Church Covenant Part 4 - The Importance of Membership - Doing Church the Right Way

Introduction

Good morning Church. Today we come to the final message in our series on the Church Covenant.

We started at the beginning of July looking at this Church Covenant and so far we have seen how most importantly, in paragraph 1, if you intend on being a Church Member, you need to be saved.

If you are not saved, most of what takes place on Sundays is going to feel foreign to you.

You might enjoy the singing but the Sunday School lessons won’t make the most sense, the preaching is probably going to feel boring or uninteresting and the fellowship to you is going to be non existent because the things saved people enjoy talking about and doing probably won’t be the same things you enjoy talking about and doing and you will more than likely find it hard to fellowship with believers!

That’s why there’s an order to Church Membership and the first and most important detail is that you need to be saved and born again.

Secondly, we looked at a list of things we commit to doing as a Church Member but the important part of the second paragraph is the fact that in order to be the Church Member God has called us to be, we need some help from above, amen!

We need, as the covenant says there, some aid from the Holy Spirit in order to walk together in Christian love.

You try walking the Christian walk on your own without the aid of the Holy Spirit, you’re going to find out really quickly that it’s impossible to do!

We born again believers need help from above in order to strive for the advancement of the Church, in knowledge, holiness, and comfort; to promote it’s prosperity and spirituality; to sustain it’s worship, ordinances, discipline, and doctrines; to contribute cheerfully and regularly to the support of the ministry, the expenses of the Church, the relief of the poor, and the spread of the gospel through all nations!

Then, last week, we looked at paragraph 3 and the importance of Advancing the Kingdom through our individual lives outside the Church.

Basically our home life and what we are doing there to advance the Kingdom of God.

The Covenant says, we also engage to maintain family and secret devotions; to religiously educate our children; to seek the salvation of our kindred and acquaintances; to walk circumspectly in the world; to be just in our dealings, faithful in our engagements, and exemplary in our deportment; to avoid all tattling, backbiting, and excessive anger; to abstain from the sale of and use of destructive drugs or intoxicating drinks as beverage; to shun pornography; to be zealous in our efforts to advance the Kingdom of our Savior.

And finally, today we are going to be finishing out our Church Covenant by looking at the last two paragraphs and the title I’ve given to today’s message is...The Importance of Membership - Doing Church the Right Way.

So, if you will, please direct your attention to our TV up here or if you have eyes like an eagle and want to follow the Covenant on the wall you are more than welcome to do so.

Read last two paragraphs of Church Covenant.

Lean on me movie clip

How many of you remember that movie from back in the day?

Great movie wasn’t it?

They don’t make many great movies like that anymore.

Now, I know some of you probably think I’m crazy for playing that and may even be asking yourself… “Bro. Bobby has lost it! What in the world does that have to do with our message today?” But the reality is, it has everything to do with the message today.

I want you to think about those lyrics for just a moment.

Sometimes in our lives We all have pain We all have sorrow

But if we are wise We know that there's always tomorrow

Lean on me When you're not strong And I'll be your friend I'll help you carry on...

For it won't be long Till I'm gonna need somebody to lean on

Please swallow your pride If I have things you need to borrow

For no one can fill Those of your needs that you won't let show

You just call on me brother when you need a hand We all need somebody to lean on

I just might have a problem that you'll understand We all need somebody to lean on

Lean on me When you're not strong And I'll be your friend I'll help you carry on...

For it won't be long Till I'm gonna need somebody to lean on

If there is a load you have to bear That you can't carry

I'm right up the road I'll share your load If you just call me

Now listen Church, that song was written by Bill Withers in 1972 and had nothing to do with Church or Church Membership but the premise behind it is right in line with what our Church Covenant just talked about.

Listen, we’ve been talking about Church Membership the entire month of July and if there’s one thing I hope you take away from these lessons it’s this…Church membership isn’t about a me, myself and I mentality.

What am I getting out of the Church? What is it that the Church can do for me?

But rather Church membership is about the sense of community; the sense of belonging; the sense of family and friendship!

