Three Minutes in Theology: The Local Church and Christianity

Welcome to Three Minutes in Theology, I'm Alan Nelson, pastor of Perryville Second Baptist Church in Central Arkansas.

Today I want to talk about the local church and God's love for the local church.

You know, 50 years ago, 60, 70 years ago in the Bible Belt, there was a societal moral constraint in society where people went to church.

And if you didn't go to church, there were consequences, at least societal consequences. You were expected to be at church.

Well, those consequences have since ceased. And here we are in the year of our Lord, 2022, at the end of the year, and people don't go to church anymore.

Why is that? Well, it's come to people's minds that you don't have to go to church to be a

Christian. We've individualized Christianity in such a way, and don't get me wrong, Christianity requires personal faith and repentance, turning from our sin and putting our faith in the

Lord Jesus. It requires individual regeneration and sanctification, adoption, justification, all these things are certainly true.

But we've individualized salvation in such a way in the Bible Belt and other places in America whereby we think that we can have some sort of meaningful, vibrant relationship with God separated from the local church.

That's simply not biblical Christianity. In the New Testament, you really can't separate the commands to individual

Christians from the idea of living together in the local church. For example, in Galatians where Paul talks about bearing one another's burdens, that makes no sense just from an individual standpoint, unless you think that you're supposed to bear everyone's burdens around you, believers and unbelievers alike.

Of course, that's not true. The idea there is in the context of the local church. And so the reality is not too strong of a statement to say that we really do not understand

New Testament Christianity outside of the local church. Many applications exist for this truth in the

Christian life. First of all, you ought to be in church. You ought to be committed, not just going to church, although that's important, but you ought to be a viable part of the local church.

You ought to be a committed member. You ought to be serving and worshipping. Another thing it means is we ought to order and seek to order the local church the way that the

Bible says. The Bible is actually full of information on how God would have his local church to be ran.

The officers of the church and elders and deacons, the way that God wants to be worshipped through the preaching of his word and the ordinances and the singing of songs and all of those things.

God loves the local church. Therefore, believers should love the local church. Let me put it this way. If you are not actively involved in a local church, the reality is that at best your

Christianity is very weak, but it's probably more likely that you're not a

Christian at all because Christianity and the local church go hand in hand. Thanks for listening and I hope that this has been helpful.

If you're not part of a church, I hope that you'll look for one in your area and be committed, even this coming