Persevering Together: Some Benefits of Church Membership (Hebrews 12:1-29)

Introduction

Church membership has fallen on hard times over the last few decades.

The number of people claiming membership with a church has been on a steady decline in every segment of American Christianity.

The number of churches who don’t even have such a thing as “membership” is growing, especially the non-denominational kind.

Many older churches who do maintain a membership roster tend to have far more members than attendees on any given Sunday.

And among the churches who are trying to be a bit more intentional about church membership, you are likely to experience a pretty wide variety of definitions and practices.

For FBC Diana, we’ve had our own share of ups and downs regarding church membership. About 10 years ago, we’d accumulated a little over 500 on our roster, but we never had more than half that gathered on a Sunday. About 6 years ago, we became healthy enough (as a church) to address our inconsistency… and we now have a more honest membership list (a little over 50 right now).

Some of you here today have been members of FBC Diana long enough to know what energy and effort it has cost us to have the kind of membership we do now. You’ve experienced it, and you’ve personally endured the hardship of changing the culture of a church.

In the Lord’s providence, we’ve had many guests and visitors over the last several weeks, and this has been a big encouragement to us. Since about 2018 or 2019, we’ve been pretty small in number… but what a pleasure it’s been (in March and April) to sing with and visit with so many new folks.

We’ve been praying for numerical growth for a while, inviting friends and family to come along with us to church, and we do hope that the growth of visitors among us is an indication that the Lord is answering our prayer… Time will tell.

Now, some of you may think that I’ve decided to preach on this topic because of the recent influx of non-members among us. No doubt, this might be a good reason to preach on church membership…

But those of you who know me well will already know that this is not how I operate. I am a planner (probably to a fault). My life runs on a calendar (at home, at church… everything from my family Bible time to my prayers for church members, from leg-day at the gym to dinnertime at my house).

I outlined the preaching schedule for 2026 before the end of last November… So, this sermon today is not reactionary. I do think the topic is timely, but this is just part of the normal pastoral instruction we aim to provide through our word ministry here.

One change I have made for today (to try to help the guests among us) is that I’ve included some extra content in our bulletin. I encourage you all to take a look at the membership info I’ve printed there (which you can also find on our website). And I’m glad to discuss this more with anyone interested. Let’s get together after the service… or over a meal sometime (we’ll just need to put it on the calendar).

And yet, my purpose today is not merely to describe what church membership is or to invite you to become a member. To be clear, we do want our membership to grow… but that’s not my primary aim today.

What I’m trying to do here is to help all of us to see why biblical, historic, and meaningful church membership is so good for us.

What benefit is church membership to Christians who join?

What good is it for you to be meaningfully united with a church?

What are you missing if you are not joined with a local church?

Why has Christ given His people the structured and intentional and regulated and encouraging and accountable relationships that can only be found in the context of local church membership?

These are the sorts of questions I’m trying to answer today.

That said, I’m preaching a topical message here – a sermon on the topic of church membership.

The normal or regular preaching of FBC Diana is expositional, where the main point of a selected Bible passage provides us with the main point of the sermon. We believe that expositional preaching ought to be the main diet of word ministry for a local church… and we will (Lord willing) resume our study through Ecclesiastes next Sunday.

But we also think that topical sermons can be a benefit too. You might think of topical preaching like doing systematic theology, where we draw from various Bible passages to answer a particular question about Christian belief or living.

I’m going to read a lengthy passage from the book of Hebrews today, and I will draw heavily from Hebrews 12 to show how the themes and commands we find there do promote and apply to the topic I’m on about here. But I’m not (in a technical sense) expositing Hebrews 12.

I think we will be helped (though) if we understand a bit about what this book of Hebrews is doing as we jump in near the end of it.

The book of Hebrews is a letter (probably the compilation of a sermon) that was addressed to Christians in general (not to a particular church). The author is not writing to the saints in Ephesus or Corinth or Rome, but to saints scattered about the ancient Roman world (especially those of Hebrew or Jewish ancestry).

And the author’s main and repeated point is that Jesus is better.

Jesus was and is the fulfillment of all the OT promises and themes. Jesus is the perfect prophet and priest for God’s people in the world. Jesus is the one and only mediator of God’s New Covenant, wherein sinners can actually have peace with God, the forgiveness of sins, and life everlasting in Christ’s name.

