.jpg)
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)
.jpg)
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
.jpg)
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?
No comments:
Post a Comment