This is God's inspired, inerrant, infallible, clear, sufficient word for us as people.
! Matthew 28, verse 20.
Jesus Christ telling his apostles,
Teach my disciples to obey everything I have commanded.
And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.
All right, now let's begin at verse 18 and get this passage in its context.
Jesus came and spoke to them, saying,
All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.
Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,
teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you.
And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.
Amen.
The word of God for the people of God.
Thanks be to God. Please be seated.
Let's pray.
Lord, we praise you. All power and authority are yours.
You rule over all things, from your throne in heaven,
from the right hand of God the Father Almighty.
And yet, Lord, you've poured out your Spirit in a powerful way upon your church.
And your Spirit brings the presence of God
to be with your church, even to the end of the age.
And we praise you that this includes the generation we are part of right now,
that we have this promise that you are with us.
Lord, we pray that your Spirit will minister your word,
your truth to your people.
We pray that you please help the preacher.
Please guard the ears of your people.
Please help me, Lord, as you helped in the preparation.
Help me now to proclaim Christ.
And all that you have commanded us to obey,
with joy, with love, because you first loved us.
That your name will be exalted.
That all those who belong to you, Lord,
will willingly give themselves to you in your day of power.
And that your Spirit will apply your truth gently,
patiently, in your own timing,
to each one that you have made to hear your words.
We pray this for Christ's sake. Amen.
Amen.
Well, the first four years of our marriage,
Andrea and I moved to São Paulo, Brazil.
And we are two American citizens with American passports,
voting by ballot from the foreign country.
We're expats.
And while we were there,
a little bit unexpectedly,
we had our first child.
So Andrea went into labor on the opening night of Carnaval,
9 p.m.
And what could sometimes take two hours to get to the hospital,
the taxi driver did it in 40 minutes.
By God's grace, all the lights were green,
and we made it safely.
But once this happened,
we had to take a step with the American government
from a hospital in Brazil.
And it was to apply for a consular certificate of birth abroad.
The reason this is fresh on my mind is because we're trying to renew an expired passport
from Brazil, and this is one of the documents needed.
Consular certificate of birth abroad.
Every nation has embassies,
like one big embassy in another foreign country.
But then off of those embassies are smaller offices in other cities that are not the capital.
They're called consulates.
Consulates.
So when I say consulate, you can picture an embassy as well.
Our country, the United States of America,
has the responsibility of safeguarding and helping its citizens on foreign soils.
The U.S. paid, maybe you shouldn't know this as taxpayer,
they paid $2 million to an American school there to fortify the perimeter,
to make the walls higher, to add cameras and stuff like that,
to keep the American citizens abroad safe.
And while we were there, as an expat,
the consulate taught us what the American law commands.
We were not forced to get the certificate of birth abroad.
We wanted it,
and it would be negligent not to get that for our son.
We voluntarily filled out the application
and happily gave the required proof,
submitted it, and waited to see whether or not it would be approved.
When we did get it, we were very happy,
not because we were afraid of losing the citizenship that was already ours
and by extension his,
but because it is a great privilege of the citizenship we already enjoy.
This is a limited analogy for the theme of today.
Christians are citizens of the kingdom of heaven.
That's what we are called in the Bible.
And we're even sent out into this world as ambassadors.
So I picked a very catchy topic, very popular,
and here's the title of the sermon.
Submitting to a local church, commanded or optional.
So maybe you're rightfully wondering why this topic, why now?
Maybe you're questioning pastoral prudence.
Is this even wise?
As I mentioned, there are a few reasons for this.
One is, or going down that paragraph in our confession of faith,
and this was once a more common understanding among mature Christians,
but it's been systematically undermined by wrong teaching
and consumer church models.
That's the reality for our country.
Is it urgent to teach about submitting to a local church?
It's as urgent as obedience to Christ is urgent.
It's as urgent as the spiritual health of a soul is urgent.
It's as urgent as the strength of a congregation is urgent.
A church is an embassy of heaven.
