Why Every Christian

Should

Join Their Local Church

 

Every Christian ought to be a church member.     Not just an attender but a full fledged member of a local church for the same reasons my Bride and I do not just live together or hang out together.       We have Covenanted Together.     We have pledged our commitment to each other

It’s sad that in our day even believers often take a shallow view of the importance of the church and a very shallow view of what it means to be a Church Member.     The fact is that God has called us to be members together – to be in Covenant together as the Bride of Christ.

 

What does it mean to be a member?

To become a member of a church is to formally commit oneself to an identifiable, local body of believers who have joined together for specific, divinely ordained purposes. These purposes include receiving instruction from God’s Word (1 Tim. 4:13; 2 Tim. 4:2), serving and edifying one another through the proper use of spiritual gifts (Rom. 12:3-8; 1 Cor. 12:4-31; 1 Pet. 4:10-11), participating in the ordinances (Luke 22:19; Acts 2:38-42), and proclaiming the gospel to those who are lost (Matt. 28:18- 20). In addition, when one becomes a member of a church, they submit themselves to the care and the authority of the biblically qualified elders that God has placed in that assembly. ¹ (I am sorry but I do not know where this quote comes from so I cannot cite it).

Let me give you several reasons why you should join a local church, but first let's see if we can use just one verse of scripture that will help us see why we need to be a member of a local church.

Two Questions From Hebrews 13:17

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. (Hebrews 13:17)

 

Now, let’s ask ourselves two questions that this verse helps us answer.

1. What Leaders Are You To Obey?

The passage instructs believers to "obey your leaders."      If you’re not a member of a local church, what Leaders are you commanded to Obey?      Are we to obey just anyone with the title of "Elder", from any church? Are we to obey the TV Evangelist who call for us to send the $ 1,000 of ‘seed’ money so that God can bless us.      Are we to obey every wacko religious leader who says he is an apostle or prophet or whatever?      Are we to obey the crazy leaders of "Westboro Baptist Church", or other religious sects.     Who are we to obey.

Scripturally we are to obey those leaders who have been appointed in your local church. The local church is God’s plan for the world. The local church is God’s idea.

 

2. Who Will Leaders Give An Account For?
The passage also reminds us that these leaders will have to give an account of how they shepherded the people under their care. Who are they to give an account of. Scripture clearly tells Elders to care for the local flock, the assembly of God’s people. (1 Peter 5:1-5; Acts 20:29-30).

Will I as a Pastor, or our Elders be held accountable for all the Christians in Toronto? There are many churches in GTA with various and even false doctrine, will we be held accountable for them. Will we be accountable for those who come here on Sundays but make no commitment to be accountable. No, these kinds of instructions can only work when there is a recognizable local church membership.

No, these kinds of instructions can only work

when there is a recognizable local church membership.
 

6 REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD BE A CHURCH MEMBER

 

 

1. It’s Biblical    
Believers in the New Testament were connected to a local church.     There is a whole lot of instructions in the New Testament that only make sense if there is a recognizable church membership that is making itself accountable to one another.

For example, in Acts 5:12-13, it says:
 Now many signs and wonders were regularly done among the people by the hands of the apostles. And they were all together in Solomon's Portico. 13 None of the rest dared join them, but the people held them in high esteem. (Acts 5:12-13)

Those outside the church had great respect for Christians but wouldn’t ‘join’.      The word literally means "to glue or cement" something together.      Its not referring to an informal, assumed relationship but rather one where you chose to "glue" yourself to others.      This makes sense only in the context of "membership".      In fact, much of the language in Acts only makes sense in context of Church Membership. (ie. "The Whole Church" (15:17) "The Elders" (20:17).

 

 

2. It Declares Your Identity With Christ And His People
In the Book of Acts, the believers are identifying themselves with each other.     They are stating before God and others that you belong to Christ and stand with His followers.

Many people seem to prefer a dating relationship with the church whereas it ought to be like a marriage.     Like Marriage, real fellowship is hard work.     In a marriage you don’t run off at the first sign of trouble.      Membership says "I’m committed to Christ and His People. Being a Church Member in a low-commitment culture is making a powerful counter-culture statement and highlights the importance of Christ and His Church.     It says, "I’m here to give, more than to get.

 

 

3. It Provides You A Community Of Edification
The whole purpose of church is community.     It is the place we learn to live out the "one another" lifestyle" of scripture.     It is the place where are challenged and where we grow. Sure, you can experience some of that as an adherent or casual attender, but the real growth is in the commitment we make to one another as ‘community’.
 

 

4. It Places You Under The Care Of Godly Shepherds
As we saw in Hebrews 13:17, membership puts us officially under the spiritual care of the Elders of our local church.     Yes, good and godly Elders will care for those who are not members simply because they care, but they have no authority in the lives of those who are not members.

