Scripture
In May 1855, an eighteen-year-old boy went to the elders of a church in Boston. He had been raised in a Unitarian church, in almost total ignorance of the gospel, but when he moved to Boston to make his fortune, he began to attend a Bible-preaching church.
Then, in April of 1855, his Sunday school teacher had come into the store where he was working and simply and persuasively shared the gospel and urged the young man to trust in the Lord Jesus. He did, and now he was applying to join the church.
One fact quickly became obvious. This young man was almost totally ignorant of biblical truth. One of the deacons asked him, “Son, what has Christ done for us all – for you – which entitles him to our love?”
His response was, “I don’t know. I think Christ has done a great deal for us, but I don’t think of anything in particular as I know of.”
Hardly an impressive start. Years later his Sunday school teacher said of him: “I can truly say that I have seen few persons whose minds were spiritually darker than was his when he came into my Sunday school class. I think the committee of the church seldom met an applicant for membership who seemed more unlikely ever to become a Christian of clear and decided views of gospel truth, still less to fill any space of public or extended usefulness.”
Nothing happened very quickly to change their minds. The elders decided to put him on a year-long instruction program to teach him basic Christian truths. Perhaps they wanted to work on some of his other rough spots as well. Not only was he ignorant of spiritual truths, he was only barely literate, and his spoken grammar was atrocious.
The year-long probation did not help very much. At his second interview, there was only a minimal improvement in the quality of his answers, but since it was obvious that he was a sincere and committed (if ignorant) Christian, they accepted him as a church member.
Over the next years, I am sure that many people looked at that young man and, convinced that God would never use a person like that, they wrote off Dwight L. Moody. But God did not. By God’s infinite grace and persevering love, D. L. Moody was transformed into one of the most effective servants of God in church history, a man whose impact is still with us today.
The next two weeks I would like to address the subject of church membership. I would like to help you understand why church membership is important. D. L. Moody was effective in no small part, I am convinced, because he became a member of a local church and submitted himself to the pastoral care and shepherding oversight of the elders. That is what I would like to discuss this week.
Then, next week, I would like to help you understand which church you should join. I believe there are almost 300,000 churches in the USA today. How should a Christian decide which church to join? That is what we will discuss next week.
My approach to this subject is necessarily topical. Therefore, I will not be expounding a single text. Rather, I shall be looking at several different texts in the Bible.
Let me, however, turn your attention to Acts 2:42-47, where we read about the New Testament church in action. One thing that is noticeable is that church membership is simply assumed in the New Testament. Let’s read Acts 2:42-47:
"They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved."
Introduction
I regularly talk to people about church membership.
Sometimes the person has just become a Christian and wants to know what the next step in his spiritual growth should be.
At other times the person has just moved into the area and wants to know about membership in our church.
I always exhort members who have relocated to another area to find a new church to join.
I talk to covenant children about their membership responsibilities.
And I also talk to people for whom church membership does not seem to be a priority.
If you have been converted to Christ, you are responsible to become a communicant member of a true church of Jesus Christ. Church membership is a very serious issue for the Christian who wants to be obedient to Christ.
Lesson
Consider the following reasons why you should join a church.
I. The Command of Jesus Christ
The first reason why you should join a church is because of the command of Jesus Christ.
In Matthew 16:18 Jesus told his disciples, “I will build my church.” Later, after his resurrection, Jesus told his disciples in Matthew 28:19-20 – the passage we know as the Great Commission – to “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”
To become a disciple of Jesus Christ is to submit to him and to the authority of his Word. The first outward sign of submission as a disciple of Jesus Christ is baptism.
Baptism is the sign of incorporation into and identification with the church that Jesus is building. Jesus commands disciples to be baptized and thereby incorporated into and identified with his church (see Acts 2:41; Matthew 10:32; 1 Corinthians 12:27; 1 Peter 2:9; 4:16; Galatians 3:16-27; Hebrews 10:25).
The church is a divine institution that Jesus is building. Jesus commands that all of his disciples join the church upon their conversion.
The church is not a human institution that Christians may or may not decide to join. Membership in a local church – sharing in its privileges and responsibilities – is part of the initial commitment of every disciple of Jesus Christ.
Are you disciple of Jesus Christ? Jesus’ teaching is that if you are a disciple of his, you must join a church.
II. The New Testament Example
The second reason why you should join a church is because of the New Testament example.
