Meaningful Church Membership part 1

I like that version of trust and obey, do you not? I do. That's one that some of you are familiar with. Think about something that we sung in that familiar song while we do His good will. And that's what we're studying. It's about doing His will as the body, understanding life in the body, adjusting ourselves and our understanding to life in the body. So we want to trust and obey with what is put out to us, what's put before us, and what we're studying. And we want to do His good will in the life of the church. And I thought that was very fitting. All of what we have sung is just very worshipful for me.

Well, take your Bible and turn back to where we were earlier. I explained that we're going to be in Acts chapter 18. We're going to be in 2 Corinthians chapter 3 and in Romans chapter 16. And just have your Bible turned there. We'll get to those places in the Scriptures here in a moment in the message. Now for three weeks I think we all know that we have been examining, I call it a big subject. It's lots of little subjects that are all tied to this big subject. And the big subject is life in the body. Life in the body of Christ, life in the local church, life as the family of God.

Paul used that analogy, the family as well, in describing the church. Now everything we have studied in the past three messages came out of Paul's ministry to the Corinthian church. The church there at Corinth had some very serious problems, did they not? And think about it. These were serious problems in the body, in the pew, in the lives of the people there. And Paul was writing not just to correct the problems, but he was calling these Christians to their proper place in the body. Think about this. They had to relate to Christ, their Lord, properly. Remember I showed us that all of their problems were really one major problem.

This was all about a lordship of Christ problem. And then also they had to relate to each other properly. Remember they were one body, which is that great and mysterious unity in diversity. I said it like this. It's unity in diversity, diversity in unity. And see all of these divisions were sinful and all of these sins in the church were all tied to the divisions. And so we see that it was a lordship of Christ problem. They had a lot of problems in the life of the church and Paul was wanting to straighten it out. Yes, but he was wanting them to see their place. And you know we must make sure that we apply all this in our lives.

You know we all learn different, but we need to get all that we can get. Some of you need to go back and study your notes. You need to digest what we've studied. It needs to be in your understanding. Some of you might need to go back and listen to some of those messages. One of the men here this morning this week was texting me pictures of some material. They were reading a commentary on these passages. So what was he doing? He was studying to try to learn and digest at all. I counseled with one of the men of the church this week as he's having to live out all that we have studied.

I know that my wife has had some good conversations with some of the ladies in the church as they are trying to apply what we have been studying. So we roll up our sleeves and we sit at the table of the Lord and we want to get all that we can get. And this is a work that we must do. Now this morning we're going to move on from those three messages that were really all tied together but we are still dealing with this subject of life and the body. Remember I said in the beginning of this study that we're going to look at quite a few subjects that all tie to this one large topic of life and the body.

And this morning I want us to examine what I'm calling meaningful church membership. Meaningful church membership. And that really is the title of the message. Now before we get into the message I want to say that most of us here I would venture to say that most all of us here have experienced what I call sub-Christian church membership. Some of you have only seen a kind of cultural Christian church membership. Some of you here have seen mostly a denominational type of church membership and not true meaningful church membership that we would see that comes out of the scriptures.

There are some of you here that did just what I did quite a few years ago. Honestly I was so disgusted with church membership as I knew it as I had seen it and as I had been taught I kind of developed a loose approach to the subject. I rejected what I saw and I had nothing really to replace it with. And so that led me to a loose approach which was really an over correction. It wasn't until I began to pastor quite a few years ago and I began to study this subject that I discovered that neither extreme is correct. And I'm very thankful for quite a few men who helped me understand this.

Men like John MacArthur and Jeff Noblett of Grace Life Church and Muscle Shells, Alabama. And then there were others that just helped me understand that yes I was right in rejecting what I had been taught but yet the loose approach that I had was really an over correction. So this morning we are still studying this subject of life in the body and I want us to examine the subject of church membership as seen in the scriptures. Now I thought about this. I could be wrong here but I think that really there are three types of people here this morning. Some of you here you understand these truths that I'm going to share.

