Truth be told, people are not afraid to submit. They just want to submit to beauty, like the valiant hero who submits himself to rescuing damsels in distress.
What’s unexpected about Christianity is that its hero doesn’t risk all for a damsel but for what the Bible likens to a harlot. Then he calls everyone that he save to submit themselves to this same harlot – the Bride still being made ready, the Church.
Now, submitting to ugliness does scare people. And that’s what submitting to the local church can be. Churches are filled with other sinners whose visions of glory contradict our own. But this is how Christ loved us: “Just as I have loved you you also are to love one another” (John 13:34).
Christ’s love wonderfully transforms the ugly into the beautiful (See Ephesians 5:22-31). Our love for one another should do the same thing – help the ugly become beautiful.
Who can love in this way? Only the ones whose eyes have been opened and whose hearts have been freed from the slavery of loving this world: “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed ” (John 8:36). (Church Membership, p. 102-103.)
Do yourself a favor and buy this book. You haven’t read anything like it.
A Pilgrim's Friend 