Chapter 21 Day Seventeen Belongs

Day Seventeen Belongs You are a member of God's family, a citizen of God's kingdom, Be part of God's family with other believers. (Ephesians 2:19, LB) This house is the Church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of truth. (1 Timothy 3:15) God not only wants you to believe in him, he calls you to belong to him. Even in the perfect and sinless Garden of Eden, God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone." We were created to live in communities, to socialize, to have families, and none of us could fulfill God's purpose on our own. The Bible does not record any solitary saints or hermits cut off from other believers.The Bible says we were put together, joined together, built up together, members of each other, heirs together of God, fit together, joined together, and will be raptured together, you are no longer alone.

Although your relationship with Christ is personal, God never intended it to be private.In the family of God, you and other believers are united and belong to each other forever.The Bible says, "In Christ we, who are many, are one body, and so are one body." To follow Christ is not only to believe, but also to belong. We are members of His body, the Church.Lewis believes that the word "Membership" originated from Christianity, but it has lost its original meaning now.Stores give "members" discounts, and advertisers compile lists of members for promotional use.In churches, church members are often reduced to adding their names to the membership book without any requirements or expectations.

For Paul, being a "member" of the church meant being a vital organ of a living body, an integral and inseparable part of the body of Christ. We must restore and practice the biblical meaning of membership.The church is a body, not a building; a living being, not an organization. The organs of the body need to be connected to the body in order to function; the same is true for you as part of the body of Christ.You were created for your special mission, but if you are not connected to a living local church, you will miss out on the second purpose of life.When you interact with people, you discover your role in life.The Bible tells us: "Every part of the body has its function. This body is the body of Christ, the chosen people. Each person finds his own meaning and function in his body. To be a body is like being cut off. Fingers or chopped off toes, what are we worth?"

If an organ is separated from the body, it atrophies and dies, and can never exist alone; so do you.Cut off from the lifeblood of the local church and your spiritual life will wither away.That's why the first sign of a spiritual backsliding is not going to church very often and not connecting with other believers.When we stop caring about fellowship, everything else goes downhill too. We cannot underestimate and ignore the importance of being part of God's family because the church is God's plan on earth.Jesus said, "I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not prevail against it." The church will never be destroyed, it will last forever, outlast the universe, and so will your role.People who say "I don't need a church" are either arrogant or ignorant.The church is so important that the Lord Jesus was crucified for the church. “…just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.”

The Bible calls the church "the bride of Christ" or "the body of Christ."I can't imagine saying to Jesus, "I love you, but not your wife," or: "I accept you, but not your body." But whenever we belittle the church, belittle the church, complain about the church, we are do so.God commands us to love the church as Jesus loved the church.The Bible says, "Love your spiritual family." It's a pity that too many Christians only use the church, but don't love the church. your fellowship life Except for a few times when the Bible refers to the church, it refers to believers throughout the ages, and it refers to a local group that can be seen with the naked eye.In the New Testament, local groups have membership.The only Christians who are not members of any local church group are those who have been disciplined by the church for committing serious, public sins, and who have been removed from fellowship by the church as a punishment.

The Bible says that a Christian who does not participate in the church is like a child without a body, a sheep without a flock, or a child without a home.The Bible says, "You are part of God's family with other believers." Today's culture emphasizes independent individualism, which has created many spiritual orphans, the so-called "bunny believers" (bunny believers), who hop from church to church like rabbits, without identity, responsibility, and commitment. .Many people believe that one can be a "good Christian" without joining (or even attending) a church, but God disagrees.The Bible gives many powerful reasons why you should commit yourself to the church and be active in the fellowship life of your locality.

Why do you need a church family? A church family shows that you are a true believer.No one can claim to be a follower of Christ who is not committed to any community of believers.Jesus said: "By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." When people of different backgrounds, races, and social status gather together because of love, they become God's big family, which is a great blessing to the world. is a powerful testimony.Alone is not the body of Christ, you need to be with other believers to be the body of Christ. Church family is no longer self-centered

The church is the classroom where we learn to get along with others in God's family.This is a laboratory for learning to be unselfish and compassionate to people.As a participating member, you are here to learn to care about others and to share your experiences with others. "If one member suffers, all suffer with it. If one member is honored, all share in his glory." Only when we regularly associate with ordinary, imperfect believers can we learn true fellowship fellowship and experience the New Testament truths that connect and support each other. The fellowship that God teaches is our commitment to one another, as we are to Jesus Christ.God expects us to give our lives for each other.Many Christians know John 3:16, but they don’t pay attention to 1 John 3:16: "The Lord died for us, from this we know what love is; we also should lay down our lives for our brothers." What God expects is you. This sacrificial love comes to love the believer and is willing to love other people the way Jesus loves you.

