Is Church Membership Biblical?

Tony is a loving father and a caring husband. He became a Christian at a young age.  He is a faithful employee and has always been faithful to his local church…until he started to notice a lot of problems within the congregation.  He grew tired of seeing the conflicts with other Christians. It appeared to him also that the church wasted a lot of resources. He knew a big building with a beautiful sanctuary took a lot of money to maintain, and he believed the church should be spending more of their resources on missions.  He became discontented with what he saw, so he pulled his family out of the church. He now prefers to do his own thing with his family at home on Sunday.

Susan was a devoted minister in a para-church organization. She regularly shared the gospel with lost teenage girls at nearby community center where she volunteered. She was not raised in the church, but came to know the Lord with a friend who lived on her hall during her freshman year in college. She loves reading the Bible with her friends, but has never seen the value of the local church.

George does not have a problem with the church, but does not get anything out of the sermon.  He believes that one can worship God anywhere and he finds his greatest enjoyment in playing golf with his friends on Sunday morning. They pray before the round begins and talk about family and God between shots.  They even occasionally invite one of their non-Christian neighbors to join their foursome in the hopes of talking to them about Jesus. 

The church has fallen on hard times.  I have a lot of conversations with people who are Christians, who believe the Bible, but do not see the value of the local church. They view church membership more as a distraction and inconvenience, rather than a biblical command. And knowing their experience in the church and knowing how many unhealthy churches exist, I can understand their perspective. They say things like, “I do not need the church or You can be a Christian without the church.”  They are correct. You can be a Christian without the church, but can you be a faithful Christian? Or another way to ask the question would be, “Is church membership biblical?”  (Granted, there are faithful Christians living in other parts of the world where there is no church within 100 miles because they may be one of the only believers in the area. This is the rare exception and not the rule, and certainly not the case here in South Carolina).

“Thou shall become a church member.” This verse is not in the Bible.  There is no explicit reference that an individual should be listed on a Church membership roll.  Although there are not explicit references to church membership that does not mean the idea of church membership is not in the Bible.  It is not only implied in the Bible, but the New Testament concept of “church” does not make sense outside of church membership. We are going to look at the biblical foundations of church membership. 

The Keys of Church Membership

            The first reference to church in the New Testament is in Matthew 16.  Jesus just warns his disciples about the leaven of the Pharisees. He then asked his disciples,

“Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” ¹⁴ And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” ¹⁵ He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” ¹⁶ Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” ¹⁷ And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. ¹⁸ And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. ¹⁹ I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” ²⁰ Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ. (Matthew 16:13b-20, ESV)

In verse 18, we see the first reference in the New Testament of the church: the word is ekklesia, which means gathering.  It is taken from the Hebrew word, qahal, which means assembly.  We cannot read too much into this statement, because church has not yet been established when Jesus said it. (The church was established, however, when Luke wrote this gospel.)  We can at least establish that the basic meaning of the word indicates that Jesus intends for his people to gather together in worship as they did in the Old Testament.  One essential aspect of the church is the gathering of the people of God in worship.

Also, in verse 18, Jesus says that on this rock he is going to build his church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.  The question is what does Jesus mean by “on this rock I will build my church”?  Is he referring to Peter, Peter representing the apostles, Peter’s confession of Christ or Jesus Christ, Himself?

            In the Greek there is a word play here with Peter, Petros, and rock, petra. Many scholars want to dismiss the connection between Peter being the rock because they do not agree with the apostolic succession of the Catholic Church.  The idea of the pope in Roman Catholicism is birthed from this passage.  Although I do not think one can make the biblical argument for apostolic succession from this passage, I do believe the most natural reading is that Jesus is referring to Peter. We know that Peter was there at the founding of the church in Acts 2.  He preached the gospel of repentance by faith in Jesus Christ as the only way to salvation and 3,000 souls were saved.  The foundation of the church (at least in some way) was built upon the Apostle Peter, but it was also built upon his profession of faith. 

