10 REASONS TO BE A FAITHFUL COMMITTED CHURCH MEMBER
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR: TREEMENNDOUS Puppy For Sale--$5,000.
1. A little boy asked a salesman how to sell his puppy. He told him to put out advertising and make the price a little high so he could negotiate down to the price he wanted.
2. The salesman passed the boy’s house the next day and saw a large sign saying, “TREEMENNDOUS Puppy For Sale--$5,000. The salesman thought, “He’ll never get an offer with that price!” But returning home that night he was shocked to see the word "SOLD" written across it in big letters.
3. The salesman couldn’t believe it. This kid couldn’t have sold the dog for $5,000. His curiosity got the better of him and he rang the boy’s doorbell. The salesman blurted, "Son, you didn’t really sell that dog for $5,000, did you?"
4. The boy replied, "Yes, sir, I did and I want to thank you for all your help." The salesman said, "How in the world did you do it?"
5. The boy replied, "Oh, it was easy. I just took two $2,500 cats in exchange!"
B. DO WE NEED CHURCH?
1. I've had people tell me that they’re Christians but that they don't need to attend a church. To them, church is optional.
2. This message is about the 10 Reasons Why You Need to be a Faithful Committed Church Member.
C. IMPORTANCE OF THE CHURCH
1. THE CHURCH IS NO SIDESHOW, BUT IT’S GOD’S MAIN PROGRAM FOR THE AGES.
2. Jesus said, “I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it!” Matt. 16:18.
3. How does Jesus picture His Church?
a. A Church… trying to “hold on” until He Comes?
b. A Church… which is intimidated?
c. A Church… struggling to overcome worldliness?
d. A Church… struggling to stay alive?
4. NO! Rather, a Victorious Conquering Church!
5. The Church is called “Ecclesia” – the “called-out ones;” The “Body” of Christ, of which Jesus is the head; it’s “God’s Building.”
6. 10 REASONS YOU NEED TO BE A FAITHFUL COMMITTED CHURCH MEMBER:
I. JESUS DIED FOR THE CHURCH
1. Paul said, “...shepherd the Church of God which He purchased with His own blood” Acts 20:28. Jesus didn’t die for individuals, He died for the Church!
2. So Jesus didn’t just die for you; He died for the Church (Isa. 49:6). You and I aren’t supposed to be independent of that.
II. TO UNDERSTAND GOD’S WILL
1. “His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms...” Eph. 3:10-11.
2. The Church, as a whole, is more likely to get God’s will right than lone individuals. On Game shows, when the contestants can’t get the answer, the host turns to the audience and 99% of the time the majority get the answer right. It’s the same way in spiritual things; it takes all of us together to get an accurate view of God.
3. Peter said “that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation...” 2 Pet. 1:20-21. The Bible says, “Every matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses” 2 Cor. 13:1. Why? Because one isolated witness is not sufficient; it takes the communities’ witness.
III. THE CHURCH = THE BRIDE OF JESUS
1. At the Rapture, Christ is NOT coming for individual believers, but for His Bride, the Church.
2. “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her….that He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but…holy and without blemish.” Eph. 5:25, 27. “For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and His bride has made herself ready” Rev. 19:7.
3. How can we say we love the Groom – Christ – if we don’t love His Bride?
4. Some of you look about as excited as a sister’s kiss or Spam for Sunday lunch!
IV. INVOLVEMENT COMMANDED & MODELLED
1. We’re commanded by the apostles, “not [to] neglect our own congregational meetings, as some have made a practice of doing, but [meet] all the more as you see the Day approaching.” Heb. 10:25. CJB.
2. It was the New Testament pattern. The Lord Jesus went to church each week; “AS HIS CUSTOM WAS,” Lk. 4:16. The Early Church "devoted themselves to... Fellowship.” "Every day they continued to meet together" Acts 2:42-47. They knew the church was vital to accomplishing God’s will.
3. The American Church is in serious danger of decline due to the misplaced priorities of Christians.
4. God said, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. SIX days shall you labor, and do all your work: but the SEVENTH day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God” Ex. 20:8-10.
5. “If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day” (Isa. 58:13), then you’ll have the blessing of the Lord!
V. THE CHURCH GIVES US PROTECTION
1. Wolf packs always try to separate out one animal from the herd, because there’s strength in numbers. It’s easy to overwhelm a single person. Satan uses that same method.
2. “Two are better than one…If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the one who falls and
has no one to help them up. Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves” Eccles. 4:9-10,12.
3. If we’re part of a church, the enemy can’t isolate us as easy. We get encouragement from others and they notice if we’re down or start to drop out. They come help lift us up. We need to belong!
VI. PERFECTING OF THE SAINTS
1. The Five-Fold Ministry outlined in Eph. 4:11 was given “to equip His people for works of service, so that the Body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ” (4:12-13).
2. God didn’t give pastors, evangelists, etc. in vain; they are necessary for our perfecting. Without them the Body of Christ will not attain its full stature, nor will we as individuals.
