The Case For Biblical Church Membership

Main Idea: The Bible calls for you to commit to live your Christian life with a local body of believers.

THE NT DESCRIPTIONS DECLARE A SPECIFIC PEOPLE

• There are descriptions of known, counted members in Acts.

• We are described as individual parts of a local whole in the Epistles.

THE ORDINANCES DEMAND A QUALIFIED PEOPLE

• Only those who have accepted Christ should be baptized.

• Only those who’ve been baptized are said to be part of the church.

• Only the church can partake in the ordinances.

THE EPISTLES DESCRIBE AN ACTIVE PEOPLE

• The church is made up of those that assemble, pray for, and give to one another.

• The church is made up of those that safeguard the Gospel & ordinances.

• The church is made up of those that support a particular number of spiritual leaders.

FURTHER RECOMMENDED RESOURCES:

• Why Should I Be Baptized? by Bobby Jamieson

• Why Should I Join A Church? by Mark Dever

• I Am A Church Member by Thom S. Rainer

• Rediscover Church by Collin Hansen and Jonathan Leeman

• Love The Ones Who Drive You Crazy by Jamie Dunlop

• Belong by Barnabas Piper

• 9 Marks of a Healthy Church by Mark Dever

• Building Up One Another by Gene Getz

Sermon Transcript (Auto-Transcribed by YouTube)

We are in the second to last week in our Tabernacle DNA series, and this is what are the essentials, what are the building blocks of a Biblical church, of a Bible-following church, what do we have to have?

And we started off the series in the book of 3 John, looking at the DNA of a healthy church. Then we looked at kind of a threefold purpose that our church has to have of knowing Christ, of growing in His word and showing His love to others.

If we don't know Christ, we have no purpose to exist. Without Jesus, the church has no reason to exist. Then we saw that we have to grow in His word, that if we say we know Jesus, then we have to follow what Jesus says in the Bible.

And then we saw that we have to, last week, show His love to others.

That if we know Christ, if we say that we are growing in His word, but that doesn't result in actual love for God and for people exemplified by actions and words and generosity, then we don't really have a leg to stand on, as we read through 1

Corinthians 13. If I've got everything in the world, if I have every gift, if I do the most, if I give the most to charity, but I don't have love, it profits me nothing. I gain nothing. I am nothing without love.

Then this week and next week, truthfully, as I've mentioned to some people before, these are two of the biggest reasons why I'm at Tabernacle today.

These are the reasons why over the past two years, as I studied through God's Word and read it, as I sought to implement that knowing of Christ and growing in His Word and showing His love to others, as I read in God's Word, these two truths, these

two doctrines that we're going to look at propelled me to say, I think God is leading me to become a pastor so that these things can be implemented in the church that I'm in. These are not things that I came up with on my own.

In your handout today, you've got a small outline and you can see some reading resources by a variety of authors over the course of the last, I think probably about 50 years.

And then as we look at scripture today, today's gonna be a little different. I'll be candid with you. Most of the time, I love doing what we normally do of just taking a portion of scripture and reading through it.

It's normal for me. That's how I read the Bible. That's how I do my sermons.

That's how I love preaching. This week is outside of my comfort zone because it's all of the New Testament.

So I'm gonna be referencing a lot of verses that I won't have you turn to because otherwise your pages might literally light on fire from going back and forth throughout it.

But I hope to make the case today that biblical church membership, not just perhaps any church membership that you perhaps have ever been a part of, but biblical church membership is a distinctly Bible following action that every believer is called

to take. That it should not be something that we view as give or take or optional, but it's something that God calls us to together.

Perhaps you might have come from a background in which church membership was something that perhaps was used against you in a bad way, that because you were a member of a church, someone came after your money, or perhaps you were treated ill, or

perhaps people that were not you, that were not church members, were treated ill as a result of not being church members. But an abuse of what's biblical does not mean that something isn't biblical.

Many of us would realize that God is the one in Genesis 1 and 2 that instituted marriage, that one man and one woman together committed for life.

And though there have been abuses of marriage and abuse in marriage, God's plan is that it would be that man and that woman together for life. The abuse of the institution does not mean that the institution should not be entered into.

If there were going to be a kind of theme verse or a text verse that we would look at today, I would look at 1 Corinthians chapter 12, which says this. I got to start in verse number 21 and then skip down just a couple of verses.

As he is talking about the members of the church, the body parts that make up Christ's body, he says this, The eye cannot say to the hand, I don't need you. Or again, the head can't say to the feet, I don't need you. Down in verse 24.

Instead, God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the less honorable, so that there would be no division in the body, but that the members would have the same concern for each other.

So if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it. If one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. Now, you are the body of Christ and individual members of it.

Church membership, as I found a helpful definition from some pastors that have some books on the topic, and throughout the New Testament, they lifted this definition of church membership.

They say church membership is a local church congregations affirmation and oversight of a Christian's profession of faith and discipleship.

That is, that a group of believers says we are responsible for, if you will, Roger's profession of faith and discipleship, that we affirm he does know Christ. We have heard his testimony. We have seen his life.

