If Jesus saves us from our sins and it is clear that we continue sinning, then how does Jesus save us from our sins on a continuing basis? Do we believe that Jesus has provided us the Body of Christ as that saving community and therefore it is an essential component of the ongoing life of Christians? Put more bluntly, is the Body of Christ necessary for our salvation?
Let me offer nine thesis of the saving reality of the Body of Christ for consideration:
- In a culture that is blind to hope that it can’t see or measure, each Sunday the church reminds us we are not God by proclaiming the truth of God which offers us hope beyond sound and sight. In a world prone to despair because its gods are too small, the church offers us salvation from despair.
- In a culture that is growing Biblically illiterate, the church saves us from losing access to the source of God’s revelation to us. Where else are we presented the Scriptures on a continuing basis?
- In a culture that is in danger of compassion fatigue, the church shows us that our acts of compassion can be a form of praise. When our compassion is received as praise of God, we are saved from always depending on the success of our efforts to sustain us.
- In a culture that trumpets the survival of the fittest, the church offers a healing community which allows God’s strength to be made perfect in our freely acknowledged weakness. We are saved from the need to be perfect.
- In a culture that places incredible stress and pressure on people’s lives, the church offers us a regular Sabbath where we can step off the treadmill and refocus on the meaning of life through regular worship, prayer, and study of God’s word in the community.
- In a culture that is increasingly fractured by the tribalism of ethnic, sexual, and age divisions, the church offers the witness of Christ who breaks down the barriers that divide us and offers hospitality to all strangers who desire to experience the healing love of God.
- In a culture that threatens to abandon its children to poor education, poor health, and unstable families, the church offers a source of strength for family bonds and the news that all children are loved and valued.
- In a culture that treats the elderly as worn out pieces to society’s all-important machine, the church proclaims that each person contains gifts from God which are essential to the upbuilding of the community of faith. With God, it’s not over ’til its over.
- In a culture that daily discovers the complexity of moral decision-making, the church offers a community in which people might explore all the issues which trouble them in the light of the gospel of grace and forgiveness.
Those are some of the saving realities which “believers but not belongers” can be offered by the church. Since our members are in daily contact with “believers but not belongers,” we need to help them become conscious of what they have to offer many of their friends. They can offer people hope in the midst of the alienating forces of our society. If evangelism is helping our people discover the Good News of God in their lives, and the church is a source of that Good News, then we have a critical evangelism task to do among the vast number of “believers but not belongers” in our communities. We need to articulate and demonstrate how the Body of Christ can save people from that which dis-eases them in their relationships with God and neighbor.
