Good morning. Last week Pastor Steve talked a little bit about how we all have our preferences when it comes to where we sit. Personally I sit in a different spot most weeks…
And I have met lots of great neighbors. Sometimes though I wonder how YOU feel when one of the pastors sits with you. Well, no matter where you’re sitting, we’re glad you are here.
We are in a series called, Membership Matters. At the end of this series on March 26th those of you who have attended the series or have listened to or watched the services online, you will have an opportunity to join the church as a member. Those who are already ,members you will have the opportunity to reaffirm your membership.
The message today is based on a book written by Thom Rainer, titled, “I am A Church Member.” Thom is the President of Lifeway resources and spends a great deal of time researching all different kinds of churches!
So the points I’m sharing come from Thom Rainer. The rest of the sermon, that’s all me. Basically, the parts that are good…those are mine, the rest is Thom Rainer! No, seriously, His book really captures what I personally believe are characteristics of great church members. (slide)
We thought about buying you each a copy of “I am a church member” but most of you don’t even read the bulletin so what are the chances you’d actually read the book? So, instead I thought we’d talk about it here, this morning as a part of our series, “Membership Matters.”
If you look at people born before 1946 you would discover that 66% of those people are members in churches, somewhere, some kind of church. If you look at millenials, young people today, who were born in the 80’s and 90’s, you would discover that only 15% of them are church members. BIG difference there.
Often when we hear about such differences we tend to get into critical mode. The older generation might say something like: “Well, young people don’t respect the things of God like we did…” or the millenials might say something like: “Well back in that day people just believed what they were told, they didn’t question the church or authority.”
Today I want us to avoid the temptation to look at others and make judgments about what kind of members THEY are, instead I want each of us to look in the mirror and ask the question: (slide) “What kind of church member am I?”
I remember going to my first 6th grade basketball game as a parent. I had to continually remind myself, “Self control Art. Self control.” I wanted to yell when the ref’s made a bad call. I wanted to critique the subs who went in instead of one of my sons. I wanted to let them know that MY child is better than that other kid! But I was aware that how I behaved reflected well or poorly on my church and more importantly on my Savior.
As a church member you are part of a local body of believers and how you behave both in the community and in the church will reflect well or poorly on EWC. So I want to talk to you today about 6 characteristics of great church member.
Open your Bibles or your Bible apps or look up at the screen as we take a look at 1 Corinthians chapter 12, beginning in verse 12. (slide)
12 Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. 14 Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.
15 Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18 But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19 If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, but one body.
21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” 22 On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, 24 while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 25 so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26 If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. 27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.
I remember one year, when I was a young boy, a couple days before Thanksgiving my grandmother was getting the frozen turkey tout of the freezer and it fell and landed on my grandmother’s foot. My grandmother didn’t say a word and she told me not to say a word to my Dad about it. That’s just the way she was. So on Thanksgiving she is limping around the kitchen until finally someone asked, “What happened to your foot?” So she told them the story and the family made her sit down and they looked at her foot, it had started to change colors. And gangrene set in. And as a result of this crazy situation with the turkey, my grandmother lost 2 toes. One of them being the little toe. I don’t like my little toe! It seems like it is malformed. Kind of shoved up against the other toe. Ok, maybe I am a little self-conscious about my little toe. But, much of my life was spent in Maine so I wasn’t in front of lots of people in my bare feet…. Not as long a season for flip flops and sandals in Maine. What I’m saying is my little toe is NOT one of my body parts I get excited about. But what I learned as a young boy when my grandmother lost her little toe is the amount of influence the little toe has on your balance. I thought maybe without the little toe you’d just limp around a little bit for awhile. But my grandmother actually had to relearn to walk. The absence of one toe made a difference. Which leads us to point 1.
1. (slide) A Great Church Member is a Functioning Church Member.
There are lots of missing toes in the church. There are members who maybe have been missing, pretty much, from the life of the church. Maybe you became a member with the idea that you would get involved, get into the game, by your attendance, through your giving, and maybe you would use your abilities, talents, and get involved, find your niche. But here you are, some time later and you’re still watching from the sidelines. And for the most part, your impact, your influence, your contribution is missing.
If that is you, for whatever reason, I want you to know that not only are you missing, BUT your impact, influence and contribution are missed! We need you to be an active part of the body!
