This paper is based on the first chapters of John MacArthur's book, "Body Dynamics" and explains what it means to me to be a part of the Body of Christ and why I go to church.  As the book explains, the Church is not confined to a building or a set of buildings, but the Church is described as a Body made up of all believers in Christ.  In fact, not everyone who goes to church is a Christian, and those who are false believers are weeds or the part of the harvest that gets thrown into the fire (Matthew 13:24-30).

We are called out to be one Body

1 Cor. 12:12

"For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ."

Just as members of my own body (my feet, my hands, my eyes, etc.) cannot exist without the other parts of my body, I cannot exist without fellow believers in Christ.  Some in my congregation are teachers of the word.  Some encourage me.  Some help me when I need help.  I can't imagine trying to get along without them. 

We are called to be like Christ

God is glorified when a sinner like me becomes more Christlike. 

John 9:25 

"One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see."  If Christ lives in us, we can do things through the Holy Spirit given to us:

John 14

15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

We are commanded to love our Christian brothers and sisters. 

John 15 says:

12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15 No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and a bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. 17 These things I command you, so that you will love one another.

We are to exercise our individual gifts in the Body

Ephesians ch. 4 says: 

11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers,  12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. 15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is a the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

I so need this!  I tend to be somewhat gullible, and when I err, the Body of believers pulls me back in.  Thereby, God is glorified.

We were called before the foundations of the earth 

Eph. 1:4-6

4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 l he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.

Since the Bible clearly states that I was chosen before the foundations of the earth to be a Christian, I am mezmorized by this truth and it makes me want to worship him even more. 

We are as a Body, called to be a love gift to Christ.  Since He is worthy to be praised, it makes sense to urgently seek Him and to know Him. 

We are called to be responsible Christians 

The Bible is filled with exhortations for holy living, for which I am responsible.  "Husbands love your wives as Christ loved the church."  "For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved," and the words of Jesus:  "No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish" (Luke 13:3).

God adopted me as his son

In ancient times, when a child was adopted into a family, if he had any debts, all of those debts were forgiven.  God adopted me and I am forever grateful for His grace and His mercy. 

Gal. 4:4-7
4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.

Therefore, I want to go into His house! 

John 14:1-2

“Let not your hearts be troubled.  Believe in God; believe also in me. 2 In my Father's house are many rooms. 

It is my reasonable service! 

Romans 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service.

There is no where else I would rather be! 

John 6:68-69
“Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, 69 and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”