We Belong Together

Go ahead and find the book of 1 Corinthians in your bible. This will be our main passage for this morning. We are going to be looking at the importance of joining ourselves with a local body of believers in a formal sense. The idea of this can be summarized in the title of this sermon, We Belong Together.

1 Corinthians 12:12–27 ESV

12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit. 14 For the body does not consist of one member but of many. 15 If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? 18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. 19 If all were a single member, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. 21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” 22 On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, 24 which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, 25 that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. 26 If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. 27 Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.

Intro

Great shifts in culture in our lives, especially marriage rates

In our lives, we have seen some major shifts in our culture. One of the major issues that we have seen is that of marriage. In the last century, the statistics of marriage has made a significant change. In 1920, for every 1,000 citizens there were 12 marriages a year. In 2018, just 98 years later, that number went from 12 per 1,000 to 6.5 for every 1,000 citizens per year. It dropped nearly 50%. Now, this is not divorce rates. This is marriage rates. See, with marriage comes the idea of commitment. When you see a drop like that in marriage rates, you see that the culture does not value commitment.

idea of non-commitment has crept into church

It is sad for me to say that this idea has crept into the local church. We have churches that are full of people who are professing Christians who have never committed themselves to any church. We have churches that have no sort of organized membership. We have Christians who have attended many churches but never move their membership. We have a commitment problem. Hebrews 13:17 “17 Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.”

2 truths: individual Christians has certain pastors they submit to, pastors have particular flocks to tend

If you never join a church, there will not be a pastor that can give account for you

The author of Hebrews lays out in this statement two truths. That individual Christians have certain leaders(pastors) that they submit themselves to. And that pastors have certain people that they must give an account for. This is why we have organized church membership. As a pastor, I am going to stand before God and give an account for those who were under my care. If you never join a church, there will not be a pastor that can give an account for you.

Analogy of sheep; sheep need to stay with the flock, this is where they are fed, cared for, and protected. When they wander off and don’t come back, they lose this

Think about it like this. The bible uses the analogy of Christians being sheep. Jesus is our shepherd but pastors serve as under-shepherds. If a sheep leaves the flock and goes rogue, it will not be protected, it will not be fed, it will not be cared for. Therefore, we must make sure that we are part of a particular flock that we will receive those things in.

I have been focusing on visiting over the last several months, but there are many who fall through the cracks

focus on the sheep that have wandered off; scheduling pastoral visits and see why they are not coming and if they will ever come back

I want to confess that I have not been a great shepherd in some ways. This summer, I have focused on making sure that I am visiting our shut ins more often. But, at the same time, we have had sheep over the years who have wandered off. We see in scripture that when the one sheep wandered off, the shepherd would go and get the sheep. Over the next several months, I am going to make that my focus. I will be scheduling and conducting pastoral visits to our members, specifically those who no longer attend here. If they are attending another church, that is amazing and they need to join themselves to that church, and I will encourage them to do so. But for those who are not attending somewhere and have the ability, I am going to be their shepherd and try my best to drag them back to the flock.

Maybe you are here, and you have never joined a church. Maybe you are here and have been attending here for years and have not joined in membership. And maybe you are here and you have been a member for decades right here at Immanuel. There is a good chance that each of you are probably asking similar questions to yourself about church membership. I have tried to anticipate those questions and have combine these questions into one simple question that we will answer in our sermon today.

What does someone gain from joining a local church?

Repeat that with me.

As we go through our main text today, we will unveil through God’s word why it matters that we as believers are joined to a local church.

The Local Church has One Baptism

Last week, we spent our time in God’s word looking at the importance of baptism. Scripture showed us that believers baptism is necessary for us to be joined to a local church.

1 Corinthians 12:12–13 ESV

12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.

talk about gaining a testimony when coming to faith; what is a testimony? where I came from and where I am now

often, testimonies take the focus off the savior; puts it on how much I have changed

When I came to faith in Christ, I gained what I had not had before. A Christian testimony. Many people put a lot of weight on this. They believe that our story is what we need to use when we evangelize. And I used to believe the same thing. Can our stories help to bring emotions to others or strike a cord in them that they can identify with? Absolutely. But what we should never do it think that our testimony is different than anyone else. If I had the perception that I was worse than this person and that the work it took for me to have salvation was actually greater than the work it took for them, then that is false. When we start thinking this, it takes the power off of the gospel and puts the focus on how bad we were.

