Why: Membership - 1st February 2026

Well, good morning. Please take your

Bibles

and open them up to Romans chapter 12.

Romans 12 · chapter mention

Romans chapter 12.

Romans 12 · chapter mention

That's where we will start. That's where

we'll begin. Um, if you have your

Bibles, you can follow along in your

Bibles. I would encourage you to do

that. Um, but I'll be moving quite fast

through a number of different verses,

and those verses will also be up on the

screen for you. Um, so please begin by

opening up your Bibles to Romans

Romans 12 · chapter mention

chapter 12. Let's pray and ask the Lord

to help us as we look at his word

together.

Lord, we are thankful that we have your

word in front of us and we pray once

again that you will speak. We pray once

again that you will teach us

this morning as we look at the Bible in

a different way. As we look at a topic

and we teach through that topic, help

us. Help us learn and help us learn for

the glory of your name. We want to be a

people who loves you and we want to be a

people who honors you. And we ask Lord

Jesus that you will speak. I thank you

so much for that song that we have just

sung. Lord, if it was up to us to hold

ourselves, we would be lost. But we

praise your name that you hold us fast,

you hold us tightly, and you never let

go. For that we praise you. Thank you,

Lord. In your precious name, Jesus, we

pray all of these things. Amen. Amen.

So, Romans 12 is where we are going to

begin. And what we're are continuing to

do in this series is ask the question

why. Why do we as a church do the things

that we do? And the really important

reason we are asking that question why

is because sometimes churches get into a

rut and just start doing things. And we

start doing things because it's just

tradition and we forgot why we began

them in the first place. And so we as a

church should always know why we are

doing what we are doing and we should

always be directed by the scriptures.

So this morning we are asking the

question why in relation to membership.

Why do we as a church have and why do we

as a church practice membership?

Why do we do that?

my first members meeting.

I was 18 years old

and I went into the members meeting.

It's kind of embarrassing to say, but I

went into the members meeting and I sat

down.

I was 18 and I was a bit grumpy and I

was a bit cheeky and all th those kind

of things. And I sat in the meeting and

I started chatting with someone. They

were talking to me and I can't remember

what question they asked me. I can't

even remember the conversation we had,

but I remember what I said to that

person.

I said to them,

well, I don't believe that membership is

biblical anyway.

So, here I am sitting in my first

members meeting. I'm 18 years old and I

want to make sure that someone in the

meeting knows I actually don't think

this is biblical. Anyway,

I was a cheeky pup.

And then you would say, "Well, Shane,

why did you do it? Why did you become a

member anyway?" Well, I became a member

for two reasons at that point. I became

a member because I respected the leaders

in the church, and I knew I needed to

follow the directions of the leaders in

the church. So, it's like, well, if they

have it, I'll obey it. And then they

also gave me reasons to believe that we

couldn't actually be biblical as a

church if we didn't have this. And so

that was the reason. But I still wanted

to tell someone I don't think it's

biblical.

I've since changed my view. Uh and I'm

thankful for that. But I understand and

realize and recognize that people here

this morning, you might have different

opinions on that. And that is okay.

There is probably the person visiting

this morning that has never heard of

membership.

And for you, I would say, I have been

there. I don't have a clue what this

person is talking about. That's okay. I

just encourage you and say this is a

different kind of sermon this morning

and you are listening to kind of an

in-house conversation and hopefully you

will get to learn a bit of what this

church is about. So there's the person

who's visiting that has never heard.

Then there is the person probably here

that kind of says,"I actually don't

think it's it's biblical. I don't see it

in the Bible." And I've been there. And

I think that's okay. There are people as

well who are probably in this room

saying, "It's probably biblical. I guess

it is. I'm just going to believe and

trust them anyway. Don't ask me

questions about why I think it's

biblical, but I'm just going to go along

with it." And then there is others who

are totally convinced that this is what

we should be doing. And I reckon there's

probably each of those people in this

room this morning. And I just want to

encourage you and say I've been in all

of those places. And I don't expect us

all to be in the exact same place with

all of what I say this morning. But what

I want to encourage you is to bring you

to the place at least where you say, "I

think this is biblical." And if I don't

get you there, I think I could get you

to the place where you might at least

say we can't be biblical without this.

And if I don't get you there, at least

you might say that at least they're

trying to be biblical in doing this.

