As I prepared that sermon, I was reminded of something I’ve heard numerous times from those who hold that mere church attendance isn’t even necessary. The common way to phrase the argument is, “Going to church doesn’t make me a Christian.”
Amen! Faithful preachers have been saying the same thing for as long as I can remember. Certainly, church attendance does not make one a Christian. A person is saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone (Eph 2:8-10).
However, it seems that such people are actually trying to say, “I can be a Christian without going to church.” Is this true? A person who does not go to church may indeed be regenerate. However, they have absolutely no reason nor mechanism for assurance that they are so.
Going to church doesn’t make me a Christian...but being a Christian makes me go to church.
Truly being a Christian means that I have trusted in Christ alone for redemption from sin and for life in Him. It has been rightly said that while salvation is by faith alone, faith is never alone. That is, faith produces the fruit of obedience. So tight is the connection between faith and obedience that in many NT books—including Hebrews—the two are difficult to differentiate. In addition to Hebrews, James is quite clear—faith that does not work (obey) is not saving faith (Jas 2:17-18). Rather, a non-obedient belief merely puts one and the same religious category as demons (Jas 2:19).
All this is because truly saved persons are regenerate. That is, they have been given spiritual life in Christ, their stony heart has been replaced with a heart of flesh, and they are filled with the Holy Spirit (Eph 2:5; Eek 11:19; 36:26). One of the things that makes the new covenant better than the old covenant is that God causes the believer to walk in obedience (Ezek 36:27; Jer 31:33-34).
In other words, those who have followed Christ in genuine faith want to obey. Further, they can and does (Eph 2:10). That is not to say that any Christian does this perfectly (Jas 3:2a). However, their lives will be characterized by progressive consistency in obedience.
When we consider that so many commands of the NT can’t be obeyed without regular fellowship with a local church (Eph 5:18-21; Rom 12:3-8; 1 Cor 11:33-34; Gal 6:2; Heb 13:17; 1 Pet 4:8-11), it is quite reasonable to say that being a Christian—following Christ in obedient faith—makes me go to church.
Going to church doesn’t make me a Christian...but going to church provides means for the spiritual growth and perseverance indicative of a Christian.
The NT has no category for discipleship outside of life lived in mutual service in a local church. Paul teaches in that the plan for the growth of God’s people into the image of Christ involves Christ’s gifting of individual believers (Eph 4:7-10), teacher’s equipping those individual believers (Eph 4:11-12), and those individual believers’ giving themselves to mutual service (Eph 4:13-16). This plan is what “makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love” (4:16). There is no plan B.
What happens when we don’t participate in this plan? Specifically, what can we expect when we remove ourselves from the context (the local church) where equipping and mutual service take place? We will remain “children” in our understanding, “tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes” (4:14). That is, we will be sitting ducks for errant philosophies and teachings, all of which are designed to lead us away from Christ (Col 2:8). Further, we will remain children in our spiritual maturity; we will not become more like Christ (Eph 4:13).
The bearing of fruit which evidences saving faith only takes place in the cultivated soil of the NT local church. People who reject regular, meaningful fellowship with a local church will inevitably find themselves not merely stagnating, but going backward in their walk. We saw this in Hebrews 5:11-14. If you’re not progressing, you’re regressing. Progressing requires doing life with the church.
Going to church doesn’t make me a Christian...but going to church provides a formal mechanism for affirming that I am a Christian.
God has given the local church the keys of the kingdom (Matt 16:19; 18:15-20). In other words, the local church has the unique ability to affirm one’s profession of faith. The church's “binding” and “loosing” indicates what has already been bound or loosed in heaven. That does not mean that the local church confers salvation, but rather affirms one’s profession of faith. That is, the church has the unique right to say, “We affirm that this person evidences faith in Christ and is among the number of the saints.”
One who does not join a church has not submitted to the church in its Christ-given authority.
So does going to church make one a Christian? Certainly not. Those who profess faith but who do not go to church…they may be regenerate…but they have no reason or mechanism for assurance that they are so. They are living in disobedience. They are cut off from God’s singular plan for the spiritual growth which evidences faith. And they have not submitted to a local body, which holds the keys of the kingdom.
Believers need a quantifiable community of other believers with which to do life. Christians need each other. May we and all God’s people joyfully participate in His community of saints.
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