Membership?

I'm going to ask you to take your Bibles this morning and first turn to Matthew chapter 1. I want us to look at two texts as we begin this morning. Matthew chapter 1, beginning in verse 18. This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about. His mother Mary was pledged to be Mary Joseph, but before they came together she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit.

Because Joseph, her husband, was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife. Because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.

She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins. Now turn to Matthew 28. From the very beginning of the book to the end. Matthew 28, verse 16. Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshipped him, but some doubted.

Then Jesus came to them and said, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you, and surely I am with you always to the very end of the age. Let's pray. God of heaven, thank you for your goodness to us thank you for the opportunity of worshiping in the baptisms that we have witnessed today to see how Jesus has rescued sinners we thank you father that for we'll be joined to this body to this fellowship and for that we give you great praise for father we know that it is within your church that you will accomplish great things in our lives and in the world.

God, help us and give us today the ability to think through and to understand what your word has to say. God, help us so that we will be obedient disciples. Father, I pray that you would use this in your people's lives to bring them into greater conformity to the word of God and the likeness of Jesus. We pray this in his name. Amen. We've witnessed today the baptism of three young men.

And we'll soon witness, along with Tom, four of them coming into the fellowship of this church. What is that all about anyway? Why do we make such a big deal about it? Membership here at our church is really a serious thing. We have sought to be true to the scriptures. We've sought to understand them.

And it seems as we have studied the scriptures that church membership is really a serious matter. In that way, we may seem somewhat unique because many Christians today do not believe that membership in a local church is all that important. Many wander from church to church getting what they want for a while and then go to another and another without making any kind of formal commitment.

Others may attend church for quite some time and never make any kind of a real official commitment to that church, but just attend. Still others express the belief, I'm a Christian and that's all that counts. Becoming a member of some church is really unnecessary. I'm a Christian. I'm going to heaven. Whether I join a church or not is that important.

Some may even challenge us and say, show me in the Bible where it commands anyone to become a member of a church. Those are things that we need to consider today. If we're going to take this seriously, we need to understand something about it. We need to answer those kinds of questions. We need to say, well, what does the Bible say? Well, in the text we read this morning, two things become apparent.

The first is that Jesus came to save a people from their sins. In his coming, he came with a particular purpose in mind. And that particular purpose was to save a people for himself and for his God. And so Matthew makes it clear at the beginning of his story of Christ that this Jesus came to save a people. The second thing you see is that when it comes to the end of Matthew's history, those saved by Jesus are called the disciples.

Those who are saved are called disciples. The original disciples, the apostles, must go out and make more disciples of Jesus. And that the making of Jesus' disciples continues until the end of the age. But what about those disciples? That's the question that's before us. Everyone agrees that those who are saved are disciples.

But is there a connection to the church? Everyone who comes to Christ is considered a disciple of Jesus. But what about those disciples? Should those disciples become members I think that a good question I think that a good question to ask We need to ask that question Well the first thing we want to do today and there are two things we want to do this morning, we want to look at the evidence from the scripture about whether any kind of formal commitment to a church really is necessary, even biblical.

And the second thing we want to look at is, of course, you already know where I'm going with that first question, don't you? And then the second thing we want to look at is what does that membership look like? What is that like? All right? So first of all, let's examine the evidence for disciples becoming members. All right?

We're in Matthew 28. Let's look at that very quickly again, verses 18 through 20. We all know this as the Great Commission. Then Jesus came to them and said, All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.

And surely I am with you always to the very end of the age. There's the commission. Go and make disciples. Question. How did the disciples fulfill that commission? How did they do it?

And what you find is that the apostles founded churches when they carried out their obedient response to the Great Commission. Now, notice, first of all, notice this, that making disciples means teaching people to obey all that Christ commanded. All right? It isn't just learning a bunch of facts. It isn't just learning some commands. It's learning to obey those commands.

As a disciple, what are you? A disciple is someone who translates truth into life. What does it mean to be a disciple of Jesus? One thing is this, and that is it's translating truth into life. Now, notice how those disciples carried out this commission. they obeyed this commission and what they did was establish churches that's how they fulfilled the commission let's look at it, Acts we're going to look at the book of Acts this morning Acts chapter 2 you remember in Acts chapter 2 Peter is preaching this the first sermon the age of the church the spirit has come and he is preaching the gospel to all those who would hear and in verse 40 we read this with many other words he warned them and he pleaded with them, save yourselves from this corrupt generation.