You've been with us for a while. Some of you have worked through this just like I have. And so for some of you this is really just kind of a reminder, a refresher. And listen folks we always need reminders. We need refreshers because we're sinful and we can lower that standard. We can ignore some truths or forget truths that we have been taught. But you know for some of you this is going to be new for some of you. We have some visitors and I'm very thankful. There are some of you you have recently come into the life of the church. So really in a way this is all very new for some of you.

And I want you to sit on the edge of your seat because you need to be moved past your church experiences and your views of church membership that you have been taught. And then some of you I believe are feeling drawn to this church. There were some of you that would say yes I'm feeling drawn to Grace Life Church of Brook Haven. I'm contemplating hey look I wouldn't mind being a member here and I need some counsel here and so you need to pay attention because this is how we view church membership in the life of this church. And this is going to be a part one and a part two. I was sharing with brother Keith earlier.

I was sharing with my wife earlier. Last night when I had about 12 pages of notes I realized I probably needed to divide this thing. But it's quite a bit. I don't want us to make sure we get everything that the Lord wants to give us. Now I want to start off by sharing what I call the reality of the local church. We need to see this more than maybe we know. We need to see the reality of the local church. Now the first use of the word church is found in Matthew 16 verse 18. Many of you know that verse. Jesus declared that he would build his church. Now I do not believe those disciples there had a clue as to what Jesus was talking about.

See when I study the lives of the disciples I feel better. Because there are many times they didn't have a clue what Jesus was talking about. Jesus was speaking of future events that those disciples could never have understood at that time. 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 back to heaven. He was seated there at the right hand of the father. The Holy Spirit was poured out on the day of Pentecost. We see that in Acts chapter 2 and from that point on we begin to see the reality of the local church on earth.

If we read Acts chapter 2 to chapter 8 we see the local church at Jerusalem. Yes the local church there at Jerusalem and you know it develops very rapidly. Many were born again many came to faith in Christ. They were baptized and the scripture said they were added to the number of believers there in the church at Jerusalem. Acts 2 says that they were devoted to the apostles teachings. They were devoted to meeting together and they were devoted to prayer. They were devoted to breaking of the bread together. They were devoted to many things. And when great needs arose they sacrificially shared among themselves.

Well then comes difficulties there in the Jerusalem church. The first was an internal difficulty. Ananias and Sapphira brought hypocritical giving into the church. And God literally killed them to keep that sent out of the fellowship there in Jerusalem. Then came the external difficulties from persecution. And we see that start in Acts chapter 8. And in Acts chapter 8 verse 1 the term that you really need to see is there. And that is the church at Jerusalem. The church at Jerusalem. So we see the reality of the local church. And we see a particular local church. This local church there at Jerusalem. But I want to take a step back here.

I want to see a little bit of a big picture. From the book of Acts to the book of Revelation. It's all about the birth of the church. It's all about the spread of the church. It's all about the development of the church all around the known world. After the book of Acts most of the New Testament was written to local churches. And it was written for encouragement. It was written for teaching. And it was written for correction. Many letters were written to many churches. Of course we have some of the letters. But you know there are some letters that we do not have. They're mentioned in scripture. Christians and leaders such as the apostles.

They traveled between these many local churches. Individuals and churches gave monies in different circumstances to different churches. Sometimes they gave sacrificially. And all of this activity and more was for the development and the health and the spread of the local church. I say it like this. Simply you just can't read the New Testament from Acts to Revelation without seeing the local church. Let me say that again. You just can't read the New Testament from the book of Acts all the way to the Revelation without seeing the local church. The church is the context of almost all that is written. And if you pull any verse.

