9Marks - __________________________________________________________________
MEMBERSHIP MATTERS
Why Join a Church?
Session Three
“It’s better to trust and be disappointed once in a while than it is to distrust and be miserable all the time.”
--Abraham Lincoln
“For the Christian, there are, strictly speaking, no chances. A secret master of ceremonies has been at work. Christ, who said to the disciples “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you” can truly say to every group of Christian friends, “You have not chosen one another but I have chosen you for one another!” The friendship is not a reward for our discrimination and good taste in finding one another out. It is the instrument by which God reveals to each the beauties of all the others.”
--C.S. Lewis
“Any member consistently neglectful of his or her duties or guilty of conduct by which the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be dishonoured, and so opposing the welfare of the church, shall be subject to the admonition of the elders and the discipline of the church, according to the instructions of our Lord in Matthew 18:15-17 and the example of scripture. Church discipline, then, should only be contemplated after individual private admonition has failed.”
--CHBC Constitution
“‘Hallelujah!’” For our Lord God Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready.”
--Apostle John, Revelation 19:7
Session One Outline
I. Introduction
II. What does the Bible mean by ‘church’?
III. How does Scripture picture the church?
IV. What are five reasons to join a church?
V. Why sign the Statement of Faith and Church Covenant?
VI. Conclusion
I. INTRODUCTION
Devoting a whole session to the question “Why Join a Church?” may seem somewhat unusual. However, at CHBC, we have found it necessary because so many of us have never given serious thought to the purpose behind being formally committed to a local church. It is likely that you come into this series with one of the following views toward the idea of membership:
1. Some people take their membership in a local church for granted.
Millions of individuals in this country are members of churches. The Southern Baptist Convention alone (which we’ll consider later) claims approximately 16 million members in Southern Baptist churches.
Many of these members may not have given church membership a second thought. For them, joining a church is simply something that you do, like registering to vote or going to the grocery store. This lackluster approach to the church may be a sign of a lackluster appreciation for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
2. Some people are considering church membership.
This is probably most of you. You give membership considerable thought (probably why you are willing to sit through six hours of teaching on it) because you want to know more about what it means. For those people curious about church membership, we hope and pray that this series makes that hunger grow as we consider the church in a Biblical way.
3. Some people simply ignore the whole notion of church membership.
Many people attend church regularly, even churches that offer membership, and yet don’t spend the time considering whether they need to commit. They aren’t sure that membership deals with any significant issues and so they never engage with the idea. Some see no reason to join a church because there seems to be no difference between the member and the active visitor.
4. Some people may be opposed to church membership.
Their objections are well phrased in Don Whitney’s book, Spiritual Disciplines Within the Church. See if you can relate to the following statement:
“If I come and worship as often as the members...if I fellowship with these believers as much as anyone else, if I profit from the teaching and other ministries of the church, and if I actively demonstrate love for my brothers and sisters in Christ here, why should I formally join the church?” (Page 43)
We devote a whole hour to answering the simple question: “Why join a church?” because the act of joining a church is:
§ taken too lightly by some;
§ ignored by others;
§ misunderstood by many; and even
§ rejected by a few
More than that, we spend an hour on this topic because the church today seems to be filled with individuals so concerned about knowing how they can be well fed, well served and well trained that they forget to consider how they can help feed, serve and train others. Our consumer driven-culture has so badly affected the church that you wonder if people think Jesus said, “They will know who are my disciples by the love they have for themselves.”
The church – the bride of Christ – has been used, defamed and devalued. In too many churches, becoming a member is as easy as praying a prayer at age five or walking down the aisle at age 30. In churches like this, where the spiritual state of every member is not seriously examined, I would argue church membership isn’t important.
We at Capitol Hill Baptist Church believe that God has something better for His people than a spiritual social club. To find out why, we ask the question “Why Join a Church?”
Summary
Ø The Bible speaks of the church universal and local.
Ø The Bible has a number of images or pictures for the church. Three common images include a building, a body and a family.
Ø Five practical reasons to be a member of a church: For non-Christians; for weaker Christians; for stronger Christians; for church leaders; and for God.
