02 Meaningful Church Membership

Now if you would take your Bible and turn back to Acts chapter 18, we will turn to those verses a little later on. I think I misspoke when I gave you my order earlier. I want us to turn to Acts 18 first, then 1 Corinthians 3, and then Romans 16. Now I will mention some other verses and I encourage you to take notes if that's the way you learn. Some of you listen and go back and listen to things and study things later. We all have to learn how to be good listeners and good expository listeners. So if I'm mentioning things in different verses, you jot those down.

Now I said last week that for the next few weeks we will be looking at a few local church matters. And these are good things and all of these things pertain to growth and progress. Our church is growing and our church is progressing and I'm very thankful. And if I am going to give these messages a title, I would call them "Messages from the Pastors Heart" because these things have been on my heart in prayer and in study for several weeks.

Now last week we studied Matthew 16 verses 13-20 and what I called "Five Essential Components of a True Church." Now if you've not gotten that message you need to because all of these messages do tie together. But first we saw that the church has a permanent foundation and that foundation is a person. That is Jesus. Jesus said, "And on this rock I will build my church." In this word "rock" "petra" in the Greek in which this was originally written it spoke of a permanent stone, a large stone or rock, an immovable stone or rock. And this is none other than Jesus. Then we saw that the church has a mighty expectation.

Jesus said, "I will build my church." You hear that? "I will build my church." And if Jesus is God and He is, and if Jesus said that He would build His church and He did, well then God's people should have a mighty expectation in the work and in the life of the church. And third we saw that the church has a sole owner and that owner is Jesus. Jesus said, "I will build my church." Circle that word, underline that word "my." And we saw that He even purchased the church with His own blood according to Acts 20, verse 28. So Jesus is the sole owner of the church. And then fourth we saw that the church has a people priority.

Simply this word "church," "eclacea" in the Greek in which this was originally written, it means a called out assembly or a called out group of people. And throughout the New Testament the church, the eclacea refers to those individuals who have been called a Christ in saving faith. And as a result they were called to each other to the local body that is the church. And then last we saw that the church has a victorious future. I'll read this portion of the verse in the Amplified. Jesus said, "I will build my church in the gates of Hades." That would be death will not overpower it.

Jesus was simply saying that no person, no power can hinder the work of the church. He was saying that His church will be more than unhindered, His church will be victorious. Now, some of my thoughts here before we continue. I am more excited than ever about the work of the church. I am more excited than ever about Grace Life Church Brookhaven. But more personally, I am more excited about you and who God is bringing here. And I do believe that we have an open door of ministry that is set before us much like the church at Philadelphia there in the book of Revelation. And we should all have a mighty expectation for His church, our church.

The only problem is us. We can get in the way. And I'm looking forward for more souls being saved, more people being brought to faith in Christ and in the church in the day of the year of the year of the year of the year of the year of the year of the year of the year of the year of the year of the year of the year of the year of the year. And I'm looking forward to more small group ministry, our small groups growing. I'm looking forward to more missions. I'm excited about our missions this summer. Some of the things that we will address soon, that is praying for a building, a church of the church. And I'm excited about those things as well.

Now, last week and this morning I said that it was on my heart to study a few different church matters. And at the top of that list is church membership. I want us to look at what the scriptures have to tell us about church membership and how we approach these things. So this morning I want us to examine what I am calling meaningful church membership. And those of you who have been at Grace Life for a while, you have heard that term meaningful church membership. It's interesting. I did a little research in my notes and it's been quite a while since I preached on this topic. I was a little surprised.

The last time we were here looking at this subject was the end of January and the beginning of February in 2021. So we are long overdue to look at this subject. But before we get into what I call the message, I want us to see that most all of us have experienced what I call a sub-Christian church membership. We have seen and experienced a kind of cultural Christian church membership or a type of denominational church membership and not what we see as true and meaningful church membership like we see in the scripture. And there are some of you here that went through what I went through quite a few years ago.