It is clear that he is a Christian, and that is combined with the Christian's submission to the church and its oversight. That in using the same illustration, Roger says, I am going to follow the Lord to care for the other people at Tabernacle.

And if the church is, hey, here's what we're doing in outreach, or hey, here is this doctrine that we corporately believe together from God's word, that he says, I am on board.

So one more time, church membership is a local church congregation's affirmation and oversight of a Christian's profession of faith and discipleship. We are responsible for him combined with the Christian's submission to the church and its oversight.

I am with them. One pastor said this, membership is the natural outcome of the gospel itself.

The gospel is not just about how God saves us from the dominion of darkness, as we would read about in Colossians 1, but how he saves us into the kingdom of the son he loves.

This is a kingdom bustling with other redeemed sinners who like us are now citizens of heaven. Local churches are the places where we live according to this new reality. We don't just say we're reconciled to others, we show it.

We show it by joining a congregation and committing to love one another and help one another grow in Christlikeness. We show it by inviting one another into our homes and caring for each other's needs.

We show it by confessing our sins to one another and forgiving one another. We show it by putting aside personal preferences and considering the interests of others above our own, as we read in Philippians 2.

We show it by learning and submitting to the word of God together. By joining a church, we commit to other redeemed sinners and show the world that Christ has indeed reconciled us both to God and to each other.

It's not enough to merely have Christian friends with whom we occasionally gather, friends we pick and choose according to our own tastes.

What truly displays the gospel is when we commit to love and care for a group of people that includes folks utterly unlike us. We display the gospel when we gather each week to serve people who sometimes share only one thing in common with us, Jesus.

The Bible calls for you to commit to live your Christian life with a local body of believers. Some of you might be wondering, what in the world is up with the Mrs. Potato Head?

The main thought that we'll be going through as we look at these biblical characteristics of a church, why someone would formally join a church and join its membership, is due to this thought.

Every part of this potato, for the most part, is needed and necessary. I discovered with my son last night, if you take off this part, this part doesn't work right, or if you don't have this, then the cowboy vest falls off entirely.

We have to know what is and what is not part of the body. Because Jesus says that you are not responsible for everyone everywhere at all times. Do you know that?

You are not responsible for perhaps Christians in Nigeria. You're not responsible for them. But God does say you have a responsibility to those that you worship alongside with, specifically in the church.

So Matthew 18 is one of the great passages that shows us this, that Peter gives the proclamation that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.

And Jesus tells Peter upon that truth, that declaration, that confession of faith, that is what he will build his church on.

And then he tells them that the keys to the kingdom, that kingdom of heaven, they are to be exercised not by an individual, but by the church.

And we can see this in how he outlines church discipline, that if you have trouble between one believer and another, they're supposed to try and fix that problem themselves.

And if that doesn't work, then they bring in one other person, and together they implore that person to make the wrong right. And if they won't hear them, then they are to take it to the church, the congregation.

It does not say, take it to your pastor. It does not say, take it to the deacon board. It does not say, take it to the elders or to a, you know, educating committee or something.

He says, take it to the church. And he says, if they fail to listen to the church itself saying, hey, be reconciled with this person, no longer live in this sin, but make it right.

If they refuse to hear the church, he says, let them be like a publican or a sinner, that is a tax collector or someone that is not part of the community of faith, that your interactions with them are different.

It's no longer brother and sister, but it's saved and unsaved, someone that needs Christ, someone that you're inviting to become a disciple of Jesus because they have not repented from sin and turned to Jesus.

They are, if you will, repented from Jesus and turned to sin. So who do we have a responsibility to entreat to in that way? Who does the church have the responsibility to say, you are in the faith or you are out of the faith?

As you look at Acts 2, you can see that those that believed the word were baptized and then they were added to the church in a specific number, as we'll look at in just a second.

That there were people that they knew upon their profession of faith and their baptism, they have said, I want to be part of this church. And so they added them to the church.

Even as you look at the story of the Apostle Paul, who was once Saul, as he gets saved, he's baptized, he comes to the church at Jerusalem, and they say, you can't come here yet. Like we're not gonna allow you to like be in here.

Of course, he was once a great persecutor of the Christians, so that's of note. But as they do that, then Barnabas brings Paul's testimony to the church, and he says, hey, here is how God has worked in Paul's life.

I can testify of his salvation and of his baptism and of his walk with the Lord. And upon the recommendation of that elder in the church, then the church accepted Paul into membership.

The point of church membership is that the church would know who are we responsible for? Who do we have these Bible reasons to care for them in this particular way?

I don't know if you know this, we don't have the funds to care for every Christian that's in our area. Every Christian in Essex, if someone said, all right, you guys are supposed to pray for, meet with, care for a disciple, warn about false teachers.

Every Christian in Essex and Rosedale and White Marsh and Middle River and Dundalk and everywhere else, we go, we don't have the resources for that. But God does want those things to take place.

And he has made it so that those things would take place through a local church. People that you have committed to that know you and you know them and that that care and mutuality would take place.

