Sermon Cloud

© Eric M Schumacher – Preached February 4, 2007 at Northbrook Baptist Church, Cedar Rapids, Iowa

In his satirical, tongue-in-cheek book, A Field Guide to Evangelicals and Their Habitat, Joel Kirkpatrick offers this side-bar on the importance of numbers in evangelical church life:

Evangelicals are highly competitive about church size. Some churches calculate their size by the number of people who attend on Sunday morning. Others count all the people they “touch” in any given week, including those visited in the hospital, those sent bulk mailings, and those prayed for. It is easy for a church of 100 to claim thousands of members by spreading itself around a bit.

Baptist churches are particularly adept at this. They define a member as any person, alive or dead, who visited the church once in the past thirty years, plus all his or her relatives, whose existence need not be verified. For this reason, Southern Baptists, a group of about 21,000 nationwide, have long boasted the largest membership of any Protestant denomination, about 15 million. That muffled sound you hear is dead Baptists in their graves applauding their membership superiority.

Is that what membership is all about? Is it us, as a denomination or a local church, showing by our numbers that we are superior to the church down the street? It could be. We need to be careful in our discussions on membership. We must be biblical, and not merely pragmatic or traditional, or we could in up with something that looks more like the worship of numbers than a house built to worship the Lord.

Formal, Active Membership

Last Sunday, we began to take a look at the topic of the local church. I argued that it is healthiest, wisest and most biblical for us to emphasize, encourage and practice formal, active membership. I offered a few biblical defenses of formal membership.

By formal membership, I meant that the member officially declares his commitment to fellowship in a particular local church and that local church officially declares their acceptance of that person into their fellowship. Usually, this is done through a membership list, or some other way of having a means of clearly defining who is and who is not a member.

While I believe that what I said last week is right and is therefore important, I want to emphasize that what I said last week about formal membership is not enough. Having one’s name on the membership list of a local church is only the beginning.

This is why I say that we should have formal, active church membership. Without our membership being active, our formal membership is both meaningless and dangerous to the church and the individual.

Active Membership

Last week, I defined active membership in this way: By active, I mean that members regularly attend and participate in that local church, unless they are providentially hindered (that is, prevented by circumstances beyond their control). This means that as a formal member, you covenant with other Christians to meet together to worship the Lord and to carry out his teachings. As an active member, you actually carry out the promises you made—you attend and use your gifts in the life of the body.

The SBC

This might seem logical. After all, if you are going to join something, why wouldn’t you be active? You don’t become a member at a golf course, unless you actually intend to play golf! You don’t become a member of a book club unless you plan to read a book! Likewise, you can’t be a member of many organizations unless you actually show up and participate.

While it seems logical, it is something that many churches in the last century have had a difficult time comprehending. A 2004 study of the Strategic Information and Planning department of the Sunday School Board reported that of the Southern Baptist Convention’s then 16,287,494 members, only 6,024,289 (or, 37%) attended the primary worship meeting of the church. Beyond that, only 12.3% of the membership attended something more than a once a week meeting.[1]

The average Southern Baptist congregation is about 233 members, with 70 in attendance on Sunday mornings. This leads one concerned observer to ask: “Where are the other 163 members? Are they all at home sick, in a rest home, at college, on vacation, or in the military? Maybe some are, but all 163 of them?”[2]

The practice of inactive membership makes membership both meaningless and dangerous. Last week I defined membership as:

Membership is the individual believer’s public statement that he affirms and commits to the faith and practice of a local church and promises to join actively with that body. It is the local church’s public statement that the individual is a believer who evidences repentance and faith and that it accepts this person into their fellowship.

Formal membership is an individual’s affirmation of and commitment to a local congregation of believers.

On the one hand, formal vows that are not lived out are worse than meaningless, they are lies. If you are a person who is a formal member of a church that you do not attend, I would ask one favor of you today. Contact the pastor of the church where your membership resides. Ask him to send you a copy of the church covenant (if they have one) or a copy of the promises made when a person becomes a member. Ask him to send you an outline of what a member of that church is expected to do. Then, ask yourself if your formal membership in that church is a reflection of a living commitment, or if your membership is a lie.