            Peter responded correctly in properly identifying Jesus Christ.  When asked who Jesus was, Peter responded, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” This confession is the foundation of the church because Jesus the Christ is the head of the church.  He is the Anointed One, the Messiah, the Christ of God.  The only way anyone enters into fellowship with the church of Jesus Christ is confessing that Jesus is the Christ, the Savior of the world; to have fellowship with the church is to have fellowship with Jesus Christ.  Listen to 1 Corinthians 1:9, when Paul says to the church of God at Corinth (a specific local visibly identifiable congregation), “God is faithful, by whom you were called into fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” Peter could also be referred to as the representative of the apostles. He was one of the prominent leaders of the church throughout the gospels and played the leading role in the first 12 chapters of Acts.  The teaching of the apostles and the prophets are referred to as the foundation with Christ being the cornerstone in Ephesians 2:19-21,

So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, ²⁰ built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, ²¹ in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 

And again in Revelation 21:14, we see John describe the New Jerusalem,

And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. 

The rock in which the church will be built is on the teaching and the confession of Jesus Christ as Lord done through the Peter and the apostles. 

            And we see the tremendous power given to the apostles through their preaching and teaching ministry in Matthew 16:19,

I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. 

This binding and loosing refers to a person’s acceptance into the kingdom of God and into the church in accepting or rejecting the teaching of the apostles on the person and work of Jesus Christ.  He has given the church the tremendous responsibility of being stewards of the mysteries of God. The keys of the kingdom of God are given to the church in the proclamation of Jesus as the Christ, the Holy One of God.  (The idea of “loosing and binding” we see here, I will discuss further in few weeks when we address church discipline.)

It takes keys to enter a locked door.  The door to heaven is locked from humanity because of our sin against God. Our sin has separated from God and shut us out of the kingdom of heaven.  Our sin keeps us outside of God’s fold and if we stay there, we will perish.  But God sent his son to give us a door into his kingdom.  John 10,

⁷ So Jesus again said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. ⁸ All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. ⁹ I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. ¹⁰ The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. ¹¹ I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. (John 10:7-11, ESV, emphasis added)

The only way to enter into God’s kingdom is through the door of the Lord Jesus Christ.  The church has been given the keys of kingdom in that we tell people the good news of the Good Shepherd who laid his life down for the sheep.  Jesus Christ lived a perfect life and died a sinner’s death.  His death paid the penalty for sin absorbing God’s wrath on the cross.  And after he was dead and buried, God raised Jesus from the dead conquering death for all those who would trust in him.  If you are here today and have not entered through into the kingdom through the door of Jesus Christ, you can today.  Turn from your sin and trust in Him.  He came to give you a way into the kingdom.

            From these verses, we can establish that Jesus wants his people to gather together (ecclesia) and to hear the teaching of Jesus Christ so that people can confess that Jesus is the Christ and be saved.  We also see here that the church is Jesus’s idea.  It was not invented by the apostles, but was established by the Lord himself.   

            But isn’t Jesus referring to the universal church? Jesus is not saying that I should be a member of the local church.  Let’s answer that through how the rest of the New Testament teaches this principle.

The Images of Church Membership

            The New Testament uses a variety of images to identify and explain the church.  One pastor explains it this way:

God has inspired multiple images, each of which offers different perspective and none of which should so dominate our conception of the church that the depth and texture of understanding is lost. Though all are inspired, they are not interchangeable, nor are they all as comprehensive in their presentation of the nature and mission of the church…None of these images negates the institutional aspects of the church, but their number and variety point to a degree of mystery in the nature of the church. [1]

None of the images of the church negate the institutional aspects of church.  We are never called to God

alone, but also to his people. 

The Body of Christ

 The church is called the body of Christ. In 1 Corinthians 10:16-17, Paul writes about communion in the church, “The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ. Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.”  And again 1 Corinthians 12:12, “For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.” Then after describing how this idea of membership creates unity, Paul writes 1 Corinthians 12:18, “But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them as he chose.  If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body.” Romans 12:4-5, “For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.”  The body image is extensive in the New Testament. 

            And all those references are specifically written to a specific visible local body of believers.  Most of the books we have in the New Testament are written to churches. Romans 1:7, “To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints” 1 Cor.1:2 & 2 Cor. 1b, “To the church of God that is in Corinth.” Galatians 1:2b, “To the churches of Galatia,” (multiple churches in one region).  Ephesians 1:1b, “to the saints who are in Ephesus.” Paul writes also to the church in Philippi, Colossae, and Thessalonica. And in addition 3 more letters to pastors of a specific, visible local body of believers.  The body imagery is so readily used in the New Testament because it pictures the reality of one specific, visible, local body of believers who have many members, but are one body; the body of Christ.