The very existence of Church Government with its plurality of Elders and their responsibility to care for the flock presupposes a clearly defined group of church members.     It presupposes a defined flock of those who have submitted themselves under the authority of the God appointed Elders.

In addition, only membership really provides accountability.     It’s the place where we keep each other accountable in an informal way as we fellowship and challenge each other. It also provides accountability in a moral formal way as we submit ourselves to church discipline.     Formal membership is a form of submission to the Shepherd leadership God has provided His Church.     Those who do not become members of a local church take themselves out from under the umbrella of protection that is afforded church members.

I jokingly say (yet there is much truth in it), "You gotta join the church so we can throw you out."     Now don’t get lost in my humour.     The Bible gives clear instructions concerning church discipline.     None of which makes sense without formal membership.     In fact if you do not become a member of a church, you take yourself out from under this protection of accountability.     Discipline is not meant as a way of punishment but rather as a safeguard of accountability.

I like to talk in terms of the "Protective Umbrella Of The Church."     As you submit yourself to local church accountability you place yourself under its protection.     In fact I think this is what Paul is referring to when he tells the Corinthian Church that they had to deal with the sinful man who had his father’s wife.

You are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh,

so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord (1 Cor 5:5)

 

 

When we take ourselves out from under this Protective Umbrella of the local church we are much easier prey for the enemy.

5. It Unites You In A Global Mission
The Great Commission of Matthew 28 is the marching orders of the Church.     Yes you can and should be a witness for Christ in your school or at your work or wherever you may find yourself.     However, these are the marching orders of the Church and those we would bring to Christ are to become part of a local church.     By joining ourselves to a local church, we commit ourselves to the Great Commission of Christ.

 

 

6. It Gives Visible Demonstration To The Reality Of Christ

We are Christ’s Body in the world.     The world knows and sees Jesus through us.     As I pointed out in the previous post, we are the Visible Demonstration Of Christ In The World.

--------

 

Wendy and I didn’t decide to live together.      We didn’t just date.     We decided to make a commitment to each other. It has been good.     In the same way, when we look at the New Testament it becomes clear that God’s plan for us is to be part of a local covenant community of faith for our own protection and maturity as well as for the edification of others.

If we view church as some sort of ecclesiological buffet, then we severely limit the likelihood of our growing into maturity.     Growth into godliness can hurt.     For instance, as we interact with others in my our local body, our own slothfulness in zeal is exposed, as is our lack of patience, our prayerlessness, and our hesitancy to associate with the lowly.     Yet this interaction also gives us the opportunity to be lovingly confronted by brothers and sisters who are in the trenches with us, as well as a safe place to confess and repent.     But when church is just a place we attend without ever joining, like an ecclesiological buffet, we just might consider whether we’re always leaving whenever our heart begins to be exposed by the Spirit, and the real work of spiritual growth is beginning to happen.

What’s the bottom line?

 

Local church membership is

not a question of personal preference

but of biblical obedience.

 

1.    I am sorry but I do not know where this quote comes from so I cannot cite it.

 

 



The Bride Of Christ

I’ve been involved in a lot of weddings over the years.    I’ve seen a lot of beautiful brides.     But there was one wedding where the Bride was so unbelievably beautiful. When she stepped through the door at the back of the church my heart skipped several beats, the voice in my head said,  "Man, I wish I could marry that women."    Then she stated down the isle of the church.

It was December but I started to sweat - because she started to walk towards where I was standing.    It was December 27, 1975 and I was the Groom and this beautiful women was about to be my Bride.

We stood there at the front of the church and made a covenant together.  I looked at her and said:
"I, Rick, take you, Wendy, to be my lawful wedded wife, to love you and honour you as Christ loves and honours His church, to guide and direct our home according to God's Holy Word, having Christ as the true head of our home."

She looked in my eyes and said:
"I, Wendy, take you, Rick, to be my lawful wedded husband; for where you go, I will go; and where you live, I will live; your people shall be my people and your God my God:   Where you die, will I die, and there will I be buried:   The Lord do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part you and me".  

We took that Covenant seriously.    There have been times of sickness and health, times of better and times of worst, times of plenty and times of want.     But on that day almost 38 years ago we were bound together as one in Christ.    We are not the perfect couple, but over those years our love has grown stronger, with every laugh and tear, and sorrow and victory we have experienced together, we have become more committed to one another, and we have forsaken all others that we might keep only unto each other so long as we both shall live.    In this we have Covenanted together. In just a few short weeks, on December 27, we will have been married for thirty eight wonderful years.

There is a point of me telling you this romantic story.    You know that the church is the Bride of Christ.     He gave Himself on the Cross for Her. Christ loves His bride.   He Cherishes and nourishes His Bride and someday will present His Church, His Bride, in Heaven in all glory and splendour. 

