People don't often consider community or intentional community a spiritual discipline. We assume going to church, accumulating friends, and going to small group on occasion is enough. The average actively involved evangelical churchgoer goes one out of every three weeks, with obligation possibly outweighing intentionality.
Many people say, "I have a strong relationship with Jesus. I love God, but I'm not committed to the church."
I always look into their eyes and respond, "That's not true."
I know people think it's true, but it is not. They might greatly respect Jesus, but Jesus clearly said that if you loved him, you would be committed to his church. In John 15, he said we were to love each other so much that we would lay down our lives for each other. You can't do that for somebody you're not connected to or in a relationship with.
Pastors are reminded in John 21 that Jesus said, "If you love me, feed my sheep." In other words, show your love for me by how well you take care of my sheep. You cannot be obedient to Jesus and neglect those he commanded us to love.
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Pastor J.D. completed his Ph.D. in Theology at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. He serves as a member of the Board of Directors of Chick-fil-A, serves as a Council member for The Gospel Coalition, and recently served as the 62nd president of the Southern Baptist Convention. Pastor J.D. and his wife Veronica are raising four awesome kids.
"Editor's Note: Pastor JD Greear's "Ask the Pastor" column regularly appears at Christianity.com, providing biblical, relatable, and reliable answers to your everyday questions about faith and life. Email him your questions at [email protected]."
