June 28, 2026

“What is a Church?”

Message by Rev. Alan Perkins

This morning, we continue our series on what we believe, as Baptists. Most of what we believe are things that all Christians believe. Some of the doctrines we hold to are common to all Protestants. And there are also a few doctrines which are distinctive to Baptists. Our topic this morning is one of those. It is the doctrine of the church, and specifically, what the church is. Why does that matter? Because understanding what the church is will help us understand how we should relate to one another as members of the church. So we’ll start with our Statement of Belief. It says: “We believe that the Church is a gathered fellowship of regenerated believers, a sign of the coming universal reign of God”. Sound reasonable, right? But not everyone, historically, has agreed with that. In fact, there have been many definitions of the church throughout history. For example, beginning in the 4th century, Christianity was the official religion of the Roman empire, and so the church was basically synonymous with the Roman state. In European countries as well, citizenship and church membership have often been overlapping concepts. To be a citizen was to be a member of the state church, and vice versa. 

In America, we have no official state church. It’s prohibited by the first amendment to the U.S. Constitution. And the passage of that amendment was strongly influenced by Baptist ministers in the American colonies, ministers who had sometimes been jailed or fined for preaching outside the established Church of England. Moreover, there has never been a state church which was Baptist. There were state churches which were Lutheran, Presbyterian, Anglican, but never Baptist. Why? One reason is because of what we believe the church is. It’s a fellowship of believers. And by definition, not everyone in a nation is going to be a believer. Another reason is that we believe the church should be independent of the state. Because whenever the state supports a particular church, the state also exerts influence and control over that church. And Baptists believe strongly in religious liberty. As our Statement of Belief also puts it, we believe that, “the freedom to respond to the Lordship of Christ in all circumstances is fundamental to the Christian gospel and to human dignity.”

Not only that, but when you have a state church, you have a large majority of nominal Christians, Christians in name only; people who have little interest in following Christ. And that dilutes the message of the gospel. But when the church is made up of professing believers, then the power of the gospel is more evident in their lives. Because they are more likely to be following Christ. And so we believe that the church should include only believers, and not the entire population of a nation. 

So far, so good. But this not only excludes adults who aren’t believers. It also means that infants are not members of the church. And here we differ from our brethren in some other denominations. Baptism, in most Christian churches, is a requirement for membership. And so, in churches which baptize infants, the child becomes a member at that time, at least conditionally. But Baptists don’t baptize infants, and we don’t admit them into membership. So we need to address the question of why that is. Why don’t Baptists baptize babies? It’s such a happy occasion, after all—the proud parents are there; perhaps the grandparents as well. The pastor gets to hold the baby, which humanizes him. There’s a reason that politicians like to kiss babies. The baby will be dressed in a pretty little outfit, and sometimes they’ll do something cute, like grab the pastor’s microphone or burp. And then everybody laughs, and oohs and aahs. The baptismal certificate goes in the baby’s memory book. What’s not to like? Why don’t we do that? 

We don’t do that because baptism in the Bible is a sign of faith and belief, not family or ethnic heritage. In the Old Testament, God made his covenant with the Jewish people as a whole. And so if you were descended from Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, you were under the covenant; you were a part of God’s people. But that’s not the case in the New Testament. The New Covenant is a covenant which God makes with those who are united to Christ by faith, not those who are physically descended from Christian parents or grandparents. And so Baptism is a sign of faith, not ancestry or physical birth. 

There’s an incident in the book of Acts which illustrates this. Paul and Silas are in prison. There is a great earthquake, and their chains come off. The jailer is about to kill himself, because he thinks that his prisoners have escaped, but they tell him, “Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!” We pick up the narrative in Acts chapter 16, verse 29:

29 The jailer called for lights, rushed in and fell trembling before Paul and Silas.30 He then brought them out and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

31 They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved—you and your household.” 32 Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all the others in his house. 33 At that hour of the night the jailer took them and washed their wounds; then immediately he and all his household were baptized. 34 The jailer brought them into his house and set a meal before them; he was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole household.

Now, those who argue for infant baptism say that since “the whole household” was baptized, therefore infants should be baptized, along with the other members of the family. The problem with that interpretation is in verse 34. It tells us that the jailer “was filled with joy because he had come to believe in God—he and his whole household.” The whole household had believed. And so baptism followed faith in Christ. Those who were baptized were those who had the word of the Lord spoken to them and believed it. And this is consistent throughout the entire New Testament. Baptism is always associated with personal faith. 

Before I go on, I want to emphasize that I’m not, at all, denigrating the faith or the sincerity of those who have a different opinion on this matter. They should follow their interpretation of the Scriptures, and we will follow ours. But this is a Baptist church, and so you are getting the Baptist perspective. I’m not apologizing for that; I believe this is an important issue and that the Baptist perspective is the most correct one. But we are all still brothers and sisters at the end of the day. 