Before God brought me to know about this church back in 2010, I was so disgusted with church membership as I knew and as I had experienced that I developed a very loose and hands off approach. I had rejected what I saw and what I experienced, but honestly I had nothing to replace it with. So I kind of had this loose approach, which was really an over correction. Honestly, it was not until I began to pastor that I was forced to tackle the issue. And when I began to study the scripture and study the subject intensely, that's what led me to where I am today. And when I began to study the subject intensely, that brought me to where I am today.

And I'm very thankful for men like John MacArthur who helped me, Pastor Jeff Noblett who helped me, men like Mark Devere and the Nine Marks organization. They helped me a lot and there are some others that would make that list. But I want us to see something. There are three types of people here this morning. And this message will speak to these three types of people kind of in a different way. Some of you have been here at Grace Life Church for quite a while and you know these things. But this is a much needed reminder. You see, what happens is this, we can become complacent and apathetic and comfortable.

And so this reminder can be a little bit of a correction for you as it has been for me. But others of you, you are fairly new to Grace Life. So you might not have meaningful church membership solidified in your minds and in your thinking, even though you may have gone through church membership class. So my encouragement for you is this, you have an open mind and an open heart and you get all that you can get and you go back and study these things and make sure they are solidified in your thinking and in your mind. Some of you are brand new to Grace Life Church. You may have been the victim of terrible church, even sinful, devilish church.

You may have languished in churches that have been run by man and at best they were mediocre. So you really have never seen biblically healthy church membership. You have never experienced what it means to live in and participate in meaningful church membership. Now I will say this before I continue, it may sound like I'm a little arrogant, like we've got it all figured out. No, I'm not saying that. But I want to encourage you, if you've never seen healthy biblical meaningful church membership, this may shock you.

And I'll tell you this, if you get involved here at Grace Life Church you will be blessed because God has blessed us here and it's all by His grace. Now I want to start off by sharing what I call the reality of the local church. Yes, we need to see the reality of the local church. Last Sunday we saw that the first use of the word church is found in Matthew 16, 18. Jesus declared that He would build His church. Now personally I do not believe those disciples had a clue as to what Jesus was talking about when He talked about the church on that day. Jesus was speaking of future events that those disciples could have never understood.

Of course the work of the church would take place through them and others in the near future. But after Christ's work of redemption was complete and He had ascended to heaven and He was seated at the right hand of the Father, the Holy Spirit of God was poured out there on the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter 2. And from that point on we begin to see the reality of the local church. If we read Acts 2 to Acts chapter 8 we see the local church there in Jerusalem developed very rapidly. Many were born again and baptized and added to the number of the believers that were there in Jerusalem.

Acts 2 says that they were devoted to the apostles teaching, to meeting together, and to prayer. And when great needs arose they sacrificially shared and gave among themselves. But great difficulties came into the Jerusalem church. The first were internal difficulties and an ice and Sapphira brought pride and hypocritical giving into the church and God literally killed them to keep that sin out of the church. And then there were external difficulties from persecution and we see that beginning in Acts chapter 8. And in Acts 8 verse 1 the term "church Jerusalem" is used.

So we see the reality of the local church, we see a particular local church there in the city of Jerusalem. But let's take a step back and let's see big picture. From the book of Acts to Revelation it is all about the birth of the church, the spread of the church, the development of the church all around the known world starting in Jerusalem. After the book of Acts most of the New Testament was written to local churches for encouragement, teaching, and correction.

And we see where the apostles and other leaders and believers traveled between the many local churches for the purpose of encouragement and teaching and ministry and lots of evangelism. And also we see how those individuals in churches gave monies to different churches and needs, sometimes sacrificially. Of course this is a brief description of the activities that we see from Acts to Revelation. But we can see that all this activity and more was for the birth of the church, the development of the church, and the spread of the local church. Simply you just cannot read the New Testament from Acts to Revelation without seeing the local church.

The church is the context of almost everything that is written there. And if you pull any verse or portion of Scripture out of a book in the local context of the local church you could possibly be misinterpreting and misapplying the verse and verses and being on dangerous ground. Now I want to go a step further here and briefly show us the organization of the local church. Yes we need to see the organization of the local church. Early on we see the church was organized by numbers and it even seems that they kept lists.

