Church Membership Part Three "Responsibility to Elders"

Laurel Bible Church

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This morning, we'll be continuing the topic of church membership. This will be

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Church Membership Part Three, and this morning we're going to be looking at the responsibility to elders, responsibility to elders.

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We're going to sort of start as a launching point from the letter to the Hebrews, and this is chapter 13.

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So this morning we'll look at chapter 13, verse 17, and then some selected scriptures as we discuss the responsibility to elders,

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Church Membership Part Three. So please read with me Hebrews chapter 13.

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We'll start in verse 1. Let love of the brothers continue.

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Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it.

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Remember the prisoners as though in prison with them and those who are mistreated, since you yourselves also are in the body.

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Marriage is to be held in honor among all, and the marriage bed is to be undefiled.

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For the sexually immoral and adulterers God will judge. Make sure that your way of life is free from the love of money, being content with what you have.

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For he himself has said, I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you.

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So that we confidently say, the Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid.

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What will man do to me? Remember your leaders who spoke the word of God to you, and considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith.

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Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Do not be carried away by varied and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods through which those who were so occupied were not benefited.

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We have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no authority to eat.

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For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy places by the high priest as an offering for sin are burned outside the camp.

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Therefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people through his own blood, suffered outside the gate.

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So let us go out to him outside the camp, bearing his reproach.

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For here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the one to come.

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Through him, then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that confess his name.

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And do not neglect doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices

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God is pleased. Verse 17, obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account, so that they will do this with joy and not with groaning, for this would be unprofitable for you.

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The word of the Lord. Hebrews 13, verse 17, responsibility to elders.

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As we continue our sermon series on church membership, we look at the next really biblical reasons for formal church membership.

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There's going to be five this morning. These five reasons flow out of the believer's responsibility to elders.

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Wayne Mack in his book, The What, Why, and How of Church Membership said this. He said, when answering the question about the importance and necessity of church membership for Christians, a consideration of what the

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Bible says about the depth and breadth of our responsibility to elders and church leaders will lead us to only one conclusion.

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Thoughtful and serious consideration of scripture makes it clear that we cannot fulfill our biblical responsibility to elders and pastors as laid out in the word of God without being part of a local church.

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A very helpful quote, very helpful comment. Last week, we looked at the first two reasons for formal church membership.

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Looking at 2 Timothy 3, 16 and 17, we see Paul write this to his brother -at -arms, the young pastor,

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Timothy. He says, all scripture is God -breathed and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God can be equipped, thoroughly equipped for every good work.

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And the point we made last week is that this is really the foundation of practicing the one another's.

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In his second letter to Timothy, the apostle Paul made three helpful points about the

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Bible so that you can strengthen your faith and strengthen your commitment to the body of Christ.

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The Bible is the highest authority. The Bible is practical. And the Bible is the foundation for practicing the one another's.

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This is really just straight out of the scriptures. And that's the first two biblical reasons for church membership.

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We're going to look at a total of five. And so last week, we introduced the first two reasons.

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This morning, we'll look at the next five reasons. And then next week, Lord willing, we'll finish up our sermon series on church membership.

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Two reasons for formal church membership, the one anothering commands of scripture.

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Reason number one, the one anothering commands are just that, they're commands.

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So if we understand this first point, we can understand that practicing the one another's is not optional.

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The Bible is breathed out and inspired by God, not a portion of it, but all of it.

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Therefore, the commands of practicing the one another's are not optional because they are also breathed out by God.

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And that's reason number one, the commands of practicing the one another's. And really, this second point is right off of the first.

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Number two, the second reason for formal church membership is the implications of the one another commands.

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Number two, the implications of the one another commands. If we just look at the simple meaning of the words, teach, teaching, reproof, correction and training, we can see that either the identical words are used in several of the one another's or the synonymous meaning of the words are used in the one another's.

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And this is an important observation because God gives us the foundation for living out his word in our lives.

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It is his word. The word of God has very important implications in how we are to live in fellowship with other

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Christians, with one another, especially in the setting of the local church. This morning, we'll look at the next five biblical reasons for formal membership in a local church based on your responsibility to elders, responsibility to elders.

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And that's why we start here in Hebrews 13 verse 17, obey your leaders and submit to them.

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For they keep watch over your soul as those who will give an account, so that they will do this with joy and not with groaning, for this would be unprofitable for you.

