Partner Through Membership
Series: Get on the Ship
Chuck Sligh
January 6, 2013
(A PowerPoint presentation for this message is available by emailing me at chucksligh@hotmail.com.)
TEXT: Acts 9:26 – “And when Saul was come to Jerusalem, he assayed [attempted] to join himself to the disciples: but they were all afraid of him, and believed not that he was a disciple.”
INTRODUCTION
This is the first sermon in a series titled, “Get on the Ship” that focuses on important local church issues and our responses to them. The titles of the messages are:
• Partner with GBC through MEMBERSHIP, today’s sermon.
• Support GBC through STEWARDSHIP next Sunday.
• Participate with GBC through OWNERSHIP the following week.
• And ending the series with Grow deep at GBC through FELLOWSHIP
Today I want us to look at what the Bible says about church membership. When Paul moved to Jerusalem for an extended stay, our text tells us that he attempted to join the church in Jerusalem. I believe this is teaching that when Paul moved to Jerusalem, he joined the church there.
Illus. – When I was a teen, there was a man in our church who would drop by church, then be gone for weeks on end, then show up again, over and over again. My dad encouraged him to be faithful and join the church. He said he would never join a particular local church because he was a member of the universal church. So he visited around different churches, wherever his whim took him.
This was pretty convenient, since there was no one from the universal church asking him to serve in a ministry and he didn’t have to tithe to the universal church. But when he went into the hospital, do you think the pastor of the universal church came to visit him? Were members of the universal church available to provide meals when he returned home?
No, it was a visible, local church that would have ministered in these areas were he united with one.
This morning I’d like to talk to you about uniting in fellowship with Grace Baptist Church through church membership. My hope is that if you’ve been one of those on the outside looking in, you’ll become a partner with us through membership in Grace Baptist Church. To help you here, I want to answer two critical questions about church membership:
I. FIRST, LET’S ANSWER THE QUESTION: WHY JOIN A CHURCH?
Some people don’t see the need to be united in the membership of a local church. They’re happy just attending and soaking up what a church has to offer. I can think of three reasons a believer should unite with a local church.
1) First, because it’s BIBLICAL.
If you’re looking for a verse that says, “Thou shalt join a church,” it’s not there. However, the New Testament clearly implies the CONCEPT of church membership, even if the word itself is not used. Some of this is outlined in one of the bulletin inserts, but very quickly, let me emphasize four biblical proofs of the idea of church membership:
• First, the whole New Testament concept of “church” implies the idea of membership.
The Greek word translated “church” is found 113 times in the New Testament. Only a few times does it categorically mean the “universal church”—that is, the body of Christ consisting of all believers in the New Testament age, including all those of all denominations alive today. About 90 percent of the references refer clearly to the LOCAL church—the VISIBLE manifestation of God’s people gathered in local assemblies for worship, witness, fellowship and service—like Grace Baptist Church.
Like Paul, throughout the New Testament, it’s just assumed that believers will unite themselves with local assemblies where they can interact with other believers, grow in faith, worship God and hear His Word taught.
• Second, the institution of church government in local New Testament churches implies they had some form of definite local church membership.
The consistent pattern throughout the New Testament was that each local body of believers was to be overseen by pastors or elders with specific tasks to shepherd God’s people (Acts 20:28; 1 Peter 5:2), labor diligently among them (1 Thessalonians 5:12), oversee them (1 Thessalonians 5:12; 1 Timothy 5:17), and watch over their souls (Hebrews 13:17). – These responsibilities presuppose a membership in the local church.
I should surely minister to all; but I have spiritual authority only over those who have submitted themselves to church membership.
On the other side of the coin, Scripture teaches that believers are to submit to their spiritual leaders. Hebrews 13:17a says, “Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves…” The idea is that every believer should be under the spiritual authority of church elders, or pastors. Tell me how you can be under accountability without being a member? What authority do I have over the visitors to our church this morning?—None, but I DO have spiritual authority over our members.
• Third, biblical church discipline and restoration implies church membership.
In Matthew 18:15–17, Jesus outlines the way the church is supposed to handle someone guilty of a major offense, the culmination of which leads to putting a rebellious member out of the church if they refuses to repent.
Now this is a rare occurrence if you follow Jesus’s teaching in this passage, but let me ask you: how can a church put someone “out” of the church unless he is first “in”?—and if Jesus here recognizes that some are “in” a church, as opposed to others who are “out,” how is that different from membership?