On the other hand, you cannot, with any integrity, make an honest, public affirmation of an individual or a congregation that you do not see. If we never see those on our membership list, how do we know that we’re not lying? How do you know that that church is remaining faithful to the Scriptures in its faith and practice if you are not there to observe it? If you don’t attend, how do you know what they preach, teach, and do? How do you know that you can be a part of it? Yet, your membership says that you believe it is.

Likewise, how do we know that an individual is holding fast to the faith and following Christ, if we never see them? Yet, by continuing to have them on our rolls, we make just that statement.

This is why I say that inactive membership is so dangerous. By granting membership, we give our formal declaration that we believe John Doe is saved, while his habitual actions show evidence that he probably is not. Yet, he sleeps sound at night because The First Baptist Church of Such-n-Such has formally declared him a Christian.

Biblical Defense

Those reasons are mainly practical, though important. I want to offer a few strong biblical reasons for why you should be actively involved in a local church.

1) Because the Bibles commands—through example and by direct statement—your active devotion to a local church.

The example of the earliest Christians, which seems to hold true throughout the New Testament, is found in Acts 2:

Acts 2:41-42 So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls. And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

It was simply assumed that once you believed you were baptized. And, after you were baptized, you devoted yourself to joining with other believers to hear God’s Word taught, to encourage each other, to take the Lord’s Supper and to pray together, weekly and more often when possible.

We have more than examples, however. We have a direct command to be actively involved in a local church.

Hebrews 10:24-25 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

We are commanded not to neglect to meet together. This “meeting together” refers to what we heard from Acts 2—a regular assembly of believers who devote themselves to meeting together for these things.

2) The gifts of the Spirit cannot be rightly used without being active in a church.

In several passages in 1 Corinthians (12:4-11; 14:12), Paul makes it clear that the Spirit gives gifts that are intended for the “common good” and the “building up of the church.” The context makes it clear that Paul is speaking of the local church. If you are not using your gifts to serve the local church, you are not using your gifts as the Spirit intends.

On a side note that supports formal membership, you should join a church because many ministry opportunities are available to church members only. This is because the church needs a way of knowing that you are united with her in doctrine and practice. The church cannot be appointing people to serve or teach if they do not know if their faith and lifestyle matches what the church believes. You may have attended a church for thirty years, but unless you’ve formally declared your agreement and support, how do they know where you stand.

So, be an active member of a church so that you can put your spiritual gifts to right use amongst God’s people. John MacArthur, in his defense of church membership states, “Not joining the church is saying, ‘I don’t want to serve the only institution Christ ever built.’”

3) The “one another” commands of Scripture require it.

In our bulletin, I’ve printed an insert of 40-some commands in the English Standard Version of the Bible that contain the phrase “one another.” One author has counted 58 in the New Testament. Of course, there are other commands that have the same effect and don’t use this phrase. But, this allows for a quick overview of what the Bible commands regarding our relationship with other believers.

Wayne Mack makes three observations regarding these commands:

1. They are commands. In other words, if we’re not doing these things, we’re in disobedience.
2. They are all in the present tense. This means they are things we should be continually doing.
3. Most of these commands are given to local churches.

A “one another” command requires you to have “another” person in order to carry it out. The fact that most of these commands are given in letters written to local churches show that they are referring to the relationships that Christians have within the church. If, therefore, you withdraw yourself from involvement in the local church, you withdraw yourself from obedience to these commands. Mack concludes, “It’s impossible to understand how these commands may be truly fulfilled towards other believers without committed involvement in a local church.”

4) Because wise and righteous people welcome and pursue accountability, while the stupid and self-seeking avoid and hate it.

Wayne Mack comments, “I believe that one major reasons that the church of Jesus Christ in the United States is very close to being in sheer chaos today is because so many people think of themselves as individuals rather than as part of the body of Christ. Christianity is not ‘every man for himself’; it’s every man together for Christ.”