That there are spiritual leaders that you know and that know you that you are called to in Hebrews 13 and Acts 20 and 1 Peter 5 and 1 Timothy 5, you are called to submit to and support and imitate and follow in their Christian life.

How do you know which ones to follow? How do you know which ones are false teachers? It's by committing to a local body of believers.

So we're going to go through and we're going to look at all across the New Testament. That's kind of the summary. I'm going to walk you through each portion of this.

First is that the New Testament descriptions declare a specific people, that there's a known people that are part of the church. Letter A, there are descriptions of known, counted members in Acts.

In the Book of Acts, the Jerusalem Church and the later other local churches knew the specific people in their church. They knew their gender. They knew their salvation testimonies.

They knew their cultural status, their marital status, their jobs and their ethnicity.

In addition, countless times in Acts, the phrases added to the church, the number of the disciples or they were multiplied are used, showing that there was some sort of measurable metric by which the church knew who was part of that church, who was

in the kingdom and who was not part of the kingdom, that they would know who they were responsible for. As we can see in Acts 6, the daily distribution of food to the widows.

In Acts 2, giving to those brothers and sisters who were in need, spiritual oversight and more.

Acts 1-15 says, those that were gathered together in the upper room were about 120, that they knew exactly who is in this group that we are responsible for. In Acts 2-47, every day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.

So they knew their profession of faith, and that was who was being added. In Acts 4-4, many of those who heard the message believed, and the number of the men came to about 5,000.

So they knew both their gender, they knew who was part of the church, and they knew who was not, and they knew that this many men, about 5,000, were a part of the church.

Acts 5-14, believers were added to the Lord in increasing numbers, multitudes of both men and women.

In Acts 6-1, in those days, as the disciples were increasing in number, there arose a complaint by the Hellenistic Jews, that is, those Jews that had embraced a Greek culture.

So now we're moving past even ethnicity to what their cultural status was like. I don't know if many of you have perhaps some friends from some different ethnicities.

Some of my closest friends were Filipino and Korean and Hispanic, both in high school and in college, and they had their own cultures, their ways in which they food, the holidays that they celebrated with their family.

And this local church knew who these people were, even numbering into the thousands, because there was at least some sort of, if you will, roster. There was some way in which they knew who was a part of the church.

Is the Hellenistic Jews against the Hebraic Jews, those that were following all of the customs of Israel, that their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution.

So there, in Acts 6, the church had a distribution that they gave out of food or of necessities to widows, so they knew who they were giving it to in multiple ethnic groups and multiple cultures.

They knew exactly who they were giving the food to, because they said, hey, these people are on the list, and they're not being taken care of, and they knew their marital status, that they were widows.

So there's all of this knowledge of who is and who is not in the group that the church is responsible for.

In Acts 6-7, so the word of God spread, the disciples in Jerusalem increased greatly in number, and a large group of priests became obedient to the faith. So they knew even their jobs. What does this person do for a living?

Obviously, if you're a priest, you're decked out in all the priestly clothing, so that makes that one a little bit easier to know.

And then in Acts 16, 5, some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, including a large number of God-fearing Greeks. So that's their ethnicity that is known by the church, as well as a number of the leading women.

So even their social status was known by the early church. Does anyone in our church know you, know where you're at?

It's not that you have to put up a bulletin board or wear a giant sign that says, all right, here's all of the necessary information that I have to give you.

The point is, there was actual relationship between the members of the body, that there was relationship between the leaders of the church and the people that they were teaching the word of God to, the people that they were discipling, the people

that they were doing outreach with, that they were known, it was known who you are. This is life on life. It wasn't just, all right, now we've got you written down on a piece of paper, now you're good.

The implication is there's actual life being lived together. Your Christian life is not a solo act. It's meant to be a team sport.

Not only are there descriptions of known and counted members in Acts, but we can also see that we are described as individual parts of a hole, of a local hole in the epistles.

The way God describes you is in relation to the other believers in your local church. None of the epistles are written to lone Christians, solo people all by themselves. It's always written to churches.

Even letters that are written to individual people are written in context of their local church.

So, Gaius, where John says, all right, here's the things that I want you to know for your church, and he even says, for this other church with this other pastor that you are aware of that's in your area.

And, first and second, Timothy and Titus are all written to say, here's what you do in the church of God. Here's how you behave. Here's the things that you teach.

Here's the encouragements that you give to the older men that you know, to the younger men that you know, to the older women and the younger women.

You are called to relate to others, to include others in your life, not just because you share common interests, but because you share a common Savior. This is exemplified for Timothy 3.

I've written so that you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God's household, in his family, that you are all members of God's family.

Ephesians 2, 19 through 22, that you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with the saints, that you are a citizen in a group of citizens with the saints and members of God's household. You are a family member.

It says, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone, in him the whole building being put together grows into a holy temple in the Lord.

In him, you are also being built together for God's dwelling in the Spirit. So God says you are one family member in a family. God says you are one citizen in a country of citizens.