Those who accepted his message were baptized and about 3,000 were added to their number that day. Those who accepted his message were baptized and about 3,000 were added to their number. There's an identifiable group. 3,000 people were added to that identifiable group called disciples. In Acts chapter 14 when it talks about the first missionary journey we read this they preach the good news in that city and won a large number of disciples then they returned to Lystra Iconium and Antioch strengthening disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith we must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God they said Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church and with prayer and fasting committed them to the Lord in whom they had put their trust.

What happened on that first missionary journey? Well, in verse 21, there's an obvious fulfillment of the Great Commission in preaching the good news, but what did they do with the people who believed? They put them in organized groups called churches, and they formally ordained shepherds to look over those converts. They didn't think the job of fulfilling the Great Commission was done until after they'd gathered them in a group, appointed leaders over them, and then they left.

So here they are, fulfilling the Great Commission by establishing churches. In Acts chapter 20, verse 17, then verse 28, Paul, it says, from my leaders, Paul sent to Ephesus for the elders of the church. Here's a church that he had worked in. He had established that church. Elders were there. These are the pastors of the church.

And here's what he said to them in this long sermon he gave to them. Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God which he bought with his own blood. Look at this. Keep watch over the flock that the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. All right?

Those men had a flock. There's an identifiable group. Here is their flock. Here are the people they have to look over. And it says, be shepherds of the church of God. Now, yes, there's a universal church.

All who believe in Jesus are part of that universal church all across the globe. But you know what? As one of the elders here, I'm not shepherding. I'm not shepherding people in China. I'm shepherding whom? And Charlie and Larry and Greg, who are we shepherding?

You. This particular group. This church of God. See? the Holy Spirit has made us overseers here. So there's again, there's this this identifiable group and Titus chapter one, verse five, Paul writes, the reason I left you in Crete was that you might straighten out what was left unfinished and appoint elders in every town as I directed you. The job of establishing churches or making disciples was incomplete without spiritually qualified leaders.

Well, what does the evidence tell us thus far? I believe it says that Jesus always intended believers to become part of visible, distinguishable, organized communities of disciples It says that Jesus intended that individuals learn to obey in the community of believers called the church In other words to be a disciple of Jesus means that you are identified with a visible distinguishable community of believers So far, I think that's what the Bible has told us. To be a disciple should also mean that you're part of a visible, distinguishable community of disciples.

That's how the apostles looked at it. There are some other evidences we could look at. There's some organizational evidences for church membership. That is, as churches were organized, you can see that something formal was going on. For example, in Acts chapter 2, verse 41, 3,000 were added to their number. Number one, first of all, they knew how many people were added.

That seems formal. And there's a number. All right? The same thing is in verse 47. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people, and the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. There was an addition to their number.

There was some way of knowing who belonged and who did not, some way of determining that 3,000 were added or identified as part of the group and who were just observers. Another passage we might look at is 1 Timothy chapter 5, verses 9 through 11. No widow may be put on the list of widows unless she is over 60, has been faithful to her husband, and is well known for her good deeds, such as bringing up children, showing hospitality, washing the feet of the saints, helping those in trouble, and devoting herself to all kinds of good deeds.

As for younger widows, do not put them on such a list. And he goes on to say because they need to get married. But be that as it may, what he's saying here, what you find here is they even have lists of widows. And there are certain, there's even distinctions made within the body, within the membership. This is a widow over 60. She goes on a list.

That is, she's one that we need to help. She's one that we need to give our resources to in order to help. Then, of course, there's Galatians 6.10. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all men, especially to those who belong to the family of believers. We have to have the ability to know who's outside and those who are inside so we can make those kind of distinctions.

Who has the priority? All right? We might mention one other, and that's Christ's commands for church discipline, evidence, formal membership. Look at Matthew 18, 17. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to what? 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. Okay? There must be some way of marking someone and saying, treat him differently than the other members of the group. Okay. That too is of God. Let's look at 1 Corinthians 5, 12 and 13.

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. There, it's absolutely clear. There are some inside, there are some outside.

And in 1 Corinthians 5 is a discussion of church discipline, where a man had been involved in sexual immorality and they had not done anything about it. And so God said, look, the people on the outside, basically in this chapter, he says the people on the outside of the church, we're to win them, we're not to judge them. But those on the inside, those come under the judgment of the church. and he says, expel this wicked man from among you.

