The Church and Its Members
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13 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” 14 And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17 And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. 18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
What is the Church?
Why do we care about Membership?
Why should you join a church in any official way?
The subject before us today is a big one that could take a very long time to teach exhaustively, and yet today we can only get a small glimpse. Because of that I want to start by saying that it would be easy to see this as an arrogant view that seems to make assertions that are not clear from scripture… Yet I would submit to you that for those who have had negative experiences with churches in the past and specifically membership in churches, that you would especially lean into what we will be seeing from the scriptures today.
Please know that it is not our intent to make statements that Scripture doesn’t say and we are not trying to force anyone into believing something they cannot clearly see. We would assert to you that Membership in the church is biblical and necessary as well as a strong part of church history.
So, what is a church?
Well to be sure a church is not a building… Building house our gatherings but the building is not the church.
A church is a local congregation of people committed to Christ. The church is a gathering of people who regularly assemble to hear the Word preached so that they can obey as they are taught, this includes baptism and celebrating the Lord’s Supper.
The church is the fathering of God’s people and all through scripture we see them referred to as different things. In the book of Acts and Ephesians we see that the church is a collection of believers EXCLUSIVELY… They are addressed as the Elect or Chosen, and Saint meaning consecrated ones and also Brothers which points to pur adoptions into the family of God.
There seems to be a common theme among evangelical churches in America now a days that say come to church and find a place because you belong here… It is a belong before believe idea that is popular in our time.
And while we should be extremely welcoming and friendly of non-believers in our churches even inviting them to come and hear the Gospel in hopes that God would save them… we must not make the leap to tell people that they belong before they believe because it is not true.
How cruel would it be to give people a false sense of assurance that they are forgiven for their sin and will not be judged by God… But that is exactly what we do if we allow people to be part of the church that do not believe.
Because of this there are precaution we can take to ensure that our churches are not full of people who do not believe… We call this Membership. And we get it from passages such as this one and others that we will look at.
But let’s start with this one...
13 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” 14 And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
matt16.
Jesus is asking 2 different things here… Who do those outside think I am and who do those inside think I am. But if we look closer he is really asking for the difference between what constitutes a true confession and a true confessor.
Who do people say that I am… IS there a true confession of who Jesus is?
Who do you… The greek here is plural, like saying, “Who do Y’all” say that I am… But more specifically who do you guys who know me, say that I am… Are there true confessors who really know Jesus?
Look at what Peter says in speaking for the group...
matt16.
16 Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17 And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.
Jesus Affirms that this is the correct confession and that it is coming from true confessors.
But what is more powerful is that he is affirming that this is not something that people can stumble upon on their own, rather it has to be revealed… You cannot expect people who do not believe to have a true confession and there is no way that even if it was a true confession,(meaning it was right), that they are now true confessors… Because its not about words but Revelation...
27 All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
When Jesus tells Peter that God the Father is the one whom revealed this, he is only saying what he has already said about himself, yet he is re-enforcing the idea that believing is a gift that God gives us Faith to believe...
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,
Eph2.
So here we see that Jesus is telling them that only God the Father can give the Gift of Faith to Believe that Jesus Is the Christ, the Son of the Living God!
SO this means that not anyone can just happen upon information about the Gospel and believe it and be saved, unless God has revealed it to them. A True Confession must be made by a True Confessor...
And we see Jesus now proclaiming something wondrous about the true Confessor.
matt16.
18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Now this is where the language is even more important… Jesus Names and describes Peter… he says, “you are PETROS - peter translated from greek - and on this PETRA - greek translation of rock - I will build MY CHURCH”...
petros is a small collection of rocks and petra is a solid rock… here it seems as Jesus is saying that we can’t separate Peter from his confession… the reason is that this is a Greek translation from an arabic language in which there isn’t the distinction being made in other languages.
SO it is important to understand what the ROCK of the church is built on.. and this is where it got weird for Catholics… they take this to mean the Peter himself is the rock the church is built on and he was the first Pope.
Some believe that the Rock is the Confession of Peter… meaning the church is built on people who make true confessions, which is partially true but again, only a true Confessor can make a legitimate true confession.
I would point out that since Peter makes a right confession of Jesus and he is a true confessor, that Jesus proclaims this tot be the Rock on which the church will be built.