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And again, we can hear, we can listen to Wayne Mack here from his book, The What, Why and How of Church Membership.

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Mack says this, relating to Hebrews 13, 17, he says, again, we see that specific leaders have been given specific responsibility for specific believers.

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They must watch over their souls and give an account for the believers over whom they're to watch.

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The believers whom they're to oversee and for whom they're to give an account are commanded in this passage to make the ministry of their church leaders a joy, to make it a joy by the way that they live and relate to their leaders and other believers.

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The difficult task of elders is to help people mature spiritually in Christ.

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And of course, we know that the Holy Spirit enables the pastor to do that. Cooperative members in a local body of believers greatly will ease the burden of the elders.

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And we can start with this question this morning as we look at the next five reasons for church membership based on the responsibility to elders.

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What about you? How are you living your life as a Christian? Does your conduct give your pastor a reason to have a joyful response based on how you're behaving in the congregation?

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Does your conduct give your pastor reason to report joyfully about you?

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And so with that question in mind, we need to circle back to what the Scriptures say about the responsibility to elders and how that informs our thinking.

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Five biblical reasons for formal church membership. Based on Hebrews 13, 17, we see that the believers living out their responsibility to elders is not possible without membership in a local body of believers.

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One commentator pointed this out on Hebrews 13, 17. He said, the pastor's elders of the church exercise the very authority of Christ when they preach, teach, and apply

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Scripture. They serve the church on behalf of Christ and must give

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Him an account of their faithfulness. The church is responsible to help its leaders do their work with satisfaction and delight.

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And so that's the command right out of Hebrews 13, 17. And our proposition this morning has to flow from the

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Word of God. The responsibility that an individual believer has to the pastor elder of the local church negates any possibility of that believer not being part of that local church, formally of that local congregation.

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Believers are placed by God under the oversight and care of the pastor called by God to shepherd the people or the gathering, the church, the assembly.

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And so we can think about these reasons with this in mind. Five more reasons for formal church membership this morning.

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And number three on the list is clarification, clarification. Number four, orderliness, orderliness in the church requires it.

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Number four, orderliness. And number five, making it public. Number five, making it public.

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Number six, ministry responsibilities, ministry responsibilities.

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And number seven, ministry privileges, ministry privileges. So we'll look at the first reason this morning.

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Number three, the reason for formal church membership, reason number three is clarification, clarification.

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And we can look at a couple passages here to help us think through this. The first selected scripture we'll look at for this first point, really this is reason number three, clarification, is

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Acts chapter five, verse 14. It says this, and more than ever, believers in the

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Lord were added to their number, multitudes of men and women.

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This passage gives us an important biblical principle to draw upon. This is very important for us to see in terms of clarification.

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The early church founded by Christ through his apostles and by the power of the

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Holy Spirit had a count of the people who were part of their group. The apostles who planted the churches and established the elders and pastors knew who was a part of that number and who was not.

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Membership, since the founding of the church by the Lord Jesus Christ, has always been regarded as a biblical way of clarifying the difference between believers and unbelievers, who was part of the group and who was not.

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And for our next selected scripture, let's look at 1 Corinthians chapter 14, verse 23.

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And I've taken just a section out of the verse. And this is what I want to put before you this morning.

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1 Corinthians chapter 14, it says, therefore, if the whole church assembles together, therefore, if the whole church assembles together, then

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Paul will make some statements in that verse. But the reason I want to highlight that portion is that the simple principle here suggests that there was some way of knowing whether the whole church had assembled or not.

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There was some way of knowing who belonged to the church and who didn't belong.

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Think about it like this. How could it be determined if the whole church was there or not?

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Obviously, they knew who was a part of the church. With a simple reading of this passage and many other passages in the

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New Testament, it is easy to conclude that there was a formal membership role in the local churches at the time of the founding of the church as recorded in the

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Acts of the Apostles. Here we're seeing Paul's writings to a specific local congregation, the church in Corinth.

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With the point of distinguishing from believers and unbelievers, clarification.

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Clarification helps to serve the body of Christ in your local church in distinguishing from believers and unbelievers.

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And I don't mean that whether you're having a lax attendance or you're struggling with getting here on the

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Lord's Day on Sunday or whether you haven't formally joined a church but you're a professing Christian, membership in the church doesn't mean you're saved.