If you join a Church for what the Church can do for you, you’re joining it for the wrong reason!

But if you join the Church with the mindset of what can I do for my local Church to be a blessing to someone, then in turn you will receive a blessing out of serving in your local Church!

And the thing I want you to understand today is that Church Membership is important!

Now, I just mentioned you shouldn’t join for the wrong reason, the me, myself and I reason, but what I do want you to see this morning is how big of a blessing Church Membership can be when done the right way.

The most important thing to realize when you become a Church Member, if the body of believers are doing Church the right way is this…you will never be lone!

Look at that 4th paragraph there with me.

Read paragraph 4 again.

Someone tell me in that paragraph, how much of it is about me, myself and I?

0!

It’s all about those around me!

When we become a Church Member, we join a family and listen friend, if you are where I’m from, family members are there for one another, amen!

Now, you may be saying, “well preacher that all sounds good and well but we ain’t related.”

But you see if you have been born again we are related and technically we’re blood related, amen!

If you’ve been born again by the precious blood of Jesus Christ, we are brothers and sisters in Christ, amen!

Those who have trusted in Jesus are all washed by the same blood…His blood!

The same blood that washed away my sins is the same blood that washed away your sins, amen!

We are now family and if family, we ought to be there for one another, amen!

We further engage to watch over one another in brotherly love; to remember one another in prayer; to aid one another in sickness and distress; to cultivate Christian sympathy in feeling and Christian courtesy in speech; to be slow to take offense, but always ready for reconciliation and mindful of the rules of our Savior to secure it without delay.

When I read this last section here, I couldn’t help but to think of Galatians Chapter 6 Verses 1-10.

NLT — “Dear brothers and sisters” — who is Paul talking to here?

The Church, amen.

That word “overtaken” is the Greek word (prolambanō) and it carries the idea of being caught off guard.

This isn’t talking about the person who is knee deep in sin and has been and are just sorry for getting caught. No, it’s speaking of a brother or sister who has fell into the snares of the devil. Someone who has fallen into the snares of sin unawares.

The word “fault” simply means a sin or trespass.

“Restore” — Greek (katartizō) — "to mend, to furnish completely," it speaks metaphorically, of the "restoration," by those who are spiritual, of one overtaken in a trespass, such a one being as a dislocated member of the spiritual body. The tense is the continuous present, suggesting the necessity for patience and perseverance in the process.

John Phillips — The Greeks used the word to describe the action of a physician setting a broken bone. Such a procedure called for knowledge, skill, and care. It was not a task for just anyone. Mishandling of a fracture could make it worse.

Listen Church, if a brother or sister falls into a sin, we who have the Spirit living in us are to help that person get back to where they need to be with God and also help them any way we can to overcome the sin they’ve fallen into.

The Covenant says, “we further engage to watch over one another in brotherly love”.

We learned last week that word “engage” means to pledge or commit to something, right?

As members we are to be committed to one another in the good times and the bad.

You don’t kick another member when their down. You don’t run around town or the Church talking about them behind their back.

No, you reach down in the muck and the mire and you lend them a helping hand to get out of the mess they’ve gotten into.

And there’s a reason for that this morning Church....because look what it says next there… “restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.”

If you ain’t careful, and you’re running around talking about their problem to everybody and their brother, you just might be the next one who is overtaken in a fault!

Then, look what Paul says next.

“Bear ye one another’s burdens and so fulfil the law of Christ.”

“Bear” — literally means to lift up.

When we see a brother or sister in Christ weighed down because of a burden they are bearing we aren’t supposed to just wish them the best of luck and move on...

No, we are to bear that burden with them!

And in so doing we will be fulfilling the law of Christ.

Do you know what the law of Christ is?

Who can tell me?

The law of Christ is love!

Matthew 22:37–40 KJV 1900

37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

Paul told the Corinthians in what’s come to be known as the love chapter....

1 Corinthians 13:13 NKJV

13 And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

And then he told the Romans in...

Romans 5:5–8 KJV 1900

5 And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. 6 For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. 8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Holy Spirit Move!