Jesus’ response to him is significant because Jesus means to build his church no on persons or on truths, but on persons confession the right truths… there is a Who and a What here… Who Peter… What Jesus is the Christ… a Person making a right confession.
The church is built on True confession made by True Confessors
The church is built on True confession made by True Confessors
So, what we see is that the Church is made of a body of people who profess and give evidence that they have been saved by God’s Grace alone, for his Glory alone, through Faith Alone, in Christ Alone… and we find this in Scripture alone!
But in all this how does Jesus build his church? Do people just get saved? do they just get added?
Jesus actually tells them something that gives us a clue as how the church is going to be built...
19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
What on earth does this mean???
First I would submit to you that the idea that Jesus is giving the apostles the Keys of the kingdom, indicates that he is delegating authority to them to allow or deny admission into the kingdom of heaven.
Next I would point out that the expression of “binding” and “loosing” were common legal terms of that day. They meant that something was declared as either forbidden or allowed.
This is not a corporate prayer or spiritual warfare prayer verse… We do not bind certain spirits and loose certain blessings. that isn’t what they were told here.
The best way to explain this is to see this as Jesus giving the Apostles a right to declare the WHO and WHAT of the Gospel...
They are being given a charge to determine What is a legitimate confession of Faith and determine WHO is actually living out that confession.
So to Bind or Loose is to render a verdict or judgement in heavens name. This authority does not empower those who hold the Keys to actually make someone a citizen of Heaven, since salvation is by grace through faith alone… not by the approval of men...
3 Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” 5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
Rather, what this is saying is that whoever is in possesion of the keys of the kingdom, they can do what Jesus did to peter…Jesus Listened to Peter’s Gospel Profession and publicly affirmed his as One Professing from our “Father who is in Heaven”. This builds the Church as people make True Professions...
The keys of the kingdom are in essence the authority to organize a local church.
The keys of the kingdom are in essence the authority to organize a local church.
So we have the church being established and Jesus setting the tone for its establishment by building it on true believers making true confessions… They can build gatherings that are legit!
This is huge, but will pose some problems
Why??? Because Jesus has told them in other parables that in the kingdom of Heaven, before it is fully realized and God calls an account of all things in the end, that there will be some among us who will not be true believers. And while there isn’t much we can do about that, it doesn’t mean that we should be ignorant to this and allow people who are not true believers to be empowered in the church. see this...
Jesus actually calls us to not allow sinfulness to be present in the church he is building, even though we know it will be impossible to always know truly where everyones hearts are truly at… he did give us some great practical instruction for the church...
15 “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. 16 But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. 17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. 18 Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. 19 Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”
Matt.18
Again, please notice there is an established church spoken of, yet the idea of church discipline we get from this passage is started off by believers actually treating each other as true believers should.
I would be quick to point out that Church discipline seen here is not for punishment but rather restoration and and repentance… that is why the context of this instruction comes right after Jesus telling them about the lost sheep that the Father has concern for.
And while we can get caught up in all sorts of subtle nuances here, What I want us to see is that there is an obvious escalation in seriousness. What starts between brothers, goes on to more witnesses, and ultimately an appeal to the church. Now some will argue the point for a congregational model of church government, we are an elder led model and we do not have time in this sermon to get into all that now, but suffice it to say, that we believe that telling it to the church is not some effort to circulate letters to people in your local congregation, but it means to appeal to the leaders of the church.
We Get that because of that funny statement again about the Binding and loosing, which was a right given to the Apostles or the leaders of the church at that time… and through out the rest of the NT they set up a God ordained system of Deacons and Elders to govern the churches.
But please notice the authority to bind and loose is aimed towards the individual in the church who will or will not repent. The church is given authority to recognize someone who claims to believe as someone who clearly does not believe, thats what is meant by letting them be as a tax collector… meaning an outsider to the faith.
The big question I have is how is this going be something that people will be committed to being a part of? What stops them from saying, You do not have a right to tell me, I just believe differently?
The answer is what the church has practised for throughout its history… MEMBERSHIP
Simply put Church Membership is a commitment every believer should make to attend, Love, serve and submit to a local church.
Why is is so serious? Because there are those in the church that are leaders who become responsible for teaching the flock...
