To Be Or Not To Be

We want to look at the Word of God today. To be or not to be. Let's pray. God of heaven, we're thankful now that you have given us your Word that explains life to us, explains ourselves to us, explains the world, explains you. All those things we need for proper understanding of life, you've given us in your Word. and Lord you've given us your word to help us when it comes to this whole idea the whole issue of being a church and being a member of a church and so we pray that you would bless this to the hearers as they receive your word I pray father that this would be clear to us help us we pray not so that we know something rightly but that father not just that we see it rightly but that we live rightly in response to it so now we pray for your spirit to work in our hearts in jesus name amen you know there's a there is a an attitude that seems to be growing within the christian church worldwide and that is that well church membership is really not an obligation it's more of a preference or even even to the point of saying well yeah we have church membership but it's not really a formal one and i want us to look at scripture today especially on this day when we're welcoming in some folks into our fellowship i thought this would be a good opportunity for us to explore the scriptures to see what it says about church membership and Too many people think that our church membership is something that's just Western.

It's something that, well, you know how we are as Westerners. We're organized in lists and everything else, and that's where it comes from. And I want to show you that, really, it comes from the scriptures, that scriptures indicate these things to us. In our day, there are just many professing Christians who believe that church membership is an option.

And if asked, they would say that it's not important. It's certainly not a requirement for believers to identify with a local church in a formal, official way. You know, to them, joining the church is kind of like, well, are you a vegan or do you eat meat, right? It's a preference, not an obligation. It's not a matter of obedience, but a matter of preference. to be or not to be a church member that's what we want to talk about today what do you think the bible teaches about this well we have to start we have to start because i think this is a key in matthew chapter 28 matthew 28 you've heard it already this morning Matthew 28 beginning in verse 18 and Jesus came and said to them all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me go therefore and make disciples of all nations baptizing them in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you and behold I am with you always to the end of the age now what just what does Jesus command us to do he commands us to baptize people who believe and he commands us to teach them to obey now I want to show you that from the New Testament we find that obedience to this command can be found in local churches or congregations.

The fulfillment of this command is found in churches. So the first thing we need to do is to understand that baptized believers become part of local churches. Turn to Acts chapter 2. Baptized believers become part of local churches. in Acts chapter 2 we see the first the first sermon in this new age Peter's sermon at Pentecost and the response to that sermon and then we find in verses chapter 2 verses 41 and 42 so those who received his word were baptized and there were added that day about 3,000 souls.

And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship to the breaking of bread and the prayers. Now notice, by baptism you proclaim you forsake the world that rejects Messiah to join a community that calls him king. The world rejects him as Messiah. We call him king. You become part of that community. As the people of that day watched the baptism in Jerusalem, they knew that these converts were identifying themselves with this one called Jesus, who they claimed had been raised from the dead.

Peter had just said it. They knew that they were identifying with this Jesus. And the observers of that day also noted that the people who were baptized identified themselves with the followers of Jesus as well. To be baptized at that moment was to say, Aha, you believe what that group is saying and you've become a part of them. To be identified with Christ through baptism means identification with his people through that same baptism.

So those who are baptized today and all those joining us today have identified themselves not only as followers of Jesus, but identifying with the followers of Jesus with this community of disciples I have a pastor friend in Indiana who calls me periodically with some counseling questions At one point he was asking me about this couple, about this one issue, and I said to him, so is this couple a member of your church? And he said, well, that's kind of interesting, because for us, if you attend a while, we consider you a member. Is that how we ought to view membership?

Is there something more involved with just attending for a while? You know, the immediate questions that come into my mind are, for how long? For how long do you have to attend to become a member? And how do you know they're committed to you? Are they just visiting for a couple months? Tell me how that works.

I don't know how that works. And I'm asking, is that the way we ought to view membership? The New Testament indicates a more formal idea. I believe the New Testament clearly gives us a formal idea. In Acts chapter, well, first of all, look at how the apostles fulfilled Jesus' commands to make disciples. This has been really interesting to me, is to see the Great Commission and then watch how the disciples fulfilled that commission.

