Is Church Membership Biblical? | Sermon 01/23/2022

Apologia Utah

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We're going to be starting today, again, in 1 Corinthians chapter 12, starting in verse 21.

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Hear now the words of the living and true God. And the eye cannot say to the hand,

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I have no need of you. Or again, the head to the feet, I have no need of you.

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On the contrary, it is much truer that the members of the body, which seem to be weaker, are necessary.

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And those members of the body which we deem less honorable, on these we bestow more abundant honor.

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And our less presentable members become much more presentable. Whereas our more presentable members have no need of it.

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But God has so composed the body, giving more abundant honor to that member which lacked.

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So that there may be no division in the body. But that the members may have the same care for one another.

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And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it. One member is honored.

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If one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. Now you are

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Christ's body and individually members of it. Thus ending the reading of God's holy word, let's pray.

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Father, please speak through your word today. Illuminate the scriptures by your Holy Spirit and dwell with us,

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Lord. We pray that our worship has been a fragrant offering and worthy sacrifice to you,

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Lord. God, please use me now. Lord, speak through me as a vessel, as an instrument,

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Lord. Help me to get out of the way and you, Lord, to teach your people. Lord, help us to see what is true according to scripture.

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And not just our own presuppositions or traditions. Lord, I pray that you would bless the proclamation of the word.

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That you would help me to speak in a way that is clear and helpful and that it always be true. We pray this all in Christ's mighty name.

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Amen. So the pastors of Apologia Church and myself are in agreement that we want all of you to become members at a

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Christ -exalting, gospel -honoring church. We want that for you.

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And that desire supersedes our hope for you to become a member of this particular body, okay?

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In other words, we above all would want you to investigate the biblical commitments, the theological pedigree, and the

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New Testament church likeness in Apologia Church, Utah, and any other church you encounter for that matter.

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With that said, we think the Bible demonstrates that a

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Christian ought to have a covenantal commitment to one single local church.

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How did we come to that belief? How did we arrive to that understanding?

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Where can we go to challenge any possible traditions, scrutinize any theological positions, or simply find truth?

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And that, of course, brothers and sisters, are the holy scriptures of God. So let's go to his inspired and infallible word today to answer these questions.

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The first one we will be asking ourselves is, what is the church?

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What is the church? The Lord Jesus says in Matthew 16, 18 that upon the rock of the gospel and through his disciples sharing that message, making disciples themselves, he will build his church.

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The Greek word for church here is ekklesia, from which we get the word ecclesiology, which is the study of the church.

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Ekklesia means an assembly, a community, or congregation of those with shared belief.

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The root word of ekklesia is kaleo, which means called, means called.

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So ekklesia is an assembly or congregation of the called out ones, the called out ones.

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Theologian Francis Turretin defines it as an assembly of men and women called out of the mass of the human race by the preaching of the gospel to constitute a society of believers.

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He also calls it the mystical body of Christ into which no one is received unless called.

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To Turretin's point, in the text we began with in 1 Corinthians 12, it is the body.

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It is the body. Not just any type of body, but the body of Christ.

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In fact, if you are a Christian today, you are a member of the universal church.

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If you are a Christian today, you are a member already of the universal church.

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The term body that the Apostle Paul so often uses helps us to see that the universal church is not so much an assembly on earth, although I think one day there will be a grand assembly of the whole universal church, and that will be the glorious day for the saints to come together before their

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Savior. But the universal church is those who constitute or make up all for whom

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Christ died for. That is the universal church. The universal church is all of those for whom

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Christ died. It is the elect. Jesus calls them his bride. He is the bridegroom.

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He has a bride, and they're made up of specific people, redeemed people.

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This universal church is the church always. Even when they aren't able to gather, the universal church is throughout time and all across the globe and spans the unseen and the seen realm.

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The universal church is his elect. And as much as Paul is establishing the universal church in 1

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Corinthians 12, it becomes clear he is later talking about more than just the universal church.

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Hands and body parts don't rejoice together. Close, intimate brothers and sisters in community rejoice together.

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Just two weeks ago, Apologia Church in Arizona had a funeral service for a dear beloved sister named

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Jana Fornelli. And we weren't there. We got to watch it privately through a camera feed, and we wept with them.

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But there was something unique about what they were doing. They were there as a church body in Jana's church, worshiping the

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Lord and remembering what Christ had done in her life. They were there suffering together in that moment.

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And all these things require that you know the people in the local church.

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You have to know them. For them to be hurt about Jana, they must know Jana intimately.

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Let me put it this way. I can't practically care for my brother in Mozambique, Africa, the way that a brother in his congregation can take care of my brother in Mozambique, Africa.

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Makes sense? I just cannot do it properly from another continent, of course.

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Even after this passage, though, with Paul in 1 Corinthians 12, Paul addresses correct and organized worship as well as the spiritual gifts to the church at Corinth.

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And, of course, there is application for all believers. But we mustn't forget that Paul wrote this letter to a specific church.

