How Should We Relate to Those Under Church Discipline?

How should we relate to and interact with those who are under church discipline? That's a tough question and a hard one, especially because we love such people and long for their good.

I thought this passage from Zack Eswine's book, Sensing Jesus: Life and Ministry as a Human Being (highly recommended!), was especially helpful in giving a practical example of how dialogue might go:

“We had no success in gaining our dear brother (Matt 18:15). He refused to listen (v. 17). We had to ‘let him be’ to us as a ‘Gentile and a tax collector’ (v. 17).

 

“What did this mean? We considered how Jesus related to Gentiles and tax collectors. We would love this man. We would say hello and talk about the weather if we saw him at the store. Perhaps he would say, ‘Can we get together for coffee?’ We would say, ‘Sure, but on my mind is the welfare of your heart. When we meet, can we also talk about that?’ ‘No,’ he might respond. ‘We cannot.’ ‘Okay,’ we would say, ‘I pray for you and long for your good. Anytime you would like to talk about things, I’d welcome coffee with you. But, honestly, not until then.  I need Jesus too. And I’m still hoping you will be able to admit what you’ve done with your family isn’t what Jesus would have for us and that you will want to fall into the arms of Jesus’ grace.’

 

“In other words, we treat him with love and dignity but not with pretension regarding what remains unfinished. When Paul says of the hardened sinner who calls himself a Jesus follower, ‘Don’t even eat with such a one,’ he does not invite us to meanly shun or disregard or mistreat such a one. Such a meal would sit like a gift on our table if the person would see his need for forgiveness. We long for this. But we wait for it. Our love, longing, kindness, and prayers for him cannot take away the reality that in Jesus the man is now identified ‘as if’ he is no longer part of the believing community. Our fellowship is neither what it was nor what it could be. Until admission of this clear wrong, we cannot pretend otherwise.”

 

- Zack Eswine, Sensing Jesus

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Galatians 5:25-6:5 – The Conceit-Slaying, Burden-Bearing Gospel (Part 2)

© Eric M Schumacher – Preached July 10, 2011 at Northbrook Baptist Church, Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Audio will be available here.

Last week, we looked at verses 25-26.  Paul encouraged us to “walk by the Spirit,” something we examined for several weeks in verses 16-24. Walking by the Spirit means that we will not become “conceited”—we will not live in the pursuit of our own glory. Such conceit expresses itself in various ways, such as “provoking” those we feel superior to (so that we can prove our own glory) or “envying” those we feel inferior to (since their perceived superiority exposes our lack of glory). 

Galatians 6:1-5 flows out of 5:26-26. In these verses, Paul gives tangible application to what he wrote in 5:25-26. Instead of being conceited and destroying community, this is how Christians ought to live. Faith ought to work itself out in love that restores and helps the community of the saints. It ought to do this because we stand alone before God and our righteousness is not found by comparing ourselves to one another.

Should We Praise People Who are Not God?

In his new book, Practicing Affirmation: God-Centered Praise of Those Who Are Not God, Sam Crabtree answers the question.

Justin Taylor posted this quote from John Piper's foreword:

5 Sermons on the Local Church

A series I preached three years ago:

• The Local Church: Why You Ought to Be a Formal and Active Member of a Local Church (Part 1)
• The Local Church: Why You Ought to Be a Formal and Active Member of a Local Church (Part 2)
• The Local Church: Congregationalism - Defending and Displaying the Glory of God in the Gospel of Jesus Christ
• The Local Church: Led By Elders, Served By Deacons (Part 1)
• The Local Church: Leb By Elders, Served By Deacons (Part 2)

A few suggested resources:

• Elders in Congregational Life by Phil Newton
• 40 Questions About Elders and Deacons by Ben Merkle
• A Display of God's Glory by Mark Dever
• Biblical Eldership by Alexander Strauch
• The Mentor's Guide to Biblical Eldership by Alexander Strauch
• A Study Guide to Biblical Eldership by Alexander Strauch
• Meetings That Work: A Guide to Effective Elders' Meetings by Alexander Strauch
• The Elder and his Work by David Dickson
• Polity edited by Mark Dever

How Do I Love Someone Who Talks Too Much?

Ever have a member of a Sunday School class or Bible study overpower the conversation? Ever wonder how to respond to someone who simply talks too much and listens too little? Mike Emlet, author of CrossTalk, answers these questions:

Church Removes 575 Members in One Night

My friend David King, a pastor in Tennessee, recently led his church to remove 575 members from their roles. 

Jonathan Leeman interviews him here about the reason and means.

John Piper answers: Why Be a Church Member?

This is What I've Been Trying to Say!!!

And, as always, Piper says it better than I do!



(HT: Z)

Why Your Congregation Should Have a Worship War (Every Sunday): The Indispensability of Corporate Worship

© Eric M Schumacher – Delivered at the 2009 Tennessee Baptist Convention Music Ministry Leadership Conference

Session 1 of 4

[On August 14-15, I had the privilege of leading four breakout sessions at the Tennessee Baptist Convention Music Ministry Leadership Conference. In preparation, I preached these sermons at Northbrook Baptist Church. The manuscript below is what I used at the conference. The link to the audio is from my sermon at Northbrook.]

Audio available here.

What am I doing here!?!?

Have you ever been given a job to do without being given the instructions for how to do it? Or, have you ever found yourself in a situation where you realize that you forgot to listen to the instructions? Not knowing what you are supposed to do can lead to incredible frustration, anger, discouragement.

That is especially true when a group is involved. If there is not a shared understanding of what the group is supposed to be doing, it can lead to fighting, quarrelling, confusion and division.

I would suspect that many, if not all, of us have been in the unfortunate situation of experiencing anger, heart-ache, confusion and division over the subject of corporate worship. That may come in the form of a church-split or simply a confused and discouraged church member sitting in our office with a heavy-heart.

I would suggest that many of these problems stem from a lack of shared understanding about what the congregation is doing when it gathers for corporate worship.

So, I want to ask the question: What are we doing when we gather for corporate worship?

Where to turn?

To answer that question, as Christians, we must ask another question, “What has God said?”

Obviously, whole books and long series of volumes have been written to address the subject of biblical worship. If we had time, we could begin in Genesis and move through the Bible to Revelation, looking at both the changes and the constants in the worship of God as redemptive history unfolds.

For our purposes this weekend, I am going to look at a few New Testament passages to examine what God has said specifically about what his New Covenant people are to do when they gather corporately to worship him as a local church.

Why do I begin with the New Covenant worship, rather than Old Covenant worship to see what we are to do? Simply put—because Old Covenant worship is inferior. That is the message of the book of Hebrews. The ministry, the priesthood, the sacrifice, the salvation and the covenant ratified in Jesus Christ are better.

Imagine Solomon’s temple in all its glory. The startling revelation of the New Testament is that that was only a shadow of something better to come. Therefore, what we do in our churches on Sunday morning (and in private as believers) is superior to what was happening in Jesus Christ.

I would rather spend one hour with a persecuted church huddled in a cave singing God’s praises, hearing God’s Word read and preached, baptizing new coverts and taking the Lord’s Supper than I would spend 10,000 hours in Solomon’s Temple. Because, in Jesus Christ (and by extension—in the body of Christ) something far greater than Solomon and his temple has come.

Hebrews 10:19-25 offers some of the clearest words on what the church is to do when it gathers together as the body of Christ.

The Foundation for Worship – Verses 19-21

In verses 19-21, the author of Hebrews summarizes the reason the message of the book so far:

We have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, the way opened in his flesh.

We have a great high priest over the house of God who has offered worship on our behalf.

In particular, he summarizes what he has just argued in verses 1-18, which show us:

1. The law offered inadequate provision for worship.

In verses 1-4, the author explained that the law had inadequate provisions, through inadequate priests and inadequate sacrifices.

