Why Church Membership?
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Intro
Last Sunday we started our series, “We are the church.”
And I mentioned how easily we use phrases like
I’m going to church
Or
How was church?
Church can become a place or a performance.
And we are spending a few weeks reminding ourselves that
We are the church.
You know this. I know this. But we need to remember this.
God is inviting us not just to come to a place or support a performance, but to love people.
Every 3 months or so we host a membership class in the lobby
We buy pizza from Farrelli’s and enjoy home baked goods from Sandy Benson
And we get to know each other and talk about who we are as a church.
And as elders we thought let’s take that class about church membership and share it on Sunday morning to reach a wider audience and remind our people that we are the church.
So last Sunday we read in Acts 2 about what the church is:
The church was created by God - the Holy Spirit came as Jesus promised.
The church preaches the gospel.
The church is made of those who’ve responded to the gospel with repentance and baptism.
And the church devotes itself to each other.
This is who we are as a church.
Another major image of church in Scripture is that we are the body of Christ.
The church is Jesus’ body.
Collectively, we are the embodiment of Jesus.
This image is all over the Bible.
The church is the body of Christ.
Just as a body is one but has many members - limbs, eyes, internal organs - so the church is one but also has many members.
But in an age where we often think of church as a place or a performance, we are disconnected.
We’re like a Mr. Potato Head Doll with missing limbs and an eye where it’s ear should be.
If you are not a member,
This is not some weird time share meeting where we lock the doors.
But we believe that there is no life apart from Jesus and local church membership is our way to connect people to Jesus. Would you join us?
And for those who are members - let’s be considering, what if the church really is the body of Christ? What does that change about how we relate to and care for each other?
This morning, we’re going to look at 1 Cor. 12:12-27 to see what it means that we are the body.
And, we’re going to consider how local church membership - going to a class, saying I want to be a member of this church - supports that reality.
What does it mean that we are the body, and how does local church membership support that reality?
We’ll walk through this passage and have 3 main points from this text.
1 Cor. 12:12-13
We are in 1 Corinthians
It’s a letter written by Paul to a church he loved and he planted.
Paul had this dream in the night of a man saying “Come and help us!” and so Paul traveled to Macedonia, preached the gospel and this church in Corinth was planted and he remained in the city for 18 months.
Paul wrote this letter to the Corinthians
Because they were having problems.
It’s been reported to Paul from his ministry partner Chloe that there was some conflict.
Divisions
Sin
Christians were suing each other
Sexual immorality
And he also addresses specific questions around
Marriage
Christian liberty
Disorder in the church gathering
The use of spiritual gifts
But Paul’s main aim in this letter is to get these Christians to live in the reality that Jesus is Lord.
2 To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours:
We see this emphasis on Jesus as Lord.
Last Sunday I said church is a lame hobby.
But if Jesus is Lord.
If he died.
And then beat death.
And now is king of the world.
Devoting ourselves to his church matters. Because with this people is where I experience him.
You loving these people is you loving Jesus.
What changes if Jesus is Lord?
Our passage is 1 Corinthians 12:12-27, which is in a larger section of chapters 12-14
Where Paul is addressing conflict around spiritual gifts.
Every Christian has unity in the one Holy Spirit, but diversity in our giftings.
Just like God himself - He is one, and he is many - 3 in one.
So it is with us.
We are one - one church - and we are many - you and I are not the same.
4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; 5 and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; 6 and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. 7 To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. 8 For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.
So what’s the problem?
Some people thought there gift was cooler.
Namely, it seems that speaking in tongues was highest on the ladder.
If you spoke in tongues - you could speak other languages that you never learned - you were important, everything else was lower.
And Paul is saying in 1 Cor. 12-14 - No! One body many members. We all need each other.
You need me, and I need you.
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.
Paul compares the human body to the church
Just as your body is one - I have one body, I don’t have another one at home.
And my body has multiple parts - arms, legs, head, kidneys
So it is with Christ. And the church.
He doesn’t say and the church, but he’s talking to the church and this metaphor of the church as the body of Christ is incredibly common in the New Testament.
4 For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, 5 so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.
11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,
18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.
22 And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
The church through the Spirit is the body of Jesus.
How does that work?
In Acts we see that Jesus sees himself this way. The church is his body. The church by the Spirit is him on earth.
Paul, who wrote this letter to the Corinthians used to be called Saul and he used to hate those who followed Jesus.
But Jesus appears to Saul in Acts 9 and says
4 And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?”
Notice, Jesus does not say, “Why are you persecuting my people?”
“Why are you attacking my church?”
No, he says, “Why are you persecuting me?”
When Paul persecutes the church he is directly persecuting Jesus because the church is the body of Christ.
How? We see that in verse 13 it’s through the Holy Spirit. We share the same Spirit through faith and baptism.
Through the Spirit we are the body of Christ.
We are the body of Christ.
We are not like the body of Christ.
We are the body of Christ.
It’s not that we’re similar to the body of Christ.
We are the body of Christ.
Isn’t it amazing how close Jesus wants to be with us.
He gave his body for us on the cross so we could be his body through faith.
He does not keep us at arm’s length.
He knows you.
And wants to be with you.
He knows us.
And is with us.
He says if people persecute you, they persecute me.
What a high calling.
But how does local church membership support this reality?
Local church membership is a way that we see the body of Christ.
Think of baptism.