When I watch football on tv I am reminded that there are the glamorous positions. Like quarterback! He is like the center of attention. He’s the guy who gets the articles in Sports Illustrated. He gets the commercials and endorsements. Or the running back or the wide receivers. But it’s the other guys, the offensive linemen, the defensive linemen, those guys are in the trenches making it possible for the glamour guys to be successful at what they do.
Maybe you see your contributions as little toe and linemen stuff. Maybe you feel like you have nothing BIG to offer. Or feel like you’re not needed. But the truth is you all are needed! There are things that happen around here that you might never notice until someone points it out, but if the people who do those things stopped doing them, you would notice. You would miss their contribution.
Ok, participation time…turn to the person next to you and I want you to tell them sincerely, “You are needed!”
You know what has actually happened to me before? I have taken in members on a Sunday and never seen them in church again. The day after we accepted them as members they went MIA! Missing in attendance! I never could figure that one out! Why join a church and then never attend, never get involved, never contribute?
A healthy member is a functioning member! You have something to contribute, some way that you can make a difference. And YOU ARE NEEDED! And if you truly don’t know what you can bring, you have no idea what you can contribute, you need to make an appointment with me or Pastor Steve and we will help you plug in somewhere, where you can make a difference. We will find a place for you. And if the place we find isn’t the right fit, we will keep working at it until we get it right! Ok?
Speaking of getting it right, check this out (skit guys video)
2.(slide) A Great Church Member is a Unifying Church Member.
There’s a comic strip that would be funnier if it weren’t so poignant. The church secretary comes in to see the senior pastor, and informs him, “The good news is, we’re adding lot’s of new members. The bad news is, they’re the people who caused all the conflict over at First Church.”
In Charles Colson’s book The Body, there is a chapter entitled “Extending the Right Fist of Fellowship,” where Colson relates an event that took place in the Emmanuel Baptist Church of Newton, Massachusetts, when a church conflict actually broke out in a fistfight. Here is Colson’s description of that incident:
It was the right hook that got him. Pastor Waite might have stood in front of the Communion table trading punches with head deacon Ray Bryson all morning, had not Ray’s fist caught him on the chin two minutes and fifteen seconds into the fight. Waite went down for the count at the altar where most members of Emmanuel Baptist had first declared their commitment to Christ…
Within an instant the majority of the congregation converged on the Communion table, punching or shoving …the melee soon spilled over to an open space beside the organ…Mary Dahl, the director of Dorcas Society, threw the hymnal…the missile sailed high and wide and splashed down in the baptistery behind the choir… When Ray’s right hook finally took the pastor down, someone grabbed the spring flower arrangement from the altar and threw it high in the air in Ray’s direction. Water sprinkled everyone in the first two rows on the right side, and a visiting Presbyterian experienced complete immersion when the vase shattered against the wall next to his seat…The fight ended when the police arrived on the scene.”
When a church earns a reputation in the community for disunity, gossip, quarreling, back biting and factions, it’s ministry is get damaged, it’s impact for Christ gets diminished it’s light in the community grows dim and many times they never recover. That’s why the bible says If people are causing divisions among you, give a first and second warning. After that, have nothing more to do with them.” (Titus 3:10)
As members of EWC we need to be concerned about our reputation in the community and we need to ask ourselves am I contributing to that reputation. Am I a source of divisiveness or a source of unity?
Sadly one of the things many churches are known for is the disunity between church members. (John 13 - “So you must love one another, by this others will know you are my disciples, when you love one another.”) Many would never look at the church and think, “Wow, they sure do love each other.”
As Christians representing Jesus and as members representing EWC, we need to understand the impact the words we say as well as the ones we post on FB! FB is a not the place to get into foolish arguments with others because words have a tendency to get away from us and quickly escalate out of control. Pastor Steve is always reminding the staff that email and FB are for information not confrontation.
Think about who, and how many people see your FB posts. I want to challenge you when you go home today to look at your recent posts. Do they reveal your love for Jesus, others, and your church? Will people read what you post and come to the conclusion that you are a Christian because of the loving things you write? (slide) Ephesians 4:29 say do not let ANY unwholesome talk come out of your mouth but only that which is helpful for building others up … that it may benefit those who listen. A unifying member is positive and encouraging and uplifting.
They care about others and even put them first…which brings me to the 3rd point…
(Video - Me Church)
3.(slide) A Great church member knows that church is NOT about their personal preference or desires.
