The NXR Podcast - THE SERMON - What Bible Verses Support “Church Membership”？

00:00:00.940 Amen. Let's stand for the reading of God's Word. Our primary text for today will be Matthew chapter 18.

00:00:07.300 Matthew chapter 18 verses 18, or I'm sorry, verses 15 through 17.

00:00:13.000 I'll read the text in its entirety. When I finish reading the text, I'm going to say this is the Word of the Lord,

00:00:17.080 at which point I would appreciate very much if you would respond by saying thanks be to God.

00:00:21.700 Again, our text is Matthew chapter 18 verses 15 through 17. The Bible says this.

00:00:26.140 if your brother sins against you go and tell him his fault between you and him alone if he listens

00:00:31.620 you have gained your brother but if he does not listen take one or two others with you that every

00:00:37.460 charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses if he refuses to listen to them

00:00:44.000 tell it to the church if he refuses to listen even to the church let him be to you as a gentile and

00:00:50.860 a tax collector this is the word of god all right please be seated and we will begin today we are

00:00:58.520 addressing the topic of church membership and what we've done if you're joining us for the first time

00:01:04.320 we typically the steady diet more often than not here at covenant bible church when it comes to

00:01:09.880 the preaching is expository preaching through whole books of the bible and so we recently have

00:01:17.940 preached through the book of Joshua, and then we follow that up with the book of Ezra, and then

00:01:22.700 Lord willing, next week we're going to start in the book of Matthew. So we did Joshua, we did Ezra,

00:01:27.700 and we're going to start the book of Matthew next Lord's Day. But we've taken a little bit of a

00:01:34.340 break in between the completion of Ezra and the beginning of Matthew next week to talk about

00:01:41.180 church polity. Polity simply meaning governance. How is the church governed? What are the offices

00:01:47.500 that make up the local church. And so we've discussed three primary offices within the local

00:01:53.200 church, that being elders, deacons, and church members. Two of these offices being ordained

00:01:59.980 offices of the church, that being elders and deacons, offices of leadership to varying degrees,

00:02:08.340 elders being a higher office, deacons being a lower office in terms of authority and leadership,

00:02:15.240 but still an ordained office that does carry with it some degree of authority.

00:02:21.080 And as we've been going through this, it's timely for our local church in particular

00:02:25.420 because we have been in the process of trying to identify, train, and examine, and then ordain leaders.

00:02:34.700 And so we have just voted in three deacons and ordained them this past Lord's Day

00:02:40.160 and are working towards in the process of ordaining one more elder here at the church.

00:02:47.760 And the goal would be that by the end of it, if it be God's will,

00:02:50.900 that we would have three elders, myself, Connor, who you've just heard from in our liturgy

00:02:56.560 and a reading of God's law, and then Michael Belch would be a third elder.

00:03:01.140 The three deacons that we ordained this past Lord's Day are Matt Jocelyn, David Maldonado, and Nathan Elam.

00:03:09.420 And so as the church continues to grow in the providence of God, we want to be able to shepherd the church of God sufficiently as he would have us, which requires more qualified men to do so.

00:03:21.380 So as we're working through that as a local church in identifying, training, examining and ordaining leaders, I thought that it would maybe be helpful and timely to teach on these positions of leadership within the church.

00:03:36.960 So again, we've addressed elders on the Lord's Day through the preaching.

00:03:41.880 We've addressed deacons.

00:03:43.660 And lastly, we're going to address church members.

00:03:46.440 And then that'll finish our kind of mini series in between expository preaching through whole books of the Bible.

00:03:53.500 We will pick back up with another book of the Bible, namely the book of Matthew, starting next week.

00:03:59.500 All the preaching by God's grace.

00:04:01.640 We strive that the preaching would all be expositional.

00:04:04.700 which simply means that we would always have a text of scripture and then exposits exegetes

00:04:11.660 provide the interpretation the meaning this is the word of god this is what god means in this

00:04:16.840 particular passage of his word and then lastly this is how it would be properly applied given

00:04:21.980 our place and our time so we seek to be expositional in all of our preaching but not

00:04:27.820 necessarily always expository in the sense of going from the very beginning all the way to the

00:04:33.380 end of a book of the bible but again that is more often than not the case going through whole books

00:04:38.800 of the bible but even when it's not the case we're still going to have a particular passage of

00:04:43.960 scripture that by god's grace we seek to exegete and again for today we have multiple passages of

00:04:49.340 scripture five in fact matthew 18 15 through 17 first corinthians 5 12 through 13 hebrews chapter

00:04:57.380 13 verse 17 acts chapter 20 verse 28 and lastly first corinthians chapter 12 verse 21 through 26

00:05:04.840 so five different passages of scripture but primarily matthew 18 15 through 17

00:05:12.280 is the main text that i believe establishes the concept and the practice of church membership

00:05:21.060 and it does so by way of implication explicitly addressing not church membership per se but

00:05:27.940 explicitly addressing church discipline but in explicitly addressing church discipline it

00:05:33.700 implicitly assumes church membership because there can be no church discipline as the new testament

00:05:41.020 presents it without a clear definable visible way of determining who is a part of this local church

00:05:50.300 covenant and who is not you can't do church discipline without church membership so kind of

00:05:58.320 the main thesis and establishing the biblical support for the idea of church membership is this

00:06:04.780 the top of your notes i've written the following the bible contains five strands at least five

00:06:09.960 strands the five that we will look at today five strands of evidence for local church membership

00:06:16.000 Each reveals something vital to the Christian faith, which would be minimized or outright denied if there were no definable local church membership.

00:06:26.920 In other words, the Bible does not have an explicit command that says thou shalt be a member in a local church.

00:06:35.240 But the Bible does have multiple other commands that assume church membership.

00:06:40.820 these other commands in scripture if we are to seek to actually obey them in any tangible

00:06:47.660 practical way whatsoever then it will necessarily logically force us to conclude that church

00:06:56.020 membership is a biblical principle it is a biblical principle now I don't believe that

00:07:02.860 there is an explicit command in the scripture thou shalt be a church member for the same reason

00:07:07.120 that there are not a host of different commands

00:07:10.500 that are explicitly laid out in the Scripture.

00:07:12.620 Many commands are laid out,

00:07:13.740 but not every command,

00:07:15.840 not explicitly.

00:07:17.000 For instance,

00:07:17.980 we don't have in the New Testament a command

00:07:19.760 that says,

00:07:20.680 upon conversion,

00:07:21.900 being born again,

00:07:23.500 becoming a Christian, 0.85

00:07:24.720 thou shalt continue to inhale and exhale.

00:07:28.440 The apostles, inspired by the Spirit,

00:07:30.560 did not find it necessary to command

00:07:32.420 those who were born again

00:07:34.040 to continue breathing.

00:07:36.220 But you do.