Here's the first one, Acts chapter 2, verse 41. Did they baptize? Yes. and what happened? 3,000 were added to their number. There was some way of knowing who belonged and who did not. They could determine what 3,000 were added, were identified as part of this group of disciples.

We were able to distinguish between them and who the observers were. There was obviously some sort of formal recognition. So here's the first thing. What they did was, in fulfilling the Great Commission, Peter preached, people responded, they were baptized, and they were added to this group. They were added. The baptism added them to that group.

Look at Acts chapter 14. Acts chapter 14, verses 21 through 23. Verse 21. Here's an obvious fulfillment of the Great Commission. They preached the gospel. And in fulfilling that commission, the disciples were gathered into a group called the church.

A church with formally ordained leaders. Now please note how the disciples fulfilled the Great Commission. And you see this not just here. Here's one example. When they fulfilled the Great Commission, they didn't just go out and preach the gospel and baptize someone who professed faith. What happened then?

They organized them into a group, a recognizable group. That's how they fulfilled the Great Commission. Look at Acts 20, verse 28. Here's the Apostle Paul speaking to the Ephesian elders, the pastors of the church in Ephesus. It's his farewell to them. And in Acts chapter 20, verse 28, he says, Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to care for the church of God which he obtained with his own blood.

There's an identifiable flock called the church of God, which these pastors were responsible to shepherd. Okay? So in fulfilling the Great Commission, what did the Apostle Paul do? He preached in Ephesus. He formed a church there. After three years, he left.

And now he's talking to the elders, the shepherds, the pastors of that identifiable flock. You. You take care of the flock. Well, everybody who's ever been saved? No. The people that are in your congregation, you have to shepherd them.

Titus chapter 1, verse 5. all right in titus 1 verse 5 the apostle paul writes this is why i left you in crete so that you might put what remained into order and appoint elders in every town as i directed you the job of establishing churches was incomplete without spiritually qualified leaders now it's interesting to see then how the apostles fulfilled the great commission they didn't just go out preach people were saved they baptized them and moved along in every situation they organized them in fact they they thought it important that they have shepherds qualified spiritually morally qualified men to lead them so in fulfilling the great commission the apostles formally organized disciples into identifiable well-ordered well-managed communities called churches that's how they fulfilled the great commission that should tell us something shouldn't it no such thing as these free-floating christians we belong to a group now look at some of the organizational evidence for a formal church membership we see how the apostles fulfilled the great commission there's organizational evidence we find in the new testament in acts chapter 241 we read it 3 000 were added they knew who was and who wasn't added. They knew who was outside and who was inside. Look at 1 Timothy chapter 5.

1 Timothy chapter 5. Here the Apostle Paul in this epistle is talking about the nitty-gritty of church life Who should lead What their qualifications Who should not lead All these things In 1 Timothy chapter 5 verse 9 he says let a widow be enrolled if she is not less than 60 years of age having been the wife of one husband and having a reputation for good works. If she has brought up children, has shown hospitality, has washed the feet of the saints, has cared for the afflicted, and has devoted herself to every good work.

What's he saying? There's widows in your group, and there's a list, and if they're, if they meet certain criteria, they go on that list, all right? Verse 11, but refuse to enroll younger widows, for when their passions draw them away from Christ, they desire to marry. All right, again, here's what, what do we see? There's, they're organized enough to have a list of who is in our group, who is in our congregation that need our help?

Do they meet this criteria? If they do, put them on the list and we need to be busy about helping them. There's very strong organizational evidence there, isn't there? And then Galatians chapter 6 verse 10. Galatians 6 verse 10. so then as we have opportunity let us do good to everyone and especially to those who are of the household of faith all right who's of the household of faith and who's not who gets priority here right those who are members of the household of faith listen we have to have the ability to know who is outside and those inside so we can make that distinction Who has priority over the money that we use to help others?