The same image of “many individual parts with one collective whole” can also be seen the other images in the New Testament. The church is a building with many stones built into a house (Ephesians 2:21 and 1 Peter 2).  The church is one temple with many bricks built into that temple (1 Corinthians 3:16). The church also is referenced multiple times as the people of God, as similarly identified in the Old Testament.  There are many other images the New Testament employs, but they all do not negate the corporate function of individuals.  The people, who disregard the local church, disregard the entire thrust of the New Testament’s teaching on the church. As one pastor said, “Christianity is personal, but never private.”[2] 

            There are also several places where it would appear that there are actually lists of people that would resemble a church roll.  Paul encouraged Timothy (in 1 Timothy 5) to keep a record of the widows that the church was responsible to minister to with financial resources.  In 1 Corinthians 5, Paul encourages the church to put out a sinning member from the church.  How can one be put out of the church unless there is a clear understanding of who was in the church? Again, in 2 Corinthians 2, Paul refers to the “majority” of people who acted in discipline against a member within the church.  There cannot be a record of the majority of the church unless the church had a record of the entire church.  And even God himself apparently has a list.  Revelation 21:27, “But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life” (emphasis added).

            Church membership is biblical.  It may not be explicit, but it is very implicit throughout the New Testament.  You cannot explain certain verses and/or the encouragements and warnings of the New Testament without Christians beings a member of a specific, visible, local church. We must always remember that the church was not the apostles or the early Christians idea, but it was rooted and established in the mind of God.  Jesus said, “On this rock, I will build my church.”  The church is precious to God because as Acts 20:28 says it was, “obtained with his own blood.” Church membership is biblical, but it also a blessing. 

The Blessings of Church Membership

            When you commit yourself to a specific, visible, local church you have church leaders who are committed to protect and care for your soul. God charges elder/pastors to protect the flock in Acts 20. They are called to labor in teaching sound doctrine and guard the flock from wolves that teach heresy.  Elders are called to be examples to the flock, pointing the members of the church to Christ (1 Peter 5).  Committing to a local church allows the church leadership to know who they are responsible to care for and to whom individuals are called to submit.  Hebrews 13:17, “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account.”  Two things you should see in that verse, first, church leaders need to know who they will be held accountable for.  As pastors, Bill and I have a unique responsibility to care for the people of this church; as a father will answer for his children, so pastors will answer for their flock. Secondly, it allows Christians to know who they are responsible to obey.  The Bible commands you to obey your leaders.  It is easy to disobey this command simply by not committing.  Our world does not like talk of authority, submission and obedience, but Christians cannot live like the rest of the world.  Christians trust God.  I could give a whole list of caveats here: pastors aren’t perfect; the church has problems; the pastors are too young etc. But without church membership, how do you fulfill this command to obey your leaders and how do you know which leaders to submit?  Church membership is a blessing to Christians as well as Christian leaders.

            The world needs to understand what it means to be a Christian and what it means to be a non-Christian. The lines have been too muddled in the past.  Help clarify to the world what it means to follow Jesus Christ. Commit to a local church.  Church membership makes it more difficult for weaker sheep to go straying from the fold, while still considering themselves sheep.[3] Older Christians can help younger Christians clarify what it means to be a Christian disciple and protect them from walking astray. Church Membership helps guard people’s souls.

            Church membership is not only a biblical command, but it is also a blessing. The church is a family. We are family that God which have been charged to relate with one another in a very particular way.  We are called to love one another. And as a church member we have the great blessing of extending our love to one another and to receive love from one another.  We do not have time now to list all the blessings of church membership, but take a half hour this afternoon with your family and make a list of all the blessings you have and can experience by being committing yourself to a local church? Then pray that those blessings would continue to be the regular experience of the people in the church. Pray that this church would truly be a people, that loves one another.

The arguments that Christians usually give about being part of a church family are rooted in their own past negative experiences in churches.  And likewise, most people love the church because of their positive experiences in being part of a church family.  How we relate to one another will either foster a love for God’s church or cripple it? 