We are working our way toward an application. But first we need to lay the foundation. Let’s review again what our Statement of Belief says, “We believe that the Church is a gathered fellowship of regenerated believers, a sign of the coming universal reign of God”.  The church is a gathered fellowship of regenerated believers — not all the citizens of a state or country, not people who do not believe, not those who are too young to be capable of faith, but only those who have experienced the new birth through faith in Christ. 

But how do we know who those people are? Can you or I look into another person’s heart and know for sure whether they are a Christian? No, we can’t. We absolutely can’t. Only God can do that. And so the idea that the church is made of believers is really more of a goal, or an ideal, than it is a perfect reality. Because we just can’t know for sure. But if that’s the case, how do we decide who to accept into membership? And the answer is that we take it on faith (no pun intended). We accept a credible testimony of a person’s faith in Christ as evidence that they are in fact, saved. This is known as the judgment of charity.

OK. Then what does “credible” mean? It means that they have a sufficient understanding of the gospel to be able to believe it. That includes understanding that they are a sinner, in need of forgiveness. It includes believing that Jesus Christ, the son of God, died on the cross to pay for their sins. And it includes a statement of individual faith and repentance; an affirmation that they accept Christ’s death as payment for their own sins, and that by God’s power they desire to turn away from sin, to follow and obey Christ. Now, I don’t want to give the impression that this is some kind of a test, that they have to give the right answers to in order to pass. If they’re unclear on any of this, we’ll help them understand. Our goal is to welcome people, not to exclude them. 

But what we do NOT require is that they have reformed their life, or that they have done something to demonstrate a change. That’s in the future. The change of life comes day by day, as the ongoing fruit of salvation. And even then, we all have sin remaining in our lives. And so the simple fact of sin in a person’s life is not a reason to judge their faith to be invalid. I’m going to quote here the preacher of the Great Awakening in 18th century America, Jonathan Edwards. He was responding to those who claimed that the revival taking place in his day could not be genuine because those who were converted continued to sin. Here is his answer:

“There being so much corruption left in the hearts of God’s own children, and its prevailing as it sometimes does, is indeed a mysterious thing, but won’t be so much wondered at by those that are duly mindful of two things: first, the Word of God, which teaches us the state of true Christians in the world, and secondly, their own hearts, at least if they have any grace, and have experience of its conflicts with corruption. 

The fact that sin remains in the life of a believer will not be surprising to those who know their own hearts. I’m pressing this point because there’s a danger here. And the danger is that, in saying the church is made up of believers, we become the “faith police”, examining one another closely to determine who is really saved and who is not. That’s not only destructive to fellowship, but it turns us into spiritual judges. And God prohibits us from doing that, because when we do, we are climbing onto his throne. Only God can judge the heart. And not only do we lack the ability to make those judgments, or the authority to make them, but if we try it, we will do more harm than good. We will damage the fellowship and drive genuine believers out of the church. That is the point of Jesus’ parable of the tares and the wheat in Matthew chapter 13. I’ll summarize it. 

A farmer planted wheat in his field. Then an enemy came secretly at night and planted tares in his field as well. Tares are weeds that look like wheat, but which produce no grain. The farmer’s workers wanted to go and uproot the weeds, but he told them not to. Here’s what the farmer said to them:

29 “‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’” (Matthew 13:29-30)

In other words, if there are tares among the wheat; if there are any unbelievers in the church, it’s not our job to try to identify them and root them out. Because in the process, we could also root out some who are true Christians. Instead, we need to leave the sorting out of the tares and the wheat to God, at the final judgment. 

All right. Back to our Statement of Belief: “We believe that the Church is a gathered fellowship of regenerated believers, a sign of the coming universal reign of God”. 

“The Church is a gathered fellowship”. What does that mean? It means that being a member of a church isn’t like being a member of other kinds of organizations; such as a political party, for example. If you register as a Democrat or Republican, you can say, “I am a Democrat”, or “I am a Republican”. It’s a statement about your political beliefs. But that statement doesn’t come with any obligation to do anything—to show up at political rallies, or to campaign for the candidates of your party. You can do those things, but it’s not a requirement. If all you do is check the box for Democrat or Republican when you register to vote, even if you never show up for any party functions, you are still a member in good standing of that party. 

Church membership is different. A church is a gathered fellowship. We meet together.
We fellowship together. We worship together. We serve and minister to one another.
We support one another. If someone joins the church, but then chooses not to gather together with us; they may be still on the rolls, but they are not fulfilling the expectations of church membership. Because being a member of a church isn’t just a statement of identity, just saying, “I am a member of Richwood First Baptist”. It involves belonging to a community and participating in that community. 

Now, there are exceptions, which concern people who are traveling, or people who are away from home for an extended time but who intend to return. People like college students, or members of the military. We also recognized that some elderly or disabled people may not be able to come to us, and in that case, we go to them; we visit them, and the deacons take them communion. But in general, the church is composed of those who regularly gather together for worship, and fellowship, and service. Which is why, when members of our congregation move away, we encourage them to find a local church in their new home and join that church as soon as possible, rather than maintaining their membership here, so that they can gather together with a local body of believers. 

