I Will Treasure Church Membership as a Gift

Membership: Burden, Entitlement, or Gift?

If church membership is a burden, I will grow to resent it.

If church membership is an entitlement, I will come to expect it.

If church membership is a gift, I will come to be thankful for it.

Membership is a gift, because it is an act of God.

Acts 2:47 ESV

praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

Membership is a gift, because salvation is a gift.

Ephesians 2:8–9 ESV

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Membership is a gift, because our opportunity to serve is a gift.

Ephesians 3:7–10 ESV

Of this gospel I was made a minister according to the gift of God’s grace, which was given me by the working of his power. To me, though I am the very least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to bring to light for everyone what is the plan of the mystery hidden for ages in God, who created all things, so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.

Membership is a gift, because being part of God’s eternal purpose is a gift.

Ephesians 3:11–12 ESV

This was according to the eternal purpose that he has realized in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access with confidence through our faith in him.

Two Questions

Does your behavior here demonstrate that you view your membership in this church as a precious gift?

What are you doing with this precious gift of church membership?

Romans 12:3–8 ESV

For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. 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. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.