00:07:37.120 you do and in the technical theological sense we can say that it is a command why because your body

00:07:45.000 is a temple of the holy spirit we're called to be good stewards of this physical flesh that god has

00:07:49.780 given us and not breathing is poor stewardship so i can exegetically make an argument that it is a

00:07:57.580 command a new testament command in fact for those who are like well show me in the new testament

00:08:02.540 chapter and verse it's a command that we should breathe and yet it's not written down explicitly

00:08:09.700 in the new testament and i think that the same reasoning for why the apostles inspired by the

00:08:16.320 holy spirit did not explicitly command us in holy writ to continue inhaling and exhaling upon

00:08:23.360 conversion is for the very same reason that they did not command us to belong to local churches

00:08:28.380 because both are no-duh doctrines.

00:08:34.120 It is nonsensical

00:08:37.340 to think that as a New Testament Christian

00:08:42.380 that we could go through life

00:08:45.120 and not belong to a New Testament church

00:08:50.100 in a formal, visible, definable, covenantal way.

00:08:56.220 so the apostles don't say thou shalt belong to a church in membership in covenant membership

00:09:04.060 because my point is because it is assumed it is implied but these five other commands

00:09:11.860 think about them in a logical sense as we read through them these five other commands can only

00:09:18.740 be commands that we seek to tangibly obey, practically obey, if there's such a thing as

00:09:27.060 church membership. So beginning with the text that we've just read, Matthew chapter 18, verse 15

00:09:32.020 through 17, what we find here is a process laid out by the Lord Jesus Christ himself for dealing

00:09:38.500 with sin as we find it in a local church setting. How to deal with sin. Not just the sin of

00:09:48.500 of those outside the church, but the sin of a brother or a sister in Christ, and particularly

00:09:55.000 the sin of a brother or sister in Christ that is against you. If your brother sins against you,

00:10:03.500 go and tell him his fault. And so the first command that we find in Matthew 18, 15 through 17

00:10:09.420 is the command of church discipline. And the process is laid out for us how to deal with sin,

00:10:14.880 how to deal particularly when we're sinned against by another Christian

00:10:19.480 or at least one who bears the name of a brother

00:10:22.460 and how to handle conflict in the church

00:10:28.400 how to handle conflict

00:10:29.920 and what we find is that at the very end

00:10:32.480 after going through the multiple steps that are laid out for us

00:10:35.940 at the very end if our brother does not listen

00:10:39.280 he doesn't listen to you when you tell him alone privately

00:10:44.320 He does not listen to others

00:10:45.660 when you bring one or two others with you

00:10:47.600 so that the testimony may be established

00:10:50.100 in the presence of two or three witnesses.

00:10:52.620 So it's not just your word against his,

00:10:55.060 but there actually is evidence presented.

00:10:58.380 And those one or two who are wise and discerning

00:11:01.260 who come with you,

00:11:02.240 they actually agree with the evidence

00:11:04.180 that is laid out.

00:11:05.280 They hear the counter argument

00:11:06.920 of the individual who's being accused,

00:11:09.760 the alleged perpetrator.

00:11:11.580 And it is alleged until proven otherwise

00:11:14.020 They're able to hear out their counter, their defense.

00:11:17.500 They're able to weigh the testimony and the evidence.

00:11:20.760 And then they agree with you, if they agree with you.

00:11:24.720 Now it is two or three coming to this individual, not just one to one,

00:11:29.040 but now two or three and telling the individual their sin and calling them.

00:11:34.400 What's implicitly included in that is not just telling them their sin, but a call to repentance.

00:11:39.420 and then if the individual still does not repent,

00:11:43.640 then this is brought to the church at large.

00:11:46.260 Tell it to the church, that is the congregation,

00:11:48.980 the ecclesia, the whole gathering of the church.

00:11:52.300 And again, the evidence must be weighed.

00:11:54.640 The church would then decide and render a righteous judgment

00:11:58.180 of whether or not this individual in question,

00:12:01.100 the alleged accused, whether or not that person really is guilty.

00:12:05.160 And assuming that all those things take place,

00:12:07.280 Now the church is calling this impenitent sinner to repent of their sins.

00:12:14.200 And then more time is given for the Holy Spirit to produce the gifts,

00:12:18.380 because it's not conjured as works of man, but rather gifts granted sovereignly by God,

00:12:23.340 the gifts of faith and repentance in that individual being called to repentance.

00:12:29.020 Time is given in the spirit of patience, not in the spirit of being lackadaisical when it comes to sin,

00:12:36.180 but it's not minimizing sin

00:12:39.260 but rather maximizing the work

00:12:41.120 and ministry of the Holy Spirit

00:12:42.380 who brings conviction for sin

00:12:45.000 and tends to take time to do so.

00:12:48.080 That's been my experience.

00:12:49.300 I don't know about you.

00:12:50.480 I respond incredibly well to correction.

00:12:55.060 24 to 48 hours afterwards.

00:12:59.480 I do.

00:13:01.140 Because, now by God's grace,

00:13:03.060 sometimes I respond really well in the moment

00:13:05.420 But I, you know, the likelihood is higher.

00:13:08.460 The percentage rises with time.

00:13:11.960 Now, that assumes that the correction is actually founded, that it's true, that it's biblical,

00:13:17.100 that I've actually committed the thing, the sin, particular sin that I've been accused of.

00:13:23.760 But even if those things are true, the person is correcting me in the right way.

00:13:29.080 In a spirit of gentleness, Galatians says that you who are spiritual should restore such a one

00:13:34.160 who is caught in any transgression in a spirit of gentleness

00:13:37.200 and also being careful, keeping watch over yourselves

00:13:40.100 lest you too fall into temptation.

00:13:43.000 So let's say that they do it in the right manner,

00:13:45.780 this confrontation, and they have the Bible on their side

00:13:49.800 and I'm actually guilty of the thing that they're insisting

00:13:54.860 that I've committed, this particular sin.

00:13:56.900 In all those ways, I may, by God's grace, respond well immediately.

00:14:02.960 But there's a likelihood, a higher likelihood, that given time, given a little bit of time, that the Holy Spirit would actually convict me of sin.

00:14:13.140 That perhaps the flesh and some of those immediate shields, right?

00:14:18.220 When you're confronted, it's almost like a Star Trek episode.

00:14:21.840 It's like you can almost hear, you know, Spock in the background, shields up.

00:14:26.620 You know, like, boom, immediate we go into defense mode.

00:14:29.560 we assume that the person confronting us is in the wrong and usually it's through time

00:14:36.180 that that confrontation is considered more carefully and that conviction of sin comes to

00:14:43.380 bear on our hearts and minds and so my point is this with all these steps going to your brother

00:14:48.860 one-on-one privately alone taking one or two others with you so that the testimony might be

00:14:55.240 established in the presence of two or three witnesses and then lastly telling it to the

00:14:58.640 church and the church weighing it, weighing the accusation that's being brought, seeing if this

00:15:06.520 is true, this testimony. And then the church, if it is, then the church calling that individual to

00:15:11.680 repentance. All these things take time. And again, here's the big idea. Churches should move slowly

00:15:18.080 with church discipline, not because that church has a low bar for holiness and minimizes sin,

00:15:24.140 But because that church has a high bar of the ministry of the Holy Spirit and maximizes the Spirit's ministry, knowing that the Spirit tends to take time to produce repentance in the hearts of sinners.