Acts 2.41 and Acts 2.47 and Acts 5.14 deal with the specific numbers of people who were being born again and added to the church. We also see the church organized in its leadership. As the church in Jerusalem grew and grew they appointed certain men to serve in physical matters so that the apostles could remain devoted to spiritual matters. We see that in Acts 6 verses 1-7. Many scholars see this as the beginning of Deacon ministry in the church. Of course Deacon ministry is seen fully developed in the books of Titus in 1 and 2 Timothy. And as we progress in the New Testament we see the development of the church.

We begin to see more and more organization and structure. Specifically we see the development of church government and church leaders in the church. The book of 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy and Titus explain very specifically who is supposed to govern the church and how they are to govern. And those three books clearly describe and lay out church government. We also see the practice of church discipline. We clearly see church discipline in the local church there at Corinth in 1 Corinthians chapter 5. There in the church at Thessalonica and 2 Thessalonians chapter 3.

So if we study the organization of the church as those local churches grew we see church government and church leaders both lay leadership and elder leadership as well as the use and the practice of church discipline. Now a question. What am I trying to show us here? We need to see the reality of the local church and many, many local churches. We need to see the tangible and the purposeful development of the local church from the book of Acts all the way through to the book of Revelation. Simply this is the reality of the local church and not just one local church but a whole bunch of them.

If you read Acts to Revelation you are going to see that they were everywhere. Some we know a lot about and some we know very little about. Now notice something here. For some of you you have never thought about this before. You have been sitting there thinking, "Pastor Chris I have never really thought about this. I have never really seen it the way you have explained it." So for you I want you to see this is a foundation. I have laid for you a foundation for biblical church membership. This is a foundation for meaningful church membership. This is a foundation for even the church letter. Yes the church letter. So let me continue.

Now another detail within this organization of the local church, this is going to surprise some of you, is the existence of the church letter. Yes we see the existence of the church letter. Now I am going to be honest with you church. This is the one thing I had given up on by the time I got to 2006. By 2006 I was tired of the "church letter." But God help me here. But I want us to look at those three portions of Scripture that I mentioned. We are going to start with Acts then move to 2 Corinthians and then last will be in Romans. Let's read Acts 18, 24-28 again.

"Now would you name Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus." Notice that is the church, the city of Ephesus. "And he was an eloquent man, competent in the Scriptures. And he had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and being fervent in spirit, he spoke and he taught accurately the things concerning Jesus. Though he knew only the baptism of John. He began to speak boldly in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately. And when he wished to cross to Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him.

And when he arrived, he greatly helped those who through grace had believed. For he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, showing by the Scriptures that Christ was Jesus." Now here we see that a letter was still along with Apollos to the disciples that validated Apollos spiritually in every way. Essentially this letter would have called the disciples to accept Apollos into the church and into the fellowship and into kingdom work along beside them. This letter called on them to accept him as a true Christian brother into the fellowship of the believers. Now that might surprise you, but it's there.

Let's turn over to 2 Corinthians chapter 3, verses 1 to 3. 2 Corinthians 3, 1 to 3. This one's a little different because Paul was defending himself to the Corinthian church. I could say it like this, he was defending himself to those knuckleheads because they really were. Verse 1, "Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need as some do letters of recommendation to you are from you? You yourselves are our letter of recommendation written on our hearts to be known and to be read by all.

And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered to us written not with ink but with the spirit of the living God not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts." Here we see that Paul was defending himself against the false teachers and those within the church who sought to discredit him. He was saying, and I'm putting it in my words, "Do I need a letter recommending me as valid and acceptable to you?" And this was the kind of a letter that would have vouched for the spiritual credibility and character of the person and the person in question here was Paul. Not that he was in question.

But let's look at Romans chapter 16, verses 1 to 2. Paul says, "I commend to you our sister Phoebe, a servant of the church at Sentria, that you may welcome her in the Lord in a way worthy of the saints and help her in whatever she may need from you, for she has been a patron of many and of myself as well." Here Paul was writing to the church at Rome and he was vouching for and recommending Phoebe. He was clearly recommending Phoebe and he was encouraging the believers there in Rome to accept her into the church. He was saying that she can be added to the body and to the work of the church.

