I would recommend this book not only to people who are church hoping and think that is ok, but also to the church member. There were things in this book that I had never really thought of before or needed to be reminded of. Here is as brief an overview as I can give you without giving you the whole book, which you should buy for your own library and notes.
Chapter 1: Can This Relationship Be Saved?
Are you a church dater? Do you jump around from church to church? Are you afraid of committing yourself to one place and one group of people? If so, not only are you cheating yourself but the church community and the world as well.- The world
- The church is the vehicle that Jesus chose to take the gospel to every generation and people.
- God has invited us to take part in His master plan of redeeming a people for His glory through being a member of a local church. It's our duty, our calling, and our privilege.
- The church is also the best place or us to grow spiritually. It's here where God grows us and conforms us to the image of His Son. (He is not only talking about what takes happens in the walls of a worship facility).
- The church community
- This is where we learn to love God and others; where we are strengthened and transformed by truth from the Word; where we're taught to pray, worship and serve; where we can be most certain that we're investing our time and abilities for eternity; where we can grow in our roles as friends, sons and daughters, husbands and wives, fathers and mothers. The church is God's specially designed place to start over, to grow and to change for the glory of God.
- When you stop dating the church you are going to experience all the other blessings that Jesus promised to His followers as the fruits of the truly abundant life.
Chapter 2: He Still Calls Her His Bride
- Christ views the church (you and me) like a bridegroom sees his bride.
- We should want God's heart for the church. If Christ loves the church, shouldn't we?
- Jesus is the only person who has the right to disown and give up on the Church. But He never has. And He never will.
- Let's take a look at the Church from heaven's perspective:
- They are in awe of the church because the "manifold wisdom of God is being displayed, and the spiritual mystery hidden for ages past is being revealed.
- They see an amazing family. The power of the gospel is changing lives and creating a whole new kind of humanity. We have become God's children and members of one family.
- They see a body. We're more than brothers and sisters in Christ. As we express our union with Him through service, worship, and love, we become the physical manifestation of our Savior on the earth.
- Heaven see the Church as a magnificent temple. God is creating a beautiful structure like no other. It is not made of stone or bricks but composed of living stones. (I envisioned the most beautiful Gothic cathedral in Europe that I had seen and then magnified it because we are more beautiful than that.) The church is the temple of God, the place where He specially resides and manifests His presence. We are the dwelling of God, our lives joined together in worship and service.
- Eric Lane describes these together as: "To be a member of a family is to belong to a community bound by a common fatherhood. To be a stone in his temple means to belong to a worshipping community. To be part of a body means to belong to a living, functioning, serving, witnessing community." These are the main functions of an individual Christian which are meant to be fulfilled not on our won but together in the church.
- When we're saved from out sin, we become part of something bigger than ourselves - a family, a body, a temple. God is at work glorifying Himself and transforming lives, through the Church around the world.
Chapter 3: Why We Really Need The Local Church
- A local church is a visible, tangible, real-world expression of the body of Christ.
- When we fail to join a church we fail to obey Christ.
- It is in the local church that we are attached to God's work around the world
- Think globally, love locally
- The apostles weren't caught up in the universal church but were busy planting and caring for individual local churches
- You can not separate God's big-picture plan from everyday service and involvement with people.
- One thing the church does best is to show non-Christians that the new life made available through Jesus Christ is the foundation for a new society. By living the gospel as a distinct community, they display the transforming effects of the gospel for the world. If we remain detached from each other they will not be able to see the larger picture.
- The local church is different from a campus ministry or bible study in the fact that the church practices Baptism, the Lord's Supper and Discipline to name a few ordinances.
- The church is there to verify or falsify our claims to be Christians. Many Christians today claim to be saved but are not living a changed life. One of the primary signs that we are told to look for in 1 John to identify evidence of true salvation in our lives is the "Genuine love for others" (1 John 2:9-10).
- Mark Dever puts it; "Do you want to know that your life is real? Commit yourself to a local group of sinners. Try to love them. Don't just do it for three weeks. Don't just do it for six months. Do it for years. And I think you'll find out, and others will, too, whether or not you love God. The truth will show itself."
- This is a scary thought for many. I know it was for me a few years ago when I was first taught this, but now I can see myself staying in one place for the Church and fellow Christians.
- The church is also more than a group of Christians coming together for encouragement. It's where we benefit from the leadership of a pastor and our faith benefits from the involvement of others. Our salvation is not private but public. We need the ministry of others to:
- encourage us
- help us to apply God's Word to our lives
- help us see our sins
- Worship is another aspect of the Christian life that flourishes in community. We as individuals are God's temple but "we" collectively are God's temple and he manifests His presence in different ways when we are gathered to worship him. "Our corporate worship edifies and strengthens us and glorifies God in ways nothing else can."