00:15:38.620 That's the way that the Spirit works.

00:15:41.240 He works through confrontation.

00:15:42.720 He works through his word.

00:15:44.540 But he also works through time and bringing things to bear patiently over time.

00:15:50.140 So these three steps that we find in Matthew 18.

00:15:53.140 The point is this.

00:15:53.920 These are not steps that are meant to be carried out over the course of an afternoon.

00:15:59.300 It is not that someone offends you in the church and that you immediately text them and say, you did me wrong.

00:16:07.000 And if they don't text you back or they text you back in a way that you don't like, that you immediately go and tell the Bible says one or two others.

00:16:15.240 I'm going to tell seven others, you know, just to just to be extra sure.

00:16:19.580 right and then and then we'll get everyone you know and it needs to be soon it needs to be today

00:16:25.500 or maybe tomorrow and then you know maybe we can tell it to the church by evening if we're lucky

00:16:31.540 we can carry out all three steps of church discipline you know before the end of day

00:16:37.960 and certainly that would be pleasing to the lord because we're being expedient 0.99

00:16:42.540 and diligent vigilance about upholding his word no you're being foolish 0.98

00:16:48.200 it's not pleasing to the lord you're being foolish these things take time in the cases 0.98

00:16:56.140 of church discipline that i've dealt with which by god's grace have been few but in those cases

00:17:01.440 of church discipline that i've dealt with in god's providence pastorally all of them have been

00:17:07.860 months not days but months at the shortest and more often than not years years

00:17:17.120 taking time taking time coming again and again like for instance that second step of taking

00:17:25.500 one or two others with you the text does not bind the conscience in such a way that you can

00:17:33.080 only do that second step once i would suggest as a matter of prudence that this second step

00:17:41.140 can and often should occur several times.

00:17:45.780 As well as the first step,

00:17:47.240 going to your brother alone, privately,

00:17:49.860 just you and he.

00:17:52.020 You can do that once,

00:17:53.620 and hopefully you win your brother over.

00:17:55.560 Hopefully they agree with you.

00:17:56.880 Hopefully there is repentance.

00:17:58.280 There's an apology and all these things.

00:18:00.500 But if your brother doesn't agree with you,

00:18:03.340 there are only two possible scenarios.

00:18:04.960 One is that your brother is impenitent.

00:18:08.700 He is refusing to repent,

00:18:09.960 at least for now and we should leave room that the spirit through time might change his heart

00:18:15.640 but number two the other scenario is not just that it's possible your brother is impenitent

00:18:21.240 it's also possible that you're wrong it's possible that your brother is not repenting because the

00:18:27.200 particular charge you've brought against him is not actually sin and that you are actually the

00:18:33.380 one who needs to repent. And likewise, the same principle, the Holy Spirit often will take time

00:18:40.920 to produce repentance in your heart. And so there should be patience going both ways. But the point

00:18:47.780 is, if there's not repentance from your brother, and you still are insistent and convinced that

00:18:54.660 your brother really is in sin, and so therefore there's no backing down with repentance on your

00:18:58.700 part, well then that step can be followed up again. And probably not within 30 minutes,

00:19:05.520 probably within a week or two or three. And then following back up, still on that first step of

00:19:12.040 alone, one-on-one. And then eventually it could be two or three coming in. And that step likewise

00:19:19.460 can be practiced and carried out not just once, but multiple times. The one or two that you bring

00:19:25.640 with you at first maybe fellow believers church members that you have a high opinion of that you

00:19:33.400 respect and that you see as being mature in the church body and so you bring them and then later

00:19:38.380 on it may be that i think at this point we need to involve a pastor or a deacon a church leader

00:19:45.360 needs to be involved in the process but you're still technically in step two the the two or

00:19:50.580 three coming. It is not yet public. It has not yet been told to the church at large corporately.

00:19:58.200 And so my point is each of these steps can be carried out slowly, patiently, and multiple times

00:20:04.600 over a long period of time. And all of this again does not, or at least it should not,

00:20:12.020 indicate that a church makes light of sin, but again rather that a church makes much

00:20:18.180 of the Spirit and His ministry

00:20:21.200 and His ministry particularly

00:20:24.860 of producing and granting repentance

00:20:27.500 in the sinner's heart

00:20:28.720 but doing so over time.

00:20:31.600 Fruit takes time.

00:20:34.140 Fruit is grown.

00:20:36.480 It doesn't just appear

00:20:37.680 but rather it's cultivated and grown.

00:20:41.800 But again, for today's purpose

00:20:43.480 in speaking not merely of church discipline

00:20:45.580 but church membership

00:20:46.740 as a broader category, the point is that this particular command in Matthew 18 of church

00:20:53.240 discipline assumes, it implies, that church membership is a biblical category. How does it

00:21:01.020 assume this? Because you can't do church discipline if there's no definable, visible, covenantal group

00:21:08.440 of who's in and who's out. You need to know who is a member of this community. In your notes,

00:21:16.500 I've written the following. Church membership is implied by the way that the church is expected

00:21:20.600 to discipline its members. The church appears to be the final court of appeal in matters of church

00:21:26.260 discipline. If there is no such thing as church membership, how do we define the group of people

00:21:31.780 who will take up this extremely delicate and important matter of exhorting those who are

00:21:37.140 unrepentant and finally rendering a righteous judgment about their standing in Christian

00:21:42.040 community it's hard to believe that just anyone who shows up claiming to be a christian should

00:21:47.980 be a part of this process surely the church must be a definable group in order to handle such

00:21:55.200 weighty matters so that we know who the scripture is referencing in matthew 18 when it says tell it

00:22:01.800 to the church so again in the most concise and simplest way that i can convey this point

00:22:10.120 if church discipline is not just a theoretical abstract concept but actually a command from

00:22:17.080 the Lord Jesus Christ and we're going to take it seriously by seeking to obey it in practice

00:22:22.120 and not just salute it in theory if church discipline is a command from Jesus and we're

00:22:28.280 going to try to actually obey it then that requires that we know who is in and who is out

00:22:34.680 Church discipline requires church membership because the final step of church discipline is tell it to the church.

00:22:42.940 And all church membership is at its foundation is simply seeking to biblically define that question or an answer to that question.

00:22:55.900 Who is the church?

00:22:57.980 Tell it to the church.

00:22:59.660 Great.

00:23:00.160 Okay.

00:23:00.880 That's the final step of Matthew 18.

00:23:02.400 That's how we carry out church discipline.