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He wrote it to a church. In 1 Thessalonians, he writes to the church of the

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Thessalonians. He wrote to a specific church. He also told

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Timothy that he teaches the way of Christ in every church he visits. In Acts 14, the text says,

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Paul and Barnabas appointed elders in every church that was planted. See, you don't appoint elders over the universal church.

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There is one elder, and that is Jesus Christ over the universal church. You clearly appoint elders over local churches.

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And let's not get caught up in this whole, the church is not a building sort of comment, right?

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I think we've all heard that before. That is true. The church isn't a building. But this phrase, as of recent years, has been used by those who typically don't want to commit to a local body, a local assembly.

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Of course, not everyone, but a lot of people use that term for that reason. These are typically rogues and nomads, unteachable, uncorrectable people.

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That's who I've encountered in my past who tout this phrase often. The thing is, they believe that church attendance is legalistic.

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They believe that they have, they typically believe that they have all the correct doctrine, and that everyone else in the church is wrong.

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Everyone else is flawed. They alone hold the keys to truth. They possess them alone. And that's what they say.

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The church, the church isn't a building, okay? And I feel like we heard this a lot too during 2020, you know.

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And I understand some congregations had to determine with their demographic, with older people, or they had a big spread of COVID.

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But at Apology, as we saw that it wasn't at the degree at which they had told us, we had always kept meeting, you know what

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I mean? And we got a lot of flack for that. And so people, even after, you know, we had saw that the threat wasn't where it was, churches still weren't meeting.

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We were in, we were late into 2020, going into 2021, and there was churches still not meeting to that day, even though we had determined the threat wasn't large at all.

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And you would kind of have these people saying, well, the church isn't a building. Well, you know what?

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We're called to assemble. We're called to assemble. And we can't do that properly through an internet feed.

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It is just not the same. It is not the same, brothers and sisters. So that leads us to the fact that the called out ones, the

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Ekklesia of God is called to assemble. They are called to gather together.

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And when you become a Christian, that is to say when God saves you and performs monergistically, all that is required to do that.

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He does not say that it is good for you to be alone after that. God doesn't save you and then wants you to be alone in your

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Christianity, in your walk, right? Look, there is no doubt your membership to the universal church is primary.

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And there you must give the highest loyalty. I agree with that. We must give the highest loyalty in the universal church.

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Because if a local church you belong to apostatizes, it is actually your duty to leave.

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It is your duty to leave. As a Christian bound to God's word, you must.

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But once again, the New Testament Christians saw themselves as members of both the universal and local church.

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Did subscribing to a local assembly mean isolation or individualism?

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No, I don't think the New Testament demonstrates that at all. It means coming together, having community, becoming a family together.

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A lot of us are already starting to do that. We're becoming family here. Ephesians 4 says we are members of one another.

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We're not just members of the local church. We're members of one another. That means something.

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Hebrews chapter 10 verse 24 through 25 says, And let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds.

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How can you do that from home? How can you do that by yourself? How can you stimulate one another to love and good deeds when you never see each other, right?

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And it says, It's critical.

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We weren't meant to do this alone, brothers and sisters. You weren't meant to do this Christian life alone.

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It isn't meant for me. It isn't meant for us to be me, my Bible, and Jesus. It's not.

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After thousands were added to the church and baptized in Acts chapter 2, it says,

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No, it doesn't say that, right? It says after they were being saved and baptized, that they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship to the breaking of bread and prayer.

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We do that together. Can you even imagine in the first century in the

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New Testament times, it was probably unthinkable for a person who had just converted, embrace

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Christ as Savior and Lord, and then goes, yeah, but I'm not going to join the church. I don't think we see one single example of that in the

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New Testament. When they converted and were baptized, they wanted to join the local assembly.

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I think even, we don't know, there's silence there, but I bet the Ethiopian eunuch was like, we got to get a church in Ethiopia, right?

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And there were. There eventually were. Churches in Ethiopia. It was probably unthinkable for a person who has converted, embrace

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Christ as Lord and Savior, and then does not decide to join his church. See, when

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I was in grave sin in my early 20s, I was looking for a way out.

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I was sick of my life of sin in my early 20s. Where do you think I went for help?

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I went to the church. I went to a church. We've had people walking by the

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Apologia Arizona Church in Mesa, down in life. They're walking across Stapley there.

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They walk by and they see a church building and they see a bunch of cars in the parking lot. And what do they do?

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They come in. They often come in. Why did I go in all those years?

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Because there's even some level of understanding that even if unsaved,

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I can't figure this out by myself. I can't do this alone in a room with God.

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I've already tried that. I've been alone. I've tried to cry out to him. I need the body of Christ.

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Sinners often have divine encounters in church services. I've seen it.

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Excuse me. How glorious is it to be with one another?

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It is glorious to be with one another. I love it. When you miss church due to sickness or whatever it may be, do you ever feel off that week?

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Do you feel off that week? I feel off that week when I miss it. As the

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Holy Spirit unites us all, as he indwells us, there is something special about Christians.

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I remember we were at the grocery store once and I heard these two ladies talking. I just knew it.

