WWUTT 2095 Q&A Once Again on Church Membership, Joining Another Denomination, Having a God-Honoring Career

Why Church Membership Matters and How to Read Psalm 10

Why is church membership important? We'll consider that question again today. Can someone who is Baptist become a member of a Presbyterian church? And how can one be successful at their career without compromising their faith?

The answers to these and others when we understand the text.

This is When We Understand the Text, a daily Bible commentary in the word of Christ, who leads us in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Tell your friends about our ministry at www .wutt .com.

Here once again is Pastor Gabe.

Thank you, Becky.

You're welcome.

On to Psalm 10 this week.

Yeah.

18 verses. We broke up Psalm 9 in half, but there's really not a good place to stop in Psalm 10.

Okay.

So we're just gonna go ahead and go straight through the Psalm here.

Let's do it.

Why do you stand afar off, O Yahweh? Why do you hide yourself in times of distress? In his lofty pride, the wicked hotly pursues the afflicted. Let them be caught in the thoughts which they have devised.

For the wicked boasts of his soul's desire, and the greedy man curses and spurns Yahweh. The wicked, in the haughtiness of his countenance, does not seek him. All his thoughts are, there is no God. His ways prosper at all times.

Your judgments are on high, out of his sight. As for all his adversaries, he snorts at them. He says in his heart, I will not be shaken. From generation to generation, I will not be in adversity. His mouth is full of curses and deceit and oppression.

Under his tongue is mischief and wickedness. He sits in the places of the villages where one lies in wait. In the hiding places, he kills the innocent. His eyes stealthily watch for the unfortunate. He lies in wait in a hiding place as a lion in his lair.

He lies in wait to catch the afflicted. He catches the afflicted when he draws him into his net. He crouches, he bows down, and the unfortunate fall by his mighty ones. He says in his heart, God has forgotten.

He has hidden his face. He will never see it. Arise, oh Yahweh. Oh God, lift up your hand. Do not forget the afflicted. Why has the wicked spurned God? He has said in his heart, you will not require it.

You have seen it for you have beheld mischief and vexation to take it into your hand. The unfortunate commits himself to you. You have been the helper of the orphan. Break the arm of the wicked and the evildoer.

Seek out his wickedness until you find none. Yahweh is king forever and ever. Nations have perished from his land. Oh Yahweh, you have heard the desire of the humble. You will strengthen their heart. You will cause your ear to give heed, to give justice to the orphan and the oppressed so that man who is of the earth will no longer cause terror.

God's Sovereign Rule Over Evil and the Comfort of Psalm 10

Yahweh is king forever and ever. And that reminds me of something I read earlier this week from Michael Reeves. There is no place for despair as long as Christ is on the throne.

Amen.

So just like we read with Psalm 9, the wicked will have his day, but God ultimately has his day. And he will destroy the wicked. God remains sitting on his throne. And while we see wickedness and despair happening in the world, it's very easy for us to ask, just like the Psalmist does at the beginning of Psalm 10.

Why do you stand afar off, oh Yahweh?

Mm-hmm.

Why do you hide yourself in times of distress? And Peter really kind of addressed this as well in 2 Peter 3, where he said that scoffers will say, where is the promise of his coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation.

For when they maintain this, it escapes their notice that by the word of God, the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water through which the world at that time was destroyed, being deluged with water and perished.

But by his word, the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men. So do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years and a thousand years like one day.

The Lord is not slow about his promise as some consider slowness, but is patient toward you, not willing for any to perish, but for all, meaning all his people to come to repentance. And that is encouraging.

As we're watching evil happen in the world, where is God? Is he standing far off? Does he not see what's happening? Like Habakkuk saying, how long will I cry to you violence and you will not answer? And God's response to Habakkuk was watch and see for I'm doing something in the nations you would not even know, you wouldn't even understand if I told you what it was going to be.

Right.

Yeah, and everything that he does is so intricate because he's, I mean, he created the world. So he's got the whole world that he's taking care of.

He's got the whole world.

I know.

In his hands.

I knew that was coming. But anyway.

You know, everybody listening was thinking it too.

Oh yeah, I know.

It's fine, you sing it with them. Anyway, so, I mean, like by the time that everything gets put into its place to be his perfect timing, I mean, sometimes we just have to be a little bit more patient because whenever, I feel like whenever I'm impatient with, like this should happen.

This should be now.

It should happen by now.