00:23:04.680 If there's not repentance sooner, then eventually it goes all the way to the final step.

00:23:08.660 Tell it to the church.

00:23:09.760 But here's the question you have to then answer.

00:23:12.000 Who is the church?

00:23:15.960 And for Calvary Chapel, God bless them.

00:23:19.360 You know, they're a true church.

00:23:21.500 They're orthodox.

00:23:22.640 And they did better than a lot of reformed churches when it came to COVID.

00:23:26.860 They actually had a little bit of spying, which I appreciate.

00:23:31.380 But Calvary Chapel, the reason why I mention them is they're notoriously against church membership.

00:23:37.440 They, I mean, if they despise anything, it's the devil, hell, sin, and church membership.

00:23:43.600 They just, you know, it's a weird thing to be so adamantly against.

00:23:46.300 But it is, I mean, that's, you know, that's one of the key characteristics of the Calvary Chapel folk.

00:23:54.020 Now, it makes sense when you think of their origin, you know, like where did Calvary Chapel come from?

00:23:58.180 well California southern California right Chuck Smith ministering in the 70s to hippies with long

00:24:07.420 hair who smoked weed and one of the key characteristics of his church denomination

00:24:12.980 is that we don't have an organized church membership yeah that checks out that makes sense

00:24:18.120 you know like the same it's like we don't have church membership and and pastor Webb and that's

00:24:22.860 that's my father's name call me joel right that's you know so there's there's your calvary chapel

00:24:27.900 it was really it wasn't a theological argument i'm sure they tacked on some you know pseudo

00:24:32.160 theological arguments along the way to make it seem as though it's biblical but it's not it was

00:24:36.180 much more cultural it's uh hey you know what there's those lofty denominations but we're not

00:24:42.660 like that we're you know we're part of the jesus movement right lonnie fresby and you know hippies

00:24:48.060 hippies for jesus which did not last very long and and uh sadly did not bear um very good fruit

00:24:56.280 it did not despite whatever you know christian movie you might have watched in the theaters a

00:25:01.640 couple years ago so all that being said uh church membership is biblical and for calvary chapel the

00:25:08.680 question would be if you're going to follow matthew 18 and the last part is tell it to the church

00:25:14.000 who's that who is that who are you going to tell it to and part of the argument that i want to make

00:25:21.140 today is that mere church attendance is not enough in order to define church membership

00:25:28.460 because that would be the counter right if i'm going to play the devil's advocate i'm asking

00:25:33.580 begging the question well tell it to the church who's the church and you know you might be tempted

00:25:38.380 to respond and say well the church is everybody here everybody here right now is the church

00:25:44.220 but then the problem with that is it you know there's a few guidelines that would have to be

00:25:50.440 set up for instance you would have to have bouncers outside the door

00:25:54.600 to ensure that any non-christian could not attend on a sunday morning

00:25:58.600 because a non-christian is not a part of the church you would have to test people

00:26:06.320 and a credible, whether or not they have a credible profession of faith 0.79

00:26:10.540 every week at the door on the Lord's Day

00:26:14.160 to determine whether or not they're actually a part of the church.

00:26:17.320 Because if telling it to the church is merely church attendance on Sunday morning,

00:26:21.780 well, what's one group of people that is allowed?

00:26:25.500 And not only it's permissible, it's allowed,

00:26:27.360 but we even welcome and hope and pray that they might come.

00:26:30.760 What's one group of people that we hope comes on Sunday morning? 0.97

00:26:34.320 Unbelievers. 1.00

00:26:34.800 unbelievers we hope and pray that those who don't know christ and have not yet been born again

00:26:42.760 might come and hear the preached word and the gospel of jesus christ and that god if he would

00:26:48.660 be so merciful in his sovereignty might choose to grant them regenerate hearts and the gifts of

00:26:54.060 faith and repentance that they might come to saving faith in jesus christ our lord and be

00:26:59.340 made a new creation be born again we hope that we hope that unbelievers come to church on sunday

00:27:06.560 morning hear the gospel and that they might be made new creatures in christ jesus but again if

00:27:13.140 tell it to the church is defined who is the church by sunday morning then the church would necessarily

00:27:19.560 include unbelievers and we know from other passages throughout scripture that that cannot

00:27:25.840 be the case. It cannot be the case that the church is those bought by the blood of Jesus Christ 0.97

00:27:32.340 and a handful of atheists and agnostics who hate Jesus and spit upon his name. That can't be the

00:27:39.380 case. So then who is the church? Well, now we're saying mere church attendance, Sunday morning

00:27:46.980 church attendance does not suffice in answering that question. So now we have to create some kind

00:27:52.760 of process it can be elaborate it could also be simple but there must be some kind of process

00:27:59.400 for discerning co-discerning who's in and who's out who is a follower of the lord jesus christ

00:28:08.680 and not just a universal member of the universal holy lowercase c catholic church the invisible

00:28:16.640 church global church but but who is a follower of jesus and has been called and desires to be

00:28:24.720 a follower of jesus in this local church context we need some kind of process for discerning and

00:28:31.520 determining who that is who is a christian and who wants to be a christian here with this local

00:28:38.920 church community and whatever process that you come up with for determining these things and

00:28:45.780 answering those questions, what you have essentially done is you have just invented

00:28:49.820 church membership. So it is inescapable. The only way you can escape church membership

00:28:57.500 is if you resolve with these five commands in your notes today, if you resolve to never seek

00:29:05.860 to obey them in any real way.

00:29:10.480 So if you're content

00:29:12.000 to not practically apply

00:29:14.580 the Word of God

00:29:15.960 and to merely theorize

00:29:18.760 about the Word of God

00:29:19.840 and tip the hat and give credence

00:29:22.700 in the abstract to the Word of God,

00:29:26.120 if you're content to do that,

00:29:28.860 theoretical obedience

00:29:30.280 without practical obedience,

00:29:31.780 a.k.a. disobedience,

00:29:33.120 if you're content to be disobedient

00:29:35.840 then you don't need church membership.

00:29:40.020 But if you want to apply the Word of God

00:29:42.860 and obey the Word of God,

00:29:44.340 not merely in theory, but in practice,

00:29:47.280 particularly these commands in the Word of God,

00:29:50.220 like church discipline, excommunication,

00:29:53.940 shepherding, submission,

00:29:57.040 functioning together in unity as a body,

00:29:59.280 if you're going to seek to obey these commands,

00:30:03.000 then you're going to have to answer the question,

00:30:05.420 who is the church and then the next question is how do we determine who is the church and then

00:30:13.060 what you've essentially done is invented church membership it's not whether but which you do have

00:30:19.380 a church membership process you do have that that's not whether but which the church membership

00:30:25.420 process may be biblical it may be elaborate it may be simple it may be unbiblical but you do

00:30:30.540 at some level believe in church membership whether you'll verbalize it or not because again it is

00:30:38.180 implied here's the second commandment first corinthians chapter 5 verse 12 through 13 says

00:30:43.040 this for what have i to do with judging outsiders is it not those inside the church whom you are to

00:30:48.520 judge god judges those outside purge the evil person from among you in your notes i've written

00:30:54.780 the following church membership is implied by the simple fact that excommunication even exists

00:31:00.600 Paul implies implies this in first corinthians 5 12 and 13 where he deals with the necessity of

00:31:08.700 putting someone out of the church there are two significant implications here one is that there

00:31:14.300 is such a thing as in the church and there is such a thing as outside the church Paul assumes

00:31:21.780 that being in the church is definable, that it's knowable. It's something that can be known.