God says you are one stone, you are one brick in a building. In 1 Corinthians 12 that we read earlier, the body is one and has many parts. That you are a thumb, you're an ear in the body of Christ.

It says in all the parts of that body, though many are one body. Have you been viewing your spiritual life as a solo mission of just you and God against the world?

Or are you cognizant of the fact that God has saved you to be a part of a local group of believers who you're supposed to get to know, get to love, and get to serve with? So, the New Testament descriptions declare a specific people.

That it says these are known people with known aspects of their life because they live their lives in relation to one another.

It might not be that everyone in our church knows everything about you, but does anyone in the church, do some of the people in the church, do you make yourself knowable to others? But then we can see that the ordinances demand a qualified people.

The ordinances demand a qualified people. The ordinances spoken about in Scripture that the Lord instituted and said, keep on doing this is baptism that he himself underwent in identification with all of those that would come after him.

And then the Lord's Supper or Communion or the Lord's Table that remembrance of what Christ did in his sacrifice for us on the cross. The ordinances demand a qualified people. First, only those who have accepted Christ should be baptized.

And this is very clearly seen in the New Testament. In Acts 2 and verse number 38, to the question that the people respond with at the end of the sermon at Pentecost, hey, what do we do? We've heard about this Jesus, this Messiah.

What are we supposed to do with the information? Peter says, repent. Turn from your sin to Jesus.

Repent and be baptized. Each of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. You repent, and then you're baptized.

Acts 2, 41. So those who accepted Peter's message were baptized. And that day about 3,000 people were added to that.

In Acts 19, Paul encounters some disciples of John the Baptizer. He asks them, Did you receive the Holy Spirit when you believed? No, they told him.

We haven't even heard that there is a Holy Spirit. They did not know about that central teaching that Jesus commanded his disciples to baptize in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

So here these people were not baptized under that baptism. It says, Into what then were you baptized? He asked them.

Into John's baptism, they replied. The one that had baptized before Jesus had come, pointing the way to Jesus.

Paul said, John baptized with the baptism of repentance, telling the people that they should believe in the one who would come after him, that is, in Jesus. When they heard this, they were baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus.

He doesn't say, all right, this retroactively just works for you. They got, if you will, rebaptized because they had never been baptized after having accepted Christ as Savior.

Galatians 3 verses 26 and 27 say this, Through faith you are all sons and daughters of God in Christ Jesus. For those of you who were baptized into Christ have been clothed with Christ. That faith comes first and then the baptism.

You believe in Christ and then you follow him. It would be almost silly to say, I don't believe in Christ. I don't have faith in him.

I haven't accepted him. I haven't chosen him as my Lord, but I'm going to identify with him in baptism. It would be odd.

Romans 6 verses 3 and 4, All of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death.

Therefore we were buried with him by baptism into death in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in newness of life.

That only those that have new life in Christ through the Holy Spirit, only those people are the ones that should be baptized. This is one of the beliefs that distinguishes our church and our denomination from some other Christian traditions.

For the Catholic faith, the Eastern Orthodox, the Anglican and Episcopalian communions, as well as the Lutheran and Presbyterian denominations, baptism can and must be given to infants as a sign of their membership in their community of faith.

In the late Dark Ages and the Middle Ages, some of those that did not baptize their infants were killed by drowning, as the religious leaders at that time thought that an unbaptized infant was outside of the salvation of Christ and would thus be

condemned to hell if they were to die in infancy, as was very common in those times. So this is something that is a belief that not all Christians hold, but I am, as a Baptist pastor, believe it or not, I believe in the Baptist belief in baptism.

Baptists, among some other evangelical denominations, have held that children are not condemned until they reach a maturity of truly understanding their actions, that God does not hold them responsible for what they cannot understand.

This is due to Christ's words about deceased children's presence in heaven, as well as David's words about his baby that passed.

As someone that's gone through miscarriage, it's a precious truth in our life, the fact that God cares about the little children, all the children of the world.

And even here on Mother's Day, I want to take just a moment and let you know, God is the one that has your babies if they've passed.

And many of us in this sin-cursed broken world have experienced that kind of loss, either in the womb or in life itself.

And God knows, and He does not have condemnation for those that had no understanding, could not possibly have made that choice for Christ.

We believe that baptism should be reserved for those that have consciously, don't baptize an unconscious person, personally. You know, I see Zach and Kayla back here.

Zach, if you told me, all right, you know, Kayla's previous baptism, it doesn't count, and so you've got to baptize her. That's not how this works. Kayla would have to be the one that said, okay, yeah, I need to get baptized.

You can't have someone else be baptized. It's got to be a personal choice.

So consciously, personally, intentionally, chosen Christ as Lord, and someone that's evidenced that choice through observable repentance, as we see in Luke 3 verses 8 through 14 and in Acts 2.

So only those who have accepted Christ should be baptized. And then secondly, only those who've been baptized are said to be part of the church. So 1 Corinthians 12, 13, Paul says, we were all baptized by one spirit into one body.

Ephesians 4 verses 3 through 5 says, there is one body and one spirit, just as you, to use a southern phrase, all y'all were called to one hope at your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism.

