Mark #9: Committed Love (Membership)
- Date: Sunday, February 19, 2012
- Speaker: Dusty Thompson
- Series: Marks of a Healthy Church
- Scripture: Hebrews 10:19–10:25
- Tags: membership, church
The Main Point & understanding the text
19 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, 20 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.
We can be in the presence of God (holy places) by Jesus blood. He is the great high priest over the house of God…the church…and opened a living way through His resurrection through the curtain that previously separated God and humanity! Because of this let’s draw near to God with assurance because He’s made our hearts clean. This is symbolized in the act of baptism (22). On top of this, we hold fast and endure because of the faithfulness of God (23).
By the way, all of this has been plural: brothers, let us. He could have said you individuals out there, you individually should do and believe these things. But He didn’t. This was a main point last week: discipleship/growth is mostly a community project in the NT. And this text has just begun on this trajectory. 24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 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. So, in the same breath where we are commanded to draw near to God, we are commanded to stir one another to love God and obey Him (24) and to keep meeting together (25). The urgency of the end of all things (be it our life or Jesus returning) should cause us to keep coming together.
For now I want us to see this: Just as surely as the gospel causes us to draw near to God, it causes us to draw near to each other in a committed way. This presses all of us- I think. My first thought is, “I don’t want anyone telling you how to live and I want to be able to sleep in and vacation when I want and I want the ability to go to another church anytime it suits my needs better.” To use relationship language, I think all of our first inclination would be to “date” a church and avoid “marriage.”
Broken models
In an attempt to be faithful to this, Christians in our day have pursued some broken models that don’t get the job done. In addition to not following Jesus and not being connected in any way to a church, here are some ways that we can tend to mess it up where we think we are golden, but are missing key parts God’s appointed means of grace to you (and others through you!) via the church.
1. Hyper-active church. In this model, you hope that committed love springs out of an abundance of activity. It’s assumed that you’ll have community if you offer classes in the morning, Bible studies during the week, great kids’ activities, and some worship services mixed in. Just because you attend a small group or Sunday school class or Bible study doesn’t mean you are committed to these people. It’s possible that community in a committed sense could emerge from this stuff, but we need to acknowledge that it blinds many people to some key realities. When in this do we talk about our souls? Do we confess our sin to each other? Do we pray for each other? Do we engage enough where have a chance to offend and then forgive each other? You could make a case that Redeemer might look like a simpler version of this, so let the critique stick! Hebrews didn’t say just to attend together (that’s a start), but to “one another” as the church.
2. I have Christian friends church. You resent the machinery of the above-mentioned hyper-active church. They hate the sound system, the organization of it all, the lack of relationships. The response? Well, it’s all over the map. Some will get together with some friends and call it “church.” They eat a meal and have different people lead discussion. Some might ask “what’s so bad about that?” Well, nothing at all, if it is a New Testament church. If there is a qualified elder leading it (more on this next week) and if it is helping each other grow and pushing each other out on mission…I like it. But let’s get real. How often does that happen? Most of the time it is an excuse to not sit through boring services and almost always there is an authority issue since there is no real leader. But the Bible tells us about the marks of the church (gospel, singing, praying, preaching, baptizing/mission, growing/taking the Lord’s supper, and Biblically qualified leaders that care for and discipline their members). When we try to self-define what we want the church to look like, we limit our growth and the growth of others. Mission can grind to a halt when this becomes inward. You need Christian friends, but the “one another” of Hebrews 10 takes us beyond affinity and beyond superficial friendships that happen to be beyond two Christians.
3. Family church/Online church. This person may share the frustrations with church like the “I have Christian friends” church and instead of doing some sort of weekly gathering, they just listen to their favorite speakers or, if they have a family, they might do “family church.” And by that I mean that sometimes they sit around for 20 minutes on Sundays so they don’t feel too guilty and sing a song or two and read the Bible and pray for a few minutes. And this is often combined with downloaded sermons from their favorite national pastor rock star guy. If only Piper/Keller/Driscoll/Chandler/ (you get the picture) lived in Lubbock, you’d go to services, but these guys here are terrible! And since none of the 200 pastors and their churches with issues are good enough for you, you play with family-only church or, even worse, individual-church. Remember our text? Do you see the mutual “one another” committed, marriage type love.
4. Rotating Church. Some wear this like a badge of honor. They know they need to worship regularly and feel helped by it, so they just go to different ones whenever they do go. Can you see how this group misses the covenantal, committed call of Hebrews? This is a chain-dater.