00:31:30.700 So Paul assumes that in the church, that group is definable. Now, the other implication is that

00:31:36.760 a person can be removed from being in the church. Such a formal removal would not be possible if

00:31:42.800 there was no such thing as a clear membership. The question is, who is an accountable part of

00:31:49.220 this body and who is not so church discipline being the whole process from start to finish

00:31:56.460 when your brother sins against you which begins privately one-on-one church discipline the whole

00:32:01.580 process assumes church membership excommunication being the final result of church discipline if a

00:32:09.060 person remains impenitent that is unrepentant about their sin that also assumes church membership

00:32:15.660 you can't kick someone out of something if there's no such thing as being in that something

00:32:22.660 to begin with you can't remove someone from the church if there is no church to begin with and

00:32:30.740 again without church membership this is this is what ultimate logically you have to recognize

00:32:36.460 if there is no formal church membership then then the in the church and out of the church

00:32:41.640 are, they must be defined by mere church attendance. If there's no formal church

00:32:49.220 membership, covenantal, definable, visible church membership, then in the church simply means who's

00:32:57.180 allowed to attend and who does attend. And out of the church would mean who's not allowed to attend

00:33:03.540 and therefore does not attend. So now all these commands that we're reading, if there's no church

00:33:09.700 membership and it's simply church attendance all these commands not they're no no longer merely

00:33:14.920 practical now they're acutely physical physical so to remove someone from the church if mere church

00:33:25.240 attendance is what it means to be in the church it means to physically kick someone out and to

00:33:31.340 bar the door literally to where they are no longer allowed to come back in and what does it mean to

00:33:38.600 be in the church well it simply means whoever happens to be there on a given day in a given

00:33:44.760 moment and that's that's what these verses would have to mean tell it to the church merely means

00:33:50.880 whoever happens to be there being in the church simply means whoever happens to be there being

00:33:58.300 removed or excommunicated from the church means you're physically no longer allowed to be there

00:34:04.060 it all becomes physical that's the only way it can be carried out if if the church is simply

00:34:12.380 defined by mere church attendance but if it's more than church attendance it's church membership

00:34:18.420 and it is not just physical presence but it is with physical presence now spiritual covenant

00:34:24.620 is involved and it's definable and visible and practical not merely theoretical then all these

00:34:31.680 things can be carried out with prudence in a biblical and logical way the third command so

00:34:38.780 discipline church discipline then excommunication then submission this is hebrews chapter 13 verse

00:34:44.760 17 it says this obey your leaders and submit to them for they are keeping watch over your souls

00:34:49.860 as those who will give an account let them do this with joy and not with groaning for that would be

00:34:55.160 of no advantage to you. So we've already begged the question, what I've been laboring thus far is

00:35:01.980 who is the church? Well, here's another question now. Who is my leader? Right? Because this is a

00:35:10.340 command. And again, none of this, you know, I'm building an argument here from, you know, that

00:35:17.040 it's just as much logical as it is biblical. I'm building a logical argument with premises, right?

00:35:24.460 if a and b then c okay but it will ultimately fall flat if you are the average i want to say

00:35:34.740 evangelical but that wouldn't be true if you're the average reformed evangelical sadly uh because

00:35:41.140 the reformed is not just you know et tu brute you too reformed guys no no no it is not just

00:35:47.080 what i'm about to say doesn't just include the reformed um i would say that the reformed are

00:35:51.320 the pinnacle of what I'm about to describe. It is not also the Reformed. It is especially

00:35:56.740 the Reformed. And what is the thing that I'm talking about? Theoretical credence

00:36:02.380 with an absolute refusal to practical obedience. So if you're Reformed, you know, and you're the 0.95

00:36:11.940 typical modern Reformed guy, not historically. Historically, the Reformed were always seeking 0.98

00:36:17.360 to apply the word of God in practical, tangible ways to all of life around them. Certainly. But

00:36:22.520 if you're the modern reformed guy, then a lot of the arguments that I'm making may fall flat because

00:36:27.780 because you're hearing it. It's like, yeah, but all these things only logically make sense. He's

00:36:32.840 saying you have to define who's in the church. He's saying you have to be able to answer the

00:36:36.400 question, who are my leaders? Right. But you really only have to answer any of these questions. Who is

00:36:41.020 the church? How do we define who's in the church? Who are my pastors? Who are my brothers? Who's in

00:36:45.980 this but you only have to answer those questions if if you're determined to practically obey

00:36:52.460 the commands in scripture but i'm reformed so of course i don't i don't plan to practically obey

00:36:59.280 all right i mean i'm going to go to the the 17th conference on tulip

00:37:04.540 total depravity and limited atonement but that's all we do there will be a chalkboard

00:37:10.820 that's very important and there will be suits and maybe even a cruise

00:37:17.660 but one thing that there will not be right there may even be scotch but there will not be

00:37:25.300 god help me any attempt to practically obey the commandments of christ

00:37:31.080 you're describing the prosperity you know charismatic church no i'm describing my tribe

00:37:39.100 Sadly, it hurts.

00:37:40.360 I'm not doing so with pleasure.

00:37:41.640 It hurts.

00:37:42.860 But no, that is a description of the Reformed evangelical church.

00:37:47.340 More than any other camp I can think of, honestly.

00:37:51.160 I don't know any camp that is more committed to the theoretical at the expense of the practical than the Reformed tribe.

00:37:59.260 And it is not our tradition.

00:38:01.320 It is not our history.

00:38:02.560 It is not our origin. 0.89

00:38:04.340 But it has become the modern state, the current state of the Reformed tribe. 0.69

00:38:10.040 So, if you're a modern reformer, then there's about an 85% chance that everything that I'm saying, 0.94

00:38:15.200 you're like, well, that doesn't land with me.

00:38:16.900 These arguments don't land with me at all, Joel.

00:38:19.140 Joke's on you.

00:38:20.180 You assume that me, as a follower of Christ, decided, you know,

00:38:23.160 and wanted, desired to obey Christ in practical, tangible ways.

00:38:26.700 Ha!

00:38:28.060 But I'm assuming that, you know, as the apostles would say, but not so with you.