Everywhere you go people have a way they like things. People have a way they would do things if it were up to them. The problem in a church like in a family, everyone can’t have things like they want them.
You probably experienced that already this morning. Maybe in your Equip U class. “That is not the direction I would have gone.” or “I wish they had spent more time talking about this or that.” Others could sit through the same class and leave thinking, “That was the most life changing and spiritually challenging 45 minutes I have experienced in a LONG time! That was GREAT!” The same class.
Maybe it was in worship, “I really liked that song, or maybe for you it was, “That was NOT my favorite song. In fact, if they never sing that song again, that would be just fine by me!” Some of you think the sermon is too long and others think the sermon is too long! BUT it would be chaos if we tried to please everyone all the time!
We have become a culture that caters to individual needs to the point that we try to have products for every need, taste, and preference.
I went into the store the other day for shampoo and nearly had a nervous breakdown. Self conditioning, conditioner and shampoo mixed together, shampoo for thin hair, fine hair, coarse hair, normal hair, special shampoo for blondes…I’m sure there is a joke there somewhere…they even have scalp shampoo for those with NO hair!
We are a culture that caters to the consumer mindset that I should be able to get what I want the way I want it when I want it, where I wan it.
“Have this same attitude that was in Christ Jesus, who did not consider equality with God as something to be grasped but emptied himself, taking on the form of a servant…”
The word Serve or “Servant” is used 115 times in NT. This idea of serving others is all over the NT. Yet somehow the attitude many Christians have is it’s all about me!
Ever been told you have an attitude? Well, Jesus had an attitude. And we are to have the same attitude Jesus had! He humbled himself. He became a servant. It wasn’t about what He wanted it was about what God wanted. The closer we grow to God the more the things He wants become the things we want!
In the church we serve an audience of one and it not YOU! Before anything else we should first want to please God. What would EWC look like if we all decided we were going to have that same servant attitude? What if our efforts were spent trying to out-love and out-serve one another! The only way that begins to happens is if we all understand it’s not about me!
Let me ask you something; Are you coming to church expecting others to serve you or are you coming to serve them?
I want to talk to those of you who are newer to EWC. I had someone come to church once and they complained that we weren’t friendly, they said “I’ve come for 4 weeks and nobody’s spoken to me. I said really? They said that’s right I stood right over there against the wall like this. (fold arms and scowl at the people) really and no one talked to you?
Listen Church, we need to be good hosts to our guests! We need to welcome them and be friendly to them and serve them. And I think we do.
In fact I literally had someone who had only been here a few week tell me that Bonnie Baker is her new BFF.
But after a few weeks your not just a guest anymore, your family. Right? If you come to my house every week after awhile I expect you to make yourself at home. Thing change when you become family. Right? You start pitching in and serving others.
4.(slide) Great church members lead their families to be great church members. (Eph. 5)
How many of you here today have other family members here? Many of you, your family goes back many years in your connection to EWC, and others just have a long history as a family that attends church together. When you go to church it is a family thing. You have your family around you in worship, or at least when you come and when you leave you do it as a family. For many of you here church is a central part of the life of your family and your family is a central part of the life of your church.
For others here though when you come to church, it is tough because you’re reminded of who is NOT here.
Or you’re reminded of conversations you’ve had with family members and they just don’t get it. They don’t understand your deep connections to God and His church and it makes it tough.
There are others and at one point you had family members here with you, but then something happened, and now they’re gone. Spouses, or children, or other family members walked away from the church, maybe over some disagreement, or some hurt or perceived mistreatment...and now your commitment to God and the church is not something you mutually share.
Even if those things are true for you this morning, I want you to remember that even when things are not as we would want them to be, we still can work at building bridges and bringing others closer to God. We cannot lose the faith that God can heal and restore our family members to Him and to His church! Don’t give up.
Healthy church members know they have a God given responsibility to fold their family members into the life of the church. They’re parent’s who encourage their children and grandchildren to see the importance of church. They bring them, to church with them. They make church a priority in the life of their kids and teens.
I have to tell you, I’m amazed at the attitude some families have toward church and their children. We would never think of making school attendance optional or have a marginal commitment to their school attendance. We believe their educational development is important. And it is. Yet, when it comes to their spiritual development, we tend to settle for sporadic attendance and low commitment. Healthy church members lead their family members to become healthy church members.