• Fourth, the example of the early church teaches church membership. Back then, coming to Christ was synonymous with coming into the church.
The idea of being saved without belonging to a local church is foreign to the New Testament. When individuals believed in Christ, they were baptized and “added to the church” (Acts 2:41, 47; 5:14; 16:5).
Also, Acts 18:27 and Romans 16:1 tell us that when a believer moved to another city, the church he was leaving wrote a letter of commendation to take to the new church, which is why churches customarily exchange church letters with members’ former churches if the church is of like faith and practice.
Douglas Millar states, “In the New Testament there is no such person as a Christian who is not a church member. Conversion was described as ‘the Lord adding to the church’ (Acts 2:47). There was no spiritual drifting.”
There are many other lines of evidence of church membership in the New Testament, but let’s move on.
2) The second reason I believe in church membership is that HISTORICALLY there was never a time in which churches didn’t have some kind of church membership.
At times it was loose and amorphous and at other times it was strict and defined. But the church has always understood the need of church membership in some form. So even as membership is biblical, churches have always recognized the necessity of church membership.
3) Third, I believe there are PRACTICAL benefits for church members. (These too are mentioned on one of the bulletin inserts which you can read in more detail later.)
• For one, church membership puts you under spiritual authority, clearly a biblical teaching. – It is a GOOD thing to have a spiritual authority watching over you, caring for your spiritual walk, challenging you when you’re going astray.
• Second, church membership gives you a vote in major church decisions.
• Third, church membership offers you greater opportunities for service and leadership. – There are many things you can do in our church without being a member, but positions of prominence or leadership and the teaching of our teens and adults require church membership for reasons we won’t detail here today.
So to summarize thus far: the New Testament itself; 2000 years of church history; and the obvious practical personal benefits all argue for church membership.
II. HAVING SAID THAT, WHAT KIND OF CHURCH SHOULD YOU PARTNER WITH IN CHURCH MEMBERSHIP?
Yes, you should be a member of a church…but how do you know which one to join?
Illus. – Here’s something somebody sent me in one of those funny emails titled: “The Top Five Reasons the Church You Are Visiting Might Not Be for You”:
• Reason Number 5 – The pastor refers to God on as “Jehovah” and constantly exhorts the congregation to “Witness.”
• Reason 4 – The cross behind the pulpit has been replaced by a bronze pyramid.
• Number 3 – New members are required to submit W-2s for the last 10 years.
• Reason Number 2 – The women’s quartet are all married to the pastor.
• And the Number 1 reason the church you are visiting might not be for you is (DRUM ROLL): The media refers to the church facilities as a “compound.”
Well, those would be pretty easy clues not to join one of those churches, but most churches wouldn’t be that far out in left field, would they? So how do you know what kind of church you should join? Let me share with you four BIBLICAL things to look for in a church:
1) Number 1 – Does it have a commitment to the Word of God as the ultimate source of truth and the answers to life’s problems?
This points to a church’s source of authority. If the church’s authority is the preacher, or a denominational creed, or a hierarchy—it’s on the shifting sands of man’s wisdom rather than the solid rock of God’s Word.
So look around, and listen, and watch:
• ¿Do the pastor and teachers read from the Bible?
• ¿Do they back up their teachings and beliefs from God’s Word?
• ¿Do members bring their Bibles to church and read along as the pastor reads the text and look up verses he refers to?
Along with this, you might want to examine the church’s doctrinal statement to see if their beliefs line up with the Bible, at least on the key biblical issues.
2) Second, does the church preach the Gospel to the lost, seek to reach them for Christ, and challenge its members to be witnesses for Christ?
In other words, is it evangelistic?
The Lord’s last command—the Great Commission—is the church’s FIRST PRIORITY!
You should check to see if the pastor’s sermons not only challenge believers, but also appeal to the lost.
• ¿Does the church train and encourage its people to witness?
• ¿Is there compassion and a burden for those who need Christ?
• ¿Do they support missionaries to send the Gospel to the rest the world?
3) Criterion number 3: Does the church show evidence of what we call “body life.”