Those who were under the law could not truly “draw near” and be “worshippers,” because their sacrifices failed to remove their sins and remove their consciousness of sin. These annual sacrifices failed to make them perfect.

This is shown in the annual repetition of the Day of Atonement. They remembered that they had offered these sacrifices last year and would have to offer them again the next year (and the next year and the next year…). If they were removing sin, then they would have ceased to be offered.

Rather than remove sins, which was impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to do, they were an annual reminder of sin.

We see this also in the posture of the priests in daily service, described in verse 11. Every priest “stands daily.” He stands every day because the ministry must be repeated every day. If it were effective, he could sit down.

Thus, the Temple then was actually a big “Do Not Enter” sign. The restriction of the access to the holy place to once a year by the high priest was the Holy Spirit’s way of revealing that God’s people could not themselves directly draw near to God. The way had not yet been opened.

2. But Christ offers acceptable worship.

In verses 5-18, we see that Christ has a superior priesthood, offers a superior sacrifice, and ratifies a superior covenant.

In verses 5-10, we read that Jesus Christ came to be what God had always truly desired of man – a worshipper. Quoting Psalm 40, Jesus says that God has always desired a faithful heart and life above the mere outward performance of a religious ritual.

God prepared for him a “body” so that he might “do your will.” That is worship. True worship is presenting the whole self to God to do his will. True worship is responding to the worth of God by loving him with all the heart, mind, soul and strength. God gave him a body, so that he might do just that.

3. Jesus Christ is the perfect and true worshipper.

Christ came to live a life of love and obedience to God from the whole being. He offers full and undefiled devotion from the heart, which is acceptable to God. His worship was shown to be perfect in that he was obedient to death, even death on a cross. Jesus Christ is the perfect and true sacrifice.

The supremacy and effectiveness of his ministry over that of the Old Covenant high priests is shown in his posture. After he offered a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. He needs not repeat this sacrifice, because it perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. His posture shows that there are eternal benefits.

So, Jesus Christ is the only priest who was able to offer true and acceptable worship. He is the true sacrifice that actually takes away sin once and for all. He is the true priest who does the will of God and enters God’s presence on behalf of God’s people. He is the true worshipper.

All the aspects of Old Covenant worship are fulfilled in Christ.

In verse 1, we read that “the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities.” The detailed proscriptions for worship given through Moses in the Law were merely a shadow cast by the person of Christ who was to come.

It is essential that we understand that every element of worship present in Old Covenant worship finds its fulfillment in Christ. Christ is the…

…the true priest and high priest. Christ enters into God’s presence to worship on behalf of God’s people.

…the true sacrifice. Christ offered his body in life and in death to do God’s will and bear his wrath.

…the true tabernacle. Christ is the Word who became flesh and “tabernacled” with us. He is God dwelling amongst his people.

…the true Temple. Christ said his body is the temple torn down and raised again on the third day.

…the true basin. Christ washes us clean. All that thirst can come to him and drink, and from them will flow springs of living water.

…the true lampstand. Christ is the light of the world.

...the true alter of incense. Christ ascends into God’s presence to offer prayer, intercession on behalf of God’s people.

…the true veil. Christ’s flesh is the curtain that is torn to provide God’s people access into God’s presence.

…the true Ark of the Covenant. Christ is the dwelling place of God, and is enthroned at God’s right hand.

...the true bread and manna. Christ is the living bread that has come down from heaven to give life to those who eat it.

…the true tablets of the Law. Christ is the living Word of God.

…the true Sabbath. Through faith in Christ, we enter God’s rest.

…the true Passover Lamb. He is the Lamb slaughtered to free God’s people from.

…the true Pentecost. Christ pours the Spirit out on his people.

…the true Day of Atonement. Christ enters the Holy Place, offering his own blood.

…the true Feast of Tabernacles. Christ is Immanuel, God with us.

…the true temple choir. Christ sings God’s praise in the midst of the congregation (Hebrews 2:12).

…the true Israel. Christ is God’s faithful remnant, God’s true Son called out of Egypt.

Christ is the fulfillment of all that came before. He is the true form, the reality of which the law had only a shadow.

Therefore, Jesus Christ is the focus of all New Testament worship. And, it is through being united with Christ by faith that we enter into true worship.

New Covenant Worship

All that is to say, the New Covenant ratified in Jesus’ blood makes us true worshippers. We only become true worshippers through the ministry of Jesus Christ, by being united to the true worshipper through faith.

Through his work, Christ makes his people holy, and consecrates them for the service of God—he makes them worshippers. In verse 10, we learn that we are “sanctified,” set apart to be God’s holy people. In verse 14, we read that we are “perfected.”

In verses 15-18, the Holy Spirit bears witness to the effectiveness where he speaks of the New Covenant.

In verse 16, we learn that our hearts and minds are changed so that we can “do the will of God,” as Christ said is what God desires. Christ was given a body to do God’s will. And, through his ministry, he changes us so that being conformed to his image, we can do the same.

And, in verse 17, we see that our sins are removed through Jesus Christ’s death, so that we can enter into the presence of God to worship. As the Old Covenant sacrifices served to cause worshippers to “remember” their sins, Christ’s sacrifice causes them to be “remembered no more.”

Through faith in Christ…

…we become the people of God, heirs of the promise (Galatians).

…we move from Sinai, the mountain that cannot be touched, to Zion and the heavenly assembly, and to God.

…we become priests to God (1 Peter 2:5,9; Rev 1:6; 5:10; 20:6).

…we offer sacrifices that are acceptable (Rom 12:1; Phil 2:17; 4:18).

…we become the true circumcision (Phil 3:3).

…we become the temple of God, both individually (1 Cor 6:19) and corporately (1 Cor 3:16-17; 2 Cor 6:16; Eph 2:21).

The Command to Worship - Verses 22-25

All that is summarized in verses 19-21.

• We have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, the way opened in his flesh.
• We have a great high priest over the house of God who has offered worship on our behalf.

Based on that foundation, the author of Hebrews gives us three exhortations:

In light of what Christ has done...

1) …we are to worship God through faith in the Worshipper. (verse 22)
We are commanded to “draw near” to God. That is the same language used in verse 1 of the priests. The difference is that now, through Christ, we are actually able to do this.

Remember Mount Sinai, where the people could not touch the mountain where God was present.

Exodus 19:12 And you shall set limits for the people all around, saying, 'Take care not to go up into the mountain or touch the edge of it. Whoever touches the mountain shall be put to death.

But the New Covenant offers us access to God.

Hebrews 12:18-24 For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them. For they could not endure the order that was given, "If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned." Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, "I tremble with fear." But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

How do we draw near?

We do not draw near through a human priesthood, through music, or through repeated sacrifices. None of these bring us into the presence of God.

We draw near…

…with a true heart in full assurance of faith. True worship is a response to the Gospel. True worship is drawing near to God through faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ and being conformed into his image. “The full assurance of faith” refers to sincere, genuine faith that rests confidently in the finished work of Jesus Christ and submits to him.

…with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience. This refers to a conscience that understands grace. It understands that sin is no longer an obstacle, because it has been removed through the person and work of Jesus Christ.

…with our bodies washed with pure water. This probably refers to lives that are transformed as a result of the renewal of the mind and heart through the New Covenant ministry of Christ.

True Worship

We should notice how we draw near “hearts” and “minds” and “bodies”—that is, as with Christ, the whole self is being presented to God.

Christ worshipped by using his body to do the will of God. Our worship becomes us, responding in faith to the finished work of Christ, using our whole being to do the will of God.

This appears to be the same idea stressed by Paul in Romans 12:1-2:

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

Worship Defined

It is from all this that I’m using the following definition of worship this weekend:

Christian worship is the response of the believer to the Gospel by presenting the whole self to God as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God.

This is done by being conformed not to the world but to the image of Christ, which takes place through the renewal of the mind so that we know what God desires. Christian worship finds its origin in the work of God through the Gospel, and expresses itself in the redeemed through a response of joyful faith in God’s promises and faith-motivated obedience to his promises.