You know, our deacons do incredible work. They're the servants that you don't see operating. And they have helped literally hundreds of people. They have. Over and over again, they have helped people. And part of that is those folks come in and they talk to them.

Right? They want to know something about them. They want to know their spiritual standing with Christ. And so if they say, so, yeah, I'm a Christian. Okay, good, good. You're coming to us, so you're coming from another church.

No. Well, how do we know? One of the ways we can know whether they're really a Christian is whether they've been part of a church. And we can talk to somebody in that church, right? By the way, that doesn't mean that they don't get help. it just means that it helps sort things out it helps them sort all these things out if you're from another church we can ask how is this person how can we help them why are you here and not there all those are important that's how you determine who's in the household of faith and who is not so we can see a formal idea of membership in the way the apostles fulfilled the great commission in the evidence for organization of the early church.

And finally, Christ commands for church discipline evidence of formal membership. You know, Jesus commands that we discipline those who are among us. Matthew 18, 17. Matthew 18, 17. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church, a precise, identifiable group. And if he refuses to listen, even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector.

There must be some way of marking someone and saying, treat him differently than these folks. He's part of an identifiable group. Tell it to the church. And if he doesn't listen to the church, treat him differently. 1 Corinthians chapter 5 verses 12 and 13 the apostle Paul after talking about a man who is in terrible sexual immorality in the church tells them to put that man out and at the end of the chapter he says this what business is it of mine to judge those outside the church are you not to judge those inside God will judge those outside.

Expel the wicked man from among you. Now, he asks us a rhetorical question. What do we have to do with judging people on the outside? The answer is no, nothing. What do we have to do with judging the people inside? We have a lot of responsibility.

The point is, there's an outside and there's an inside. How do you know who's outside and who's inside? How do you know that? and then he says expel them well this is some formal organization of disciples from which you are expelled there is a group an identifiable group those folks they are on the outside this guy is on the inside in this group so the evidence shows that believers formally join communities of Christ's disciples Now I'm going to say something radical here, but I think the Bible bears me out.

The Bible knows nothing of unbaptized, free-floating, unchurched Christians. If you would have come to Peter on the day of Pentecost and said, Peter, yeah, I believe in Jesus, but I want to be baptized, he'd say, what? Right? the Bible knows nothing of free-floating, unbaptized, unchurched Christians. Now, I'm not saying you're not a Christian, if that's true of you.

I'm not saying that. I'm not saying that at all. I think you can be a Christian without ever joining a church. I think that possible And I think it true of a lot of people That not what I saying But I am saying it not the way Scripture describes a disciple To be a disciple of Christ means to formally identify with a visible, distinguishable community of believers.

That's what a disciple is. Well, now someone objects and says to me, I'm not saved by church membership. I'm saved by the grace of God in faith. When I get to heaven, I'm not going to be there because I joined a church, but because I repented of my sins and believed in the Lord Jesus. Well, well said. You're right.

That's true. But what do you say about good works? Are you saved by your good works? Response? No. Everybody knows that.

However, they're thus unimportant. Right? Again, no, they are not unimportant. Good deeds are the consequence of salvation. Good deeds are the fruit that gives evidence of the real deal. If you're saved, you've been changed.

Good works should follow. It's the consequence of your salvation. One writer, referring to Acts 2.47, says, which says, and the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved. That's Acts 2.47. The Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved. One writer by the name of Kuyper wrote, not only does the Lord require those who are saved that they unite with the church, he himself joins them to the church.

And the reference is unmistakably to the visible church. The scriptural rule is that while membership in the church is not a prerequisite of salvation, it is a necessary consequence of salvation. It's what will naturally flow out of that. Well, ask yourself the question, what is the purpose of your salvation? Now, for most people, it is get to heaven. Well, that is true. but you know the new testament puts a whole lot more emphasis on other things like a changed person like someone who's reconciled now to god like someone who someone who becomes a building block for example the apostle peter first peter chapter 2 verses 4 and 5 here's what peter says as you come to him the living stone rejected by men but chosen by god and precious to him You also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices to God through Jesus Christ.

