I Will Be A Functioning Church Member

A Tale of Two Church Members

Michael and Liam meet every Monday for breakfast, have been doing so for 5 months…they had become close friends and enjoyed spending time together…they spent time talking about the Lord and studying the Bible.

One particular Monday morning, the conversation had taken a serious turn…Liam seemed no longer as interested in studying the Bible as he was about talking about the church…his comments were often critical about the congregation and the leadership.

This specific Monday Liam got straight to the point…he and his wife had decided to leave the church…Michael inquired of Liam about this decision.

Liam began explaining his feelings and decision “We are just not being fed, we are not getting anything out of the pastor’s messages and sitting in Sunday services is just a waste of time.”

He went on to say that there were some good people there, including Michael and his wife, but that the church was full of hypocrites. He proceeded to give an example of Jim screaming at the refs at a basketball game. Neal was cheating on his wife for over a year. “What kind of church is this with these kinds of people.”

He continued with a disappointment in the pastor for not visiting his wife’s father in the hospital when he had hernia surgery. Michael knew that his wife’s father was not a member of the church and lived 50 miles away. Michael also knew that the pastor did call his father-in-law and prayed with him, but he said nothing to Liam.

Liam then turned to Michael and asked how he could continue to contribute to the church with such enthusiasm and wondered if he was blind to all the problems in the church. He then asked, “Why do we seem to have such different perspectives?”

How is it that people who belong to the same church, can have such differing views of what is transpiring in the church?

“Why do we seem to have such different perspectives?”

The Difference

A church survey of 557 churches from 2004 - 2010 revealed that 9 out of 10 churches in America are declining or growing at a pace that is slower than that of their communities.

A church survey of 557 churches from 2004 - 2010 revealed that 9 out of 10 churches in America are declining or growing at a pace that is slower than that of their communities.

Generationally speaking, 2/3 of those born before 1946 are Christians…15% of the Millennials are Christians…the Millennials are the largest generation in Americas history with almost 80 million members…born between 1980 and 2000

Blame can be placed on many factors including the congregations of churches across America who have lost the biblical understanding of what it means to be a part of the body of Christ.

Blame can be placed on many factors including the congregations of churches across America who have lost the biblical understanding of what it means to be a part of the body of Christ.

We join churches expecting others to serve us, to feed us, and to care for us…we don’t like hypocrites, but fail to see our own hypocrisies.

God did not intend the church to be a country club where membership has its perks and privileges.

God placed us in churches to serve, care for others, pray for leaders, learn, teach, give, and sometimes die for the gospel.

This study comes from a book by Thom Rainer called I Am A Church Member…encourage you to get a copy…his books are very good and simple reads…it is quite a challenging book as we look at the various aspects in the Scripture that ought to characterize today’s church member.

If God’s people were to get a hold on the principles of God’s Word regarding their responsibility to the church, we would have much healthier churches.

Tonight we want to jump into this study as part of getting back to basics that we talked about this morning.

So let’s begin with an examination of what it means to be a church member…a functioning church member.

Mindset of Church As A Country Club

When you think of a country club, what thoughts come to your mind?

perks, privileges, others serve me, just pay the going rate and you can have others taking care of you while you enjoy a life of leisure.

In the church it shows up as...

this is my church so you have to play the music just the way I want it

pastor needs to remember who pays his salary

if you don’t do this program, I’ll withhold my check to the church

I’ve been here over 30 years, I have a right to get what I want

The church with a country club mentality is filled with people where membership is about receiving instead of giving, being served instead of serving, rights instead of responsibilities, entitlements instead of sacrifices.

Tithes and offerings are seen as membership dues that provide a never ending list of privileges and expectations, instead of an unconditional, cheerful gift to God.

Let’s see what God’s Word says...

Membership Means We Are All Necessary Parts of the Whole

is one of the best sections of the New Testament to teach us about church membership.

What metaphor does Paul use here and why?

body…to show the unity of the church even though there are many differing members.

— the church is a body with many members

- love is the central attitude and action all members should have

— he returns to the messed up church at Corinth who has the concept of membership all wrong.

Membership in the church is not be viewed as the secular culture views membership.

1 Corinthians 12:27–28 NASB95

Now you are Christ’s body, and individually members of it. And God has appointed in the church, first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, various kinds of tongues.

Members of a church compromise the whole and are essential parts of it.

Some are eyes, others are ears, some are feet, yet others are hands.

Read

Read

Membership Means We Are Different but We Still Work Together

Country club = pay others to do the work for you

Church = everyone has a role or function

Each part has to do their work or the whole body suffers…the Bible makes it clear that if one part does not do its job, the whole body does not function well…but if one part does its job well, the body rejoices and is stronger.

1 Corinthians 12:26 NASB95

And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.

Membership Means Everything We Say and Do is Based on a Biblical Foundation of Love

How is often used?

read at weddings for a husband and wife to declare their love for each other.

it is often used to demonstrate a fuller meaning of agape or unconditional love

While there is nothing wrong with using it in those contexts, its original meaning was to demonstrate how church members relate to one another.

Just look at some of the relational principles…read

These two verses alone would be sufficient to cause a revival in most churches.

Church membership is founded on love..authentic, biblical, unconditional love.

Church Membership Is Functioning Membership

How do people remain a member of a country club — pay your dues…do that and people will be available to serve you.

How do you remain a BIBLICAL member of a church?

— give abundantly and serve without hesitation.

It is important to emphasize BIBLICAL member…people can remain on the rolls of many churches and never show up or give…in some churches you only need to be a CEO Christian (Christmas and Easter Only)…you can even be considered an important member by giving a nice sum of money every year, even if you don’t lift a finger to serve or minister.

That is not BIBLICAL membership and has no place in our churches…it is man-made, man-centered, man-maintained.

Biblical church membership gives without qualification, views tithes and offerings as joyous giving with no strings attached. Biblical church membership serves and ministers as a natural way of doing things…it is FUNCTIONING membership.

tells us the body is a unified whole…it is unified in its mission, purposes, ministries and activities.

It is not only unified, it is made up of many parts.

What are the parts Paul mentions in ?

Foot, hand, ear, eye, nose (indirectly by referring to sense of smell)

How are the different parts of the body related to church membership? How do you see the parts playing out in our church?

Each part is supposed to function.

The foot is to walk…the hand is to grasp and hold…the ear is to hear…the eye is to see…the nose is to smell.

The concept of an inactive church member is an oxymoron…biblically speaking, there is no such thing as an inactive church member.

The Bible exhorts us to know our gifts and abilities so we can use them to best serve the church for the glory of God…everyone should be functioning, everyone should have a role.

Because we are all different with different gifts and abilities, we will function differently from other members…the point is if we are biblical church members, we will be FUNCTIONING members.

Ask yourself, HOW can I serve, not SHOULD I serve.

Pledging Membership

Stats tend to show that only 1 out of 3 members are truly biblical functioning members...

If we all pledge to making a difference we can change that…at least here…based upon our understanding of 1 Cor. 12.

Whether I am an “eye”, an “ear” or a “hand” I will be a functioning member…I will give, I will serve, I will minister, I will evangelize, I will study, I will seek to be a blessing to others. I will remember that if one member suffers, all of us suffer. If one member is honored, all of us rejoice with them.