Corporate Worship?

Many have asked the question: If worship is the presenting of the whole self to God through faith in Jesus Christ—and therefore, all of life is worship—is there really such a thing as “corporate worship?”

The answer is yes, there is such a thing as corporate worship. That can be answered on many fronts. For one, if worship is all of life, our corporate gathering is part of life and therefore worship.

Furthermore, the New Testament seems to speak of God dwelling amongst his gathered church in a special way, so much so that they corporately can be called “the temple of God.”

And, the church is the “body of Christ.” Corporate worship is the presenting “the body” as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God.

So, when I speak of corporate worship, I am speaking of: “the gathering together of God’s redeemed people to respond to the Gospel of Jesus Christ by presenting their whole selves to God as a living sacrifice, seeking by faith to be conformed in the image of Jesus Christ.”

2) …we are to persevere as worshippers.

The second commandment given is to “hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering.” We are to “hang on” to Christ and the Gospel and not let go. This is a call to persevere based on God’s faithfulness to keep his promises.

The entire letter to the Hebrews is an extended exhortation to not depart from Christianity, especially by relapsing into Judaism and sacrifices. The readers were evidently tempted to depart from the faith due to persecution and hardship.

This letter is a call to faith and to endurance in the faith, because the two cannot be separated. Disobedience flows from unbelief. Therefore, they should be on guard against letting go of Christ:

Hebrews 3:12 Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.

All the arguments in the book fit together to support this message. Tom Schreiner, in A New Testament Theology (554), writes:

All the warnings together make one point: do not turn away from Jesus and his atonement, or you will be destroyed; keep trusting in God until the end.

This is because endurance in the faith is necessary for eternal life.

Hebrews 2:1-3 Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?

Hebrews 10:36-38 For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. For, "Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay; but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him."

Our passage is the beginning of a section of application in Hebrews (10:19-12:29). It forms one big argument that states: if we turn away from the cross of Christ for the cleansing of our sins, there is no other sacrifice for our sins and we can only expect judgment and destruction.

3) …we are to assemble with other Christians to encourage them to do the same.

To “stir up” is to provoke, entice, and stimulate one another to love and good deeds. To encourage means to teach and admonish one another with the goal of strengthening each other’s faith. These we are called to do for one another. We are commanded not to forsake to meet together (as some evidently were doing).

But we are not merely to meet together. Rather, we are to “encourage one another.” Did you know that neglecting the assembly of believers is a discouragement to other believers? And neglecting the assembly of believers is an encouragement to them to forsake the faith?

Mutual Encouragement

We assemble for mutual encouragement. We cannot take a passive approach to corporate worship.

Everything that we do in corporate worship should be done to build up other Christians. This seemed to be a problem for the believers in Corinth, you remember. They were forgetting each other and putting themselves first (cf 1 Cor 11).

1 Corinthians 14:26 What then, brothers? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up.

The Coming Day

But we are not to be like to Corinthians or like those who forsake corporate worship. We assemble in light of “the Day drawing near.” The day is soon drawing when Christ will return to judge sinners and redeem his people. Therefore, we should press on and encourage others to do the same.

Why is this important?

In verses 10:26-31, the author lays out the consequence of failing to worship.

He says that if we go on sinning deliberately, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, that is, there no longer remains a way for your sins to be removed so that you can enter God’s presence.

What is this “deliberate sin?” It appears to be that of apostasy—disdain for Jesus Christ and the rejection of his sacrifice, which is what makes worship possible. It is “spurning the Son of God, profaning the blood of the covenant, and outraging the Spirit of grace.”

This matters because apostasy entails irreversible consequences. The level of privilege defines the extent of the peril. The one who sets the Gospel aside deserves a much worse punishment than the one who sets aside the law of Moses (and such a one died without mercy!).

The one who lets go of Christ can expect nothing other than the wrath of God.

Hebrews 3:6 And we are his house if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.

3:14 For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.

10:37-39 For, "Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay; but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him." But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.

The very thought of God’s judgment is terrifying—and is meant to encourage you to persevere.

The Assembly and Apostasy

How is it that we are kept in the faith? How is it that we persevere?

It is at this point in the study of Hebrews that the discussion goes off track into debates about whether a true believer can actually fall away from the faith and be damned. That is a distraction, because “Can a true believer fall away?” is the wrong question to be asking. We can resolve that question satisfactory from other passages of Scripture.

The author of Hebrews is not concerned about what the true state of those who have given up was. His concern is not really about whether it is possible or probable that they will fall away. (In fact, he says more than once that he has confidence that they are not of those who “shrink back and are destroyed.”)

What the author is doing is considering what would happen if in fact they did let go of Christ. And, he is warning them of what would happen if they quit believing so that they will not quit believing!

God ordains both the end and the means. The warnings of the peril of apostasy are the means that God uses to keep it from happening. And, that is one of the roles of corporate worship—to cause each other to persevere as worshippers.

Assembling for mutual encouragement is one of God’s means of causing his people to persevere in faith to the end. Again, Tom Schreiner writes:

Apostasy is prevented by the daily encouragement and exhortation from fellow believers, and such exhortation cannot be gained apart from community. Hebrews allows no room for a Christian faith that operates only in the individual and private sphere.

All this means that corporate worship is indispensible in the life and perseverance of a Christian. You cannot shrink back from the body of Christ without simultaneously shrinking back from Christ.

The Wisdom of the Persecuted

This is where we can learn a lesson from the persecuted church. Why do persecuted believers gather in secret to hear God’s Word preached, to sing hymns, to baptize new converts, to pray together, to hear God’s Word read, when they know it could cost them their lives? Persecuted believers meet together when it could cost them their lives because they know that neglecting to meet together could cost them their souls (39).

Worship War

You should have a worship war every week, every Sunday morning. What is at stake is nothing short of life and death. This is why Paul called it the “fight of faith.” He told Timothy:

1 Timothy 6:12 Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

That is what corporate worship is about in all of its elements—fighting to take hold of Jesus Christ and keep on clinging to him. And, it is about making sure our comrades do the same.

The church is to be a “band of brothers” who fight the “fight of faith” side-by-side. We should come every week on a search and find mission—to seek out and find the Gospel in all that we do. And we are to seek and find ways to encourage and stir up other believers to do the same.

How do we do this?

How do we encourage each other in corporate worship to persevere as worshippers? There are four means of encouragement included in this chapter that we ought to include in our corporate gatherings:

1. The promises of the Gospel. The author explains and applies the finished work of Jesus Christ for those who believe.

2. The character of God. We are reminded that “he who promised is faithful” (23) and therefore we can have confidence in believing the promises of the Gospel.

3. The peril of apostasy. We are reminded that there is no salvation outside the Gospel. If we set aside Christ, there is no sacrifice for our sins. We can only expect judgment and a fury of fire.

4. The recollection of past graces. We are reminded of what God has already done in us. He is faithful. He will give us all the grace that we need to press on. So, press on!

All of these elements should be present throughout the whole of our assembly, in…

…the preaching of God’s Word.

…the singing of psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to teach and admonish one another.

…the Scripture reading.

…the prayers.

…the ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s Supper.

Am I My Brother’s Keeper?

And what are we, as individual worshippers, to do when we gather with the church? What mindset should we be encouraging in our members as they come together? We should remind them that…

Every Christian, have a responsibility to…

…attend corporate worship, unless hindered by circumstances beyond your control.

It is commanded here. Elsewhere, Paul pictures the local church as a body, as a family, as a building. That requires that we be attached to each other.

…think about ways to provoke and encourage other church members to persevere as worshippers.

Remember, you are God’s means cause your brothers and sisters to persevere in the faith.

...be pressing on toward maturity in Christ, so that you can teach younger believers.

