Lesson 19 · Unit 4 · One Another
Why We Need the Church
A Christian is not a lone ranger. A Christian is a limb.
Open
"I can believe in Jesus. Going to church I can do without." The people who say this usually have a reason other than laziness. Some have been judged in a church, used by one, wounded deeply by one — and the people who hurt them were the ones whose mouths said love. Others simply cannot see the point: I listen to sermons on my phone and read and pray on my own. Isn't that the same thing?
If that is you, this lesson wants to say one thing first: your question is a serious one and it deserves a serious answer. The Bible never whitewashes the church — nearly every letter in the New Testament was written to a congregation that had gone wrong. And the same Bible insists: the church is the body of Christ, and he has not given up on her. It may be that the thing you thought was optional is the very piece you have been missing.
Scripture
Paul answers "what is the church" with the picture of a body; that famous command in Hebrews has a "one another" standing on either side of it. (Ephesians 4:11-16; Hebrews 10:24-25, WEB)
11He gave some to be apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, shepherds and teachers;
12for the perfecting of the saints, to the work of serving, to the building up of the body of Christ,
13until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a full grown man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ,
14that we may no longer be children, tossed back and forth and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in craftiness, after the wiles of error;
15but speaking truth in love, we may grow up in all things into him who is the head, Christ,
16from whom all the body, being fitted and knit together through that which every joint supplies, according to the working in measure of each individual part, makes the body increase to the building up of itself in love.
24Let’s consider how to provoke one another to love and good works,
25not forsaking our own assembling together, as the custom of some is, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.
See
A limb, not a cardholder
A limb is an organ, a joint, a working part of a body — and Paul says that is what people who belong to Christ are to each other (Eph 4:16). What is the difference between a limb and a club member? A membership card can be taken out and it can be cancelled; nobody owes anybody anything. An organ grows out of the body — a hand that leaves the body is not free, it is dead; and the body missing that hand is no longer whole. Notice the order of this passage: first what Christ "gave" (v. 11), and the body "fitted and knit together" through him (v. 16). He builds the body; we are grafted in by grace; only then does the passage talk about each part doing its work. You go to church not to clock in for God but to be connected to the blood supply. And if you don't go, there is a place that stays empty because you are not in it.
What "not forsaking our assembling together" is actually about
Hebrews 10:25 gets treated as an attendance rule, but look at what stands on either side of it: the line before is "provoke one another to love and good works," and the line after is "exhorting one another." Meeting is the method; the "one another" is the point — the church is not a programme, it is a group of people looking after each other. And you cannot look after someone you have never met. What about meeting online? In days of illness, distance and restriction a screen is a real grace, and God has fed many people through one — that does not need condemning. But be honest as well: when the stream ends, nobody knows you were just crying. A hand held, a bowl of soup delivered, a visit at a hospital bed — those are hard to download.
The church does wound people; Christ has not given up on her
Say it honestly: the church really does wound people, because she is a crowd of forgiven sinners who are still under construction. That is not an excuse for the harm — sin that should be named should be named, and what needs dealing with should be dealt with. But look at what Christ does. Knowing everything unbearable about her, he still "loved the assembly and gave himself up for her" (Eph 5:25 — "assembly" is how this translation renders the word we usually read as "church"), and bought her with his own blood (Acts 20:28). He did not wait until she was perfect to love her. So this lesson lands somewhere very concrete: commit to one particular, imperfect church — do not stay a permanently browsing spiritual tourist — and find one particular place to serve inside it. Every joint supplies something: yours has a name on it.
Deeper
The body of Christ
the church is not a society people organized but Christ's body on the earth; he is the head and we are limbs to one another (Eph 4:15-16).
One another
the New Testament gives dozens of "one another" commands — love, look after, exhort, bear with — and not one of them can be done alone (Heb 10:24-25).
Equipping the saints
a pastor's job is not to do the spiritual work for everyone but to equip all the saints to do their own (Eph 4:12).
Visible commitment
the New Testament knows nothing of a Christian who belongs to no body; from day one faith was a fellowship with names attached (Acts 2:42, 47).
Story
Old Han is fifty-six. Twelve years ago he lived through a church split: in the place he had poured years into, the co-worker he trusted most stood up in a meeting and cursed him by name. He put down his keys, walked out, and swore he would never set foot in a church again — only listening to sermons through earphones late at night. The winter before last his wife had surgery, and somehow the news reached a small church nearby. A group of brothers and sisters he had never met worked out a rota and brought two meals a day for three weeks. On the day she was discharged, his wife asked him, "In a crowd like that, do you think there might be a place for us too?"
Today Old Han stands at the door of that church as a greeter. He says: "I know people get hurt here too. That's why I stand at the door — to catch the ones who are where I was."
Respond
Reflect — alone, or talk it through together
1Ephesians 4:16 says every part has a working. What is in you that God is holding there to supply someone else?
2"Not forsaking our assembling" has "one another" on both sides of it. Right now, who is looking after you? Who are you looking after?
3If you have been hurt by a church: which step over that threshold is the hardest? Are you willing to tell God about it first?
Saved on this device only — visible to no one but you.
Pray together
Lord Jesus, head of the church: honestly, I have been disappointed by the church, and maybe I am carrying a wound that never quite healed. Thank you for not giving up on this imperfect crowd — which includes imperfect me. Heal my memory, and give me courage to be joined to your body again: one particular place, one particular piece of service, a group of people who can look after each other. You gave yourself up for the church; teach me to be willing to pay something for her too. Amen.
Walk
This week's actionabout 15 min
If you already have a church: this Sunday ask a pastor or a co-worker, "Where are you short of hands? I'd like to try." If you have no church yet (or you left one): list two or three you could go to, and pick one to visit this Sunday.
Mark it when it happens — this week, at your pace.
Spiritual practice
Get to the gathering ten minutes early this week, meet one person whose name you don't know, remember their name, and pray for them once during the week.
Memory verse · Hebrews 10:24
Let'sconsiderhowtoprovokeoneanothertoloveandgoodworks.
Walk further
The birth of the church at Pentecost, how Barnabas caught one man, the theme of the church, and a reading plan you can walk through in step with a group.