Ø We sign our Statement of Faith and Church Covenant as a symbol of our commitment and submission to the local church.
II. WHAT DOES THE BIBLE MEAN BY ‘CHURCH’?
Without looking at any of your handouts, let me start by asking you: What does the Bible mean by “church?”
Reading Scripture, we can understand the word church in two different ways.
§ Universal: The church universal is all Christians everywhere at all times.
§ Local: The church local is a particular group of Christians who assemble together.
Question: Without looking down at your notes, which meaning do you think occurs most frequently?
Answer: Scripture mainly refers to the church local.
The word for church in Greek, ‘ekklesia’, is Greek for “assembly” or “congregation.” It appears 114 times in our New Testament. Here are a few examples.
Matthew 16:18
Reading: Would someone read Matthew 16:18?
“And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.”
Question: Do you think Jesus is referring to the church universal, or a local church?
Answer: Jesus is clearly referring to all Christians He will call out to serve Him.
Ephesians 1:22-23
Reading: Would someone read Ephesians 1:22-23?
“And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.”
Question: Is Paul referring to the local church or the church universal?
Answer: Here again, Paul is referring to the bride of Christ in a worldwide sense.
Matthew 18:15-17
Reading: Now, turn back to Matthew and take a look at chapter 18, verses 15-17.
“If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. If he listens to you, you have won your brother over. But if he will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector.”
Question: “Tell it to the church.” Church local or universal?
Answer: Jesus has in mind a particular group of Christians.
Acts 8:1
Acts 8:1 refers to the church at Jerusalem.
1 Corinthians 1:2
1 Corinthians 1:2 makes clear that Paul is addressing a specific church in Corinth.
Realizing that God primarily intends us to consider a local body of believers when we read the word “church” in Scripture, for many people, revolutionizes the way they read their New Testament. No longer do we consider Paul writing to an unknown group of Christ-followers; Paul knows exactly who he is writing to. He is writing to the church at Corinth, the churches scattered throughout Galatia, the church at Ephesus, the church at Philippi, etc… He is writing to churches like the church on Capitol Hill.
III. HOW DOES SCRIPTURE PICTURE THE CHURCH?
The church is amazing. It is not bricks and mortar but people - people committed to the preaching of the Word of God because Jesus demands we commit ourselves to His teaching; people committed to obeying God in baptism and communion because Jesus wants us to remember that we are baptized into His death, and that we live because of His work on the cross and not on our own.
Our responsibility to be a people committed to His church may be seen most clearly in the images God uses in Scripture to describe the church. We want to look at three of those images:
1. The church is pictured as a building.
Paul addresses the young church at Corinth that consists of “mere infants in Christ” (1 Corinthians 3:1). These young Christians were struggling against the worldview of the day to keep their Scriptural convictions.
But Paul reminds them, “...we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building” (1 Corinthians 3:9). Paul says that he laid the foundation of this building by being the first to preach the gospel in Corinth.
The building (or temple) metaphor is used elsewhere in Scripture (Ephesians 2:21; 2 Corinthians 6:16; 1 Timothy 3:15; 2 Peter 2:5). In fact, 2 Peter 2:5 goes as far as to call believers, “living stones” in a spiritual house. So, if the local church is considered God’s building, what is it made of? It is made of Christians, each Christian with a purpose, each with a place. Each Christian resting and relying on the other – just as a brick rests on the bricks below it and supports the bricks above it. If we are bricks in a building built by God, then no brick will be left just lying around with no place to go.
2. The church is pictured as a body.
Perhaps the most common and the most intuitive metaphor for the local church is that of a body. A church body does not separate easily or painlessly. The first time Scripture refers to Christians as being part of one body is Romans 12:4-5:
“Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.”
This “body” is seen most clearly in the context of a local church. It is here that individuals come together with a single purpose: to promote the gospel of Jesus Christ and to edify the saints. There are some called to teach, some called to build, some called to counsel, some called to work with youth, some called to work with seniors, etc. Each responsibility contributes to one greater whole – the body of Christ – of which each individual is a “member.”
