And this morning we are excited. Pastor Jake, and I are excited to begin a new series. Pastor J can and are actually away this weekend for a marriage or cheat. They, they they were able to get away for the weekend and so we're glad that they were able to get away and have a weekend of relaxation, but we were very excited to begin a new six-part series on what it means to be a church member.
And so we are going to dive into what it truly means to be a part of the body of Christ. And we will be following an outline of a book written. In by Tom S Rainer called. I am a church member discovering the attitude, that makes the difference. And as we begin this morning and we think about membership, I thought this week of my hometown Sterling Alberta, this is where I grew up. It was actually a village, a village of Stirling Alberta there. Was so few people that it
actually was a village. It's actually the largest population Village by population in the province of Alberta. And this is a picture of the place. I love to go. The most the, the community pool. We did not have a lot in our town, one convenience store, One Church, which was a Mormon church and one school and one post office, if we didn't have a lot, but we had a pool and it was only open for about two months of the year, but we enjoyed that pool. And for $1, you could get into this pool.
And that would give you access to everything that the pool had to offer. You could go in there were change rooms, there was a hot tub. There was a pool that had a shallow end, it had a deep end, you could enjoy the to the toys and and all the things that they had the life jackets and the diving board. And, and you could even take swimming lessons there, for an extra cost. All for a dollar, you could get in and it was close enough to our home that we could walk or
bike. And so we went there often in the summer time and I enjoyed going there with my family, and with my friends, And it was a highlight of my summer but all I had to do was give the Looney and it gave me access to everything the pool had to offer. I didn't have to do anything else. I didn't have to clean the floors, I didn't have to repaint the walls. I didn't have to organize the calendar of events. I didn't have to be a lifeguard. I didn't have to clean up all the toys.
When I left, I didn't have to check the pH levels of the pool, to make sure everything was safe. I just give my dollar and I enjoy. Sadly, this is how many people view membership in the church today. You pay your dues and you get the perks you get to decide. Hey, I don't like this is how I want you to preach. This is the sort of music. I want you to sing. These are the sorts of the things. I want you to teach in the
classes. I want you to offer, we get to decide what sorts of things the church does because I'm a paying member. And this makes sense to us because we do almost everything in life. Like this, we pay membership fees and we pay membership dues to different organizations. We pay subscription fees and we give money in exchange for goods and services. And if I don't get the quality of the product that I liked, and I give it back or I get my money back.
And sadly this sort of mentality Finds Its way into the church. And what we're actually going to see is that the church is quite different from this. In his book, Tom Rainer, says, for these sorts of people who think of church this way for them, membership is about receiving instead of giving being served instead of serving rights instead of responsibilities and entitlements.
Instead of sacrifices as we are going to see over the course of this six part Series, this is not biblical membership as God, designed for the church. But before we dive in, we must ask the question. What is church membership? What does it mean to be a part of a church?
Jonathan Lehman Explains It. Well, church membership is a formal relationship between a local church and a Christian characterized by the church's affirmation and oversight of a Christians discipleship and the Christian submission, to living out his, or her discipleship, in the care of the church. The church body. As to the individual, we recognize your profession of Faith, baptism and discipleship
to Christ as valid. Therefore we publicly affirm and acknowledge you before the nation's as belonging to Christ and we extend the oversight of our fellowship. Principally the individual says to the church body insofar as I recognized you as Faith a faithful gospel. Declaring church I submit my presence and my I will ship to your love and oversight. What we see here is that church membership is a mutual relationship between the church
and its members. Mm. You a mutual relationship of surrender and submission. This is not some sort of contract or obligation. I was reading this week of of an article where someone was talking about reasons, you shouldn't sign a church covenant, you should never sign your your rights and your responsibilities away. In this sense that the church is
now a dictate over. You in any authoritative sense, when you give your membership to a church, you do so voluntarily and then you have the right to remove your membership. At any time. You choose likewise the church accept you as a member but should you become unrepentant in
your sin at any point? The church then exercises the right of discipline and has the right to revoke your membership at some point if you are not adhering to their guidelines and principles but it is a mutual relationship where two people. People are agreeing together. The second question, we need to ask ourselves that is what church membership is is church membership biblical. Membership is never explicitly
commanded in scripture. So we're never told you must become a member of a church and so we were right to question whether this is a Biblical model. And it is true. The Bible never never explicitly commands it yet. As we look at the overarching theme of the Bible, it is a Biblical concept. I'll have a few reasons that I want to just shed forth before we really dive into this whole topic.
