What we believe about God and the church (5): CHURCH MEMBERSHIP
INTRODUCTION
We've spent that past four weeks thinking about what we in the Presbyterian Church believe about God and the church. We began with God and we were right to do so because everything begins with God. He was before all things and he is the creator of all things. He is the source of our life and he is the source of our salvation. Everything begins with God and so we began this series of sermons with him.
We then turned our attention to what God has done for us. And the first thing he did for us, even before he made us, was to plan how to save us. Before the creation of the world, we read in Ephesians, God chose his people. He chose those he wanted to be with him for ever. And then of course he put that plan into operation, by sending his Son into the world to take the punishment we deserve and by working in our lives to lead us to the Saviour.
Then we spent a Sunday thinking about the church and the various images of the church which we find in the NT. And last week we were thinking about the means of grace, the different ways that God's grace comes to us, the grace that brings salvation and the grace that teaches us how to live as his people. We receive his grace through the reading and preaching of his word. We receive his grace through the celebration of the sacraments. We receive his grace through prayer. And it is the Holy Spirit who makes these means of receiving God's grace effective so that we do in fact grow in grace and are brought near to God.
Today we come to our final topic in this series and it's the culmination of all this: since this is what we believe about God and since this is what we believe about the church, what does it mean to be a member of this church? And so today, we're thinking about church membership.
FAITH
Well what does it mean to be a member of the church. Some of us have been members of the church for many years. Some of us may be thinking about becoming members of this church. I hope you are and that you will give serious consideration to this. And whether you've been a member of the church all your life, or whether you're only thinking about becoming a member for the first time, both groups need to think about what membership means.
And I want to do this today by thinking about the promises that new members are asked to make before they are admitted into the membership of a Presbyterian church. When someone believes they are ready to become a member of the church, they are asked certain questions in front of the congregation. The congregation hears their answers and therefore bears witness to what the new member promises. So what are these promises that we are asked to make? There are four of them.
The first one is as follows:
1. Do you believe in one God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit; and do you confess Jesus Christ as your Saviour and Lord?
This question is about God. The new member is asked to state publicly that he or she believes in God. But we're not asked, 'Do you believe in any god?' We're not asked, 'Do you believe in some kind of god?' We're not asked, 'Do we believe that there is some kind of divine being or spiritual force?' Instead we're asked very specifically, 'Do you believe in the God who has revealed himself in the Bible, the God who has revealed himself as a Trinity of persons, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Do you believe in that God?'
Now this is a question about belief. Do you believe in the God who is revealed in the Bible? It's about what we believe. But then we're also asked a question about our own personal commitment to this God. Do you not only believe in this God, but are you committed to him. Have you taken Jesus Christ, the Son of God, as your Lord and Saviour? Do you confess this? Are you committed to him? Are you prepared to stand up and say that this is my God, my Lord, my Saviour?
This is a question about our own personal commitment to the Lord Jesus and to the God who is revealed in the Bible. And, of course, it is perfectly right and proper that this question comes first because this question is of first importance. This one is vital and essential. The church is made up of believers, men and women and children who know this God and who love him and who trust him and who are committed to him. This is the thing that that binds the church together and it is our commitment to Christ that unites the church. Christians are coming to Ireland from different countries. From Nigeria and from Brazil and from Poland and from the UK and from other places, right across the world, and they all arrive in Ireland and our backgrounds may be different, we may look different, we may speak a different language. But what do we find? Here's someone from Nigeria who is committed to Christ. So am I! There's a bond between us. Here's someone from Brazil who also trusts the Saviour. There's a bond between us. Here's someone from Poland who is a believer. We are one in Christ, joined together by our common commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ and to the God of the Bible.
On a Sunday, here in church, there will be believers and unbelievers. Those who already love and trust the Saviour and who are bound for glory and those who aren't yet sure and are still seeking the Lord and wanting to know more. And that's the way it should be. Believers ought to be bringing unbelievers to church to find God. That's what our Sunday services should be like. But in order to become a member of the church, and not just a visitor, then it's vital and essential that you are a believer. The first requirement, the most important thing for membership of the church is that you believe in God and are committed to Jesus Christ, having taken him as your Lord and Saviour. That's the first question we ask and it's essential. It doesn't matter what country a person comes from. It doesn't matter where they grew up. It doesn't matter what language they speak. If a person is a believer, then he may join the church.
