How to Live as a Real Part of the Church (Teaching 4)

From hearer to doer

We've laid the foundation this week. The church is the blood-bought body of Christ. You need the church. The body needs you. Now we land it. Because nothing in the Christian life stops at understanding. But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves [James 1:22 KJV].

So what does it actually look like to live as a real part of the church?

It is not mystical. It is not complicated. The New Testament tells us plainly.

Gather faithfully

This is the starting line, not the finish. Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching [Hebrews 10:25 KJV].

Be there. Sunday after Sunday. Mid-week if your church meets mid-week. Not when you feel like it, not when nothing else is on, not when the weather is kind. Gathered worship is not optional in the Christian life — it is the rhythm of it.

Make church the immovable thing in your week, and let everything else fit around it.

Listen to be changed

But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves [James 1:22 KJV].

Don't come to be entertained. Come to be changed. Bring a Bible. Bring a pen. Take notes. Sit forward. Ask the Spirit to teach you. When the Word lands on something you need to repent of, repent. When it lands on something you need to do, do it.

A church that hears and doesn't do is a church that slowly dies in its pews.

Devote yourself to fellowship

And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers [Acts 2:42 KJV].

Fellowship is more than coffee after the service. It is sharing your life with other believers. Open your home. Eat together. Pray together. Carry one another's burdens. Know names. Be known. Don't be a stranger in your own church.

The early believers didn't dip in and out — they devoted themselves. We are called to nothing less.

Serve quietly and faithfully

Use hospitality one to another without grudging. As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God [1 Peter 4:9-10 KJV].

Find a job and do it. Welcome people. Make tea. Set chairs. Pray for the pastor. Teach the children. Visit the lonely. None of this gets a stage. All of it pleases the Lord.

The servant-hearted are the spine of every healthy church.

Love your brothers and sisters

A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another [John 13:34-35 KJV].

This is the mark Jesus said the world would notice. Not perfect doctrine — though we hold doctrine dear. Not impressive worship — though we sing with all our might. Love. For the brothers and sisters in your own row, including the difficult ones. Especially the difficult ones.

Honour those who lead you

Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you [Hebrews 13:17 KJV].

Pray for your pastor. Speak well of him. Don't gossip about him. Don't make his job a misery. Joyful leaders bless a church; bruised leaders limp through their week. You can choose which kind your pastor goes home as.

Pray for the body

Pray for your church by name. Pray for the saved and the unsaved who walk through the door. Pray for the children's work, the youth, the elders, the widows, the missions you support. A praying member strengthens a whole body. Most of the church's quietest, deepest work happens on its knees.

Give as the Lord has prospered you

Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him [1 Corinthians 16:2 KJV].

Give cheerfully. Give regularly. Give in proportion to what God has put in your hands. A cheerful, faithful giver does more good than they will ever see this side of glory.

Persevere together

Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;) And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works [Hebrews 10:23-24 KJV].

You will be tempted to drift. You will be hurt. You will have weeks when you don't feel like it. Stay anyway. The Christian life is a long walk with the same people in the same direction, all of you following the same Shepherd.

Bringing it all together

This week we walked through four teachings.

Monday — the church is the blood-bought body of Christ.

Tuesday — you need the church, because that is how God designed you to grow.

Wednesday — the church needs you, because every member matters.

Thursday — this is what living as part of the church actually looks like.

Gather. Listen. Do. Fellowship. Serve. Love. Honour. Pray. Give. Persevere.

If you do those things, week after week, year after year, you will look back on a Christian life that was not lived alone. You will stand among a people for whom Christ shed His blood. And you will hear the One who bought the church say, Well done.

Your step today

Pick one thing from this list you are not yet doing — gathering, serving, fellowshipping, giving, praying for the body, honouring your leaders — and start this week. One step of obedience. Then another. Then another. That is how a real part of the church is built…

Key Takeaways:

• Gather faithfully — make church the immovable thing in your week. [Hebrews 10:25 KJV]
• Listen to be changed, not entertained. [James 1:22 KJV]
• Devote yourself to fellowship — share life, not just a service. [Acts 2:42 KJV]
• Love is the mark of a real disciple, especially within the body. [John 13:34-35 KJV]
• Honour and pray for those who lead, and give as the Lord prospers you. [Hebrews 13:17 KJV]