When one part of your body is injured, the entire body is affected. If you break your left foot the right foot must bear more weight, your arms must balance better and even your back must adjust to greater stress. A local church is the same way. Each member comes with gifts and weaknesses, and we compensate for each other. In addition, being members of a body means we don’t have to run our race alone. A healthy body is a powerful tool for God’s work.
3. The church is pictured as a family.
Once again, as Paul writes to Timothy, he explains the church not in terms of where disciples meet, but in terms of how disciples are related to one another. In 1 Timothy 3:15, after giving Timothy much instruction, Paul writes, “...if I am delayed, you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God’s household, which is the church of the living God...”
Who is the head of the household? Christ. Who are the children who reside in the household? They are men and women who have surrendered to the authority of Jesus Christ by being adopted through Him into God’s family (Ephesians 1:5). Being part of God’s household implies relationships not just with God, but with brothers and sisters in Christ. As with a family, these relationships are not to be casual; there is too much at stake to be casual. These relationships are giving, sharing and binding.
Would God’s house have a table without enough places for each child? While many churches, even with church membership, do not look like a united family, church membership is still an imperfect but powerful sign that God’s family is together and united, accountable and dependable; completely sharing the mind of Christ. Hopefully, you see a pattern in these biblical metaphors and their relation to church membership:
§ If we are bricks in a building, how can we not identify with that building?
§ If we are members of a physical body, how can we not be securely attached?
§ If we are called God’s children, how can we not be united as His family? Church unity and church membership go together.
IV. WHAT ARE FIVE REASONS TO JOIN A CHURCH?
1. Join a church for non-Christians.
In order to be a healthy witness for Jesus Christ, we need a Biblical way to communicate to unbelievers what it means to be a Christian and, just as important, what it does not mean to be a Christian.
You may remember 1 Corinthians 5:1-5:
“It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that does not occur even among pagans: A man has his father’s wife. And you are proud! Shouldn’t you rather have been filled with grief and have put out of your fellowship the man who did this? Even though I am not physically present, I am with you in spirit. And I have already passed judgment on the one who did this, just as if I were present. When you are assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present, hand this man over to Satan, so that the sinful nature may be destroyed and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord.”
This man needed to know that he could not live the life he was living and in good conscience consider himself a Christian. If he, in fact, was not a Christian at the time, the church was lovingly driving him to Christ by making Him aware of his sin (Romans 3:20), and by making it clear that Christians are not to live lives of unrepentant sin. It may seem counter-intuitive to our 20th Century ears, but being willing to exclude individuals from the fellowship for the purpose of clarifying in their mind and lives what God has or has not done, is a great act of love. It is saying, “I value your relationship with God more than your relationship with me.”
Just as we want to ensure as best we can that each person who unites with this church believes and obeys Jesus Christ, so we want to take action when someone says he is a Christian but lives like a non-Christian. What is the most loving thing to do: to encourage an unbeliever in his sin, or to make that sin known and encourage that person to trust in Christ?
Join a church for non-Christians, so that you can be a part of leading them to the Lord by clarifying not as John Doe the individual, but as the collective bride of Christ, what it means to live as a saved sinner. Join a church because, as strange as it may sound, if you are not a believer, the teaching of the church will make this clear and God will use His Word to bring the lost into His family.
We should join a church to say, “I want to be disciplined. If you see me living contrary to Scripture, point it out!” Christians everywhere should be breaking down doors trying to join local churches. What a wonderful opportunity God has given us in His church to encourage one another along in the faith (formative discipline) and to make it crystal clear when unrepentant sin exists (corrective discipline).
2. Join a church for weaker Christians.
The fact of the matter is, stronger Christians need to set an example for weaker Christians. One way to be a good example, and to help make weaker Christians stronger, is by being a member of a local church.
Sometimes the benefits of joining a church do not appear self-evident. When we are spiritually strong, church membership may get in the way of our other spiritual activities. But meaningful membership isn’t just for the benefit of the spiritually strong; those weaker Christians may just need some stronger Christians to come alongside them and help them out.