It's the one thing that they all have in common, that one Lord, one faith, one baptism.

1 Peter 3 and verse 21, baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves all y'all, not as the removal of dirt from the body, but the pledge of a good conscience toward God through the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

That the thing that unites the church is that we have all been baptized. Colossians chapter 2 and verses 11 and 12, you were also circumcised in him with a circumcision not done with hands.

So Old Testament, the sign of God's people that they were circumcised.

In the New Testament, in the circumcision of Christ, when you were buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him, it's through faith in the working of God who raised him from the dead.

This is the first requirement for those that want to join a church. If someone's not followed Christ in baptism, but is completely physically able to do so.

So obviously there are many extenuating circumstances in which someone might not physically be able to undergo baptism. And God doesn't say, all right, if you can't do, if you can't get into the magic pool, then you can't be a part of the church.

That's not the intention, but it's anyone that is completely physically able and rejects following Christ in this way. We ought to question the legitimacy of that person's profession of faith.

It'd be very odd to call someone a Christian, a little Christ, a disciple or a follower of Jesus, who refuses to follow Jesus in his first public action of baptism and refuses to follow his great commission to become a disciple and be baptized.

Acts 2.41 provides the blueprint for how baptism relates to church membership. Those that believe on Christ are saved, and then they are baptized and then added to Christ's church.

Someone cannot be scripturally baptized if they have not believed on Christ, and someone cannot be added to Christ's church that has willfully refused to identify with him and all believers for the past 2,000 years in baptism.

Today, for you, have you ever followed Christ in baptism after personally professing faith in Christ? If not, talk to me after the service. Set up an appointment with me this week.

There is nothing I would love more than to walk through that public identification with Jesus. So first, only those who have accepted Christ should be baptized.

Only those who have been baptized are said to be part of the church or the church membership. And only the church can partake in the ordinances. 1 Corinthians 11 verses 27 to 34 say this, talking about the Lord's Table, Communion.

So then whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sin against the body and blood of the Lord. For whoever eats and drinks without recognizing the body, eats and drinks judgment on himself.

Therefore, my brothers and sisters, when you come together to eat, welcome one another. So he's saying those that are in that local church, the brothers and sisters, those that are a part of that body, are to partake in this together.

And with the very solemn word, both for members of the church that do know one another, but are partaking in an unworthy manner, that there is a spiritual judgment that can come on us as a result of partaking in the Lord's table flippantly.

Acts 2 verses 41 through 42, those that received his word were baptized. That day, there were added about 3000 souls.

And they, those that were saved and baptized and added to the church, they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, the breaking of bread, and to prayer, which would likely include some fellowship meals.

You know, we got a fifth Sunday potluck, but would most intentionally be the Lord's Supper that they would partake in together.

Our church's Statement of Faith, the Baptist Faith and Message 2000 says this, Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

It's an act of obedience, symbolizing the believer's faith in a crucified, buried, and risen Savior, the believer's death to sin, the burial of the old life, and the resurrection to walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus.

It is a testimony to his faith in the final resurrection of the dead. Being a church ordinance, it is prerequisite to the privileges of church membership and to the Lord's Supper.

The Lord's Supper is a symbolic act of obedience whereby members of the church, through partaking of the bread and the fruit of the vine, memorialize the death of the Redeemer and anticipate His second coming.

In one sense, we understand this, that only the people that are a part of the family get to eat at that family meal. Someone random can't come in off the street and go, Oh, we're having dinner? Great to have you.

Of course, if someone's invited in, that's another thing entirely. But we understand this when it comes to human relationships and interaction, that you have to be a part of what's happening in order to enjoy what's happening.

And as we look at some other things later, even as Paul talks about the responsibility of the congregation, when it comes to the Lord's Supper, we'll see some more details there. Lastly here, the epistles describe an active people.

That is, the letters in the New Testament, they describe an active people. Is church membership just, okay, put your name on this list, and then you're good, you're set for life. No, no, no.

It is an activity. It is something that you participate in. First, the church is made up of those that assemble, pray for, and give to one another.

And I will say this on the outside. It's not an exhaustive list, but those are some of the most important things that we're called to do. Hebrews 10 verses 24 and 25.

Let us be concerned about one another. So how can you be concerned about someone that you don't know? Let us be concerned about one another in order to promote love and good works.

Not staying away from our worship meetings, as some habitually do, but encouraging each other and all the more as you see the day drawing near. James 5.16. Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another.

I can say, God, please bless all the Christians in the whole world. Great. I'm sure all of you feel very honored and very seen by myself and by the Lord in this moment.

The command to confess our sins to one another, to have accountability with one another, that I would say, hey, you know, Jim, I'm really struggling with this sin right now. Would you pray with me?

You know, I just, I get angry and I start kicking cats. And you know, I know God doesn't want me to do that. That there would be accountability with one another.

We confess our sins to one another. And then we pray for one another, that Jim would say, all right, God, something's deeply wrong with Pastor Bryon. He's out here kicking cats.

