June 11th: Church Membership
Speaker: Duncan Wyncoll
The biblical injunction to join a local church, and the duties and benefits of church membership.
Introduction
· Designed home or family for God’s people - Divine genius…
· Magnificent subject, enriched by remarkable metaphors or illustrations
· Understanding is powerfully informative & influential for believers
· What should a church be like? What are the duties of members?
· Some are not convinced & some never commit… But NT frequently speaks about ‘belonging…’
· One of the key building blocks for the long-lasting church – Regenerate Church membership (as far as one can tell...)
Insiders & Outsiders
1 Cor 5.4,5 – ‘In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, & my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, to deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved I the day of the Lord Jesus.’
Seems a strange verse to prove church membership, but describes a special meeting of believers had the power to exclude from their company & privileges
Not merely an open public meeting, but gathered believers concerned to preserve integrity – describing insiders & outsiders
‘Delivered unto Satan’ – deprived of the comforts/blessings of spiritual fellowship
Having to live outside the community of believers – to bring to his senses
1 Cor 5.12,13 – ‘For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? Do not ye judge them that are within? But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person’
· Inside or Outside? Of what? A gathering or formal membership?
· Only such a formal membership would have this authority
· ‘Received into…’ verse 12 (within) & ‘Put out of..’ verses 7 & 13
· Voluntarily committed to mutual fellowship, service & discipline; No longer uncommitted individualists
Confirmed as constituted for discipline
Matthew 18.17 – ‘& if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it to the church: but he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen & a publican’
General principles for dealing with offences among believers
To be dealt with by the church
Saviour implies a responsibility to local churches – stable, properly defined & constituted, orderly communities – not shapeless
Membership is an Obligation – Paul joining the church at Jerusalem
Baptist Confession of Faith – ‘All believers are bound (obligated) to join themselves to a church when they have opportunity to do so….’
Acts 9.26-28 – ‘& when Saul was come to Jerusalem, he assayed (attempted) to join himself to the disciples: but they were all afraid of him, & believed not that he was a disciple. But Barnabas took him, & brought him to the apostles, & declared unto them how he had seen the Lord in the way, & that he had spoken to him, & how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus. & he was with them coming in & going out at Jerusalem’
What was Paul wanting to join? Not just attending the meetings…
Joining the membership of those who professed faith
The joining verb - to glue
Greek: Kolla – glue, stick, cleave, keep company, cement – close dependence
1 Cor 6.16 – ‘joined to an harlot’ describing sexual relationships – same word
1 Cor 6.17 – ‘joined unto the Lord’ – same word…
A close special obligation & commitment
BC of F - ‘Submitting oneself to the censures/reproofs & government of that Church, in accordance with the rule of Christ’
1 Thess 5.14 – ‘warn them that are unruly (insubordinate), comfort the feebleminded (faint-hearted), support the weak, be patient toward all men.’
A relationship which is mutual & both parties consenting
Privileges & responsibilities
Application…
Prepare heart, self-examination; obligated but mustn’t rush
Church membership isn’t just a Sunday Club…
Do I fully agree with the standards? On worldliness? On music?
One way of behaving at Church & another at home?
Ready for service – to help others?
Can I attend (where possible) all the meetings? Arrive on time?
Another example is Ananias & Sapphira – might put people off joining…
Acts 5.12-14 – ‘& by the hands of the apostles were many signs & wonders wrought among the people; (& they were all with one accord in Solomon’s porch. & of the rest durst no man join himself to them: but the people magnified them. & believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes of men & women.)’
People would listen to the open-air preaching
But a difference between being in the congregation & joining the church
This is the clear pattern for the day
A definite organisation of truly committed/loyal people
Galatians 2.4 – ‘…of false brethren unawares brought in, who came in privily (secretly - because they were not entitled to admission) to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring us into bondage.’
Speaking about a church meeting of members
Ephesians 5.21 – ‘Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God’
Community – comes before whims & personal desires
Mutually committed members
1 Tim 3.1 – ‘Overseer’
An over-watcher, of what? Of believers who have made themselves accountable to God in a local church
Oversight & church government collapses without membership…
1 Tim 3.5 – ‘For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God’
Family – a cohesive unit with a unique bond between its members
BC of F - ‘Those who are thus called, He commands to walk together in churches, for mutual edification, & the due performance of worship, which he requires of them in the world’. So snappy & succinct… And later, Members are:
‘Saints because they have been personally called by Christ, & because they visibly (obviously to all) manifest and give evidence of their obedience to that call by their profession & walk…’
The great church metaphors
Some irrefutable arguments of the duty of membership
- The Temple building, The Body, The Family; Also The Vine, The Flock, The Bride
1st 3 are used specifically to describe an individual local church; Others are more elastic
1. The Building
Ephesians 2.21,22 - ‘In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: in whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.’
Unity of parts, or does every man do that which is right in their own eyes?
Anarchy & individualism? Or the Lord (the builder) who has fashioned every believer – physically, mentally & spiritually – a place designed for each one
Orderliness – different materials – but planned
1 Tim 3.15 – ‘That thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar & ground of the truth.’
The members support & represent the truth itself
Each member load bearing, significant, stable…
No free agents, no parts drifting in & out…
2. The Body
1 Cor 12.12 - ‘For as the body is one, & hath many members, & all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ.’
Like a human body – parts organically attached; can’t fly away
Connected, contributing, depending upon the whole unit; Close care & co-operation; significant roles
Order & common direction – the Head being Christ [btw – Not the Pope]
Ephesians 4.15,16 – ‘But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: from whom the whole body fitly joined together & compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love’
Everyone involved in the growth of the church, by witness of life & lip
Can a believer be disconnected & functioning usefully? All believers should be church members
3. The Family
1 Tim 3.5 – ‘For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God’
Am I too young in the faith to be a member? Is a baby too young to be in a family?
Being weak & spiritually vulnerable is even more reason to be in the family
Household – based on love, co-operation, order, headship & common purpose
We are commanded to join ourselves to his people in Church membership
