The Nature of our Church Family

Part 2



Church Attendance?  Family Life!
Perhaps you grew up in a congregation where "church attendance" was hammered 
home every week.  Hebrews 10:25 was the verse most often quoted at services, "Let us 
not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage 
one another-and all the more as you see the Day approaching."  In fact, faithfulness to 
God was often equated with how many times you attended church services-"He was 
there every time the doors were opened!"

Spirituality is about more than "church attendance."  You can be at every service of the 
church and still be a "hypocritical heathen" (I know it's an oxymoron).  Legalistic 
obedience to man-made rules doesn't lead us to Christ-likeness.

However, regular church attendance does indicate a healthy understanding of the role 
and power of "fellowship" in the life of the Christian-Let us not give up meeting 
together ... but let us encourage one another.  Often, the first sign of spiritual lethargy is 
inconsistent attendance at worship services and other activities of the church.  It was a 
warning sign in the lives of the Hebrew Christians of the first century and it still warns of 
potential danger ahead in the 21st century.

Created for Community
God created man to enjoy community-not live in isolation.  Even before the fall, before 
the damaging effects of sin, God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make 
a helper suitable for him" (Gen. 2:18).  Isolation was the only thing in creation that was 
NOT good.  It's still not!

The Bible knows nothing of Christians without a church, believers detached from the 
body, or a faith without a fellowship.  We were created for community-to be a part of 
God's family.  God wants to be our Father; Jesus, our elderly brother; and Christians, 
our brothers and sisters in Christ.  Jesus told the disciples, "But you are not to be called 
`Rabbi,' for you have only one Master and you are all brothers" (Mt. 23:8).  In fact, how 
we relate to one another is a sign of our relationship to Jesus, "By this all men will know 
that you are my disciples, if you love one another" (Jn. 13:35).  


What about "those hypocrites?"
Many people shun church membership out of a misunderstanding about the make-up of 
the church.  "The church is full of hypocrites!" is the common complaint.

While there are hypocrites in the church (you'll always have some hypocrites in any 
organization), the church is actually filled with "recovering sinners."  Christians are 
simply sinners who are attempting to change their lives into the likeness of Jesus Christ.  
And every church has members who are at various stages of reaching that goal.

What makes the church so essential is that the church is the spiritual classroom in 
which we learn to love and live with those fellow strugglers in life.  As "recovering 
sinners," God calls us to learn how to love and live with other imperfect, immature, 
struggling people.  God never said that church would be easy.  In fact, some Christians 
are so difficult to get along with that Jesus had to give a new commandment to guide his 
spiritual family, "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so 
you must love one another" (Jn. 13:34).

If Jesus could love me enough to die on the cross for my sins, surely I can love my 
brothers and sisters in Christ despite their weaknesses and sin.  Peter, knowing the 
faults and weaknesses of his own life, wrote, "Above all, love each other deeply, 
because love covers over a multitude of sins" (1 Pet. 4:8).


Accountability
Because all of us of capable of returning to the world (2 Pet. 2:20-22), God gave us the 
church to hold us accountable-to help us keep on track.
	"It's none of your business!" is not a Christian phrase.  We are commanded to get 
involved and watch out for one another.  James tells us, "If you know people who have 
wandered off from God's truth, don't write them off.  Go after them.  Get them back" 
(James 5:19; from The Message).


Questions

1.	Are you part of God's family?
2.	How serious are you about "church attendance"?  Are you "in the bleachers" or "in 
the game"?
3.	How close are you to your family?  As a physical family comparison, would you be 
described as "close knit" or a "distant relative?"





Leslie S. Chapman