I should have been there already, you know, while I'm still driving or something like that. So I, but I have to step back and remember that God's timing is better than my own. And so who am I to say that it was not perfect timing?

So.

We've been going through Acts with the kids. So we finished up Mark. And so then we picked up with the Table Talk Magazine. They're going through Acts this year. So we were in Acts four and where the disciples are praying, God, you had ordained that the Romans and the Jews along with their rulers, Herod and Pilate, would come against your servant, Jesus, to do what your hand and your plan had predestined to take place.

And it was our oldest daughter that after we had read that lesson had said, such a great thing to consider. It sometimes escapes our notice that even the evil things that happen in the world have been preordained by God for some ultimate good.

And so are we trusting God in the midst of those things to reckon? I don't think it's wrong to pray with the Psalmist because it's right here in the Bible. It's not wrong to pray with the Psalmist. Why do you stand far off, O Yahweh?

I'll be honest. I've had prayers like that this year already. Asking God, what are you doing in this? What are you doing in the midst of this? What do I need to see that I'm not seeing yet? I've prayed things like that.

So it's not bad to ask those questions. The Psalmist asked those questions. As long as those questions are drawing us nearer to seeing what it is that God is doing and not causing us to despair and then lose our grip.

Right, it's with hope.

Yeah, it's with hope, right. We're asking those questions with hope.

Right.

Like I wanna see it. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. As you see your will accomplished from your heavenly vantage point, can I see it too from here?

Yeah.

So yeah, we're not being oppressed by evil, our family. At least we don't feel that way. We've been there before.

Right.

As a family, we've had to deal with those things. Right now, it's still a matter of, what is God doing with us in this season? But still all kinds of wickedness going on in the world around us. We've talked in previous episodes about some days I just can't turn on the news.

Right.

Because I've got too many things in my immediate vicinity that I have to focus on right here. I don't really care what's happening in the White House today.

Yeah.

Or what's happening internationally. Let me deal with these things.

I'm sure it'll be different tomorrow anyway.

Oh yeah, it'll be news. It'll be the same news stories, but different news stories. Same stuff going on. Different day. Exactly right. Well, as we have asked in previous episodes, speaking of the season that we're in right now, it was two episodes ago that I said that we're in a really tight place right now.

Having moved from Texas to here, we're in a brand new church. I'm getting this ministry rolling here. Everybody in the church has been so wonderful to welcome us. I feel like I've felt right in. No, I feel like I fit right in.

That was what I was looking for.

Yes.

Anyway, we're all here. We're into this ministry. Still some things where I'm kind of trying to find my footing in certain places. We're finding the needs in the congregation and attempting to meet those and things like that.

But still, we're bogged down, weighed down with the fact that our house in Texas hasn't sold. So we're paying rent and a mortgage at the same time. And over 75 of our income, I think, in a month is going toward housing.

Because not only are we paying the mortgage, but we're having to pay to keep the lights and the water on while they're showing the house. You don't want a potential buyer coming in and turning the faucet and going, well, the water doesn't work here.

It's sort of the way buyer's minds work. Sometimes. Can't see beyond the fact that, no, it works. You're just the owner's not paying the bill.

That's right.

So anyway, it is an incredible financial crunch. And I've never felt a financial crunch like this before. And we've been married, this year for us is 14 years. Never have had a financial crunch like this.

But so anyway, we had put that out there on the podcast a couple of weeks ago and just said, if anybody can help, if you wanna donate, it would be greatly appreciated. And I'll be honest with you, all I was really expecting, maybe my expectations were low, but all I was expecting was you guys would help us with a few dinners in there.

Sure.

It's been way more than that.

Definitely.

It's been way more than that.

The Lord has truly blessed us through you guys. It's awesome.

And some of you have donated 30 bucks. Some of you donated a lot more. And with those donations, I've even had requests, here, this is for you, don't mention my name. So I'm gonna respect that. Not everybody said that, but I still wanna respect that.

No matter what we get, we praise God for you.

Oh, amen.

And I can't even begin to tell you how much it's meant to us. We've already shed tears over this. I'm trying not to do that again.

Yeah, please don't. I'm an ugly crier.

I just can't begin to tell you. I mean, we know people listen, but to just feel the love that we have been shown by you guys. We have thanked God for every one of you by name when we've seen those donations come in.

In our church, too.

Oh, in our church. I was getting to that, yes. It's not like they've neglected us.

I gotta jump the gun.