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I said, you ladies are born -again Christians, aren't you? And they said, we are. And immediately, you remember in the grocery store, we just started talking with these ladies about Christ, all that he had done for us, all that he had done for them.

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And there's something about Christians where we are drawn to each other.

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I don't know if you've ever experienced that yourself. Sometimes it can be in the middle of nowhere at a grocery store or at an event or at your work or something.

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And somehow, you know that that person is a Christian. You guys connect. There is something that connects us all.

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We somehow find each other. But the Bible commands us to gather together.

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That much is clear. That much is clear. Now, you may be thinking,

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Pastor Wade, so far I agree with all that. I see imperatives to be called out.

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I see imperatives to assemble together, to be in Christian community together.

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I see that. But where is the verse for formal church membership?

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Where is it? And I'll just come out and say it. There is no explicit command in Scripture for formal church membership.

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There isn't. But you know what? I think it's similar to something like the doctrine of the

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Trinity. There's not a single verse we can go to in the Bible where it articulates perfectly, perfectly the doctrine of the

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Trinity. We go to a plethora of Bible verses that when viewed together as a whole, all of Scripture viewed together as a whole, we see the

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Trinity. It's undeniable. The triune nature of God. I think we can say something similar to formal church membership.

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That there are verses that support it, and there's not exactly one that we go to that goes, oh yeah, and you must have a roster, and this is what it'll look like.

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You know, that is not prescribed in the Word of God, but I think we see verses that demonstrate it.

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So let's take a look at some of that now. The first point is all believers are instructed to be accountable to the leaders or elders of a church.

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Hebrews 13, 17 says, Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account.

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Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you.

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Listen, here's the deal. We are not free to do this Christian life without obeying our leaders and submitting to them.

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That's what it shows here. We are not free to live this Christian life autonomously.

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That's what the Bible demonstrates. We are commanded to live it in regards to leaders in only one way, with submission to church leaders.

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Look, is this without exception? Of course not. Of course not. We will get into that later.

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But why are we to do this? Because they keep watch over your soul.

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They keep watch over your soul because they will give an account to God on how they shepherd

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His sheep. And the men, yes men, in those positions can't do that adequately to non -committed inconsistent attendees.

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It's just a fact. Can they do that to committed consistent attendees?

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Yeah, I think they can. And I think in essence that person is a church member.

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First Thessalonians 5 verse 12 through 13 puts it this way.

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But we request of you, brethren, that you appreciate those who diligently labor among you and have charge over you in the

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Lord and give you instruction and that you esteem them very highly in love because of their work.

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The Greek word for respect there can mean to intimately know. Do you know well those who have charge over you?

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I think only an invested Christian can achieve that sort of knowing. The word can also mean to honor or respect an uncommitted ready -to -quit -at -anytime employee has no real respect for his boss or employer, right?

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A Christian member of a church has respect for those who have charge over them, those who give them instruction from Scripture.

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And I would say it's not easy for them to leave in a flippant way. It's not easy for them to just go on to something else for a committed church member.

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It is a hard thing to leave and often, you know, has tears involved in meetings and stuff like that.

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It's not like choosing, you know, I don't know, another fast food joint.

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That place wasn't so good. I'll go here. That's not how we are to treat this. They are invested in something that would feel their absence.

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Your absence would be felt. Can this be abused?

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Yeah, yeah, this can be abused. It sure can and it has before. There is no doubt.

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And that is why we need things like a plurality of elders to hold each other accountable and the churches to make sure, you guys are to make sure as well, that we only operate within the bounds of the

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Holy Scriptures. There's supposed to be checks and balances here in that way. I have been gifted charge over the members here by Jesus.

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That gift can be taken away if I abuse it. And it should be. It should be if it's done wrong.

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1 Timothy 5 .17 enforces this. It says, The elders who rule well are to be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who work hard at preaching and teaching.

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So one can deduce that for an elder to rule well, they must have there those who are willing to be under that stewarded rule.

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For elders to preach and teach, there must be those they're willing to be under that preaching and teaching.

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Simple as that. You're like, we get it, Wade. We get it, Pastor Wade. You don't need to keep flexing the elder authority thing here.

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And that's not exactly, you know, the point I'm trying to emphasize most, okay? Why would we be commanded to obey and honor elders in the church if we weren't called to be committed members to a specific church?

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To even apply this, God's people must know which leaders they are to obey.

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You know, who are they to obey? If some guys down the street from Yippie Dippity Gospel Church came in right now, and they stood in front of me, and I kind of went back like, okay.

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And a couple of these pastors from that church down the street said, Wade's been wrong since the beginning about his theology, his doctrine.

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Come, let's all pile out. Let's go down to Yippie Dippity. Would you guys do that?

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Is that what the Bible prescribes? I don't think that's what the Bible shows.

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God's people must know which leaders they are to obey, okay? And that leads me to my second point.

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How are the leaders to know whom they're responsible for? Those for whom they will give an account to God.

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Little sidestep here. The reality is we are redeemed but fallen people.