            The church has to raise its standards of church membership. We have to have high expectations for the Lord’s church.  We are fine with people remaining as members of the church when they have not darkened the door in years.  We are fine with people remaining members of the church if they are living in open and outright rebellion against God.  Doesn’t God deserve better than that? Romans 2:24 says, “For, as it is written, “The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.” We should fight for the reputation of our God.  We must commit to the church of the living God which was purchased through the blood of Christ.   Beloved, we have to raise the bar for church membership. Church membership is biblical and God-honoring. I challenge you to obey God’s word by making a commitment and helping others to commit to a specific, visible, local body of believers.  The church is God’s idea.  It is precious to Him, will it be precious to you?

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[1] Dever, Mark. The Doctrine of the Church in The Theology of the Church.  P.772-773. Ed. Akin, Daniel. 2007 Academic Nashville, TN

[2] Dever, Mark. Lecture at RTS 2.11.2014

[3] Dever, Mark. Nine Marks of a Healthy Church (Booklet) 2005.IX Marks Washington, D.C.  p. 38

Salvation from Death to Life

In 6th grade, I was part of an elite group of safety conscious protectors of children: the Lincoln Elementary School Crossing Guard Patrol. Each day at the end of school we would get into our uniform, draping the bright orange belt around our chest. It was a badge of honor. We were required to leave school 10 minutes

early in order to be in position when the rest of the children needed to be escorted to safety through the busy streets of Palatine, IL. I served my role as a crossing guard faithfully for two years, never missing a day to protect the lives of my fellow classmates… that is, until the day that I skipped my patrol duty. I had friends coming over after school and figured this would be a great opportunity to skip patrol and prepare my house for my friends. I lived directly behind my elementary school, so I had to be careful not to be seen by my teachers. I remember walking up to the deck on the side of the house and as I reached for the door I looked back at my school. As I looked back I could see one of my teachers staring at me as I entered the house. Busted!!

I received a detention for skipping my patrol duties that day. And it just so happened that a few days earlier, there was an announcement from the principal that any 6th grader who received a detention would not be allowed to go on the 6th grade bowling trip. Well, I got a detention and missed the 6th grade bowling trip, and instead had to write a 5 page paper on the history of bowling with our librarian. It was an awful experience, and to make matters worse, during our graduation a few weeks later, the slideshow that was presented to the families were all of pictures taken during the 6th grade bowling trip. As you can tell, this was a big deal in the life of a twelve year old. I made a decision that affected my life. Now, if you were to tell me before I made the decision to skip crossing guard patrol that I would have missed the 6th grade bowling trip and had to write a 5-page paper on the history of bowling and that I would not be shown in our graduation slide show, I would not have skipped patrol. This event taught me a valuable lesson in that you need to consider the consequences of your decisions. You must think before you act because after you make your decision, you cannot take it back. You have to live with the consequences.

This idea should shape our evangelism. There are eternal consequences for the decisions we make in this life. God gives the unbeliever opportunity after opportunity after opportunity to turn in faith to Jesus Christ, but there will be a day when it will be too late. The Bible says in Hebrews 9:27 that there, “is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment.” If people do not turn from their sin and trust in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior, they will be responsible to pay for their own sins. Jesus illustrates this principle when he shares the story of the rich man and Lazarus. The rich man was begging for mercy from Abraham and this is Abraham’s response in Luke 16:25,

Child, remember that you in your lifetime received good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’ And he (the rich man) said, “Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father’s house—for I have 5 brothers—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’

Jesus shows that after death there is no hope of salvation without faith in Christ. The rich man realized that, as he was in anguish and begged that someone would go and tell his family the truth of the life to come. At that moment, in hindsight, the man regretted his decision not to repent and did not want others to make the same mistake that he did. But the story goes on,

But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ And he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but it someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’

We must think of the consequences of our decisions before we make them. Even more so, we must consider the reasons we make decisions. We must examine our beliefs. We must help others examine their beliefs, for we want people to experience salvation.

God has given his people a mission to go and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and Holy Spirit. This means that we must make disciples of people who do not have a faith in Jesus. We must tell them the way of salvation. This morning we are going to look at three different aspects of salvation, in hopes that we would be encouraged to fulfill our mission to make disciples by going into the world to reach the lost. First, we must understand the problem of salvation.

