Why You Need a Church Family, Not Just a Service

Austin Huang: David, as I’m sure you are well aware, church membership has become a hot topic, especially among young adults who are wanting something more authentic than traditional institutions. They’ve seen hypocrisy, they’ve seen scandal, maybe they’ve been hurt, and some people feel like the Church just holds them back, while others question if it’s actually necessary at all to follow Jesus. So let’s get into it. Is being a part of a local church optional or mandatory to actually follow Jesus faithfully?

David Platt: So biblically, I would say not optional. Mandatory, and here’s why. I want to start, this isn’t just like my ideas. So if you look at the word for church in the New Testament, ecclesia, it’s mentioned 114 times in the New Testament. Over 90 of those times, it’s specifically referring to local gatherings of believers, not just the Church throughout history or the Church around the world right now. It’s local gatherings. There’s a clear emphasis in God’s Word on local gatherings of believers. You even think about much of the New Testament is written to churches, like local churches, to the Church at Corinth. And if you’re a follower of Jesus, you would’ve been identified with one of those churches in such a way that Jesus, even His second mention of the church… First one is in Matthew 16, second time he mentions it, it’s actually talking about church discipline, and he says, “If somebody continues in unrepentant sin, tell it to the church, and then if they refuse to listen even to the church, then remove them from the church.”

What does that mean? Tell it to every follower of Jesus in the world. No, that’s like an accountability to a local gathering of believers. Same thing as in 1 Corinthians 5. And even 1 Corinthians 12, this picture of being a part or a member of something, of a body, and realizing that local bodies of Christ are the emphasis in the New Testament. So all that to say, God has designed a local church, a gathering of brothers and sisters who are… Here’s how I’d define church, is basically a gathering of brothers and sisters who are committed to being and doing all that God says a church is and does, which is listening to the Word, teaching the Word, praying together, doing all the one-anothers in Scripture. Helping one another become more and more like Jesus, working together on a mission in the world.

And that, for a follower of Jesus, I get it, I really want to be sympathetic to the, well, hurt people have experienced in church, the good reasons for people to have concern based on some of the experience they’ve had at church. But if you look at what the Bible says about church, this is an infinitely good thing for followers of Jesus, and something we all need. So one route in light of challenges in the Church would be to say, okay, discard it altogether. But God is clearly not calling us to do that in His Word, so let’s work to experience church the way God has designed us to experience. My hope is that every follower of Jesus would want that.

Austin: Yeah. I went to a pretty big public university, and I live in a pretty secular city, in Austin, Texas, and I feel like there’s this notion, it’s not really spoken out there, but it’s like, “Oh, I go to X church,” but I don’t really think that they belong. Is there a difference between belonging and going to a local church?

David: Huge difference. Yes. 1 Corinthians 12, which I mentioned earlier, being a part, a member of a body, is you actually matter here. It’s like, you don’t just come, sit. Church in the New Testament is clearly not go sit in the service, leave. Well, you do that in a movie. That’s not church. This is weighing. You’re a part of a body. You’re a member of a body, eyes, ears, where you matter, where you’re connected with others, where you’re sharing life with others, where you’re helping each other grow in Christ. And you have spiritual gifts toward this, that are for this purpose.

You, Austin, I, David, we have spiritual gifts that are intended to be building up other brothers and sisters in Christ in a local church. That happens when we belong there. And there’s other people who have gifts that you need to help build you up. There’s so much here with this imagery of a body that necessitates belonging. So I would just say do not be content with going to church, as seeing church as an event when church is… It’s a body, it’s a family, it’s a household, it’s a community that you belong to.

Austin: For the one, though, that is listening and they’re maybe feeling convicted by that and they’re like, “Okay, well, maybe I need to take further steps in belonging, see what it looks like to be a member of my local church body.” But they’re still a little hesitant, that they think that, “Man, maybe my church is okay and I haven’t seen or heard any scandals, but just the Church in general, isn’t it just too messy to be worth investing in?”