We should all have the same testimony

See, if you have come to a saving faith, if you have repented and believe the gospel and have been brought from death to life by the power of the Holy Spirit, then you have the same testimony that I do. And you have the same testimony that Paul does who wrote this. Was Paul an evil man before his conversion, did he try to destroy believers in Christ and stop a whole religious movement? Yes. So you may think that Paul has such a greater testimony that you do. I want to tell you that this is a lie. The same power that it took to bring Paul from spiritual death to life is the same power that it took for you. In essence, we have the same testimony as Paul.

Galatians 2:20 ESV

20 I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

This is our testimony. When we join ourselves to a local church, we are doing it underneath the same confession, the same crucifixion, the same baptism as everyone else.

This baptism in not of water but the Holy Spirit

this is what brings us together as a church; we believe in regenerate membership; all members needs to be saved

sometimes people slip in who haven’t, this is why we make sure people understand the gospel and see what it has done for them before we bring them into membership; the gospel protects this

This baptism is not one of getting wet. This baptism is actually referring to the baptism of the Holy Spirit. The members of a church should have commonality in their conversion. The bible teaches that churches must have regenerate membership. This means that everyone who is a member of a church must have experienced conversion. The process of church membership is not perfect and we recognize that. We sometimes accept people into membership who possibly have not had true conversion. We are not perfect. But how we protect this is through our understanding of the gospel.

(gospel presentation) (God, man, Christ, response)

this brings on the baptism of the Holy Spirit

We do not believe that scripture teaches that salvation and the baptism of the Holy Spirit are separate from one another. We believe that each and every person who is adopted into the family of God has been sealed by the Holy Spirit and that happens through the baptism of the Holy Spirit. This is how we, as believers, as fellow church members, can identify with one another.

The local church has one baptism.

The Local Church has Unique Members

Churches are diverse; look different, different ages

but it goes further than that, we have different talents, passions, and gifts

1 Corinthians 12:14–18 ESV

14 For the body does not consist of one member but of many. 15 If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? 18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose.

analogy of a body and its different parts

every member has value

The local church can really identify with this analogy

When someone in the body is doing well, it encourages the rest of the church. When someone in the church is hurting, it hurts the church. When we lose a member of the church, the whole local body of believers is effected.

when on part of the body has problems, the whole body is effected

if something drastic happens, like having to have something removed, it effects us to an even greater degree.

Paw Paw’s amputation and ghost pain

We need our body parts. When they are gone, we notice it and we miss them and sometimes it even hurts.

But also, Paul gives us a picture of our uniqueness. 1 Corinthians 12:17 “17 If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell?”

We are all unique; if we were all the same, the world would be a pretty boring place; same goes for the church

Paul is not saying that we need to be different in a sense of our beliefs, our confession, our mission, our belief on what a church should be, or things like that.

But what Paul is saying is that we are all unique in a sense that God will use us in different ways.

different giftings; These are called “spiritual gifts”.

With our passage today, we have bookends on it that list different gifts that God has given people. We also have some listed in Romans 12. If you want to make a note of that and go later and read it, I would encourage that. But in this list there are many things listed. Serving, teaching, encouraging, generosity, words of knowledge, words of wisdom, mercy, leadership, and several more. One single person will not have all of these, but each and every one of us will have some sort of spiritual gift.

And what God does within the local church is he uses each persons individual gifts as a way to make a complete body in a sense. This doesn’t mean that we can’t accept new members in. But when we have multiple people with the gifts of encouragement, teaching, mercy, generosity, or any of the others, all it does is strengthens the local body for ministry.

We are all ministers in some way. And God uses each and every one of us in the local body to advance the gospel. I am very thankful for this analogy to show us that the local church has unique members.

The Local Church Needs Each Member

In the 1940’s, there was a man named Eddie Feigner, who was so good at softball, that he challenged that he could play any team and beat them by himself. Well, he soon saw that if he was pitching, that he would need a catcher. And then he figured that if an opponent ever got a hit off of him, he would need an infielder to catch the ball. Then he got to thinking that if his team were batting and all three people on his team were on base, that they would need someone to bat. So he formed a exhibition team of him pitching, a catcher, short stop, and first basemen. They were known as the King and his court.

Even though he was perhaps the greatest softball pitcher to have lived, Eddie Feigner realized that he was better when he had people around him.

1 Corinthians 12:19–24 ESV

19 If all were a single member, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. 21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” 22 On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, 24 which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it,

picture of our body parts needing each other

In Paul’s letter to the church here, he continues the analogy of body parts. Our body parts need each other. To be a fully functioning, healthy body, we need our whole of the parts. That goes for the church too. We need our members. The members need the other members.

