Spiritual Therapy that You Desperately Need

Today I want to convince you that you need some spiritual therapy. I’m not talking about a counseling session or a Bible retreat. I’m talking about an environment that will help you thrive in your Christian life. It’s a hyperbaric-chamber-of-spiritual-sorts that will provide you with the spiritual oxygen necessary for you to thrive.

The last nine months, I’ve undertaken a massive study of the Biblical doctrine of the church. I’ve read books, written papers, reviewed essays, and attended classes on this topic. I went into the study persuaded that the church is important. I’ve come out of the study convinced that the church is overwhelmingly essential in the Christian life. Here’s why.

(1) The Bible assumes that every Christian is part of the local church. In other words, you are not living a biblically ordered life if you are not part of the local church. What about the universal church? Sure, it’s there – but it is not mentioned frequently in the Bible. Almost always, when the Bible talks about the ‘church,’ it is referring to a local group of Christians who have gathered together as the church. In the Bible, you will never find a Christian who is part of the universal church but not part of the local church.

Can a Christian exist without the local church? Sure, just like you can exist without Vitamin C. You can go for a while without it, but that deficiency will take its toll. Scurvy will set in. Given enough time, you will succumb. It certainly isn’t ideal, and sooner or later, it is fatal. Any Christian who thinks he doesn’t need the local church is overestimating his own spirituality. If you want to live a Biblical Christian life, join a local church.

(2) The church is the Gospel made visible, if I can steal a line from Mark Dever. It is the natural way that God’s Kingdom is revealed in the world. The church doesn’t exist to build the Kingdom in the world: it exists to be the Kingdom in the world (to word it loosely). When unbelievers see a Biblical church, they are observing the community of Jesus – His body and His bride. Hence, the church is an embassy of heaven: it announces the message of heaven (through preaching), declares the citizens of heaven (through church membership), and affirms the verdicts of heaven (through church discipline). In other words, when a church is Biblically arranged, it is a wonderful apologetic for Christianity.

(3) The church exists for itself. What does that possibly mean? Of course, ultimately, the church exists for Jesus Christ, no doubt about it. What I mean, though, is that the church is an institution that God has created for believers. The church isn’t an evangelistic society (though it should share the Gospel). The church isn’t a welfare program (though it should be devoted to ministry). The church is a community that is designed to establish, strengthen, feed, and protect God’s people. The church is blessed with spiritual gifts for this reason: “to equip the saints for the work of ministry” (Ephesians 4:12).  The church does not exist to evangelize the lost but to equip the saints. Through the preaching of the Word, fellowship, the reminders of the ordinances, and prayer, God’s people are prepared to themselves do the work of ministry (the good works!) that they are called to.

America is an individualistic place, and ‘lone-ranger’ Christianity seems to be on the rise. Certainly, there are plenty of weak churches, false churches, and Biblically-disordered churches, which complicates the situation. It might take some work to follow this aspect of Biblical teaching. Still, you are called to the church. This is spiritual therapy that you desperately need.