And God, I pray that you'd be with him. Help him, Lord. That we ought to confess our sins, have accountability, pray for one another, know one another in a way that's more than just, hi, how are you?

Great. You? Good.

Let's actually know one another. Church membership is, I have pledged to be a part of your life. Hebrews 13, 16, do not neglect to do good and to share what you have for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.

Well, who do you share with? You can in one sense share with anyone, but from Galatians 6 and some other places, let's do good as we have opportunity to all men, especially those who are of the family of faith.

Acts 2 verses 42 through 47 say what the very first church body, what they did. They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching. So they gathered together.

They heard the word of God together. They fellowshiped. They broke bread.

They enjoyed the Lord's table. They prayed together. Now, all the believers were together and held all things in common.

They sold their possessions and property and distributed the proceeds to all as any had need. Every day, they devoted themselves to meeting together. Now, I promise you, I'm not saying, all right, every single day at 8 p.m.

we're getting Tabernacle Baptist Church together. We don't even have the level of commitment that these believers had. But the underlying goal of a church, the word is ecclesia.

It is a called out assembly. The word is elsewhere used of like a mob that gathers to attack Paul and some of the other believers in one of the cities of, I think it was Greece. And it says an assembly gathered together, an ecclesia.

The phrase, don't go to church, be the church. Somewhat true in the sense that the church is still the church even when it's scattered, but a church that never assembles together, a people that never gather together are not an assembly.

It's a disassembled assembly would be very, very odd. So they every day devoted themselves to meeting together in the temple and broke bread from house to house.

They ate their food with joyful and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. Every day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.

There are countless commands in the New Testament that only make sense, that are only able to be obeyed in the context of committed local membership to a specific body of believers, to love one another, to seek peace and unity within the

congregation. If you're never around people enough to not have some peace and unity, then perhaps God is inviting you into closer relationship with others. To avoid all strife.

You go, well, I'm never close enough to anyone to even encounter any strife. God's inviting you into relationship with others. To care for one another physically and spiritually.

To watch over one another and hold one another accountable. Galatians 6, if one of you sees someone overtaken in a fault, you that are spiritual restore such a person in a spirit of humility, considering yourself, lest you also are tempted.

If you don't know anyone in your life, if you don't know anyone at Tabernacle well enough to know if they are struggling spiritually, God is inviting you dive deeper into the body. Membership is so much more than a name on a piece of paper.

Membership is how you live your Christian life with other people. To work to edify one another, to bear with one another, including, as we see in 1 Corinthians, not suing one another. Praying for and with one another.

Keeping away from those who would destroy the church, as we would read about in 1 and 2 John. To reject evaluating people by worldly standards.

In James 2, he says, okay, rich people are coming in, and you go, oh great, can you sit on the front row that way everyone can see? Like, we've got the great clientele here.

And then you see someone coming in that does not have any worldly goods, and you tell them, all right, I want you to go sit in the back where no one can really see you. He says, what in the world are you doing? That's not how God views it.

But there has to be a love, a care, a rejection of evaluating people by worldly standards. You can only do that, reject evaluating people by worldly standards, if you know people.

If you don't know people, then you won't even know how to evaluate them other than simply by their clothing and going, all right, you're dressed nice. I'll sit by you. You're not dressed nice.

I'm gonna move a couple chairs over from you. We are called to contend together for the gospel, and we're called to be examples to one another.

If I have no idea how you live, if you have no idea how the person sitting across from you in the aisle lives, then how in the world are you going to be an example to them or they be an example to you?

It happens in meaningful, intentional relationship with others. Are you obeying the one another commands in scripture or just showing up to church? Embrace the fullness of what Christ has given you in giving you a people to show his love to.

We talked last week about Matthew 25, where he says, whatever you have done to the least of these, my brothers and sisters, you have done to me. We have that responsibility to show Christ's love to others.

Then the church is made up of those that safeguard the gospel and the ordinances. So we have all the one and others that we're called to do, but then we're called to safeguard the gospel and ordinances. Galatians 1, 8 says this.

An apostle speaking, a writer of scripture speaking, even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, a curse be on him. He does not say this to the pastors of the church at Galatia.

He doesn't say it to their elders. He doesn't say to their deacons. He says to the churches, you all are responsible corporately for rejecting another gospel.

In 1 Corinthians 5 verses 7 through 13, Paul writing to the church at Corinth again, not to an elder, overseer, pastor, deacon, church bouncer. He says this to everybody. Christ, our Passover lamb has been sacrificed.

Therefore, let us observe the feast, the Lord's Supper, not with old leaven or with the leaven of malice and evil, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.

He says, I wrote to you in a letter, not to associate with sexually immoral people. I did not mean the immoral people of this world or the greedy and swindlers or idolaters. Otherwise, you would have to leave the world.

Paul says, I want you to stay away from sexually immoral people. But if you stayed away from all sexually immoral people, you would have to leave the world.

But he says this, but actually, I wrote you not to associate with anyone who claims to be a brother or sister and is sexually immoral or greedy, an idolater or verbally abusive, a drunkard or a swindler. Do not even eat with such a person.

