"What Kind of Member Are you? The Idea Church Member"

The Ideal Place

Ever since the instruction to the Israelites to build the tabernacle and temple, the idea of a central place to worship God has remained. The tabernacle and temple were not to be viewed as the geographical center of Israel; they were also intended to be the spiritual center of Israel. Like the spokes of a wheel that fan out from the hub, what occurred at these worship centers was to affect every aspect of Israelite life. The church today, is not site specific. Through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 3:16), we no longer go to church, but we are the church, and this should affect every aspect of the believer’s life. However, even though there are parts of our faith that are highly individualistic, there are still biblical grounds to gather together in worship, encouragement, and fellowship.

Everyone seeks the ideal place for worship, but do they seek to be the ideal member? What kind of member are you? Are you the same, better, or worse member than yesterday? Five years ago? Ten years ago? Twenty years ago? If you are honest with yourself, you are not the same member that you once were. There are some who have not matured as members since they’ve joined the church, yet they seek to keep things the same rather than pushing forward towards the new season. I am sure that some have retired from serving God and rest on their laurels. The truth of the matter is that the modern day “church” or congregation is comprised of the parents who served with all their heart, and the kids promised themselves they would no be like their parents. The phrase “when I get grown, I’m not going to church” is uttered by some 18 year-olds after graduation. My question is not why are not going to church, but when are we going to be the “church?” Two questions for you as we matriculate through this message: (1) What kind of member are you? (2) Do you think you can become a better member. Many won’t answer these questions honestly because it requires taking a deep look and often accountability for their own actions. Also, some believe that they are the perfect member, and they don’t need to change. The art of blame shifting, deflection, member manipulation, and projection are rampant in the church, but we chalk it up to “they’ve always been like that.” Just because someone has been like that, it doesn’t mean they should stay like that. It is difficult to curate the ideal place when we can’t grow the ideal people. Even the most perfect “church” has some “imperfect people,” and even with imperfect people God continues to keep the church growing and thriving The place of worship is just that the place where gather to collectively to worship, but its not ideal because of its beauty, budgets or location; it’s ideal whether bad or good is a reflection of the people that gather to worship. The building is not the church, the people are the church and it is us that Christ is coming back for, without spot or wrinkle (Eph. 5:27).

Celebrate Diversity through Unity

John Calvin said:

“If believers are truly persuaded that God is the common Father of them all, and Christ is their common Head, they cannot but be united together in brotherly love, and mutually impart their blessings to everyone....In the very term communion, there is great consolation.”

These verses continue the thought of 12:4–11 under the notion of “oneness,” as seen in the six occurrences of the word “one” in 12:12–14. Just as the previous unit stressed both the concept of “sameness” (the same Spirit, Lord, and God, 12:4–6) and diversity in the distribution of gifts (12:7–11), 12:12–14 emphasizes the “one” body that has many members. Unity and diversity are equally emphasized. The unit itself is a chiasm with parallel statements at 12:12 and 12:14: the body is “one” but it has many members, yet all the members constitute only “one” body. The repetition reinforces the essential point of the metaphor. It is commonly noted that “Christ” in 12:12 is shorthand for the church as the body of Christ in light of the parallelism with 12:27, “You are the body of Christ.” Since this is the case, Christ may be said to be a body with many members. Already Paul has argued in 6:15 that believers are “members of Christ.”

“What makes us different, makes us stronger; yet, we all share three things in common: (1) we live, (2) we all sin and needed a savior, and (3) we will die.”

The mention of baptism “in/by” the Spirit in 12:13 follows closely on the heels of 12:12. The explanatory “for” indicates how it is that the Corinthian believers have become one body. It is possible to read the prepositional phrase “into one body” in terms of the result or goal of the immersion in the Spirit, that is, believers were baptized in one Spirit so as to become one body.

The NIV translation “by one Spirit” indicates agency and could imply that the Spirit is the baptizer. However, as Fee points out, nowhere in the New Testament does this dative with “baptize” imply agency and that the Spirit does the baptizing. Rather, the phrase is locative, expressing the element in which they were all immersed. “In one Spirit” denotes the sphere of the action, not the agency. The parallel phrase “all were made to drink of one Spirit” describes the same experience under a different figure. The baptism here should not be equated with water baptism, although water baptism depicts what Paul describes. Paul’s emphasis on baptism into one body in one Spirit strongly emphasizes the unity of the body. The phrase baptize in/by the Spirit occurs seven times in the New Testament. All of the other six uses refer to John the Baptist’s prophecy that Jesus would baptize with or in the Holy Spirit (Matt 3:11; Mark 1:8; Luke 3:16; John 1:33; Acts 1:5; 11:16). Blomberg contends that Acts 1:5 clarifies that this was fulfilled at Pentecost. Paul has in mind an initiation experience that immerses one in the realm of the Spirit, which is the experience.

