What Does It Mean to Actually Join the Church?
Most people assume joining a church means signing a membership card, attending a welcome class, or showing up on Sundays. But Pastor Benjamin Robinson challenges that assumption head-on in this message from Lineage Church's Ecclesia series — a four-part exploration of what the church actually is, and what it means to truly be part of it.
The answer might surprise you: you can't join something you don't understand.
The Church Is an Assembly — Not a Place That Has One
The word ecclesia, the Greek term translated as "church" throughout the New Testament, literally means assembly. And that distinction matters more than most of us realize.
There's a critical difference between a church that has an assembly and a church that is an assembly. If the church merely has an assembly, then gathering together is just one optional resource among many — something you do when it's convenient. But if the church is an assembly, then not showing up means you haven't really joined the church at all.
This isn't a minor theological nuance. Statistics reveal that the average committed, believing church member in America attends a church gathering just once a month. Once. That number suggests something alarming: Christians across the country have quietly surrendered the value of assembling together. As Pastor Robinson puts it, we've been "conformed to the pattern of this world instead of being transformed by the renewing of our minds."
Jesus said, "I will build my church" (Matthew 16:18). Every time you show up with your heart open and ready to receive from God, you participate in what Jesus is actively constructing. That's not something to take lightly.
Making Disciples, Not Building Institutions
Early in Lineage Church's history, Pastor Robinson was desperate for God to show him how to grow the church. The answer he received was simple and clarifying: "I build my church. You make disciples."
That division of labor reshapes everything. The Great Commission in Matthew 28:19-20 gives the church a clear mandate — go, baptize, and teach people to obey everything Jesus commanded. The goal isn't organizational expansion or impressive programming. It's obedience. And Jesus is perfectly capable of building his church when his people focus on that obedience.
Romans 12:1 — More Than a Verse to Memorize
The heart of this message comes from one of the most recognizable passages in the New Testament:
"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual act of worship." — Romans 12:1
The word therefore is doing enormous work in that sentence. It points back to everything Paul has already established in Romans chapters 1 through 11 — the wrath of God against sin, the grace of God revealed in Jesus Christ, justification by faith, peace with God, and the hope that sustains us even through suffering. After eleven chapters of theological foundation, Paul lands here: now, based on all of that, present your bodies to God.
This is where American Christianity often stumbles. We live in a culture that tends to equate understanding something with having done it. If we've studied worship — if we can break down the Greek terms, trace the Old Testament background, and articulate the theology — we can leave church feeling like we've worshiped without ever actually worshiping. But Paul is clear: the goal is not theological intellect. The goal is a surrendered body.
Living Sacrifice: Why This Is Harder Than It Sounds
In the Old Testament, presenting a sacrifice meant bringing an animal — one that met specific qualifications — to the priest, who would slaughter it, prepare it, and lay it on the altar. It was a one-time act. The animal didn't get back up.
But Paul calls us to be living sacrifices. And that, as Pastor Robinson points out, is considerably harder. You have to keep living the sacrifice. You have to learn to lay things on the altar and — here's the real challenge — not pick them back up on your way out the door.
A living sacrifice requires ongoing surrender. It's not a single dramatic moment of commitment. It's a daily, embodied act of worship that plays out in how you use your time, your resources, your relationships, and your physical presence — including showing up to the assembly.
Circumcision of the Heart: The New Covenant Reality
To illustrate what it meant to "present your body" under the Old Covenant, Pastor Robinson unpacks the practice of circumcision. Every male who wanted to join Israel's covenant community — including adult Gentile converts called proselytes — was required to undergo circumcision as a physical sign of belonging to God. It was a costly, embodied act of commitment.
Then Paul arrives in synagogues across the ancient world with what amounts to a revolutionary announcement: you no longer need the physical surgery. The new covenant requires a circumcision of the heart — what the New Testament calls repentance and faith. Repentance isn't just feeling bad about sin; it's a genuine change of mind and direction. And faith is trusting Jesus as the fulfillment of everything the law pointed toward.
The "God-fearers" — Gentiles who were convinced of Israel's God but hadn't taken the full plunge into the covenant — finally had a way in. And that same door remains open today.
What Presenting Your Body Actually Looks Like
So what does this mean practically for followers of Jesus today?
- Show up. The church is an assembly. Presence matters. Worship is not a solo activity.
- Engage, not just observe. Sitting in a service is not the same as presenting your body as a living sacrifice. Come with a heart ready to obey, not just to learn.
- Surrender ongoing control. Living sacrifices don't climb off the altar. Areas of your life — finances, relationships, ambitions, habits — belong on the altar and need to stay there.
- Let theology lead to transformation. The point of understanding God's mercy is not intellectual satisfaction. It's the motivation to give yourself fully to him.
The mercies of God — the justification, the peace, the hope, the love poured out through Jesus Christ — are not just doctrines to affirm. They are the very reason Paul can beg us to surrender. When you truly grasp what God has done for you in Christ, presenting your body becomes not a burden but a reasonable, joyful response.
The church is being built. The question is whether you're showing up to be part of it.