-
Church Membership
While many are interested in church membership, there exists a mass of unwarranted and unnecessary confusion on the subject. This, like most other religious matters, is because people consult just about any and every source for information except the Bible. People use the words "members of the church" so flippantly and unscripturally, with little understanding of what the Bible teaches about it.
Are you impressed with the importance of being a member of the church? Many are not. It is second to none in matters of importance, and when we learn what Scripture teaches about it, we cannot escape that conclusion. But so many take it so lightly. They consider it as something comparable to being a member of some club, a friendly association, fraternal order, professional group, or something no more important than that. They do not consider it to be very useful or necessary in serving God if you choose not to belong. As a result, they do not make good church members.
On the other hand, some appear to think that having your name on some roll that designates who are the members of the church is all that matters. As some do not give the matter sufficient importance, others place too much confidence in simply being considered a member of the church.
Our motive for being a church member must not be simply to please other people, or for material gain and good business. What we do in matters of religion must be done with the motive of pleasing God regardless of what others say, do, or think. We must be church members from conviction, not just because it may be convenient, or the accepted thing in some circles of society.
Not Just A Church
Church membership, according to the Bible, does not mean being a member of just some church, any church, or a church. It means being a member of THE church. This point is where many stumble. They have comforted themselves in the fact that they belong to something called a church and have concluded that is what matters. But this is false. Christ built only one church. "Upon this rock I will build my church." (Matthew 16:18). Please note the word church is singular. He is the head of the body, which is the church (Ephesians 1:22,23), and as is true of all normal bodies, the church has one head and the head is over one body. "There is one body," (Ephesians 4:4), made up of many members. "We are members of his body. " (Ephesians 5:30). "But now are they many members, yet but one body." (1 Corinthians 12:20). Who are these members? They are not denominations. You read nothing in the Bible presenting the Lord's church in terms of denominations. Paul wrote to the Christians in Corinth and identified the members, "now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular. (1 Corinthians 12:27). "So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and euery one members one of another." (Romans 12:5). The church is composed of people, but a very distinct people.
In Christ
The church is called the bride of Christ (Ephesians 5:23). Christ is the bridegroom (John 3:29). As there is one husband and one bride, so there is the one Christ and His one church. There are many churches in existence, but not by the authority of the Lord. Christ is no spiritual bigamist with many brides. His church began on the first Pentecost after His resurrection (Acts 2), and is revealed to us in the Bible. There is only one body for which He died (Ephesians 5:25), and only one that He will save (Ephesians 5:23). Therefore, we are interested in membership In the Lord's church. This truth that there is only one church is a barrier that many have not been able to overcome. Having been reared in a denominational context all their lives, they find It difficult to accept what the Bible teaches about the singularity of the church. But acceptance or rejection of the truth does not alter it.
Church of God
Let us consider now the significance of church membership. As members of the church we are the spiritual children of God's family. 1 Timothy 1:15 defines the church as the "house of God. " This means the family of God. God is the Father and we are His children (2 Corinthians 6:18). Christ is our elder brother in this analogy, and we we joint-heirs with Him. (Romans 8:16,17). How important is ft to be in God's family? Can we be saved and not be God's child? Certainly not. So the significance of church membership is obvious.
To be a member of the church means we are in Christ. Salvation is in Christ (2 Timothy 2:10). Salvation is by no other than Christ (Acts 4:12). "Neither is their salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved." There is no way to be in Christ and outside His body. But to be in His body is to be in His church because the church is the body of Christ (Ephesians 1:22,23). So being in Christ Is to be in the church.
In the Body
How does one get into Christ or Into His body? Galatians 3:27 teaches, "For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ did put on Christ." We are baptized Into Christ. Again, 1 Corinthians 12:12,13, "For as the body is one and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free, and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. " By the Instructions given through the Spirit, we are baptized into the one body, the church. Baptism puts us in Christ. The same one baptism puts us in the church. Again, it is obvious why church membership is important. We cannot be saved out of Christ and to be in Christ is to be in His body, the church.
The Called Out
The word "church" comes from the word meaning "the called out." The Lord's church is composed of people who first have been called. We are called by the gospel (2 Thessalonians 2:14). We have been called out of a life of sin into a life of righteousness. We are called to be saints (1 Corinthians 1:2); called to liberty (Galatians 5:13); called to hope (Ephesians 4:4); called into the one body (Colossians 3:15). "For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness." (1 Thessalonians 4:7). "For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ." (FIM Thessalonians 5:9). "Wherefore come ye out from among them," is the call of the gospel (2 Corinthians 6:17). We are called out of the world and into the realm of the saved. The church is composed of such people.
The Saved
We must keep before us the fact that to be in the church means to be one of the saved because the saved is the church. The Lord adds the saved to the church (Acts 2:47). The church is that body that Christ has promised to save (Ephesians 5:23). He offers to save everyone, but only those in the church will be saved.
A New Creature
To be in Christ means to be in the church, but to be in Christ also means to be a new creature. "Therefore if any man be in Christ he is a new creature; old things are passed away, behold, all things are become new." (2 Corinthians 5:17). We are born of water and the Spirit In order to enter the kingdom of heaven (John 3:3-5). When one is born he is a new creature. From these verses we see that being in the church, being in Christ, being in the kingdom, being a new creature are all the same state or condition. Could one expect to be saved as the old man of sin, or as a new creature in Christ? The answer is plain, "We must be born again." Therefore, I see the significance of being in the church, just as I see the significance of being in Christ, being in the kingdom of heaven, being a new creature.
In the Kingdom
Being in the church is being In the kingdom. In Colossians 1:13, Paul told those Christians that God "hath delivered us from the power of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son." Those delivered from darkness are those in the kingdom. They were the ones who were in the church, or who were in Christ (Colossians 1:1). The necessity of being in the kingdom is stressed in 1 Corinthians 15:24, where we learn that when Christ comes again He will deliver up the kingdom to the Father. Unleis we are in the kingdom, we will not be among those delivered to the Father. That ought be easily understood. But being in the kingdom, in Christ, new creatures, one of the saved, in the church, are simply varying ways of expressing the same thing. How can one miss the obvious significance and importance of being a member of the church?
How To Become A Member
We now turn our attention to how one becomes a member of the church. In the book of Acts, a book wherein are recorded several instances of conversion to Christ, we see that the process of conversion consisted of hearing the gospel, believing in Christ, repenting of sins and confessing faith in Christ, followed by being baptized into Christ. "Faith cometh of hearing and hearing by the word of God." (Romans 10:17). "Except ye believe that I am he ye shall die in your sins." (John 8:24). "Except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish." (Luke 13:3). "With the mouth confession is made unto salvation." (Romans 10:10). "Repent and be baptized ... for the remission of sins." (Acts 2:38). Those who did the things mentioned above were added to the church (Acts 2:47). They were not put forward and others voted whether they would be In the church. They were not made members by something their parents had done in the days of their infancy. They were not made members of the church by some kind of direct operation of the Holy Spirit. They did not do one thing to be saved and something extra or different to become members of the church. What they did to be saved is precisely and exactly, as well as simultaneously, what was done for them to become members of the church.
Become, Then Be
Once one has become a member of the church he assumes the responsibilities that belong to living a Christlike life. This includes work, worship, righteous living, being a light in the world, a city set on a hill, the salt of the earth. He is to busy himself to continually do those things that are needful to grow In the grace and knowledge of the Lord and Savior (2 Peter 3:18).
Actually, the matter of church membership is not confusing nor difficult to grasp when one confines his study to the Bible and allows his conception of it to be molded by "thus saith the Lord.