A man was answering questions for a national poll. When asked for his church preference, he responded-— “Red brick.” Sounds about right!
The greatest preference, and frankly only preference we should have about church is— be in love with God and His will. From that simplicity comes the manifold blessings the New Testament speaks of. To be even more specific— the more we center our lives on Jesus, the more we collectively follow God together.
Paul, in his 1st book to the Thessalonians encourages and instructs a church that was collectively following God together. They had centered on Jesus and Him alone. In that, they became evangelistic like no other church in the New Testament. Their outreach and church planting results stretched as far as the baltic states are today.
In the first verse it says– “Church of the Thessalonians“. The word church is 2 greek words; ek—kaleo; together they are ekklesia or ‘called out’. As we see in Acts 17, this church was ‘consorting together’ as well. So…they were a ‘called out assembly‘. Called out of the world and it’s way, in-to God and His way… together.
The together part is what is centric in this point. The definition of ekklesia is not just called out, but also defined as an assembly. If you are called out of one thing then you are inadvertently called in to something else. Greek interlinear states— τῇ ἐκκλησίᾳ Θεσσαλονικέων— tē ekklēsia Thessalonikeōn— the assembly of the Thessalonians. In 1 Thessalonians 2.14 Paul distinguishes the many different and independent assemblies, ‘For ye, brethren, became followers of the churches of God which in Judaea are in Christ Jesus…’ In fact, there is nothing else in the New Testament except the concept of a local, visible, assembly. By it’s own definition ‘an assembly’ is one which is…well… assembled together. In Acts 2.41-42 we see the example set— ‘Then they that gladly received his word (those who received Christ) were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls. (once baptized they were ‘added’ to the assembly). Then in verse 42 we see what to do next— ‘And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.’ Those who became members of the assembly were committed to continue steadfastly… together!
It is God’s will then, that when a person, through faith, trusts Christ as their savior, they should seek to be assembled with an assembly through the covenant of baptism. Although we won’t take time today, if a believer is scripturally baptized in an assembly of like faith then they should seek to assemble through a statement of some kind from their last assembly to the one they have moved to (as evidenced throughout the New Testament). It is abnormal then, in the New Testament, to be in God and not to be in a local assembly. The local church is centric to a disciple of Christ. It is at the center of the letters of the New Testament, and it is at the center of God’s strategy to reach this lost world. He places the responsibility of the gospel, and empowers it to complete this age of the gospel, squarely in the lap of the local churches. An assembly of Jesus is both: Others-Centric and Jesus-Centric. Being one of the assembly AND assembling is essential if one wants to be in obedience of God’s will.
Is God centric to your walk of faith? Is His burden for others centric to your walk of faith? Is your membership and assembling with a church centric to your walk of faith? Personally as a Pastor of one of the Lord’s churches, I want every member to be like the Thessalonian church members— To be in love with Jesus and thereby obedient to His will. This is essential to His work in our world. To do so we must first make Him the center of our lives.
Is He?