Part 6: Church Members Treasure Their Membership

Introduction

From Thom Rainer’s book I Am a Church Member:

“Every church member faces two distinct scenarios where the choice is just as obvious.

In the first option we approach church membership similar to country club membership noted in chapter one. We are joining the church to see what we can get out of it. The pastor is to feed us through his sermons. We have specified an acceptable range for the length of the sermon. The music is to fit our style exactly. Any deviations are not acceptable. The programs and ministries are for our benefit. We will determine what we like and don’t like. We are members who expect perks, privileges, and service.

So what happens when the country club church member is asked to contribute to the work of the church? What happens if such a member is asked to serve in the nursery for a few weeks? What happens if that member is asked to lead a fifth-grade boys’ Bible study class?

The response is predictable. One country club member may agree to the request out of obligation. She has a legalistic approach to serving. It’s not that she wants to do it. After all, country club church membership is not about working; it’s about being served. But since she’s been asked, she begrudgingly accepts and begins the ministry with a bad attitude. She won’t last long.

Other country club church members just get mad when they are asked. Some may respond that they did their time in earlier years. They make ministry sound like a prison sentence. Still some refuse to offer a reason why they won’t contribute; they are simply indignant that they were asked. And yet another group of country club church members gets angry toward the pastors. After all, that’s what we pay them to do. Those pastors are just lazy, trying to get out of work.

But there is a second option to church membership. It’s the biblical option that sees membership as a gift, something to be treasured. Membership means we have the opportunity to serve and give rather than the legalistic option to do so. Our entire attitude is different when we approach membership the biblical way.”

Rainer, Thom S.. I Am a Church Member (pp. 68-70). B&H Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Just as salvation is a gift, so is our membership in the local church.

1. Praise God for the Gift! (1 Pet. 1:3-5)

1 Peter 1:3–5 ESV

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

The Giver of the Gift (v.3)

“Blessed” when used of God: praiseworthy

“According to his great mercy”

“he has caused us to be born again”

The Description of the Gift (v.3-5)

“to be born again”

John 3:3 ESV

Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

“to a living hope”

Living Hope: Hebrews 6:19 “We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain.”

Made possible: “through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”

“Inheritance” -

Hebrews 11:13–16 “These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.”

2 Peter 3:13 “But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.”

Revelation 21:1 “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.”

Romans 8:23 “And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.”

Description of Inheritance:

“imperishable” - does not decay (die), not possible to break down

“undefiled” - pure

“unfading” - never loosing quality or beauty

“kept in heaven . . . who by God’s power are being guarded through faith.”

2. Treasure the Gift! (1 Pet. 1:6-9)

1 Peter 1:6–9 ESV

In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Rejoice for the Gift! (v.6, 8)

“In this you rejoice”

The Christians Peter was writing to rejoiced even in the midst of turmoil and persecution.

“you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory”

“rejoice” = extreme elation

“joy that is inexpressible” “and filled with glory”

Thomas Schreiner:

1, 2 Peter, Jude (2) Result: Joy in Suffering (1:6–9)

Peter’s main point in the verse is clear. Believers who suffer are not dashed to the ground by their troubles. They love Jesus Christ and rejoice in him, even though they have never seen him and do not see him now. Their lives are characterized by a hope that fills the present with love and joy.

The Outcome of the Gift (v.7, 9)

1 Peter 1:9 “obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.”

“Souls” = life

3. The Gift of the Church (Matt. 13:44-46)

Matthew 13:44–46 (ESV)

“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.

“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.

The Church is a Part of the Kingdom

As such, the church is to be treasured.

The Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Heaven as synonymous. The reign and rule of God. His Kingdom—the territory, the people, over which he reigns—is ever expanding.

Do we treasure the kingdom? Easy to say we do, but when we put into context of the church, it may be more difficult: do we treasure the church, the people (Christians)? Do we treasure being a member of the kingdom, more precisely, the church?

What does is specifically look like to treasure being a member of the Lord’s church?

We would be: functioning, unifying, laying aside our preferences, submitting and praying for leadership, and leading/helping others to be healthy church members, among other things.

Metaphor: family.

Illustration: From website “BroBible” - “Large Number Of Kansas City Chiefs Fans Need Amputation After Freezing AFC Wild Card Game”

What would you give to watch your favorite NFL team go on a Super Bowl run?

A limb, perhaps? Or even just a finger or toe?

Because that’s what several Kansas City Chiefs fans sacrificed in order to attend an AFC Wild Card round victory over the Miami Dolphins in January.

Forecasts for the game, which Kansas City won 26-7 on Jan. 13, called for 5-degree weather with wind chills making the temperature feel anywhere from -10 to -20 degrees.

In reality, it was even worse.

Temperatures in Arrowhead Stadium dropped to minus-4 degrees Fahrenheit, with wind gusts up to 27 mph making for a wind chill of minus-27 degrees.

Several fans suffered from hypothermia and frostbite.

Now it could get worse for those same fans.

“The patients who had their frostbite injuries along with the Chiefs game, they are just getting to the point now we are starting to discuss their amputations that might be necessary,” Dr. Megan Garcia of the Grossman Burn Center at Research Medical Center said on Tuesday.

She continued to explain that 70 percent of the patients referred for frostbite injuries suffered earlier this year are now being advised to schedule amputations.

Even the lucky few who avoided amputation aren’t that lucky.

Those 30 percent underwent treatment the past few weeks in hyperbaric oxygen tanks. And their recovery will continue throughout their lives.

“It’s still a lifelong process,” Garcia said. “They’ll have sensitivity and pain for the rest of their lives and always will be more susceptible to frostbite in the future. So we are also educating them to make sure they stay warm for the years and months to come.”

Watching your team go on a Super Bowl run seems pretty cool. As a lifelong Dallas Cowboys fan I can’t imagine how it feels. But I’m also not risking the use of limbs, fingers or toes to find out.

The Church is the Instrument of Salvation Proclamation

In a sense, there is no salvation apart from the church.

Romans 10:14–15 ESV

How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!”

The church is not just another organization or country club; it is the instrument by which God uses to save people and build up disciples.

“Be the Church; Display the Kingdom”