This was clearly a letter of recommendation from Paul for Phoebe for the church. And notice that these letters, these recommendations, all three essentially said three things. First in these letters of recommendation they were saying that these being recommended were truly born again Christians. Second, these recommendations were saying that they can be accepted into the local body which was and is the local church. This would have meant that there was no sin worthy of discipline in their life. This would have meant that they were in good standing with the church, with the leaders of the church and the believers there in the church.

This would have meant that they would have been an asset to the church, to the body of believers and the entire work of the church. And then third, these recommendations were saying that they could be entrusted to and with Kingdom work. Apollos, Paul, and Phoebe were all worthy of Kingdom work and they were commended to Kingdom work. More specifically they were worthy and willing to work in the local church and the churches that they were a part of and all of them did. And Luke, Grace Life Church, this is the biblical church letter. Yes, to me these letters of recommendation speak of and speak to a biblical church membership.

To me this is meaningful church membership and most likely some of this, a lot of this surprises many of you. Now a couple of questions for us to ponder here. Think about it. Do you think that a recommendation by Paul about Phoebe meant something to both Phoebe and to Paul in the church there at Rome? It certainly meant something to Paul. It must have meant a lot to Phoebe and it certainly meant something to the church there in Rome. Now I know that there is no explicit command in the scripture to formally join a local church, but the biblical foundation for church membership is seen all throughout the New Testament.

And a biblical case for church membership can be made from all that we have examined and all that we will continue to examine. And a case can be made from examples and teaching in the New Testament that believers should formally associate with. We can use the term join and commit their lives to what? The local church. Let me continue to offer some proof of my position. The existence of specific organization in the early church speaks to a tangible church membership.

If the church in Jerusalem had detailed lists of those who were coming to faith in Christ, then the leaders were keeping up with those who associated with the church there in Jerusalem. If the church in Jerusalem was choosing seven men from among the fellowship to serve the widows that were in need, then they had to possess an identifiable list of who was in the church. And they even had a detailed list of the widows that needed support. So the organization of the church speaks to an identifiable church membership, a tangible church membership.

The existence of church discipline in the church speaks to church membership, a tangible church membership. If they did not have an identifiable church membership, then how could they apply church membership policy in practice? Simply, they had to know who was in the church to know if discipline was applied. So church discipline naturally speaks to an identifiable, tangible church membership. The existence of specific leadership in the church speaks to an identifiable church membership. How would the leaders in the church know who they were responsible for if they did not have an identifiable, tangible church membership?

And also, how would the church know who they were responsible for in their leaders if they did not have an identifiable church membership? So the specific leadership in their expected responsibility spoke to an identifiable, tangible church membership. And look, church, really, this brings me to the point of the message. A church letter should represent something, and that is a meaningful church membership that is defined by and pulled out of what we see in the scripture, teaching an example.

And a church membership should represent a born again believer who is seeking to identify with a local body of believers, and they are desirous to plug their life into the church and to serve in the church. A church membership should represent a Christian that is seeking to pour their life into the local body and the people in the work of the church. A church membership should represent believers who are using their time, their physical talents, their possessions, their monies, and their spiritual gifts in the work of the church. And we see that from Acts all the way to Revelation.

Simply this is meaningful church membership, true church membership, biblical church membership. Now this leads me to a definition of church membership that I borrowed years ago. I've held on to this for years. I got this from John MacArthur. He says that I'm quoting, "To become a member of a church is to formally commit oneself to an identifiable local body of believers who have joined together for specific divinely ordained purposes. Those purposes include," and MacArthur goes on to list five, number one, receiving instruction from God's Word. Number two, serving and edifying one another through the proper use of spiritual gifts.

Number three, participating in the ordinances. Number four, proclaiming the Gospel to those who are lost. And number five, in addition when one becomes a member of a church, he submits himself to the care and the authority of the biblically qualified elders and pastors that God has placed in the local assembly. Now out of that definition, I want to quickly show us six commitments which flesh out this meaningful church membership and what this should look like. I have clearly given you the foundation for church membership. Now I want to build some structure on that foundation.