00:38:34.340 right not so with you paul writes that you know as he's you know saying this may be going on in

00:38:40.360 a church over there or over here but of you we are hopeful of better things covenant bible church

00:38:47.740 as one of your pastors of you i am hopeful of better things i assume the reason i'm making

00:38:53.240 all these arguments and i think that they're good arguments and i think they will land

00:38:56.740 is because i'm preaching first and foremost to you and i'm confident of better things in your case

00:39:03.100 I am confident that one of the reasons that you are a part of this church is because of this

00:39:08.980 church's by God's grace not because of me but by the grace of God this church's emphasis

00:39:13.780 and commitment to obey God's word in every realm of life in practical tangible ways and not mere

00:39:22.800 theory I'm assuming that's why you're here and because that's why you're here I'm assuming that

00:39:28.100 all the arguments that I'm making for church membership today from the basis of if you desire

00:39:32.880 to practically obey jesus you therefore must necessarily assume church membership i'm assuming

00:39:38.860 that that rhetoric lands on a congregation of your caliber on youtube it will not land i can tell you

00:39:46.120 right now i will be in trouble okay so who is your pastor hebrews 13 17 obey your leaders and submit

00:39:56.960 to them for their keeping watch over your souls as those who will give an account let them do so

00:40:02.100 with joy and not with groaning for that would be of no advantage to you. Look at just the very first

00:40:06.300 part. Obey your leaders and submit to them. Here's the deal. Who are your leaders? You might say,

00:40:15.060 oh, well, that's that's not a big deal. Let's not read into that. Well, no, no, no. There are a lot

00:40:19.920 of Christian leaders doing air quotes here. Christian leaders who, you know, are self-prescribed,

00:40:28.860 self-exalted leaders. Joel Osteen claims to be a spiritual leader. Joyce Myers claims to be

00:40:38.840 a spiritual leader. T.D. Jakes would claim to be a spiritual leader. But here's the beauty

00:40:45.760 of this particular passage of Scripture. It doesn't say obey leaders. And it certainly does not say

00:40:53.060 obey anyone who claims to be a leader. But instead, in the mercy of God, there's a very important word

00:40:59.920 right between obey and leaders, the word your. Obey your leaders and submit to them. There's a

00:41:08.760 particularity involved. It's local. It's not universal. It's not obey, you know, anybody who

00:41:18.380 happens to be appointed on the other side of the world through some procession and now wears a very

00:41:23.480 big hat you know that obey francis no no obey your leaders not any leader but your leader

00:41:33.280 and here's the beauty of obeying your leader what that assumes in this is that the leader who

00:41:40.340 happens to be your leader is a leader that at least at some level you chose you had a say in it

00:41:47.500 he didn't just show up at your house one day and say i'm your pastor you've never seen me before

00:41:54.360 but i just determined last night that i'm the pastor of this neighborhood and everybody who

00:41:59.260 lives within this you know 10 square mile radius is a part of my flock well the beautiful thing

00:42:06.400 about being a protestant and really just a christian for that matter is you can say nice

00:42:11.360 to meet you. Take a hike. Get off my lawn. No, it doesn't work that way. A leader does not just

00:42:18.120 assume leadership over you, but there's also a sense in which it must be granted. There is, and

00:42:24.520 that's why I think the proper word is covenant. It's not just church membership, but in the truest

00:42:29.780 sense, it is covenant church membership. A covenant must be cut. Now, listen to me. Not all covenants

00:42:37.300 are of equal caliber the marriage covenant is much stronger and rightfully so than church

00:42:45.200 membership covenant in other words there are actually legitimate reasons for leaving a church

00:42:51.880 even a church that you've already made vows to that you've already entered into

00:42:55.960 a covenant membership status with that church it's still okay to leave now you shouldn't leave

00:43:04.200 in a frivolous way

00:43:06.140 over petty and frivolous things

00:43:08.960 and not only the reason for leaving

00:43:11.720 but the manner in which you leave

00:43:13.520 also should be mature and godly

00:43:15.840 and respectable

00:43:16.460 but you can leave

00:43:18.880 and any guy who tells you that you can't

00:43:22.160 well that's not a church

00:43:24.360 that's a cult

00:43:25.840 and there is a dynamic difference

00:43:28.360 between the two

00:43:29.160 plenty of people have left our church

00:43:32.560 and plenty of people have come.

00:43:36.820 So a church covenant, it is a covenant.

00:43:40.380 I'm convinced of that.

00:43:42.300 It's not trite.

00:43:43.760 It's not nothing.

00:43:45.980 But at the same time,

00:43:47.460 it is a covenant where there are certain outs.

00:43:51.140 And even Christ himself provides outs

00:43:53.800 for the covenant of marriage.

00:43:55.900 For instance, one of those outs would be death.

00:44:00.540 That's why we say still to this day,

00:44:02.260 till death do us part.

00:44:04.900 That if you're married,

00:44:07.200 covenantal marriage,

00:44:08.780 entered the covenant of marriage

00:44:10.340 and your spouse dies,

00:44:11.860 you are now released from that covenant.

00:44:14.680 The covenant of marriage

00:44:15.500 is not an eternal covenant.

00:44:17.900 The new covenant,

00:44:18.860 the covenant of marriage with Christ,

00:44:21.120 eternal marriage,

00:44:21.860 that is forever lasting.

00:44:24.920 But earthly marriage in this life,

00:44:27.280 it shouldn't be broken lightly.

00:44:29.460 there are only a few reasons that the lord prescribes as being valid and legitimate

00:44:36.100 but there are outs to the covenant of marriage and with the covenant of church membership

00:44:41.460 even more so even more so so there is a mutual determining from you the church member that i

00:44:49.060 want to be a member of this church and likewise you can determine at a later date with sufficient

00:44:54.400 reason i do not want to be a member of this church and i'm leaving so this idea of the third

00:45:02.140 commandment that i've listed here hebrews 13 17 obey your leaders well part of what makes them

00:45:07.920 your leaders is that you decided you determined that they would be your leaders you had some say

00:45:15.260 in the matter i've written this in your notes church membership is implied in the biblical

00:45:20.320 requirement of all Christians to be submitted to a group of church leaders, elders, or pastors.