We're charged by Christ in the verse we just read for today
to teach his disciples to obey all that he has commanded.
All the privileges and all the duties of belonging to his kingdom.
Most of us come from backgrounds where this has not been taught at all.
The emphasis in many churches today is on making converts,
having someone sign a card or raise their hand,
not making disciples, which is what Christ commanded.
This consumer approach to church focuses more on tickling ears
rather than teaching people to obey all that he has commanded.
And what we're left with is we walk away thinking God is a God
that we approach however we want,
and we worship God on our terms
rather than a God who calls his disciples
to do what he has commanded as the king of kings.
So I want to walk through five questions on this topic.
My goal is to teach and to persuade you
of what the Bible says
and then how this one local church
does our best to carry it out at this time.
So the first question we need to reckon is this.
Is obedience to Christ optional?
King Jesus calls you and me to obey him.
Look again at verse 18.
The reason is because all authority has been given.
The person of Jesus Christ,
having accomplished his mission,
receives now from the Father
special authority over his church
and his advancing spiritual kingdom on earth.
And what does he command with that authority?
Verse 19.
Make disciples.
Teaching them to obey.
Look at verse 20.
How much do we obey?
Obey all that I have commanded.
If you claim to be a disciple of Jesus Christ,
obeying him is not optional.
And this is not the first time we hear this declared to us.
Luke 6, 46.
Jesus himself said,
Why do you call me Lord, Lord,
and not do the things which I say?
John 14, 21.
He who has my commands and keeps them,
it is he who loves me.
John 15, 14.
You are my friends if you do whatever I command you.
See, Jesus is a good king.
And he loves us too much to leave us without instructions,
without a clear path of following as his disciple.
1 John 2, 3.
Now by this we know that we know him if we keep his commandments.
So this is a call to Christian obedience.
The reason it's unpopular is because it often gets mixed with legalism.
When a Christian obeys, it's out of gratitude.
It's a reflex because he first loved me.
It's not, I do this so that he will love me.
No, he loved me so much, he freely saved me.
It's a joy now to obey him.
Our confession of faith has wonderful clarity about this
to guard us from all kinds of wrong teaching about obedience as a Christian.
Chapter 16, paragraph 2 says,
These are good works of obedience to Christ,
done in obedience to God's commands,
not adding on or inventing our own rules,
but they are the fruits and evidences of a true and lively faith.
It's the evidence of a lively faith when we obey Christ.
So is obedience to Christ optional?
Not if he's the king of your life.
Now, we don't obey him perfectly,
and his spirit is so gentle, so patient with us.
The purpose of making this point clear is simply to put us in our place.
We are disciples,
and we learn over years patiently by the gentle work of the spirit to obey Christ.
And we don't get to pick and choose.
When his spirit brings a conviction on us from his word,
we obey him.
With his help, with his power,
imperfectly, but more and more.
Second question,
How do disciples of Christ learn to obey him?
Look at verse 20 again.
He's telling his apostles,
along with the congregation that will soon receive the Holy Spirit
and become the early church in Jerusalem,
teach them to obey.
So disciples of Christ must learn,
and we learn by being taught to obey Christ.
We must learn through his word,
through his spirit,
and through his church.
We are to declare the word of God with authority.
How often do we teach God's people what he has commanded?
Always, in season, out of season,
preaching the full counsel to his people
and letting the spirit apply it.
Colossians 1, 28,
We preach him, Jesus Christ,
his person, his work, his promises,
and all he has commanded us to obey,
warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom
that we may present everyone mature in Christ Jesus.
That's the charge on the teachers within a church.
Keep preaching Christ,
warning everyone, teaching everyone,
helping everyone grow slowly decades toward maturity in Christ.
You notice how Christ is the unifying theme
of our teaching and of our maturing.
Acts 20, 27,
For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God.
So when we teach God's people to obey Christ,
what is this encompass?
What all is included?
A quick summary is this.
It's going to include God's moral law,
what he's already made very clear.
Christians need to know what is pleasing to God,
how to love God the way God tells us to love him,
and how to love neighbor the way he tells us to love neighbor.