That's my hope this morning.

So why church membership? First thing I

want to say is this. People are called

members. That's the first reason for

church membership. People are called

members. People are called members in

the Bible. Those who believe and trust

in Jesus are actually called members.

The word members is a very good and

biblical word to use. It's not a wrong

word. It's a really good word to use.

And here's why I say that. Romans 12:4

Romans 12:4

says this. Romans 12:4, look at it. For

Romans 12:4

as in one body, we have many members.

And the members do not all have the same

function, so we though many are one body

in Christ and individually members of

one another. Paul is talking to the

church at Rome and he's saying you're

you're all part of one body and you're

you're different members of that body.

You have different body parts. And what

Paul was arguing is you're in the one

body. You're in the one house of God and

each one has different gifts in the

house of God. Each one is a different

member and each one functions as part of

the body. Yes, you are one body, but you

have a hand and you have feet and you

have all sorts of things in order to

serve that body. We are all members of

the one body. That's how he is talking

to the church. So the word member, we'll

get to the concept of membership in this

as well, but we'll talk about the word

member, it is biblical. But then we

understand that what happens with the

church is so interesting. Whenever you

use a common word that's used about

anything in this world, but you attach

it to the church, what happens? It

suddenly becomes really weird, doesn't

it? You take words and you attach it to

the church and then it suddenly becomes

really weird. So you might look at a

group of people and you might say, you

know, that person is is a really good

leader in that group in that team. That

person is a really good leader in that

team. But then you say leaders in the

church and suddenly people start to get

scared and say, "Oh, that's kind of

weird. Leaders." Oh, who's the leader of

this church? Kind of sounds weird and

strange when you attach it to the

church. People look at it that way. Or

you mention money and people might say,

"I'm giving money to charity." And

that's fine. But as soon as you talk

about giving money to the church,

that is actually a registered charity.

As soon as you start talking about

giving to the money to the church,

people start going, "Well, that's weird.

Are they all after your money?"

Suddenly, it becomes strange. So, it is

with members. There's there's members in

every single club on this island. Loads

of people might attend the club, but

there are those who are like committed

to it that are members of it. Seems

normal. No one accuses them of anything.

But as soon as you say members in the

church, oh some kind of secret club or

something going on and it becomes kind

of strange and weird.

But our concern should never be how it

sounds by using the word. Our concern is

is the word biblical and it actually is.

The word member is biblical. And so we

shouldn't be shy of using that word

membership. And as we think of the word

membership, I think it is helpful to

think of membership in two ways.

You are a member of the church in two

ways. And how we can think about it is

kind of like this. When a baby is born

into this world, when a baby is born

into this world, they become a member of

the human race.

The human race that was in the past, the

human race that is in the present, and

the human race that is in the future.

They become a a human being. They're

part of the human race. And that human

being has general responsibilities to

humanity, to everyone in the world.

General responsibilities.

But so that human being has like a

universal family, let's say. But then it

is also true that when that baby is

born, that baby doesn't just have a

universal family. That baby has a local

family, an immediate family.

And that baby gets that birth cert like

we were talking about that confirms

publicly that they are part of that

local family.

And they don't have just general

responsibilities to the universal family

but they have specific significant

intimate responsibilities to their local

family.

And so it is with the church. The moment

you are born again, the moment you have

trusted in the Lord Jesus is the very

moment that you become part of the

universal church.

You become part of the church that was

past, present, and future. And you have

responsibilities to your brothers and

sisters all around the world. You're a

family. You're part of the universal,

the global church all around the world.

You pray for them. You care for them all

generally. you give may maybe you give

money towards them generally and so when

the scripture says church sometimes it's

talking about the global church or the

universal church so look at Matthew

Matthew 16:18

16:18 in Matthew 16:18 it says this and

Matthew 16:18

I tell you Jesus says and I tell you you

are Peter and on this rock I will build

my church and the gates of hell shall

not prevail against it. Jesus is the one

who builds the church, the global

church, the universal church. And the

global church is on the attack. And and

you know what it says about the verse?

The gates of hell. Hell is defensive. It

has gates. And guess what? The kingdom

is going to blow through those gates. I

will build my church and the gates of

hell will not prevail. And then he also

talks about the universal church. Paul

when he's writing to the Ephesians in

Ephesians chapter 5 verse 25 he's

Ephesians 5:25

actually talking to husbands and he says

this

husbands love your wives as Christ loved

the church and gave himself up for her.