The author of Hebrews is urging Christians to leave behind the religious (or cultic or ceremonial) practices of OT Israel in order to embrace Christ alone as their all-sufficient Savior and Lord.

But a key feature of this whole book is the author’s desire to see Christians not only be counted among Christ’s people in the world (for a time), but to see them persevere all the way to the end… And that’s our interest today as well.

We want to help sinners come into the family of God by faith in Jesus Christ, AND we want to help those repenting and believing ones persevere in following Christ until that day when we meet Him face-to-face.

Let’s stand together as I read this passage (Hebrews 12), which will take me about 5 minutes to read aloud.

Scripture Reading

Hebrews 12:1–29 (ESV)

1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

3 Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. 4 In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.

5 And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. 6 For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” 7 It is for discipline that you have to endure.

God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8 If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.

9 Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness.

11 For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

12 Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, 13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed.

14 Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.

15 See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; 16 that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. 17 For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.

18 For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest 19 and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them. 20 For they could not endure the order that was given, “If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.” 21 Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I tremble with fear.”

22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, 23 and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

25 See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven. 26 At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” 27 This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain.

28 Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, 29 for our God is a consuming fire.

Main Idea:

Christians flourish when they covenant together in meaningful relationship for the purpose of stirring one another to persevere in Christ.

Sermon

1. A Persevering Company

Christians need participation among a company of believers who help one another persevere all the way to the “better country” (Heb. 11:16).

Four analogies or images or pictures of the people of Christ in the world.

An assembly of saints

A team of runners

A family of sons

A persevering company

I begin with “a persevering company” so we can emphasize purpose.

Why do churches exist?

What mission did Christ Himself give His disciples that made them form local churches… and not just Christian families or enclaves?

Now, I’m not saying that we shouldn’t make our homes and families a context for intentional Christian discipleship.

We should!

And I’m not saying that we shouldn’t strive for greater Christian influence in our politics and society.

We should!

And yet, it is a fact that Christ established local churches as the visible, structured, regulated, and purposeful institution of His people on earth.

But what is the purpose of the local church?

One way to answer this question: “to make disciples.”

Matthew 28:18-20 – Jesus said to His followers (just after His resurrection, and just before His ascension), “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

But this is NOT a commission to just “make converts.”

We should evangelize, but evangelism is calling sinners to repent and believe… and to join us.

We baptize those who believe, but that’s not all.

We teach Christ’s commands, but to what end?

The purpose or goal or mission of the local church is to “make disciples” who persevere… all the way to the end.

Christians are a “persevering company” on the way to a “better country.”

Hebrews 11 is commonly called the “Hall of Faith” because the author runs through a litany of OT believers who persevered in faith through all kinds of suffering and hostility toward a “better country” which God had promised… See it there with me, especially in Heb. 11:13 and following.

The consistent NT teaching is that Christians live in the world (at least in one sense) as “strangers and exiles” (Heb. 11:13)… as a pilgrim people navigating a foreign country toward a “homeland” which God has “prepared for them” (Heb. 11:14-16).

And there is both a warning and an exhortation repeated all over the NT… that these strangers, these pilgrims, this company of believers is to beware of failing to reach the final destination and to keep pushing on toward the “better country” (Heb. 11:16).

Friends, it is impossible for anyone who has been truly saved to become unsaved… one cannot become spiritually alive and then dead again.

But it is entirely possible (and not at all uncommon) for people to think they are saved or even appear to be spiritually alive (for a while)… and yet fall short of reaching the final destination.

Only God knows our hearts, and we cannot see the end from the beginning… It is for us to experience this life one day at a time.

And though we are utterly dependent upon God (by His grace) to preserve us, we are also responsible to persevere ourselves.

Friends, in God’s kindness and wisdom, He’s given us a company of pilgrims, of saints, of disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ to help us stay on track, to confront us in our sin, to encourage us in our despair, and to travel this road of faith (over hills and through valleys) along with us.

What benefit does church membership give to Christians who join?

Those Christians who covenant (or agree) together in meaningful relationship with other Christians (among a local church) receive the benefits of a persevering company who consciously and intentionally join together for mutual love and accountability and encouragement and upbuilding.

How many faithful followers of Christ have you known that have made their way through life apart from a local church?

