Where
In The Bible Will I Find:
Why
We Must Be Members Of The Lord's Church?
The Lord's plan
of salvation requires us to hear the word of God (Rom. 10:17), to believe it
(Heb. 11: 6), to repent of our sins (Luke 13:3, 5), confess
Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God (Matt. 10:32, 33), then be baptized in
water unto the remission of sins (Acts 2:38).
This puts us in Christ and at the same time He adds us to His church
(Acts 2:47).
No
seeking out a church or "joining" a church of our choice, for He adds
us to the church of His choice, His church. As the Lord commands us to be
baptized (Mark 16:16; Acts 2:38), and as we are baptized into one body (I Cor.
12:13), and that one body is the church (Col. 1:18; Eph. 1:23), then it is in
His church that we glorify God through Christ (Eph. 3:20, 21). To be in Christ
is to be in His church, which is His body (I Cor. 12:25-27; Rom. 12:4, 5), and
all spiritual blessings are in Christ (Eph. 1:3).
One
cannot be in Christ without being in His Church, and no one can be in His
church without obedience to His Word (Matt. 7:21; Heb. 5:9). After Saul was
converted to Christ in Damascus (Acts 9:18-20), he came back to Jerusalem. "When he was come to Jerusalem, he
assayed to join himself to the disciples" (Acts 9:26). From that time,
Saul (or, Paul, as, he was known later) sought the fellowship of the Lord's
church wherever he was. When he came to places where there was no church of
Christ, he started one by preaching the gospel and baptizing believers (Mark
16:15, 16; Acts 18:8; etc.).
The
church is the house of God (I Tim. 3:15),
and Jesus is the Savior of those who are in it (Eph. 5:23). When one
responds to the love of God by the "obedience
of faith" (Rom. 16:26), he is then "saved" (Mark 16:16), "added to the church" (Acts 2:47), "in Christ" (Rom. 6: 3), "a child of God" (Gal.
3:26-27), "an heir of God"
(Gal. 3:29). The same response that causes one to be "born of water and the spirit" (John 3:5) makes him a
member of the church of Jesus Christ.
To
be saved is to be in Christ, to be in Christ is to be in His Church.