Number one, meaningful church membership should represent a commitment to assemble together. A commitment to assemble together. Hebrews 10, 24 to 25 says, "And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and to good works, not neglecting to meet together as it is the habit of some, but encouraging one another and all the more as you see the day drawing near." Now here we have the writer of the letter to the Hebrews correcting those believers in this mostly Jewish church. It appears that many could not break away from the old covenant Jewish worship that involved worship there in the Temple in Jerusalem.

They were holding on to that old external religion of Judaism instead of Christ. Simply they were having a hard time letting go of the old covenant and fully embracing the new covenant. And this was keeping them from assembling faithfully with the church. We see this commitment to faithfully assemble together clearly in Acts chapter 2 verse 42. Those within the church at Jerusalem were faithful to assemble for the apostles' teaching, for fellowship meals and fellowship with one another, and for prayer. And they were committed to assemble together as the church.

So there is to be a commitment from God's people to faithfully assemble together to be and to do what the church is to be and to do. And from the newly birthed church on through the New Testament, God's people were faithful to assemble together. A couple of questions here. Are you faithful? Grace Life Church, I'm speaking to you now. Are we faithful? What are the things that we are faithful to? How do we prioritize those things that we are faithful to? Are we faithful to assemble as we should? In Luke Church I understand life there are a thousand things that are coming to your life.

There are a thousand things that are coming to your Saturday that will distract you from being faithful. Are you faithful? And look, let me show you something. I'm thankful for this. To be a member of Grace Life Church there is an expectation of faithfulness. I know churches where the norm is to be unfaithful. But the norm here is to be faithful. And we are to be faithful on Sunday mornings. We are to be faithful in small groups. We are to be faithful in our events. I'm thankful when vacation Bible school rolls around 95% of you will serve. And the other 5% will complain to me that you have some distraction that keeps you from serving.

A work trip, a vacation, something like that. But are you faithful on Wednesday nights? Are you faithful in all that we do? Number two, meaningful church membership should represent a commitment to instruction from God's Word. A commitment to instruction from God's Word. Here we see the first of these divinely ordained purposes. I like that folks. MacArthur says these are divinely ordained purposes. Assembling for the instruction of God's Word should be seen as a God ordained part of our worship and it should be a very, very serious commitment in our lives.

And that is why the preaching of God's Word by God called God Competent Men is at the center of our grace life wheel which illustrates and explains the basic structure and the in function of our church. We see this in two important places in one passage. First in the life of the Ephesian church. And second in the life of Timothy who was the pastor of the Ephesian church. Listen to Paul's commandment to Timothy. First Timothy 4, 13-14 Paul says, "Until I come devote yourselves to the public reading of scripture, to exhortation and teaching.

Do not neglect the gift that you have which was given to you by prophecy when the Council of Elders laid their hands on you." Here we see that Timothy was to be faithful to read the scriptures and to teach the scriptures and to explain the scriptures. Verse 14 tells us that this was a spiritual gift that Timothy possessed. So he was gifted in preaching and teaching. In this word exhortation means to explain and to encourage even to apply it to one's life. So there is this two sided commitment here. First from the one faithfully preaching and teaching and explaining and applying God's Word. Second from the congregation.

Both were to be equally faithful to the preaching and the teaching of the Word. Now Grace Life, I'm challenging you. Let's renew our commitment to the preaching of the teaching of God's Word. The holidays are behind us. We are five days into the new year. So let's commit ourselves afresh and anew to the preaching of God's Word. And that includes me in my work and in my study and in my effort to be prepared to preach and to teach. That includes all of us coming with a great level of expectation. And even when I'm not around I'm thankful that when I'm out we have God called men who can feel the pulpit and the church is edified.

The church grows. The church moves forward even when I'm out. And look church, one of the marks of the members of Grace Life Church should be that we take seriously the preaching and the teaching of God's Word. And I believe we do. Meaningful church memberships should represent number three a commitment to serve through spiritual gifts. A commitment to serve through spiritual gifts. Again these are divinely ordained purposes. And as born again believers we should serve and edify each other and the church through the use of our gifts. Now question, what are spiritual gifts? Is that using our musical talent in the church?