If you pull any portion of scripture. If you pull any book out of that local church context. You are close to dangerous ground. Now I want to go a step further. And I want to briefly explain and show you the organization of the local church. The organization of the local church. Early on we see the church was organized by numbers. Yes by numbers. It seems that they kept the list. This might surprise some of you. In Acts 2 41, Acts 2 47, and later on in Acts 5 verse 14. Those verses deal with the specific numbers of people who were being born again and added to the church. Yes specific numbers.

We also see the church organized in its leadership. As the church in Jerusalem grew they appointed certain men to serve in physical matters. So that the apostles could remain devoted to spiritual matters. We know those passages in Acts 6 verses 1 to 7. There are scholars that see this as the beginning of Deacon ministry in the church. Of course Deacon ministry is seen fully developed and expressed later on in the books of Timothy and Titus. And as we progress in time in the development of the church. We begin to see more organization and more structure. Specifically we see the development of church government and leaders in the church.

The books of first and second 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 church government. We also see the practice of church discipline. If you notice what I pointed out. The first church discipline case was handled by the Lord was it not? With Ananias and Sapphira. But later he handed that responsibility off to the church. And we see church discipline in the local church there at Corinth in 1 Corinthians 5. And then over in the Thessalonica church in 2 Thessalonians 3.

So if we study the organization of the church as the local churches grow. We see church government develop. We see church leaders rise to the occasion. We see lay leadership. We see elder leadership. And we see church discipline for the good of the church. Now question. What am I trying to show you with all of this information? It's a lot of information. A lot of overview. We need to see the tangible purposeful development of the local church. From the book of Acts to Revelation. Let me say that again. We need to see the tangible purposeful development of the local church. From the book of Acts all the way to the book of Revelation.

And we see people. We see the people of the church. And we see organization. The organization of the church. We see success. Yes we see struggles all in the local churches. And this was a tangible work directed by God. Carried out through his appointed leaders and other peoples. Simply this is the reality of the local church. Not just one local church. But it's a whole bunch of them. It's just a whole long list. And listen. If you read the book of Acts all the way to the book of Revelation. You will see churches everywhere. Some we know a lot about. And some we know very little about. And listen. Let me say this emphatically.

We must see this book as a local church book. This book the Bible is not a parachurch organization book. It's not. That's really an American phenomenon mostly. And it's not just a Christian living manual. Although there's a lot in here about Christian living. This is a church a local church book. A local church manual. I was doing some looking around for a resource in my office the past week. And I found some of my old Jeep repair manuals. Some of you know a few years back I had a 1976 CJ5. Someone else had done the hard work of restoring it. I came along and bought it at a good price and I enjoyed it. But you know life changed and we moved.

And I remodeled the house and I looked up one day and my Jeep set up for a year. And that was when I realized oh my it's time to move the Jeep on. So I cleaned her up and I got her running because I have those abilities. And and I advertised that thing and I sold it real quick. It's funny how life is I had that money in my pocket. And the next thing you know my air conditioner goes out of my house. And so people ask me what happened to your Jeep. And I said well it's in the attic. It's in the attic. I had to replace my air and my heat. I didn't feel too good. But you know those Jeep manuals those repair manuals were for one purpose.

It's to help me repair and service the Jeep. And see folks it's the same thing with the Bible. Now I do know that it is a manual for Christian living. Yes I'm not trying to discount that. But this is first and foremost a church manual. And see the meaning of church membership is a part of this church manual. Because the Christian life is meant to be lived out where. Yes in the world but it's meant to be lived out where. In the local church the body of Christ. Remember we've been taught that we are supernaturally baptized into the body. Now another detail within this organization of the church.

It's surprising to some but we do see the existence of a church letter. Yes we do see the existence of a church letter. I want us to look at those scriptures that I mentioned earlier. First I want us to look at Acts the book of Acts. Acts chapter 18 verse 24 to 28. I want you to put your eyes on these verses. Mark them. Study them. Meditate over them. Acts chapter 18 24 to 28. Now a Jew named Apollos. Oh we know this man do we not. Remember he was the pastor there at Corinth after Paul. A Jew named Apollos a native of Alexandria. He came to Ephesus. He was an eloquent man competent in the scriptures.

