On Membership (Part One) Series

On Membership (Part One)

Text: Romans 12:4-5, 1 Corinthians 12:12-27

WELCOME AND GREETINGS

Well Church, today, and next Sunday we’re going to be talking about membership, and why membership matters.

So first of all, let me just put this out there. Fairview Fellowship Church is a new church. You are no longer Methodists. Just like Martin Luther did for the Catholic Church, during the Protestant Reformation, you have prayed and prayed for that denomination. You have petitioned, and argued against their drift towards liberalism, heresy, and their approval and acceptance of immorality. They have ignored the pleas of their people, and have continued their path, and are rushing headlong toward apostasy. You have been obedient to the Biblical teaching to wipe the dust from your feet. And you have followed the example of our Lord Himself. We see that example in Luke 19:41-42 where it says when Jesus drew near to the city of Jerusalem He wept over it, saying, “Would that you, even you had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.”

So you are no longer Methodists. I am no longer a Southern Baptist. Like Martin Luther did for the Catholic Church during the Protestant Reformation, I have prayed and prayed for that denomination. I have petitioned, and argued, and written papers, and debated others against their shift towards liberalism, and heresy, and their approval and acceptance of Marxist philosophies and ideas.

And so like I said, we are a NEW CHURCH. We are a gathering of called out, Bible believing Christians, who have chosen to gather in this place – AS THE CHURCH, and to serve God, love God, and live for God together.

And for all intents and purposes, this is not only the History of Christianity, but the Christian heritage. Those first believers, the Apostles, the Disciples, those first believers. They were called out of Judaism as they were saved by faith in Jesus Christ. They were no longer Jews, but became Christians. And then as Paul, and Peter, and James, and John, and Matthew, and Andrew, and all the others went out, and began sharing the Gospel, and more and more people were added to the Church, they too were called out from what they previously were, into the ONE TRUE FAITH. Some were Hellenistic Pagans. Some were Jewish, some were following the false gods of Egypt, or Ethiopia, or they Mystery Religions of Asia Minor. But they were called to faith in Christ, and in Christ alone.

And then down through the course of history, you had men like Martin Luther, and John Calvin, and John Knox, and Zwingli, and Hus, and Theodore Beza, and the other Protestant Reformers, who saw the error of the Catholic Church, and were called out, to the ONE TRUE FAITH. Not faith in the institution, or in the sacraments, but faith in Jesus Christ alone. They said that the Scriptures alone are our one true guide for all matters of faith and practice! They said that they were saved by God’s grace alone. Through faith alone. In Christ alone, and that it was all to the glory of God alone. THE 5 SOLAS, Sola Scriptura, Sola Gratia, Sola Fide, Sola Christus, Sola Deo Gloria!

And then down further through history, the Puritans and Pilgrims said, “The Church of England has become corrupt, and is no longer following Scripture, or the God of Scripture.” And even Wesley came out of the Anglican tradition… and later on Spurgeon warned against, and preached against, and did battle against what became known as the Downgrade Controversy, which was an attack on the reliability and sufficiency of Scripture.

My point is – we have a long history of men and women, who loved God, and who stood on the Word of God, and would not be moved by the philosophies of the age in which they lived in. But instead said, “Here I stand! I can do no other! So help me God!”

This is why we are here. We as a Body of Believers have been brought to this place for such a time as this to say, “We will not bow our knee to the god of this age. We will only bow to our Lord and King Jesus Christ! We will not be led astray by worldly wisdom and the vain philosophies of man.”

ON CHRIST THE SOLID ROCK WE STAND! Because we know ALL OTHER GROUND is sinking sand.

And that brings us to where we are, and to this issue of membership.

So where does this idea of membership come from? Well… it comes from the Bible. Turn with me to Romans 12:4-5, “For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.”