves part of it.
The Church "grows and builds itself up in love," only when "each part does its work" (v16). So as we learned a couple of days ago, find true and lasting rest as you take Christ's yoke upon yourself and do your part in building up and being built.
ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, who has gathered His people in His Son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ;
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Thank God for the church He's given to you, and pray that you will do the work that you've been called and equipped to do;
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:
Read the New Testament in a year! Today: 2 Corinthians 13
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