Clearly, there is an outside, there's an inside, there's expulsion, there's some formal organization of disciples from which you are expelled. So, it seems that the scriptures indicate that Christians have some kind of formal identification with local churches. They are members. Now, I don't think I'm putting it too strongly when I say this. The Bible knows nothing of unbaptized, free-floating, unchurched disciples.

As I read through the New Testament, you say, well, I didn't see any command to join. That's right, you didn't. Because it was assumed that if you're a Christian, you're baptized, and you're identified with a particular group of people. There was no such thing as unbaptized, free-floating, unchurched Christians. There is no Lone Ranger Christianity. We are not Lone Rangers.

So, the Bible then indicates that Christians, disciples of Jesus, should be members of churches. Well, that's easy to say, but what does that mean? what does that mean what does church membership look like now frankly the whole bible can tell us what church membership looks like and so i've narrowed it down a little bit all right i've narrowed it down a no not a bit i've narrowed it down a whole lot We could now spend the next easily 12 weeks talking about what church membership is all about I mean there are three epistles 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, and Titus, devoted entirely to the subject of what is a church supposed to do? What does it look like?

How is it organized? Who does what in there? And then there are all the epistles that talk about what we, if what I've said is true, if the Bible indicates that Christians should be members, then whatever the Bible says to you as a Christian is saying to you as a member, right? Well, so let's narrow our focus a little bit. I'm just going to glance. We're just going to glance at a few characteristics of membership, what that's all about.

What that's all about. Here's one. And I think something that we really have to get a handle on. You become part of a community. Now, we live in a world, in our culture, we live in the American culture. You know what the American culture says?

Here's what it says. The highest value in the universe is your individual freedom. I'm going to disagree with that. Because as I read through the scriptures, as we examine the evidence on membership, it becomes obvious that to be a disciple means to be a community member. That somehow, in many ways, in some ways, your life is tied to a community, a community of believers. that means first of all, you know what that means?

It means that your very identity as a person is tied up with a congregation. If you're part of a community as I've struggled to show you this morning if that's true then one thing that happens is this your very identity as a person is tied up with this congregation. What do I mean by that? I want you to think about your name for a moment. Think about your name.

I'll think about mine. I'll do mine. I'll do it out loud. Okay? Tim Pasma. How is that a marker of my identity?

There is a whole universe of associations connected to your name. Do you realize that? When someone says your name, when someone says Tim Pasma, do they just think of a bald pastor with a beard who could lose a little bit of weight and who can't see? Is that what they see? No. That's not the only thing that comes to your mind, is it?

That's not the only thing that comes to mind when your name is mentioned. All right? When people in my little town where I grew up, and I grew up in a town half the size of LaRue, When the people in my little town would see that name, they wouldn't just think of, you know, this little kid running around town with a bat over his shoulder looking for the next ball game.

That's not the only thing they thought of. Here's what comes to mind. Son of Gerald and Marion Pasma. Brother named Andy. Sister named Miriam. Student at Merton Elementary School, or later on Arrowhead High School.

Son of the local pastor of this particular Baptist church. The newspaper boy who later worked in landscaping and cows. All right? There's a whole world, a whole universe of associations that come with your name. When someone mentions one of your names to me, there's a whole universe of associations that come with that. Isn't that the way it works?

Isn't it? Am I off base here? I don't think so. You all know that there's all these associations that come with your name. Now, there's even more to that universe of association. Are there any responsibilities that come with that identity and those associations?

Yes. I'll never forget my dad. My brother and I would be trundling off to school, and before we walked out the door, my father sometimes would say to us, you remember who you are. Now, did he mean by that to say, remember, your name is Tim Pasma? No. Remember who you are and who you represent.

He'd say things like this. You know, when they see Tim and Andy walking down the street, they don't just say, there goes Tim and Andy. They say, there goes Tim and Andy, the son of... Right? You see, there's a whole universe associated with your name. Responsibilities that come with it.

And so, when someone sees my name, when someone sees your name, they should associate you as what? A disciple of Jesus. and member of the Rue Baptist Church. That association is going to be made. Whether we want to or not, that's the association that's made. Are there any responsibilities associated with that name? Absolutely.

See, you're a community member. What you do reflects on all of us. Right? It certainly does. That's why, if you want to turn there in 1 Corinthians 5, 1 Corinthians 5, verse 1, it is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, that is the Corinthian congregation, and of a kind that does not occur even among pagans, a man has his father's wife. what's the shock?