Is that what that means? Look church, spiritual gifts are not physical talents. Spiritual gifts are of a spiritual nature that come from a work of the Holy Spirit of God in us. A couple of verses that will help us here. And by no means am I being exhaustive. Paul says in Ephesians 4-7, "But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift." In 1 Corinthians 12-1 says, "Now concerning spiritual gifts brothers I do not want you to be uninformed." And in verse 7 Paul says, "To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good." Now question, what are we seeing here?

This word gift here speaks of an endowment from the Holy Spirit or a gift of the Spirit. Again these are not natural talents. These are not natural abilities. Christians and non-Christians can have some natural abilities and talents. But these are spiritual gifts which are given to every born again believer and they are to be used and exercised within the church. And notice what 1 Corinthians 12-7 says, "These are for the common good." I like that. These are for the common good. This means the gifts are meant to be used in the life of the church, for the life of the church, for each believer, for the good of the church.

In 1 Corinthians 12 we see the gifts lifted out. They are explained and they are listed out. We have the speaking gifts such as prophecy, knowledge, wisdom, teaching and exhortation. Then we have the serving non-speaking gifts such as leadership, helping, giving, mercy, faith and discernment. And all these gifts are given for one purpose for the common good of the church. So here we see that spiritual gifts are given by God to every true born again believer. They are to be used within the church for the common good.

They are to be used for the service of the church, in the church, for the edification of every brother and sister in the life of the church. Now what do we do? Does that mean we are to all take a spiritual gift test and then see how we passed or failed? No, that's not what we do. Now I'm not against those tests but this is what I encourage you to do. First study the spiritual gifts in 1 Corinthians 12. Second, pray over those gifts in your life. And then third, look and see where the Holy Spirit of God draws you. See we believe in the work of the Holy Spirit in the believers life.

So you study over those spiritual gifts, you pray over those gifts in your life and you see where the Spirit of God is drawing you. Then you go see your pastor and other leaders. Go see your small group leader. Go see Brother Keith, he's an elder here. You go see those who are in positions of authority over you and I guarantee you they will see where you can be plugged in. And then you serve. Then you serve. Then you serve. And look Grace Life, our membership role should be a list of believers that is full of believers who are using their spiritual gifts to serve the body of Christ and to do the work of the Church.

Membership, meaningful Church membership should represent number 4 a commitment to participate in the ordinances. Again we see these divinely ordained purposes as the Church we are commanded to participate in two ordinances. And although the ordinances have very specific and very serious spiritual meaning, participating in the ordinances does not save us in any way. First we have the baptism, the ordinance of baptism. Well then the Great Commission Jesus commanded His disciples to go and to make disciples and baptize those disciples. And this would be believers baptism which comes after conversion to Christ.

And if we continue through the book of Acts we clearly see that the apostles practiced believers baptism. In Acts chapter 2 at the great end gathering of souls there at Pentecost those who were converted to Christ were baptized according to this command. And when we read passages like Colossians 2.12 we see believers baptism explained with its spiritual meaning. It is an outward symbol of an inward spiritual reality. It is an outward profession of what is taking place spiritually in our lives. We are dead in our sins before we come to faith.

But we are buried with Christ when we are converted to Christ and we are raised up out of that water, out of that water as a symbol of the new life that we have in Christ. One of the greatest tools for you to understand what baptism is is our statement of faith. You can pick up a copy anywhere in the life of our church. But then second we have the ordinance of the Lord's Supper. We see that Christ instituted the Lord's Supper when He celebrated the last Passover with His disciples in Luke chapter 22. Simply the Lord's Supper is a ceremony whereby we remember what Christ did on the cross for us.

The bread is a symbol of His body that was sacrificed. The wine or the juice or the fruit of the vine is a symbol of His life's blood that was spilled out. And as born again Christians we partake in the Lord's Supper remembering the cross and the sacrifice that He made on the cross for us. So we see that Christ commanded the church to participate in two ordinances, baptism of the Lord's Supper. He instituted these ordinances and He commanded His disciples, His church to practice these ordinances. And look church we faithfully participate in practice the ordinances.

