Comments on Jeff Pollard’s Why the Church Needs the Family and the Family Needs the Church from the NCFIC Uniting Church and Home Conference.
Jeff reminded us that there are two uses of the word church. One use is when it means the universal Church, or all those who have been, are, or will be a part of God’s salvation, or God’s elect. Then there is the usage which means the local expression of the universal church, or the visible church. I usually differentiate in writing by using a capital “C” for the Universal (or invisible) Church, and a small “c” for the local church. Being a member of the visible church does not equal election/salvation. In other words, you can be a member of God’s covenant and not be elect.
This was a part of his introduction to the definition of the church. He said very little I disagreed with, but I found myself wishing he would use more scripture to back up the assertions he made, especially since I agreed with him and knew that the scripture was there. Even when you are preaching to the choir you need to use scripture.
He talked of the family’s need of the church for discipline and fellowship and support which I agree with. And he also did mention all the commands in scripture that talk of relating to one another in the body. That is impossible to do if you are not part of a local body of believers.
One funny story he told was of a man that he was talking to in a restaurant. Jeff asked the man if he worshiped, and where he worshiped. The man replied, “O I worship.” Jeff noticed he hadn’t answered his question so he said, “Yes, but WHERE do you worship?” The man replied, “O, I worship in my living room. I watch this preacher on TV every Sunday morning.” Jeff said, “Then you aren’t part of a local body of believers?” The man replied that he was not. The problem with this is that he can’t go look in the mirror and say to himself, “I rebuke thee!!!” It doesn’t work that way. We all need accountability and discipline and fellowship and comfort.
Anyway, all in all I really enjoyed the message. I can’t think of anything I really disagreed with.