David: Well, praise God, He doesn’t say that about your life and my life. Of course it’s messy. Yeah, look in the Bible. Look at all these churches. They’re full of challenges. But this is who we are. We’re people. We’re sinful people in a fallen world. Now, there’s coming a day, praise God, when we’re going to be together before God in Heaven, and no more conflict and not even local churches. We’re going to be all together with every nation, tribe, and tongue. But that’s not today, so today… But this is the beauty, churches, God designs to be a local expression of this global heavenly body on Earth. And so to belong like we’ve talked about, and to realize, yeah, there’s going to be challenges. I think about even commands to bear with one another. Well, if you have a command to bear with people, then that means there’s going to be some people that are hard to get along with.

Don’t be surprised. It’s challenging. And don’t be surprised when… Yes, be heartbroken by sin. Be heartbroken by struggles that you see or things that don’t reflect who God is like. Yes, absolutely. But at the same time, press in to say, “How can I help this body to be as healthy as possible?” And you just think about it, if everybody’s coming to that church with that desire, “Let’s try to be as healthy a body as possible under God and according to His Word,” this is going to be really, really good. And God’s going to use this for our sanctification and use us for other sanctification in the process. Bottom line, it’s worth it. It’s hard, but it’s worth it.

Austin: Yeah. Unpacking that idea of a healthy body of believers in your local area, how do I know a church is healthy and worth committing to? What signs or indications should I be looking for?

David: Yeah, well, the long answer I would give is 12 Traits of the Biblical Church, which is a resource we’ve got on the Radical site, along those lines. But those are the things that are coming to my mind. Is there healthy biblical teaching? Is the Bible being taught or this pastor’s just kind of ideas, opinions, thoughts? If that’s the case, then that’s going to be a lack of health. Are people praying together, really seeking the Lord together? Are they worshiping in a way that brings glory to God and not exalts man? Is there true fellowship, really loving one another, serving one another, caring for another, experiencing life with one another? Is the church baptizing people and celebrating the Lord’s Supper? Is the church sharing the gospel, doing evangelism together? Is the church doing discipleship, helping people to grow more and more in the likeness of Jesus? Is the church cooperating on a mission together? Is there a giving in a church, that pool together our resources to make the gospel known in a world of urgent need around us?

These are the kinds of things when we want to say, okay, to what extent does a church… And no church is perfect. If you find one and you go to it, then you’ll mess the whole thing up because none of us are perfect. That’s the point. So no church is healthy in all those areas. But the core that I would encourage people to look for is, is a church working toward health according to God’s Word? And if there’s a desire, like biblical leadership, pastors, elders who are trying to shepherd a church to become more like Jesus according to God’s Word, if that is happening in a church, then that’s where… Even the church I pastor, there’s areas where we’ve got to grow in health. We need to grow in health in a variety of those different ways, but we’re working. Our pastors, elders, we’re praying together along with the members of that body to say, “How can we become just more and more healthy?” To be a part of a body that is going to be really good for you. Yeah.

Austin: I want to hone in more so on that. What does it look like to go to a church that has a pastor who preaches the Word? Because I believe it’s in James that talks about, “There’s going to be teachers of all kinds and they’re going to satisfy the itching ears of the people that are being raised up.” And so how do we go and figure out, is this pastor actually preaching from the Word? What’s the difference between preaching from the Word and then preaching a topic that has a little bit of the Word sprinkled in there?

David: Yeah, that’s a great question. And I would say there’s one sense in which this would be probably the first and most important trait of a church, because everything flows from this, everything does, is the Word supreme, primary? I would say when the Word is taught in this particular church, is it clear that it is the Word that’s driving what’s being taught or that it’s being used as a prop? The illustration my preaching professor and mentor in my life always used was like a swimming pool. Is the text like a diving board? Somebody just jumps off the text, off the Word, and starts swimming around in all their own thoughts and ideas and stories and illustrations and applications? Or is the text like pool furniture, it’s like swimming around in all the ideas and thoughts, topics, whatever, and then every once in a while making a reference to the Word here or there?

Or is the text the pool that they’re just swimming in it? Are they just swimming in the Word and showing you, “This is coming from the Word. It’s not coming from me, it’s coming straight from God with a trust and a fear of the authority of God’s Word.” Is that evident in a way that it’s clear what has been taught was the point of that passage, was what God was saying in that passage, and there’s a real humble submission to the Word? Those are the kinds of things I would look for.