And how many Lone Ranger “Christians” have claimed to believe in Jesus (but live in isolation from a church) have gone AWOL, have deserted the cause of Christ, have been overtaken by their sin, have become confused and contradictory in their beliefs, or have turned around to reject the Christ they said they once loved?

Friends, Christians flourish when they persevere together.

2. An Assembly of Saints

A local church is an assembly of those “made perfect” or “righteous” by/through the “mediator” of the “new covenant” (Heb. 12:22-24).

Church membership does not save, nor does it maintain salvation.

While we’re on the subject of what Christians ought to do, how they ought to live, and why Christ’s commands and promises ought to compel Christians to join together with one another, I want to be clear about what I’m not saying.

I’m not saying that Christians must join a church to be saved.

I’m also not saying that Christians must join a church to keep on being saved.

It is Christ alone who saves sinners, and we contribute nothing to our worthiness or a good status before God.

Two Mountains depicted in Hebrews 12:18-24 (Sinai and Zion).

In v18-21, the author of Hebrews describes Mount Sinai.

Sinai is where the OT people of Israel encountered “a blazing fire and darkness and gloom” (v18), the “sound of a trumpet and a voice” which was so terrifying that the people begged to hear it no more (v19), and the law of God which revealed commands that none would be able to keep – not because the law was bad, but because they were (as we all are) sinners.

Friends, this was a real historical event, but it’s also a picture of what we all encounter if we come to God on our own terms.

We are sinners, and God is holy.

When we approach God (apart from or without Christ) we are exposed to His justice, and we deserve nothing but His wrath.

Friend, don’t you sometimes feel the weight and guilt and shame of your sin?

Don’t you know that there is nothing you can do that will erase your rebellion against God?

But (praise God!) there is another mountain!

In v22-24, the author of Hebrews describes Mount Zion.

Zion is a kind of nickname in the Bible (a moniker or affectionate label) for God’s holy city – typified in OT Jerusalem and realized in the new creation when and where God will bring all His people to Himself in perfect righteousness and blessing.

And how do sinners like you and me get to approach God on this mountain (Mount Zion)?

See it there in v22-24. “You have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in fetal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel” (Heb. 12:22-24).

Friends, these verses are rich with OT imagery and themes, but the short of it is that Jesus is Himself the personification of Mount Zion.

Jesus is the one whose “blood” or sacrifice makes Him the “mediator” of God’s “new covenant” – the covenant of grace, not of the covenant of law/works.

Jesus’s blood “speaks a better word” – a word of forgiveness and blessing, not judgment and cursing.

Because Jesus has lived and died and conquered death, sinners who look to Him are “made perfect” in “righteousness” before God, so that we may approach Him on the basis of who Christ is and what He’s done (i.e., not on our own terms).

Friends, if you have never or if you are not now trusting in Christ, then I urge you to turn away from your sin and to approach God on the only basis whereby He has provided sinners like us a way of mercy and grace.

Christians (or saints) are those who “look to Jesus, the founder and perfector of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross” (Heb. 12:2).

If you want to know more about this, then let’s talk.

Sinners don’t join a church to become saved; saints join because they are.

Just as there are two mountains, so there are two assemblies.

The assembly of saints will be seen in full on the last day, and that innumerable bunch is visible now in the form of local churches.

What good is it, then, for Christians to be united with a church?

Those who join with the people of Christ in the world now can be assured that they will be among the people of Christ on the last day.

3. A Team of Runners

Recap: (1) Christians need one another to persevere in faith (which is our goal or mission), and (2) Christians join together in local churches to be identified among Christ’s people in the world (which is who we are).

Third (and speeding up now with these analogies), Christians need a team of runners alongside them in the journey toward the ultimate prize (Heb. 12:1-2).

Running the race.

See it there in v1. The author of Hebrews says, “Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance, the race that is set before us…” (Heb. 12:1).

This is tapping into the reality that there are so many believers who have gone before us (stretching all the way back to the very beginning), and this “cloud of witnesses” spurs us on.

So too, Christians run the race of faith, trusting and following Christ, with a “cloud of witnesses” right beside them now.

Friends, the Christian life is a race of endurance (marathon, not sprint).

We will get tired.

We will face obstacles.

We will be tempted to stop running and to walk an easier path.

What are missing if you are not joined with a local church?

You are missing out on the encouragement of fellow believers (runners alongside you), who will pick you up when you’re down.