There is strength in diversity, and through diversity God creates a community with the common purpose of spreading the gospel throughout the world. We need each other...

“Until we can celebrate diversity, then, we will never experience unity.”

A Committed Community

The book of Hebrews was written to people who were coming to faith out of Judaism. These new believers had begun to have second thoughts and perhaps were returning to old methods or worship, like temple sacrifices to atone for sins. The author reminds them that they don’t need to do all of that, but instead they can be confident in the cleansing work of Jesus, who is the high priest (Hebrews 10:19-22). The New Testament believer can “hold fast” in the truth of Jesus’s atoning work while remaining connected to the bigger family of God. Jesus Christ’s sacrifice brings salvation through faith so the offering up of animal sacrifices were no longer necessary, hence why the author begins with the proposition that Christ was the sacrifice for all (Heb. 10:10). Clearly the author is a Christian Jew that accepted salvation, and is encouraging those Jews to keep the faith in the “new and living way” that Christ opened through his flesh, just as while he died the veil in the holy temple ripped from top to bottom. We are connected as a family not through our finance, but through our faith in Christ.

“Our confession, not our conversation connects us as family.”

Let us hold fast (κατέχω) -- to prevent someone from doing something by restraining or hindering.

Confession (ὁμολογία) -- to express openly one’s allegiance to a proposition or person.

Hope (ἐλπίς) -- to look forward with confidence to that which is good and beneficial

A Present, Considerate Community

The verb “let us consider” conveys the concept of careful consideration, thoughtful attention and deep concern. The latter is reflected in Lane’s translation, following Pelser, “keep on caring for one another.” The verb is followed by the direct object “one another,” expressing the mutual reciprocity of members of the Christian community in the act of careful consideration. This action is for the purpose of “spurring” each other on to an attitude of love that is expressed in outward “good deeds.”

Two suggestions are made to bring this about. First, let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing.

Corporate worship is not an option for a Christian; it is a necessity.

It certainly includes regular attendance at church meetings, but means more than that. It means a willingness to help struggling faith whenever Christians meet. The author had already noted the bad effects of neglecting this on the part of some (3:13). Perhaps those who were hardened felt themselves to be sufficient in themselves, needing no one’s help. One commentator suggests that if the real reasons for such separation were recorded, they might be easily recognizable in the modern church (Wiley 1959:342).

If church services grow dull or boring they need renewal, not abandonment. The gathering of Christians should be an uplifting and exciting occasion. History has repeatedly shown that where this is neglected or permitted to dim, dullness and blandness soon follow.

A second suggestion for spurring one another on is also given: Let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. The destruction of the temple and of the city of Jerusalem was just around the corner. The empire seethed with unrest and premonitions of disaster. These frightening omens were not viewed as signs of God’s inability to control his world, as many interpret similar events today. Rather, they were indications that God was working out his predicted purposes just as Jesus, the prophets and the apostles had foretold. No one could know the hour when “the Day” would begin, but its coming was certain and apparently imminent to them. The Lord himself had instructed his disciples: “When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near” (Lk 21:28).

It is now apparent as we look back over the centuries that it has been the will of God to have each generation feel that it is living in the very last days of civilization. Each century has found the church fearing the cataclysms of its own time as the last to come. Yet, inexorably, each passing century has moved the world nearer the final end. This sense of imminence is God’s device to keep believers expectant and full of hope in the midst of the world’s darkness. Evil becomes more subtle in our own day, and the difference between truth and error more difficult to detect. The raucous voices of the age pour forth deceitful lies and society becomes permeated with false concepts widely viewed as truth. We too need to gather together to encourage each other and renew our hope by sturdy reaffirmations of the eternal truths of God’s Word.

We are a privileged people; privileged to draw near to the living God; privileged to speak out concerning our flaming hope; and privileged to stir one another up to love and good works. Carl F. H. Henry has well said, “Many Christians now live among neighbors who, swept by tides of immorality, fear herpes more than they fear Hades, and some even think God is a lofty synonym for gobbledygook” (Henry 1989: 152). Every age of Christians has had to live in such a world, and today’s Christians are no exception. They must take care, therefore, that their Christian witness is real, practically expressed and based on a thorough knowledge of who they are in Christ. Let no one take this lightly, for in the next section our author flashes a brilliant red light of warning.

Ray C. Stedman, Hebrews, The IVP New Testament Commentary Series (Westmont, IL: IVP Academic, 1992), Heb 10:19–25.