Part 6 — The Man in the Church
The danger of doing faith from a distance
There is a strange idea floating around modern Christianity that a man can love Jesus and skip the church. That he can stream a sermon, read a devotional, post a verse, and call that body life. He can't.
The Lord Jesus did not die to build a Wi-Fi congregation. He died for a body. …the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood [Acts 20:28 KJV]. That body has a Head — He is the head of the body, the church [Colossians 1:18 KJV] — and that body has members, fitted together for one purpose: to glorify Christ, build one another up, and reach the lost.
Which means a Christian man is not just a believer. He is a member.
Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular [1 Corinthians 12:27 KJV].
That is the basics. And as with everything else in this series — we have drifted from it.
Not optional. Not extra. Not online.
The writer of Hebrews knew that drift was coming. So he wrote a plain, pastoral command for every Christian man in every generation:
And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:
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 10:24-25 KJV].
Notice three things.
First — the command is communal. Let us consider one another. You cannot consider one another from your sofa.
Second — the drift is named. As the manner of some is. It's not new. Some Christians have always drifted out of fellowship. The Spirit calls them back.
Third — the direction is urgent. So much the more, as ye see the day approaching. The closer we get to the Lord's return, the more a Christian man should be in his church, not the less.
A Christian man without a local church is a soldier without a regiment, a sheep without a fold, a coal pulled out of the fire. He may smoulder for a while — but he will go out.
The church is a body, not an audience
Paul gives the clearest picture of what a Christian man is in the church — a working part of a living body.
From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love [Ephesians 4:16 KJV].
Read that slowly. The body grows by that which every joint supplieth. Every part. Every member. Every Christian man.
If the men in a church will not supply their joint, the body limps.
That is why spectator Christianity is not Christianity. The church is not a stage where some perform and others applaud. It is a body where every member has a job, a gift, and a place.
A Christian man does not ask, what does this church do for me? He asks, what part has God given me to supply?
Four marks of a Christian man in the church
1. Committed
He belongs somewhere. He is planted, not just visiting. He has chosen a local fellowship that preaches the Word, holds the gospel, and walks in truth — and he has thrown his life in with them.
Those that be planted in the house of the LORD shall flourish in the courts of our God [Psalm 92:13 KJV].
Flowers in pots travel well. Trees that flourish are planted. A Christian man plants himself.
2. Present
He shows up. On Sundays. At prayer meetings. At members' meetings. When the doors are open and his life allows it, he is there.
Not to be seen. Not to tick a box. But because the body needs his joint.
A man who is only occasionally in fellowship is not in fellowship. He is in attendance. The two are very different.
3. Useful
God has given every Christian man at least one manifestation for the building up of the body — the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal [1 Corinthians 12:7 KJV].
That might be teaching. It might be serving. It might be giving. It might be welcoming, mending, fixing, driving, praying, encouraging, mentoring, opening his home. The list is long. The point is the same: a Christian man brings something — he doesn't just take.
If you don't yet know your calling, your purpose, you will find it the same way Christians have always found it: by showing up and serving until the body confirms what responsibility God has given you.
4. Accountable
A Christian man is knowable in his church. He has elders who can speak into his life. Brothers who can challenge him. People who would notice if he drifted and care enough to come after him.
Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend [Proverbs 27:17 KJV].
Iron does not sharpen iron through a screen. It sharpens by contact. A Christian man puts himself in the way of holy contact — and he stays there.
What the church is not
A few quick correctives, because this is where many men get this wrong.
The church is not a building. The building is a useful tool. The church is the people.
The church is not perfect. It is full of redeemed sinners on the way home. Expect imperfection — then love anyway.
The church is not a buffet — grab what you like, leave what you don't. It is a body. Bodies don't work like that.
The church is not optional. Christ died for it. He builds it. He returns for it. A Christian man stays in it.
None of that means staying somewhere unfaithful. If a church abandons the gospel or the Word, a Christian man may need to move. But he moves to another faithful church — he does not drift out of the body altogether.
What a praying, serving Christian man does to a church
Here is what no algorithm and no stream can replace: a Christian man who is present, praying, and serving in a local fellowship.
He makes the prayer meeting fuller.
He makes the elders' job lighter.
He makes the women in the church safer.
He makes the young men braver.
He makes the older saints honoured.
He makes the lost more curious.
He doesn't have to be loud. He doesn't have to be on stage. He just has to be there, faithfully, week after week, year after year, supplying his joint to the body Christ purchased with His own blood.
That is a Christian man in the church.
One clear step this month
This month, identify one way to serve in your local fellowship — and do it without being asked.
Stack the chairs.
Help with welcome.
Volunteer in children's work.
Offer to drive someone who can't get there.
Pick a person in the church and pray for them by name every day this month.
Tell your elders, "What's something quietly needed that I could help with?"
Don't wait for a rota. Don't wait for an announcement. Don't wait until you feel ready. Supply your joint.
The church is a body, not an audience.
Spectator Christianity is not Christianity…
Key Takeaways:
- A Christian man is a member of the body of Christ, not just a believer — [1 Corinthians 12:27 KJV]
- Forsaking the assembly is named as drift and warned against — [Hebrews 10:24-25 KJV]
- The body grows when every part supplies its joint — [Ephesians 4:16 KJV]
- Christ purchased His church with His own blood — it is not optional — [Acts 20:28 KJV]
- Christians flourish when planted in the house of the Lord — [Psalm 92:13 KJV]
- Christian men sharpen one another in person, not through a screen — [Proverbs 27:17 KJV]
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