Revision as of 13:32, 29 April 2024

Theological Proposition/Focus:

Homiletical Proposition/Application: Within the Church are local congregations made up of members who have covenanted together for mutual deification and accountability.

Introduction: Memory Verse, Hebrew 10:25

not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.^[1]

Image:

It is entirely possible to be a professional football player and not be part of a team. However, this is not an ideal situation and if a player finds themselves in this situation come September something is likely very wrong. Throughout a player's career they may be moved to different teams and they may go through periods where they are not a part of a team. However, the normal practice for a professional football player is that the player be part of a team.

Need:

Similarly, the normal practice of a Christian should be to, by their own volition, declare their commitment and submission to a particular local assembly of believers. If you look in Scripture for a straightforward command “thou shalt join a local church as a member” you will either be sorely disappointed or smug upon finding no such reference. This naturally leads to statements like “I don’t need to be a member of the church, I love Jesus and have committed my life to him, that is enough for me, it should be enough for you too.”

Ok, so nobody has ever said that to me. But that sentiment is all over in our culture. Is that the right perspective? Isn’t it true that loving Jesus and following Jesus are what this is all about? Is it true that church membership just gets in the way of following Jesus. Is church membership even in the Bible?

These sorts of questions are important questions and unfortunately, sometimes, divisive questions. But I do believe there is an answer to these questions and an answer worth talking about. I am going to argue that the idea of church membership is a theologically sound idea, found in the Bible, practiced by the early church, and an important component of church today.

One of the biggest problems I see today when it comes to church membership is that too many people see church membership as club membership. I pay my dues, use the facilities when I need them, follow the rules when on facility property. This perspective could not be further from the reality of what God created when He created the local church.

Text: Various texts with subpoints

Setting the Stage:

Words matter and when it comes to the church confusion abounds.

Before proceeding, a definition of the church is in order. The Church is the Body (Rom. 12:5; 1 Cor. 12:12-27) and Bride of Christ which includes all people who have been called holy by being united with Christ beginning at Pentecost (1 Cor. 1:2). Within the Church there exist local churches of baptized believers bound together by covenant for fellowship in the gospel (Acts 2:42), mutual edification (Mat. 18:15-20), and observation of the two ordinances of Christ (Mat. 28:19; 1 Cor. 11:17-26). The local church equips the saints, through teaching, discipline, ordination, and sending missionaries (1 Cor. 5:4-5; Acts 20:28; Acts 13:1-3; 1 Tim 3:1-14; Acts 6:3-6; Acts 14:23; 1 Tim 4:14). The church operates completely under the Lordship of Christ (Eph. 1:22-23; Col. 1:18; 1 Pet. 5:1-4).

When we talk about church membership it is important to recognize that we are talking about local church membership. At the moment of salvation an individual becomes part of what I call the capital C Church.

Body

The theological warrant for church membership: accountability.

Galatians 5:22-26 is often cited as a critical passage for understanding the work of the Holy Spirit in the life of an individual to enable the individual to bear spiritual fruit. The believer who is walking in the Spirit displays love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. These fruits of the Spirit are vital components of a Christian’s walk and should show themselves regularly. But, as each of us knows, the Christian walk is not always a basket of fruit. There are times when sin rears its head and the Christian finds themselves locked in a hand-to-hand combat with their sin nature.

Thankfully, the Bible does not leave us without resources in this battle. Galatians six, following on the coattails of the fruit of the Spirit, reminds us that when a brother or sister is caught in sin, responsibility falls to other Christians walking in the Spirit to work to bring about restoration of the brother or sister caught in sin. The reality is that accountability is a vital component in the Christian walk.

Accountability is a vital component in the Christian walk (James 5:16).

In fact, it is not just Galatians six that suggests the importance of accountability. The Bible is filled with passages that address accountability. James 5:16 calls on the believer “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed (NIV).” First Thessalonians 5:11 calls on believers to build each other up. Luke 17:3 calls on the brother to rebuke a sinning brother and Ephesians 4:25 calls on each of us to speak truth with our neighbors because we are members one of another.

The truth of our situation is that accountability is part of God’s prescription for dealing with the reality of life in a fallen world. Specifically, we are all called to holiness but we are also fallen and each possess a sin nature. There are times when your sin nature is going to tempt you and you may be faced with incredible pressure to fall into sin. You may even fall into sin. When this happens a wise individual draws on the resources God has given, specifically brothers and sisters in Christ who can provide much needed accountability.

Accountability is an important part of the Christian walk but it does take intentionality to implement well. In Matthew 7:3-5 Jesus taught the crowd that before removing a speck from their brother’s eye one must first remove the plank from their own eye. The point Jesus made is clear, you cannot fix someone else’s problems if you yourself have glaring problems. Jesus regularly referred to his opponents as hypocrites because they consistently ignored their own problems while passing judgment on others.

So, does this mean you need to be perfect before you can provide accountability to someone else? No, but it does point to a reality that we need to recognize. Accountability, properly practiced, is an invitation only event.

Accountability, properly practiced, is an invitation only event.