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Proverbs 18 verse 1 says, He who isolates himself seeks his own desire.

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The recluses seek their own desire. Actually, remember that. Whenever you feel like not assembling, whenever you don't feel like going to the

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Bible study, it's probably because you want to go and be alone and be in your sin. Be wary of that.

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Whenever you want to be alone, it's typically because we want to sin and we don't want people to see it.

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So keep that in mind. It continues along that vein. It says, He then quarrels against all sound wisdom.

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Now, I don't think this is a hit at the church, but it's interesting how

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Jesus always relates the church to sheep. Sheep can often be dumb animals.

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They can. If you've ever seen them or dealt with them, sheep can be dumb animals. When they go wandering, they need to be sought after lest they die.

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They can't be alone. They often won't know the peril as a predator enters the pasture.

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Sometimes they don't even run away. They need active protection. If not led by a shepherd to fresh pastures for food, they will die.

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They need to be fed. And we have one good shepherd, brothers and sisters, the merciful and mighty

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Jesus Christ. But after his ascension, not only did he give the

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Holy Spirit, he established a foundation for 12 men to teach hundreds of men and for those hundreds of men to teach thousands of men.

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And it would go on and it would go on from there to have shepherds under the good shepherd as new pastures are raised and sheep are gathered.

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A shepherd is given the task commanded by the master Jesus is saying, look,

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I have many flocks, but I have one fold. Many flocks, but one fold go out and shepherd this flock.

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The shepherd goes outside and he sees tons of different flocks as far as the eye can see.

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And he turns to Jesus and he goes, which flock am I supposed to tend to out of all this?

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Right? Which flock are you going to let me steward? So if you're not a member, how is one to know if you don't have another shepherd and you're just visiting?

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So there's one question to ask. If you can leave at any moment when

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I have to use the shepherd's cane to guide you from the cliff, then how can I perform my calling from God adequately?

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When Paul met the Ephesian elders, saying they would never see his face again in Acts 20, he warns them,

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Paul says this, okay, he says, be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among whom the

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Holy Spirit has made you overseers to shepherd the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood.

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The Ephesian elders are to go back after they met Paul and Paul sails away and they go back to their congregations.

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So there's flocks and they're to protect them. They have to be on guard.

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We have to protect the flock. We have to guard the flock in my position.

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If someone is going to a new church every Sunday, how can they be protected from false teaching?

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They're going to a new one every Sunday. What will they pick up? What will they experience?

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I don't know how biblical the other churches that person is visiting are.

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He could pick up strange doctrines. And do you think it was easy for an

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Ephesian Christian to leave that church and walk down the street to the church in Colossae or something like that?

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Of course not. Colossae was actually, I believe, 100 to 120 miles inland from Ephesus.

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Okay, I don't think the point, though, is geography. And that geography dictates necessarily how a believer is committed to a specific church.

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I think it is wise for a Christian to be slow to membership, testing the church and leadership according to Scripture over a period of time.

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But hear me out. I think that it is even wiser to be slower to leave a church. You hear that?

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It should take a lot of prayer and consideration to leave a church.

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It should be slower. Unless you're moving away or something like that, I wouldn't leave a church, here we go, unless the leadership has decided to teach something heretical or damning or starts preaching a false gospel.

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I would leave a church if the leadership is in unrepentant or gross sin. If they don't do church discipline and sin just runs rampant and no one can control it.

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They ask you to worship God in a way contrary to His Word. And this is kind of a lesser one, but I think it's a big deal.

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I would possibly leave a church if there were other good options around. If this church did not commit to verbal proclamation of the

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Word, if they didn't do evangelism, I would probably leave that church if there were other options in the area.

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That's how serious I think the Great Commission is for us. So again, all that would be bathed in prayer, meetings had, and seeking the

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Lord's will. But why did I give you that criteria for leaving a church? Because I think if these things aren't issues in the church you're at, then we ought to be committed to a local church and its leaders.

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1 Peter chapter 5 verses 2 through 3 says, Shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but voluntarily according to the will of God, not for sordid gain, but with eagerness, nor yet as lording it over those allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the flock.

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Elders are called here to exercise oversight. On who?

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It says those allotted to their charge. Those allotted to their charge. On the guy testing the waters next

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Sunday? No. Elders make a commitment to God to shepherd people who they themselves make a commitment to God and to instituted leaders to be shepherded.

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Let me give you an example. Let's say you have someone with chronic illness.

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You have someone with chronic illness and they can't decide who the best doctor is.

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And over 20 years of this chronic illness, they go to five, up from five to ten different doctors.

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And they don't go to the same one back to back. They go to five to ten different doctors to remedy their chronic illness all throughout the year.

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Do you think it's possible that that would be difficult to actually deal with the symptoms and the ailment that this person has?

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How can the illness be properly treated? Because what's going to happen is, if you go to ten different doctors for the same thing over a period of time, how is any one of those doctors going to properly know your history or know how to treat you or be able to predict the next thing that's going to happen or see what happened last?