The Problem of Salvation

Problem of Salvation? How could there be a problem with salvation? The problem of salvation is for the people that do not have it. Salvation is a beautiful and incredible gift, because of what salvation saves us from. Read Ephesians 4:17, “Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you…” Paul is speaking to believers here. The “you” is referring to the people who have been lavished with the grace of God and the forgiveness from sin through the shed blood of Jesus. The “you” means that salvation is now possible for the Gentiles, who were once far off. He makes the point in Ephesians 2,

Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh….remember that you were at one time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one…so then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God. (Eph. 2:11;13-14;19)

The Gentiles that Paul is writing to are Gentiles that have been saved. They have experienced salvation, but there are still Gentiles outside of the faith.

Paul says, “that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do.” He is now going to unpack the problem of those who have not yet experienced salvation in how the Gentiles walk without God. Hear the problem of those without salvation in verse 17 again, “Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.” The unbeliever is in a very dangerous state. Their minds are subject to futility, darkened understanding, and ignorance resulting in alienation from God due to their hardness of heart. Let’s look more closely at each of Paul’s description.

First, Paul says that unbelievers walk in the futility of their minds. Futility means empty, useless, fruitless, or ineffective. Imagine I wanted to dunk a basketball and I tell you that I would be able to dunk a basketball if I changed out of my suit and into gym shorts and brand new Nikes. Would my new clothes have any impact on whether I would be able to dunk a basketball? No. It would not matter what I am wearing or how well I stretch, it would be useless or futile for me to attempt to dunk a basketball. Likewise, the minds of unbelievers are useless and ineffective in their ability to be saved without Jesus Christ. The end of their thinking will get them nothing, but separation from God.

Secondly, Paul says that believers are darkened in their understanding. This does not mean that unbelievers are unintelligent. Many unbelievers are actually quite intelligent and brilliant, even. Although they may be extremely intelligent, they do not understand the world. They are walking in deep darkness. They may appear enlightened as is the claim of modernity, but the Bible says that without Christ, people do not understand rightly. Thirdly and closely related, unbelievers are in ignorance. Before coming to Christ, there was no way for me to understand the nature of the universe. We were created in the image of God to know him, to love him, to live with him, and to glorify him. Therefore, if we are ignorant of our purpose, how can we understand anything else? Ignorance is blinding. And the danger of ignorance is that people are not aware that they do not know the truth.

Fourthly, Paul says that a mind is futile, darkened in understanding, and ignorance will lead to moral degradation. He says that unbelievers give themselves up to sensuality and impurity. Notice how the way one thinks affects how he lives. When people think wrongly, it will result in them living wrongly. I hear a lot of Christians ask, “How can people live like that?” If you ask that question, then you do not fully understand the state of someone who is spiritually lost. “But what about their conscience? Don’t they feel bad for doing wrong?” Paul answers that question for us when he gives the reason for their state at the end of verse 18, “due to the hardness of their heart.” He says it similarly at the end of Romans 1:18 in saying, “who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.” They may feel guilt or shame, but they hold down those feelings. They do not allow those feelings to invoke change. This will lead to a calloused conscience, which results in more sin. Verse 19, “They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity.” The longer one suppresses the truth, the more callous his conscience becomes. Sin spirals farther and farther out of control. This is why when you talk to people who struggle with grievous sin; they never expected it to get so far. Sin begets sin. And what is the end result? a life that is alienated from God.

A life that is alienated from God is a life that is destined for destruction in a literal place called Hell. I recently spoke with a high school student from one of our local high schools. During her religious studies class, her teacher said that the Bible never mentions Hell, but it was an invention of the Church to scare people into good behavior. However this teacher is very wrong, for Jesus repeatedly says that those who reject him will be thrown into Hell. Listen to the words of Jesus,

Matthew 22:13, “Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Matthew 25:30, “And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Matthew 10:28, “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.”

Mark 9:43, “And if your hand cause you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire.”

Matthew 13:49-50, “So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Hell is a very real place and is the destination for everyone who does not have faith Jesus Christ. It may not be an enjoyable topic to discuss, but we must think of the consequences of our beliefs. If we don’t understand the end of the unbeliever, we will never be motivated to share. The problem with salvation is for those who don’t have it. Have you experienced this salvation?

Next, let us look at the process of salvation.