Baptism is an outward expression of an inward reality.
Local church membership similarly is an outward expression of an inward reality - we are connected to Jesus through the Spirit.
Does coming on Sunday morning make you a part of the body of Christ? No, in the same way that if you touch my arm, your finger is not a part of my body.
Does liking the music and preaching make you a part of the body? No.
As elders we want to know who is a part of the body of Christ at Gateway? It’s a visible sign of an invisible reality so that we can support each other.
Does that mean we’re all the same? No!
1 Cor. 12:14-20
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.
We are one in Christ, and we are many.
Just like God himself.
He is one, and he is many.
Just like humanity. We are one humankind, and yet we are male and female.
This is how we image God himself - through unity AND diversity.
But the problem with Corinth was some people thought they were unimportant.
Oh I can only prophecy, I’m not as important. I don’t belong.
I have wisdom, but I’m not speaking in tongues, I’m not important.
Oh I’m good with numbers, but that’s not as important as encouragement. I don’t belong.
Paul uses this funny illustration to say
Can you imagine if your feet wanted to be hands? You’d look like an ape.
Can you imagine if your ears wanted to be eyes? You’d like some sort of alien.
If we were only eyeballs, we couldn’t hear each other talk.
If we were only ears, that would be terrible because ears are weird and I have small ears.
I picture Monsters Inc.
Mike Wazowski.
He’s a giant mouth with one eye ball.
We have different God assigned tasks, gifts, and responsibilities that build up the church.
11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ,
If you’ve ever gone to the gym, you’ve seen arms guy.
He always sleeps in on leg day.
Paul is saying God has so arranged the church that we all need each other.
Point 2 - We’re all needed.
Introverts need extroverts.
Extroverts need introverts.
Those who voted for Trump need those who didn’t vote for Trump because we need to remember that only Jesus is Lord.
We need leaders, we need givers, we need encouragers, we need those with wisdom, we need those with organizational skills…
How does local church membership support that?
We want to know you.
We want you to be able to serve joyfully and explore how God has made you to serve the church.
Paul expands on this further
1 Cor. 12:21-27
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.”
Just as it would be ridiculous for your eyes to say they don’t need your hands, or your head say to your feet, get out of here,
it would ridiculous, absurd, wrong for an individual in the church to think they do not need others.
How easy is it for us to think we don’t need each other.
I’ve got the Bible app.
I’ve got the Bible project.
During COVID, you could just do church online.
A person severed from the body of Christ is like an amputated limb.
If someone has to get a body part amputated, we don’t say - good for the arm, you do you arm!
Amputated limbs die.
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,
What a fun illustration
You get it right?
Just because a body part is covered, doesn’t mean it’s not necessary.
In the same way, just because a person is not front and center in the life of the church, does not mean they are not essential.
Notice again God’s sovereignty in this in verse 24
God has so composed the body.
We saw that back in verse 18 - God arranged the members
God made us this way.
If you took a biology class in high school you learned about cells.
Mytochondria and ribosomes.
Someone at Harvard made this video that’s on youtube that shows the inner working of a cell.
It’s amazing.
In the same way, we can step back and see the church and say - wow, it’s amazing.
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.
Notice what’s important in verse 25 it’s care for one another.
The reason we are not supposed to have division is certainly to represent God who has no division yet is diverse in himself
AND
to care for one another.
That word care for is the word ‘to be anxious for’
I’m concerned about you
And that leads into verse 26
If I’m concerned for you then I suffer when you suffer.
And when you rejoice, I’m rejoicing.
Which is the mark of a true friend, right? If you get something I don’t have, I’m still happy for you.
And verse 27 -
You are the body of Christ.
Who’s he speaking to?
The corinthian church.
That local body was the body of Christ.
And who is he speaking to?
Us.
Our local body is the body of Christ.
Jesus is represented in the universal and the local church. There has to be both.
Point 3 - We need each other.
We grow together.
If your arms are really strong, but your heart is weak, your arms will eventually suffer.
If you can hike a mountain and have strong legs and lungs, but you can’t see, you’re not going to hike for very long.
If you can speak eloquently, but can’t listen, no one will want to be with you.
We need each other.
We need Jeff and Paula cleaning the building each week
We need Dave and Gwen Waller leading community group leaders
We need Matt and Emily Ray teaching pre-school
We need Anne Poppino as church treasurer
If you are a follower of Jesus, we need you.
Local church membership supports that by saying - how has God made you, and how are you made to support the body of Christ here?
And serving goes beyond Sunday mornings.
Certainly serving on Sundays is a part of supporting the church, but it’s not everything.
Have you gotten a text or phone call from someone encouraging you in a hard season?
Have you provided a meal on a meal train?
Have you gotten a letter from someone on the Care team?
Have you prayed for someone on a Sunday morning?
That’s caring for the body of Christ.
Conclusion
1 Corinthians was written to a church riddled with problems.
Not our context!
Encourage the church.
We are to be the gospel made visible.
When people look at us, they are to see good news.
The message that Jesus is alive, and he’s at work in us.
What would it look like for us to have unity and diversity in reflecting the glory of God?
What does it look like for you to love the body of Christ?
He really loves this church.
Sense of identity is shaped in relationship with each other.
Diversity comes from himself in his tri-une nature.
So baptism is a decision, so membership is a decision.
Our sense of who we are needs more than one connecting point.