You've been saved for the purpose of being a building block in the church. All right. Being a building block in the church. he also says to be part of a holy priesthood. You're saved to be part of a holy priesthood. Right? So you've been saved for the purpose of being a stone in the building of the local church.

Now Spurgeon, who's a very great preacher, you read his sermons, they're amazing. And he gets to the point. Here's what he says. I know there are some who say, well, I've given myself to the Lord, but I don't intend to give myself to any church. Now, Spurgeon preached at the end of the 1800s. So this is not something new.

Well, I've given myself to the Lord, but I don't intend to give myself to any church. I say, now why not? And they answer, because I can be just as good as a Christian without it. I say, are you quite clear about that? You can be as good a Christian by disobedience to your Lord's commands as by being obedient? He gets right to the point, doesn't he?

Then he says, there's a brick. What is a brick made for? It's made to build a house. It's of no use for the brick to tell you that it's just as good a brick while it's kicking about on the ground by itself as it would be as part of a house. Actually, it's a good-for-nothing brick. So you, get this, So you, Rolling Stone Christian, I don't believe that you're answering the purpose for which Christ saved you.

You're living contrary to the life which Christ would have you live. What good is a brick getting kicked around? It's good as if it's part of the building. And Peter has said, you are saved. God has made you right with him so that you can be that brick in that priesthood. so then as you watch the new testament unfold the great commission you see that over and over there is some kind of formal identification with the local church accomplished through baptism you see that all the way through the new testament now the great commission doesn't just say baptize and that baptism brings you into formal membership but it also says teach them to obey all that Christ commanded.

Teach them to obey. Understand that teaching to obey is most effective in the community of believers called the local church. It's most effectively done there. The Great Commission is most effectively accomplished within the local church. Jesus' intention was not to build a bunch of eggheads who know all his commands. You know, oftentimes I ask the question, what does the Great Commission say here?

It says to teach what? And I would say probably 60% of the time people say, teach them all of Jesus' commands. And I say, no, look again. That's not what it says. It says, teaching them what? To obey.

The emphasis is on you got it, obviously, you have to teach the commandments. But the emphasis is on teaching them to obey. Teaching them to obey. Now look, I just got back from the Association of Servant Biblical Counselors Annual Conference, which is to me like the highlight of the year. And I'll tell you more about it next week at dinnertime. But it's like a huge family reunion.

It is a great, great time of learning together and seeing people you know and everything. But I will say this, ACBC exists to fulfill the Great Commission. that is to teach people to obey. Counseling is nothing more and nothing less than teaching someone to obey Jesus in a crisis in their life. That's all it is. All right? Now, Jesus isn't interested in building a bunch of eggheads.

Jesus is not interested in producing a Christian scholastic challenge team. Now, you all know Levi. Levi is the coach of the wrestling team. But before he was the coach of the wrestling team, He was the coach of Elgin's Scholastic Challenge team. They would go different places and they would, you know, they'd have these quizzes, right? And, you know, it's like, for 20 points, who commanded the Union forces at Shiloh?

Ulysses S. Grant. Correct, right? You go to these different schools and do that. Well, you know what? Jesus does not play that game.

Jesus does not say, finish this sentence. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your... Right? Tune it. Right. Answer this question.

Jesus fed the 4,000 before or after he fed the 5,000. Bonus, which gospel are both recorded in? Right? Is that what Jesus is about? No. No, it's about learning to obey him. that's the that is a disciple is one who's taught to obey and and you old timers here you know we have lots of new timers here now so you old timers just relax I'm going to say it again what is a disciple a disciple is someone who's translating truth into life that's a disciple a baptized person who is translating truth into life that's what a disciple is Jesus' intention is that his disciples can be identified by a different kind of life.