1 Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.
So there is a serious weight given to those who teach… But who are we responsible to teach? anyone and everyone who walks through the doors of a church on any given day?
If the leaders who teach have identified themselves… How do we know who they are responsible for teaching and shepherding???
how about this verse...
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.
How do the leaders of the church that the Bible clearly tells you here to submit to going to know that you are submitting to them and they are going to give an account for you?
This verse cannot work if leaders are not responsible for a specific group and that group is not connected to them in a meaningful way!
Again Membership is how the church has through the ages dealt with this, and even more so now in our day when people can stay at home and livestream a church service without ever going to that place and being connected.
Infact I would submit to you that one of the things that will make the church more Disctinct in the days to come will be how we stay connected in meaningful ways. Because we are commanded to
24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
Our commtiment to each other in deep meanigful ways show us to be true believers and the church has a charge from Christ to bind and loose the WHo and WHat of the Gospel in His church
Butr Membership is about so much more than that… How can you do anything you are commanded to do inrelation to other believers without real meaningful membership?
34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
john13:
Love on another? not if we are not connected
12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command you. 15 No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. 17 These things I command you, so that you will love one another.
john15.
We are commanded seek peace and unity in our congregations...
16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight.
Rom12.
19 So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding.
Listen: Love is expressed and unity is cultivated when church members actively pursue one another.
As elder we are going to be making efforts to see our membership become more active in loving and helping each other because that is what we are supposed to cultivate in our church. The Bible is full of commands that can only happen when deep meaningful membership is exerciesed well. things like.
Caring for one another physically and spiritually
13 Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. 14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.
Things like watching over each other and holding ewach other accountable
1 Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. 2 Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.
Things like bearing with one another
Praying with one another
21 Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” 22 Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times.
1cor14.
18 praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints,
or how about contending for the Gospel together
27 Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel,
I could go on and on but the truth is that the responsibilities of the church member are really just the responsibilities of a christian, yet it is too easy for people to come and pretend to be part of something and not really be regenerate...
A local church provides the opportunity for believers to actually fulfill these roles and commitments.
With out people identifying themselves in willing loving submission, how do we really know who belongs and who doesn’t? Without a commitment, how could we ever watch over and pray for every believer, without it being some superficial religious pattern. Without commitment how could we hold other believers accountable and restore them when they fall, if they are not tied to us in any meaningful way? How can we truly care for every believer in real physical ways is it isn’t known who they are and are not?
Membership gives definition and direction to the overarching and general duties of a christian, and it give practical guidance for the leadership to know who that is.
Let me give you 4 reasons to become a member who joyfully submits to a local church.
To give ourselves assurance
To give ourselves assurance
in joining the church we are asking brothers and sisters to hold us accountable to the Gospel.
we make ourselves available to be encouraged and challenged in our walk
Following Christ fundamentally involves how we treat each other, especially church members and is best seen in the membership of a healthy church.
Membership in a church is intended to be a testimony to our membership in the universal / global church; It is a reflection of of our salvation and belonging to the body.
When the church receives members they are telling the world we are validating their profession of Faith… we believe they are genuine believers
To Evangelize the World
To Evangelize the World
the church by nature is a missionary organization. We can spread the Gospel better at home and abroad by working together with others in our church.
We promote the Gospel by cooperating with others in our church by using their gifts that have been cultivated as they are being equipped to do the work of the ministry in the church. we need each other to reach more people than we can by ourselves.
To Edify the Church
To Edify the Church
instead of being consumer who show up and get refreshed, we become Contributors who look for opportunity to help others.
the primary purpose of spiritual gifts to the church and in the people of the church are for building each other up, and this brings us to the next point...
To Glorify God
To Glorify God
Our lives are to mark us out as his and are to bring him praise and honor and glory.
Healthy Church members Give, Sing and serve together on a regular basis
In Short: As we are Living Stones in the Temple, Members of the body, Sheep in the flock and branches on the vine, Membership in the church is a reflection of a living commitment.
Submit to your local church in membership so that you may link arms with other Christians, so that non-Christians mat see and hear the Gospel, so that weak Christians will be cared for, so that strong Christians will channel their energies in a good way, so that church leaders will be encouraged and helped, and So that God will be Glorified