That's given to us in the Ten Commandments.
In addition to that, as disciples of Christ,
we learn what's called the positive laws or positive commands,
simply meaning these are in addition to the moral law
that God has given in a special way to his church.
And this includes baptism, the Lord's Supper, and prayer.
Well, these are the ordinances for the church that we learn to obey.
Now, how do we exercise these teachings?
And you see how the list is pretty short.
That's what we do.
How do we exercise it, though?
Well, it gets worked out in three different spheres, as we've seen.
So let me refresh your memory.
The first sphere, we're all born into it, is a family.
The second sphere is we're born in a land, a state, a nation.
And then finally, if God is gracious to you,
you are also put into a local church.
Now, the New Testament uses commands relating to each of these three spheres.
We're told to submit, slash obey, and honor.
And those are the three spheres.
Think about how our obedience to Christ is exercised in each of those three.
Home, state, and church.
Let's use an example we can all relate to.
Let's say a child is an orphan living on the streets somewhere in the southern hemisphere.
They get lovingly adopted into a home,
and they're just so happy all the time,
but they're doing these cartwheels on their way to the dinner table.
The family says, wash your hands before you share this meal.
You're going to be touching and passing,
and you're going to put whatever germs were on this floor
onto the food that we're all going to be eating here.
So that's a rule.
In this household, now that you are our child, you belong here,
wash your hands before the dinner table.
That's not legalism for the family to give that rule.
It's a good, loving law for the good of the child and the whole family.
And the child would joyfully learn slowly over time and perfectly to obey.
And by obeying in the family setting,
the child is exercising obedience to Christ ultimately.
It's a sphere in which we get to practice that.
Submitting to Christ, obeying my parents in the Lord as it is pleasing.
This also is applied to us in the book of Romans relating to the federal government
or the national government.
The government's given the sword.
Family doesn't have a sword or an army.
The church doesn't have a sword or an army.
That's given to the government.
And the laws of the land are given for the good of those who are walking uprightly.
And so obey the laws of the land.
Jesus said, give to Caesar what is Caesar's.
So in obedience to Christ,
ultimately, no matter my feelings about the president or the governor of my state,
I'm submitting to the land where I live, where he's put me at this time.
And when you submit to the land, sometimes the laws might not make sense
or you might not like them or they may need to be updated.
But it's still important that we learn to obey Christ in them.
I learned recently that in Arizona, it's still illegal, according to the internet.
I'm sure it's very reliable.
In Arizona, it's illegal for a donkey to sleep in a bathtub.
I guess in the 1920s, there was a donkey that used to always go sleep in this tub
and it got swept away by a flood.
And then all the government had to spend money to go rescue this donkey,
carried off far away.
In Connecticut, for a pickle to be legally considered a pickle,
it must be able to bounce.
So you're going to put it on a counter there.
You have to be able to bounce the pickle.
And it was a food safety measure because if it's mushy, it won't bounce
and you shouldn't be able to sell it.
See, these are laws of the land.
If I live in Connecticut, I have to follow that law.
If I live in Arizona, I have to follow that law too if I own a donkey.
Now, the third sphere is the church and those same verbs are used.
Hebrews 13, 17, obey your elders.
Obey not all the elders out there in all the churches,
just like you don't have to obey all the parents out there.
You obey your parents.
1 Timothy 5, 17, let the elders who rule well.
And so those same terms, ruling, obey,
and the response of a Christian is to exercise obedience to Christ
in each of those spheres.
It does not give anyone in those positions of authority,
government, home, or church,
a license to lord over this authority.
Instead, it should make you tremble in your boots.
You're giving account to Christ in the home,
on behalf of the state, or within a church.
But our part as Christians is to submit ourselves to Christ
and obey and exercise that in each of those spheres in the Lord.
We learn to obey Christ by being taught this
and by giving the practice in three different spheres.
Third question, how ought churches uphold obedience to Christ?
How ought churches uphold obedience to Christ?