I tell you this because in our day, the Church, the Bride of Christ, is often neglected and abused.


After 200 years of having a favoured place in Canada our culture increasingly seeks to discredit the church and move it to the margins.     In a culture that is increasingly and now perhaps almost completely secular, the church is devalued and its message considered unimportant.      Even we who say we are the church increasingly ignore it and say we are disillusioned with the Bride of Christ.     Some would even say the church, the Bride of Christ, is not important to their spiritual journey.

But,  just as my love for my beautiful bride has not diminished in these 38 years,  Christ’s love for His Bride The Church has not diminished.     He still passionately loves His church. He continues to cherish it and nurture it because He has a purpose for His church in the world that will ultimately culminated in Heaven.

The Church: The Visible "Kingdom of Heaven" on earth

The Bride is here on earth to be the Visible Kingdom of Heaven.     We The Church are citizens of Heaven to display the glory of God in the World.     In spite of how many ignore and even berate the Church,  it is vitally important to the purposes and plans of God for the world.

The Church Was Established By Christ Himself
 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. (Matt 16:18)
    
No other Institution,  No other organization on earth was established by Christ Himself.    He is Building His Church because through it He is  going to push the forces of darkness and evil right back to the very gates of Hell itself.     The Church is God’s Plan for the World. There is nothing, no organization in the world that you can be involved in that is more important than the church.  

 
The Church Was Inaugurated At Pentecost Acts 2
The disciples were told to wait for the power of the Spirit to come.    And come He did,   like a mighty rushing wind that empowered Christ’s followers and ushered 3,000 souls into the Kingdom of God that were added to the church and the church was born.     Jesus was to ascend into Heaven but He leaves His church to accomplish the work of redemption, the very work for which He left heaven, for which He planned before the foundation of the world.

The Church was never meant to be a holy huddle, but a rescue station on the rocky shores of human ruin and Satanic attack.

The Church Is The Visible Manifestation Of Christ In The World
He has ascended into heaven but His Church is the Visible Manifestation Of Christ In The World.

Wow! Did you get that?     We The Church, are the Visible Manifestation of Christ in the World.     That’s not only Important.     That’s Vital and we better take it seriously.     We are here to be the Demonstration of Christ in the World.

The word "church" comes from the Greek word "Ekklesia" and designates the visible "Kingdom of Heaven" on earth.     "Ek" means "from out of" and "Kaleo" means "to call" or "to call out from" and indicates a selected assembly of people.     Most of the time the word "church" is used in the New Testament, it speaks of a local body of believers. If fact of the 115 times it is used, 90 of those times it refers to the local assembly.

Christ is no longer physically present among us.     He has accomplished the work of redemption and now fulfills His priestly role in heaven interceding on our behalf as we in the power of His Holy Spirit manifest Him to the world.      We are the Visible Manifestation of Christ in the World.     If we do not take that seriously, we do not understand how precious the Bride is to the Groom.

Just as a husband and wife become one flesh, we are one in Christ to demonstrate Him to a lost and dying world.      We are the visible manifestation on Christ in the world.     Let us love the Bride of Christ.     Let us be the Bride of Christ.    And let us reflect Him well.

(The next blog post, later this week, will outline several reasons why

every follower of Christ should be an official member of a local church)

Thinking Christianly

About our Mayor

It should come as no surprise to us when people sin and behave badly.   We are all there.    It is part of human nature.   However to see one man's fight with his personal demons played out in the media day in and day out is difficult for us here in Toronto.   

 

Of course I'm talking about City of Toronto Mayor, Rob Ford who's association with the criminal elements of our city and his excessive use of alcohol and crack has now become an international story.    

Media outlets around the globe latched on to Mayor Rob Ford’s bombshell in which the civic leader admitted Tuesday (November 5) that he had used crack cocaine while in a drunken stupor.     CNN splashed the quote, "Yes, I have smoked crack" all over its website's homepage.     The BBC featured the admission as its top news story.   The Washington Post reminded Americans of its own 1990 scandal of crack smoking Washington, D.C. Mayor Marion Barry.    Indeed international media such as Le Monde in France and O Globo in Brazil have picked up the story.    Not surprising the late night comics are having a field day.    One  reporting that Mayor Ford at least had an excuse for smoking crack,  "He was in a drunken stupor."

 

As a follower of Jesus,  I could never condone Mayor Ford's bad behaviour.    It is unbecoming a civic leader to behave so poorly and break our laws so flagrantly.    However, I must remember that he is a human being and my heart goes out to him as he wrestles with these personal demons, and I am reminded that "save by the grace of God, there go I."    And that raises the question:    How are Christians to respond to such failure by our elected officials?     Shouldn't our response be different than that of the world?     Shouldn't we react in a more Christianly manner?