You are missing out on the real life and tangible examples of others who have endured the pains and sorrows that trouble and threaten you right now.

You are missing out on the regular and intentional motivations that are built-in to the Christian life when church members run together for mutual upbuilding and growth and accountability.

Friends, Christians flourish when they covenant (or agree) together to run as a team… stirring, motivating, encouraging, and challenging one another to persevere in faithfully clinging to and following Christ to the end.

We may have other Christian friends who can encourage us outside of the local church… indeed, this is a great blessing for us, we who live in a culture and society where Christians are everywhere. But this is not the same as committing together in the context of a particular local church.

In a local church, we face challenges together. In a local church, we celebrate blessings together. In a local church, we bear one another’s burdens, we share our griefs and sorrows, and we learn to forgive one another as we unite around the Lord’s table again and again.

4. A Family of Sons

Recap: (1) Christians need one another to persevere, (2) Christians identify with one another as Christ’s people in the world, (3) Christians run together to spur one another on toward the prize… and (4) Christians act as God’s family, “sons” who are adopted by grace and “disciplined” unto “holiness” (Heb. 12:3-11).

Brothers and sisters, we are “sons” under the Father’s discipline.

In v3-11, the author of Hebrews emphasizes the need for holiness.

In v14, we read that “without” holiness “no one will see the Lord.”

In other words, it is vital, essential, and non-negotiable that Christians grow in holiness or obedience to Christ.

And how is it that Christians grow in this way?

They are “disciplined” by God, which includes both positive instruction and negative correction.

The author of Hebrews says, “If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons” (Heb. 12:8).

I often tell my sons that they are the only ones on the planet who ever get to call me “dad.”

And the way my sons can know that I love them is because I take a special interest in their progress and obedience.

And the means by which God has designed us to receive His discipline is among the local church.

Christians joined together in a local church are to:

“build up the body of Christ, until we all attain… mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Eph. 4:12-13).

“speak the truth” to one another, “for we are all members of one another” (Eph. 4:25).

“bear with one another” and “forgive one another” (Col. 3:13).

“teach and admonish one another in all wisdom” (Co. 3:16).

What benefit, then, is church membership to the Christians who join?

We receive the benefit of God’s instruction and correction through our intentional and meaningful relationships with one another.

We who are committed members of this local church have signed up to be involved in each other’s lives for the purpose of doing good to one another… we’ve committed to instruct one another… we’ve promised to learn from one another… we’ve pledged to grow together as a spiritual family… and we’ve committed to hold one another accountable to the commands of our Heavenly Father.

None of us do this perfectly, and no single member can do this deeply with every other member of any given church…

But on the whole, we all aim to do this persistently.

We will have deeper relationships with some members more than others, and we will know some members better than others, but we are all a spiritual family together.

Friends, Christians flourish when they covenant together in a kind of family relationship wherein we all receive discipline as legitimate sons of God… so that we will all (with the Lord’s help and grace) persevere all the way to the end.

Like a family around a dinner table, we miss any member who is not regularly present.

Like a family, we share responsibilities that are necessary for the persistence of our people in this community.

Like a family, we have a shared and growing understanding of what it means to be a holy people, set apart for service to Christ in the world.

Conclusion

I’ve often used a familiar Christian story to offer an analogy in my sermons – the story of The Pilgrim’s Progress.

For those of you who don’t know about it, I commend it to you. You can read it in the old English. There are modern versions of it. There are kids’ versions. And there are even audiobooks of many of them.

In that story, the main character is a man named “Christian” who realizes that he’s living in the City of Destruction. Another man, named “Evangelist,” tells him to make his way along the King’s Highway to the Celestial City. And Christian faces all sorts of challenges and setbacks on his journey.

Christian is often tempted to turn aside from the right road… he is confused when Mr. Worldly Wiseman tells him there’s an easier way… he takes a wrong turn toward the village of Morality, and he was nearly overcome… one time, Christian seemed lost in Doubting Castle, and Giant Despair troubles him severely… and, near the end, Christian almost lost all hope at the river of death.

But on each occasion, Christian is corrected, or reminded, or encouraged, or instructed, or revived to hope by some fellow traveler which God had placed alongside him for just such an occasion. And in the final scene, Christian makes it to the Celestial City; he enters into his reward… but not without the help of others which God gave him along the way so that he would persevere.