The truth is that everyone has sin that they are dealing with. I have a sin nature and I sin. The minute I pass judgment on an individual they very well could call me a hypocrite. And even if I say I am not judging the individual, I am just pointing out their sin so that they can avoid it, well, I will let you think through that.

So, how does an individual hold someone accountable when they themselves are a sinner? The answer, by invitation. James 5:16 states “Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed (NIV).”

Indeed, accountability goes even deeper. There is an ugly side to accountability, church discipline. It is important to recognize that church discipline is built upon the idea of commitment.

Discipline, the ugly side of accountability, is built upon commitment (1 Cor. 5:12-13).

Church discipline is the process whereby a church works to correct the sin of an unrepentant individual within the congregation. The purpose of church discipline is the restoration of the individual and protection of the church. Matthew 18:15-17 outlines the process or stages of discipline. Church discipline begins with a private conversation and escalates to a public conversation and confrontation. The individual who continues in unrepentant sin is eventually removed from the local church.

The early church practiced church discipline as evidence in 1 Cor. 5. And based upon the 1 Cor. 5:12-13 the practice of discipline depends upon a practice of membership. How can one be excluded if they have not been included. Moreover, Paul makes the argument that the discipline is only to be practiced with those who are part of the church. This makes sense, you need to be committed to a church before the church can treat you like a committed individual.

Pragmatically, church discipline requires church membership under the court ruling Guinn v. Church of Christ, 775 P.2d 766 (Okla. 1989). This ruling declared that church discipline was protected by the constitution of the United States in cases where the individual was a member. However, when the individual was a nonmember the church did not have the constitutional right to exercise church discipline.

Biblically, we have a mandate to hold each other accountable and if necessary practice discipline. Legally, in the law of our land, we have the obligation to rely on church membership when exercising discipline. Church membership is critical for the practice of accountability and accountability is a vital component of the Christian walk. The conclusion, church membership is a vital component of being a church.

MTR: Consider committing yourself to Southview Baptist Church if you have not done so.

I remember sitting at breakfast as part of a Bible study with an older man who I respected. As we sat and studied the Bible he said something that caught my attention. “The New Testament Church didn’t have membership I don’t think we should.” That statement put me on a path to try to understand membership and the early church. What I have concluded is that I think the early church did in fact have a practice that would have been equivalent to what we call church membership.

The early churches use of membership: record keeping, decision making, and accounting.

The theological reason for church membership is accountability, but there are also practical reasons for church membership and Scripture suggests that the early church practices would necessitate these practical reasons.

The early church kept a record of those who were part of the church (Acts 2:37-47).

Acts 2:41-42 uses the language of individuals being added (προσετέθησαν) which can be defined as “of persons who are added to a group already existing, or who are attached to an individual, to whom they henceforth belong.”^[2] The implication is that the early church kept records of who was part of the group.

Further evidence can be gleaned through Acts 9:26-27. When Paul came to Jerusalem after his conversion (Acts 9:26-27) he attempted to join (κολλᾶσθαι) a verb which means to join together or closely associate^[3]. Paul’s initial attempt to join was met with resistance by those who did not trust Paul’s conversion. The narrative of Acts gives the strong impression that not only was there something to join, but to be allowed to join was not something that was automatic. There was some either formal or informal structure in place to protect those who had joined from those outside the group. The same verb “to join” was used in 1 Clement 15.1 and 30.3 to describe the joining together of Christians. The practice of the early church was for Christians to “join”.

The early church authorized and acted as a body of members (Acts 15:22-30).

In verse 22 we see that a decision is made by the apostles, elders (pastors) and the whole church. An issue had arisen in Antioch, must a Christian keep the Old Testament Law? The church in Antioch appointed Paul and Barnabus together with some other believers to travel to Jerusalem to inquire of the apostles and elders in Jerusalem. In Jerusalem the apostles and elders met together to discuss the matter. Peter and James both spoke boldly confirming that it was not necessary for a Gentile Christian to keep the entire Old Testament Law. But what happens next is particularly interesting.

While the theological debate happened at the level of apostle and elder, those with training and expertise. The ultimate decision to appoint representatives to send back to Antioch with Paul and Barnabus was made by the whole church. This is important on many levels, one it gives insight into the governing structure of the early church but two it shows us that the church acted together as a body. To do this you really need to know who is part of the church and who is not.

Another key reality in the early church was that the early church had organizational structure in place and organizational structures encourage the idea of membership.

The early church had organizational structures in place (1 Timothy 5:3-16).

One of the organizational structures in place in the early church was a specific ministry and ministry role for widows. In a world and culture where a widow could be easily left destitute and without any means of providing for herself this was an important ministry of the early church. However, Paul was also concerned that the right widows be cared for. Not every widow was eligible for the widow care that the church provided. There was organization and structure behind this ministry.

Ministry to widows is an important ministry of the church today and while modern culture has a lot of structures already in place, most churches seem under equipped to provide for widows in the way Paul advocated in 1 Timothy. Nevertheless, ministry to widows is not the focus of this document. The focus here is the organizational structures of the church and verse eleven provides key insight.