Obedience to Christ is not optional.
Obedience to the king of kings is very important.
And his spirit is in the churches.
We Christians have the Holy Spirit in us.
And when we gather in his name,
it's the glory of his name that we care about.
So we have a very big responsibility
to uphold obedience to Christ.
In fact, some of you found this church eventually,
not because this church is perfect,
but because you were in another church
that was neglecting to uphold obedience to Christ
in very public ways.
All right, our responsibility as a church,
imperfectly, with all of our limits,
we have the duty to do our best
to have earth, the church on earth,
be a reflection of the kingdom of heaven.
It's our responsibility to close out certain things
and to open up the church to others.
Now, this teaching, I'm going to argue,
I hope to persuade you,
it's necessarily contained in scripture
that churches must be cautious
about who is admitted
or who is admitted to join the church
and who has access to the privileges of a church.
You can turn to Acts 9 if you like.
I'm going to read it kind of quickly.
Otherwise, you can write it down and study it later.
Acts chapter 9, verse 26 and 27.
Saul got saved,
the man who was going around killing the Christians.
God later renames him Paul,
so that's what I'll refer to him as.
And Acts 9, 26 tells us
that Paul had come to Jerusalem again now
after getting saved and being discipled.
And he tried to join the disciples there in Jerusalem.
Well, that's good.
That's what Christians do.
They join other Christians.
They find one another
and participate in the assembly.
But they were all afraid of him.
Now, listen to this part.
And did not believe that he was a disciple.
So the church in Jerusalem is closing out Paul,
who's going to become the Apostle Paul,
through whom we get most of the New Testament.
And they have authority as a local church
to say, not so quick, buddy.
Don't presume upon this congregation.
Don't come in and mingle
and act as though you already are here,
because first, we have a responsibility
to uphold obedience to Christ.
Do you belong to Christ?
We need to discern that,
and it was right for them to do that.
The church was practicing due diligence
and testing.
Okay, he made a profession of faith.
Do we receive that?
Now, this is so beautiful and humbling
how Paul then turns around,
and he actually warns and equips
the other local churches
to do the exact same thing.
In 1 Corinthians 5.11, he says,
I have written to you now,
local church in Corinth,
not to keep company with anyone
named a brother,
so they made a profession of faith
who is, in the present continual sense,
living in sin
that misrepresents the name of Christ.
And Paul says to the church,
not even to eat with such a person.
A letter to the local church
referring to sharing a meal together,
it would include both the fellowship meal
that was their custom and our custom,
and in a special way,
the Lord's Supper,
which is one of the sacraments
Christ instituted.
And the same caution is repeated
in the book of Jude, for example.
He says there are those
who will creep in unnoticed,
and otherwise they'll pay lip service
to Christ,
but they will very soon,
you'll be able to tell
they are spots on your feasts.
In other ways, they don't love Christ.
The feast or the Lord's Supper,
the meal that a church shares,
that is not for wolves
that are in there to destroy God's lambs.
You see how the pattern
and the teaching in Scripture,
it says there is a clear line
between the church and the world.
And most of the churches
that we've all come from
and experienced and spent years in
do a really good job
of blurring those lines, don't they?
In Scripture, you as a church
have the responsibility,
hand such a one over to Satan.
In other words,
if you're not in the church,
you are in the world,
the dominion of Satan,
so that you'll see
how miserable it is out there.
It's a parched desert wilderness.
Find your way back to Christ
in his church.
But it's one or the other.
The lines between the church
and the world are not blurry.
And this is an authority
that the church rightly has to exercise.
This has been tested
in every generation.
I'll give you one famous example.
Switzerland, 1553.
There was a rowdy group
of people who paid lip service to Christ
but were not true believers
called the Libertines.
They lived openly immoral lives,
but they insisted on their right
to keep taking the Lord's Supper
at the Reformed Church in Geneva.
Reformed meaning Protestant,
not Catholic,
and putting themselves under Scripture,
doing their best to work it out.