Mark Dever tells the story of a campus worker who didn’t want to join the church he regularly attended because he thought it might slow him down spiritually. This campus worker considered himself something of a spiritual heavyweight. Upon discussing this with the campus worker, Mark made one thing very clear: Yes, joining the church may slow him down. But did he ever give serious thought to the notion that joining the church may speed others up?
Spiritual heavyweights who think they don’t really need membership because they already attend church and serve as much as they can don’t seem to give thought to the possibility that their not joining is setting a poor example for spiritually weaker Christians who may need the accountability of formal church membership.
All this to say, join a church to encourage weaker Christians to run the race together.
3. Join a church for stronger Christians.
Even the spiritual heavyweight needs to ask the question, “Am I really loving God in the way that God wants to be loved?”
Matthew 23:37-40
“Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
John 13:34-35
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
1 John 3:16
“This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.”
1 John 4:20
“If anyone says, ‘I love God,’ yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.”
It is one thing to love a friend. It is quite another thing to love a spouse. Anyone who is married can testify to the fact that love before marriage and love after marriage are two remarkably different actions. Love before marriage is often spurred by attraction. Love after marriage is spurred by commitment. Love before marriage may be strong, but it is not the persevering love that comes from months and years of shared trials.
This is why Paul describes the love a husband has for his wife as the love that Christ has for the church: a completely sacrificial love. The strongest Christian may know what it is like to serve the poor and minister to the lost on his terms, but does he know what it is like to commit to a body of believers? Does he know what it is like to love brothers and sisters through thick and thin? Does he know love that isn’t on his own terms? If he doesn’t, it is possible that his spiritual “success” is nothing more than a personal ego trip.
Join a church for stronger Christians, because stronger Christians need to make their love for Christ definite by loving others in a purposefully committed fashion.
4. Join a church for church leaders.
In 1 Timothy chapter 3, Paul writes part of the job description for elders and deacons. We will talk more about these Biblical offices, but suffice it to say that these are individuals with particular responsibility in the life of the church. That is why Paul is so careful to instruct that elders and deacons are to be above reproach, respectable and honest. After all, they are to take care of the church much in the same way they would care for their own families.
If elders are entrusted by God with a leadership role in directing the affairs of the church, they must know who the church is. One church in the Washington, DC area boasts of 6,000 members! Only half attend.
§ Is this other half receiving good teaching?
§ Are these 3,000 serving God at work and in their community?
§ Are they developing relationships with other Christians?
§ Are they evangelizing?
§ Is this other half even alive?
How can a pastor watch over a flock he never sees? This is so important, that in 1996, Capitol Hill Baptist Church removed one-half of its members in order to ensure that, as much as possible, our membership rolls are an accurate reflection of our true church body. Some churches have many more attendees than members. Church membership does not work if relationships are only taken half seriously.
How can a pastor watch over a flock that doesn’t identify with the church in membership? How can leaders serve the church if they do not know who the church is?
5. Join the church for God.
If all this isn’t reason enough to join a church, how about this: Join a church for God. Throughout the Bible, we see God building not simply a collection of individual followers, but a corporate church. We can bring glory to him as we formally identify ourselves with what he has done. In Acts 2 we read of the Apostle Peter preaching the Word of God. Through this preaching and the faith that follows, many people were saved by God. What happens next? Acts 2:41 says:
“Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.”
A few verses later in Acts 2:47, it says that “The Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” Who is included in this “number” Luke keeps writing about in Acts? This “number” is the church. Experiencing the work of God for these believers involved being identified as the church.
Many of you may remember the words of Christ to Paul in Acts 9:4, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” Who had Paul been persecuting? He had been persecuting the church. Jesus Christ is saying that when Paul persecutes the church, he is persecuting Christ. Christ identified with the church completely. Shouldn’t we be willing to do the same?
In Revelation 21, we read of the New Jerusalem, the bride, beautifully dressed for her husband. Who is the bride? It is the church. And who is her husband? God. It can be popular today among some circles to identify as “Christian”, and yet reject any kind of “organized religion”. But the Bible is clear that to be a Christian involves identifying with the bride that God has created for himself. Church membership exists finally for the glory of God; it exists so that the world might see who God is by looking at what he has done in building his church. When all is said and done, with the glory of the bride and her Groom in mind, join a church for God.