Verse 11 suggests that there was a list. To be completely transparent, our translations add the word list which is not present in the Greek. The Greek literally would read “but young widows refuse.” What exactly is being refused? Context helps us to know that it is not that widows are being refused from all aspects of the church but rather widows are being placed into different groups depending on their age and other criteria. The idea here is delineation other wise known as lists.

MTR: Consider your role in the organizational part of the church. Are you acting as a full member of the groups to which you belong or are you operating on the fringes?

Early on I stated that if you were looking for a command “thou shalt join a local church as a member” you would either be disappointed or smug. The reality is that there is no cut and dry verse. Hence, people disagree about church membership and you are allowed to disagree with me. Nevertheless, I do believe that church membership is something important to practice. I believe there is theological warrant, I believe the early church practiced membership, and I believe that there is a modern need for church membership. The modern need for church membership comes from the need for reliability.

The modern need for church membership: reliability.

One of my favorite things to teach in the education courses I would teach was how to evaluate and what is meant for something to be valid as opposed to being reliable. In very simple terms, something is valid if it does what it is supposed to do something is reliable if it consistently does the same thing.

Let me frame this in terms of the church. An christian could be called valid if their faith is genuine. But a christian would be called reliable if their behavior was consistent. Part of the reason for church membership is that it gives us a notion of reliability.

Churches recognize God’s ordination of ministers so a reliable means of knowing who is responsible for such recognition is important (Acts 12:25-13:3).

The church members appear to have been charged with commissioning missionaries as in Acts 13:1-3 and even appoint representatives for doctrinal discussions as in Acts 15:22. Such actions would seem to necessitate some formal means of determining who was part of the congregation. Particularly, who had a voice in such an important decision.

Now it is important to clarify, in Acts 13:2 it is the Holy Spirit who tells the church to set Paul and Barnabus apart. The authority to lead a church or go on a missionary journey does not come from the church. The authority comes from the Holy Spirit. In fact, Ephesians 4:11 tells us that a pastor is in fact a gift given by Christ to the church and Acts 20:28 teaches that the Holy Spirit is the one who appoints a pastor. So what role does the congregation play? The congregation has responsibility for affirming and submitting to the elders that God has called.

In summary, church membership is important so that the church has a reliable way of knowing who is part of the affirmations and hence submission to a particular individual for ministry.

Beyond affirming ministers, the church also needs a reliable way to know who is committed.

Churches collect individual’s tithes and offerings and so a reliable means of knowing who is part of the church is important (1 Corinthians 16:1-4).

Nobody likes to talk about money but even Scripture tells us that where your treasure is there will your heart be also (Matthew 6:21). Money matters in our world and money matters in the church. It takes money to operate a church and while our Master owns the cattle on a thousand hills (Psalm 50:10) He has chosen to give each of us the privilege of being part of the financial provision for His church.

In 1 Corinthians 16:1-4 Paul discusses the functional means by which a local church collects money for the Lord’s people. Moreover, Paul tells the Corinthian Christians that this is the normative practice for a church, the Corinthians are supposed to do what the other churches in Galatia are doing. Specifically, each person is to set aside money on the first of the week. How much money, in proportion to an individuals income. This money would be used to provide for the needs of the church in Jerusalem.

Part of the reason to join a church is that one might commit themselves to giving tithes to that church. And part of the reason for keeping track of members is to know who is committed to a particular church. A church should not send out the tithe police to figure out who has not given their tithe but at the same time, a church should be able to count on its members to give their tithe to the church.

Finally, there is one more modern reason why church membership matters. Church membership matters because pastors answer for the members of a church. James 1:3 is often cited as a scary verse for a pastor “Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.” But this verse is not nearly as scary as Hebrews 13:17. You see, if a pastor teaches poorly, that is on the pastor for not putting in the work. But Hebrews 13:17 is terrifying. Pastor’s give an account for those under the pastor’s care. Therefore, it is important that the pastor know who is under their care.

Pastors answer for church members and so a reliable means of knowing who a pastor is responsible for is important (Hebrews 13:17).

This same idea comes up in Acts 20:28. The leaders of the early church were commanded to care for their flock. The delineation of a flock depends on an idea of membership. A church member submits themselves to the authority of a pastor and a pastor accepts responsibility for leading a member of a church. This back and forth is incredibly important for a church.

But there are incredible implications. You should not join a church with a pastor you cannot submit to. I don’t mean to be harsh or unloving but this is just the reality. If you do not trust the pastor of a church (hopefully not our church) then you should not be joining that church. But, there is more, you also should attend and participate in the church in which you are a member. If you are attending Southview but a member somewhere else, we need to talk. Similarly, if someone is a member of Southview but attending somewhere else then they need to consider changing something.

Church membership is not a fitness club where you join one palace and attend whenever is convenient. No, church members submit to a pastor and pastors give an account for church members. Think about that for just a moment. If you had to give an account or someone, say you supervised and employee and you never saw that person, what would you do?

MTR: Determine to be a reliable member of Southview.

1. ↑ NIV
2. ↑ Arndt, W., Danker, F. W., Bauer, W., & Gingrich, F. W. (2000). A Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament and other early Christian literature (3rd ed., p. 885). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
3. ↑ BDAG, 555-556