What's he saying there? What's implied there? What's implied? He says, there's something going on that not even the pagans do. There's a man in your congregation who's doing those things. Right?

He's upset. He's angry. Why? Two reasons. It besmirched the name of Christ and it besmirched the name of Christ's people. here's another here's another important truth that comes along with the idea that you're a community member it means that we belong to one another we belong to one another it means you live with the idea that you are not your own but you belong to everyone else in this body.

Some of you are starting to get a little bored right now, I think. But boy, you need to get this. You do not belong to yourself. You belong to us. Isn't that true? Certainly it is.

And that has to be reflected in everything that we do. I want you to listen to the words of a letter I once wrote. When you joined yourself to this congregation of God's people, you entered into a covenant relationship. You covenanted to be part of this body and to be subject to its instruction, rebuke, encouragement, and even involvement in your life.

As Christians, God says we are part of a community of disciples who must care and love one another enough to help each other walk in a way pleasing to God, I sense that you, at least for the moment, are not taking that covenanted relationship seriously. Now, those are serious words from a shepherd. Why? Because the Bible says we belong to one another.

When I see someone strain off the path, you see someone strain off the path, You love him enough to go after him. It means you're going to love him enough to say, brother, sister, that's not the way to go. We are so bound together that we must be involved in one another's lives. Sunday or church is not just an opportunity for you to meet your friends once a week.

We must be involved in one another's lives. you see so we are a community of people whose identity and walk are tied to Jesus our Lord and to one another and to one another dear friends if there's anything I could impress upon you is when you become a community member you just cannot walk away because you become part of a community. You become part of a body. 1 Corinthians 12.

It's like a human body. You don't just yank off an arm. Do you? That's serious business. Same thing is true with the body of Christ. You don't just say to someone, oh well, they're going the wrong way.

Goodbye. That'd be just like saying, okay, my arm it's not doing what I want to anymore. Right? Absolutely not. Absolutely not. All right?

So we belong to one another, and we belong to the Lord Jesus. We belong to Him, and we're identified with His people. All right? Why don't you turn to Romans now, Romans 15. verses 14 through 16. Here we read this. I myself am convinced, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, complete in knowledge, and competent to instruct one another.

I have written you quite boldly on some points as if to remind you of them again, because of the grace God gave me, to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles with the priestly duty of proclaiming the gospel of God so that the Gentiles might become an offering acceptable to God, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. You become part of a holy community. When you hear the gospel preached and you respond by faith, You become part of a community which the Spirit has set apart as holy to God.

There is no other group in all the world that is set apart exclusively to God. The church is. Now notice, we are holy. We have been set apart. The Holy Spirit has set apart. And we are set apart from the unbelieving world around us and are bound together with one another in an exclusive relationship with God.

Thus, then, as a community set apart to God, we have to make it a reality before the watching world. In other words, we have to what? We have to become what we are. We have to become holy in practice. We're already holy. We've been set apart exclusively to God.

God looks upon us differently than any other group. We are set apart. Now we have to become in reality what we are in position. All right, you understand? We become what we are. We become in practice what we are in position.

So therefore the Apostle Peter writes in 1 Peter 1 verse 15 and 16 but just as he who called you is holy so be holy in all you do for it is written Be holy, because I am holy. Now Peter here is writing to the churches that are scattered. He's writing to these congregations. You be holy. The congregation must be that way. We as a congregation, as a community, as a whole, must be holy.

Turn over to 1 Peter, if you're not there already. 1 Peter chapter 2, beginning in verse 4. 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 acceptable to God through Jesus Christ for in scripture it says see I lay a stone in Zion a chosen and precious cornerstone and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame now to you who believe this stone is precious but to those who do not believe The stone that the builders rejected has become the capstone, and a stone that causes men to stumble, and a rock that makes them fall.

They stumble because they disobey the message, which is also what they were destined for. But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God. Once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Why did God call out this particular group of people? Why did he call you out of darkness into his light? He saved you. He gathered you into this congregation so that you would worship him. Now, we need to worship God every day of the week. We worship him even in our work.

Our work is offered up to him as sacrifices acceptable through Jesus Christ. But we're also to worship as a gathered people. We're to worship as a congregation of God. And being a member means you are now a worshiper of the true and the living God. You must worship. You must worship.