The encouragement to husbands is husband

love your wives in what way? As Christ

loved the church. Not one specific local

church. all of the church, the global

church, the universal church. Christ

gave himself up for the universal

church. So when we think of members, you

should to think of members in relation

to the whole church, the total church.

And the moment you believe and trust in

Jesus, the moment you're born again, you

are a member of that church. Brothers

and sisters, you're you're part of that.

You're part of that family. But then

there is the local church.

The local church that you should be part

of, that you should be added to, that

you should commit to, that you should

specifically love. You can't love every

Christian everywhere in the same way as

you can love a local particular church

that you have decided to be a part of.

And so Paul in writing to the local

church in Corenth, look at 1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 12:12

12:12. It says this. Paul says to them,

to this church, just as the body is one

and has many members and all are members

of the body, though many are one body.

So it is with Christ. For in one spirit

we were all baptized into the one body.

Jews are Greeks, slaves are free, and

all were made to drink of the one

spirit. Again, he uses that word

members. It is a really good word to use

of the church. We are to be members as

part of one body. He's talking to this

local church. And he gives them

instructions as a body. We'll look at

this next week when we look at the

Lord's supper. But when he's writing to

the Corinthians, he corrects their

practice of the Lord's supper because he

assumes they are a body. They are a

church. He says to them, when you gather

as a body, as a church, here's what you

are to do. And so, they have become

members of this one body. They all have

different gifts. And how did they become

members of that one body? Well, the

scripture says in verse 13, they were

all baptized into that body. And so, it

was baptism, spiritual baptism, um,

physical water baptism. That is the

baptism that Jesus gave and that

connects them to the body that is the

church. So that's the word member. It is

biblical. But then you might say, "Oh,

well the word is biblical, but is the is

the concept biblical? Is the idea of it

biblical membership?"

Well, to that I would say

um let me put it this way. Do you think

that the hypothatical union is biblical?

What is that?

It's not written in the Bible.

But I do believe it's biblical.

It is really biblical

because in that hypothatic union, we

believe that Jesus is fully God and

fully man.

We believe that two natures, one person.

But there is not a verse in the Bible

that says, "Thou shalt believe the

hypothetical union." No. What happens is

we gather all these verses together in

scripture. We gather those verses

together. And as we pull those verses

together, we believe Jesus is fully God

and he is fully man. And I'm going to

believe this.

Do you believe that the trinity is

biblical?

You should.

But if you look for the word trinity,

you are not going to find it in the

Bible.

But the concept it is there. If you

gather all the verses together

in the Bible, you must believe in God

the Father, God the Son, God the Holy

Spirit.

We sang blessed trinity. That is what

Christians believe, but we believe it on

the basis of this. Not one single verse,

but as we grab the verses together, we

believe in the context. And so it is

with membership. I believe we have the

word member. We actually have the word

there in scripture. But then as you look

at the verses and you gather them all

together, I believe you will see that

the concept too is there.

And so that brings us to our second

point. People are not only called

members, but people are added as

members. People are added to the church

as members. So as we look at this

concept and bring the verses together,

you will see in scripture that it is

clear that people are added to the

church. Acts 1:14. Look at this. As the

Acts 1:14

church first gathered together, it says

this. All these with one accord were

devoting themselves to prayer together

with the women and Mary the mother of

Jesus and his brothers. In those days

Peter stood up among the brothers. The

company of the persons was in all about

120. So here's what happened. The church

they counted their numbers. They counted

the specific members who are part of the

church which means they counted 120 and

they knew this 120 are in and the others

therefore are out. They counted that

number and then Peter began to preach

and he stood up and he said repent of

your sins, believe and be baptized. And

after people repented of their sins,

they believed and they were baptized.

Those people were then added to that

specific number. Acts 2:41 says this,

Acts 2:41

"For those who received his word were

baptized, and there were added that day

about 3,000 souls."