In the context of this, at the very least, it communicates, don't eat the Lord's Supper with that person in the middle. He says, for what business of it is mine, is it of mine to judge outsiders? He says, I'm not responsible for everyone in Corinth.

You all are not responsible for everyone in Essex. You are responsible as members of the church for those that have committed themselves voluntarily to become a member of Tabernacle that we together oversee.

We care for, we keep each other accountable. He says, don't you judge those who are inside. God judges outsiders, remove the evil person from among you.

When it comes to the use of the keys of the kingdom that Jesus talks about in Matthew 18, no single person carries enough authority to make the call on what is a right confession of faith in Jesus or who is a true confessor.

So both the faith and the actions. I as the pastor can't say, all right, I'm kicking, I've mentioned Roger's name a couple of times, I'll mention you again. I don't have the authority to say, okay, I'm kicking Roger out of membership at Tabernacle.

I don't have that authority from what the Bible says. That responsibility falls to the entire local church.

We can see it outlining Matthew 18 when Jesus says that only the judgment call of the church can declare someone to be an outsider to that membership covenant.

It's the same thing Paul says in 1 Corinthians 5, that someone that claims to be a Christian, but is living in a sexual relationship outside of the bounds of marriage is declared by the church to no longer be a member until they have repented and

turned from their sin. This removal from membership, the formal statement that a local body of believers can no longer affirm that this person truly believes in and follows Christ is done for a few reasons.

For the repentance, reconciliation and spiritual growth of the individual discipline.

If we think that we can live however we want, and that we should never have any doubt about how our actions reflect our inner state with Christ, if no one ever tells us, no, Christians don't do that.

The Bible says that you cannot continue to partake in this sin and be assured of your faith, of your salvation in Jesus, that you weren't just playing a part before. We need someone who will warn us when we are in dire need.

For the instruction and righteousness and good of other Christians, as an example to them, if Laurie sees Roger partaking in some sin, and the church is totally fine with it, Laurie might say, oh, cool. Well, I guess it's fine to do that thing.

And so church discipline has to take place, that warning both first, one on one, hoping to bring them back, or two people with one person hoping to bring them back, or to the church at large saying, we don't want you gone, we want you to turn back to

Jesus. And only after that, does someone go away that it tells other Christians, oh, okay, this person got kicked out for sexual immorality. I know that I haven't been very careful in what I've been watching online.

I haven't been very careful in where I've gone. Man, I want to follow Jesus. And I know what God says in his word.

And that would be the goal. If I get shot by lightning at some point, you'll know I was preaching heresy. Otherwise, I'm going to view this as like a holy amen or something.

He says, for the purity of the church as a whole, in Ephesians 5, the apostle Paul writes that Jesus saved the church so that he would present it to himself a spotless bride, not having wrinkle or blemish or anything like that, but that it would be

holy and without blame before him in love. So it keeps the purity of the church when sin is rescinded, when we say we cannot have active, unrepentant sin in our midst.

And for the good of our corporate witness to non-Christians, we've seen this several times over the past several years where someone that was an active member of a church was caught in a crime, and a church had maybe covered it up and did not make

known, hey, this is not how Christians behave, and we are going to be a part of what's happening in washing our hands of this particular person that this life, this crime, this sin that they have held onto in defiance of Jesus, it does not define who

we are as a people. We are the people of God. We are not the people of wickedness, and we do not want this in our midst.

So it corporately tells the world that the church actually cares about sin, that we're not just about our own image and saying, yes, we've got all perfect people and everyone that ever joins our church is perfect.

Jesus' church of 12 had one member that ended up getting kicked out, if you will, for his sin. If that happened in Jesus' church, it might one day happen in our church, and we have a responsibility to follow the gospel.

And then lastly, supremely for the glory of God by reflecting His holy character. Why would we care about the holiness, the righteousness of a church corporately? Because we serve a holy God who demands our personal holiness.

But who can be subject to dismissal from membership by the church because of their actions and beliefs? Someone that's attended for a week, and we find out, okay, you know, you're a Buddhist. Get out of here.

Someone that's been here for three months, someone that's been here a year.

At what point do the spiritual leaders of the church change from the viewpoint of this person is from the outside enjoying what's happening here, but they've made no commitment to this place, this teaching, or this people?

At what point did they change from that to this is one of our sheep? This is one of the people that we are responsible for. The answer for Baptist churches has been membership.

When someone voluntarily says, I agree with your teaching and doctrine and will uphold it. I commit myself to love, care, support, encourage, and assemble with this particular group of believers.

And I will submit to and follow these particular elders. Then we view them as part of our church. When they say, I want to be part of your church.

And just as the congregation is responsible for the exit from membership, it's also responsible for the entrance into membership.

As we see in Acts 9, it was only after Barnabas and Saul talked with the elders at Jerusalem, and upon their recommendation of the church, that the church allowed Saul to join them. That's why at our church we have three steps to membership.

First, we have a one-day starting point class where we tell you what our church believes and what our aspirations are.