The local church is God’s appointed means of fellowship and accountability. When we avoid the local church, we avoid accountability.

Proverbs 18:1 Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire; he breaks out against all sound judgment.

The man who avoids fellowship (isolates himself) does so because he is seeking his own desire and is going against sound judgment (he is foolish).

Psalm 141:5 Let a righteous man strike me--it is a kindness; let him rebuke me--it is oil for my head; let my head not refuse it.

Proverbs 9:8-9 Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you; reprove a wise man, and he will love you. Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser; teach a righteous man, and he will increase in learning.

Proverbs 12:1 Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid.

A righteous and wise man understands that his heart is prone to leave the God he loves. Therefore, he sees the “strikes” and “rebukes” (that something like church membership and discipline afford) as kindness and as the anointing of oil on his head. In order to have such accountability from fellow believers, it is necessary that we gather together with them.

If you are a wise and righteous person, you want accountability. Active membership in a local church is a means of getting that accountability.

5) Because habitually meeting together for mutual encouragement is God’s means of keeping us in the faith.

In Hebrews 10, the author of Hebrews is writing to Christians who have experienced severe persecution (see verses 32-34).

In verse 23 he encourages these Christians not to allow persecution to keep them abandoning their faith. Rather, he writes, “let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering.” The author’s goal is that these Christians remain faithful to their confession of faith. Question: Why is it so important that they “hold fast the confession of their hope”?

It is important that they “hold fast the confession” because genuine faith perseveres to the end. Those who claim to believe for a little while and then “set aside” the faith show that they were never truly “born again” in the first place. This is the argument that the author unfolds as the chapter progresses.

See verses 26-31. Those who go on living in willful, unrepentant sin after hearing the gospel cannot expect to have their sins covered by Christ’s sacrifice. Rather, they can only expect “judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.”

He makes this claim based off of the Old Covenant law. If someone had the law of Moses and then “set it aside,” that is they disregarded it and lived in disobedience to it, then they were sentenced to death. He argues then, if someone receives such a severe punishment for setting aside the law of Moses, how much worse a punishment is deserved by the one who has the Gospel of Jesus Christ and then, after claiming to believe it and live according to it for a little while, sets it aside—spurning the Son of God, profaning his blood, and outraging the Spirit of grace!? This person, who sets aside the gospel of Jesus Christ to live in disobedience, will be repaid in God’s vengeance and will fall into the hands of the living God.

In verses 32-35, the author reminds these Christians of how they had already persevered through persecutions and sufferings. He reminds them in verse 36 that they have “need of endurance” so that they may receive what is promised—the inheritance of salvation.

Those who do not endure in the faith do not receive the promised salvation. That is the frightening truth outlined in the rest of the chapter. In verse 38, he quotes the Old Testament to show that the Lord says, “my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.” What happens to the one who shrinks back? Verse 39 tells us that he is “destroyed.”

So, this is why the author makes this earnest plea in verse 23, “Let us hold fast the confession o four hope without wavering…” If we do not hold to the confession of faith, then we will set aside Christ, we will shrink back, we will not endure, we will not receive what is promised, and we will be destroyed! Salvation is at stake in holding to the confession of faith!

What does all this have to do with being an active part of a local church? Look at verses 23-25. After encouraging them to “hold fast the confession of our faith,” he encourages them to find ways to help each other to do that. “Let us consider how to stir one another to love and good works.” Christians are to be strategic and intentional in their efforts to find ways to help each other show love and do good deeds, which are the outworking and evidence of “holding fast the confession.”

Notice verse 25. The author clarifies how to stir one another up by adding, “not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” Some had evidently quit assembling with the local body of believers for fear of persecution. The author does not want this because you cannot encourage each other unless you meet with each other.

Notice that—neglecting to meet together and encouragement cannot co-exist. If you do not meet together, then you cannot encourage each other. (This is one reason why we all must be intentional about visiting and encouraging members whose health and circumstances do not allow them to come here!)