So there was members, 120. They

believed, they were baptized, they were

added. And then Peter preached and those

received his word. In other words, they

believed the word of the gospel. And

when they believed the word of the

gospel, what happened? They were added

as members to the body that is the

church, 3,000 souls. And then it

continues on. The Lord just kept adding

to their number. Acts 2 46. And day by

day, attending the temple together, and

breaking bread in their homes, they

received their food with glad and

generous hearts, praising God, and

having favor with all people. And the

Lord added to their number day by day

those who were being saved. You see very

early on these these uh people that were

part of the body that were part of the

church. They believed they were

baptized. They were added to the church.

They knew who each other were. And so

what they did was they cared for each

other. They had each other in the homes.

They broke bread together. They did life

together. They knew who was who. They

knew, yes, of course, we're all brothers

and sisters. Paul writes to the church

in Rome that he never met and calls them

brothers and sisters. We all have the

universal church. Were all part of that

family. But there is a specific family

that they were devoted to. And again,

the number increased in Acts 4:4. It

Acts 4:4

says this, "But many of those who had

heard the word believed,

and the number of men came to about

5,000."

Now, it counts the men specifically, and

you should know this. In the in the

feeding of the 5,000, one of the ways

they would count back in the day is the

feeding of the 5,000 was actually

probably the feeding of the 20,000. What

they were doing was they were counting

the men. They weren't counting the women

and the children. And so, this was the

way they count. But here is the reality.

The church counted. The church knew who

believed. The church knew who was

baptized. And the church knew who was

added to their number. What I want to

say is this as a church is that you

should understand

that the pattern was this. No gaps.

Someone believed,

they were baptized and then they were

added to the church. There were no gaps.

What I think has happened in our

tradition, in our church specifically

and churches like ours, is somehow we've

inserted gaps.

People believe

and then we wait

for months, maybe years, whatever, until

I don't know what, maybe they get mature

or whatever. And then they get baptized.

And then we wait again for another while

and whatever. And then finally when

they've really made it, they get added

to the church. Being sarcastic there.

They're added to the church.

But the biblical pattern seems to be

that there was no gaps. People believed,

they were baptized, they were added to

the church. Now, I don't say that to

condemn any church or condemn any one

individual.

I understand why people would actually

wait because each one of those things is

significant.

I understand that someone might want to

um hold to believers baptism so much

that that we might wait and and ensure

that the person who believes is actually

being baptized. I get that. But the

pattern seems to be that there are no

gaps.

So I think for us as a church going

forward there probably should be no gaps

and we haven't always practiced it that

way. We're not a perfect church but it

is good to look at the word of God and

say are we doing it right? And this was

the principle of the reformation. The

principle of the reformation was this.

We will always be reforming.

We will always be reforming. And that

didn't mean, hey, we're just going to

change every single day. Let's just

change it up a little bit. That's not

what they meant. The reformers meant

this. We will always be reforming

according to the scriptures because they

knew very cleverly they knew this. The

scriptures never change. But here's what

happens. People do. And so suddenly what

happens when a church gathers together,

they go, "Oh, this might be practical."

They have the biblical practice. And

then they say, "This might be practical.

Maybe this might be practical. This

might be practical. This might be." And

they keep adding on and suddenly they're

doing this practice that has really

divorced away from what the scripture

says. And so we as a church, we want to

be always reforming.

What does the Bible say? And let's do

that.

So going forward as a church as we've

chatted as elders about this we think

simply put people should believe

they should be baptized soon afterwards

and they should be baptized into the

church added to the church. We're going

to talk to the members of the church

about how we we might do this even

practically. But you can see that's the

pattern of scripture and that's where we

want to go. So people were called

members. People were added as members.

But then the difficult reality is this.

People were also removed from the church

as members. This was a biblical

practice. Now the positive side is

really good to talk about. It's really

fun to talk about. People believe,

they're baptized, they're added. I mean,

imagine being part of the church at that

time, lads. We have 120 seats. Amazing.

Amazing. 120 seats. Next Sunday, 3,000

seats. Next Sunday, 5,000 seats. And

that's just for the men. Like, what

would it have been like to be part of

that church? Just growing and growing

and growing and growing and growing. And

it's so good when people are believing

and being baptized and added to the

church. That's really good.

But there is also a part where the

church is not only given authority to

add people into the church. But Jesus

gave the church authority to remove

people from the church.

Jesus said, "All authority in heaven and

earth has been given unto me. Go

therefore and baptize." Jesus gave the

church the authority to baptize. But he

also gave people the church the

authority to remove. And we see this in

Matthew 18. Look at Matthew 18

Matthew 18:15

verse 15.

