Are You "in" the Church?

During the Feast of Tabernacles, for those who may not know, it is typical that hundreds of people, even thousands in some places, will be staying in the same hotel or resort for the duration of the 8 days of God's festivals. Some of these feast sites are located in the midst of a city (such as Daytona or Panama City Beach), but many are held in more secluded towns or at all-inclusive resorts. For feast sites that are more tightly knit, such as the resort that I stayed at in Jamaica last week, it is common to ask yourself a certain question whenever you see someone that you think you recognize: is that person in the church?

This turns out to be a profound question with a diverse range of interpretations and answers. First of all, let's establish what the church of God is.
We only have record of one place in which Christ spoke of His church:

Matthew 16:18

I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.

Christ is the rock on which the church is built. In other places, He is call the "chief cornerstone" of the foundation of God's church. The Greek word that is translated throughout the New Testament as "church" actually means "assembly" or "group of people." This is important to recognize because our culture has imposed many different meanings on the word "church" other than what is implied by the bible. Christ is saying here that He will build His church; that is, He will bring together and unify His special group of people. He started this special group of people on the Day of Pentecost, recorded in Acts 2, when He sent the Holy Spirit upon His apostles. If you read through the account in Acts 2, you will notice that the Holy Spirit was given first to the apostles, but not the other people who were present. Peter gave an impromptu sermon, led by the Spirit, and Peter's response to the reaction of the people tells us something about what qualifies someone as "in the church" according to God's word:

Acts 2:37-41

When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?" Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of  Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off - for all whom the Lord our God will call."... Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.

Christ started His church by sending the Holy Spirit directly to the 12 apostles, and He continued to build the church that day by giving these 3000 people the Holy Spirit through baptism. These people who were baptized and who were with the apostles on the day of Pentecost had already been followers of Jesus (see Acts 1:21). Note that they first had to repent before they could be baptized. This process is the same process that everyone who wants to be part of God's church must now go through: to repent at the preaching of the gospel, be baptized to symbolize the putting to death of your old self, and receive the Holy Spirit through the laying on of hands to give you the power to change how you are living your life. Unless you have done these things, then you are not part of Christ's special assembly of people, the church of God, according to God's Word.

So now we've learned what the church of God is: the special group of people who have received the Holy Spirit. Let's now be clear about what the church of God isn't. God's church is not a physical building. It is not a manmade organization, nor can any organization rightly claim that they are the church of God. They can claim that they are part of the church of God, but even that statement has to be reconciled with the fact that not everyone who claims allegiance to a particular organization has gone through the prescribed process to join God's church by His standards. Note that this also implies that no one can be born into the church: you have to repent and accept the Holy Spirit for yourself to be part of God's special assembly. Coming to services and keeping the Sabbath doesn't cut it. Coming to the Feast and fasting on Atonement doesn't cut it. These are all things that you must do, and there are many other things that you must do also, but they, by themselves, do not make you part of the church.

Now, back to the question: "is that person in the church?" Given the above explanation of the biblical requirement for being part of the church, you may have realized that the question is poorly posed. When you see someone acting inappropriately outside of services, it's tempting to think that they aren't really "in" the church. On the other hand, it's also possible for someone to be striving to live God's way of life without having been baptized, and many people would wrongly consider such a person to be "in" the church. It is clear though that there is a distinct difference between someone that is not technically in the church who is striving to live God's way of life and someone who is not striving to live God's way of life but still comes to services, and this phenomenon is especially prominent among teenagers and young adults.

Repentance is a serious process and baptism is a serious commitment. In order to enter God's new covenant, you have to do both and you have to actually understand what you are doing and you have to mean it. Most people are not even capable of this until their late teens, which results in the aforementioned dichotomy: there are young people who are seriously considering committing their lives to God by baptism and there are young people who are going through the motions while doing whatever they want on the side. Young people are put in this situation because of their parents. Notice again what Peter said about the children of people who are in the church:

Acts 2:39 

The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off - for all whom the Lord our God will call.

Children whose parents are in the church are given a unique opportunity to become part of the church. Not all of them seize that opportunity, and many continue going through the motions long after their parents are in a position to require that they come to church.

Now back to the original question, posed in the title of this article: are you "in" the church of God? Do you know where you stand? According to the word of God, you should know the answer to this question. In a recent Spiritual Snack, I remarked that the church of God is a second flesh and blood body of Christ, and a common theme in the New Testament is that our bodies are the temple of God. 1 Corinthians 3:9 says that "[the apostles] are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building." The book of Haggai(it's a short read) was originally written to several leaders of the effort to rebuild God's temple after the Babylonian exile, but it also has deep significance for those of us who are building the temple of God today. The temple that I'm talking about is God's church and our own bodies and lives are the building materials. Note what God says to the people building the temple in Haggai:

Haggai 1:7-8

Consider your ways! Go up to the mountains and bring wood and build the temple, that I may take pleasure in it and be glorified

This is a message for us today! We need to consider our ways. Asking yourself if you are "in" the church is equivalent to asking yourself if you are building God's temple. Until you have received the Holy Spirit, then God does not yet dwell in you and you have not begun building your part of God's temple. When we decide to become part of this temple and to do the work that God has put before us, God assures us that we will not be alone:

Haggai 2:18-19

Consider now from this day forward... from the day that the foundation of the LORD's temple was laid - consider it... from this day I will bless you.

From the time that you accept God's Spirit, He will bless you. In verse 4 of the same chapter, God says to those building the temple:

Haggai 2:4-5

Be strong... and work; for I am with you... According to the word that I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt, so My Spirit remains among you; do not fear!

If we enter God's new covenant, we are brought out of spiritual Egypt. Not only will His Spirit be among us, but the promise of the new covenant is even greater, that His spirit will be in us. If these people were to not fear because God's Spirit was among them, how much greater are we when God's Spirit is in us! If you have not yet become part of God's church through baptism, then the admonition is to consider your ways: don't go on not knowing where you stand. If you are now part of God's church, then be strong and work on the portion of the temple that God has given you to build.