That is, do you sense a love and warmth in the church body? Are they hospitable and friendly and welcoming? Are they carrying out the “one another” commands in the Bible…
• To love one another as a close family – Romans 12:10a
• To honor one another instead of themselves – Romans 12:10b
• To be likeminded, or in unity, with one another – Romans 15:5
• To accept one another – Romans 15:7
• To admonish one another – Romans 15:14
• To greet one another – Romans 16:3-6, 16
• To serve one another – Galatians 5:13
• To bear one another’s burdens – Galatians 6:2
• To bear with one another – Ephesians 4:2-3
• To submit to one another – Ephesians 5:21
• To edify one another – 1 Thessalonians 5:11
We want these things to be evident in every single learning/growing venue in our church, but it’s in our mid-week homegroups where you’ll see these in full display in our church, but that’s the subject for a later sermon.
4) Criterion number 4: Is the church committed to life transformation?
The Bible and Christianity are all about change and transformation in believers—the Bible word for which is “sanctification.” If you come and the preaching makes you feel uncomfortable about sin in your life, that’s not the preacher’s fault if he’s being true to God’s Word. Change your behavior and his preaching won’t bother you anymore!
Illus. – Suppose you’re driving your car and your oil light comes on. After awhile you get really irritated about that maintenance light—so irritated that you get out a hammer and SMASH the light out.
Uh…that wouldn’t be too smart, would it? The warning light is MEANT to annoy you to WARN you something BAD’S going to happen if you don’t take care of the problem. So you need to go to a repair shop and CORRECT the problem —not “kill the messenger.”
You see, I’m not up here preaching to fill your head with knowledge. Nor do we meet to sing a bunch of fun songs and feel better before we go home. We’re here to WORSHIP the Lord, and then to HEAR FROM the Lord, and finally, to OBEY the Lord. We’re here to find out WHAT to do and then DO it.
James 1:22 says, “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.”
Now if the preacher is preaching a bunch of man-made rules, that’s a different issue, but if he’s preaching God’s Word straight and making practical applications that hit home, DON’T SMASH THE WARNING LIGHT!—FIX THE PROBLEM!
So look for a church that CHALLENGES you to get out of the rut of shallow, apathetic Christian living to DYNAMIC TRANSFORMATION—
• One that CONFRONTS you about sin and hypocrisy.
• One that EXHORTS you to love God PASSIONATELY and to live for Him WHOLEHEARTEDLY.
• One that ADMONISHES you to be honest and just and upright and caring and compassionate and forgiving.
• One that ENTREATS you to be the right kind of spouse, child or parent.
• One that CHALLENGES you to stand for Christ and share your faith.
• One that PROMPTS you to minister to and serve others.
• One that REPROVES you for spiritual laziness and apathy.
• One that, shall we say—“steps on your toes.”
Look for a church with those four characteristics, and you’ll never go wrong. And folks, I believe that Grace Baptist Church has those four characteristics—not perfectly and not always consistently, but they’re present here and we’re constantly striving to be the right kind of church that pleases God.
CONCLUSION
Well, we’ve answered the questions, “Why join a church?” and second, “What kind of church should you look to unite with?” Over the following three weeks, we’ll look at some of the responsibilities and blessings of a local church.
So [PAUSE]…what should you DO with this week’s message? Let me challenge you to seriously pray about making Grace Baptist Church your church home while you’re stationed in Grafenwoehr by uniting with us in church membership.
There are three simple biblical qualifications to become a member of our church:
• First, that you know with certainty that you have been saved by God’s grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone.
• The second qualification is that you have been baptized by immersion AFTER you trusted in Christ as your Savior
• And third, that you are trying your best to obey the Lord in your life.
I invite you to prayerfully consider these things.
What if you don’t meet those three qualifications?—Then you need to do some business with the Lord this morning.
• Let me point out that becoming a member of a church of any kind will not do one thing to earn you forgiveness of sins or assure you of heaven.
The Bible says, “…the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord” (Eph. 2:8-9a). Eternal life is through Jesus Christ who died for your sins, not church membership or baptism. If you don’t have the assurance that your sins have been forgiven and that you are saved and have eternal life, I urge you to come to Jesus today.
• If you’re saved, but have never followed the Lord in believer’s baptism after your salvation, God wants you to make that public declaration of your faith in Christ by being baptized. – I invite you to come during the invitation and tell me your decision to be obey the Lord by being baptized, and I’ll give you some material to study and we’ll baptize you within a week or two.
• And if you’re not right with God; if there’s some sin you’re holding on to; if you’ve backslidden from the Lord, I assure you on the basis of the authoritative Word of God that if you turn from your waywardness and sin and confess your sin to God, He promises to restore you to fellowship with Him. Don’t leave here today until you’ve made the decision to be saved, baptized, right with God and united in fellowship with this local church.
