Local Church Membership is Important to God!
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Main Idea - Church Membership is a bigger deal than you may have realized.
Main Idea - Church Membership is a bigger deal than you may have realized.
Is Church Membership found in the Bible?
Is Church Membership found in the Bible?
Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.
Although it is not mentioned as such, church membership is implied throughout the bible. After all, who was the whole of the New Testament written to? Local Churches!
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.
For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.”
As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him,
They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.
For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you. And I believe it in part,
and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people. And in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians.
About that time Herod the king laid violent hands on some who belonged to the church.
So Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church.
And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.
And when they arrived and gathered the church together, they declared all that God had done with them, and how he had opened a door of faith to the Gentiles.
Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.
Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood.
shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock.
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.
John Stott - “If the church is central to God’s purpose, as seen in both history and the gospel, it must surely be central to our lives. How can we take lightly what God takes so seriously? How dare we push to the circumference what God has placed at the centre?” The Message of Ephesians, p. 129)
Why Join a Local Church?
Why Join a Local Church?
Five Reasons to Join a local church
Because Christ Loves His Church
Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,
This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.
Because You Can Learn How to Love God and Others Well in His Church
“You can’t be a ‘Christian at large’ any more than you can be ‘married at large.’” I love all my sisters in Christ, but I am committed to one sister in Christ - my wife. It is with my wife that I demonstrate a Christlike love in a very special way. So it is with the Universal Church vs. the Local church.
Because You Need Accountability
“Christians don’t join churches, they submit to them.” J. Leeman
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.
So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock.
Because It’s Jesus’ Tool to Accomplish His Great Commission
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,
Because joining gives you a place to serve and exercise You Spiritual Gifts
As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace:
Because Membership to a Local Church declares to the nations that you are a believer in Christ.
What is an EMBASSY? “It’s an institution that represents one nation inside another nation. It declares its home nation’s interests to the host nation, and it protects the citizens of the home nation living in the host nation.
Illustration - “I (Jonathan d) five months of college in Brussels, Belgium. Curing that time, my US passport expired. If I had tried to leave the country without renewing my passport, I would have gotten into trouble. I no longer had valid documentation affirming that I was a US citizen. One afternoon I went to the US Embassy in Brussels and had my passport renewed. THE EMBASSY DIDN’T MAKE ME A US CITIZEN THAT AFTERNOON, BUT IT DID OFFICIALLY AFFIRM IT. Even though I’m a US citizen, I don’t have the authority to officially declare myself as one before the nations. Yet the embassy’s affirmation gave me the ability to continue living in a foreign city protected by all the rights and benefits of my citizenship. So an embassy represents one place in another place of the globe.” (Church Membership, Pg. 27-28)
So when you think of a local church, think of an embassy that exists in the present representing God’s Kingdom yet to come.
Who Can Join This Local Church?
Who Can Join This Local Church?
All who have a credible testimony of salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ Jesus and who have publically declared this faith in the waters of believers baptism.
What Does Church Membership Involve?
What Does Church Membership Involve?
Jonathan Leeman says, “Its a declaration of citizenship in Christ’s Kingdom. It’s a passport. It’s an announcement made in the press room of Christ’s kingdom. It’s the declaration that you are an official, licensed, card-carrying, bona fide Jesus representative.”
“Church Membership: How the world knows who represents Jesus.” - J. Leeman
He also gives a “clunky” definition of church membership: “Church membership is a formal relationship between a church and a Christian characterized by the church’s affirmation and oversight of a Christian’s discipleship and the Christian’s submission to living out his or her discipleship in the care of the church.” (pg. 64 Membership Matters)
Mark Dever gives several responsibilities of a church member in his book, The Church. I will list six of them.
Membership is a commitment to seek to live by the church’s covenant.
Membership is a commitment to participate regularly in the church’s gathering for worship, teaching , and fellowship.
Membership is a commitment to believe in and uphold the church’s doctrine and practices, including church discipline whenever necessary.
Membership is a commitment to the church members, to give and receive loving service and to help one another grow in Christ.
Membership is a commitment to follow the church’s leadership to help you grow in Christ.
Membership is a commitment to help support the church with your finances, as the Lord prospers you.
Membership is optional for a club. But for the born again believe in Christ, membership isn’t optional.
If you love Jesus, you have to love His bride (the church) too!
Today is a celebration of six people joining membership of Allendale Baptist Church!