I wonder, did you notice the importance of faith in our reading earlier? How are we to draw near to God? The writer says: 'Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith'. Is that you? Coming to God with a sincere heart, because you're genuinely and really committed to him and with a faith that knows no hesitation or doubt, but trusts in the Saviour who has opened up the way for us into the presence of God?
WORSHIP
Well, what's next? The next question is this:
2. Do you promise to join regularly with your fellow-Christians in worship on the Lord's Day and to be faithful in reading the Bible and in prayer?
Do you see what this promise is about? It's about faithfulness in public and private worship. New members are asked if they are committed to worshipping the Lord regularly in church on Sundays. They're asked, 'Will you join regularly with your fellow-Christians for worship?' That's the public worship, joining together as a group of God's people.
But then there's also private worship: 'Will you be faithful in reading the Bible and in prayer? Will you spend time at home, worshipping the Lord through Bible reading and prayer?' Do you see? There's public worship and then there's private worship. And we're asked to make a promise to do both and to be regular and faithful in both.
Now, why is this necessary? Why should we have to make this promise?
Well, I think there are two answers. The first relates to what we were thinking about last week when we were thinking about how we grow up as Christians. How do we reach maturity? How do we develop as believers? By using the means of grace, the means by which we receive God's grace, the grace that brings salvation and the grace that teaches us how to live as God's people. And so there is the Bible, God's word, read and preached. There are the sacraments, baptism and communion. And there is prayer. And so when we come to church, we make use of the means of grace to receive God's grace so that we will grow up as believers and become strong in faith. And when we're at home, we make use of the means of grace for the very same purpose.
It's our daily sustenance. All of us need food day by day. We must eat if we are to remain healthy. And the believer must have spiritual food each day to prevent him from becoming spiritually weak. And so we make this promise for the good of our own spiritual well-being: I promise to be faithful in making use of the means of grace which God has so wonderfully and generously provided for my own spiritual health.
But why else must we make this promise? Because of what we are naturally like. Think of what happens when you take out your Bible at home in the evening. Immediately your eyes become heavy and you feel sleepy and then you tell yourself it's important to rest. You're no good to anyone if you're tired, so, you say to yourself, I'd be better off getting some rest tonight instead of staying up to read this. I won't be able to serve the Lord if I'm tired. However, if you pick up a novel, isn't it often the case that you can read it into the night. You're gripped by it. Or, perhaps you begin to pray and immediately a million other thoughts enter your mind of things you need to do or pay attention to. And very soon we can forget about praying.
Do you see? This is what we are like. Something inside us tries to keep us from God's word and it tries to keep us from prayer. It tries to distract us. It tries to keep us away from the Lord. And so we need to make this promise, otherwise we will give in to these distractions. We need to make this promise, because then we can say to ourselves, 'Hold on now, Colin. You promised you would do this. You promised that you would be faithful in this. You should keep your promise.' We need to make this kind of promise, this contract, if you like, with ourselves and with God, to encourage us to make diligent and faithful use of God's means of grace.
So, first of all there is our faith in God and his Son, Jesus Christ. And then there is faithfulness in worship. Well, this too came up in our reading. 'Hebrews 10:25 Let us not give up meeting together.' How easy it is to give up, or to meet together irregularly. But members of the church have promised to be faithful in both public and private worship.
GIVING
The next promise we make is this one:
3. Do you promise to give a fitting proportion of your time, talents and money for the church's work in the world?
This is about faithfulness again. But it's faithfulness in giving. We're asked to promise that we will give a fitting proportion of our time and our talents and our money for the church's work.
We saw two weeks ago that one of the images of the church which we find in the NT is the picture of the church as a body. Each part of our body is necessary and each part has a vital role or function to play. Think of our hands and what they do, our feet and what they do, our eyes and what they do, our ears and what they do. Each part is vital to the whole. And it's the same with the church. The church is made up of many members and different people. And according to God's word, each one of us is vital and necessary and important to the whole. And why is this? Because each one of us has something wonderful and useful to contribute.
So what can each of us contribute? Well the answer is very simple: you can contribute yourself. That's what we need most of all. We need you. We need your time, so that you are prepared to give time to the worship and work of the church. We need your talents, your gifts and abilities and the things you're good at. Perhaps someone is good at leading a Bible study. Perhaps someone else is good at DIY. Perhaps another person is great at showing hospitality. Perhaps another person is simply good at making visitors feel welcome. Each member of the church has something to contribute to the church and members of the church promise that they will give their time and their talents to the church.
