No Christianity Apart from the Church

It always perplexes me when a self-professing Christian turns his back on the body of Christ gathered around Christ in His Word and Sacraments, does his own thing (or nothing at all), and then tries to justify it. A Christian is not the body of Christ unto himself. He has been adopted into a family. And that family necessarily gathers together around Jesus Christ to hear Him and receive His good gifts in Word and Sacrament regularly and faithfully. The Third Commandment reveals this truth:

Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy. [Exodus 20:8]

What does this mean?  Martin Luther rightly tells us: “We should fear and love God that we do not despise preaching and God’s Word, but hold it sacred and gladly hear and learn it” (Small Catechism).

The ungodly excuses that keep people away from the body of Christ gathered around Christ in His Word and Sacraments include the following:

• I can be a Christian without organized Christianity.
• I can read the Bible and pray on my own.
• I can praise God by the way I live.
• I don’t like continually hearing about sin and repentance.
• I have more important things to do.
• I am a good person, unlike all those hypocrites at church.

Yesterday we even heard a new excuse, from none other than the President of the United States of America. In an interview with Today’s Matt Lauer, President Obama said that he does not plan to find a church home in Washington D.C. because, in his own words, “we are very disruptive to services.”

Excuses aside, God the Holy Spirit has called us by the Gospel into a family. In our relationship to the Father, we are His “beloved children” (Ephesians 5:1). In our relationship to the Son, we are “His bride” (Revelation 19:7). In our relationship to each other, we are “the household of God” (Galatians 6:10). Which is to say, we are brothers and sisters in Christ.

Every Christian knows that someone who cheats on his wife over and over again, without repenting and seeking to amend his ways, has a dying (if not dead) faith. Every Christian knows that someone who steals from his company week after week, without repenting and seeking to amend his ways, has a dying (if not dead) faith. Yet there are a lot of self-professing Christians who fail to hold God’s Word sacred and gladly hear and learn it … and think nothing of it! Who are we to render the Third Commandment obsolete? Who are we to bend and twist God’s will so that it is more in line with our sleep patterns, our children’s sports schedules, and/or our sinful desires? Who are we to justify our lack of hunger and thirst for the wonderful gifts God so graciously gives us in His house, in the Divine Service, in His Word and Sacraments?

Simply put, the Ten Commandments are still God’s will for His people. And yes, we all fall short of God’s will in many ways. What, then, needs to happen? Repentance. Owning up to our sins, our shortcomings, our failures. Not making excuses or justifying ourselves, but confessing that we have sinned against God in thought, word, and deed and then seeking His forgiveness and strength in Jesus Christ. And you know what?  That is exactly what God wants us to do! Repentance is a daily thing for God’s children. The Old Adam (our sinful nature) needs to be daily drowned so that the new man (Christ in us) can daily emerge. Only then can we live before God in righteousness and purity forever!

As you can see, the Christian life is defined by regular hearing of God’s Word, faithful reception of His Supper, steadfast learning of the apostles’ doctrine, participation in the fellowship of believers, and in the prayers (Acts 2:42). That is why Christians do not forsake the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhort one another in the one true faith as we see the Day approaching (Hebrews 10:25).

By God’s grace, let us take to heart the Psalmists’ words and make them our very own:

One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in His temple. [Psalm 27:4]

How lovely is Your dwelling place, O LORD of hosts! My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the LORD. … Blessed are those who dwell in Your house, ever singing Your praise! … For a day in Your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness. [Psalm 84:1-2, 4, 10]

Enter His gates with thanksgiving, and His courts with praise! [Psalm 100:4]

I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the LORD!” [Psalm 122:1]