V. WHY SIGN THE STATEMENT OF FAITH AND CHURCH COVENANT?
We live in a culture, perhaps now more than ever, where many are more likely to sign up with political parties, special interest groups, or even the Rotary Club than they are to join a church. At Capitol Hill, with all this in mind, we require each member to sign a statement of faith and a church covenant. We do this for a couple of reasons.
1. It is a statement of commitment.
This reflects a commitment to our local body. It is a commitment that includes upholding the Statement of Faith and Church Covenant, and therefore, a commitment to a Christian, evangelical, baptistic and congregational faith, and a commitment to uphold promises made to the church body as a whole, its members, and even yourself.
2. It is a statement of submission.
The signature also reflects submission to the church, both to be held accountable and to hold accountable. It is one thing to say, “This is where I want to attend.” It is another to say, “I acknowledge that I will be disciplined by the church if I continually ignore God’s ways in order to follow my own path,” or “I will look out for my brothers and sisters in Christ and the teaching of this church.”
Furthermore, it is one thing to say that the Bible is true, and quite another to be faithful to Scripture. While signing a statement of faith or church covenant does not require unity on all doctrinal issues over which Christians disagree, it does require unity on issues that are essential for life together in a local church.
VI. CONCLUSION
The following quote makes it clear that while we have no right to finally say who will be in heaven, we do have the right (and obligation) to try and ensure that whoever is a member of our church is a believer; this is a great responsibility and a wonderful privilege.
“There is a table which the Lord has spread, and to which every child of his family has an unquestionable right. It is a table richly furnished with spiritual food, a feast of fat things, full of marrow, of wine on the lees well refined. This table the Lord has spread for all his children, and he invites them all to come: “Eat, O friends; drink, yea drink abundantly, O beloved.” Any one who should forbid their approach would offend against the community of God’s children. The guests at this table have spiritual communion with one another; a species of communion which belongs of right to every member of the church universal.
“There is another table which the Lord has commanded his people to spread in each local church. It is not, like the other, covered with spiritual good things, but simple bread and wine. It is not, like the other, designed for the whole family of the Lord, but for the particular body, the local church, by whom, in obedience to divine command, it has been spread. Though human hands have set out the food, yet the table is the Lord’s because it is designed for his service, and prepared at his command; and the will of the Lord must determine who ought to partake. He knows best the purpose for which he commanded it; and, whatever may be the feelings of the guests, they have no right to invite to his table any whom the Lord has not invited” (Dagg, Manual of Theology and Church Order, 224).
In other words, we don’t intend to have the last say regarding who is in the Kingdom of God. We do, however, intend to make membership meaningful, by encouraging Christians to join for the sake of:
§ non-Christians;
§ weak Christians;
§ strong Christians;
§ church leaders; and
§ God.
When it comes to our participation in the body of Christ, does God want us to be:
§ occasional visitors;
§ regular observers;
§ faithful attendees; or
§ participating members?
Except in the rarest of circumstances, a participating member is a Christian who is best reflecting the characteristics of the bride of Christ. In his booklet Nine Marks of a Healthy Church, Mark Dever, our pastor, writes:
“If the church is a building, then we must be bricks in it; if the church is a body, then we are its members; if the church is the household of faith, it presumes we are part of that household. Sheep are in a flock and branches are on a vine. Biblically, if one is a Christian, he must be a member of a church. Leaving aside the concrete particulars for a moment--whether membership lists are kept on white cards or on computer disks--we must not forsake our regular assembling (Hebrews 10:25). This membership is not simply the record of a statement we once made or of affection toward a familiar place. It must be a reflection of a living commitment or it is worthless, and worse than worthless, it is dangerous. Uninvolved members confuse both real members and non-Christians about what it means to be a Christian. And active members do the voluntarily inactive members no service when they allow them to remain members of the church, for membership is the church’s corporate endorsement of a person’s salvation. Again, this must be clearly understood: membership in a church is that church’s corporate testimony to the individual member’s salvation.”
Does anyone have any questions?