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That's the example I'm trying to show, is that when someone goes to five or ten different churches and they have these sin issues, would you think it'd be harder for those sin issues to be dealt with, for them to get the help they need if they're always going somewhere new?

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How are they going to get into community if they're always getting somewhere new? So again, take that illustration for what it's worth.

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How does Christ commit to us? Is Jesus possibly our head and maybe we're

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His flock? Is this how we commit to spouses, just kind of open -ended, hope it works out?

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That's not how we do it. Can a marriage work that way with no commitment, no vows?

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We've had certificates for marriage, certificates for divorce for multiple millennia.

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We've had land deeds and proof of purchases for centuries. We sign the dotted line and become highly committed members of tons of different things lesser.

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We sign the dotted line on video game clubs, fitness clubs, car clubs that you go to every week.

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Club sports, every weekend your kids go into the new basketball game in another state. Grocery clubs like Costco or something like that.

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Special interest groups. We commit to everything that is typically lesser than church membership.

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We will register to our political party of choice. Why not church?

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Why not church? How are these things at all greater than one of the greatest means of grace?

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The local church. On to our third point. I think

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I've mentioned this before. Out of the Reformation, there were three marks defined for a true church.

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Number one, the right preaching of the gospel and of the word. Number two, the right administration of the sacraments.

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That is baptism in the Lord's Supper. And number three, church discipline is performed when necessary.

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You see, without church discipline, there is no protection for many different type of people here.

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Let me get into that. First, the individual in sin has no protection from themselves and won't be held accountable for it.

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Potentially diving headfirst into full -on debauchery. If unchecked.

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If there's no church discipline in a church, the sinner can keep going and sin and sin and sin and not be dealt with.

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That is dangerous for them. They're not receiving the protection they need. Second, the congregation would not be protected from an individual in unrepentant sin that requires discipline.

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So this person could potentially rip right through everyone. Sowing discord, dissension, division, and causing the church to collapse.

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In fact, this has happened a lot. This has happened a lot to churches. They do no church discipline and one individual creates factions and the whole church is crippled and dissolves.

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That has happened, my friends. And third, there would be no protection for church leaders if there was no church discipline.

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What do I mean? They would have to give a full account to God for allowing the sin to abound.

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They would have to give an account. Our primary guide in the church for discipline is

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Matthew 18 verses 15 through 17. It says, If your brother sins, go and show him his fault in private.

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If he listens to you, you have won your brother. But if he does not listen to you, take one or more with you so that by the mouth of two or three witnesses, every fact may be confirmed.

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If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a

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Gentile and a tax collector. And here's the question. If there is no church membership, how can we enforce this?

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How can we enforce this? I submit to you that we can't properly enforce church discipline if there's no church membership.

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The sinning brother could simply evade our church, run away, and run away from our discipline.

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And I'll tell you what, that happens a lot. That also happens a lot. Of course, it can sometimes happen when they are a member too.

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But our hope is to mitigate some of that. Because again, church discipline isn't this great desire where we want to punish someone or anything like that.

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We want church discipline to be used in such a way that reconciles that brother or sister to the church.

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That they are received back in. That, you know, that they don't go down this path of wanton sin and wickedness.

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And that they would come back and be received in. In fact, we've seen it at the Arizona church.

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We have had people who have stood in front of the church. And they went away for a while.

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And they came back. And you know what? When they came back, they were brought before the church again.

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And they wanted to publicly repent. And everyone was weeping. I tell you that. Everyone was crying with tears of joy.

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Because church discipline worked in the proper way. That man was obstinate. He was stubborn.

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He stood before the church on the final step of Matthew 18. And he rejected it.

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And he went away for a year. And you know what? He came back in tears. And it worked. Brothers and sisters,

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I've seen it work. That's how church discipline ought to be. It's not this huge guillotine moment or anything like that.

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Our hope is to bring that person back in. And not keep them outside. Step three.

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Jesus says to tell to the church the ecclesia. Now, do we tell this to the universal church?

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When we have an issue of church discipline here, do we write a letter to every single believer across the world?

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No, we don't do that. Jesus is not talking about the universal church here. When he says, tell it to the church, he's talking about the local church in which that brother who has sinned is a part of.

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Right? Paul was dealing with a young man who committed sexual immorality with his father's wife in the first letter to the

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Corinthians. And when discussing how to handle this young man, Paul says in chapter 5 verse 12 through 13, he says, what do

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I have to do with judging outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within the church?

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But those who are outside, God judges. Remove the wicked man from among yourselves. You see, what he's saying there is not judge in the way where we can't make righteous judgments about those who are outside the church.

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Right? We're not talking about how John the Baptist wasn't allowed to tell

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Herod he was in sin when Herod took his brother's wife or anything like that. We can speak to those moments in clarity and with truth.

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What he's saying is, do we do church discipline in this sanctuary for people outside of it?

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We don't. We don't. If there is someone in grave sin outside of it, we give them the gospel.

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We pray for them. We hopefully pour ourselves into them. But we don't take someone from outside the church and then hold them here to Matthew 18.