He had been instructed in the way of the Lord and being fervor in spirit. He spoke and he taught accurately of the things concerning Jesus. Though he only knew of the baptism of John. And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue. But when Priscilla and Aquila heard of him. They took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately. And when he wished to cross into Achaia. The brothers encouraged him and they 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 the Messiah.

Now here we see that a letter. A letter. An actual letter was sent along with Apollos to the disciples. That validated Apollos spiritually in every way. Essentially this letter would have said to accept him in the church. This letter would have said accept him as a part of kingdom work. Accept him as a brother in the fellowship and in the work. Is that what the scriptures say? I want us to turn to the 2 Corinthians passage. 2 Corinthians chapter 3. Verses 1 to 3. Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Do we need as some do letters of recommendation to you or from you?

You yourselves or our letter of recommendation written on our hearts to be known and read by all. And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us written. Not with ink but in the spirit of the living God. Not on tablets of stone but on the tablets of human hearts. Now there's a lot going on here with these verses. Here Paul is defending himself. He is defending himself to the Corinthian church against false teachers who sought to discredit him. He is saying do I need a letter to prove myself as some do? This speaks of a letter which would vouch for the spiritual credibility of someone to a church to a group of believers.

Now I want us to turn to the Romans passage that we read earlier in our scripture reading. Romans chapter 16 verses 1 to 2. Romans 16 1 and 2. Paul says to the Roman church I commend to you our sister Phoebe a servant of the church at Centria. 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 is writing to the church there in Rome and he is vouching for Phoebe. See that? In every way he is encouraging the church there to accept her into their fellowship. He is saying that she can be added to the body.

He is saying that she can be added to the work. This is a letter of recommendation from Paul to the Roman church on Phoebe's behalf. Now notice these letters mentioned here said three things. First these people are in the faith. Isn't that what we see? They are true born again believers. That's right there in the letters. And then second they can be accepted into the local body into the local church. There was no sin worthy of church discipline in their life. They are in good standing with the leaders of the church and other believers. And what do we see? They will be an asset to the church and church life.

And then third we see that they can be entrusted to kingdom work. Apollos, Paul and Phoebe were all worthy of kingdom work. Yes we would say that about Paul and after we learn about Apollos we would say, "Oh yes Apollos is worthy of kingdom work." And then there is Phoebe that we know little about but that's what we see. All three were worthy of kingdom work. And more specifically they were worthy and willing to work. They're in the local church wherever they may be. And folks listen this is the biblical church letter. This is part of the basis for the biblical church letter.

To me these letters of recommendation speak to a biblical church membership. To me this is meaningful church membership. This is a part of meaningful church membership. And most likely this surprises some of you. Do you think that a recommendation by Paul about Phoebe meant something? Think about that. Do you think that a recommendation by Paul about Phoebe meant something to Phoebe and to Paul and to that Roman church? Listen it did mean something. It certainly meant something to Paul and I'm sure it meant something to Phoebe. And if the Roman church there took it all serious listen it meant something to them.

Truthfully they put her to work. Now I know there is no explicit command in the scriptures to formally join a local church. I'm not trying to add to the scripture. I know there is no explicit command in the scriptures to formally join a local church. But the biblical foundation for church membership is seen all in the New Testament. And a biblical case for church membership can be made from all that we have examined. And then more. Let me give you a little more information. This is important. The existence of specific organization in the early church clearly speaks to church membership. Let me explain what I mean.

If they had detailed lists of who was coming to faith in Christ then the leaders were keeping up with who was associated with the church there at Jerusalem. Isn't that the case? And if the church at Jerusalem was to choose seven men from among the fellowship to serve the widows that were in need they had to possess an identifiable list of who was in the church there at Jerusalem. They even had a detailed list of the widows who needed support in the church. So the church's organization speaks to an identifiable church membership. Then church discipline. The existence of church discipline in the church speaks to church membership.

