Biblically, to be in Christ is synonymous with being in the Body. This Body is the church. Most of us, when we think about church, think about local church. At best when we think big picture thoughts about church it is in some non-tangible, spiritual form. My wife and I talk about this from time to time and marvel (sadly) that religions that don’t have the Spirit of God are nevertheless at least as unified outwardly - if not more so - than those of us who have denominated ourselves and yet claim some sort of profound inner, spiritual connectedness in Christ.
Could it be that our preaching for the past centuries has been so focused on a personal, individual relationship with God (Jesus) that we have completely excluded the idea of our common life being found in belonging to the same justifying system – the kingdom of God? In other words, are we so wary of anything that smells of obligation to one another because we consider it a legalism that might take away from our "personal" (read private) relationship with Christ?