It's not like our church has neglected us. I mean, I still make a paycheck there. They are providing for us and they are taking care of us. But even at the business meeting this past Sunday.

Above and beyond.

Yeah, they went above and beyond even to vow to help us with rent if we needed it. I'm gonna try not to touch it if I don't have to. As long as we continue to have donations like this and I don't have to touch the church's finances.

In fact, I even wanna take a portion of what you've donated to us and give it to our church. So anyway, I don't have anything else to say except thank you.

A big thank you.

Right now we're comfortable for a few months if the house doesn't sell. But if you can still donate, if you still wanna give.

Or if you're in the East Texas area and you're looking for a house, let us know.

Oh yeah, right.

We'll tell you the address.

We got somewhere we can recommend. We can go check it out. So anyway, or if somebody wants to say, hey, I wanna buy an investment property there.

There you go.

You might be able to talk me down a little bit.

It's an awesome house. We really love it though.

Yeah, yeah.

And the location was great and everything. People are awesome.

Two blocks from the pool.

Yeah.

That's what the kids loved about it.

The neighbors were awesome.

Yeah, neighbors were great.

Oh my goodness.

It was so dead quiet. I could not believe how quiet it was. And the neighborhood that we live in, it was a gated community, but the part of the, I don't know, not HOA. I don't know what you would call it, but just part of the rules of the community.

There were no streetlights.

Yeah.

Which was kind of weird.

But it's called hideaways.

It's called hideaway, so yeah. And when you get out there and you are out there at night, it's just so dark. But at the same time, you're like, I really like this.

Yeah.

You feel isolated and quiet.

Yeah, definitely. And you could see the stars.

You could see the stars, right, yeah. Not many places in East Texas you could do that, but you sure could do that in hideaway. You still had the lights of Dallas that weren't that far away from there.

In fact, people who worked in Dallas would live in our neighborhood, and that was an hour and a half, but they would do that commute because they just liked the neighborhood so much.

Yeah.

But anyway, all that to say, we're so very thankful for you. We're thankful for our church, everyone who has shown us love through this trial, through this difficult time. And it's been difficult for me to ask for help.

The church knew that I needed help, even though I didn't ask for help, and they just voted to give us the money if we needed it. And so, it was a humbling thing even a couple of weeks ago to have to say, hey, if you guys can give us some money, we kind of need the help.

It sure was an answer to prayer.

But you have all been an answer to prayer.

Amen.

My wife and I even, I've stayed up late at night, being weighed down with decisions that the head of the household has to make. Looking at the budget at the beginning of February, going, I just don't know how we can do this.

I don't know how we're gonna make it to the end of this month. And then to have your generosity shown to us, the kindness and compassion of our Lord God in the family of God.

Amen.

Has, yeah, like I said earlier, I was praying those prayers, asking God, what are you doing in the midst of this situation? And he has shown his love and provision for us time and time again.

Amen.

Who am I to doubt?

I know, right?

That'll learn me. Well, it is the Friday edition of the broadcast. Oh yeah, by the way, so if you wanna donate, you can send donations via PayPal or Venmo.

Yeah, Venmo.

Can I give our Venmo thing? What is it? Gebeke Hughes?

I think so, yeah.

G-A-B-E-K-I-H-U-G-H-E-S. That's our Venmo. Or if you donate via PayPal, it's whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com. That email address is connected to the PayPal account as well. Please tell me I got the Venmo right as you're looking that up.

Yep, Gebeke Hughes.

Gebeke Hughes. But you gotta know how to spell Becky.

Yeah, magic.

G-A-B-E-K-I-H-U-G-H-E-S.

Yes.

And we had chosen that because Gabe and Becky, both names are in there. Yeah, both names are in there in six letters. So anyway, yeah, taking questions from the listeners. And again, you can send those questions to whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com.

If you wanna know more about our church, since I mentioned the church, we're Providence Reformed Baptist Church, Casa Grande, Arizona. And the website is providencecasagrande .com.

Yes.

Grand spelled like grande.

Yes.

Providencecasagrande .com, because technically it is grande. Casa Grande.

Like the Rio Grande.

Yeah, Rio Grande, exactly. Yeah, I didn't think of that, but you're right. You're right, Rio Grande. It's the Rio Grande.

Rio. It just depends on where you're at.

I sound like an angry Frenchman trying to speak Spanish.

That's, yeah.

That's how that's coming across.

It's true.

It's true. Anyway.

You're gonna get me choked up.