If they did not have an identifiable church membership how would they apply church membership policy and practice? Simply they had to know who was in the church to know if discipline was applied to them or was needed. So church discipline naturally speaks to an identifiable church body a membership. Then the existence of specific leadership in the local church. This speaks to church membership. How will the leaders in the church know who they are responsible for? If they did not have an identifiable church membership.

And also how would the church know they are responsible to their leaders if they did not have an identifiable church membership. So specific leadership in their expected responsibilities spoke to this identifiable body or church membership. Really this brings me to the point of the message. A church letter would represent something. A church letter should represent something. A membership should represent a born again believer who is seeking to identify with a local body of believers and desirous to serve in that local church. A church membership should represent a Christian that is seeking to pour their life in the local church.

Using their time, using their physical talents, using their possessions and their monies. Oh and their spiritual gifts to do what? To work in the life of the local church. And that is what we see from Acts to Revelation. Yes from the book of Acts all the way to the book of Revelation. This is meaningful church membership. And really there is a whole lot more that we can say to describe it. Now this leads me to a definition of church membership. We've used this in the life of our church throughout the years. I have borrowed it. And I will continue to borrow it and use it in the years to come. Now this definition came from John MacArthur.

It's part of our church membership covenant. And along with our church constitution and bylaws we are revamping this information since our move. And I want to show you this definition. We have tweaked it a little. And I want us to notice. Don't try to write it down. Just look. I'll provide you that information. But I just want you to put your eyes on it and I want you to listen. And I like this. To become a member of a church is to formally commit oneself to an identifiable local body of believers who have joined together for specifically divinely ordained purposes.

And these purposes include and it gives a list of five themes that flesh out this church membership. Number one receiving instruction from God's word. Number two serving and edifying one another through the proper use of spiritual gifts. And number three participating in the ordinances. And then number four proclaiming the gospel to those who are lost. And then number five in addition when one becomes a member of a church he submits himself to the care and the authority of biblically qualified elders and pastors that God has placed in the local assembly.

Now like I said don't try to write all that down because I want to give you that information at the appropriate time. Now out of this definition I want to show us six commitments. Six commitments which flesh out what this meaningful church membership should look like. I have given you the foundation for church membership. Now I want to build some structure on that foundation. John MacArthur gives five. Like I said I have tweaked it and I have added to it. I'll take a deep breath. We're not going to cover all this morning. We're not don't worry we're going to cover two of the six this morning.

Now I want us to see number one meaningful church membership. It should represent a commitment to assemble together. Now in reading our definition we can see two things right away. First this definition does not mention assembling together as a church. It doesn't. I inserted that. But second for anyone to embrace all of the teaching there in the definition it is obvious that one must be faithful to assemble as a church. Really I can say it like this it might sound odd but it does relate. Just like I can't be faithful to fly out of Atlanta unless I get inside an airplane going to Atlanta.

I can't be faithful to do all that is listed here unless I'm faithful to assemble as a church you see. Now I want us to look at a passage that will help us here. The reference to the passage is on the screen before you. It's Hebrews 10 verses 24 to 25. This is one of those I want you to go and study on your own. Notice what the writer of Hebrews says. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and the good works. That's life in the body you see. Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and the good works.

Verse 25 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 Hebrews correcting these believers within this mostly Jewish church. It appears that many could not break from the old covenant worship which involved temple worship in Jerusalem. They were holding on to all the external religion of Judaism instead of Christ. To simplify things they were having a hard time of letting go of the old covenant and fully embracing the new in Christ. And this was keeping them from faithfully assembling together with the church.

