If all followers of Christ are part of the Universal Church, why do they need to be

committed to a local church?

Welcome to Radical with David Platt, and as always always you can find thousands of more resources at

our website radical.net.

The church should be defined by scripture not by its own ideas or even by the world.

In this message from David Platt, we see the building blocks of a biblical definition of a local church,

as well as the biblical imperative that every follow of Christ to be a committed

member of a local body of believers.

So here's David with a sermon titled, The biblical Marks of a Local church from Ephesians chapter 4.

If you have your Bible and I hope you do I want to invite you to open with me to

Ephesians chapter 4. I am increasingly convinced that the me-centeredness that is so prevalent

in our church culture today is in large part due to a deficient understanding of the essence

and the nature of what the church is about.

Imagine a situation with me.

Imagine a couple who starts coming to church, enjoys the music, likes the sermons.

After a few months, maybe even a year, the pastor, a church leader approaches them, maybe about joining the church.

Politely, the couple declines.

Pastor, the church leader, tries to throw out some programs

that would entice them to come.

Look what we have to offer.

The couple starts to feel a little pressured and starts to slip away quietly to another church where they can remain anonymous.

Or maybe, maybe one day they finally decide, you know, we're going to join a church. Maybe they have a family, they have children.

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