00:45:26.460 Without church membership, who is it that the New Testament is referring to who must submit to a 0.51

00:45:31.780 specific group of leaders? Some form of expressed willingness, agreement, or covenant has to precede

00:45:39.040 a person's submission to a group of leaders. How is this leadership and submission going to work

00:45:44.520 if there is no official membership to define who has made a commitment to be led and who

00:45:50.100 has been chosen to lead. If we neglect the importance of church membership, then it is

00:45:57.360 difficult to see how we can obey this particular command in any practical way, which again does not

00:46:05.540 pose a problem for many of our Reformed brothers because practical obedience to Jesus' commands is

00:46:10.880 not the highest priority. But of you, I am hopeful of better things. So you want to obey Hebrews 13,

00:46:18.460 17 and not just acknowledge it in the abstract in the realm of theory not just tip the hat

00:46:24.760 but honor christ by practically obeying this what jesus is saying right all the bible this is a

00:46:32.300 life hack it's crazy but all the bible technically is red letters it's all the word of god so jesus

00:46:39.460 our lord is saying commanding not just suggesting that christians should obey their leaders and

00:46:46.000 submit to them. And the first thing you have to do in order to obey this particular command from

00:46:51.100 Christ is have some way of determining who your leaders are. Now, again, to play the devil's

00:46:57.500 advocate, you might be saying at this point, well, I don't think church membership is required for

00:47:01.400 that. I see what you're saying, Joel. I do need to be able to distinguish between self-proclaimed

00:47:08.520 leaders or you know just online universal leaders versus a particular you know my leaders local

00:47:16.880 leaders I do need a way of doing that but actually in this case Joel I think you messed up because

00:47:21.380 in this particular case I think that mere church attendance does suffice I have determined that

00:47:29.040 this will be these set of leaders in this local church will be my leaders and I've determined that

00:47:34.760 simply by showing up and not just showing up once but showing up consistently with regularity

00:47:40.560 i've led my family here on the lord's day week after week after week and that church attendance

00:47:47.020 is enough it does suffice for me to identify who my leaders are so that i then can obey the word

00:47:55.500 of christ in hebrews 13 17 to obey these leaders okay touche here's the problem though the other

00:48:03.440 side of the equation which is the next command shepherding so we've dealt with submission that

00:48:09.900 is for the congregant but what about shepherding for the pastor his responsibility because you

00:48:18.900 need to answer the question who are my leaders who is my pastor so that i know who to obey

00:48:23.360 and your mere church attendance might be sufficient to answer that question who is my pastor

00:48:28.700 but your church attendance is not sufficient

00:48:31.500 for me to answer the question that I have

00:48:33.720 which is, who is my congregation?

00:48:37.120 Do you see?

00:48:38.560 You're trying to determine who is my leader

00:48:41.760 but I'm trying to determine who is my flock

00:48:45.500 and your mere church attendance is not enough

00:48:49.720 for me to answer that question.

00:48:54.580 And so, here's catch 22,

00:48:57.160 and so to help me to sufficiently shepherd you i need to answer the question of who's in the church

00:49:06.160 and who's not and if you're not going to be helpful helping me answer that question of who's

00:49:12.540 in the church and who's not so that i can obey the commands that christ has given me to shepherd

00:49:16.940 the flock of god well then you're actually not obeying your command back to hebrews 13 17 which

00:49:23.160 is to obey your leaders and submit to them and to not make this a groaning but to do so in such a

00:49:30.680 way that it might be a joy to those leaders and i'm sitting here telling you right now and in your

00:49:36.160 defense i haven't said it necessarily before now but i'm saying it today it is not a joy for pastors

00:49:42.400 to be left in the dark and to simply wonder and guess at who's in and who's out

00:49:49.080 right merely attending the church but not expressing any

00:49:54.020 formal covenant and membership with the church is unhelpful it doesn't help to define for a pastor

00:50:05.780 who it is in specific that God is going to hold me accountable for on that final day

00:50:12.480 for shepherding and you might say well I still I get it that's a decent argument but I still think

00:50:18.980 church membership should be enough or a church attendance should be enough here's the problem

00:50:24.360 though um our church has existed for a whopping three years and two months not very long do you

00:50:32.000 know how many people have attended the church in just three years and two months some of you have

00:50:36.780 been here for a while you know you're nodding your heads you're like yeah i've i've seen it like

00:50:41.680 like a revolving door easy come easy go right i mean there's a ton of people who have attended

00:50:47.700 the church and not all that they've all left for bad reasons i'm not saying that i i think most of

00:50:52.120 them have not left for bad reasons but there's been a ton of people just even out of town

00:50:55.740 right they don't they don't attend the church in an ongoing fashion simply because they don't live

00:51:00.500 here but they were here they were stationed here for a little while or temporarily they were here

00:51:04.320 for the summer we've had so many cases like that we're not even just you know a one-time visitor

00:51:09.220 but they attended for uh you know four out of five weeks for three to six months

00:51:14.340 but but it was temporary they're not here any longer am i still responsible

00:51:20.240 in a covenantal sense as a pastor for that individual who was here for six months but

00:51:26.180 has now been gone for seven months are pastors responsible for anyone who ever darkens the door

00:51:33.620 of their church because pastors are responsible for someone that's certainly true acts 20 verse

00:51:42.140 28 says this this is now a command not given to the congregation but given to leaders pastors in

00:51:47.100 particular pay careful attention to yourselves and all the flock in which the holy spirit

00:51:51.540 has made you overseers now the holy spirit does so through agency and i believe he does so through

00:51:58.680 the suffrage of the church that is through the vote the decision of the congregation

00:52:04.060 itself but it's still ultimately once that takes place it is important to recognize

00:52:09.180 that once the church votes,

00:52:11.660 then at that point it becomes Acts 20, 28

00:52:14.040 in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers.

00:52:18.440 He does so through human agency,

00:52:20.260 but once that human agency has taken place

00:52:22.920 in the province of God,

00:52:24.720 then we trust that it's not an accident.

00:52:27.240 As the scripture says elsewhere,

00:52:28.560 the lot is cast at random,

00:52:30.640 but the Lord determines his outcome.

00:52:33.580 So the Holy Spirit, once someone is ordained,

00:52:36.360 then it is actually the Holy Spirit

00:52:37.980 who has ordained them, and there are commands from God to that ordained individual. What are they?

00:52:43.960 They need to pay careful attention to themselves and to all the flock in which the Holy Spirit

00:52:49.760 has made them overseers to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his blood. And in

00:52:56.180 order for a shepherd to do that, an elder or a deacon, in order to do that, it is not only that

00:53:03.100 the congregation needs to answer the question, who is my pastor? But the pastor must answer the

00:53:07.680 question, who is my congregation? And your mere church attendance may suffice for you to identify

00:53:14.700 your leaders, but mere church attendance does not suffice for your leaders to determine who is

00:53:21.200 their flock. Lastly, let's move on. First Corinthians chapter 12, verse 21 through 26,

00:53:27.100 the Bible says this, the eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of you, nor again the head

00:53:31.820 to the feet, I have no need of you. On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be

00:53:36.240 weaker are indispensable and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow

00:53:43.500 the greater honor and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty which are more

00:53:49.740 presentable parts do not require but God has so composed the body giving greater honor to the part

00:53:56.280 that lacked it that there may be no division in the body but that the members may have the same

00:54:02.940 care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together. If one member is honored, all

00:54:08.800 rejoice together. In your notes, finally I've written this. Church membership is implied in

00:54:14.180 the metaphor of the body of Christ. There is a unity and organic relationship implied in the

00:54:19.880 imagery of a body. There is something unnatural about a Christian attaching himself to a body 1.00

00:54:26.460 of believers and not choosing to be a functioning member of that body. Yes, there is the universal 0.88

00:54:32.740 and visible body of Christ

00:54:34.800 that includes

00:54:36.840 saints in Uganda

00:54:38.560 and Russia and all over

00:54:40.720 the world. But there is also

00:54:42.880 such a thing as the local

00:54:44.480 body of Christ.