All right. We’ve laid the groundwork, and here’s the application. It’s based on our understanding of what the church is—a gathered fellowship of believers. And that brings with it both privileges and obligations. As members of this church, we are privileged to enjoy the fellowship of other believers. We are privileged to receive their prayers, and support, and encouragement, and counsel. And we also incur, with that, a corresponding obligation to pray for, and support, and encourage, one another. 

There’s a document that we used to recite every month on communion Sunday, and this sermon topic brought it to my mind. It was printed in the back of our old hymnals and it’s called a church covenant. I think I could almost recite it by heart. A covenant is a set of promises that we make to one another, either explicitly, as in reciting a pledge, or implicitly, just by virtue of the fact that we are a part of this body. Here’s an excerpt:

“We engage, therefore, by the aid of the Holy Spirit . . . to watch over one another in brotherly love; To remember each other in prayer; To aid each other in sickness and distress; To cultivate Christian sympathy in feeling and courtesy in speech; To be slow to take offense, but always ready for reconciliation, and mindful of the rules of our Saviour, to secure it without delay.”

There’s a lot of wisdom there. The key phrases are “one another” and “each other”. Those are very Biblical phrases. In fact, they occur a total of 65 times in the New Testament, describing how we are to relate to other believers in the “gathered fellowship” that is the church. Those verses make clear that as members of a local church body, we have obligations toward one another. And so building on what we’ve learned about what the church is, I’m going to give you four examples from Scripture of what we are to do:  

• Galatians 5:13 - serve one another humbly in love. 

• Ephesians 4:32 - Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other

• 1 Thessalonians 5:11 - encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.

• 1 Peter 4:9 - Offer hospitality to one another 

What would a church fellowship look like in which all the members were doing these four things on a regular basis? Offering to serve one another in practical ways, like mowing a lawn, or doing laundry, or giving someone a ride to the doctor. Taking the initiative to reconcile with someone that you’ve had a disagreement with. Looking for opportunities to affirm someone’s gifts or abilities and encourage them to develop them. Inviting someone into your home for coffee and a chat. What would it mean to the life of our church if we were all actively engaged in these kinds of activities? I don’t mean to imply that we aren’t doing this. As I’ve said before, this is a very loving and serving church. Nevertheless, each of us has room to grow. So that’s the application. I would like each one of us to choose one of these four “one another” statements, and this week, take some specific action to put it into practice, according to the ability and the guidance that the Holy Spirit provides. By doing that, you will be living out the Biblical definition of the church as a gathered fellowship of believers. And you will be reinforcing a very positive habit of Christian discipleship. 

But let’s go a little deeper. Why should we do this, other than because it is commanded in Scripture? What are we actually doing when we support, and encourage, and serve one another? We are building up the church, yes. We are helping out our brothers and sisters in Christ. But there’s more to it. We are serving Christ himself. And I mean that literally, not figuratively. This is the body of Christ—all the people sitting around you—and so serving one another is literally serving Christ. If you find that hard to grasp, you’re not alone. The Bible tells us that at the last judgment, those who have been serving Christ’s people will be surprised to find that they have actually been serving him: 

37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’ (Matthew 25:37-40)

Whenever we serve one another, we are serving Christ. Let me be specific. When you bring a casserole or a pot of soup to someone in the church because you know they’ve had a busy week, it isn’t just them, but Jesus Christ you are feeding.  You could even imagine yourself handing that food to Christ. When you visit someone who is sick or in the hospital, it is Christ who is being comforted. When you send someone a card to say you’re thinking of them, it is Christ who is opening that card and being encouraged. Because whenever we meet the needs of our brothers and sisters in Christ, we are serving our Savior. So do that this week.  Call someone to see how they are doing. Tell someone that you appreciate their ministry. Help them to fix their front steps. Invite them over for dinner. Pray with them. Jesus Christ is up in heaven, and so we can’t serve him there, not yet. But we can serve him here, by serving one another; by caring for those who belong to him. And Jesus Christ deserves all of our love and our service. 

But what about those who don’t? What about those who stay in their own little world, and disregard the needs of those around them? In that case, Christ will have a different message. Because when they ignored the needs of Christ’s people, they were actually ignoring him:

41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink,43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

44 “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

45 “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ (Matthew 25:41-45)

When someone passes by the members of Christ’s body and ignores their needs, because they are too busy, or because they think they lack the ability to help, or because they simply aren’t paying attention, then they aren’t just passing that person by; they’re passing Christ by. 

So let’s not do that. Instead, let’s each find one way this week to serve one of our brothers or sisters. Because in doing so, we will be demonstrating our love, not just for them, but for Christ. And maybe it will be such a blessing to us that we’ll want to make it a habit. Amen?

The First Baptist Church of Richwood - June 28, 2026