The New Testament assumes the church membership of every convert. Conversion to Jesus Christ included being added to the church. There were no people who were converted but unattached to a church.
According to the New Testament, coming to Christ and coming to his church involves one step, not two. It is incorrect to see two unrelated stages where you first trust Christ and later decide whether or not you will join a church. It is better to see these actions as two aspects of our salvation.
We see this clearly described with the converts on the Day of Pentecost. After the apostle Peter preached his memorable sermon, the people in the congregation that day were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” Peter told them to “repent and be baptized.” That is, Peter told them to turn to Christ and to join the church. After further instruction, the Bible tells us that “those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day” (Acts 2:37-41). There is no question that these Christians saw their conversion and church membership as two aspects of their salvation.
In private, they turned to God and cried out to him to save them through the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ (Acts 2:41a; Luke 18:13).
In public, they professed their faith, got baptized, and became members of the church (Acts 2:41b; Matthew 10:32; Hebrews 10:25; 1 John 2:19).
If you have privately trusted Christ, you should publicly profess your faith in him. You do so by becoming a member of a local church and becoming active in the life of that church.
Membership is both assumed and practiced in the New Testament. The burden of proof for not joining a church really belongs to those who see no need to join a church. You see, the question is not, “What do I think about church membership?” but rather, “What does the Word of God teach about church membership?”
As you progress through the history of the New Testament church as recorded in the book of Acts, you will find that the Word of God teaches that the Christians were actively and fervently serving the Lord who saved them. How were they serving the Lord? In the church! Those first-century Christians did not distance themselves from the church of Jesus Christ, but became energetically involved in them.
For example, while the Christians were worshiping the Lord in the church at Antioch, the Holy Spirit did a wonderful thing. He called out from the church membership Paul and Barnabas as the first missionaries (Acts 13:2).
The great apostle Paul had faithfully served the Lord in the church of Antioch for approximately 10 years before he was called to go on his first missionary journey. He had grown in the knowledge and grace of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ in that local church. He developed in spiritual maturity and giftedness as a member of that local church. And when it was God’s timing, he was sent out to do a greater task as a member from that local church.
Acts 13 and 14 give an historical description of the activities of Paul and Barnabas as they preached the gospel to those who had never heard it, and an account of the people who were converted, including the churches that were started.
It is also interesting to note what the apostle Paul and his team did once they had traveled as far as they thought they should. They turned around, retraced their steps, and sought to strengthen the disciples who had settled into the local churches that Paul and Barnabas had previously started. As they strengthened the young Christians, the apostles ordained elders in each local church (Acts 14:23).
When the apostle and his team finished their first missionary tour, where did they go? They returned to the sending church in Antioch of which they were members and to which they were accountable. Once they arrived back home, they gathered the church together to give a report of what God had done through their ministry (see Acts 14:26-28).
All of this demonstrates that everything the apostles did was connected with churches. They did not start neighborhood Bible studies, share groups, Christian coffee houses, university student ministries, men’s prayer groups, ladies Bible studies, or any of the groups that circumvent or are not connected with God’s institution, the church. Nor did they work with mission agencies or other para-church organizations, but with visible bodies of baptized Christians, called churches. Every ministry must be connected to and under the oversight of a church or churches, if it is to be truly biblical.
As a Christian, do you desire to be faithful to the Word of God? Then you must be a member of a church just like the apostles.
III. The Church Is the Context for the Christian Life
The third reason why you should join a church is because the church is the context for the Christian life.
Especially in the western world, we live in a society that demonstrates a startling spirit of unbiblical individualism.
Emerson Colaw of Hyde Park Church tells about doing some work with his church’s nonresident membership list. He wrote a letter to one family that had been very active in his church.
A letter came back saying, “Mr. Colaw, we now live near a university campus and we go every Sunday to the chapel service there. They have unusually fine music – they have nationally known preachers every Sunday morning.” And she added a note he didn’t think necessary. “We had not heard such preaching as that before. The children are being taught in church school by seminary students.” And then she ended, “But the best of all there is no membership, no pledging, and no women’s society asking me to work. So if you don’t mind, we’ll just leave our membership at Hyde Park and continue to enjoy what we have here.” No involvement, no bother. No crosses.
Many Christians read their Bibles and think only in terms of themselves as individuals. But most fail to recognize that the bulk of the New Testament was not written to individual believers, but to local churches.
