The Local Church - Part 1

The Importance of the Local Church

"We live in a crazy upside down world. People will move across the country for a job or for a school. But if you do that for a church, people will think you're insane. Or if you pass up an opportunity for advancement, explaining that you want to remain so that you can be a part of your church, people assume that you’re a part of a cult...Once there was someone who moved from heaven to earth because of the church. From heaven He came and sought her to be His holy Bride. When you are gripped and affected and stirred for the church, you are simply reflecting passion for His holy Bride." Mark Mullery

The local, visible church is an expression of God’s universal church. In fact, arguably, it is the only expression of the universal church since we cannot see the spiritual condition of people’s hearts and thus know the true universal church. We also know that God came from heaven for the church, His Holy bride. Knowing that our Savior died for His church we then start setting extremely high expectations of the local, visible church. When those expectations aren’t met the “church shopping” process begins. Assuming it is the only expression of the universal church that we have, however, shouldn’t we treat it with the same care that Christ does? Why does a large segment of the evangelical population treat “church shopping” so lightly?

In a series of recent articles about why he loves the church John MacArthur includes this quote from a young man contemplating converting to Roman Catholicism:

"Protestants don’t seem to appreciate the Church. The Bible describes the Church as an institution Christ founded and loves. The Church is everything to Catholics; it is nothing to most of my Protestant friends."

Dr. MacArthur then goes on to discuss the importance of evangelical Protestants having as robust a theology of ecclesiology as they do of soteriology. Why?

The Church is being built by the Lord Himself
The Church is the outworking of an eternal plan
The Church is the most precious reality on earth
The Church is an earthly expression of heaven

Our experience doesn’t always match those statements in the local church does it? If the local church is the only expression of the universal church then we need to move from experience to the truth of God’s word and realize the importance of the local church. Once again, from Dr. MacArthur:

"All of this means that the church is something so monumental, so vast, so transcendent, that our poor minds can scarcely begin to appreciate its significance in the eternal plan of God. Our salvation as individuals is almost incidental. The real aim of God’s plan is not merely to get us to heaven. But the drama of our salvation has an even grander purpose: it is an expression of eternal love within the Trinity. We’re only the gift.

How can Christians possibly be apathetic about the church?

We are a people called out for His name, redeemed, conformed to His Son’s image, made to be an immense, incomprehensible, all-surpassing expression of love between the Persons of the Trinity. The church is the gift that is exchanged. This is God’s eternal plan for the church. We ought to be profoundly grateful, and eager, and thrilled to be a part of it."

We all know the importance of the universal church intellectually but fail on the application to the local church. As Wayne Grudem says:

“We may conclude that the group of God’s people considered at any level from local to universal may rightly be called “a church.” We should not make the mistake of saying that only a church meeting in houses expresses the true nature of the church, or only a church considered at a city-wide level can rightly be called a church, or only the church universal can rightly be called by the name “church.” Rather, the community of God’s people considered at any level can be rightly called a church.”

The local church is extremely important to God and His plan.