We exist to fulfill the great commission to teach to obey all that Jesus commanded. That's why we exist as a church. Everything in this church revolves around that. Everything we do must be done to fulfill the great commission. And that's all about change then. I'm growing and becoming more of a disciple.

I'm translating more of his commands into life. It's more and more and more of that. I've told people, okay, I'm going to prep you right now, okay? When I'm at different places speaking and I'm speaking on a subject like this, I say, you ought to be able to walk into LaRue Baptist Church, grab any member by the lapels and say, what does God expect you to do?

And they should say to you, God expects me to grow and change. Okay, so now you know the right answer if someone does that to you. But I hope you'd be able to say that because that is the ministry here. It's making disciples, teaching people to obey all that Jesus commands. Now, what you're going to find is that teaching the way Jesus commands is most effective, is most effective in the church because of all that occurs within the body.

Teaching to obey is most effective within a local church. Now look, I'm not against the Navigators or Campus Crusade or any of those organizations. They go on to college campuses and do what the church should have been doing But they cannot make disciples effectively They can do it because they don have the resources that the church does For example teaching to obey takes place in the context of fellowship.

What is fellowship? The word for fellowship in the New Testament means close mutual relationship, participation in, partnership. It has within it the idea that we know one another, that we know one another's hurts, that we know one another's weaknesses, that we know one another's trials. We know that. We're participating with one another. We're sharing burdens and joys.

We're seeking help from one another. We're loving one another. We're protecting one another. We're rebuking one another. We're doing all the one another's. And when that's happening, we are better equipped to help one another to learn to obey Jesus as our lives mesh together, we know how to do it.

For example, Jesus said that the greatest must be the servant of all. The greatest has to be the servant of all. Well, what does that mean? Well, say you're with your friend Joe when he gets a phone call. Sam just found out he's lost his job, and he's frantic about it. Joe says, look, I'll meet you, says to Sam, I'll meet you in 15 minutes at my place, we can talk about it.

So Joe and Sam get together, and you notice that for the next four weeks, they're together a lot what are you seeing you're seeing joe being a slave to sam you're seeing that joe is taking seriously what jesus said you're seeing and able to identify that so that's what jesus was talking about the the apostle paul speaking the words of jesus says husbands love your wives like christ loved the church some of you single guys should be able to look at the men in this congregation. See, that's how it's done. You're able to see the commands of Jesus in living color.

We have fellowship. We know the weaknesses of one another. We know that my brother is weak in this area and I'm going to come alongside him and help him with his weakness. All those things are happening. We're learning to obey the commands of Christ as we fellowship. That helps it.

Teaching takes place in a church primarily through shepherds who know the flock, right? Teaching to obey happens in a in the church primarily through shepherds who shepherd the flock look at hebrews for a moment hebrews chapter 13 which by the way i don't know if you've noticed that's the last chapter of the book of hebrews we have to cover it's going to happen here all right um hebrews 13 verse 7 remember your leaders those who spoke to you the word of god consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith and then verse 17 um obey your leaders and submit to them for they are keeping watch over your souls as those who will have to give an account let them do this with joy and not with groaning for that would be of no advantage to you notice that the teaching of the word is connected to those who also watch over your souls that is to say that these leaders, first of all, they're held up as models. They're held up as models to imitate.

Second, they are teaching you as men who must give an account. Listen, let me just say this. There are four guys in this congregation, Tim, Andrew, Dan, and Greg, who someday are going to stand before Jesus and give an account for how we watched over you. it almost a frightening thought did we do a job do the job well of looking after our flocks all right so they imitating and they teach those who have watch over your souls OK now look many of you love the ministries of such men as John MacArthur Alistair Begg Tim Keller.

But you don't have any opportunity to see their lives in action, do you? Do you know what John MacArthur does when he stubs his toe? do you know what uh alistair beg does when he wakes up after only having three you know well waking up maybe you won't be around at my house either although half of you have been around my house to say that but um when when you see someone get in in alistair beg's face if you imagine that do you see how he responds right you don't see the lives of those men and neither are they watching over your souls. They can't tailor their teaching to the needs that they see as men who watch over your souls.

