Last week, we finished up the first part of the question that we have been examining over the past several weeks—what function do individual church members serve in the church and the community? Today, we begin to evaluate the second part—what function do individual church members serve in the community?

The same conclusion that we reached in the fi rst articles are still relevant to the second part of the question. Obedience to God is still and will always be necessary in any endeavor to be Christian. Therefore, in any study of God’s Word, learning obedience has to be the primary objective in order to learn from the study (Heb.5:8). The next conclusion from the first articles is—God both desires and deserves our worship; therefore, we must strongly desire to understand the requirements of God for His worship. The understanding of this concept is again primary to the understanding of Christianity, because it should drive us to desire to be approved of by Him. “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Tim. 2:15). Therefore, in order to understand our function in the community, we must have a strong desire to be approved of by God through rightly dividing His Word.

The fi rst responsibility of the individual church member in the community is to his/her own family. “And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord” (Eph. 6:4). Timothy’s mother and grandmother raised Timothy to have faith. They trained him to be a child of God (1 Tim. 1:5). It was after reminding Timothy of his mother’s and grandmother’s raising that Paul told him to “stir up the gift of God which is in you” (2 Tim. 1:6). It was because of proper training from Timothy’s mother and grandmother that God had not given him a “spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind” (2 Tim. 1:7). When parents raise children correctly, they give them a great gift that can be stirred up later in life to move them to wonderful spiritual accomplishments. This gift is a spirit of power and love and of a sound mind, which strengthens the church and through this, the community is also strengthened because of the Word of God.

A proper understanding of God’s Word given to children by their parents allows the children to make proper civic decisions later in life that will affect their community. “Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it” (Pro. 22:6). In Deuteronomy, God warned Israel to teach their children about His laws so that they do not forget Him. “And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children...then beware, lest you forget the LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage” (Deut. 6:6-7a, 12).

If parents do not teach their children, then they will forget about God and go after other gods, and they will forget what God has done for them and when they get old, they will depart from God. When this happens, laws such as homosexuality and abortion are implemented by children who cannot discern both good and evil and choose evil over good. “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the fi rst principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, for he is a babe. But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil” (Heb. 5:12-14). A Christian’s greatest responsibility to his community is to the proper raising of his children.

Just something to consider.