I know, I'm gonna choke up my wife. So let's get to some of these questions here. We talked about church membership also a couple of weeks ago. It was that same episode two weeks ago. We've been talking about it ever since.

Yes.

I did not know how pressing a matter that was on so many different people.

Oh, really?

Because we're still getting emails about it.

Oh, that's awesome.

So we're gonna read a couple more here. I'm gonna read this one, and then I wanna refresh your memory on why. Church membership.

Okay.

The article that I read two weeks ago, and then I have another one from Sinclair Ferguson that I think will be really helpful.

Awesome.

So this is from Christopher. He says, good morning, Pastor Gabe and Becky. The past couple of Q &A episodes on the questions of church membership have been encouraging. My family is in the process of looking at local churches with the intent to join in membership for all the reasons that you have mentioned on the podcast.

And not only have we been getting emails from listeners about this, but even members of our own church.

Yeah, that's true.

Have said, I've listened the past couple of weeks. I've loved hearing what you've talked about regarding church membership. And it's come from both members and prospective members.

That's true.

Of our church.

Yes.

So it hits home as well.

Yes.

Christopher goes on to say, it's a long story, but the Lord has led us to this circumstance for his purposes and glory and for our good.

Amen.

We were very blessed to have a pastor at our former church who led our church to a healthy understanding of church membership and community based on biblical understanding of what the church is. As we are now providentially required to change churches, our previous church has dissolved.

Sorry to hear that. The process of finding a new church has proven far more difficult than I had imagined, especially as we live in a suburbanizing rural area where churches are plentiful. We're actually kind of in the same.

Yeah, that's what I was thinking.

We're in a suburbanizing. I mean, this town is exploding.

Yeah, it used to be considered rural.

Yes.

And now it's like just within the past, less than five years, it's now considered a city.

It's like the suburbs of Phoenix.

Yeah.

I mentioned that Lyndale was 90 minutes from Dallas. Casa Grande is less than 45 minutes from Phoenix.

Yep.

So we can be in Phoenix in probably 30 to 35 minutes,.

I think.

Outer Phoenix, yeah.

So yeah, it's like a

Not really Phoenix.

Right. It's like a suburb of Phoenix almost. I mean, there's still some desert in between.

Yeah, there's an Indian reservation.

Even when we came out here to Candidate back on the Labor Day weekend, I was amazed how quick we got here.

Yeah.

From the airport in Phoenix to here.

I thought

Yeah, it was amazing.

That was really fast. But yeah, we're

I was within 30 minutes.

Yeah, at the airport, yeah.

Yeah.

So yeah, we're kind of in the same sort of a thing. Neighborhoods are blowing up all over the place here in Casa Grande, and there are a lot of churches.

Yeah.

But there are also some empty churches.

There are.

Ours is filling up. We're reaching capacity. We'll still take more people.

Yeah, come visit.

That's right. But yeah, there are some churches that are, I mean, really languishing, even though there are many churches in Casa Grande. So anyway, Christopher goes on, we have been forced to further clarify and sharpen our understanding of the church through a biblical lens, while accepting the fact that no one church is going to be the perfect church.

Right.

Or replace what we had exactly.

Yeah.

Definitely. We have prayed and sought counsel and believe we are close to committing to a local church near our home, where the scriptures are preached faithfully, the sacraments are administered weekly, and Christ is exalted daily.

Thank you for the encouragement from afar through the What Podcast and YouTube. It is truly a joy to hear the questions and comments from brothers and sisters across the land and around the globe.

Amen.

Meanwhile, he goes on.

Okay.

It seems that the popular churches prefer to kick the scriptures rather than preach them and entertain themselves with gimmicks, performances of secular artistry, crude humor, profanity, blasphemies, and cultural idolatry.

By now, the antics of Crossroads Church based in Ohio have been spread far and wide. You may not have seen this video, babe. I don't know if you came across this or not.

If you've been on. Probably not.

If you've been on X this past week, then you've probably seen it. Nope, I have not. Okay, there you go.

Sorry guys, I'm clueless.

So they literally kicked a Bible.

Wait, what?

Yeah, in service. So they had this Superbowl themed.

Okay, it's a good thing that I'm clueless.

They had this Superbowl themed service where they had a kickoff and the kickoff was kicking a Bible. And it was a guy versus a gal. I didn't quite understand the context of who the guy was and who the gal was, but she kicked the Bible clear over his head out into the congregation.

I was astonished watching the clip that the people didn't just audibly gasp at that. But of course.