Right? In a church where there are shepherds, you have men who you ought to be able to imitate and who are looking over your souls and able to guide you as they see where you need to be and where you need to go. Disciples learn to obey in a church that practices discipline. You ever been in a classroom where there's very little discipline? How much learning takes place?

How much learning takes place? Not much. There's not much learning in chaos. You know, you've all taught your children not to steal, right? What happened the first time they snatched some penny candy from lynches down here? What happened when they did that?

Did you say, oh, you shouldn't do that. Let them eat it or throw it away? Or did you take them down to Lynch's and look Sharon Sparks in the face and say, Sharon, I stole this candy and I'm sorry. Right? Please forgive me. Here it is.

Who's going to learn the lesson? The one where discipline takes place. Discipline is education with teeth. It sees that the lesson is learned. I know a church. I actually talked to the pastor, one of the pastors of that church.

A couple had divorced. They had been part of our church, but they had left. They had left after one was disciplined for pursuing a divorce. and they both went to another church and I went to the pastor and said, hey, what are you going to do about this? Oh, you know, they're sad about it, but the most that happened was they're both in different Sunday school classes.

You know what? That pastor can get up and preach all he wants about how God requires marital fidelity and that divorce is wrong. He can say all he wants, but in that kind of an atmosphere, the lesson's not going to be learned. In fact, the opposite lesson will be learned. You see, you learn to obey where there's discipline, in the church disciplines. Listen, no Bible conference, no Bible study could ever practice discipline.

So you see, the kind of teaching that Jesus requires, teaching to obey, is most effectively done in a community of believers. Well, some of you may be saying, Pastor Tim, what about the universal church? Is there a place for that in our thinking? Well, sure there is. It's taught in the Bible. But you have to remember that the doctrine of the universal church intends to teach us that Jesus has redeemed a people from every tribe and language and nation There are no bounds to the gospel or to the people of God It to teach you that a disciple is connected to the head is united with Jesus.

That is all true. But consider the fact that there are 109 references to the church in the New Testament. And only 12 refer to the universal church. And of those 12, nine of them are in the book of Ephesians and six of the nine are in the one chapter about husbands loving your wives what's the emphasis of the new testament it's on the local church most people when they read church think universal church not so now that is a biblical concept that's true all right we need to remember that but be careful that you don't get the two mixed up the new testament is primarily addressed to local churches and you have to remember this about the universal church let me ask you this you have fellowship in in the local church or in the universal church can you have fellowship in the universal church where where you know my brothers in romania your brothers in romania know you intimately and can help you no um in the universal church you can't shepherd right i can't shepherd a brother in japan right universal church doesn't have shepherds that shepherd you and certainly there's no discipline in the universal church it doesn't it's not what's what god intends to convey about what happens in a local assembly.

And so I would say to you that fulfilling the Great Commission, teaching to obey all that Jesus commanded is fulfilled in the local church. And God expected it. Jesus expected it that way. Listen, it is impossible, I would suggest to you, it is impossible to teach for the purpose of obedience the way Jesus wants obedience without membership in a local assembly of believers to which you have committed yourself and so today the Coghlands the Eisenbergers and Samantha along with her her family all of them are becoming part of this church they're becoming part of this this church where where they will learn to obey where there will be people who love them shepherds who shepherd them where there will be be all kinds of things going on to make help them obey what jesus has commanded this is what this is what jesus always intended and we ought to rejoice in that and thank him for the fact that he gave us one another, organized into a group, formally identifying with one another, so that we can truly be what Jesus wants us to be.

Let's pray. Father, thank you for your goodness to us. Thank you, Father, for bringing us together into this local body of believers. We are thankful for it. We are thankful, Father, for your plan and your purpose. We pray that we would be faithful to that.

Help us to that end, we pray. We want to be what you've called us to be. And so, by your Spirit, do that in our midst. In Jesus' name, amen.