When the Geneva Civil Authority
ordered Calvin to admit them to the table,
John Calvin refused,
insisting in the authority of the church alone
to fence the table
from those who remain unrepentant.
And then came the one Lord's Day
where it all came to a head.
The Libertines,
with swagger and with their swords,
ready to go on their belts,
took the front seat of the church.
Calvin stood up there,
preached through a passage of the Bible,
and then he walked down from the pulpit,
laid out the Lord's Supper,
and invited the church to take it.
Well, the Libertines
stood up in force,
and all were walking forward,
and Calvin slammed his arms and hands
down on the table of the Lord's Supper,
covering up the bread and the wine,
and he said,
These hands you may crush,
these arms you may lop off,
my life you may take,
my blood is yours,
you may shed it,
but you shall never force me
to give holy things to the profaned,
and dishonor the table of my God.
It's the Lord's table,
and the lines between the world
and the church are not blurry.
About a hundred years later,
Benjamin Keech wrote something similar,
To admit the profane
is to pollute the sanctuary.
The church is a garden enclosed.
It is not a common field
for all to roam in,
but a place for those
who have given themselves
first to the Lord,
and then to us,
that's quoting scripture,
by the will of God.
Well, this is a much higher view
of the church,
and of the authority of the church,
and of the sacraments
than most of us
have ever heard taught.
And that's the first step.
We teach clearly
about what we believe
Christ has commanded.
If a person does not yet
receive this teaching
or this truth,
has not yet been convinced of this,
or taken steps,
it's understandable
that this is going to take time,
first time to be taught this.
I'm going to have to think about that.
I'm going to have to weigh that
against all the other teaching
I've sat under.
The other possibility
is that a person
has never received
redeeming grace yet.
And it's lack of submission
to Christ manifesting
in lack of submission
to one of the spheres
in which he gives it
to practice it.
We don't know
the person's heart.
Only God does.
So we teach.
And we do our best
to elevate in our own minds
what God has said
about his church.
We must lovingly emphasize
that membership
is the only way
for a church to know
who the flock is,
who will elders
give account to Christ for,
who are they to care for,
who is voluntarily
wanting discipleship
in this church.
The church has a duty,
I believe,
to still block
those who are openly,
you know,
showing a hatred for God
and a disregard for him.
But only God
can change the heart.
And until he does,
we keep teaching.
We don't compromise
the standard of the church.
We proclaim his truth,
and we do this
in a loving way.
Now, I've mentioned
church membership,
and that's another one
that's come under
a lot of attacks
and been undermined
by many.
So that's the fourth question
we need to wrestle with.
As churches
uphold obedience to Christ,
that's non-negotiable,
is the concept
of church membership
necessarily contained
in Scripture?
I'm choosing my words carefully.
I'm referring to the concept,
in other words,
the principles
that we use now
in this term membership,
are those principles,
that concept,
necessarily contained.
Can we walk away
and say,
that's not in the Bible,
you can't do it,
or you shouldn't do it.
If it's necessarily contained,
then we should submit
to the Lord in that.
Well, one line
of interpretation
that's very new
the last 30 years or so,
which is most common today,
has listened to teachers like,
and I'm going to mention names,
because their quotes
are out there on the internet.
We've listened to teachers,
and this is a line
of interpretation.
Francis Chan,
he said,
you can't find the term
church membership
in the Bible.
Here's another one.
Chuck Smith,
on behalf of the
Calvary Chapel movement,
we don't have
a formal membership
because we don't find
any scriptural basis for it.
That's the end of his quote.
Well, both of these
are presenting
invalid
arguments
and uncertain
conclusions.
There's a fallacy
called term
concept
fallacy.
So,
it's true that you can
go to the Bible
or your app
and put in
the term
church membership
and you won't get
any hits.
You can also put in
the word
trinity
and you won't get
any hits.
or the word
eternal state
which is
or like
intermediate state,
you know,
so the body
is buried
and the soul
is with Christ.
What do we call that?
Well, that term
is not
in the words
but the concept
is undeniable.