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So it's not that you're an unbeliever because you haven't formally joined a church. It could be a sign of unbelief.

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But no, the idea is that it's a clarification to know who is part of your group and who is not part of your group in terms of distinguishing or clarifying from unbelievers and believers.

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Reason number three for formal church membership, clarification. And that leads us to reason number four.

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Reason number four for formal church membership is orderliness in the church requires it.

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Orderliness in the church requires it. We can look at 1 Timothy 3, but if a man does not know how to lead his own household, how will he take care of the church of God?

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Here in 1 Timothy 3, we see a list of qualifications for the elder. And so Paul is asking this question.

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How can a person take care of the church if he can't lead his own household? So orderliness is expected in the elder and in the church.

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One of the qualifications laid out by Paul for church eldership was that a man must manage his own family well.

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And it's very simple. Just think about this question. Because if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how will he take care of the church of God?

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Orderliness. And we can even see later in 1 Timothy 5, verse 17,

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Paul makes this statement, and again, I've taken just a section out of the verse, the elders who lead well, the elders who lead well.

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Well, there's an important observation here. Just think about it. If a man is to rule well and to manage the church as he does his family, the biblical principle here says that he must intimately know those he is supposed to rule over or to lead.

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If a man is to lead well, he must know the ones he's leading. He is to know those he would rule over just as he would know his own family.

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What an important observation, very important for us to understand this. And then for this point number four, one last scripture to put before you from Peter, from his first letter, 1

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Peter 5, verse 2, Peter says this to the elders that he's writing to this local congregation, and he makes this note to the leadership.

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He says, shepherd the flock of God among you, overseeing not under compulsion, but willingly according to God.

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And so if we think about that statement from Peter, and this is really one of the things that we see from the

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Bible, especially from our Lord Jesus, is that the Bible teaches us about shepherds, what it means to shepherd, to shepherd well, to do shepherding according to God, specifically that shepherds must know their sheep.

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Elders are responsible to not only reflect and carry on the ministry of Christ among the people, but they must know for whom they are responsible.

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How can an elder exercise authority over all believers? No, when a man is called by God to be an elder or shepherd in the local congregation, it's just that in the local congregation, one specific man is not the shepherd of the universal church.

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That is true, a living person, Jesus Christ, the living word of God is the head of the church.

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He rules over his church, and then in a loving act of grace, he gifts shepherds to local congregations that they may shepherd and lead those people in that local setting.

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How can an elder exercise leadership over all believers? He doesn't.

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He exercises authority over a specific congregation in a specific geographical location, the local church.

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The elders are pastors. The elders are pastors. They must be able to focus their time and energy on the specific group of people who have formally committed themselves to their oversight.

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In his book, Members of One Another, the author, Eric Lane, said this.

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He said, the church is likened in the Bible sometimes to a body, sometimes to a family or household, sometimes to a kingdom, sometimes to an army.

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For any of these organisms to function properly, order of some kind is required, and the same applies to the church.

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The church is not just a loose connection of individuals, it is a closely knit structure like a human body and has, therefore, to be rightly organized.

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For such ordering, it needs to know exactly who belongs to it. A family that sat down to its meal or locked its doors at night, not knowing who was supposed to be there and who was not, would be an extremely strange phenomenon.

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An army battalion that did not know whom to expect on parade would soon be in chaos.

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If the church is to be a true family and an effective fighting force, it needs to know exactly who belongs to it.

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Orderliness in the church. Orderliness in the church is not possible if you are doing your own thing and unwilling to make a formal commitment to the elders or pastors.

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Reason number four for church membership, orderliness in the church requires it.

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And reason number five. Reason number five for formal church membership is making it public.

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Making it public. And again, we can return to Acts. Now, as we've looked at the

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Acts of the Apostles through these last few sermons on the topic of church membership, we have looked at Acts chapter two, really verses 37 through 47, with highlighting two verses, verse 41 and verse 47.

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And if we put those together, it's very helpful. This is what was recorded in the Acts of the Apostles.

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Given that there was a sermon that was preached, the people's hearts were pierced, and then there was a response to the preaching and souls were added to the local congregation.

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We see this recorded in Acts chapter two. So then, those who had received his word were baptized.

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And that day, there were added about 3 ,000 souls. And the

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Lord was adding to their number daily those who were being saved.