- We need to change our attitudes about the church. We need to stop attending church as a consumer, focused on comparing and complaining, but we need to become a communer who goes to meet God and express His love to others.
Chapter 4: Join the Club
- What's your club? What are you passionate about? It's what you talk about, think about, and dream about. It's what you give your time to without complaint. It's what you find your identity in. It's what you're willing to sacrifice for.
- This is the kind of passion that we need to be giving to the church.
- Here is what the New Testament teaches us on what a passionate involvement in a local church should look like.
- You join
- You make the local church a priority
- You try to make your pastor's job a joy
- You find ways to serve
- You give
- You connect with people
- You share your passion
- These are also the essential elements of thriving in a church
Chapter 5: Choosing your Church
- What defines you? We need to be first and foremost a Christian and then a woman/man/wife/husband, whatever it be, second. Being in a place that preaches and lives the gospel has to be the priority in choosing a church.
- When it comes to choosing a church we need to choose based on the criteria God's Word gives and not our own preferences and comfortableness.
- These ten questions are to help you focus on the issues that matter most when finding a gospel preaching church. Is this a church:
- where God's Word is faithfully taught?
- where sound doctrine matters?
- in which the gospel is cherished and clearly proclaimed?
- committed to reaching non-Christians with the gospel?
- whose leaders are characterized by humility and integrity?
- where people strive to live by God's Word?
- where I can find a cultivate godly relationships?
- where members are challenged to serve?
- that is willing to kick me out?
- I'm willing to join "as is" with enthusiasm and faith in God?
- Approach a church with the right attitude. Approach it with humility and ask God to help you see the good in each church. You want a church that teaches, values and lives God's word.
- We should consider moving to place ourselves in a local church where we can reap invaluable, eternal spiritual benefits. People do it all the time for jobs so why is it so hard to do it for the church?
- Another great book to read after this book to go along with this chapter is "What is a Healthy Church" by Mark Dever.
Chapter 6: Rescuing Sunday
This was probably the most helpful chapter for me and the most thought provoking. There were many things in here that I had never really though about before. How many times have you woken up on a Sunday and been groggy, worshiped distractedly, woken up late or listened occasionally to the sermon? Well this chapter is for you then.
- Sunday for a child of God is the best day of the week. Those hours have a strategic and irreplaceable value. They're meant to be packed with promise, full of surprises, pulsing with life.
- It's a day to "receive and embrace as a privilege and a benefit, not as a task and drudgery." ~ Matthew Henry.
- Wow. I know that there were times in the past where I felt like the latter half of this quote.
- We need to see Sunday with new eyes. It's the anniversary of Jesus rising from the grave to defeat sin and death. It is also a day for us to come together as his people to glorify God, grow in our faith, and encourage one another, but through it all He is with us.
- Sunday should be a day we enjoy to the fullest for God's glory. It's a chance to take a breather from all the hectic pursuits of the week and reinvigorate ourselves spiritually. It's a way to prepare our hearts for all the challenges and temptations we'll face as the rest of the week unfolds.
- Build your week around Sunday and not the other way around. Develop a plan for what happens before, during and after the Sunday gatherings. Here are some practical ways of doing this:
- Before
- Prepare our hearts
- It begins Saturday night
- Get to bed on time
- Ask yourself what activities will put you in a God-focused state of mind
- Carve out time to read God's word and pray
- Reflect on our need for the gospel and humbly acknowledge any known sin in our lives.
- Sunday morning
- Wake up early to not only get ready but to also spend some unhurried moments in prayer and the word.
- Take time to thank God for His word and goodness towards saving you, but also recount His many blessings in your life.
- Take a look at the intrusions on your Sunday morning ie: news, magazines, video games etc.
- During
- Remember you are gathering with the people of God and you have come to worship Him and He will be present by His Holy Spirit.
- You are not here to be entertained, you are part of a congregation in front of the Audience of One.
- Focus your mind on the truths that you sing and the Person you are singing too.
- Be careful how you hear
- Remember that when His Word is preached in a real sense God is speaking to us.
- How we listen and apply what we hear either honors or dishonors God.
- Listening to preaching is a form of worship.
- After
- Come on the lookout for God and leave on the lookout for people.
- Our faith and love for God is always expressed in our love for others, so try to find people who are new in your church or who don't appear to know others.
- Fellowship with others in the church and use the time to reflect together on the message.
- Don't take Sunday for granted.
Charles Spurgeon once referred to the local church as "the dearest place on earth." Hopefully after reading this book, the Bible and becoming a part of a local church you will understand this statement.
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