To whom were the books of Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians and Revelation written? To local churches!
To whom were the books of 1 and 2 Timothy, Titus and Philemon written? They were written to the leaders of local churches, directing them how to lead and govern their congregations.
Even those few remaining books that do not deal directly with local churches have numerous references to churches (see Hebrews 10:25; James 2:2; 1 Peter 4:17; 3 John 10).
The point is that the Bible knows nothing of a churchless Christianity. God has addressed his Word to Christians living out their faith in the context of a local church. It is in the context of a local church that Christians live and grow in Christ.
As a Christian, you must be a member of a local church, for that is the context God has ordained for your Christian life.
IV. The Benefits of Being a Member of a Church
The fourth reason why you should join a church is because of the benefits of being a member of a church.
God has given these benefits to help you grow as a Christian, to protect and keep you, and to encourage you in every way.
What are some of these benefits?
The first benefit of church membership is pastoral oversight. Pastoral oversight includes care for your life and soul, by elders who are called by Jesus to be his undershepherds. They are to “be shepherds of God’s flock” (1 Peter 5:2-3; 1 Thessalonians 5:12; Hebrews 13:7, 17).
These men of God will teach and guide you in the Word of God. As they do so, they will be used by God to lead you in Christian maturity and preserve you from falsehood and Satan. The church and its God-ordained leaders serve as a defense to guard you from apostasy and from going astray. Godly elders will assist you in growing in the knowledge and grace of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And they will be there as counselors and friends when you go into hard times and through difficult years.
A second benefit of church membership is fellowship. When you become a church member, you not only commit yourself to the church, but the church commits itself to you (see Acts 2:44-47).
James S. Hewett tells the story (in Illustrations Unlimited) of some friends who related an experience they had soon after they joined a new church. They had been assigned to a cell group in the congregation under the care of a church officer. They were excited about their new membership and really wanted to feel as though they were a part of the body.
The church, in an attempt to communicate their caring attitude toward new members, sent a letter that did everything but that. It began:
Dear ____________________
We want you to know that we’re concerned about you.
That is obviously the wrong approach! It does not really show a caring attitude.
When you join a church, one of the benefits is that you are able to enjoy the love and service of brothers and sisters in Christ. They will be there through good times and through bad times. And together you will walk side-by-side in the Christian life.
A third benefit of church membership is participation in the sacraments. Baptism is the sacrament of admission or entry into the church. The Lord’s Supper is the sacrament of communion for the Christian as you continue your walk with Christ as a member of his church (see 1 Corinthians 11:17-34).
A fourth benefit of church membership is church discipline. Discipline is impossible without church membership. Pastoral care and oversight is exercised over church members. Adherents, friends and visitors are not under the spiritual authority of the elders. If they fall into sin, they cannot be disciplined. But neither can they fully enjoy the benefits of church membership.
And a fifth benefit of church membership is ministry. Church membership provides the arena in which to exercise spiritual gifts. The local church is the context that grooms your service for Christ. That is why, according to Ephesians 4:7-15 (especially verse 11), “pastors and teachers” were given to the church. These men are called and sent by God “to prepare God’s people for works of service” in the church and in the world.
The church is like a school. It is a place where its members are equipped to serve God in this world. Opportunities for greater service do not come to the idle, but to those who faithfully perform their present duties in this God-appointed context and arena.
How can these benefits become a part of your Christian walk and spiritual growth if you are not a member of a church? They cannot!
Conclusion
These four reasons should be sufficient to convince you that you should join a church. Every aspect of your Christian life is vitally attached to church membership.
Sadly, many professing Christians neglect membership in a local church. When they do so, they struggle spiritually. Unnecessary trouble and sorrow are their constant companions. Those who have a casual connection to the church struggle all their lives. The world, the flesh and the devil constantly bombard them and they wonder why nothing ever seems to go right for them. They are like a coal that is removed from a fire. It will glow for a very short while, but soon, because it is not attached to the fire, will grow cold and die out.
You cannot expect to prosper spiritually if you disregard and remain unattached from that which God has ordained to be the community to which all Christians should be organically attached.
Therefore, make it your highest priority to find a biblical church and to become a member of that church. You will find blessing and grace as you become obedient to the teaching of God’s Word regarding your membership in a biblical church. Amen.