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Since the beginning of the early church, founded by God, as recorded in the

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Acts of the Apostles, every professing Christian was to be a member of a local church, of a local body.

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In other words, the people who had repented and believed. They had turned away from their sin.

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They had believed in the good news of God's grace in Jesus Christ, the forgiveness of sins.

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Who were together and who were added to the number of those who believed.

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They were baptized and added to the number of that local gathering. Their baptism directly related to identification with the church as an outward sign of their new faith.

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So in the historical context of the New Testament, living in those times, church membership was considered a very serious matter.

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I mean, just put yourself back in the early church, a time of persecution. You know, the secular authorities at the time, the religious elites and rulers of the time, they looked at Christians as belonging to a cult.

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Christians were being hunted down. Christians were being killed and martyred. Identifying with a specific group of believers meant that you had become a part of a group of people that were persecuted and demeaned.

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Unlike contemporary times, church membership was not taken lightly.

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Church membership was not taken flippantly. No, this was a serious matter. This wasn't an optional thing of whether you liked the music or whether they had a good kids program or whether they had a coffee bar.

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If you joined a local congregation, you were taking your life into your hands, a very serious matter, a dedication that we simply don't see today.

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We need to get back to what the Bible teaches about church membership, what a privilege it is, what a gift from God it is, to make a formal commitment to the teaching of the apostles and the prophets with Jesus Christ as a cornerstone, to make a formal commitment to the oversight and shepherding of a local congregation through their elders and their pastors.

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No, early church in the historical context of the New Testament was really a different seriousness than we see in our modern time.

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We need to return to the teaching of the apostles because believers who became church members were committed to and serious about Jesus Christ even in the face of persecution.

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That meant that becoming a formal member of a specific local congregation, that was a way of making a commitment to Christ and His people public.

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You were making the commitment publicly to the Lordship of Christ and to the fellow brothers and sisters in the area that you were living, right?

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But even as we've been reading some of these verses, you know, Paul was writing to Timothy who was the pastor at Ephesus, hence the letter

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Ephesians. Paul was writing to the church in Corinth. And if we just look at the

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New Testament epistles and the letters, these are letters written to specific people in specific areas, local church members in a local body.

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Making a public proclamation for the Lordship of Jesus Christ cannot be divorced from your commitment to a local body of believers.

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Reason number five for formal church membership, making it public, making it public.

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And next, number six, reason number six for formal church membership, ministry responsibilities.

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Ministry responsibilities. And here we can look at what Paul wrote to the local congregation in Ephesus. In Ephesians chapter four, verse 12,

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Paul says this, in the idea of ministry responsibilities, listen to what he says.

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Ephesians 4 .12. He says, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service to the building up of the body of Christ.

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Think about it like this. Every professing believer should be a member of a local church close to where they live, wherever they're dwelling, as long as that church is faithful and they're teaching and preaching the doctrine of Christ, the teaching of the apostles and prophets with Christ as the cornerstone.

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Every professing believer should be part of a congregation. Otherwise, how can church members fulfill their biblical commitment to other members of the body?

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You're not fulfilling your commitment to the universal or invisible church to a

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Christian on the other side of the planet. You're committed to the local body in which

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God has placed you, fulfilling your biblical responsibility to other brothers and sisters in Christ in which you worship with, you live with.

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How can church members fulfill their biblical responsibility to other members? And thinking about the other points this morning, it is important for the leaders of the church to know for whom they have a primary responsibility, but it is not also unimportant that the members of the church know who it is they are responsible for.

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You are especially responsible for your service to the body for other

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Christians, brothers and sisters, just like the elder of the church is. No, we all have ministry responsibilities.

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It's important that the members of the church know who they are responsible to greet, to serve, to love, and so on as the one another commands instruct us.

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You can't escape the fact that the ministry is a responsibility for all of God's people.

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I mean, you'd have to ignore the 58 one another commands from the New Testament. This is important.

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All of God's people have ministry responsibilities.

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The biblical principle of this passage makes it clear that it is not God's will that 90 % of the ministry is carried out by 10 % of the people.

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And I know that's a cliche statement, 90 % of the ministry carried out by 10 % of the people, but is that true?

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Is that what we can say here is going on at Laurel Bible Church? It ought not to be so.

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No, ministry responsibility is for all of God's people. Every single person in this room has a spiritual gift that God has given in response to your salvation.