3. We need the Church, to become what God wants us to be.
VII. EACH PERSON HAS A FUNCTION
1. Paul said that the Body of Christ is a body, where every member is necessary.
2. 15 “Now if the foot should say, ‘Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body’ [or] 16…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. 20 there are many parts, but one body” 1 Cor. 12:15-20.
3. As individual believers, we have an obligation to the Body. It can't work properly without you. We are all mystically part of the great organism of the Body of Christ.
4. Until each member gets in his/her place and begins working, the Body will be at least partially disabled.
5. Also, you cannot function without the rest of the Body; you need us so that you can grow and mature and be more effective for God; growing in the fruit and gifts of the Holy Spirit.
6. You have one of the Ministry Gifts – “PROPHECY, SERVING, TEACHING, WISDOM, EXHORTING, GIVING, MERCY, TONGUES, HELPS, GOV’TS, FAITH, HEALING, MIRACLES, INTERCESSOR, DISCERNING, KNOWLEDGE, ETC.”
7. Your contribution is necessary for the Church as a whole to grow to maturity.
VIII. TO LEARN SUBMISSION TO AUTHORITY
1. Paul said, “Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities…the authorities that exist have been established by God” Rom. 13:1. The Church is one of the authority structures God set up.
2. Even Jesus had to learn submission (Heb. 5:7). Submission means to do the will of another, especially God.
3. Pride is one of Satan’s greatest tools. Rebellion is the outcome. Humbling ourselves breaks our pride and lessens the ability of the devil to get us to harden our hearts and do what WE want to do.
4. That’s why Peter said, “Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders....for ‘God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’” 1 Pet. 5:5, NKJV.
IX. TO PAY TITHES/ OFFERINGS
1. “Will a man/woman rob God? Yet you rob me. “But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’ “In tithes and offerings. You are under a curse…because you are robbing me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this…and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it” Mal. 3:8-10.
2. We “tip” the waitress, but should “tithe” to God. Tithes = 10% of income. It’s a N.T. function as well as O.T.; Matt. 23:23; 1 Cor. 9:13-14; 16:1-2; Gal. 6:6. Just as the Levites lived off the tithes, so do ministers live of the Gospel today.
3. When we don’t pay tithes, we rob God.
X. FULFILL THE GREAT COMMISSION
1. The reason the 300 churches of our movement got together 100 years ago was to combine their monies to send out missionaries.
2. We now have the largest missions force on earth, with 600,000 witnesses/ preachers and we’re the largest protestant group with 68 million adherents – in 100 years! It’s a testament to the Holy Spirit’s power!
3. Yes, you can witness by yourself, but NO great ingatherings of souls have been sustained without some kind of an organized church. (Ex.: Whitefield vs. Wesley)
4. Jesus said, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” Mt. 28:18-20.
5. Either you have to go, or you have to send someone in your place!
WHAT’S SO GREAT ABOUT THIS CHURCH?
1. Most churches in our town are cessationists – they don’t believe God still works supernaturally today. They deny the gifts of the Holy Spirit. We believe in the Full Gospel! We believe the Book of Acts is still being written!
2. Our church is blessed with a successful Christian school that reaches 100 kids every day.
3. Our church has great outreaches to young people, including girls & boys scouting programs, junior & senior high youth, & to college students.
4. Our church has many adult outreaches – Bible studies, Ladies’ Conference, coffees, fellowship groups that meet weekly or monthly. Also...
5. Our church gives over $100,000 to missions each year, and in the last 25 years we’ve given more than $2.5 million. I’m sure no other church in Huntsville can say that!
6. WE HAVE AN AWESOME CHURCH!
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION: ONLY JESUS CAN CHANGE A PERSON INSIDE
1. Margaret Sangster, a social worker, told about seeing a small boy in an urban ghetto. He’d been hit by a car months before, but his parents were too poor to get him proper medical attention.
2. She took the boy to an orthopedic surgeon and learned that through a series of operations the child’s body could be made normal again.
3. She cut through the red tape, raised the funds, and set the process in motion. 2 years later the boy came to her office.
4. To her astonishment, he walked in without crutches, and to show the completeness of his recovery, he turned a cartwheel for her. The 2 embraced and when the boy left, Margaret reported that a warm glow filled her office.
5. She said to herself, “If I never accomplish anything else in my life, at least here’s one young man to whom I can point where I have made a real difference!”
6. 10 years later, Sangster asked, “Where do you think that boy is today? School teacher, a physician, a social worker?”
7. “No, he is in the penitentiary for one of the foulest crimes a human being can commit.” She said, “I was instrumental in teaching him how to walk again, but there was no one to teach him where to walk.”
8. WHY IS THE CHURCH NECESSARY? BECAUSE A SOCIAL PROGRAMS CAN NEVER CHANGE A PERSON ON THE INSIDE!
9. People have to have Jesus; He alone can change evil hearts into hearts of love and humility. He turns cowards into courageous; zeroes into heroes; losers into choosers!
B. THE CALL
1. We ought to be living as if Jesus died yesterday, rose this morning, and is coming back this afternoon.
2. If Satan can't make you bad, he'll make you too busy to go to church. I want to ask you to make a commitment to be in God’s house on God’s Day.
3. Salvation Call.