The Process of Salvation

Remember Paul is speaking to Christians. After telling of the state of the unbeliever, Paul goes on in verse 20-21, “But that is not the way you learned Christ!—assuming you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus.” Christians had to learn about Christ. They had to hear of him and be taught of him so they would know the truth of Jesus. There is a way out of futility, darkened understanding, ignorance, a life alienated from God due to hardness of heart. It is the way of gospel. It is hearing and believing the good news of Jesus Christ. What is this good news? There is forgiveness and life in Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 15:1-3,

Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and he appeared to Cephas, then the twelve.

This is what we share to others. We share what Paul shared: that Christ died for our sins, was buried and was raised. One of the reasons people give for not sharing the gospel is that they are concerned they will be unprepared. Ten words. That is it. Christ died for our sins, was buried, and was raised. The gospel. But is sharing the gospel enough? No. We must call people to respond to it. Jesus said go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The key word for us is baptizing. People need to come and be baptized. They need to repent and be baptized. Baptism is the public profession of one’s faith, a symbol of their repentance and acceptance of the gospel.

Go back to verse 20, “But that is not the way you learned Christ!—assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, TO , (listen to the call to repentance) to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” Knowledge is not enough. People must repent. They must put off the old manner of life and put on the new self in true righteousness and holiness. Any gospel presentation without the call to repentance of sin is not a faithful presentation of the gospel. We must call people to respond to the truth that without Jesus Christ you are alienated from God, but only through his shed blood are you, who was once far off, brought near to God.

Beloved, do you see the importance of the speaking the gospel? Romans 10:13, “For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard?” Unbelievers are only saved if they call on him and believe in him. This is the mission of the church. We invite people to call on Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sins and for the hope of eternal life through His resurrection from the dead. We cannot be silent. We must not be silent.

We can all admit that sometimes it is difficult to bring up the gospel in conversations. There are a plethora of reasons that we can all give for not sharing the gospel, but are those reasons more important than someone going to hell? We have to remember that this is good news. The Bible says, “How beautiful are the feet of those that bring good news (Romans 10:15).”

Lastly, we cannot forget that God has not called us to simply share the gospel, but to picture it.

The Picture of Salvation

How we interact as a congregation pictures the gospel to the watching world!!! Paul unpacks what the life of a believer of Jesus Christ will look like in relationship with other believers. Listen to verse 4:25 to the end of the chapter,

Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil. Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

Paul describes how Christians are supposed to interact together in the local church. Speaking truth to one another, showing mercy towards each other, working to give to one another, letting go of bitterness towards one another, not allowing slander to be spoken by each other, and forgiving one another as God has forgiven us in Christ. People may refute our beliefs, they may mock our creeds, but they cannot dismiss our love for one another. Jesus said, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciple, if you have love for one another (John13:34-35).”

Let me close with a story that illustrates this principle from someone’s personal experience, Jason Helopolous writes about how the Lord used the “strange love” of the church to draw him to Christ:

As a freshman college student and self-declared atheist, I attended a campus Christian fellowship to fulfill a promise to a Christian friend. I only had the intention to go once. It was merely duty and upholding my word, nothing more. I went begrudgingly, but I went. My life was never the same.

I walked into a room full of Christians and was struck by what I observed. Here was a diverse group. They were from every walk of life. I remember scanning the room and labeling people in my mind, “There is a jock, over there is a geek, and walking in the door is a boy scout.” But what struck me was that they were together. They weren’t just together in the same room, they were together in every sense of the word. They were actually talking with each other and genuinely seemed happy to be together. There didn’t seem to be division. Even in my atheist mind, I knew what I was seeing: they loved one another.

I had no categories for this, so I kept returning to find out why they had love like this for one another. Over the course of a few months I found the answer, or more accurately stated, the answer found me.

 One of the best evangelism programs you can start at your church is to pursue loving one another well. At some point they will have to hear the gospel proclaimed from your lips or the pulpit, but that “strange love” will set the table before them. People will know that you are His disciples, because it is a shocking love. It has a gravitational attraction, because it is a love that is foreign to this world. A love that the inquirer, if seeking an answer, will find comes from heaven[1].

Beloved, God has given us a mission to make disciples by baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son and the Holy Spirit. God uses many means to draw people to Christ, but two primary ways are the gospel proclamation and the gospel life of a local church. Beloved, let us be a church that lives out a faithful gospel witness in word and deed.

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[1] http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/kevindeyoung/2014/01/31/simple-evangelism-in-the-church/ accessed on 2.6.14