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At the time that you were sealed with the promise of the Holy Spirit and a future inheritance in Christ, you were given a spiritual gift.

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All of you have something to contribute for the building up for spiritual maturity in this local body that we would go out and fulfill the

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Great Commission, that we would share Christ and minister the gospel in the community of Laurel and the greater area of Billings.

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Ministry responsibilities. In other words, it is God's will that every believer should be fully equipped to minister and to be active in building up the body of Christ, His church.

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And again, we can return to 1 Peter. Peter's writings in his first letter are very helpful, thinking about this topic of church membership and specifically ministry responsibilities.

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1 Peter 4, verse 10, we see this, as each one has received a gift, employ it in serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.

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This passage relates directly to Ephesians 4. Think again of God's will.

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Just thinking again of God's will, it's clear to see that as each one has received a spiritual gift, a special gift from God, that person should employ that gift in serving others, and specifically serving other brothers and sisters in Christ, practicing the one another's.

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That's what it means to be a good steward of the manifold grace of God, serving in the local body, ministry responsibilities.

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And we can think about these two passages with the inspiration of the Word of God, that men were moved along by the

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Holy Spirit who spoke from God. Clearly, Paul and Peter were fundamentally thinking about ministry in service that was performed as part of a local church and even within a local church.

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We'll look at this last point by asking a few questions. We're going to stay in 1 Peter 5, verse 2.

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He says, shepherd the flock of God among you, overseeing not under compulsion, but willingly according to God.

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So let's ask three questions from this passage. Where do elders function?

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Where do elders function? Whom were they to shepherd? Whom were they to shepherd?

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Over whom should they exercise oversight? Over whom should they exercise oversight?

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Where do elders function? They function in a local church. Yeah, they function in a local church.

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Whom were they to shepherd? They shepherd people who are part of the church they pastor. They shepherd people who are part of the church where they pastor.

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Over whom should they exercise oversight? They exercise oversight over people who are part of the local church that they shepherd.

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An important takeaway from really this whole section is that people who try to do everything and minister to everyone will end up not really ministering effectively to anyone.

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In other words, formal membership helps a person to make important decisions about how and where to use the time, resources, and energy that he or she does have.

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This is for you in practicing the one another's, and it's also for the elder or the pastor who has been called by God to shepherd that group of believers in the local congregation.

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It is not possible to practice and carry out your God -given spiritual gift in serving other believers in a local body if you're not a member of a local body.

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Reason number six for formal church membership, ministry responsibilities. And our last reason this morning, this is reason number seven for formal church membership, ministry privileges.

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Ministry privileges. Have you ever considered that serving in the local body is a privilege?

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It's a gift given to us by God. It's an example of God's grace in our lives as a redeemed sinner saved by his grace through faith in the

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Lord Jesus. Again, we can go to the letter to the Ephesians written by Paul, Ephesians 3, verse 8.

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Paul says this, to me, referring to himself, the very least of all saints, this grace was given to proclaim to the

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Gentiles the good news of the unfathomable riches of Christ.

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He says this grace was given, ministry privileges. Serving in the church is a privilege given to us as a gift from God.

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Scripture clearly teaches that the main place of ministry for every Christian outside of the home, outside of his ministry to his family should be in and for the local church to which he belongs.

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Service for Jesus is the responsibility for every believer. But also serving

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Christ with our gifts isn't just a responsibility. It is a privilege.

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Paul was writing about his privilege here to serve Christ because of the serious responsibilities and offices of a local church, specifically the elder or pastor.

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But as the greater body of believers, what are we doing as believers congregating together?

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The gathered, the assembly, the called out ones, ecclesia, the church.

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Think preaching, teaching, evangelism, administration, music, ushering, nursery, really everything that we do as a church.

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We can ask why, we can really ask it like this. Why is it important to fulfill these responsibilities by the people who have committed themselves in a formal way to the church?

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Well, first, it's important that membership is a requirement for those who regularly serve in the church because it's a way of ensuring that those who do the ministry are true believers.

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I mean, just think about that practically. Do you want someone helping out in Sunday school or in Bible study or serving in the nursery and they're an unbeliever?

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They reject the gospel, they reject that Jesus is the son of God, but you want them teaching your kids or watching your kids or serving in some way?

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No, formal church membership is important because it qualifies someone that they're able to do the ministry.