These are the words of Jesus. And how

does he instruct us? He says these

words.

If your brother sins against you,

go and tell him his fault before you

between you and him alone. If he listens

to you, you have gained your brother.

But if he does not listen, take one or

two others along with you, that every

charge may be established by evidence of

one or two or three witnesses. And if he

refuses to listen to them, tell it to

the church. And if he refuses even to

listen to the church,

let him be to you as a gentile and a tax

collector.

This is what people will traditionally

call church discipline or what I would

like to call church restoration. There

is a key word that is repeated

throughout these verses. The word is

listen.

The goal in all of this is you want your

brother and sister or sister who is

caught in sin. Your desire is that they

listen.

Your desire, your hope is that they see

their sin and repent and turn back to

Jesus. Your hope is that they will

listen to you. The goal is restoration.

And the pattern is if you see sin in

another person who's a member in the

church, the pattern is this. You would

go to them and you would tell them their

sin and then it would just be solved

immediately. The pattern isn't that you

would go immediately to the elders and

they'll sort it out. The pattern is

actually that as brothers and sisters,

we might help one another live for

Jesus. I want people who see my sin to

help me live for Jesus. I want them to

point that out because I'm not always

going to see my sin. I, Shane Dean, have

blind spots. Do you? I bet you do.

And you need people to point that out to

you. And so this is a really good and

loving thing to do. It is a loving thing

to discipline each other. That's the

point in in Hebrews that is made of of

the father who who loves his child. In

discipline, the father shows love to the

child.

And so it is with this in church

discipline that not only are people

added to the church, but they're to be

removed from the church. So if this

biblical practice is going to happen,

then what needs to happen in order for

that to take place? Well, at some point

there has to be a gathering of some

people that are called the church. And

they have to gather together and hear

about this person. If it's finally

brought to the church, they need to hear

about this person. And they as a group

need to decide.

And I don't think you can do that unless

you know who is part of the church and

who is out of the church. You can't you

can't remove someone from the church who

has never been added to the church. It's

hard to do this practice without church

membership. And we're called to do it.

So there needs to be some kind of

meeting that happens. And we call those

members meetings.

And in the members meetings, you get to

add people to the church. But there also

might be cases where you remove people

from the church. And there are unique

cases that's that's if things go well,

it's those steps. But if things go

really badly, there's kind of like the

nuclear button. There's the red button

button that you need to press. And this

happened in the church at Corenth. Look

at uh 1 Corinthians 5:es 1:2.

It says this. It is actually being

reported amongst you that there is

sexual immorality among you and a kind

that is not even tolerated amongst the

pagans. For as a man has his for a man

has his father's wife and you are

arrogant.

Ought you not rather mourn. Let him who

has done this be removed from among you.

So the typical case in church discipline

or church correction or church

restoration is this. You would see

someone sin and one person would go and

it would be solved. And if it's not then

two or three. And if it's still not if

they're not repenting then the church.

And if they're not repenting in the

church then they're to be removed.

But there might be a case where the sin

is so bad, it is so grievous

that the elders may lead the church to

say, you know what, this person needs to

be removed. And this is the case. And

you cannot be removed from something

that you've not been added to. And so

you see as you grab all these verses

together,

membership, this concept is assumed that

people are added to the church and

they're also removed from the church.

And that is the church's decision. It's

not an individual's decision. And that

brings us to the next point. Point four.

People make decisions as members. People

make decisions as members. I was reading

a Wall Street Journal article um the

other day. It was about decision

fatigue.

I think usually young parents just get

decision fatigue. I just don't want to,

you know, have you ever had those days.

I don't want to decide anything.

I don't want to decide anything. Leave

me alone. I've made enough decisions.

The reason you feel that is because

according to this article, apparently we

make about 35,000

decisions each day.

Small decisions, big decisions, you

know, and if you think about it, if you

kind of ceue them all up, every single

little thing you do is a decision. So

part of being a human being is to make

decisions. Part of being part of

humanity is to make decisions. And guess

what? The church has to make decisions.

It's part of being human and it's part

of being a church. And every single

church has to decide how are we going to

make these decisions? Is that guy going

to make it? Is she going to make it? Is

he going to make it? Are we going to

make it as a group? Who is going to make

these decisions? What time do we meet?