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That's what he's saying. What do I have to do with judging outsiders? We judge those inside the church.

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That's what church discipline is for. So remove the wicked man from among yourselves, he says. Now, both

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Jesus and Paul, get this, they differentiate between those inside and outside the church.

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They are two separate camps. How can you take one outside your assembly when they are already outside?

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They must be inside first. See, how would the church know if someone is inside the church or outside?

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How would you know that? Do we have to guess every time? When I stand here and I look out at you guys, do

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I have to guess every time who I've seen before who's a part of the church? No, I don't have to do that.

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We know who's in the church. The church is a definable group of people.

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Let me illustrate this for you. There are more than half a dozen

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Masonic lodges in the valley, free Masons. There are half a dozen

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Masonic lodges in the valley. Can I be removed from the

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Masons? Can I lose membership with the Masons? No, I can't lose membership with the

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Masons because I'm not a member there, nor have I ever been a member with the Masons.

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I don't want to be a member there for life. I'm pretty good. I don't ever want to be a member with the

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Masons for that matter, right? We can't vote in our country, okay?

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We can't come together to the polls, and we can't vote in our country the president or leader of another country out of office.

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We can't do that. Poland can't vote out President Biden from office, as much as we wish.

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Poland can't vote out President Biden. It's just not how it works. Second Corinthians chapter 2 verse 6 says, sufficient for such as one as this punishment was inflicted by the majority.

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The majority? The majority of what? How would you know? How would one know the majority of something unless that thing is definable?

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So all in all, you can't truly enforce church discipline without some form of church membership.

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Now my fourth point for formal church discipline are examples from all over the place.

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It's real quick. Consider ancient Israel and the various cities in it.

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When there was a dispute between two parties, how did they resolve it? How did they resolve it?

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They resolved it with the elders at the gate. Remember that term, the elders at the gate.

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The elders at the gate were to resolve issues, and that presupposes that there are a people within the gates.

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Not people out, well of course there are people outside, but they resolve issues for people within the gates.

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Those they can account for, those they know. Because think about it, if the elders are at the gate, and the gates are closed, and they're looking out, and two guys are riding in the distance on camelback, and they're coming towards the city, and the elders are at the gate, and these two guys come up, and they go, you guys got to resolve our issue.

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We've got an issue together. Would it be kind of hard for the elders at the gate to resolve and make a judgment on those two strangers issue?

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They don't know either one. They don't know the context of it. I guess maybe you could say once they explain it a bit, maybe they can make a judgment.

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But still, the point is elders at the gate resolved the issues for those within the gates.

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When the seven deacons were appointed in Acts 6 to serve out the daily distribution of food to the widows, they needed to know who to serve, and even then the people needed to know who was worthy for the task.

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You know that it says in Acts there, it says the whole congregation was approving of the choosing of the seven.

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Isn't that interesting? The whole congregation was approving. Was anyone outside the congregation involved in that decision, you think?

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No, of course not. And I know I'm asking a lot of hypothetical or rhetorical questions today, but I think it helps us to think in the proper categories regarding church membership.

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Here we go. Some say, I'm not comfortable with member rosters. I am not comfortable with lists of members.

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Rosters are not right to me. I don't see that in the New Testament. Okay, I get what you're saying.

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But I look at the Revelation and I see King Jesus pull out a lamb's book of life in which names and deeds of the elect are listed there.

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He pulls out a list himself. There are books written with names and deeds for also those prepared for the second death, that is the lake of fire.

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Jesus himself has books and lists of names and deeds. In 1

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Timothy 5, 9 through 12, we see a list as well. A roster has been made with specific guidelines on the widows in the congregation who are to receive financial support.

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To determine the widow's eligibility, they were to know which ones are part of their congregation. That's what it says.

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If you go to 1 Timothy 5, you'll see Paul says, make a list. And look, here's the rules.

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If this, he says, if this widow is in sexual immorality, don't let her be on the list.

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She's not to receive financial help. If this widow is really young and she gets remarried, she's not to be on the list.

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But you are to make a list of widows and you are to give them financial help.

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Paul says that. He says, make a list. And again, these elders would have had to know which widows are part of our church.

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You know, are these widows? And now look, of course, we're called to care for all the orphans and widows in some capacity.

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But the context here is Paul is saying, make a list of the widows in your church.

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I think one way we can see the value in church membership is also considering what the

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Bible shows is required of church members. What does it look like for you guys to be a part of this?

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What does it look like? Pastors often say, don't forget the one another's.

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You ever heard that before? Don't forget the one another's. Let me tell you what that's about. Don't forget the one another's.

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The New Testament says this. Love one another. Outdo one another in showing honor.

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Live in harmony with one another. Welcome, instruct, greet one another.

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Wait for one another. Comfort one another. Agree with, serve, and bear one another's burdens.

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Bear with each other. Be kind to one another. Forgive one another. Address one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs.

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He says, submit, teach, and admonish one another. Encourage one another.