Another concept
is moral law.
You won't find that
but it's necessarily
contained in scripture.
Covenant of grace.
These are all examples.
I mean,
if you're to do away
with all the terms
that have been helpful
over the centuries
for the church
because of that fallacy
you're going to
end up with a very
shallow religion
and really
it's misleading.
And here's a third one.
David Platt
actually published
this in a book.
Quote,
we have taken
the command of Christ
to make disciples
and we have
mutated it,
okay,
dropping in a negative term,
mutated it
into a command
to make church members.
I've not read his book,
don't plan to
and I don't know
what his experiences
was that made him
write that.
But he's confusing
categories.
He's saying
discipleship is what counts.
Well,
discipleship is
personal communion
with God
through Jesus Christ.
Amen.
That's what matters most.
Membership
are the orderly steps
a local church
wisely sets up
out of love for Christ.
It's a totally
different category.
And he's setting up
a false dilemma
between the two.
As if you can't be
a genuine disciple
of Jesus
and also
take the steps
your local church
has laid out
to become a member
in obedience
to Jesus Christ.
I would argue
mature members
will joyfully do that.
We need to be aware
of these teachings.
I'm not saying
anything about them
as people.
Never met them.
I believe they are
probably sincere Christians.
But these teachings
I think are
have been very detrimental.
I think many of us
have been misled.
I think those
teachings are unwise.
It can really hurt
a person's maturing
in the faith.
Imagine if you said
that in another sphere.
Don't pay all your taxes
to the government.
That's just immature
and unwise
and detrimental
to your becoming
a full-fledged
responsible adult.
Or the same
in the household
with what your parents
are asking.
And I've certainly
seen this as an effect
on local churches.
There's a much better
line of interpretation
that's time-tested,
stable,
and it humbly
trusts what God's
Spirit has made clear
by His Word
to His church
over the centuries.
John Owen
didn't even prove this.
He simply
observed it.
He said,
Christ commands,
they bind
every faithful believer
to join
and voluntarily
submit himself
to a single congregation
that displays
the mark
of a true church.
Preaching the Word,
administering the sacraments,
and discipline.
These principles
are evident
in the Word,
clear in themselves,
owned by virtually
everyone who claims
to desire
the reformation
of the church.
Neither the Bible
nor church history
gives a valid basis
for rejecting this.
That's the end
of Owen's quote.
And then he goes on
to say what a joy
and what a blessing
it is to enjoy
life in a church
and the fellowship.
But he's simply saying
this is what the church
has received
and we should
continue with.
So what is the criteria
if we're going to test
whether these principles
are necessarily contained
in Scripture?
From our own confession
of faith,
we have this language
that is very helpful.
We must obey
whatever is
either expressly
set down,
that means the words
are clearly stated
for everyone to read
and get right away,
or necessarily contained.
So using that criteria,
let's test it
one part at a time.
is the term membership
necessarily contained
in Scripture?
Yes.
Membership is a metaphor
that God himself
gives us in his word.
Colossians 1.18,
Jesus Christ
is the head
of the body,
the church.
1 Corinthians 12.17,
you are the body of Christ
and members individually.
So the term membership
is a good one.
We can't do,
we can't find
a more biblical term
and that's what
the church has used.
Might as well keep it.
Is the requirement
for membership
necessarily contained?
The criteria
for opening the doors
and welcoming members
or saying,
no,
we're not going to open
membership to this person
at this time.
What's the requirement?
Matthew 10.32,
Jesus said,
whoever confesses me
before men,
him I will also confess
before my Father
who is in heaven.
You can look at Acts 2,
we read it in Sunday School,
Acts 2.41 and 47.
Those who gladly
received his word,
how do we know
they received his word?
Repent, believe,
they have faith.
They were then baptized
and that day
about 3,000 souls
were added to them
and the Lord added
to the church daily
those who were being saved.
The Greek word here
is the Lord added
to the church,
te ekklesia,
the assembly.
It's a definite article
indicating a specific group
here,
the local church
in Jerusalem.
