The entrance to the body of Christ became clear to me while I was sitting in a Chick-fil-a one early Spring morning. I ate my chicken-minis, and paused, as my discipler across the table told me that I did not have to earn the favor of the church. What do you mean there was nothing I could do to prove I’m worthy of membership? I, in fact, knew I was unworthy. But here she was telling me that there was nothing I could do – I was covered in Christ, His righteousness. I had heard before that grace was free, but that truth struck me in the moment. So there I was; a college freshman with polynesian sauce dripping down my fingers, tears forming in my eyes, a girl who grew up in the church, but still so new to truly following Christ in faith. Yet, he wanted me in his church – his bride – and he was teaching me that it was through his blood I would be given entrance.
Entrance Into The Body Of Christ
I didn’t need an amazing testimony to share with my pastor to prove the Lord saved me. I didn’t need to be a “perfect Christian girl” who dressed, talked, and participated in every available ministry opportunity. I didn’t need to hide in shame of the life I once lived. I am a new creation – the life I now live I live in Christ!
So yes – in the fall of my sophomore year of college I decided to join the church I had been going to for the past year. I’ve been a member of my local church for 3 years now, going on my 5th year of attendance. This is because I’ve chosen to stay in my college town of Anderson, South Carolina because I have fallen in love with the Lord’s faithfulness in the local church. He has torn down and rebuilt my heart – joining me to his body and is continually teaching me to fix my eyes on Him as the Head. I have learned that the church is a beautiful family of sinners – all redeemed in Christ’s righteousness. All unworthy. Yet all made worthy – pure as winter snow – because of Christ’s crimson blood. This is a wonderful mystery, however, we can still find it hard to grasp.
This wonderful mystery is God’s grace. Grace is when we are given something we don’t deserve. His grace is equally sweet and confusing to our small minds. “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9). For the one struggling with feeling unworthy to join the local church – remembering the gift of grace through Christ our Savior is the only way to enter into the family of believers with full assurance of faith. We are unworthy, yet made worthy in Christ.
Thirsting For Righteousness
So, do you strive from feeling unworthy, seek to make yourself good, or live for the approval of others in the context of the church? Do you have a sinful fear of God? Are you trying to earn your own righteousness? If so, that longing for righteousness is natural. But the answer is not found in our own strength. The answer is found in Christ and by first accepting his grace – his righteousness in exchange for our sin.
During the sermon on the mount, Jesus taught his disciples the beatitudes. One of them being, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” I remember reading this in high school and thinking – that’s me! I thirst! Biblical righteousness can be defined as a state of being in a right, restored, and secure relationship with God and living out moral integrity and justice toward other people. It’s never hard to see that we live in a broken world and it’s easy for us to long for the taste of righteousness. This longing has been placed in our hearts since the Fall. However, these longings can easily turn into striving. A striving that falls into self-righteousness.
Christ Our Righteousness
One of the songs that my church sings regularly is “Psalm 118” by Boyce Worship Collective. The lyrics are, “Christ, my only trust and refugе, at the gates of righteousness, on what grounds shall I, a sinner, enter doors of holiness? Swing them wide, yes, I shall enter. By the blood of Christ I come. He the Spotless, He the Righteous, has become my Cornerstone.”
Psalm 118 itself reads, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.” If Christ is our cornerstone, then he has been rejected on our behalf. Again – this is grace. Once we receive his grace, he then bestows upon us his righteousness. So to the one who thirsts for righteousness in the church – begin by pondering the cross. His grace. Christ the righteous, offers this freely.
The Apostle John writes, “In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” (1 John 4:9-10). Jesus has earned the Father’s favor for us. Friend, it is finished! We can cease our striving because Christ is all our righteousness!
What Does This Mean For The Church?
So then, if we have accepted His grace and truly believe that Christ is all our righteousness, what does that mean for the one still struggling to feel worthy of the church or finds themself serving out of fear?
we must know this: the church and our preconceived notions of how we think we ought to be accepted cannot be our justification. We cannot have hearts of pious pride like the Pharisees. The church is no longer the tabernacle or the temple. We do not need to come with our striving sacrifices to claim cleanliness, but rather David understood that “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.” The church is meant to be the body of Christ. If Christ is the head and if he has declared his bride to be white as snow, then, if we have truly placed our hope in Christ – are we not as pure as he says we are?
Grace, The Gift For All
We are all still trying to understand grace. Even the well-known C.S. Lewis once had a new perception of grace when he was 53 years old. The Gospel Coalition writes in their article, “C.S. Lewis’s 1951 Grace Awakening”, of how Lewis had written a letter saying, “I had been a Christian for many years before I really believed in the forgiveness of sins, or more strictly, before my theoretical belief became a reality to me.” Grace is simply something we keep learning – everyone in the church included. You are not alone.
We may never truly understand grace. I believe even when we reach eternity, we will still be filled with the awe and wonder of His grace, never ceasing to praise Him. But for now, this is why we must simply teach ourselves of the gospel everyday – every breath. We must remember that it is finished and that Christ will always be more than enough. We do not have to prove anything, but rather rest in our loving Savior who died that we might fully receive this mysterious gift with open hands. Our “works” can now flow from a heart of zeal for our Redeemer! Paul, who considered himself to be a chief of sinners, was also a recipient of this same grace.
He wrote to Titus saying, “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.” (Titus 2:11-14).
Grace is a gift. Accept it humbly, dear sinner. Then, as you look around on a Sunday morning and worship in unison with your fellow brothers and sisters, may you no longer feel a sense of judgment, unworthiness, or striving – but rather sweet freedom as you fix your eyes and lift your voice to Christ your Redeemer.
“Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together… but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” (Hebrews 10:19-25).