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Build one another up. Stir up one another to love and good works. Confess your sins to one another.

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And pray for one another. Show hospitality to one another. And have fellowship with one another.

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And look, this list is not even exhaustive. If you were to go to some Bible software like I have.

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I have a little deal at home on a laptop -y. You know, I put in the search.

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I put in one another in the New Testament. And I mean, it is just amazing how many things.

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These are the one another's. Love one another is repeated over many, many times.

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The question is, how can you. Okay, brothers and sisters. How can you guys adequately perform the one another's?

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If you're not in church together. If you're not a member at a church. How can you perform these one another's?

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If you're not one with the others. How can you perform the one another's when you're not one with another?

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The most joyful time in my Christian walk has been when my family.

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When we committed to church membership somewhere. Truly, that's when our lives started to explode with Christ.

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When we made that commitment to formal church membership. I really believe that. I really believe that.

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Because you know what? We became owners in a sense. And look, even

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Apologia. This isn't the Wade Orsini church. This isn't the Wade and Andrew Soncrant church.

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This will be your church. This is your church, brothers and sisters. This isn't my church.

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This is your church. This is all of our church. For lack of commitment, a jaded fiancee never becomes the bride.

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For lack of commitment, the young worker never climbs to the top of his career.

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For lack of commitment, the Christian family never feels like they truly belong. And it hurts them.

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It hurts them a lot. And it hurts the people even around them. It hurts the congregations that they wade through constantly.

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All right, I'm getting close here, guys. Thank you for long suffering with me. Let's keep considering the word here for just a little bit longer.

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How about some objections? Some objections to church membership. Some will scoff and say they abhor organized religion.

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I just hate organized religion. I can't stand it. So would you prefer disorganized religion?

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Is that what you prefer, disorganized religion? Okay, all right. When instructing the

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Corinthian church on proper worship, Paul exhorts them this. Listen to this.

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The Apostle Paul says, But all things must be done properly and in an orderly manner.

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Properly and in an orderly manner. When I did the Prophet, Priest, and King series on Christ alone, in the priest sermon, we took a look at all the intricate aspects and commands and desires of God Almighty.

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Everything was perfectly organized on how to worship Him. Remember, think about the tabernacle.

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He commanded the length. He commanded the height. He commanded the type of fabric, the colors, the men who were allowed to tear it down and carry it and lift it up.

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The type of men who were allowed to go inside of it. The type of animals that would be sacrificed. How they perform the sacrifices.

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The way the courtyard would be. The way the bronze basin was built. Every single aspect of how

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God wanted to be worshipped through the tabernacle and temple was perfectly outlined.

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I mean, it's just amazing to the point where in the Middle East and in other places in the world, they can rebuild this tabernacle and they have these models of them because God's Word is so perfectly detailed on how to do it.

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That's how He wanted to be worshipped. Of course, we are not in the New Covenant era.

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We are now in the New Covenant era. I'm sorry. But where do we find that we throw order out the window and act like Canaanite heathens in our worship of God in the function of the church?

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We don't. You won't find it. Charles Spurgeon has an excellent sermon titled

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Joining the Church. You should really Google this. Google Joining the Church, Charles Spurgeon.

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It's not too long. Read it. It's almost comical. Joining the Church, Charles Spurgeon.

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Here's one quote. I think it's so amazing how relevant his sermon is.

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You will laugh if you read it later. He says, ah, but says another,

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I cannot join the church. It is so imperfect. And Charles Spurgeon goes, you then, of course, are perfect, aren't you?

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If so, I advise you to go to heaven right now and join the church there. For certainly you are not fit to join it on earth, and you would be quite out of place with us.

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I mean, there's a lot of these. You should check it out. Atheists will say the church is full of sinners and hypocrites.

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I can't go there. Your church is full of sinners and hypocrites. Well, yeah, you're right.

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You're absolutely right. There's sinners and hypocrites in this church. Redeemed ones. That's for sure.

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Repented and repenting, right? That's who we are. Repented and repenting.

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That's who we are. That's who we are. We are imperfect people.

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Amen. Imperfect people. Then the one whose conscience is pricked by their sin says this.

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The church is full of perfect people. You guys are self -righteous. You guys are perfect people, aren't you?

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You're just perfect. And the rest of us are a bunch of sinners. That's what someone will say.

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Spend time with me for a day, and you won't get that impression. I promise you that. Spend a day with me.

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There is no perfect church, brethren. As many, many men have said, if you find a perfect church, don't go.

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You'll ruin it. You'll make it imperfect. Some argue we shouldn't take vows of membership.

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No, you don't do vows anymore. Don't take vows. The Old Testament law literally has whole chapters on how to properly take vows or oath -taking.

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Christ forbade hasty vows or vows made as pretenses for dishonest practices.

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That's what Christ was hitting at. Jesus himself spoke under oath during his trial to the

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Sanhedrin before his crucifixion. We make vows for much lesser things, as I stated before.

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And lastly, one of the most common objections is that some have experienced the bitter abuse of authority.