Hebrews 5:11-14 About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

Titus 2:2-8 Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness. Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled. Likewise, urge the younger men to be self-controlled. Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity, and sound speech that cannot be condemned, so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us.

…get involved in the life and faith of fellow church members.

So you should be asking: Is there a lonely person, a newcomer, a discouraged believer, a younger believer, a drifting believer, a discouraged believer who I need to get to know, to remind of God’s grace, to warn of danger, to take under my wing to disciple? You should constantly be on the look-out for someone to help along in the faith.

…to strengthen those whose faith is failing.

Hebrews 12:12-13 Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed.

…to strive for peace and holiness among church members.

Hebrews 12:14 Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.

…to seek out those who are drifting away from the faith and exhort them to faith and repentance.

Hebrews 12:15-17 See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no "root of bitterness" springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.

Hebrews 3:12-14 Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called "today," that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.

Matthew 18:12-17 What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? And if he finds it, truly, I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray. So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish.
"If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.

…to love your brothers and sisters in Christ.

Hebrews 13:1 Let brotherly love continue.

…to host and care for visiting and new believers in the congregation.

Hebrews 13:2 Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.

…seek out and care for those who are absent and have needs.
Imprisoned

Hebrews 13:3 Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.

Hebrews 10:34 For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one.

Those that are in need.

Heb 13:16 Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.

Hebrews 6:10 For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do.

Romans 12:13 Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.

James 1:27 Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

James 2:15-17 If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and filled," without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.

1 John 3:17-18 But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.

Matthew 25:34-46 Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.' Then the righteous will answer him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?' And the King will answer them, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.' "Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.' Then they also will answer, saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you?' Then he will answer them, saying, 'Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.' And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."

…greet the saints.

Hebrews 13:24 Greet all your leaders and all the saints.

Romans 16:16 Greet one another with a holy kiss.

1 Corinthians 16:20 Greet one another with a holy kiss.

2 Corinthians 13:12 Greet one another with a holy kiss.

1 Thessalonians 5:26 Greet all the brothers with a holy kiss.

1 Peter 5:14 Greet one another with the kiss of love.

You should attend worship…

…looking to hear about and see what God has done for us in Jesus Christ.

…looking for ways to help others do the same.

A Joy to Lead

Greg Gilbert is posting a helpful series on what his church looks for in elders. Today, his post included this helpful list of three marks of a member whom it is a joy to lead with reference to disagreement. He writes:

1. That person is a joy to lead who is largely content. Strive not to be a perennial item on the elders’ agenda with some complaint or another. I’m not going to pull punches here. There are some people in the world who complain all the time. Well, why isn’t everyone else complaining and upset, too? Is it that they are just not as observant as you? Or is it that they have learned to bear with some things, to just keep working, to be content?

2. That person is a joy to lead who, when he disagrees, does not usually let his first dissent be a public one. Talk to us before you air a disagreement. Of course there are exceptions. If we come to the Members’ Meeting and announce that we’re jettisoning the Trinity, let us hear it right then.

3. That person is a joy to lead who is able to weigh when it is wise to back down. You may disagree heartily with a decision, but there is wisdom involved in knowing when it is appropriate and wise to push an issue to a vote of the church. You can have strong opinions, but when the elders disagree with you, you need to weigh whether your pushing the issue would be for the church’s good.

Read the whole thing here.

Church Discipline in the Wall Street Journal

The Wall Street Journal has published an article on church discipline, "Banned From Church," which references Southern Baptists Jeff Noblit and Greg Wills.

The tone and selected examples make one wonder what light they are trying to cast on a biblical practice. Nevertheless, it reminds us that obeying the Bible is not often popular or easy in the world.

Free Audio Available for 9Marks Workshop at The Northbrook Conference

Northbrook Baptist Church recently hosted a 9Marks Workshop, led by Matt Schmucker and Jonathan Leeman of 9Marks.

I can honestly say that it was one of the best and most worthwhile events that I have attended as a pastor. I would highly recommend visiting the schedule page on their website and planning to attend a 9Marks Workshop.

9Marks has graciously allowed us to post the audio from the six sessions online, for you to listen to for free. Enjoy attending a "virtual-workshop" here:

• Session 1 - What We Want: For the Church to Display the Gospel
• Session 2 - What We Do Not Want: To Think We Are Wiser Than God
• Session 3 - How to Build: Preaching and Biblical Theology
• Session 4 - How to Build: Conversion and Evangelism
• Session 5 - How to Enjoy Life Together: Membership and Discipline
• Session 6 - How to Enjoy Life Together: Leadership

May the Lord be glorified in the health of His church!

An Encouraging Word

Matt Schmucker shares an encouraging word about the history of Capitol Hill Baptist Church; history with which I was not familiar.

Mark Dever: "...a compelling, biblical, exciting and faithful series of presentations!"

"Matt Schmucker and Jonathan Leeman have done a wonderful job taking their years of experience, theological training and relationships with many pastors, combining it with the 9Marks material and giving us a compelling, biblical, exciting and faithful series of presentations! I look forward to seeing how the Lord will use them in this."

Mark Dever, pastor, author 9 Marks of a Healthy Church

SBC President: "All of us must be saddened..."

SBC President Frank Page calls for "Evangelism with integrity." Here is an excerpt:

All of us must be saddened by the fact that Southern Baptists claim more than 16 million members. One preacher once told me that the FBI could not find 5 million of them! I happen to agree with him. It is time to emphasize evangelism with integrity. No longer should we use manipulative methods that may bring about larger numbers when those persons' commitment to Christ is little or none. I cannot judge a person's heart. However, I do believe that the Scripture calls for a change when salvation occurs.

The Local Church: Congregationalism - Defending & Displaying the Glory of God in the Gospel of Jesus Christ

© Eric M Schumacher – Preached February 11, 2007 at Northbrook Baptist Church, Cedar Rapids, Iowa

A group of sheep is a flock. A group of geese is a gaggle. A group of cows is a herd. A group of dogs is a pack.

It doesn’t matter how specifically they are arranged—whether they are in a disordered group or in a straight line or in a circle. If you have a bunch of sheep, you have a flock. If you have a bunch of geese, you have a gaggle. If you have a bunch of cows, you have a herd. If you have a bunch of dogs, you have a pack.

It is that way with a church? If a gaggle is nothing more than a group of geese, is a church really nothing more than a gathering of Christians? It doesn’t matter how they organize themselves. If you get enough Christians together in one place, isn’t that a church? Or, could it be that God has said something in his word about how Christians are to organize themselves as a local church?

If you are anything like I was when I was growing up in church, the organization of the church and the government of the local church were not something that I thought much about. Our church was organized and governed one way. The Catholic across the spare lot, the Methodist and Presbyterian churches on Main Street, the Baptist church near my home and the Friends church out in the country were all organized and governed in different ways.

Even once I was in college and began to take my faith more seriously, the organization and government of the local church didn’t seem to be something that was terribly important. It wasn’t addressed in Scripture (was it?).

Even if church organization and government is addressed in the Bible, it couldn’t be important enough to study! After all, there are billions of people in the world heading to hell without knowledge of a Savior! How can we justify “wasting time” talking about how to organize and govern a local church! How could such issues be “kingdom issues”!? These issues must be a waste of time.

Is that what this serious of sermons on the local church is? A distraction? A waste of time? As useful as polishing the brass and rearranging the deck furniture on the sinking Titanic!

How the local church is to be governed is not something that most Christians have spent much time thinking about or studying. In the book Who Runs the Church?, Sam Waldron offers this observation:

Like the Ephesian disciples of John the Baptist who told Paul, “We have not even heard whether there is a Holy Spirit” (Acts 19:2), many evangelicals tell us by their conduct that they have not even heard whether there is a biblical church government. Without shame, many act as if they were allowed to order “the household of God, which is the church of the living God” (1 Tim 3:15) according to their human traditions, personal tastes, and natural reason.

