Church Membership Matters

If you have a Bible, go and grab it and turn to the book of Matthew. We're continuing our series through the church. Normally, what we do every week is what we call expository preaching, where we take a book of the Bible and we go through it verse by verse, procedurally, and kind of see what the author and what God was trying to say in that book.

We're doing something a little bit different. For the last two weeks, and for the coming six weeks, we're going through a topical series, particularly on the church. As we're continuing to work and think about the church, as we're getting ready to look at our constitution and bylaws – which, by the way, if you're interested in serving on the Bylaw Committee, please talk to me before I present nominations at our members' meeting. But more important than any structure that we decide as a group, or however the politics of that works out, what's more important is what God has to say about how we function in the church, that there are main things that we are called to focus on.

So, what we're doing in this series, rather than going verse by verse through a book in the Bible, is examining Scripture at large to see what it says about different topics. Two weeks ago, we looked at Scripture and how God's Word becomes the ultimate criteria and standard by which we determine what we do as a church. Last week, we looked at the Gospel, how the Gospel message provides substance for us in terms of where we find our salvation, and also shapes and forms how we act as a church through baptism and the Lord's Supper.

This morning, and for the following weeks, we're really taking those two things, Scripture and the Gospel, and now getting down to the nitty-gritty. If the Bible and the Gospel are true and become the standard and the material with which we build our church, then what does that look like? And so, this morning, we're going to start by looking at the topic of church membership from Matthew 16:13-20. If you're visiting us here this morning and you don't have a Bible, feel free to use that pew Bible in front of you. You can turn to the book of Matthew after looking at the table of contents. If you don't have a Bible, just keep it. We want you to just have a copy of God's Word. Feel free to read it yourself. The book of Matthew is a great book to read more about the life of Jesus.

Again, I'll be reading from verses 13 to 20:

When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others, Elijah; still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” “But you,” he asked them, “who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Jesus responded, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will have been loosed in heaven.” Then he gave the disciples orders to tell no one that he was the Messiah. — Matthew 16:13-20 (CSB)

Let's pray. We do pray, Lord, that as we look towards Your Word, as we think about Your Kingdom here on earth, that You would help us to be good stewards as Kingdom citizens. We do pray this in Jesus' Name. Amen.

Allegiance to God's Kingdom

I hereby declare on oath that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state or sovereignty of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen. That I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic. That I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same. That I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by law. That I will perform non-combatant service in the armed forces of the United States when required by law. That I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by law. And that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion. So help me God.

Two hundred and fifty years ago yesterday, our nation was founded. And roughly 20 years ago, I recited these words to become a citizen of the United States of America. If I'm being totally honest, I had no idea what I was talking about. I was like 10, agreeing to be drafted by the United States for the purpose of military. I mean, what kid knows what it means to bear arms when required by law?

And yet, these words carried meaning. It changed who I was. And in the words, contains the content of what I was committing to. That to become a citizen of the United States was more than just being born, more than just something that I was assuming. But that citizenship to the United States of America meant submitting to this country, to this Kingdom. Real commitments to a real country made me a real citizen.

What about God's Kingdom? Many Christians today go to church but have no idea why. They participate in the Kingdom of God, and yet their commitment doesn't seem to be meaningful at all. Many Christians are more committed to Costco than they are their own churches. But if Jesus is King, if He's really King who reigns over the entire universe, if He's called us out of the domain of darkness into His marvelous light, then that means that you and I aren't just worshipping Jesus as our Savior who saves us from our sins, though that's certainly true. We also worship Jesus as our Lord, as our King. And living life in the Lord's Kingdom means that it also comes with that Kingdom's citizenship, what we would call church membership. So, what I want to argue for this morning is that membership matters. That membership matters.

Understanding Church Membership

What I'm going to do is I'm going to try to go over Scripture to explain this concept of what it means to be a member of a church – not just going to a church, not just tuning into a church online, but being a committed member of a church. And what I'm going to do is I'm going to survey Scripture to try to see what it says about Christ's kingship and by extension what we're supposed to be as Kingdom citizens. So, think of this sermon kind of happening in two parts. I liken it to a coloring book.

The first part is going to try to draw out the outline of what we mean by church membership, the borders, the boundaries, who's inside and who's outside. Have you ever seen a two-year-old with a coloring book and their crayon? If you don't have boundaries, it's utter chaos. They have no idea what they're doing. At the same time, part two, we're going to try to color in within those boundaries to see, with those insides and outsides, what the life inside the church is supposed to look like. A coloring book without boundaries is chaos. A coloring book without color is dull. So, consider this sermon having two parts: First, we're going to look at Kingdom authority, these boundaries, these lines. And second, we're going to look at the Kingdom community, what life within this Kingdom is supposed to look like.

Kingdom Authority: Defining the Boundaries

Let's start with part one, Kingdom authority. What church membership does, what having this explicit commitment to be part of a church does, is it identifies who is in God's community. And it starts by understanding that Jesus Christ is King. You can see that there in Matthew 16. Let me read again from verse 13 to 16:

When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others, Elijah; still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” “But you,” he asked them, “who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” — Matthew 16:13-16 (CSB)

Jesus, continuing his earthly ministry, puts out a poll in front of his disciples. He asks them,