The first reason that that membership is biblical is if we go back to the Old Testament, God sets forth, his rules for his people. And when he instituted the rules, for the Passover, for instance, and many other rules, but in Exodus chapter 12, Of God, institute's the rules for Passover and he says, no Foreigner shall eat of it. He says, in chapter 12, verse 48, if a stranger shall sojourn with you and would keep the Passover to the Lord, let all
his mails be circumcised. Then he may come near and keep it, he shall be as a native of the land, but no Arc uncircumcised person shall eat of it. There's a distinction between God's people in the world. That makes sense in the context of some sort of membership. There's something you have to do to become a committed member of this community. So we see, we see that membership is a practical example.
In that, instance, in the Old Testament, a second reason is in Acts chapter 2, we find the Believers gathering together in one place, and after the coming of the spirit and Peter's sermon, we read in Acts 2:41. So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day. About three thousand souls and in verse 47 and the Lord added to their number day by day. Those who were being saved.
What do we see here? We see a record being kept of those who are baptized and those who are becoming members of the church. We see the biblical foundation in principle of membership. They would have needed to know, what is your profession of Faith. Your baptism. And then you are now received into the, the member of the church.
They are keeping records of the people that are becoming members A third reason, that we the bib membership is a Biblical concept is in the book of 1st Corinthians, Paul writing to the Corinthians as addressing sin in a young man or a man who's sexually immoral. And in chapter 5 verse 20, Paul says to them, let him, who has done this be removed from among you, well, in order to remove him, he had to have been a part of the community of Believers at some point.
And so this is laying the ground. The foundation for us of biblical membership, he was a Part of the community and he now was being pushed out. A fourth reason that membership is a Biblical concept is when we think of when we consider all the teaching of the New Testament, it only makes sense in the context of a group of people who are committed to one another, in a formal Union, when Paul would go to these different cities, he would preach the
gospel. People would come to know Christ and he would form a church in, in that church, he would set up leaders and Leadership structures. And then he would command the people love one. Another. Another rebuke, one another be patient with one another don't forsake gathering together.
All of these commands, only make sense in the context of a group of people that are committed and covenanted together and those leaders can only exercise oversight over the people that they know these are people of my flock, these are the people of my church and I need to exercise oversight over them. So you needed to know. Well again, I was as we consider these cities that Paul was I knew there was a lot of idolatry
and false worship, right? And so there needed to be a distinction between, you are separating yourself from that former life, and now you are adhering to our beliefs and our being welcomed into this community. So, while biblical meant bought while the Bible doesn't explicitly, say You must become a member of a church, we see the principal over and over and over again in all of scripture, that membership is a Biblical concept.
And besides all that we think about, we think about the historical church church membership has been practiced practiced, all through the history of the church. And so, for all these reasons, we can be sure that membership
is a Biblical concept. When we become members of a church, we are committing to a body of Believers for our own personal, spiritual growth for the personal, spiritual growth of others to bring glory to God as we become equipped to go out and share the Message of Salvation with the world. So now that we've seen a basic definition of church membership and we've seen that, it is a Biblical concept. We are now going to learn and start to dive into what it means
to be a Biblical member. The first title of Tom Reiner's book is called, I will be a functioning church member the main focus of this chapter and this sermon is going to be that. True biblical membership means we are actively involved in order to see this, please turn with me in your Bibles to First Corinthians chapter, 12, and will be reading from verse 12.
All the way through 31 First Corinthians chapter 12, Verses 12 through 31. 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 for in one Spirit. We were all baptized into one, body Jews or Greeks slaves, or free and all were made to drink of one spirit for the body. Does not consist of one member, but of many, if the foot should say because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body that
would not make it any less. A Of the body. And if the ear should say because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of? Where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God has arranged the members in the body. Each one of them, is he chose if all were a single-member where
would the body be as it is? There are many parts yet one body, The eye cannot say to the hand. I have no need of you nor again the head to the feet. I have no need of you. On the contrary the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable in on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bespoke bestow the greater honor and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty. Which are more presentable parts. Do not require.
But God is so composed, the body giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers all suffer together, if one member is honored all Rejoice together. Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it and God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets third teachers, then Miracles, then Gifts of healing helping.