And there are some that will say that if you don't practice these two you are not a true Bible church. I'm excited that we will have baptism this morning. One is come to saving faith and she will give her testimony of conversion to Christ and then we will go to the fellowship hall and she will be baptized. We practice often our Lord's Supper and we will continue to do so sometimes more often. And look folks our church membership should be a membership where the members turn out for the ordinances. Think about it. We're going to turn out for certain specific events.

If our children are having a school program or presentation oh we're going to show up, isn't that right? If our favorite football team is playing we're going to show up those of us who like the deer hunt. If the weather gets right or it's opening day oh we're going to turn out, isn't that right? Well when it comes time to the ordinances that's when our pews should be filled and the members of grace life turn out. Meaningful church membership should represent number five a commitment to proclaim the gospel to the lost. Again we see these divinely ordained purposes.

We see the commandment from God to His people the church to proclaim the gospel message to the lost. Remember church the gospel message is to be the sole message of the church. Now this is sitting in my notes but I want you to look at me here. Church you be aware of any pastor or any church that tries to tell you that the sole message of the church is something other than the gospel. There are so-called respected churches out there and so-called respected pastors out there that will tell you otherwise the sole message of the church is the gospel.

We see this in two ways first in the great commission in Matthew 28 and second we see this in the example of the New Testament church. The heart of the story of the book of Acts is a proclamation of the gospel in the building of the church. Those apostles and those other believers were faithful to proclaim the gospel to the known lost world and they understood that it was the power of the gospel and only the power of the gospel that would save and they understood what Paul said in Romans 1.16 Paul said, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes to the Jew first and also to the Greek." So here we see that the church as an institution is to proclaim the gospel to the lost but this is more than the church as an institution and an organization.

It is the responsibility of every individual member as the local body to faithfully proclaim the gospel. And I'm so thankful that evangelism is at the heart of many in our church. I'm not going to call any names but I'm thankful that one of the men of our church was at a local business and there was a crowd and he took advantage of that opportunity to proclaim the gospel. It warmed my heart and it convicted me. And look folks all of us can do better. All of us should do better. In this new year that is before us let's all of us ask God to help us be better at sharing the gospel.

Let's ask God to help us share the gospel more and more and more but notice the church membership of Grace Life Church should be comprised of a bunch of men and women and young people who share the gospel and that should be just normal. Meaningful church membership should represent number six a commitment to submit to the elders placed over the local church. A commitment to submit to the elders placed over the local church. Here we see the last of these divinely ordained purposes for church membership. We must see the submission of oneself to the spiritual care of the elders in the church.

This is more important than you know and look church there are a lot of misunderstandings here. Some of you need to see and understand that elders are to be the God called qualified men that God has given to spiritually serve lead and govern the church. Now I know that elder leadership can seem strange to many Baptists but this is thoroughly biblical. Now I want to pause here before I continue. If you are new to Grace Life and this is different for you and this is hard for you to get your mind around I would point you to some of my other teaching because I have preached on this faithfully and I can help you here.

But there are several passages that I want to touch on real quickly. You might want to write these down. 1 Timothy 5 17 says let the elders who rule, now that's a different word for govern. Let the elders who rule or govern well be considered worthy of double honor especially those who labor in preaching and teaching. Here we see Paul briefly mentioned two of the elders responsibilities in the church and that is to rule or to govern the church and that is also to labor in preaching and teaching of the word. But the Apostle Peter goes a little further than Paul.

In 1 Peter 5 1 to 2 Peter says so I exhort the elders among you as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed. Shepherd the flock of God that is among you exercising oversight not under compulsion but willingly as God would have you not for shameful gain but eagerly. As an Apostle Peter he also functioned in the role of an elder and he was giving instructions to other elders within the church. He clearly lays out two of the three responsibilities for elders in the church. First to shepherd the flock that means to pastor the flock.

Second to exercise oversight that means governing the flock. But how was he to do this work? Not shamefully, not in a domineering way. Again this is sitting in my notes but listen church you come across a pastor you come across a pastor who calls himself an elder if he is domineering and he is habitually domineering he does not have the spirit and the heart and the attitude of Christ here. This is not to be done in a shameful way or a domineering way but eagerly by being examples to the flock in every way that means that the pastor and the elders are to be visible examples to the church. And one more passage that we need to see here.