Now we come to the part of the sermon when we can start answering our question from earlier. What does someone gain from joining a local church?

Here, we see that being a member of a local church is a way that we can be there for each other. I don’t want you to think that a statement like that is some sort of pull the gate up, put the walls up, exclusive mind set. We are a church that wants to help others in any way that we can. But, if you are not a member of this church, it is different. When we have people that have committed themselves to this local church, we know that there is an extra level of commitment from them.

difference in marriage and dating; in marriage, you work things out; dating, not necessarily; conversations are different in marriage than they are dating

I used marriage as an analogy earlier. I want to do that again. When you are dating someone, there is a different level of commitment to the relationship than when you are married. Let’s say, issues arise in the relationship. What you should do if you are married is work it out. But if you are dating, then it is much easier to walk away and move on. On a deeper level, in a marriage, the conversation is different than in a dating relationship because you know the commitment level is greater. There are conversations that happen on a weekly basis between me and Brittany that never would have happened when we were dating. I didn’t want to scare her off. Now I got her and she can’t just run anymore. But it is because the commitment level is different.

The same with the church. When you join a local church, you are saying that you are committing yourself to this group of believers. When you join a church, that is when the level of discipleship gets even greater, that is when the relationships with one another get even deeper, that is when our love for one another grows even more, this is when worship deepens. Jesus instituted the local church for us to join and grow together.

The local church needs each member.

The Local Church is Unified

Unified is the opposite of being divided. Division never carries a positive connotation in scripture. Division hinders relationships. Division hinders spiritual growth. Division hinders the advancement of the gospel.

In the verses building up to our next verse, we are told that God “has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it,”

1 Corinthians 12:25 ESV

25 that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another.

explanation; equate it to popularity, when the unpopular gets taken in by the rest of the group, it makes the whole a healthier place

But, the other parts of the body(people) see what is going on, and they come over to you and they make you feel like you are one of the boys.

On a football or a baseball team, when this happens, it breeds health in the team. The team becomes unified. When everyone on the team knows that they all love each other, they are unified. But when you have people who are “better than everyone” or “worse than everyone”, that divides them and the potential of what they can accomplish together, sinks like the titanic.

1 Corinthians 12:26 ESV

26 If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.

We take on the emotions of each other in the local church.

example of someone in the church hurting and the church hurting with them

same with rejoicing

We are unified

the church must look different than the world with its commitment to one another

we end this section with an encouragement

1 Corinthians 12:27 ESV

27 Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.

Let us be members in the local body of Christ.

Conclusion

Going back to the question I posed at the beginning

What does someone gain from joining a local church?

I want to give you 3 reasons and lay out why it is not only beneficial for believers to join a local church but why it is quite necessary to do so.

Accountability - when you are on the wayside, it is easy to get away with certain sins. But when you join yourself to a local body, not just attend, but join yourself, you are giving others an opportunity to enter your life and speak into it

obedience to scripture - scripture assumes church membership for believers (text today, Acts 6, 1 Cor 5)

discipleship - there is a greater level of discipleship that happens when you are a member of the church. It is hard for the church to disciple someone who will not commit themselves to the body. We all would say that we want to grow more into the image of Christ. You are opening yourself up to a greater degree of that when you join the local church

This may not be a typical sermon that you would hear on a Sunday morning. But it is both necessary and it is edifying to the church. We want to be the healthiest church we can be. And we need to have a right, biblical understanding of church membership.

I know that when I am preaching on being a member of a local church, there are 2 different types of people I am preaching to.

people who are members at Immanuel Baptist: If this is you, do not take this sermon as a throw away that doesn’t mean anything to you because you are already a member. Take that question and look and see what all you have gained from joining our church. And if you have a hard time seeing those things, I want to encourage you to dig deeper. Find that person to disciple you, and find a smaller group of people to hold you accountable. We have slowly started what we will call discipleship groups. These will be expanding soon and this is one of the most important ministries that our church will ever see.

people who are not members: maybe you have been coming for a while here and are a member at another church or have never joined a church at all. I want you to really think about why you have not joined our church. I would encourage you that it may be time to do so. Next Sunday, we are having a membership interest lunch. I want you to sign up for it. But maybe you have not joined a church because you have never professed that Jesus is Lord and savior. I want to give you that opportunity to respond to the gospel now. (gospel presentation)

We are going to pray to end the sermon and then we are going to sing one more song. I want to encourage you while we sing this song to ask God to open up your heart to what was said today from his word.