SAYS WHO?

AS a kid, my friend and I joined the local basketball team. We practiced for a few weeks until the first game, when we were told that we were not allowed to play with the team because we were foreigners. We were crushed. But, whether we liked it or not, the coach had the right to say who could play in the game and represent the team on the court.

RIC practices local Church Membership. A little like the word "trinity," it is a word you will not find in the Bible, but the evidence for it is all over the Bible. From the distinction of God's covenant people in the Old Testament, to those who believed and were baptized under the new covenant in the New Testament, who is "in" and who is "out" of the church is defined by Scripture.

My high school Bible teacher would often say that standing in a garage does not make you a car, any more than standing in a church makes you a Christian. If I call myself a Christian, isn't that enough?

In Matthew 18, Jesus gives the local church the authority to distinguish between those who are in the church and those who are out by confronting sin in professing believers. Upon the unrepentance of a supposed Christian, he defines the authority of the local gospel-centered church, saying, "And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."

Although we know that man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart (1 Samuel 16:7). The same God who creates the church by his Word and his Spirit, gives the local church the authority to discern, by the Word and by the Spirit, those who are genuinely converted believers; those who are "in." The apostle Paul will put Jesus teaching to work in Corinth when a brother refuses to repent of his immorality.  Paul reminds the church of its authority and responsibility to judge between who is in the church and who is not (1 Corinthians 5).

If all of this sounds scary to you, let me remind you of the gospel. The gospel is an invitational message that draws in the hurting, the broken, the lonely, the curious, and the needy. It diagnoses the heart of every person as being sinful and hands heaping scoops of just the right remedy, the forgiveness of God the Father in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. The same things that begin a redeemed relationship with God are the same things that sustain it: repentance and faith (cf. Mark 1:14-15). You can know that you are saved by God's grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone. If this is you, then know that the local gospel-centered church is there to affirm your salvation in Jesus and walk with you as you put sin to death and daily trust in Jesus as your Lord and Savior.

What does this stir up in you?

Why does it matter whether a local church affirms your salvation in Jesus?

Together with you for your confidence in Jesus,

Pastor Loren