00:54:46.540 The local body of Christ.

00:54:48.900 And when a person is saved by the grace

00:54:50.660 of God and caused to become

00:54:52.580 a new creation, they

00:54:54.440 are given by the Holy Spirit

00:54:56.840 sovereignly. He distributes

00:54:58.660 gifts as He

00:55:00.680 wills. That's what

00:55:02.500 1st Corinthians 12 says. That's what Romans 12 says. The Holy Spirit deposits and distributes

00:55:09.320 gifts to each member of the body. He causes him to, with these gifts, to be realized into a

00:55:18.120 particular part of the body. He gives them in such a way that that person functions best as a leg,

00:55:23.680 or an arm, or a hand, or a foot, or an eye, or an ear. But without church membership, in the local

00:55:31.400 setting it would be it would be likened to the illustration of all these people made alive in

00:55:38.960 Christ Jesus saved by Jesus born again and imparted by the spirit with endowed with particular

00:55:47.500 spiritual gifts and caused to become certain specific parts of the body but without covenant

00:55:53.360 it would be like like the ligaments like the joints like like the the sinew that ties it

00:56:00.840 together without covenant without church membership what you really have is you still have a body but

00:56:07.100 instead of it being a body that's put together and functioning in unison it's actually just a part

00:56:12.800 or not a part it's a pile of body parts without church membership that's kind of what you have

00:56:20.260 it's like well yeah this is our church over here isn't it beautiful it's like it looks like something

00:56:25.860 out of a horror movie i i don't i don't know if beautiful is the word that i would use to describe

00:56:29.960 Like I see, I mean, that is a church in a sense.

00:56:33.700 I see two legs.

00:56:34.640 Wait, is there a second one?

00:56:35.540 Yeah, let me move this.

00:56:36.540 Yeah, there's a second one there.

00:56:37.800 There are two legs.

00:56:38.660 There are two arms.

00:56:39.560 There are eyes and ears and the nose and this, that, and the other.

00:56:42.840 But I don't think this is what Jesus had in mind.

00:56:46.300 This looks more like a horror movie than it does like the church of Jesus Christ.

00:56:52.500 It is a body, but it'd be great if we had some assembly.

00:56:56.900 it'd be great if this particular body

00:57:00.040 if not just all the parts were represented

00:57:01.740 but if all the parts were sewn together

00:57:04.060 and then functioning

00:57:05.820 but what that requires

00:57:07.800 for the parts to be sewn together

00:57:09.480 is covenant

00:57:10.800 it's covenant

00:57:12.540 it is a mutual agreement

00:57:15.620 between two or more persons

00:57:18.060 it is an agreement

00:57:20.340 not merely an agreement

00:57:21.440 a covenant, the new covenant

00:57:22.880 the covenant that we make with Christ

00:57:24.540 or namely He makes with us

00:57:25.820 and the agreement to obey him and to follow him.

00:57:29.420 But it is now a second covenant, a local covenant.

00:57:32.960 We have the eternal new covenant,

00:57:35.240 but now there is a second local temporal covenant

00:57:40.000 with the church, not just the church universally,

00:57:44.560 but a church locally.

00:57:47.480 And what we're ultimately doing is this.

00:57:49.320 We're saying not only do I covenant with Christ to follow him,

00:57:52.360 but I have covenanted with you to follow Christ together.

00:57:57.700 To follow Christ together.

00:57:59.600 To follow Christ here.

00:58:01.700 To follow Christ now.

00:58:03.920 To follow Christ with these people.

00:58:06.860 That you will be my people.

00:58:08.800 And I will be yours.

00:58:11.020 And we will follow Christ together in unison.

00:58:14.220 As one body.

00:58:15.380 With Christ as the head.

00:58:17.240 Functioning together for the glory of God.

00:58:19.120 In this place.

00:58:20.740 In this time.

00:58:21.500 tangibly, practically, physically, visibly,

00:58:26.320 all those good things.

00:58:27.900 Let's pray.

00:58:28.780 Father, we pray that you would bless this word

00:58:30.980 to your people,

00:58:31.860 that we'd be challenged by it.

00:58:33.600 We thank you for church membership,

00:58:35.740 that you have not left us in the dark,

00:58:37.560 that your commands are not burdensome

00:58:39.160 and they're not just ethereal,

00:58:41.700 but that your commands are simple.

00:58:44.580 All who are weary and heavy laden,

00:58:48.180 you command us to come to you

00:58:49.320 Because your burden, you do have commands, you do have a set of law, but your burden is light and your yoke is easy.

00:58:57.080 And part of what makes it light and easy is your spirit, which empowers us to fulfill it and obey it.

00:59:02.540 But also part of what makes your burden, your yoke, your law easy and light is that it's simple and practical.

00:59:13.320 practical. That it's not just theoretical and something to be obeyed mentally by those with

00:59:21.220 180 IQ, but it's something to be obeyed practically by the blue-collar saint who loves Jesus, that he

00:59:28.980 can hear, understand, and obey with his hands and feet on a Tuesday afternoon to the glory of God.

00:59:36.520 I thank you that you are that kind of God.

00:59:40.240 You are a brilliant, genius, all-knowing, omniscient God.

00:59:44.120 And yet, at the same time, you are a simple God, a merciful God that you condescend to.

00:59:51.700 You remember, as the scripture says, that you remember our frame, that we're dust.

00:59:57.280 And you don't do so in a demeaning fashion, but in a loving, merciful fashion,

01:00:01.120 in the same way that a father condescends to his young toddler.

01:00:06.520 Not that he's demeaning him or insulting him, but he lowers down to his level.

01:00:11.380 Speaking in a way that he can understand, interacting in a way that he gets.

01:00:15.580 So too, that's what you do with us.

01:00:18.220 You do it in the gospel of your son, Jesus Christ.

01:00:21.600 But you also even do that merciful condescension in your law in such a way that we might be able to obey and not be burdened, but rather freed.

01:00:32.480 Freed from the burdens that others would try to place on us.

01:00:36.520 but not so with you.

01:00:37.720 We thank you for your character,

01:00:39.340 for your words,

01:00:41.000 and for church membership,

01:00:42.780 that we have not been called

01:00:43.840 to follow Christ alone,

01:00:45.560 but that we can do so in covenant,

01:00:47.460 in community,

01:00:48.560 with one another.

01:00:49.620 We thank you for this in Jesus' name.

01:00:51.120 Amen.

The NXR Podcast - June 24, 2024

THE SERMON - What Bible Verses Support “Church Membership”？

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