10:00, 11:00, 12:00? How many seats do

we point out? Do we have curtains? No

curtains? Do we face this way or that

way or whatever way? Do we meet in this

building or that building? Do we pay

this rent or that rent? There's loads of

decisions that the church has to make.

So how does the church make those

decisions?

I think it is in and through church

membership.

The church gets to make wonderful

decisions

as church members. And the wonderful

decisions is adding people to the

church. That's a wonderful decision. The

church has to make difficult decisions.

that is removing people from the church.

But that's the church's job. It's not

one individual's job. It's given that

authority is given to the church. And

you see that in in Matthew 18 verse 18

Matthew 18:18

at the end of the verses on church

discipline. It talks about making these

difficult decisions. And you look at

Matthew 18, it says this, "Truly I say

to you, whatever you bind on earth shall

be bound in heaven, and whatever you

loose on earth shall be loosed in

heaven." Again I say to you, if two of

you agree on earth about anything, it

shall be done for them by my father. And

then he says, I left out these verses.

And then he says, wherever two or three

are gathered, there I am in the midst.

We say those verses in general. Wherever

two or three are gathered, Jesus is

there. He absolutely is. We can believe

that. But Jesus actually says this in

the context of church discipline.

When two or three are gathered and when

you are making the decision to remove

people from the church,

there I am with you in the midst. I

won't leave you alone. So the church has

to make wonderful decisions. The church

has to make difficult decisions. But the

early church also had to make practical

decisions. Acts chapter 6 verse one.

Acts 6 · chapter mention

Look at these verses. Actsapter 6:1. The

Lord was adding to their number. Those

who believed, they were baptized, they

were added to their number, thousands of

people. And then they come up against a

practical problem. And it says this,

"Now in these days when the disciples

were increasing in number, they ke the

Lord just kept adding to their number. A

complaint came a complaint by the

Hellenists arose against the Hebrews

because their widows were being

neglected in the daily distribution. And

the twel summoned the full number of

disciples and said, "It is not right

that we should give up preaching the

word of God to serve tables. Therefore,

brothers, pick out from among you seven

men of good repute, full of the spirit

and of wisdom who will uh whom we will

appoint to this duty. But we will devote

ourselves to prayer and to the ministry

of the word." So this group that is the

body that is the church who believed who

were baptized who were added to the

church this massive group of the church

they now have a very serious problem the

w the women and the widows are being

neglected from the distribution they

don't have food so how do they solve the

problem apostles say to the church in

verse three brothers you pick out from

among yourselves

you make this practical decision

you think if there's Anybody who should

make the decision here, it should be the

apostles.

I mean, surely they're the ones with the

authority. But no, the authority is

being given over to the church to make

this practical decision. It is a

decision of the church. And so what we

realize with churches is this. Every

single church has to make decisions.

And churches will look at it in

different ways.

But I would suggest to you the only way

that we can make these types of

decisions is if we have church

membership where people say and I would

encourage you to ask questions of the

elders uh in this church if you have

questions but I'd also encourage you to

to this on the 15th of February we have

a membership class where you can ask all

the questions you want. Steve will give

you all of the perfect answers that you

need. In fact, I used some of his notes

from the class for this morning. Uh, so

yeah, copyright to him. Um, but yeah,

I'd encourage you on the 15th of

February, do please go and attend even

if even and you're not committing to

anything. You're just asking the

questions and we would encourage you to

do that.

And when we're making these decisions as

a church, as members,

these are not just decisions that the

whole body makes. These are decisions

that are elderled decisions. That brings

us to the fifth point. People are

pastored as members.

People are pastored as members. So

people not only make decisions as

members, but people are pastored as

members. It's interesting. Paul writes

to Timothy

and it says to Timothy but then at the

end of the letter he says grace be with

you all as in plural. So grace be with

everyone. Meaning yes, he's writing to

Timothy, but he knows that the church is

listening. And Paul, he gives

instructions to the church as to what

elders are to look like. And he gives

them these instructions that elders are

to be above reproach, husband of one

wife, they're to be soberminded,

self-controlled, whatever. So when

you're making a decision about the

elders in the church, guess who makes

that decision? The church decides from

among them who meets the qualifications

of the elder. And when the church

decides who meets the qualification of

the elder, there's responsibilities that

the elder has to the members. And

there's responsibilities that the member

has to the elder.