And various kinds of tongues are all Apostles, are all prophets are all teachers. Do all work miracles. Do all possess Gifts of healing. Do all speak with tongues do all interpret. But earnestly desire, the higher gifts. The first thing that we need to
understand about membership. Is that membership means we are all necessary parts of the whole In this passage, Paul is explaining how the church is like a body in verse 12 through 13. He says, 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 for in one Spirit. We were all baptized into one, body Jews or Greeks, slaves are free and all were made to drink of one.
Spirit the unity that we have in the spirit brings us together as one body in the same way that each every one of you is composed of One body, but many parts. So as a church we are one body but many parts. Speaking about this. Tom Rainer says, do you get the difference members of a church comprise? The whole and are essential parts of it. The Apostle Paul would carry the body metaphor further and explain that members are individual parts of the body.
Some, our eyes others are ears. Some our feet still others are hands. That is why he concludes 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 great. Christ. As a part of the body of Christ, each one of you is necessary. And if you don't think you are, Paul goes on to say in verses 15 and 16.
If the foot should say, because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body that would not make it any less, a part of the body, if you are in Christ, what Paul is saying, is, if you're in Christ, it doesn't matter. Whether you think you're a part of the body or not, you are a
part of the body. And even if someone else doesn't think you're a part of the body that doesn't make you any less part of the body either. He says, in verse 21, the eye cannot say to the hand. I have no need of you nor again, the head to the feet. I have no need of you. Our bodies cannot reject one another and say, I don't need you and likewise. It is in the church. We need each other and you don't get to say. I don't have a need for you. I don't need anybody else in my
life. I can do this on my own. No, you can. We need each other. We are all necessary. If we have placed our faith in Jesus Christ, we are one of his children. We are one of his people. We are a part of the body of Christ. We are members of his church and as such each, each and everyone of us is a necessary part of the whole The second thing that we need to understand about membership, is that membership means we are different but we
still work together. When we think of a body, there are many different parts but they all work together for the good of the body and even the most insignificant tasks can prove this. Let's just imagine that I'm working on a hot day. I know some of you are laughing as you. Like, you don't work. You just sit in an office. One day, one day I used to work and I used to be a roofer and it got real hot and what happens on a hot day is that our bodies realize they need water.
We need water to survive, so think of what your body then starts to do my brain. There's Alarm Bell in my brain that says Joe, you need water and my brain begins to think, where do I find water? Where do I get water? And then it communicates to my muscles and my and my and my legs, and my ligaments, and all of my body functions together and says, oh, here's a bottle of water.
I will take a drink from this bottle of water and then all of my body parts have to function together to twist the cap, to open the lid, to put it to my mouth, to drink it. And then, when it goes in my body, my body begins to use it. Tributing the nerd, the nutrients and the oxygen to all the different parts of my body. And it regulates my body
temperature. It lubricates my joints, and all these things are just scratching the surface of how complicated and intricate your body is with something as simple as taking a drink of water. So it is with the church. We are all specifically given functions and gifts, and talents and abilities to use for the good of God's Church. We work together to build one another up. All of these parts in your body working together for the good of
your body. And we're all different for a very specific reason, think of all the different parts of your body. They all have a specific function and so, it is with the body. Paul says, if the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing, if the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? 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? And as it is, there are many parts.
Yet one body all the different parts of your body function together for your good and in the church, each one of us has a specific function and a specific role for the good, and the up building and the building up of the church, the church as a whole And we don't all have the same function, we have different abilities. So what does this mean? This means if you're not serving the church then the body is
suffering. As we think back to the illustration of me, getting a drink of water, imagine that any part of my body refuses to now, help me get a drink of water. My arm says, no, I'm not, I'm not helping you, or maybe my leg is broken or maybe my stomach can't keep liquids down, or maybe my body doesn't take take that water and regulate my body temperature of any part of my body. Then says, I am not going to Look too good for together, for the good of this body, then I'm in trouble.
And so it is in the church because you have, because you're necessary because you're different, but you still need to work together for the good of the whole. If you're not functioning, the church is suffering, the church is missing something that it needs. Rainer says with a country club membership. You pay others to do the work for you. With church membership everyone has a role or function that is why some are hands feet eyes or ears.