 

My good friend,  Werner Peters is Pastor of the Toronto Chinese Gospel Church English Congregation, and a long time Toronto resident, addresses the issue of "Thinking Christianly About Our Mayor" as today's guest blogger.     His insights speak not only to the present situation in Toronto,  but to how we as followers of Jesus should respond to the failure of all public figures and certainly even those failures within our own circles.     We must not be pressed into the world's mold in our reactions but be dispensers of truth and grace. 

 

Thinking Christianly About Our Mayor

Rev. Werner Peters 

In the last few months, our city has been beleaguered by news about our Mayor that has given talk show hosts and journalists plenty of fodder.    Twitter is all a-flutter and one can't avoid the topic on FaceBook.     Every time we turn on the news, we see another depiction of a grown man who is either enraged, drunk out of his gourd or making sad excuses for his behaviour.

Christians have reacted in different ways.    Those with an over developed sense of compassion cannot abide any criticism of him. I saw one person responding to a Charles Adler column about our mayor in which he had misspelled a word.     She criticized him for the misspelling and suggested that he learn how to spell before criticizing others, as if a spelling mistake was morally equivalent to drunkenness, lying, morbid obesity and smoking crack.      Many of those Christians in my city who help make up Ford Nation are standing by their man because they are conservative and helped vote him into office and are trying hard to overlook everything else.     Talk about an elephant in the room!

Others are reacting almost in glee at the revelation of yet another embarrassing episode of this broken man and provide us with links to news articles, in case we have missed it.

What are we as Christians to make of this whole affair?     How do we respond in a Christ-like manner?

We are, and always have been, obligated to pray for Rob Ford.

To pray for a man in office does not mean we endorse his politics, so whether you are Conservative, Liberal or NDP, your first loyalty is to Christ, and Him we must obey who commanded us in His word to pray for those in leadership.      Pray that God would have mercy on this man and his family and would lead him to a place of profound repentance and conversion to Christ.     If ever we had a living example of a fallen man who is in need of transformation, this is it.

We must learn that civic leadership is about more than the money.

It is about exemplary character.     Perhaps because it has been a long time since we have seen exemplary character in the mayoral office that we have forgotten this salient point, but it becomes a stark point that is brought home to us powerfully when there is an abject failure of character in that office.      We cannot simply repeat the mantra that Ford has "stopped the gravy train" or that he is saving us tax dollars, as if money is our ultimate value.     Wealth retention is NOT the Christian's ultimate value.     Righteousness is.

How many drug addicts today have sunk even lower in their self-justified rationalizations because of the example of our mayor?     How many have even less respect for the law, after seeing the leader of our city treat our laws with such flagrant disregard?     What kind of impact does an example like this do to the countless number of adolescents whose values are not yet formed and who have no strong examples at home?      The potential for damage done to these young lives cannot be measured.      Character still matters.     If the mayor's office is just about reigning in expenses, we could have simply appointed an accountant to the office.      Why didn't we? because that office is about far more than saving the taxpayer dollars.

To call on him to step aside in order to get help is not an unchristian thing to do.

If as a pastor I were guilty of a gross moral failure, stepping aside if not completely stepping down while working on the essentials of restoration is the only right thing to do.     A desire to hang on to power and control is only further evidence of the dysfunction that leads to moral failure anyway.

Pity the man, but if you voted against him, let's stop the Schadenfreude (enjoying someone else's demise).

One day God will have the last word and He is the ultimate Judge who does everything right.     One of the most oft misappropriated verses in the Bible is that verse where the Lord tells us not to judge, lest we be judged with the same measuring stick that we ourselves have used.     This is NOT a prohibition against speaking out against public drunkenness or getting stoned on illegal substances.     In fact the children of our city need to hear this message loud and clear as they watch the videos and read the news - No - this behaviour is NOT okay.

Recognize with humility that we are all made of the same stuff.

We tend to demonize those who are caught in gross sin.     We do this to assure ourselves that we are very unlike them.     But this is a deception.     Quite the opposite is true.    We are all made out of clay. We all have the same capacity to sin and wickedness.

Move on

The news channels, talk show hosts and the comedy circuits will continue to show the same news clips and videos time and time again.     There is an episode in the Bible where the sons of Noah walked into their father's tent backwards with a blanket to cover their father's shame.     Whatever else was going on there, it was the right thing to do.     Let's not be party to the ongoing embarrassment and shame of another human being.    I am not saying that we ought to cover up sin, but we should not contribute to the shame of the man.    He has plenty of that by his own doing.     He doesn't need our help.    Let's look away.    and let's look up to where our real help and leadership comes from.