They were added
to a concrete,
visible group
of believers
who were baptized,
devoted to the teaching,
fellowship,
breaking of bread and prayer,
who met daily
in the temple
and in homes
and who grew numerically
as new converts
joined them.
So the requirement
is the same.
Shouldn't add on to that,
shouldn't introduce
preparationism
or all these other things
but if you make
a credible profession
of faith
and we see
the fruit of the spirit,
you're joining,
you're being part
of the worship,
you've been baptized,
you should be welcomed
into a local church.
2 Corinthians 8.5
gives us an insight
into the question
about the vows.
When you become a member,
you stand up here
and you make vows
to a local congregation,
not to all the churches
out there
but to this group
of believers.
Are those vows
to become a member
within the bounds
of scripture?
2 Corinthians 8.5
tells us that
these believers
in a church
gave themselves
first to the Lord
and then by the will
of God to us.
It was the will of God
that believers
give themselves
to a local church
and the local church
knew that they had
given themselves
to them.
Ephesians 5.21,
we're told to submit
to one another
in the fear
of the Lord
and build each other up
through singing,
through prayer,
our worship,
our life together.
But what about
the process
for membership?
Is that within
the bounds
of scripture?
Because everything
I've said so far
is expressly set down.
All of those things
we don't get
to wiggle out of.
Now the process
for membership
is going to look
different in different
cultures,
different settings,
different needs
and there's one
simple rule
for this.
1 Corinthians 14.4
Let all things
be done decently
and in order.
And so if a church
is doing these steps
as best they can,
these non-negotiables
decently and in order,
then that's like
a parent reasonably
saying we all
wash our hands
before we share
a meal together.
It's reasonable
and it's orderly.
Well, I've given you
my best shot at it.
The principles
of church membership,
I hope I've persuaded you,
they are necessarily
contained in scripture.
If they were not,
we should regret,
we should reject
the statement
from our confession
of faith.
We should change
our constitution
in a lot of places.
We should change out
our training handouts
and we should put
different authors
on our book table.
It's more than a good
and necessary consequence.
It's expressly set down
and necessarily contained.
What Christ commands
us to obey,
it's given to us
in his word
and Christ's disciples
are told to be taught,
to learn,
to obey all he has
commanded.
Reformed churches,
those who have put
themselves under God's word,
have consistently taught
this same thing
for over 500 years,
which our confession
of faith expresses
in one sentence
or two
or three.
It's three.
It's this.
Second confession,
Second London Confession
26, 12.
All believers
are obligated
to join themselves
to local churches
when and where
they have opportunity.
Likewise,
all who are admitted
to the privileges
of a church
are also subject
to the discipline
and government of it
according to the rule
of Christ.
So long as it's
in the Lord,
children obey their parents.
So long as it's
in the Lord,
Christians submit
to one another
in a local church.
That's the end
of the quote
from our confession.
So I believe
we can say this.
Membership
gives us good order
and formalizes
the way Christians
shall participate
in the biblical duties,
biblical fellowship,
and privileges
within their local congregation.
The privileges
of belonging
to a church
means full participation.
A church needs you.
Local churches
need believers.
We need to be
vitally connected
and to know
that the commitment
is real.
the privileges
also include
the Lord's Supper,
the one another's
and caring for one another,
especially those
who are of the household
of the faith.
Full participation
in fellowship,
the ability
to guide the congregation,
to call out
wrong teaching
and false teaching,
to confirm
when God is raising up
a servant,
an officer,
to uphold the truth
and the peace,
to support other churches
who need us
to be strong
as a congregation,
to have a part
in an orderly way,
even of church discipline
if it's needed,
and then certainly
restoration
when God brings repentance.
Well,
that's the fourth question.
The concept of church
membership
is necessarily
contained in scripture.
And here's the final
question for today
that I hope
encourages you
and me.
By what power
do we learn
to obey
all that Christ
has commanded?
This is really
the sweetest part.
To be honest with you,
I love you all so much
and the first part
was hard for me
to preach
up to this point.