Weakness of all 4 approaches- Do you notice how all of these groups take a small part of the truth? The hyper-active church knows we need authority structures. Check. And they know we need time together. Check X50. But they can confuse that this is promoting growth and mission. The anti-institutional “I have a Christian friend” church guy ask great questions and is rightly skeptical of manipulative techniques and the failings of the programmatic church, but they tend to despise authority and want church structures that are nowhere in the NT. The family church or online church person rightly sees the need for families to worship as families at home and enjoys use of the best resources available via the internet. But they miss that they might have something to gain from others and that they have something to give. The rotating church people know we need corporate worship regularly, but miss the joys of committed love. Really all miss the primary way that the Spirit wants to administrate the love of God to us: committed love.
Committed Love- A case for membership
Yes, we are members of the universal church, BUT the vast majority of the references in the NT are to specific, local churches. If we are Christians, we must make our connection to Jesus and to the universal church concrete by committing to a local church. I know this feels like legalism to many of you. Let me explain why its not. A lot of it is that we have no idea what legalism is. Legalism comes out in two ways. First, it is an extra-biblical command. Second, it is a biblical command done in a way that makes you think that you are loved/accepted by God for doing it. But doing a command out of obedience and love for Jesus is not legalism. I think we like to pretend any conviction is legalistic. That’s wrong. Let me tell why committed love in the context of membership is a Biblical idea and why you should do it- even if there are other ways than our membership process to get this done.
1. The Hebrews text and Acts 2 demonstrate a lot more than a transient, be there when you can, change churches every 18 months brand of Christianity. They weren’t dating, they were married up. They belonged to one another.
2. 1 Cor 5 urges an immoral guy who is sleeping with his father’s wife to be thrown out of the church. Surely some non-believers are attending the services. Notice that Paul doesn’t tell them not to attend. Implicit in this charge to discipline, is that the man was a Christian and was identified as belonging to that church (member). More on this next week. Are we going to offer discipline here for someone that comes once a month? Once a quarter? I bet lots of you are glad that you aren’t accountable to each other and the leaders of Redeemer just because you attended today. Your attendance doesn’t imply commitment- there could be a variety of reasons you came today.
3. Lists of widows were kept (1 Tim 5:9). If you have people milling in and out of the church, how could you keep a list? In some way or another, they knew who were “theirs” and committed to care for them.
Membership only means something if it’s covenantal. In a lot of ways, we are talking about the difference between dating and marrying. It might be fun to hang out with a few different boyfriends/girlfriends and you certainly have more control over your time and no one’s telling you how to live your life, but it is a mirage of intimacy when compared to the ocean of committed love in marriage. There are lots of ways I suppose a church could accomplish this- our way is through a membership process.
Why you should be a member: Results of Committed Love
1. God’s ordained means of growth. We grow together. In both testaments, God built a people that were to live together following Him. We are all just so weak. That’s the reality. I push myself way harder when I show up at cross fit than when I go for a job by myself or show up to a gym by myself. We just need the Spirit’s work in one another
2. Stronger mission. Think back to our original text in Hebrews. The last day should cause us to love one another and have a committed love. That has a dual purpose. The first is that it keeps us growing and keeps us saved. The second is that the way we love one another is precisely the means by which the kingdom will advance. In other words, our committed love is the most concrete evidence we have of the gospel! This is why hateful church conflict is so terrible. This is also why coming when you can and making services here and there and not committing yourself to a smaller group of people that will hold you accountable (even if its implicit accountability to consistency in worship and small group) is critical for your growth and the gospel’s growth.
As a challenge, help your groups not just be a Bible study-only. Looking to Jesus is what makes a people, but get to know each other in all of life’s rhythms and then include those outside of your community. That is called mission. It is a simple ministry of disciple making. That is what our GC’s exist to do.
3. The boundaries of the church are made clear. Seekers know who they are. Christians know who they are. Membership of a church is the church’s affirmation of each other’s salvation. It can be a means of assurance as well as strong warning if someone is acting in a way where they don’t look like they are a Christian. As we look for patterns in each others’ lives, it could be a means of repentance and/or salvation for one who thought they were a Christian, but weren’t. We’ll talk about this idea next week.
Let me add that as your pastor, I know who I am caring for. You are opening yourself to discipline from one another and from your elders if need be. I care about all of you and want good for your soul, but I am responsible to Jesus for members only. Does that make sense? You gain much needed accountability and people committed to caring for you and disciplining you, your elder(s) gets a clear picture of his flock.
The main idea
Here’s what we’ve learned, ultimately: If we make Jesus the goal, we’ll connect with each other. We enter His presence by His blood. And then He connects us and we die to our tastes and what can be the idolatry of our privacy and control of our environment. If we make church the goal, we can easily miss Jesus. We’ll redefine the church in unbiblical ways that end up being dishonoring to Jesus and unhelpful to you. Marry up with Jesus and His people. Stop dating the both of them. Let us meet together and spur one another on. For Jesus.