5.(slide) Great church members Pray for their church leaders.
I am excited and encouraged by the culture of prayer we have around here. Every Sunday morning some of us meet in Pastor Steve’s office and run over the logistics of the service and we pray together.
That same morning, prior to Equip U several teams gather to pray for their specific areas of ministry. The Praise Team prays, the Adult teachers and children’s workers gather and pray.
During the week the staff meets and prays! Wednesdays at 11 am several men in the church gather here in the building and we pray together, for the church and for one another. There are weeks where I am certain that all those prayers keep us safe, blessed, energized and focused.
This morning I want to encourage you to pray, not only for all our church leaders, Pastor Steve and I appreciate your prayers, but also pray for our 4 E Directors and for our teachers and for each person who leads in ministry.
1 Timothy 3 lists qualifications for a church leader. Listen to this list: (slide)
“Whoever aspires to be an overseer desires a noble task. 2 Now the overseer is to be above reproach,
Paul starts right off with a tough one. If you want to know what that means, imagine I came and told you of a scandelous story That just happened here in town. What person, what name can you think of, that if I mentioned them as a part of the scandal, you would simply not believe it? To you that person is above reproach. You simply could not imagine them doing something immoral or unethical. A few years ago someone I know very well was accused of some improper behavior by an elderly woman who was experiencing the onset of dementia…
Paul goes on…(slide) faithful to his (their) wife (spouse), temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, 3 not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. 4 He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him, and he must do so in a manner worthy of full[a] respect. 5 (If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God’s church?) 6 He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited and fall under the same judgment as the devil. 7 He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil’s trap.”
If you would be willing to pray on a consistent basis for the leaders of this church, this list in 1 Timothy 3 is a great place to star. You could pray for each qualification, that God would our leaders the power for instance to live a life above reproach, that God would help them to be faithful in their marriage (or if they’re single, to be pure and faithful in their relationships…you could just go down the list and pray for each quality to be evidenced and nurtured in their lives.
The spiritual lives, the spiritual health of our leaders is key to the effective ministries of the church! If we want a spiritually healthy church we need to have spiritually healthy leaders! And one way we can move in that direction is to pray for our leaders!
Finally, number 6…
6.(slide) Great Church Members Treasure Church Membership as a Gift.
There is a world of difference between “Have to” and “Get to”. And really the primary difference between the two is this HUGE thing called attitude! Attitude makes all the difference.
Imagine you joined a country club. The reason you join a country club is so you can enjoy the benefits of belonging. You get to use the facility, make friends, go to special club events. It is really all about what you get. In fact, if the club president came to you and asked you to help out with something around the club you might do it, but only out of a sense of obligation. But you also might resent being asked.
When people see the church like a country club they are joining because of what they get out of it. The pastor is to feed them from the messages each week. They expect the music to fit what they are looking for, the programs and ministries are for their benefit. They are members who expect perks, privileges and service. When they are asked to contribute to the work of the church, like serve one week in the nursery or help out in children’s church, they may reluctantly serve once or twice, but it won’t last. Or they will get angry when asked. Some respond, “We did our time in our earlier years.” Like serving is some kind of prison sentence. Some might even whisper, “I thought that’s what we paid our pastor to do?”
But there is another attitude, it’s the attitude that sees church membership as a gift, something to be treasured. To these healthy members they see that they have an opportunity to serve rather than an obligation.
They see that they get to serve, not that they have to serve.
So, how do you see your membership? Healthy church members recognize that the church needs people who will step up and accept responsibility not looking for membership privileges. They give of their time, talents and resources because they get to help. That’s why they joined in the first place! God has given us this incredible gift, the church, and then an invitation to be a part of His body here on earth! We are the church! We are a part of His kingdom work here and now that has eternal rewards and blessings. How awesome that we have been invited to partner with God in bringing the good news of Jesus to our community through this church!
So, that is what a healthy church member looks like. As you have looked in the mirror, what have you seen? Are there areas you need to work at it maybe a little bit more? Do you feel good about what you see? What characteristic is God talking to you about this morning? Are you ready to reaffirm your membership again in a couple week, or to cross the line from spectator to member? For EWC to be all it can be, each one of us needs to be all we can be.
Let me pray for you…Closing prayer.