We should ask ourselves a question: Do we really believe that the Lord Jesus Christ would leave his most treasured possession in creation, the one institution he said he would build, without any instruction for how we are to structure ourselves and operate? Would Christ really leave his Bride to the mercy of “human traditions, personal tastes, and natural reason”?

Granted, there is much about the church that the New Testament does not address, which, in some cases, gives us remarkable freedom. And, yes, traditions can be the distilled wisdom of previous generations, useful to teach us. And, yes, there are areas of church life which require us to applied sanctified wisdom to figure out what is best.

All that considered, I believe that a careful study of the New Testament will reveal that we are given some specifics for how the church is to be organized and governed, by both command and example. And, I firmly believe that how the church is to be governed is not “rearranging the deck furniture on a sinking ship.” I believe that this is an issue of great importance, especially in terms of spreading the Gospel.

Government
When we speak of church “government,” we are addressing issues of authority. Where does authority rest in the local church? Who has the final say in issues of doctrine and practice? Is it a King, a Pope, a bishop, a president or a pastor? The deacon board? The elder board? A presbytery, a synod, a conference, an association, or a convention? Who is in charge? Who runs the church?

Christ
To begin with, we must note: The government of the church is ultimately a monarchy. Jesus Christ has full and final authority over his church.

Scripture
We must also note that: The Lord Jesus Christ has spoken with authority through the writings of his apostles. Therefore, the church is ultimately ruled by Jesus Christ through the instruction of the apostles, as deposited in the Word of God, the Bible. Ultimately, we are not allowed to be ruled by personal tastes and preferences, denominational traditions or “how it has always been.” Ultimately, we must be ruled by the Word of God and not by reason or church tradition.

Most would agree with that statement, at least in principal, if not practice. What this boils down to is the question—who decides what the Word says the church should do? When push comes to shove in the church, what earthly human authority gets to make the decisions for the local church? (I say that as a figure of speech, hopefully we do not literally push and shove!)

Congregationalism
Baptists, which we are at Northbrook, have historically held to a position called “congregationalism.” The Baptist Faith and Message (the statement of faith of the Southern Baptist Convention) states that “a New Testament church of the Lord Jesus Christ is an autonomous local congregation of believers…” The local congregation of believers is “autonomous.” “Autonomous” means “self-governing” and “independent.”

This does not mean that we get to make up our own rules. This statement goes on to say that we operate “under the Lordship of Christ,” which means we submit to the Word of God.

What this does mean is that under the Lordship of Christ, the local congregation is sovereign over its own affairs. This means that no association or conference, no convention or denomination, no other local church, nor even its ‘mother church’ has authority to tell a local church what it must do or believe. There is no hierarchy above the local church.

Simply put, a congregationalist holds that the local congregation is the final human authority in the life of the local church. Mark Dever offers this helpful explanation:

Congregationalism is simply the understanding that the last and final court of appeal in a matter of the life of the local church is not the bishop of Rome or Constantinople or Washington. It is not some international body, or some national Assembly, Conference or Convention. It is not the president of a denomination or the chairman of a board of trustees. It is not a regional synod or ministerial association. It is not a group of elders inside the local church, or the pastor. The last and final court of appeal in the matter of the life of the local church is, and should be, the local congregation itself.[1]

Biblical Defense
Of course, all I have done so far is to define and describe congregationalism using a quotes from a few men and a statement of faith. It ultimately does not matter what men say, if the Word of God does not say the same. So, we must ask and answer the question:

“To Whom Does the New Testament Give the Final (Human) Authority in the Life of the Local Church?”
I believe that the New Testament defends congregationalism, giving the final (human) authority to the local congregation, the membership of the local church.

Priesthood of all believers -
It should not surprise us that some authority is invested in every believer when he or she is gathered together with the body as a whole. After all, the New Testament calls believers “a holy and royal priesthood” (1 Peter 2:5, 9). We are told that Jesus Christ has made believers “priests to his God and Father” (Rev 1:6) who “shall reign on the earth” (Rev 5:10) as “priests of God and of Christ” (Rev 20:6).

The priesthood of all believes places great dignity upon the believer. Such dignity, that Sam Waldron writes, “The dignity of every believer is such a pervasive emphasis of the New Testament that we would be surprised if their consent was not required in the matters discussed above. Even, therefore, without the explicit passages cited above, we might have good ground to suppose that the consent of the church was necessary in matters of the church’s membership and officers.”[2]

We should be careful about looking down our noses with haughty suspicion at the masses of "unseminaried," common Christians, for these are those whom Christ the Lord has made “kings and priests unto God!”

Letters to Churches
Before looking at specific passages of Scripture, we would do well to note that the majority of the New Testament letters are written to local congregations. While “elders” and “deacons” are addressed along with the church (in Phillipians), we have no letter specifically written to an “elder board” or a “deacon board.” We do, however, have many letters written to local congregations.

It is also worth mentioning that there is not even a passing reference to pastors or deacons in either First or Second Corinthians, though both certainly existed at the time. It would seem that, in such a troubled congregation, Paul’s first priority would be to get the pastors to “set things straight.” Yet, again and again, in addressing problem after problem, Paul does not appeal to the pastor, but to the congregation.

Areas of Congregational Authority–
The New Testament gives the final (human) authority to the congregation in at least five areas:

1) Doctrine.
Final responsibility is placed on the congregation to maintain the purity of the church’s doctrine. In Paul’s letter to the Galatians (1:8-9), he writes:

But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.

Paul calls upon, not the pastors, but the congregation to judge angelic and apostolic preaching! The congregation is responsible for judging the message that is preached and rejecting the preacher if his message denies the Gospel that Paul preached.

In 1 Timothy 3:15, Paul writes that the church—not the pastor—is a “pillar and buttress of truth.” The church is responsible for upholding and protecting the truth of the Gospel.

This does not mean that there is no place for leaders to teach, rebuke and correct. Pastors are called upon in Scripture to do so. Nevertheless, in the end, final responsibility is placed on the congregation to maintain the purity of the Gospel.

2) Discipline

Final responsibility is placed on the congregation to discipline unrepentant members.
Mark Dever offers this observation of the passages dealing with discipline:

Notice to whom one finally appeals in such situations. What court has the final word? It is not a bishop, a pope, or a presbytery; it is not an assembly, a synod, a convention, or a conference. It is not even a pastor or board of elders, a board of deacons or a church committee. It is, quite simply, the church—that is, the assembly of those individual believers who are the church.[3]

Concerning how to address a sinning brother, our Lord taught:

Matthew 18:15-20 If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.

Notice that, in this passage, the “church”—not a board of pastors—is the final court of appeals. The church has the final say.

Now, I have heard people say that using this passage to defend congregationalism is “unconvincing.” They claim that all this passage is teaching is that the congregation lends their voice the disciplinary decisions of the elders. It is not enough to simply claim something is “unconvincing.” We must actually deal with the text. And, the view that this is the congregation “lending their voice” does not stand up under such examination.

First, we should note that the church is “speaking.” Jesus says, “if he refuses to listen even to the church.” Jesus speaks of the church as the final court of appeal with a sense of seriousness that one would not listen “even” to the church. Christ does not say, “If he refuses to listen to the pastors,” but “even to the church.” In fact, “elders” are not even mentioned in this verse! (It is odd that some find this passage “unconvincing” for a defense of congregationalism and opt for a “congregation supporting the elders” view when elder are not even mentioned! This seems to be more convenient than exegetical. The burden rests on them to show where elders even enter into the process.)

Likewise, when the Apostle Paul applies our Lord’s instruction to the Corinthian church, we see no mention of pastors/elders in the disciplinary process, but only an appeal to the congregation to take authoritative action.

In 1 Corinthians 5, Paul addresses the situation of a man in unrepentant sexual immorality. Like Jesus, Paul no where addresses church leaders. Instead, he appeals to the assembly of believers.