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It's a privilege. Serving in the local church is a privilege restricted for those who are believers, members of that local congregation, believers who are fully committed to the work that they undertake.

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It also ensures that they will act in accordance with the church's doctrinal statement, right?

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The doctrinal convictions and the philosophy of ministry, the application that flows out of our convictions, the shared agreement on really the teaching of the prophets and the apostles founded by Christ.

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Another principle to think about is that those who refuse to become members may indicate that they're not really in agreement with the church's philosophy of ministry and doctrinal statement.

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It could mean that they don't see the need for commitment, accountability, and even shepherding in their own lives.

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Again, I think it's helpful to listen to Wayne Mack here from his book, The What, Why, and How of Church Membership.

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Wayne Mack says this, thinking about those who are refusing or are not willing to make a formal commitment.

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They don't want accountability and they don't want shepherding in their own lives. He says this, perhaps it's because of lack of teaching.

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He says, if so, these people need to be taught. Or even more serious, it may be that these people are unwilling to formally identify with a local church because they're unwilling to submit to its leaders and to other believers, as is required by scripture.

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There may, of course, be other reasons why people resist becoming members of a church, but whatever the reason, this unwillingness to formally identify with a local church is an indication that they're not totally committed to that church and therefore should not be given regular formal service opportunities.

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Regular formal ministry opportunities are a privilege given to people who are willing to commit and submit without reservation to the total ministry of the church.

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This is about responsibility to the elders. And we can look at one example from history, the great theologian and pastor, the preacher

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Charles Spurgeon, often referred to as the Prince of Preachers for his oratory gifting by God.

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So this is an example from history. Charles Spurgeon, talking about church membership, said this.

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He said, I well remember how I joined the church after my conversion.

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I forced myself into it by telling the pastor, who was lax and slow, after I had called four or five times and could not see him, that I had done my duty.

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And if he did not see me and interview me for church membership, I would call a church meeting myself and tell them

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I believed in Christ and ask them if they would have me. So kind of a funny anecdote, but you can see the passion in Charles Spurgeon.

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And really a few observations from a study of Charles Spurgeon's life and Spurgeon's point of view on membership, this is pointed out in the book.

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First off, Spurgeon believed that commitment to a local church and obedience to its leaders were essential to his own spiritual growth.

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That's an important observation. Secondly, Charles Spurgeon believed that he needed

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God -ordained and gifted elders to be over him in the Lord, admonishing, instructing, and keeping watch over his soul.

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Lastly, Spurgeon believed that God had commanded believers to respect the elders of the church.

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He believed God had commanded believers to obey them and the Lord, and to submit to them, to esteem them very highly for their work's sake.

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It's not the man, it's the preaching and teaching of the Word of God. You're esteeming

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Christ, and so by doing that as a reflection of your esteeming the elder, you're responsible to elders.

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Ministry in the local church is a privilege given to you by God and reserved for those who are committed to that local body in which

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God has placed you. And that's reason number seven for formal church membership, ministry privileges.

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But I think we need to point this out here, I think we need to point out here that there is only one leader in the church.

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There's only one leader in the church. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ is the head of the church.

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In Matthew 16, our starting passage really on our first sermon from this sermon series, we looked at what the church is, what is the church, and we defined the church as the universal or invisible church made up of all believers, and then we looked at a passage from Acts that talked about the local church, the visible church, a local congregation.

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Going back to the Gospel of Matthew chapter 16, we need to remember that the head of the church is the

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Lord Jesus Christ. In Matthew 16, starting in verse 13, we see this.

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Now, when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he was asking his disciples saying, who do people say that the

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Son of Man is? And they said, some say John the Baptist and others,

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Elijah, but still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets. He said to them, but who do you say that I am?

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And Simon Peter answered and said, you are the Christ, the Son of the living

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God. And Jesus answered and said to him, blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my

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Father who is in heaven. And also I say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock

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I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.

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Jesus Christ said that he was gonna build his church, his body, his inheritance, the collection of redeemed sinners saved by the grace of God based on the truth that Peter said you are the

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Christ, the Son of the living God. And the reality is that everyone needs salvation.

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Everyone needs salvation. No matter how great or small our sin might be, everyone needs salvation.

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Our sin is deadly, it is deadly, and it separates us from God. But salvation comes through faith.