You must worship. So much happens on Sunday, doesn't it? I remember my friend Marvin Hintz calling me one day. Marvin grew up in Wisconsin like I did. And Marv called me one day and he said, Hey, Tim. This is when the Packers were headed for the Super Bowl.

All right? Hey, Tim. I got tickets to the Super Bowl. You want to go with me? There's a guy in church. He said, look, I can't use them.

He gave them to me. He said, here, take a friend. and I'm thinking the Packers in the Super Bowl. He says, you want to come? Listen, we could catch the red eye, go out there Saturday night, spend all day Sunday. And in my mind, I'm going, oh, to go to see the Packers in the Super Bowl. Oh, that would be so good.

But this is also what's going on in my mind. I have preached that worship really counts when you sacrifice. And where would you rather be? Worshiping God or watching the Browns play? Now to me, that's a no-brainer, but we're talking the Packers here now. All right?

And all of this is coming back on me now. All of this is, and I'm just kind of hemming and hawing, and I said, Marv, Marv, I can't. I can't do it. I told him some of these things, and he says to me, that's all right. I really don't have tickets to the game. I just wanted to see what you would say.

And it sure was fun listening to you hemming and hawing like you were. So listen, can I just say this to you, just in an offhanded way? When I say things to you, don't think that God does not put me through the ringer like he does you. All right? anyway what's the point I'm trying to make we have been called out to worship the Lord's day is not a sabbath but it is a day when the people of God gather to worship and the purpose he called us out was to sing his praises so you become part of a community that worships become part of a community that disciplines.

You might say, well, I'd rather not be part of that kind of community then. You know, other times I've spoken of we all have the privilege of discipline. And our first response normally would be, that's the kind of privilege I can do without. I'm here to tell you, no, you can't. Look at Matthew 18. Matthew 18.

You know, we're familiar with this church discipline passage, aren't we? You know where this church discipline passage begins? Begins in verse 10. It doesn't begin in verse 15. This church discipline passage begins in verse 10. So let's read it.

Matthew 18, verse 10. See to it that you do not look down on one of these little ones, for I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven. What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, I tell you the truth, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety that did not wander off In the same way your Father in Heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost If your brother sins against you go and show him his fault just between the two of you.

If he listens to you, you've won your brother over. Do you see what he's doing here? If there's one sheep that wanders away, the shepherd is going to go after that one. and he will be overjoyed if he rescues that one, and he'll be happier for that one than for the 99. So what does that say to us? If your brother sins against you, what are you supposed to do?

Go and show him his fault, just between the two of you. Why? Because the Father in Heaven wants those stray sheep. Do you see that? That's why discipline is not a bad thing. it is accomplishing the purpose of the father in not losing his sheep and we ought to rejoice let's go on just between the two of you if he listens to you you've won your brother over but if he will not listen take one or two others along so that every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses if he refuses to listen to them tell it to the church and if he refuses to listen even to the church, treat him as you would a pagan or a tax collector.

I tell you the truth, whatever you bind in heaven will have been bound in heaven, unearthed will have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose unearthed will have been loosed in heaven. Again, I tell you that if two of you unearthed agree about anything you ask for, and this is not about prayer meeting, this is about church discipline. If any of, again, I tell you that if two of you unearthed agree about anything you ask for will be done for you by my Father in heaven, for two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.

When those two or three witnesses go, Jesus is present with them. That's what that verse is all about. And then he continues to go on and say, all right, what if my brother does respond? And Peter says, okay, so what if he does respond? How many times do I forgive him through this whole process? You always forgive.

So you see, this whole context of church discipline is about gathering up sheep who are going astray. The Father is about going after stray sheep, so we ought to be about that too. Oh, my friends, we've got the wrong view of church discipline. It's not about beating people out of the church. It's going after the stray sheep so God will rejoice in heaven.

Listen to the discipline described in Hebrews 12. Now, he's talking about God's discipline of us, but we learn something about discipline from this. Endure hardship as discipline. God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best, but God disciplines us for our good that we may share in his holiness.

No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, It produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who've been trained by it. You know what discipline does? It's loving correction. Exercise for the purpose of producing, what does he say? Holiness, righteousness, and peace.

Peace. Peace. beck and i have been down a long road of raising six children and we are nearing the end of that journey and i understand why the lord causes us to have children while we're young and we have had the same goal for all our children every one of them we've had this one goal that when they leave us, they will be independent, godly disciples who love God and serve him by handling his word. How could we reach that goal?