In verse 2, Paul rebukes the congregation for not acting and calls upon them to remove the sinner.

In verses 4-5, Paul calls upon the church—when they are gathered together—to deliver the man to Satan for destruction in hopes of repentance.

In verse 7, Paul tells the congregation to cleanse out the old leaven.

In verse 11, Paul tells the congregation not to association with those who claim to be Christians but live in overt, unrepentant sin.

In verses 12-13, Paul tells the congregation to judge those inside the church and to purge the evil person from amongst them.

This is the consistent witness of New Testament texts dealing with discipline. This is not to say that pastors play no part in the process or that we are not allowed to involve them. Of course, there is wisdom in involving those that God has called to watch over us! Nevertheless, we cannot miss the fact that the final appeal and responsibility for dealing with unrepentant sin is given to the church, not its leaders.

3) Disputes
Final responsibility is placed on the congregation to settle disputes between believers.
In 1 Corinthians 6:1-6, we find that believers were apparently taking each other to court over disagreements. Paul writes:

When one of you has a grievance against another, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints? Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases? Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more, then, matters pertaining to this life! So if you have such cases, why do you lay them before those who have no standing in the church? I say this to your shame. Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to settle a dispute between the brothers, but brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers?

Paul is flabbergasted that believers would allow unbelievers to judge their disputes. The saints are going to judge the world and angels—therefore they can certainly judge trivial, earthly cases between believers! (Again, we must be careful before looking down our noses at and distrusting the congregation of those who will judge the world!) The final responsibility for settling disputes in the church is given to the church.

4) Membership
Final responsibility is placed on the congregation to decide who is a member of the church.
In 2 Corinthians 2:6-8, we read:

For such a one, this punishment by the majority is enough, so you should rather turn to forgive and comfort him, or he may be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow. So I beg you to reaffirm your love for him.

Paul is apparently addressing a situation in which the congregation has administered discipline against a man. Now, Paul is encouraging them to welcome him back into their fellowship.

It was “the majority” that punished him. Church discipline does not and cannot happen without the church! Likewise, it is not the Apostle Paul’s decision, only his counsel, to welcome the man back. The congregation is the one responsible for allowing a person membership into their fellowship.

We learn here, that the congregation has the final say over who is in and out of the church.

5) Election/Removal of Officers, Missionaries, Congregational Representatives
Final responsibility is placed on the congregation to choose its own officers, missionaries and congregational representatives.

In Acts 6, a dispute arises amongst the widows regarding the daily distribution of food. To resolve the problem, the Apostles offer their wisdom to the congregation, telling them to pick out seven men to handle the distribution.

This counsel “pleased the whole gathering” and they—the assembled church—chose the first seven deacons. The church was responsible for choosing its deacons.

Likewise, in 2 Timothy 4:2-3 Paul writes, “the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions…” This is an example of believers exercising their authority in a wrong way. Nevertheless, in this passage and elsewhere (Galatians 1), Paul holds the congregation final responsible for the teachers it selects. The church is responsible for choosing its preachers.

In the book of Acts, in chapters 11 and 15, we see that it is the congregation that chooses its missionaries and send them out.

In 1 Corinthians 16, the church is responsible for accrediting those who will carry their offering to Jerusalem.

Final responsibility is place on the congregation to choose its own officers, missionaries and representatives. While there certainly are Scripture qualifications that must be followed, the congregation is responsible for heeding this and making a decision.

All these responsibilities have been given to the church. We are not allowed to slouch in our duties or to shove them off on someone else.

Clarifications
Lest we misunderstand and misapply this teaching, we need to clarify what this does not mean. Congregationalism does not mean that:
…the church is infallible in its decisions!
Congregationalism does not mean that whatever the church votes to do is right. Christ governs us through His word. A unanimous vote that goes against the Word is one-hundred percent wrong, all the time.

Congregationalism obviously does not mean that the church will make no mistakes or never abuse their authority! Obviously, in 2 Timothy 4:3 the congregation selects wrong leaders! We are an imperfect church and—we will be until our Lord returns. Therefore, we should strive to be holy and biblical.

…the church is a radical democracy, popular sovereignty (or committee of the whole).
Congregationalism does not mean that the church assembles for a congregational vote on every decision that ever has to be made.

One of the things that scares people about congregationalism is the prospect of 5-hour business meetings in which the congregation macro-manages every minute aspect of the body’s life! Obviously, we are not required to have a vote for which passage is to be preached on next and how Sunday School classes should do their prayer requests.

It simply means that the final court of appeals, especially when faith or practice are in dispute, is the congregation.

…there are no leaders within the church.
There are real leaders in the church with real authority. Hebrews 13:17 says plainly, “Obey your leaders and submit to them…” There are leaders in the church that are to be “obeyed.” This, admittedly, is a point of tension. We must work out how pastoral authority and congregational authority relate. I hope to address this further when we look at the office of the pastor in a sermon to come later.

For now, I will say that it seems that the congregation is responsible for discerning who God has called and gifted to be its pastor. When a congregation calls its pastors, it is their recognition and affirmation that God has given them this person as a leader. If that is sincere, this calls for them to give their trust to this leader. They are still responsible to hold that leadership in check, should the pastor conflict with the doctrine of the Bible. Yet, the congregation is called upon to follow the lead of the one they recognize God has given them as a leader.

...there is no cooperation with other local churches in associations, conventions, etc.
When we say that the church is “independent,” we do not mean that the local church acts as if it were alone in the world.

We recognize that there are some things that can be done better when we cooperate with other churches. We recognize that it is often useful to pool our resources to work together for the sake of missions and evangelism. So, we can cooperate in the Cooperative Program of the Southern Baptist Convention.

We see examples of this in the New Testament, such as 2 Corinthians 8:19, where it is the “churches” (plural) that appoint Titus to travel with Paul.

We recognize that it is useful to pool our resources for education. So we cooperate with other believers to fund seminaries and Christian schools.

We recognize that it is most useful to pool our resources to do disaster relief. So we cooperate with the Disaster Relief arm of the Southern Baptist Convention, rather than being “Lone Rangers” trying to do it all ourselves. Titus to travel with Paul

Implications
When we look at the areas which God has entrusted to the congregation, I think it shows why studying what the Bible has to say about church government is important.

God has entrusted to the congregation—the assembled church—the purity of the church and the purity of the Gospel. We, as a body, are responsible to watch over each other. We, as a body, are responsible for watching over the doctrine that is taught.

The church does not exist merely for your good. It does exist for your good. But, it exists for more than that. The church exists to defend and to display the Glory of God in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. When the church is compromised, it puts the Gospel at risk. When the church fails to carry out its responsibilities, it puts the Gospel at risk. This means that:

1) The purity of the church must be maintained.
If the church is responsible for defending and displaying the Glory of God in the Gospel, then it is very important that the church consist of people who are actually born again and give evidence of loving Christ. This is why it is important to have formal membership—we must know who can and cannot participate in these important responsibilities.

A church roll that is full of unrepentant and unregenerate persons constitutes a compromised church. A comprised church will comprise the Gospel.

2) You must actively participate as an informed member of the church!
You cannot be a lazy member of the church. You, Christian, are responsible, together with the assembled body—for watching over the Gospel and each other.

This means that you must be present and alert, participating in the life of the body. This means that you must be studying the Bible so that you can recognize error when it appears.

The church exists to defend and to display the Glory of God in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Do you love God’s glory in the gospel of Jesus Christ? If so, will you demonstrate it by being an present and active, informed and caring member of the church?