It's a joy
to encourage you
with these final
words from Christ.
Please look again
at verse 20.
By what power
do Christians
learn to obey
all that Christ
has commanded us?
He says in verse 20,
Lo,
I am with you
always.
Your version
might say,
look or behold.
I love that
old English,
Lo,
I am with you
always.
The dictionary
of 1828
helps us
that word
means look,
see,
behold,
observe.
It excites
particular attention
to what's coming
next and Jesus
says,
I am with you
church,
always even
to the end
of the age.
Obeying Christ
is calling people
to orderly
church practices
out of a
response of
gratitude.
It's not
do this
in order to
make sure
you get
eternal life.
No,
it's you're
already alive
in Christ
because he
first loved
you.
And he
does call
you and me
to obey
him out
of love
for Christ.
John 14,
15,
if you love
me,
you keep
my commands.
Obeying
Christ,
it's not
even possible
by our
own power.
Jesus
says,
I am
with you
always.
We can
obey him
because he
gives us
the power
to do so.
Remember
John 15,
5,
Jesus said,
apart from
me,
you can
do
nothing.
John 15,
10,
if you
keep my
commands,
you will
abide in
my love,
just as I
have kept
my father's
commands and
abide in
his love.
He says,
I am with
you always.
You can
abide in
me.
You will
abide in
me.
I purchased
you to
abide in
me.
And obeying
Christ,
it's not
burdensome.
It's learning
to walk
with him
as one
that's
yoked
to him.
It's
his
power
and it's
his
guidance
with
each
step.
1 John
5,
3,
for this
is the
love of
God
that we
keep
his
commands.
His
commands
are not
burdensome.
Obeying
Christ is
only possible
by his
power.
Paul
understood
this.
Colossians
1,
29,
he said,
I toil
struggling
with all
his
energy
that he
powerfully
works
in
me.
Jesus
calls
you
and
me
to
obey
in
an
orderly
way
what
his
church
has
laid
out
for
you.
The
church
teaches
us
but
we
must
obey
voluntarily.
This
is the
end of
it.
The
only
authority
a
minister
has
is
declarative.
You
must
obey
Christ
voluntarily.
Every
Christian
joyfully
submits
to!
Is
joined
to!
and
commits
themselves
to!
A
local
church
not
because
we're
afraid
we might
lose
our
citizenship
in
heaven
but
because
it is
a
great
privilege
of
the
citizenship
we
already
enjoy
in
Christ's
kingdom.
2 Corinthians
8
5
We
give
ourselves
first
to the
Lord
and
then
by
the
will
of
God
to
his
church.
Ephesians
5
21
we
submit
to
one
another
in
the
fear
of
God.
Submitting
to
local
church
is
our
way
of
saying
I
am
part
of
this
spiritual
family
and
I
invite
you
all
to
hold
me
to
the
standard
of
the
gospel.
I
do
so
joyfully
voluntarily
in
obedience
to
Christ
because
God
first
loved
me
and
because
the
Holy
Spirit
has
made
me
willing
and
because
I
want
to
joyfully
enjoy
all
of
Christ's
blessings
and
the
privilege
of
belonging
to
him
here
with
you.
May
we
rely
on
Christ
may
we
abide
in
his
power.
If
you
have
questions
about
this
or
what
this
looks
like
in
different
situations
I
know
it
can
be
very
complicated
it
can
feel
very
difficult
I
promise
I
will
never
individually
put
any
negative
pressure
on
you
but
I
also
give
me
account
to
Christ
as
a
minister
I
can't
stop
declaring
what
he
has
shown
me
and
what's
my
conviction
from
his
word
we
trust
lo
Jesus
Christ
is
with
us
always
even
to
the
end
of
the
!
let's
pray
father
we
thank
you
for
how
you
rule
over
your
people
and
your
church
for
how
you
are
a
good
shepherd
how
you
go
after
that
lost
lamb
and
you
bring
that
one
back
to
your
flock
!
for
Christ
we
pray
amen