Church Family Helps You Grow Spiritually You will never grow to maturity simply by attending worship services or being a passive bystander.Only by actively participating in the life of the local church can the spiritual life grow.The Bible says: "Everyone in the church is doing his part, doing his best, helping each other, and the church is built up in love and grows gradually." The words "each other" and "mutually" are used more than fifty times in the New Testament.God commands us to love each other, pray for each other, encourage each other, exhort each other, greet each other, serve each other, teach each other, accept each other, respect each other, bear each other's burdens, forgive each other, submit to each other, be faithful to each other, and so on. What the Bible says about membership!This is the "family responsibility" that God expects you to fulfill in your local fellowship of believers!Who are you going to accomplish this goal with?

It is easier to live a holy life when no one interferes with your choices, but this is false and untested holiness.Disengagement and solitude breed deceit, and it’s easy to assume we’re mature when no one challenges us.True maturity can only be shown in relationships. To grow, we need other believers in addition to reading the Bible.Learning from others and holding each other accountable will make us grow faster and stronger.We learn and grow when others share what God has taught them. the body of christ needs you In God's family, He has given you a unique role called your "ministration," which God has gifted you to do. "The Holy Spirit makes each individual capable, for the good of the whole church."

It is God who has placed you in your local fellowship of believers to discover, develop, and use your gifts.Maybe you have other larger and broader ministries, but that's outside of your local church ministry.Jesus didn't promise to build your ministry, He promised to build His church. You share in Christ's universal mission When Jesus was on earth, God worked through His physical body, and now God works through His spiritual body.The church is God's instrument in the world.Our love for each other is not just to show God's love, but to bring this love to every corner of the world together; this is really a great privilege that God has given us.As members of the body of Christ, we are his hands, his feet, his eyes, and his heart through which he works in the world.Each of us has something to contribute.Paul tells us, "He created us through Jesus Christ to join in his work, the good work he has prepared for us to do." Church Family Helps You Avoid Spiritual Regression No one is immune to temptation.Under certain circumstances, you and I will both sin, so God has given each of us the responsibility to help others to go the right way.The Bible says: "Encourage one another every day, lest any of you be deceived by sin and harden your heart." "Sweeping the door" is not the attitude that Christians should have. We are called and commanded to participate in each other's lives .If you know someone whose life is at stake, it is your responsibility to bring them back to fellowship.James tells us, "If you know someone who has strayed from the truth, don't leave him alone, but go after him and get him back." Another benefit of a local church is the spiritual protection that spiritual leaders can provide.God gives the shepherd the responsibility to lead, protect, defend, and care for the spiritual well-being of his flock.The Bible tells us, "They always watch over your souls, for they will give an account to God." Satan loves wandering believers, urging them to leave God's family and spiritual leaders, because he knows such believers are defenseless , unable to resist his schemes. everything in church In my book Straight to the Goal, I explain why membership in a healthy church is essential to living a healthy life.I hope you will read that book too, because it will help you understand how God uses His plan for the church to help you fulfill your five purposes in life.He built the church to meet your five greatest needs: a purpose to live for, a partner to live with, a principle to live by, a faith to live by, and the ability to live by it.Nowhere else in the world can you find all five of these benefits at the same time. God's five purposes for the church are the same five purposes for you.Worship allows you to look up to God; fellowship helps you face difficulties in life; discipleship training strengthens your faith; serving allows you to discover your talents; preaching the gospel enables you to fulfill your mission.There is literally no other place in the world like the Church! your choice Once a baby is born, it naturally becomes a part of the human race in the universe.But babies still need to belong to a family, to be fed and cared for and to grow up healthy.It is the same with spiritual things.When you are born again, you naturally become a part of God's family, but you also have to devote yourself to the local church and become a member of the church. The difference between church attendance and membership is commitment.Participants are spectators on the sidelines, while members participate in the service: participants are consumers, and members are contributors; participants want to benefit from the church but do not want to share responsibilities, they are like a couple who only need to live in together, but unwilling to commit to marriage.Why is it important to join a local church?Because it proves that you are really invested in your spiritual brothers and sisters, not just in theory.God wants you to love real people, not perfect people.You could spend your whole life looking for the perfect church, but you'll never find it.You are called to love imperfect sinners as God does. In the book of Acts, the Christians in Jerusalem paid great attention to mutual commitment and were very faithful to their fellowship.The Bible says, "They devoted themselves to learning from the apostles, to fellowship, to a love feast, to prayer." God expects us to do the same today. The Christian life is not just a commitment to Christ, but also a commitment to other believers.The Macedonian Christians understood this, Paul said, “They first gave themselves to God, and then they gave themselves to us as God willed.” When you become a child of God, joining the local church is a logical next step.You become a Christian by committing yourself to Christ, and you become a member of a church by committing yourself to a particular group of believers.The first decision brings salvation, the second decision brings fellowship.