Saved into a Family
When God saves a person, He does not leave him alone. On the day of Pentecost those who believed were baptized, and there were added unto them about three thousand souls (Acts 2:41). From the beginning, following Christ has meant belonging to His people.
This study is practical. The Local Church explains from Scripture what a church is and where it came from. Here we ask what that means for you: why you should be there, why you should join, why Christians meet on the first day of the week, and what the Sabbath has to do with you.
The church is not a building or a time slot on Sunday morning. It is a body of saved, baptized believers joined together under Christ. Jesus loved the church, and gave himself for it (Ephesians 5:25), and He purchased it with his own blood (Acts 20:28). He so identifies with His people that when Saul hunted them, Jesus asked him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? (Acts 9:4). We cannot honor the Head and shrug at His body.
A consumer asks what a church can do for him. A member of the family asks what he can bring. We each have a part in the church that matters to God (Ephesians 4:1–3).
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For Deeper Study
- I Am a Church MemberAmazon Thom S. RainerA short book on the attitude of a committed member, by a Southern Baptist writer.
- Life in the Father's HouseAmazon Wayne A. Mack and Dave SwavelyA practical member's guide to the local church, from a Reformed perspective. We differ on election.
- From Sabbath to Lord's DayAmazon D. A. Carson, editorScholarly essays on the Sabbath and Sunday through the New Testament and beyond, for advanced readers.
- Sabbath in ChristAmazon Dale RatzlaffA former Adventist pastor's study of the Sabbath across Scripture.
- Foxe's Book of MartyrsAmazon John FoxeThe classic Protestant record of those who died for the faith, from the early church to the English Reformation.
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The Local Church
The local church, a congregation of saved and baptized believers voluntarily united under Christ, is God's institution to carry out His work today.
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