Well, no, they've hyped it up.

Well, yeah, exactly right. They're all there to see that.

Right.

To see what they're doing and all of that. This is the irreverent approach that they take to the word of God. Not only are they not preaching the truth, but they're kicking it, literally kicking it.

That's awful.

Yeah.

I can't, no, don't let me.

And so Christopher, I'm not gonna play it. I mean, I could play it. You could hear the audio, but you wouldn't be able to see it. So, yeah. I know Crossroads isn't the only one doing this nonsense, but it is a travesty to see so-called churches putting on such carnal displays and calling it Lord's Day worship.

They justify their methods with numbers saying that the Superbowl Sunday event is the largest attended service of the year outpacing Christmas and Easter. And that if they can get people in the door with their methods to hear about Jesus, then they have accomplished their mission.

How utterly sad that these church leaders have such a low view of Christ's bride. I did not watch the service, but I would highly doubt that they're even talking about you're a sinner headed for hell.

Christ is a savior.

Oh, I doubt it.

Turn to Jesus to be saved.

I mean, where would they learn about Jesus in the first place?

In the Bible. In the Bible, they're kicking.

They've totally unhitched from.

Yeah.

Oh my goodness. Okay, sorry.

So Christopher goes on, I spoke with a chat rep for the church and she agreed that Crossroads is a church for people who do not like church.

Yes.

Yeah, so yeah, those are pagan people that are coming in there that don't like church and are just there to see the spectacle that you put on for Superbowl.

And have their kids watched.

Yeah, probably love the fact that you kicked a Bible. It's great, I don't read it anyway. So he goes on, do they not realize that the church is the people who love Christ and his bride? We are working through 1 John in our family worship time.

That short letter is almost entirely about the fact that those who are in Christ will love their brothers, i .e. the church. For a church to look at 2000 years of church history, real doctrinal wrestlings, and the persecutions endured by the saints for their adherence to sound doctrine and decide that they can do it better by entertaining people with the trinkets of the world is grievous.

I mean, they're even doing worse than that. It's not just about putting on big screens and great displays. They're literally kicking God's word for entertainment. Such churches have smelted golden calves and worshiped Baal, not the true God.

But as for me and my house, Christopher says, we will serve Yahweh. May God keep you and bless you. Thanks again for your ministry. Appreciate you, Christopher.

Yeah.

Thank you so much for listening. And we're praying for you as you look for a church.

Yeah.

And following those standards that we had kind of laid out a couple of weeks ago, why church ministry is important. Let me go through those again. There were nine of them here. I think I added a 10th.

I'll try to remember what the 10th was.

By the time you get there, maybe you will.

Yeah, maybe so.

Now, I'm not gonna read the article word for word like I did a couple of weeks ago, but let me go through these principles again real quick just to kind of refresh your memory. And then I wanna turn to that Sinclair Ferguson article.

Why church membership? Why should we become committed and an active member of a local church? Here's nine, maybe 10 reasons. First, church membership helps us guard the peace and purity of the church.

And the author of this article points to Matthew 18, 15 through 20, where you have church discipline. That is mentioned there. In order to know who needs discipline and who we go to about discipline, you gotta be a part of a local church.

To follow those commands there in Matthew 18, you have to be part of a local church. Second, church membership provides the privilege of accountability to church leaders. Hebrews 13, 17 says, obey your leaders and submit to them for they are keeping watch over your souls.

Third, church membership gives a tangible way to express commitment to a family of believers. Fourth, church membership provides a profound means of telling the world that we are followers of Christ. These are my brothers and sisters.

This is the God that I worship through the church that you attend. Fifth, church membership pulls us into a grand story, into the grand story of God's covenant love. As God has made a covenant with us, we pledge in covenant with the church that we're a part of.

Sixth, church membership encourages participation in the work of the church. Ephesians 4, 16, Paul says, each part of the body does its share of the work, building the body up in love. Seventh, church membership helps us distinguish between neighbor and household of faith.

We are to love our neighbor, which is everybody, but especially the household of faith, as said in Galatians 6, 10. Eighth, church membership prevents us from showing favoritism. Those instructions come out exactly in James 2.

Do not show partiality as you hold hope in the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. So we don't show favoritism toward others, but we understand that each part in the body of Christ has an important function.

Number nine, church membership helps to prevent us from trying to go it alone.

Right.

That is especially needed in our present day when after COVID happened, we've just felt like we can do everything from home now.

Right.