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Christians have wronged other Christians. You've heard it before. You've heard your aunt or someone say, no,

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I'm never going back. I was there, and I was abused there, and they treated me wrong at that church.

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I'm never going back. We've all heard that before. Some of us have maybe even felt that way ourselves, right?

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Also in our context, the Mormon church has greatly abused its members in a variety of ways, my friends.

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And for all those situations and circumstances, I am greatly saddened. I truly am.

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It is a tragedy and especially should never happen in a Christian church. But it sometimes does.

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Church splits and divisions are horrible things. Many are victims in them. There are many victims.

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No one comes out of a church split as like the triumphant one. Everyone suffers in a church split or a big division, okay?

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We have to simply entrust ourselves to Him who judges righteously. Our vindicator sits on a throne and will right the wrongs that have been made.

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Here's the thing. We cannot negate the commands of Scripture due to fear of abuse from leadership.

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We can't. We put our faith in God, not in man. Amen? Our faith is in God, not in men.

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Men will let us down, but God will never let us down. The scribes and Pharisees were these very types of leaders, and yet Jesus says in Matthew 23, right before He declares

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His woes to the covenant breakers, He says this, that the disciples should observe what the

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Pharisees and scribes tell them to do. He says, do what they tell you to do. Respect them, but don't do the things they do.

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Do the things they say from God's Word, but don't do the things they do. Because these are men who honor

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God with their lips, but don't honor them in their actions. Do we throw out all of marriage because sometimes men are abusers?

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No, no more marriage. There's been abusing men. We will not have marriage anymore.

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Women, men have committed adultery. Let's get rid of marriage. We don't do that. We don't do that.

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Some fathers have greatly abused some of us. Some of you here have been on the receiving end of great abuse from your father or mother.

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Do you stop being a father or mother? Do you stop endorsing good biblical family? We don't do that, brothers and sisters.

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We don't throw out fatherhood. Do we not move forward and teach what is righteous and good and noble in these things?

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Do we correct these things? We correct them. Here's the thing, the abuse of something doesn't predicate the abrogation of it.

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The abuse of something doesn't predicate the removal of something. All right,

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I'm wrapping up here. Look, this wasn't a sales pitch or anything like that, okay?

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I don't want to convince you of anything but that the Lord would convict you according to His holy word by His spirit.

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I think the benefits of formal church membership far outweigh any possible negativities.

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I really do. And I think if you were to make a list about formal church membership and you consider the pros and cons, the benefits and detriments,

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I would say that formal church membership greatly outweighs the possible negativities that it may possess.

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And largely because many of your family's commitments that you've already exhibited to Apology at Church, when you go through membership class, things probably will just feel the same as before.

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You know, I'm not trying to hype this up, like all of a sudden you guys are gonna get weird robes or, you know, something like that, a special card or anything.

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You know, you guys will largely, those who have been highly committed from the beginning and those who are growing to be committed, it's going to feel similarly.

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But there will be more to it and we'll talk about that Wednesday of what that's going to look like.

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But until some of the nasty things that can happen to a church or when the culture presses in on us or those of you who have been attacked by your employers regarding vaccination cards or when there's a possible wolf in our midst, you guys are going to be glad that you're members.

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I really believe that. This is a very important decision. I won't be keeping tabs on those who don't become formal members and pestering you until you do.

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That's between you and the Lord. You won't become second -class citizens. We will keep doing our best to care for you.

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Maybe this first class date is too soon for you. Skip it. Pray about it until the next one.

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Or like I said before, come to the class. Just observe it. See what you think. Pray about it.

01:02:04

Delay or proceed as you see fit. As I said at the very beginning, the other elders and I want you all to commit to a local church that best adheres to God's word, honors

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Christ, and feeds the soul. And to do that freely and without coercion. I mean that.

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I truly do. Myself and future elders and the pastors in Arizona will commit to teach you, exhort you, correct you when necessary, watch over your souls, protect you from wolves, weep with you, rejoice with you, and we will serve you.

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We will. We, under shepherds, will tremble at the word of God so as to present you in the right condition before the good shepherd.

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And Paul says that too. I want to present you to the Lord spotless and blameless in Christ.

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That's what we want to do. Many have repented and believed on the Lord Jesus Christ here.

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To be a Christian is to belong to a church. I pray each one of you makes that commitment somewhere, if not here.

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Because your church becomes your family. You often find your identity in it.

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And we have something that bonds us more than just the blood of family, right? We have the blood of Jesus Christ binding us together.

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All right, let's pray. Father, we praise your name.

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I pray, Lord, that you would bless the message that went out today. Lord, convict your people as you see fit.

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God, I pray above all that if there was any gaps or errors in this message,

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Lord, that they would see through it. Lord, I pray that they would weigh all things according to Scripture.

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They would do only that which honors you. But God, I pray that each person here, as Christians, would desire to be in great community with one another.

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Lord, I love everyone here. I'm thankful for each person that you've brought before us as we've come and started to become family,

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Lord, in Christ. So, Lord, thank you for this service. Please continue to bless the rest of it.