We've had two of those already this year, and some are around 15 people that have taken that class, and a handful of other people that I've gone over the exact same material with personally.

And that class's intention is so that you can know what you'd be signing up for in membership at Tabernacle. We want you to know this is what I'm signing on for.

Second, one of our church pastors or elders personally meets with a prospective member to hear their salvation testimony and to hear their story.

I've gotten the chance to do three of those meetings so far this year, and Pastor Ron got to do several of them last year.

And this is so that we can have something definite to recommend to the members of the church at a members business meeting, which is the third step.

At a members business meeting, the church at the recommendation of its elders, just like in Jerusalem, votes to bring in those believers. At every step along the way, there is intention, volitional choice, and understanding.

Have you ever volitionally chosen to be a part of Tabernacle's membership? If not, I'd encourage you, talk to me after the service, text me this week, set up an appointment. I would love to begin that process with you.

So the church is made up of those that assemble, pray for, and give to one another. The church is made up of those that safeguard the gospel and the ordinances, that we say, this is the gospel. This is gospel behavior.

This is gospel belief. And we do that together corporately in both our observance of baptism, that we only baptize those that have professed faith in Christ, and that we only give the Lord's Supper to those that are members of a church.

And then lastly, the church is made up of those that support a particular number of leaders. And since we'll be talking a little bit about spiritual leaders next week, I won't belabor this point.

First Corinthians 9, 13, and 14 says, the Lord ordered that those who preach the good news should be supported by those who benefit from it.

First Timothy 5, 17, and 18 says, the elders who are good leaders should be considered worthy of an ample honorarium, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching.

So you are responsible, we are responsible as a congregation for supporting our spiritual leaders, especially those that work hard at preaching and teaching. I love the example that he uses in First Timothy 5.

He doesn't say, because this is how it worked in the Old Testament, though that's true. He says, for the scripture says, do not muzzle an ox while it's treading out the grain and the worker is worthy of his wages.

He says, if you've got a good cow, let the cow eat while he's working. So Lord willing, your pastors at this church will be some good cows for you. Hebrews 13 and verse 17 says, obey your spiritual leaders and submit to them.

Their work is to watch over your souls, and they are accountable to God. Give them reason to do this with joy and not with sorrow. That would certainly not be for your benefit.

You are called to obey and submit to your spiritual leaders, the ones that have preached God's word to you. You are not responsible to obey every teacher, every spiritual leader.

I'm not going to say, hey, whatever Joel Osteen tells you to do, you got to obey that. No, you have to obey your spiritual leaders.

And those are defining Hebrews 13, 7 as, remember your leaders who have spoken God's word to you as you carefully observe the outcome of their lives, imitate their faith. And then 1st Thessalonians 5 verses 12 and 13.

Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, to give recognition to those who labor among you and lead you in the Lord and admonish you and to regard them very highly in love because of their work.

Who are you supposed to follow, imitate, obey, respect, financially support? The specific spiritual leaders that know you, admonish you, preach and teach God's word to you, and that you can observe their day-to-day life whenever you choose.

God doesn't give us a choice in whether or not to obey, follow, imitate, and respect our spiritual leaders, but if you don't voluntarily, intentionally join a church, then the elders of a local church have no claim of responsibility for you.

That on both ends, on the decision of the person that says, I want to be a part of this local group of believers, that I'm going to join in with their confession of faith, what they say about the Bible and their beliefs, I'm joining in.

I'm going to uphold it. I'm going to defend it. I'm going to defend the gospel, and I'm going to love and care for these people personally, and I'm going to support and follow its leaders.

And for the purpose of the church, that when someone joins a church, we have a responsibility to care for that person. That we have a responsibility to pray for. We have a responsibility to get to know.

It's why at our last members business meeting, when we voted in, I think with six or seven different people into membership at Tabernacle, I gave little bios of each of the people that you would know who they are.

You would know just a little bit of their story. You would know their names, and that you would be able to be, Lord willing, a help and an encouragement to them. Why would we care about church membership?

We care because the Bible talks a lot about it. We care about it because Jesus died, not so that we would be saved alone, but that we would be saved into a family. We would be a stone in a building.

We would be a thumb in a body, that we would be a citizen in a larger kingdom, and voluntarily joining up saying, I'm with you, I'm going to be a part of the care. I want you to oversee my life, to let me know if I'm wandering astray.

I want you to help me when I'm going through rough times, when I need that prayer. We can do good to lots of people in our world, but how God has designed it to work is that we would know who we are and who we aren't responsible for.

It's the reason for the potato head. Truth be told, I don't know if this arm is supposed to go to this potato or the potato that my son slept with in his bed last night. I don't know whose arm it is.

So I don't know who is it supposed to go to. If my son saw the arm, he would probably say, that's mine. And if my daughter saw it, she'd probably go, that she would think it's hers.

We have to know who is and who is not a part of our body so we can know what our responsibilities are.

We can be kind to everyone, but God has given us a purpose, has given us a mission to care for some specific people in membership at a local church.