We saw this commitment to faithfully assemble back in Acts 2. I reference the verses. Acts 2 verse 42 those within the church there at Jerusalem were faithful. They were faithful to assemble under the apostles teaching. They were to faithful to assemble for fellowship meals. They were faithful to assemble for prayer and so much more. And if we look at those verses in Acts 2 we'll see that they were committed to assemble together as the church there in Jerusalem. So there's to be a commitment. A commitment from God's people to faithfully assemble together for the instruction of God's Word and so much more.

From the newly birthed church there and on through the New Testament writings we see that God's people were faithful. Faithful to assemble. Now an application. Whatever keeps you, whatever may keep us from faithfully attending worship. That would be worship on Sunday, Sunday morning, Sunday night, even Wednesdays. That should be evaluated. Now I understand people have jobs that keep them away. I understand people are providentially hindered. But I have no men. They have prayed over their jobs. I have no men who have sought different jobs. Why? Because they knew they needed to be more faithful to the work of the church. To assembling together.

We need to evaluate our hobbies. We need to evaluate those things that are not essentials that can keep us away from the church. I'll give you one that might surprise you. Some of you need to evaluate your family relationships. Listen, if you're honest, your family can keep you away from assembling. Isn't it amazing how your family always calls you on a Sunday morning? Isn't it amazing how all these needs come up in your family just to keep you away from Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday night? So we need to evaluate those things that can pull us away from assembling together.

And what happens is these things can win in our lives because we can have a low view of assembling as a church. You know, there's a debate these days with the coronavirus pandemic about what is essential. Church is essential, folks. This work is essential. Being under the word is essential. Assembling together to encourage one another is essential. Everything about the work of the local church is essential. If we applied our commitment to the local church, to everything else in life, where would life be? Think about that. If we applied our commitment to the local church, to everything else in life, where would our life be?

If you applied your commitment to the local church, to your work life, where would your job be? If you applied your commitment to the local church, that same kind of commitment to the family, where would your family be? If you applied your commitment to the life of the local church, to your civic club, or your hobbies, where would those be? You see? And listen to be a member here at Grace Life Church, there is an expectation of faithfulness. Yes, an expectation of faithfulness. Sunday mornings, Sunday evenings. I don't know, Wednesdays can be hard, but we need to assemble on Wednesdays for Bible study.

That is a faithful time of the life of our church. Now, I don't say any of this out of guilt. No. But what I'm trying to show you is this. We must be committed to assemble together. And then number two, meaningful church membership should represent a commitment to the instruction from God's Word. Here we see the first of these divinely ordained purposes from the definition. Now, I wholeheartedly agree assembling for the instruction from God's Word should be seen as a God ordained part of worship. And it should be a very various commitment, an area of commitment in our lives.

Now, we see this in two important places in one passage, two important places in life in one passage. First, in the life of the Ephesian church, and then second in the life of Timothy. And Timothy was the young pastor there at Ephesus. Listen to Paul's commandment to Timothy. And this is 1 Timothy 4, verse 13 and 14. Paul says, "Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. Do not neglect the gift you have, which was given to you by prophecy when the counsel of elders laid their hands on you." Here we see that Timothy was to be faithful in the church to do what? To read the scriptures.

He was to be faithful to teach the scriptures. He was to be faithful to explain the scriptures. Verse 14 tells us that this was a spiritual gift that Timothy possessed. That meant spiritually speaking, he was good at it. This word exhortation in the New American Standard, it means explain, it means encourage. It can even mean to apply the word to someone's life. So there is a two-sided commitment here. First, from the one faithfully teaching, the one faithfully explaining and applying God's word. And second, from those listening to congregations. See, both were to be equally faithful. Both were to be equally faithful in this work.

Now for us, we must see that we are faithful to teach and explain God's word here. That is high on our commitment list. We are faithful to teach and explain God's word on Sunday morning, on Sunday night, and on Wednesday nights. Now this might surprise some of you, but that is my number one job as pastor and teacher and elder in the life of this church. My number one job is to teach God's word as well as other spiritual matters that need my attention. But think about Sunday mornings, faithfully going through God's word. Faithfully taking you verse by verse. Yes, dealing with subjects like this, but we're faithful to be in the scriptures.

