By: Rodney Nulph, Associate Editor

We are living during a time in history when spiritual things are often held in disdain. In fact, much of our world today has eradicated God and spiritual guidance from everything. As such, many people are growing up in a society and often never assembling with any religious group, let alone with the church purchased by the blood of Jesus (Acts 20:28). As a result of this lack of “church going,” many hold the false idea that they can have Christ without ever being a part of His church. For example, I recently heard a denominational preacher say, “Accept Jesus into your heart and then find a Bible believing church with which to worship.” While this statement may sound good on the surface, it is false to the core.

Firstly, a person can never “accept Jesus into his or her heart.” However, one can “obey the Gospel” (Romans 10:16; 2 Thessalonians 1:8). Secondly, when a person obeys the Gospel, Jesus adds that soul to the church (Acts 2:47). Therefore, when one is saved, he or she is added to the church, and when one is added to the church, that one is saved. You cannot be saved without being added to the church, and you cannot be added to the church without being saved! The church of our Lord is where the saved reside. If a person walks away from the church, he walks away from Jesus, and thus forfeits his salvation. The church, then, is important! Consider some of the things that make the church so important.

The church is important because the Sovereign God thought it. The church of Christ was in the mind of the Father before the world began (Ephesians 3:10–11). From before the foundation of the world “he hath chosen us” (Ephesians 1:4); notice carefully the “us” in the context is the church at Ephesus! It was the church of Christ about which the Father prophesied through Isaiah (Isaiah 2:2–5), through Daniel (Daniel 2:44) and through Joel (Joel 2:28–32). Since the Father was thinking of the church before He created the world, how sad it is when people think less of that same body!

The church is important because the Son bought it. The church of Christ was purchased with His blood (Acts 20:28). If your child gave his or her life to purchase something, how valuable would that item be to you? How would you feel if others disrespected it? To treat the church with disrespect is to gouge the heart of God! Ironically, when souls fall away from the church, they “crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh and put him to an open shame” (Hebrews 6:6). The preciousness of the blood of Jesus is clearly seen in the way the Holy Spirit spoke of it. “We have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sin” (Ephesians 1:7). We are able to come confidently into the throne room of God Almighty through Jesus’ precious blood (Hebrews 10:19–22). It is the crimson flow of His blood that causes God to justify us, as if we never sinned (Romans 5:9). It is the blood of our Lord that brings peace both in the church and peace with God (Colossians 1:20). Further, it is that perpetual flow of the forgiving fountain that keeps us spotless and free (1 John 1:7). The expense that was paid to purchase Christ’s church is far too high for man to treat it lightly!

The church is important because the Spirit brought it. The Holy Spirit came upon the apostles in Acts 2, at which time the church began. Jesus commanded His apostles to go back to Jerusalem and wait for the miraculous power of the Holy Spirit after His ascension and exaltation (Luke 24:49). Had the Holy Spirit not come, the church never would have started. Also, it was through the Holy Spirit that the Word of God was penned (2 Peter 1:20–21). Of course, it is the powerful Word of God that details the pattern for His church. In fact, the Bible is the only way that we could ever understand anything about the church that Jesus built.

The church is not an after-thought or “plan B” in God’s mind. The church is the bride of Christ (Ephesians 5), the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:27) and the building of Christ (1 Corinthians 3:9). The church is so important that it is the only place where God’s family is (1 Timothy 3:15) and where Christ joins together with us in singing praise to the Godhead (Hebrews 2:12). The church of our Lord exists because God chose it. The true church is not the invention of man but the eternal plan of God wherein the saved reside and carry out God’s will. By writings to the church of Christ that met in the city of Ephesus, we find that through the church of Christ God receives glory and honor. “To Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen” (Ephesians 3:21). Dear readers, please never forget that the church is important!

Author: Rodney Nulph