Hebrews 1317 says obey your leaders and submit to them for they are keeping watch over your souls as those who will give an account let them do this with joy and not with groaning for that would be of no advantage to you. Here the writer of Hebrews was calling these believers in this church to submit to the leaders that God had placed over them. And he uses two words here obey and submit and these are two words that we may not like. But notice why he caused him to do these things. God called qualified elders have the very authority of Christ when they pastor and shepherd God's people.

They have the very authority of Christ when they govern and they lead the church. They have the very authority of Christ when they preach and they apply the scriptures in and to the local body. Simply God called elders serve the church on behalf of Christ and for Christ therefore the body of the church is responsible to submit to the elders of the church as the elders submit to them in their service. And look Christ's life. I have faithfully served you. I have faithfully served this church for almost 15 years.

Notice I said faithfully not perfectly not perfectly and I'm thankful to say that brother Keith is faithfully served as an elder alongside me as well for many years. And I said this last week but our church has grown quite a lot since we relocated back in March of 2020. And after much prayer I will be bringing before us a plan to potentially install additional elders. I say potentially because you as the members of Grace Life Church make that final decision.

And we will look at this in a couple of weeks and get this any elder whether they are vocational like I am or not any elder must be God called, church called, church affirmed in their calling from God. And they must have a God given ability to teach God's word to shepherd the flock and pastor the flock and the lead and the governor of the church. Those are God given abilities. And get this we are called to submit ourselves to elders that God is placed in and over the church, our church. And look at the church, God called, competent elder leadership as at the heart of biblical healthy meaningful church membership.

How in the world can you have meaningful church membership if you do not have God called, God equip men to lead. So many true born again Christians suffer in their membership because of a lack of leadership. Now look at what we've studied here, church, meaningful church membership. I do believe we have before us biblical church membership. I do believe we have what I see as spiritually healthy church membership. Again listen to John MacArthur's definition and I know I'm tweaking it a little.

He says to become a member of a church is to formally covenant and commit oneself to an identifiable local body of believers who have joined together for specific divinely ordained purposes. Found in God's word. And members of Grace Life in this new year, let's all commit ourselves afresh and anew to our church membership. Yours, ours. Grace Life, we will have new members being added to our membership this morning and next Sunday. So let's all come together as members of Grace Life Church to be what the church should be and to do what the church should do. Now I want to close by confessing to you that I have five women in my life.

Let me explain. Of course I have my wife Christy. We have been married 28 years, 28 wonderful years. Just ask her if she's in the nursery and she'll tell you how wonderful they've been. You ever notice that I make comments like that when she's in the nursery? She always seems to know. Some of you are title tales. 28 wonderful years. They have been wonderful. I look forward to more. And I have two daughters, Annie and Maggie. Besides my wife being the love of my life, my two daughters are the love of my life. Well, who's the fourth woman? My dog. Mary Grace. I have a one and a half year old labahula named Mary Grace. My wife hates her.

My daughter's daughter's a life-tolerator. Well, who's the fifth woman? The bride of Christ. Think about it. Luke Church, my wife is the number one love of my life and right behind her are my daughters. But when God saved me in February of 1989, he put within my heart a love for the bride of Christ, the church. And my wife is my witness. Men who have known me here this morning for over 20 years are my witness. Men like Keith, Tommy and Jared. You can go to First Baptist Church in Ellicott, Mississippi. Robert Fennell will tell you this is the truth.

You can go to Highland Baptist Church, a man who saw me when I first came to faith and walked into the door. Joe Johnson will tell you that I'm telling the truth. Since the day I came to faith in Christ until right now, I have wholeheartedly committed myself to my church membership no matter where I've been. Now, how has this been possible? Because of God. Because God in His rich mercy and grace saved me. And He placed within me a God-like love for the bride, for the church. Therefore, I can live out what we see here and I have been. And God has brought many others to Grace Life Church and you're just like me. You're just like me.

And I'm so thankful. So, Grace Life, let's reaffirm our love for and our commitment to the church and our membership. Let's recommit ourselves with some accountability from some of our small groups. Let's recommit ourselves to our church membership and our commitment to and let's pour ourselves into meaningful church membership.