Think about Sunday evenings. That's when we participate in adult small groups. We are faithful to study God's word. We are faithful in our women's group and in our men's group to study God's word. And we always have been in our adult groups. And think about what we do on Wednesday nights. Our children are learning God's word. Our students, our teenagers are being taught God's word. That is high on our priority list. We're not entertaining, no. And that's what we do as adults. Right now we're working through our church confession and we're studying God's word together on Sunday morning, Sunday night, and on Wednesday nights.

Let me throw a rhetorical question out there for you. Do we as a church need a Sunday night corporate worship service? Most churches have run from those. Do we as a church need a corporate worship service on Sunday nights? Brother Keith and I as elders in the life of the church believe we do. Now the timing, we don't know, but God will show us when that time comes. When that time is near. But what am I trying to show you? We must be faithful to be committed to the instruction of God's word. And again, I don't say any of this out of guilt.

No, we must have a desire to come and fellowship over the word together and be taught in a classroom setting, in a small group setting, and yes, in a corporate setting such as this. And see folks, we must see that it is the word that sanctifies and saves. It's the supernatural work of God, whereby He takes the word and uses it to save us. And it is the work of God in us to sanctify us through His word. What did Jesus pray in that great high priestly prayer? When He was praying to the Father about His disciples. Sanctify them in the word of your truth.

See folks, when we sit under the word and we submit to the word as a church, it is the word that sanctifies us and changes us. You know, there are so many today. They have reverted to home internet church, long distance church, internet church. You know what that really is, don't you? Now I do understand sometimes folks can't come. Oh, listen, if you're sick, I think you need to tune in. I think you need to honor the Lord's day when you can't be here. But I want you to see many times when folks are enjoying internet church and long distance church, you know what they really are? They're their own pastor. They're their own pastor.

See, long distance church is not found in the Bible. It's not attending a local church is pouring your life into a local church is. And see, for a meaning, this is turned into nothing but consumerism. I mean, it's just they won't church their way. And you must see that you must pour your life into a local church to be instructed from God's word. You know, when we got ready to move, I had some great encouragement for a friend of mine that's a pastor in the Nashville area. And he said, Chris, I have watched you walk with the Lord and lead the church. I see how God is leading you to move and the church to move.

And he said, I believe God will equip you to preach and to teach the way God wants you to for that day, that church, that town, those people. He said, God will use you in that day in that time. And what I'm trying to show you is this. It is God who ordains men to lead the church and to teach God's word. And you might think you need to stay home for internet church when actually you need to be in this pew hearing what God's ordained people are led of God to teach. And it's a commitment to the instruction from God's word in a local church. And that is how in our priority list, as you can see. Now, I want you to see something.

I started off with a commitment to faithfully assemble with the church. And then I moved to a commitment to being under the instruction of God's word. And notice, if we're faithful to do those two, the rest will fall into place. Think about that. If we are faithful to those two, the rest will fall into a place. If we're faithful to assemble and we're faithful to being taught the word of God, it will just work itself out. It will work itself out because it's the work of the word in us. But we definitely do need to take the time to examine the rest. And that's what we will do next week.

Now, I know that I've covered a lot of teaching here, but notice what we have seen. We have examined the biblical basis for meaningful church membership. You need to see that. I have given you the biblical basis for meaningful church membership, and we have begun to examine what that looks like. Not just a name on a roll, not just walking down the aisle and joining up, not just a church membership where you just attend on Sunday every now and then and Christmas and Easter and special occasions. No, this is what biblical church membership should look like in so many ways. And again, there's a lot more that we could say here.

But before we begin to close, I want to refer back to our church membership definition. I want to refer back to that definition. Listen close. 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. Now question that phrase formally commit oneself. Is that too much? Think about that formally commit oneself. I don't think so. I think we see this type of serious commitment exemplified in the scriptures and in the lives of New Testament saints like Paul, Phoebe, Apollos, and more.