Austin: Yeah. No, that’s really good. This is kind of reflecting on my own life. There was a period of time where I was super zealous of sharing the gospel and going out there, and I felt somewhat distrusting of the Church because I looked at kind of what I was experiencing. I was like, “Well, I don’t feel like they’re doing enough, so I’m just going to go out here and do it on my own.” But thankfully, the Lord has convicted me that that’s not how it works. But why is that not how it works?

David: It’s not how it works because God has not designed us to do anything on our own. Maybe one exception I would put is just there needs to be time where we’re alone in the room with Him. Close the door, nobody else, just us seeking Him. But the Christian life is never intended to be lived on our own. And so I just think about, okay, zealous Austin wanting to go out and share the gospel. The value of zealous Austin finding a church body where there are older brothers in Christ, where there are pastors, and elders that Austin can say, “I’m zealous about sharing the gospel. I’m going to go out and do this. Help me see any ways that are not healthy in how I’m doing this or not good about how I’m going about this.” And submission to a church in a good way that says, “I just want to learn to grow in Christ. I want to make sure everything I’m doing is most glorifying Christ. I trust that you are shepherding a church or leading and can help me become more like Jesus. So help me to do that.”

And then you still do what you’re doing, but you’re doing it as a part of, belonging to a local church, learning from local church leaders. And in the process, you will start to influence other people in that church in positive ways. So yeah, even to use that as an example, maybe a particular church doesn’t have a lot of evangelistic zeal. Well, praise God, God’s brought you to that church. Not to like you’re the savior of that church that’s going to transform, and this, but yeah, God’s going to use you to build up this church, to trust that. But it’s really important to go into that with a humble posture. Not like, “I’m here to change this church,” but “I’m here to be a part of this body and I want to use my gifts in ways that glorify God in this body and build up this church to become more like Jesus. But I want to do that, and love for, as a servant of, a humble posture in the church.”

Man, as a pastor, I love that picture of all kinds of brothers and sisters coming to the church with all those different gifts that are needed for the building of the body, and us doing it together with humility.

Austin: Yeah, yeah. That’s so powerful.

David: Beautiful.

Austin: Christ as the head, we as the body. And it’s not about us, it’s about Him elevating and magnifying Christ as the most important.

David: Which, if I could just hone in there for a minute, that’s Ephesians 3:10, “So that through the Church, the manifold wisdom of God will be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms.” The whole picture is God glorifies Himself, yes, through Austin, through David, through our lives individually, we want everything we do to glorify Him, but He glorifies Himself maximally through the Church, through the body of Christ. Ephesians 3:10 is basically saying God holds up a church and all these diverse giftings and people from different backgrounds who are all united together around the blood of Jesus, Ephesians  2, reconciled to each other and are all saved by His grace. None of them there because they’re great people, but just because they’re saved by grace. And as their gifts, they’re working together and spreading the glory of God in the world, Ephesians 3:10 says God holds up the Church as a demonstration to the spiritual forces in the heavenly realms, like that He is glorious. It’s evident through the Church.

Austin: That’s so good. For the person who is listening, who’s been following Jesus on their own and they thought, “I can do this by myself. Maybe I’ve been hurt. Maybe I feel like I’ve seen scandal. Maybe I’ve been a part of something that there was a scandal in my church,” and so they become distrusting, but they’re now realizing through this conversation that they need church now more than ever, what would you say to them today?

David: I would say, one, I don’t want to gloss over the hurt they may have experienced or the challenges they’ve experienced, so I would encourage, take those before the Lord and just, “God, I need healing. I need your help as I process through this.” So don’t gloss over that. But then I would say, actively find as healthy a church around you as you can. Again, no perfect church, but a church that is eagerly desiring to be the Church according to God’s Word. And then in the context of that, maybe even with pastors or elders or other brothers and sisters in that church to say like, “Hey, here’s been my struggles in the past and the ways I’ve been hurt. Can you pray for…”

And just go ahead and dive in. Bring those hurts even in that picture to say, “I need healing and I need brothers and sisters around me who can pray for healing in that, and I want to experience what God desires for me in the church.” And then to put yourself out there, to belong to that church in that way, you will not regret. Even when it’s hard and there might even be hurt on the way, you will not regret loving and pursuing the body of Christ like the bride of Christ is. Jesus died for the Church, so it’s more than worth it for you to live for the Church.