-------------------------------------------------------
[1] A Display of God’s Glory, p 32-33.
[2] Who Runs the Church?
[3] Nine Marks of a Healthy Church, 221

The Local Church (2): Why You Ought to be a Formal and Active Member of a Local Church

© Eric M Schumacher – Preached February 4, 2007 at Northbrook Baptist Church, Cedar Rapids, Iowa

In his satirical, tongue-in-cheek book, A Field Guide to Evangelicals and Their Habitat, Joel Kirkpatrick offers this side-bar on the importance of numbers in evangelical church life:

Evangelicals are highly competitive about church size. Some churches calculate their size by the number of people who attend on Sunday morning. Others count all the people they “touch” in any given week, including those visited in the hospital, those sent bulk mailings, and those prayed for. It is easy for a church of 100 to claim thousands of members by spreading itself around a bit.

Baptist churches are particularly adept at this. They define a member as any person, alive or dead, who visited the church once in the past thirty years, plus all his or her relatives, whose existence need not be verified. For this reason, Southern Baptists, a group of about 21,000 nationwide, have long boasted the largest membership of any Protestant denomination, about 15 million. That muffled sound you hear is dead Baptists in their graves applauding their membership superiority.

Is that what membership is all about? Is it us, as a denomination or a local church, showing by our numbers that we are superior to the church down the street? It could be. We need to be careful in our discussions on membership. We must be biblical, and not merely pragmatic or traditional, or we could in up with something that looks more like the worship of numbers than a house built to worship the Lord.

Formal, Active Membership

Last Sunday, we began to take a look at the topic of the local church. I argued that it is healthiest, wisest and most biblical for us to emphasize, encourage and practice formal, active membership. I offered a few biblical defenses of formal membership.

By formal membership, I meant that the member officially declares his commitment to fellowship in a particular local church and that local church officially declares their acceptance of that person into their fellowship. Usually, this is done through a membership list, or some other way of having a means of clearly defining who is and who is not a member.

While I believe that what I said last week is right and is therefore important, I want to emphasize that what I said last week about formal membership is not enough. Having one’s name on the membership list of a local church is only the beginning.

This is why I say that we should have formal, active church membership. Without our membership being active, our formal membership is both meaningless and dangerous to the church and the individual.

Active Membership

Last week, I defined active membership in this way: By active, I mean that members regularly attend and participate in that local church, unless they are providentially hindered (that is, prevented by circumstances beyond their control). This means that as a formal member, you covenant with other Christians to meet together to worship the Lord and to carry out his teachings. As an active member, you actually carry out the promises you made—you attend and use your gifts in the life of the body.

The SBC

This might seem logical. After all, if you are going to join something, why wouldn’t you be active? You don’t become a member at a golf course, unless you actually intend to play golf! You don’t become a member of a book club unless you plan to read a book! Likewise, you can’t be a member of many organizations unless you actually show up and participate.

While it seems logical, it is something that many churches in the last century have had a difficult time comprehending. A 2004 study of the Strategic Information and Planning department of the Sunday School Board reported that of the Southern Baptist Convention’s then 16,287,494 members, only 6,024,289 (or, 37%) attended the primary worship meeting of the church. Beyond that, only 12.3% of the membership attended something more than a once a week meeting.[1]

The average Southern Baptist congregation is about 233 members, with 70 in attendance on Sunday mornings. This leads one concerned observer to ask: “Where are the other 163 members? Are they all at home sick, in a rest home, at college, on vacation, or in the military? Maybe some are, but all 163 of them?”[2]

The practice of inactive membership makes membership both meaningless and dangerous. Last week I defined membership as:

Membership is the individual believer’s public statement that he affirms and commits to the faith and practice of a local church and promises to join actively with that body. It is the local church’s public statement that the individual is a believer who evidences repentance and faith and that it accepts this person into their fellowship.

Formal membership is an individual’s affirmation of and commitment to a local congregation of believers.

On the one hand, formal vows that are not lived out are worse than meaningless, they are lies. If you are a person who is a formal member of a church that you do not attend, I would ask one favor of you today. Contact the pastor of the church where your membership resides. Ask him to send you a copy of the church covenant (if they have one) or a copy of the promises made when a person becomes a member. Ask him to send you an outline of what a member of that church is expected to do. Then, ask yourself if your formal membership in that church is a reflection of a living commitment, or if your membership is a lie.

On the other hand, you cannot, with any integrity, make an honest, public affirmation of an individual or a congregation that you do not see. If we never see those on our membership list, how do we know that we’re not lying? How do you know that that church is remaining faithful to the Scriptures in its faith and practice if you are not there to observe it? If you don’t attend, how do you know what they preach, teach, and do? How do you know that you can be a part of it? Yet, your membership says that you believe it is.

Likewise, how do we know that an individual is holding fast to the faith and following Christ, if we never see them? Yet, by continuing to have them on our rolls, we make just that statement.

This is why I say that inactive membership is so dangerous. By granting membership, we give our formal declaration that we believe John Doe is saved, while his habitual actions show evidence that he probably is not. Yet, he sleeps sound at night because The First Baptist Church of Such-n-Such has formally declared him a Christian.

Biblical Defense

Those reasons are mainly practical, though important. I want to offer a few strong biblical reasons for why you should be actively involved in a local church.

1) Because the Bibles commands—through example and by direct statement—your active devotion to a local church.

The example of the earliest Christians, which seems to hold true throughout the New Testament, is found in Acts 2:

Acts 2:41-42 So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls. And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

It was simply assumed that once you believed you were baptized. And, after you were baptized, you devoted yourself to joining with other believers to hear God’s Word taught, to encourage each other, to take the Lord’s Supper and to pray together, weekly and more often when possible.

We have more than examples, however. We have a direct command to be actively involved in a local church.

Hebrews 10:24-25 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

We are commanded not to neglect to meet together. This “meeting together” refers to what we heard from Acts 2—a regular assembly of believers who devote themselves to meeting together for these things.

2) The gifts of the Spirit cannot be rightly used without being active in a church.

In several passages in 1 Corinthians (12:4-11; 14:12), Paul makes it clear that the Spirit gives gifts that are intended for the “common good” and the “building up of the church.” The context makes it clear that Paul is speaking of the local church. If you are not using your gifts to serve the local church, you are not using your gifts as the Spirit intends.

On a side note that supports formal membership, you should join a church because many ministry opportunities are available to church members only. This is because the church needs a way of knowing that you are united with her in doctrine and practice. The church cannot be appointing people to serve or teach if they do not know if their faith and lifestyle matches what the church believes. You may have attended a church for thirty years, but unless you’ve formally declared your agreement and support, how do they know where you stand.

So, be an active member of a church so that you can put your spiritual gifts to right use amongst God’s people. John MacArthur, in his defense of church membership states, “Not joining the church is saying, ‘I don’t want to serve the only institution Christ ever built.’”

3) The “one another” commands of Scripture require it.

In our bulletin, I’ve printed an insert of 40-some commands in the English Standard Version of the Bible that contain the phrase “one another.” One author has counted 58 in the New Testament. Of course, there are other commands that have the same effect and don’t use this phrase. But, this allows for a quick overview of what the Bible commands regarding our relationship with other believers.

Wayne Mack makes three observations regarding these commands:

1. They are commands. In other words, if we’re not doing these things, we’re in disobedience.

2. They are all in the present tense. This means they are things we should be continually doing.

3. Most of these commands are given to local churches.

A “one another” command requires you to have “another” person in order to carry it out. The fact that most of these commands are given in letters written to local churches show that they are referring to the relationships that Christians have within the church. If, therefore, you withdraw yourself from involvement in the local church, you withdraw yourself from obedience to these commands. Mack concludes, “It’s impossible to understand how these commands may be truly fulfilled towards other believers without committed involvement in a local church.”

4) Because wise and righteous people welcome and pursue accountability, while the stupid and self-seeking avoid and hate it.

Wayne Mack comments, “I believe that one major reasons that the church of Jesus Christ in the United States is very close to being in sheer chaos today is because so many people think of themselves as individuals rather than as part of the body of Christ. Christianity is not ‘every man for himself’; it’s every man together for Christ.”

The local church is God’s appointed means of fellowship and accountability. When we avoid the local church, we avoid accountability.