This isn't a perfect illustration, but it's the closest one I can find. How important is your marriage covenant? How important is your marriage covenant? Well, biblical church membership is like a marriage covenant. We covenant with God to identify with a local body. Remember what we have learned. We are supernaturally Holy Spirit baptized into a local body. And we are one with that local body to do and be all that the word of God says that we should be and do. We are one, but many in the local body. We need one another. Didn't we learn that? And we are to care for one another.

Even though we are so different, we need one another and we are to care for one another. And we covenant with each other in this work as well, as we are all approaching church membership in this high and I believe biblical way. You know, as I was finishing up last night, I thought about it like this. I don't mean this in any arrogant way. I've lived every bit of this since the day God converted me. I have lived every single bit of this. Yes, even when I struggle to understand biblical church membership, my spiritual birthday is coming up February the 9th of 1989. I came to know the Lord. God saved me. And I'm telling you what?

I took a Bible out of my closet and I went to my what I call my home church in Laurel, Mississippi. I didn't grow up there at Highland Baptist Church, but God was working there. And I had family that had come to faith and they started going there. And I'm telling you, I came to faith in Christ on a Saturday night. And I grabbed that Bible out of the top shelf in my closet. And I walked in the door of Highland Baptist Church. And I love those people because God had supernaturally done a work in me whereby I love them. And I'm telling you, I poured my life into that church. I was there for Tuesday night visitation.

I was there for a Wednesday night prayer meeting. I went to Sunday school. I was there on Sunday morning and Sunday night. I was there for the special events. It wasn't out of guilt. I love the people. I love the word taught. I loved it when Brother Ken Regan taught Sunday school. I love the work of the church. When God called me into the ministry, God supernaturally put me in a new place. And when I went to First Baptist Church in Ellisville, Mississippi, I lived the same commitment. I loved the work of the church. It didn't matter if I drew a paycheck. I loved those people. I loved Sunday morning. I loved Sunday night.

I loved everything about the life of the church. There was this supernatural work where God put me in that body. And then lo and behold, the Spirit of God began to move in my life. God began to call me to move. And I moved to Brookhaven, Mississippi in 2002. And when I came to East Haven Baptist Church as a youth pastor, I loved that church. I loved that fellowship. I loved those people. I loved the work of the church, even the struggles of the church. And I poured my life into the work of the church there. And oh, as time went on and God called me into the work of a pastor, I loved Nola Baptist Church when God took me out there.

And there were so many questions about the future. I loved that work. And I poured my life into that work. I'll let you in on a little catchphrase, Brother Keith and I always had back in our Nola Baptist Church days. You know, Nola Baptist Church was overlooked by many. Pretty depressed facility. Pretty far out in the country. But Brother Keith will attest to this. We always treated Nola Baptist Church like it was first Baptist Church, Dallas. Now, what do I mean by first Baptist Dallas? I've never been to first Baptist Dallas. See, there are a lot of people that would treat something like first Baptist Church. Dallas, serious.

Oh, but they would overlook Nola Baptist Church. No, that was never our attitude. We rolled up our sleeves and we poured our whole life into the work. Why? Because what I'm teaching you is what the Spirit of God worked out in my life and what we lived. And it's the same commitment we bring to Grace Life Church here in Brookhaven. So what are we going to look at? Because we'll wrap this up next Sunday morning. This meaningful church membership. This is a must. And this is for spiritual health on an individual basis. Yes, this is for your spiritual health, but this is for church health. This is for the good of the church.

This is all tied to what subject? What subject? Life in the body. So let's take what we've looked at this morning. Let's commit it to the Lord and let's ask God to teach us and to correct us and to mold us and to make us who he wants us to be. Not just from what we study this morning, but also next week as we cover the part two. Let's pray.