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This proclamation of faith that we see here in Matthew 16, the one who believes upon Jesus is justified by God because Jesus died for our salvation.

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No one can earn salvation. Jesus is the only one who earned salvation.

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Jesus is the only one who lived a perfect, holy, sinless life. And that's why we need to get this, that salvation is a gift from God.

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Salvation is a gift. It's the fruit of sanctification. The fruit of sanctification is eternal life, that we have a new position before God.

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We must understand that the compensation for sin is death. But God saves all who call upon him.

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God saves all who call upon the name of Jesus. Not one person who calls upon the name of Jesus will be turned away.

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Not one. Because we're saved by grace. Salvation cannot be earned.

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In a small amount or in a large amount, it is not possible. One aspect of the church, the gathered, the called out ones, is that we are new creations in Christ, given eternal life by God as a gift of grace and his mercy and compassion, that we can look upon the face of Jesus Christ and believe in our salvation.

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That God has saved us through the perfect life, the sinless life of Christ, who voluntarily laid down his life to take the just penalty for the sin that we committed, that was due to us.

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He took it for us. And God affirmed that he was the Christ.

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He is the Christ in raising him from the dead. Jesus is alive.

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He intercedes on our behalf. He advocates for us. He is the advocate. He is the redeemer.

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That a sinner would look upon the face of Christ and believe, to know God the Father, and to be saved, to have reconciliation.

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And then God graciously takes that person and places them under the oversight of an under -shepherd of Christ, the sheepdog of the flock, who answers to the great shepherd.

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That's what we are. We're born -again believers. We're a new creation. Born -again believers with a calling.

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God saves sinners and then places them in community with one another, fellowship, practicing the one another's, and carrying out the great commission of sharing the gospel in the local community in which

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God has placed you. Through the church, God has chosen to deliver to all people everywhere with the good news of salvation and faith alone in Jesus Christ.

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As he saves the sinner in the universal church, no matter where they're at on planet earth, locally, those redeemed sinners,

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Christians, gather together, and the gospel is spreading throughout the earth by the local church in the area in where God has placed you and in his sovereignty.

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Part of our new life in Christ is lovingly being placed by God under the earthly care of an under -shepherd of Christ, the elders or pastors of a local body, responsibility to elders.

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Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your soul as those who will give an account, so that they will do this with joy and not with groaning, for this would be unprofitable for you.

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Wayne Mack says this, these commands carry with them tremendous implications for formal church membership.

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They imply that church leaders have an identical group of people over whom they must watch and over whom for they will give an account.

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They know who is in that group and who is not, whom they're especially responsible for, and for whom they are not especially responsible.

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These commands imply that people have identified with and acknowledge specific people as their leaders, as the men whom they will obey and to whom they will submit.

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These verses are meaningless unless there is some kind of formal commitment and identification between the leaders and the people.

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Importantly, these verses call on people to obey and submit to your leaders, not just any and every

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Christian leader. This certainly implies a definitive and clarified relationship with a certain church and its leaders.

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A very helpful comment as Wayne Mack rounds out this section of the book, the what, why, and how of church membership.

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Five more reasons for formal church membership. This morning we have seen the responsibility that an individual believer has to the pastor or elder of the local church, and that that really negates any possibility of that believer not being part formally of a local congregation.

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Believers are placed by God under the oversight and care of the pastor called by God to shepherd the people of that gathering or church.

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Five biblical reasons for formal church membership in a local church based on your responsibility to elders.

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Number three, clarification. Clarification. Clarification helps to serve the body of Christ in your local church in distinguishing from believers and unbelievers.

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Number four, orderliness in the church requires it. Orderliness in the church is not possible if you are doing your own thing and unwilling to make a formal commitment to the elders or pastors.

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Number five, making it public. Making a public proclamation for the lordship of Christ cannot be divorced from your same public commitment to a local body of believers.

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Number six, ministry responsibilities. It is not possible to practice and carry out your

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God -given spiritual gifts in serving other believers in your local church by not being a member of that local body.

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It's not possible. And number seven, ministry responsibilities, or I'm sorry, ministry privileges rather.

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Number six, ministry responsibilities. Number seven, ministry privileges. Ministry in the local church is a privilege given to you by God and reserved for those who are committed to that local body in which

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God has placed you. Clarification, orderliness in the church, making it public, ministry responsibilities, and ministry privileges, five biblical reasons for formal church membership.