Yet Another Reason Believers Need The Local Church...

...For Our Humility
(I will go into greater details on what I believe are four other Biblical Reasons we need to Church. To get an overview on this, go HERE)

I think we all commonly hear Romans 12 quoted in reference to Gospel centered sanctification. The first verse reads:

"Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. "

"God's mercy" here is referring back to the first 11 chapters of Romans.

What do we read in Romans 1-11? Well, a quick overview would go like this:

We are hopeless, blind, dirty, sinful creatures who have misplaced worship and affections. (Romans 1-3)

But, through the perfect life, death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ and our Trust in it we have forgiveness of sin, new life, hope, the gift of the Holy Spirit, God's promise that we can never be separated from Him, and victory in our life over sin. (Romans 3-8)

Also, that this was not of our own work, but all of Christs sovereignty and power, so that we can not boast. (Romans 9-11)

There mercies, which are the foundation of the Gospel, are the mouth to the river of our sanctification. Beyond that, if we look to the Gospel and apply the Gospel to ourselves, it produces in us a change of mindset.

Romans 12:2- "Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is —his good, pleasing and perfect will."


So, you may ask what this has to do with humility and the Church? Well, most people would stop here in there exegesis of the text, but there is so much more in the following verses. Romans 12:3-

"For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you"

So, in other words, the Gospel should humble us. It's not about us, it never has been about us, or our ability, or even our decision, but all about God.

But let me tell you, I commonly forget this Truth.. I feel most would agree that we all forget the great mercies of God in our lives and that this is the greatest source of sin in our life. But, Paul writes, we are not alone in our battle for humility.

Romans 12:4-5: " For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others"

We have the Church to humble us. That is why so many so called "Christians" who refuse to be apart of a fellowship lose humility in there lives and doctrine.

Paul also writes to the Church of Ephesus, in Ch. 4 verse 3 of His letter to them, to "Make every effort to keep in the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace." Which Paul points right back to the local Church and to the Gospel in 4:4-9 (but also as he did throughout this letter) as the key to this living a "life worthy of the calling we received." (4:1)

I'm reminder of a song from Christian band Sanctus Real, "We Need Each Other".
We need the gifts of each person in the body (Romans 12:6-9), no matter how failing we may be, for each others sanctification. "It is not good for man to be alone" - Gen. 2:18

We are not alone in our struggles against the world. We are not alone in our battle for humility. First we need set our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our Faith (Hebrews 12:1-3) who "by one sacrifice has made us Holy forever, those who are being made Holy (Hebrews 10:14)

Second, we need the Church to stand together with us. Let us as Church members, a family, remind each other of the Gospel and "gently confront" our family members about the evils of the sin and pride and to carry burdens together (Gal. 6). They may not take it well, but they need it. And ultimately let's keep in mind the promise in Scripture that God will give "Grace to the humble, Law to the Proud."

As is my main text for these thoughts on the Christian and the Church, lets take the words from Hebrews 10:22-25 to heart:

" let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another —and all the more as you see the Day approaching."