Proverbs 18:1 Whoever isolates himself seeks his own desire; he breaks out against all sound judgment.

The man who avoids fellowship (isolates himself) does so because he is seeking his own desire and is going against sound judgment (he is foolish).

Psalm 141:5 Let a righteous man strike me--it is a kindness; let him rebuke me--it is oil for my head; let my head not refuse it.

Proverbs 9:8-9 Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you; reprove a wise man, and he will love you. Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser; teach a righteous man, and he will increase in learning.

Proverbs 12:1 Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid.

A righteous and wise man understands that his heart is prone to leave the God he loves. Therefore, he sees the “strikes” and “rebukes” (that something like church membership and discipline afford) as kindness and as the anointing of oil on his head. In order to have such accountability from fellow believers, it is necessary that we gather together with them.

If you are a wise and righteous person, you want accountability. Active membership in a local church is a means of getting that accountability.

5) Because habitually meeting together for mutual encouragement is God’s means of keeping us in the faith.

In Hebrews 10, the author of Hebrews is writing to Christians who have experienced severe persecution (see verses 32-34).

In verse 23 he encourages these Christians not to allow persecution to keep them abandoning their faith. Rather, he writes, “let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering.” The author’s goal is that these Christians remain faithful to their confession of faith. Question: Why is it so important that they “hold fast the confession of their hope”?

It is important that they “hold fast the confession” because genuine faith perseveres to the end. Those who claim to believe for a little while and then “set aside” the faith show that they were never truly “born again” in the first place. This is the argument that the author unfolds as the chapter progresses.

See verses 26-31. Those who go on living in willful, unrepentant sin after hearing the gospel cannot expect to have their sins covered by Christ’s sacrifice. Rather, they can only expect “judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.”

He makes this claim based off of the Old Covenant law. If someone had the law of Moses and then “set it aside,” that is they disregarded it and lived in disobedience to it, then they were sentenced to death. He argues then, if someone receives such a severe punishment for setting aside the law of Moses, how much worse a punishment is deserved by the one who has the Gospel of Jesus Christ and then, after claiming to believe it and live according to it for a little while, sets it aside—spurning the Son of God, profaning his blood, and outraging the Spirit of grace!? This person, who sets aside the gospel of Jesus Christ to live in disobedience, will be repaid in God’s vengeance and will fall into the hands of the living God.

In verses 32-35, the author reminds these Christians of how they had already persevered through persecutions and sufferings. He reminds them in verse 36 that they have “need of endurance” so that they may receive what is promised—the inheritance of salvation.

Those who do not endure in the faith do not receive the promised salvation. That is the frightening truth outlined in the rest of the chapter. In verse 38, he quotes the Old Testament to show that the Lord says, “my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him.” What happens to the one who shrinks back? Verse 39 tells us that he is “destroyed.”

So, this is why the author makes this earnest plea in verse 23, “Let us hold fast the confession o four hope without wavering…” If we do not hold to the confession of faith, then we will set aside Christ, we will shrink back, we will not endure, we will not receive what is promised, and we will be destroyed! Salvation is at stake in holding to the confession of faith!

What does all this have to do with being an active part of a local church? Look at verses 23-25. After encouraging them to “hold fast the confession of our faith,” he encourages them to find ways to help each other to do that. “Let us consider how to stir one another to love and good works.” Christians are to be strategic and intentional in their efforts to find ways to help each other show love and do good deeds, which are the outworking and evidence of “holding fast the confession.”

Notice verse 25. The author clarifies how to stir one another up by adding, “not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” Some had evidently quit assembling with the local body of believers for fear of persecution. The author does not want this because you cannot encourage each other unless you meet with each other.

Notice that—neglecting to meet together and encouragement cannot co-exist. If you do not meet together, then you cannot encourage each other. (This is one reason why we all must be intentional about visiting and encouraging members whose health and circumstances do not allow them to come here!)

Follow the logic of this passage: If you do not meet together, then you cannot encourage one another. If you do not encourage one another, you are not stirring up one another to love and good deeds. This encouragement is God’s ordained means for keeping his people in the faith. If we are not encouraged, we will not hold fast the confession of the faith. If we do not hold fast the confession of the faith, we have spurned the Son of God, profaned his blood, outraged the Spirit and shrank back. If we do these things, then all that remains for us is the fearful expectation of judgment and a fury of fire and our own destruction in the hands of a God who takes no pleasure in us.

This is why it is so important that you regularly attend a local congregation of believers! Going to church will not save you. We are saved by God’s grace through believing that Jesus Christ died for our sins and was raised from the dead. We do not put our hope in our works or religious practices, but in Jesus Christ alone.

However, true faith in Jesus Christ will persevere unto the end. All true believers will hold fast to the confession of our hope. One of the means that God has given to preserve and persevere the faith of his people is the encouragement that comes through the assembly of believers.

Therefore, attending church will not save you. However, attending church is one of God’s means of grace for keeping you in the faith through which you are saved. To forsake meeting together with the local church may be a sign that you have forsaken the faith or are about to.

Simply by showing up and participating in the corporate service of worship, you are encouraging other believers to press on in the faith. Even if you are physically unable to participate in any other ministry of the church, your attendance is a declaration to other (younger!) believers that this faith is worth persevering in.

Likewise, your absence (if it is without good reason) sends a message to other believers and the world about how worthwhile the faith is. John MacArthur asks, “How wonderful can Christ be if we’re not even committed to being associated with His church?”

So, for the sake of your own soul and for the encouragement of others, be an active, attending member of a church.

There is much more that could be said in regard to why you need to be active in a local church, but time does not permit me to do so. So, I will conclude with one final reason that is especially fitting this morning.

6) The meaning of the Lord’s Supper requires active love for the church.

In 1 Corinthians 11:20, Paul writes, “When you come together, it is not the Lord’s supper that you eat.” First, I’d have you notice that Paul does not say, “When you come together for the purpose of eating the Lord’s supper,” he simply says, “when you come together.” One of the things this implies is that taking the Lord’s supper was something that the early church observed every time they came together. The contemporary practice of having the Lord’s Supper once a year or once a quarter is hard pressed to find a basis for such infrequency from the Scriptures.

Paul says that it is not the Lord’s supper that they eat because of the way that they treat each other. Sure, they are “formal” members of the Corinthian church. And, they are even “regular attenders” in the church—they regularly attend when there is a meal.

However, they are failing to live out what the Lord’s supper means. The Lord’s supper is a remembrance of what Jesus Christ did to redeem his people—he shed his blood and died on a cross for their sins. In John 17, Jesus’ final prayer for his people was that they would be “one” and that his love would be in them. This follows on Jesus new commandment to his people that they love each other the way that he has loved them.

The Corinthian church was taking the Lord’s supper while their actions displayed self-centeredness and a lack of concern for others in the body. When the Lord’s supper is taken by people who are not actively living out love for one another, then it ceases to be “the Lord’s supper.” Worse, it brings the discipline of the Lord upon the congregation.

When we neglect to attend and be active members of a church, we neglect to love each other. When we allow our church rolls to be filled with people who have forsaken the “assembling of ourselves together,” then our membership has ceased to be an expression of love for one another. When 70% of a church’s membership is habitually absent from the gathering of the body and nothing is done, that church has failed to love them biblically. When we fail to love each other, we make a mockery of the Lord’s supper—and what it represents; we mock our Savior’s body and blood.

We must not be content to have a membership list and ask people to join. We must commit ourselves to actively living out all that that membership means as we commit to being accountable to one another as we gather to worship the Lord and live out His word as members of one another.

If you are actively living out your faith in a crucified and risen Savior by being a member of a community of believers, then please join with us today as we eat this meal.

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[1] As quoted in Jim Elliff, “Southern Baptists, an Unregenerate Denomination.”

[2] Mark Dever, A Display of God’s Glory.