We are all different but we are necessary parts of the whole. We build one another up. We also support one another, we share in life's experiences, disappointments, failures and successes First Corinthians. 12 verse 26 says, if one member suffers all suffer together, if one member is honored all Rejoice together, as we think about our body, this makes
sense, right? If I hurt my arm, or if I get a cut, or if I sprained my ankle, my whole body, then begins to work together to remedy the situation. But if I hurt my arm, my other arm comes over and holds it. And I winced and I feel the pain in my body and then my brain immediately goes, I need to find a Band-Aid. I need to find someone to help me. I need to drive to the Hospital. I need to find a way to fix
this. And then, even your internal organs, your cells begin to work together and your cells clot the clot, the blood. So that you don't bleed out in all of the follow, all the parts of your body working together to heal. This is how it needs to be in the church. When one member suffers. When one member is struggling, we all need to help them. We all need to work together for their good.
Why? Because if they're not at their best, then neither are we, if they're suffering, then they're they're not able to give the body what it needs. And so we need to tend to them so that they can help others. We work together for the good of the whole body. So far we've seen that membership means we are all necessary parts of the whole. We are all different but we still work together for the good of the whole body.
And next we see that membership means that everything we say and do is based on a Biblical foundation for love the local Foundation of love. Most of us will be familiar with the love chapter. First, Corinthians 13. And it's commonly used at Weddings, But as Rainer says, while there's nothing wrong with using the love chapter.
In these contexts, its original meeting was to demonstrate how church members relate to one another in First Corinthians chapter 12. Paul says, here's what spiritual gifts you guys have. You guys need to use them in service to one another in the body of Christ. And then he goes on to say, in Chapter 13, this This is the motivation you ought to have the reason you do this is because of love. The reason we exercise our gifts
is because of love. First Corinthians 13, verse 18 says, 8 through 10 says, love never ends. As for prophecies. They will pass away. As for tongues, they will cease. As for knowledge. It will pass away for we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.
What Paul is saying is here in this life here in this earth, our spiritual gifts are necessary because we don't know everything we need help, we need to encourage and strengthen one another, but once we're in heaven, we're not going to need that anymore because Going to know everything. We're going to know everything that we need to know. We're not going to have a reason to teach one another.
So what's left to do in heaven, love To love one another to love Christ, to have relationship with one. Another Love, Never Ends. Therefore our greatest motivation in serving. One another should be loved. In First Corinthians 14, Paul talks to the Corinthians, about how they'd mess this up. They began focusing on the gifts. They began elevating themselves, and I'm using my gift to show you how great I am.
And they were, they were exulting certain people that had certain gifts and they just totally mess this thing up. And it became about the use of your gift and how good you were at it. Instead of serving one another for the good of others. Paul says that if we serve the church with our gifts, but do it without love. It's totally meaningless first, one through three, if I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love.
I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal if I have prophetic powers and understand all Mysteries and all knowledge. And if I have all Faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have and if I deliver up my body to be burned but have not love, I gain nothing. If we use our gifts without love, they are meaningless. But when we do it out of love, our desire is to see someone else grow.
This is an attitude of the heart, which often makes its way out in our attitudes, in our emotions in our actions, Paul talks about this attitude of heart. What does it mean? What is love? Love is patient and kind love does not envy or boast. It is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way. It is not irritable or resentful. It does not rejoice at wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth, Love has this attitude
towards one another. Now more than likely, we're all familiar with these verses but if we actually lived by these verses it would be life-changing. It would be transforming in our churches. Raynor says church membership is founded on love. Authentic biblical unconditional love.
When we truly love one another, we desire to use our gifts our skills, our abilities, for the good of the body, as a whole, So each member of the body is necessary, each member is different and unique working together with the other members for the good of the whole each member is to be motivated by love. And lastly, we see that each membership church membership is functioning membership.
If we want to remain a part of a country club or if we want to continue getting the benefits of certain subscriptions and programs and in my case of the the pool that I love going to in my hometown. If I wanted to continue going to the pool, I just had to keep giving that dollar every time I showed up, right. But to remain a Biblical member of a church. That's not the bottle. It's not merely just giving money. We must give and serve the key word being a Biblical.
If you want to be a Biblical member of a church, you cannot just simply give of your money. Oh sure. You can remain a member of a church without doing anything, giving nothing and serving nowhere, but as rain or says, But please understand that type of membership is not biblical membership that approach to membership is man-made, man centered and man maintained it is. Contrary to what the Bible teaches.
It has no place in our churches. We've already read how Paul instructed, the Corinthians about the various parts of the body. Each of these parts is supposed to function when they do, they bring benefit to the body and when they don't the body suffers as a result, One of the ongoing questions Rainer, says, you should ask yourself and God In Prayer. Is how can I best serve my church? You should never ask yourself if you should be serving your church.