And those responsibilities are

highlighted in Hebrews 13:17.

Hebrews 13:17

Look at this. This helps us think about

membership and why we do it. Hebrews 13

verse17.

This is awkward to read, but it is God's

word. So I will read it. Obey your

leaders and submit to them, for they are

keeping watch over your souls as those

who will have to give an account. Let

them do this with joy and not with

groaning, for that would be of no

advantage to you.

There's responsibilities there. There's

responsibilities of the leader and there

are responsibilities of the member.

The responsibility of the leader is

quite significant.

There is one day

that I will stand before God, my maker,

and I will have to give an account for

me.

And then as a father, I will have to

stand before my maker and give an

account for my family.

And then as an elder I will have to

stand and give an account for the souls

that God has entrusted to my care as a

pastor.

That is weighty.

That's what I'm called to do.

That's my responsibility

to love and to care for the people God

has put under my care.

Now the question is who do I give where

are you to obey them or maybe you're to

obey every elder in cork or may who are

you to obey?

You're to obey and submit to and follow

to the leadership of the church that you

have committed to of the elders that you

have committed to.

And I say all that remembering

that as a pastor and elder in Passage

Baptist Church, whoever walks through

that door,

they should feel loved,

cared for, welcomed.

Whether they are a believer, not a

believer, whether they are a member, not

a member, we as elders when we meet, we

pray for everybody who comes into this

room. We do.

We pray for believer non-believer.

We pray for member non-member. We want

to care for member non-member

but we believe that we have a particular

responsibility to those who have said

this is my church.

So that helps us in why we have this

thing that we call membership.

My last point is this.

People are not only pastored as members,

but they are cared for as members.

What you're committing to when you

believe, when you're baptized, when

you're added to the church, you're

committing to caring specifically

for the people within that local church.

That's what you're committing to. In

Acts chapter 2 42, it says this about

Acts 2 · chapter mention

the early church. And they devoted

themselves to the apostles teaching and

to the fellowship and to the breaking of

bread and to prayer. Those who believed,

those who were baptized, those who were

added to the church. How would you

describe them? They were devoted.

They were devoted.

They were devoted to the Lord and they

were devoted to one another. They were

devoted to teaching. They were devoted

to fellowship. I am going to devote

myself to meeting up with these people

in their homes, breaking bread together.

They weren't meeting like once or twice

a week. They were actually meeting

daily. They were devoted

to the breaking of prayers. They were

devoted to prayer.

And so my question to you, and I'm going

to ask this specifically of the members

because this is what you've committed

to. Are you devoted?

Are you devoted to the people in this

church?

Are you devoted to caring for one

another, bearing one another's burdens,

loving one another well,

praying for one another?

Are you devoted?

because that's what the Lord is calling

you to do.

And here's why I think we should do

church membership.

Here's the real reason I think we should

do church membership is this.

I want every single person in this room,

I want each and every one of you, I want

you to finish the race. I want you to

make it home.

I want you specifically to make it home.

I want you to believe and trust in

Jesus. I want you to be added to this

church. And I want us to commit as a

church to saying we are going to help by

the spirit's power. We are going to help

bring everyone home. We don't want to

leave anyone behind. I don't want any of

you to be left behind. I want all of you

to come with me.

Let's go together. Let's run this race

together and finish the line. And there

will be ups and there will be downs. And

there will be sadnesses and there will

be grievous sin. But we should commit

together. Let's make it home. Let's see

Jesus and let's praise him together. And

when we praise him together, guess what?

We will be that day with the universal

church, past, present, and future

worshiping and honoring the Lord. Let's

pray.

Lord, we thank you for the gift of your

word. And we pray, Lord, that you would

help us as we think through church

membership. Help us know and understand

what we're doing, what we're thinking

through as we think through church

membership. Lord, we want to honor you

in and through your word. We want to

believe. We want to be baptized. And

then we want to be added to the number.

Lord Jesus, help us as a church honor

you and follow you and be always

reforming in our thinking on the basis

of what your word says. We don't tell it

what to do. It tells us. So Lord, help

us be obedient to your word. We pray in

your name, Jesus.