Follow the logic of this passage: If you do not meet together, then you cannot encourage one another. If you do not encourage one another, you are not stirring up one another to love and good deeds. This encouragement is God’s ordained means for keeping his people in the faith. If we are not encouraged, we will not hold fast the confession of the faith. If we do not hold fast the confession of the faith, we have spurned the Son of God, profaned his blood, outraged the Spirit and shrank back. If we do these things, then all that remains for us is the fearful expectation of judgment and a fury of fire and our own destruction in the hands of a God who takes no pleasure in us.

This is why it is so important that you regularly attend a local congregation of believers! Going to church will not save you. We are saved by God’s grace through believing that Jesus Christ died for our sins and was raised from the dead. We do not put our hope in our works or religious practices, but in Jesus Christ alone.

However, true faith in Jesus Christ will persevere unto the end. All true believers will hold fast to the confession of our hope. One of the means that God has given to preserve and persevere the faith of his people is the encouragement that comes through the assembly of believers.

Therefore, attending church will not save you. However, attending church is one of God’s means of grace for keeping you in the faith through which you are saved. To forsake meeting together with the local church may be a sign that you have forsaken the faith or are about to.

Simply by showing up and participating in the corporate service of worship, you are encouraging other believers to press on in the faith. Even if you are physically unable to participate in any other ministry of the church, your attendance is a declaration to other (younger!) believers that this faith is worth persevering in.

Likewise, your absence (if it is without good reason) sends a message to other believers and the world about how worthwhile the faith is. John MacArthur asks, “How wonderful can Christ be if we’re not even committed to being associated with His church?”

So, for the sake of your own soul and for the encouragement of others, be an active, attending member of a church.

There is much more that could be said in regard to why you need to be active in a local church, but time does not permit me to do so. So, I will conclude with one final reason that is especially fitting this morning.

6) The meaning of the Lord’s Supper requires active love for the church.

In 1 Corinthians 11:20, Paul writes, “When you come together, it is not the Lord’s supper that you eat.” First, I’d have you notice that Paul does not say, “When you come together for the purpose of eating the Lord’s supper,” he simply says, “when you come together.” One of the things this implies is that taking the Lord’s supper was something that the early church observed every time they came together. The contemporary practice of having the Lord’s Supper once a year or once a quarter is hard pressed to find a basis for such infrequency from the Scriptures.

Paul says that it is not the Lord’s supper that they eat because of the way that they treat each other. Sure, they are “formal” members of the Corinthian church. And, they are even “regular attenders” in the church—they regularly attend when there is a meal.

However, they are failing to live out what the Lord’s supper means. The Lord’s supper is a remembrance of what Jesus Christ did to redeem his people—he shed his blood and died on a cross for their sins. In John 17, Jesus’ final prayer for his people was that they would be “one” and that his love would be in them. This follows on Jesus new commandment to his people that they love each other the way that he has loved them.

The Corinthian church was taking the Lord’s supper while their actions displayed self-centeredness and a lack of concern for others in the body. When the Lord’s supper is taken by people who are not actively living out love for one another, then it ceases to be “the Lord’s supper.” Worse, it brings the discipline of the Lord upon the congregation.

When we neglect to attend and be active members of a church, we neglect to love each other. When we allow our church rolls to be filled with people who have forsaken the “assembling of ourselves together,” then our membership has ceased to be an expression of love for one another. When 70% of a church’s membership is habitually absent from the gathering of the body and nothing is done, that church has failed to love them biblically. When we fail to love each other, we make a mockery of the Lord’s supper—and what it represents; we mock our Savior’s body and blood.

We must not be content to have a membership list and ask people to join. We must commit ourselves to actively living out all that that membership means as we commit to being accountable to one another as we gather to worship the Lord and live out His word as members of one another.

If you are actively living out your faith in a crucified and risen Savior by being a member of a community of believers, then please join with us today as we eat this meal.

[1] As quoted in Jim Elliff, “Southern Baptists, an Unregenerate Denomination.”
[2] Mark Dever, A Display of God’s Glory.