Again, as we think about our physical bodies, we understand this. We don't wake up in the morning. No, part of our body gets to say, you know what, I'm taking the day off. Or I don't think I need to serve or I don't think I'm any benefits of the body. I don't need to do anything today.
Our body parts don't do that. Sometimes they do actually don't they sometimes certain parts of our body do refuse to work but that just further illustrates the point because as soon as one part of our body says starts to break down and starts to not work, then the whole body immediately recognizes it doesn't it? And now my foot hurts and all of a sudden, I don't think I can go to work today.
Now, this affects everything that I do, write my entire focus is now fixing that foot so that I can continue to continue to do the things in my life that I need to do. And so it is with the church. You cannot wake up one day and say I don't have to do anything here. Biblical membership means serving the body. If you are a part of the body for you not to serve as the the church the body to suffer. We need one another. It is common for churches to keep a role of their members.
A role is a running list of people that that the church believes calls this church home and maybe have formally received membership and Tom Rainer. In this book estimates that church roles are overinflated by three times. He says, what that means is if your church has 300 members on its rolls, it probably only has 100 real Biblical members. Only one-third are functioning members. Only one out of three gives abundantly and serves without
hesitation. Our Hope in this sermon series is that you would understand the benefit that you receive out of being connected to the body of Christ. Our Hope is also that you would see the benefit that you bring to the body of Christ in serving it. If you are a member of Lem see, than we hope that you have felt that benefit of being connected to this church body. We also want you to know that if you are not functioning in this body, then you are missing out on something that you need.
Our desire as Leaders is for this body to flourish. And so we want to encourage you to prayerfully consider how it is that God wants you to serve this body, your body. If you are not a member of Lem, see, we understand that there are many different reasons. That may be holding someone back from membership. And those may be very good reasons. And so we just, we just want to prompt you. We just want you to know the
benefit of being connected. We want to challenge you to understand that if you are not connected to a body, then you are lacking something that you need and the church is lacking something that you can give. Will you pledge to be a Biblical member the way God designed it? You all have a paper on honor around you somewhere and we wanted to through the throat. This series, we wanted you to take something home with you.
Something that you could have that you could read over and on the back page there's a pledge there that's at the End of This Book and this is not something. We're asking you to sign and bring back. This is for you. This is for you to go over there some discussion questions that you can go over at home and try to remember the truth that you've learned. This morning, we wanted you guys to go home with something but I do want to read that pledge at
the back. It says I am a church member each week that we're going to go through has one of these pledges. I like the metaphor of membership, it's not membership, is in a Civic organization or a country club. It's the kind of membership given to us in 1st Corinthians 12.
Now you are the body of Christ and individual members of it because I am a member of the body of Christ, I must be a functioning member whether I am an eye in ear or a hand as a functioning member, I will give I will serve. I will Minister, I will Angel eyes, I will study. I will seek to be a blessing to others.
I will remember that if one member suffers all the members suffer with it, if one member is honored all the members Rejoice with it, and when we are willing to do this, the church as the body benefits. And the reason we are willing to do this is because we look to our Savior, Jesus Christ. We've sung about it this morning. We've read about it this morning, that Jesus Christ is our example. We give back to his body, the church and we serve his kingdom because of all that.
He's done for us. In His Amazing Grace Jesus Christ took our place on the cross. And so we give ourselves for him and his church. Let's pray. Father we thank you that Jesus Christ died in our place. It says it's a it's in his name
that we come before you. We were able to stand before you because of his perfect righteousness, his spotlessness, his Holiness and we Rejoice together in all that he has done for us and in your infinite, wisdom you established the church to be the method through which you would bring your glory to this earth. Lauren each and every one of us who has placed our faith in Jesus Christ are individually members of this body. E, we make up the body of Christ. Where would you stir our hearts?
That we would willingly give ourselves to the strengthening of your body. That you may be glorified that we may be benefited That Others May benefit be benefited that the body of Christ grows and strengthens and is built up into the full measure of godliness. We thank you in Jesus name and we asked for the power of your Holy Spirit to do that, which sometimes we really struggle to desire to do.
Or would you give us boldness and confidence as we love and serve and minister at one another so that our lives and our testimony? As a church is an example to this world. We ask all this in Jesus name, amen.