Let me tell you a sure way of failure of reaching that goal, and that's neglect of discipline. Neglect of discipline. What if we had only told our children what was right or wrong? What if all we did was wag our fingers in their faces and say, Now, you know that's not right. Now, stop doing that. Right?

I watch parents now and how they try to deal with disobedient children. They cajole them. They say, oh, please, come on, come on now. Be a good boy. Come on. And they beg them to obey.

Or they threaten them. They say, okay, if you don't obey, we're not going to go to McDonald's. You know they're not going to do that because mom wants to go to McDonald's. But they make those kinds of threats. or they try to reason with them. Okay, okay, now look. Look, see what's happening here?

You don't want to, you know. Or they try to bribe them or they try to distract them. Disobedient child's going, here, here, look in mommy's purse. Look, you know, and they, we had a couple that we would go to church with every Sunday and little Glenn would be acting up and they'd say, look, look at the cows, look at the cows, look at the horses. They would distract them. well I can tell you right now spanking is necessary it's painful now if you want to argue with me about that I will because the Bible is pretty clear on it and God has better ideas than the latest sociologists who've come up with their latest studies what's the point I'm trying to make discipline is education with teeth education that sees that the lesson its learned alright sometimes there's no it will the lesson will be learned unless there's discipline without discipline in the community of Christ disciples the lesson will be learned if someone commits adultery and it becomes public knowledge and the church does nothing about it do you think our young people will listen when the pastor gets up and says, flee sexual immorality?

Do you think they'll listen? If, as the Bible says in 1 Corinthians 5, if one of our members is found drunk on the street and the whole town knows about it and we don't do anything about it? Do you think our young people will learn self-control? Do you think anyone will learn? No. Discipline is part of the process of learning.

How much learning takes place in a classroom where there's no discipline? Have you ever seen a classroom that's out of control? How much learning takes place in that kind of a classroom? None. You see, discipline is necessary to learn to obey. It's necessary for recovering the lost sheep.

What's the point? The point is, when you join the church, you become part of a community that disciplines, that loves you enough to do something about it. Okay, lastly. Let's look at Hebrews 10, 24 and 25. In Hebrews 10, 24 and 25, we read this. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.

Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another and all the more as you see the day approaching. Membership means being part of a community that encourages you. You know what? We live in a world of incredible pressure and despair. Families are coming apart. People hate you.

You live or you work in a sin-saturated work atmosphere. There are interpersonal problems. All these things are going on in the world, and in light of all these pressures, Christ's church is a place where you draw encouragement. He says, let us spur one another on towards love and good deeds, and don't get out of the habit of coming to church as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another even more as we see the day of judgment approaching.

We must encourage one another. Discipline produces holiness in the face of wickedness. Encouragement produces hope in the face of adversity. And we are here to encourage one another. Listen, we cannot walk the pilgrim path to heaven alone. It's not ever alone.

It's always in the company of believers. And you find encouragement as a sister says, remember God's promises in suffering. and as you hear the Word of God preached and you commune with God on a weekly basis and when someone says to you from the church, I went through the same thing. The same thing happened to me. Let me show you how God taught me some things in His Word and how He taught me how I can get through that.

Let me show you that. And we're encouraged. Listen, you won't find that kind of life-changing encouragement anywhere else than in the church of Jesus Christ. This is a community of encouragement. Well, what does that mean then? Look, membership is a serious thing.

Oh, not just serious in the sense of you better be a member or else God will get you. Not in that way. membership is a serious thing because the church is where God has the church is what God has equipped to get you from here to there we are in this together and without the church it's nearly impossible to make it Jesus died for his church he died for this group of people because he loved them we ought to love what Jesus loves let's pray Father give us a heart for your church Lord this isn't just the ramblings of a preacher who makes his living from church. Lord, you know my heart.

Instead, Father, this is what you have told us in your word. Oh, we need one another. We need one another, Father. Lord God, as these four young men come into the fellowship of this body we pray we pray that we would see this truly as a fellowship of believers on the way to glory God equip this church keep building her we pray that you would give us depth because we live in a world that is very difficult, and we want to be those who are equipped to help.

Help us to be a community, united together like a body in this. in this town, in this county, in this world. Thank you for your word. Thank you for our Lord Jesus, who has brought us together. Without him, we would just be lone individuals in a dark world. But with him, we've been gathered together into a family that loves him and loves one another. Thank you now for all that you have done for us in Jesus.

We pray this in His name. Amen.