So there is faithfulness in giving of our time and our talents. But there is also faithfulness in giving of our money. Now, why do we need to promise this? Well again there are two answers. And the first one is a very obvious one: the church needs money in order to exist. There are bills to pay. There is property to maintain and if you look around the church you'll see repairs that need to be made and they can only be made if we have the money to do them. The Sunday school needs books for the children and colouring pens and paper and teaching materials. If we want to give out leaflets to invite people to church, then someone needs to pay for them. If we want to put up a banner to attract newcomers, someone needs to pay for it. And so when someone becomes a member of the church, they're asked to promise that they will help to support the work of the church with their money.
But why else do we need to make this promise? Well, for the same reason we had to make the other promise. We need to make the promise to ensure that we will in fact do it. Money can take hold of us, can't it? It can grip us and we don't want to give it up. We look at our bank balance and we think about all the bills we have to pay ourselves. And then we think about all the things we'd like to buy. And we think about the places we'd like to go. And suddenly we discover that there's not much left for the church. But by making this promise, we will look again at what we are left with and we have to decide, 'Is this really a fitting proportion? I've promised to give a fitting proportion. Is that what this is? Perhaps I can cut back on the things I buy because it's important to me to give a proportion of my income to the work of the church.' And so there's a choice for us to make. Will I be faithful to that promise I made when I became a member of this church? Will I give a fitting proportion? Will I support the work of God's church?
The writer to the Hebrews speaks about drawing near to God and of course we can only draw near to God through faith in the Saviour and his once for all sacrifice for sins. That's why faith is essential to membership of the church. However, do you know how doubts begin to creep in? Do you know what makes us hesitate from drawing near to God? I'll tell you. It's a guilty conscience. And whenever we break our promises and whenever we fail to do our duty, and when we fail to give of our time and our talents and our money, then our conscience begins to accuse us, and robs us of our peace, and how hard we find it to draw near to God to worship him whenever our conscience is tormenting us.
LIFE AND LIP
Well, first of all, there's faith in God. Then there's faithfulness in worship. Then there's faithfulness in giving. And finally, there's faithfulness to Christ in what we say and do throughout our lives. Listen now to the fourth promise:
4. Do you promise, depending on the grace of God, to confess Christ openly, to serve him in your daily occupations, and to walk in his ways all the days of your life?
The first two promises are directed towards God. In the first we promise that we are committed to God and his Son, Jesus Christ, that we believe in him. In the second we promise to worship him. The third promise is directed towards the church. We promise to be faithful in supporting the church. This last one is directed to the world. We promise that we will confess Jesus Christ and we promise to serve him and to walk in his ways. In other words, by our life and our lip we will make Christ known. We will speak of him to the people around us. And by the way we will live our lives we will testify that we belong to Christ and that we believe it is worthwhile following him.
So, the members of the church will ensure that when they are at work, or at the shops or out with their friends, or when you're occupied at home with the children or the daily chores, you will be careful how you live, because you have promised to serve the Lord Jesus and therefore to do his will and to keep his commands. In other words we promise to live such good lives, that we will make the gospel of Jesus Christ attractive and appealing to others. And we will then take every opportunity that comes our way to speak of the Lord Jesus and to point men and women and children to him, for he is the Saviour of the world.
CONCLUSION
Do you know what the world needs more than anything else, this world that is in so much darkness and confusion and uncertainty and fear and hopelessness? Do you know what it needs more than anything else. The problems in the world are bigger than our politicians and they're bigger than the United Nations and they're bigger than Presidents and Prime Ministers and Kings and Queens. Do you know what the world needs? It needs a strong church where God is worshipped and the gospel is proclaimed for only in the gospel can men and women and children find hope and peace and joy and forgiveness and true meaning in life. The world needs a strong, vibrant church where God is honoured, where his will is done and his name is proclaimed.
And how can the church be strong? Only when it is made up of members who are truly committed to the Lord, and who are truly committed to worshipping him, and who are truly committed to supporting the church and who are truly committed to serving the Lord day in and day out for all of their lives. Are you ready to commit yourself to this?