August 21, 2016

Church Membership Facilitates Clarity

Preacher: Josh Tancordo Series: Doing Church Biblically Scripture: Matthew 16:18–19

Church Membership Facilitates Clarity

This evening, we’re going to continue our sermon series on “Doing Church Biblically.” This is a sermon series that’s actually more of a church membership class. Typically, our sermons will go passage by passage through a particular book of the Bible. But this series of teachings is really a membership class that’s designed to prepare those who are interested to start Redeeming Grace Church on October 23. 

And a few weeks ago, we talked about why we should join a church. We saw that being involved in a church is definitely what the Bible tells us to do. We don’t see any loner Christians wandering around in the New Testament. Instead, the church is central to our personal spiritual growth, and it’s also central to God’s plan for reaching the world with the gospel. But you may still be wondering, “Why have a formal system of church membership?” We’re pretty informal in the way we do a lot of other things around here like the way we try to live in community with each other and make disciples. We see most of that happening in very informal contexts. We’re also pretty informal about the way we approach Sundays. Just look at the way we dress. If someone came in wearing a suit to one of our gatherings, they would probably feel a bit out of place. I often smile when I’m asked to be a guest preacher at a more formal worship gathering because I literally have to wipe the dust off of my suit with a damp cloth before I preach there. I find myself doing that multiple times a year. 

So we’re a pretty informal church in many ways. So why the formality when it comes to membership? Why do we make such a big deal about having a clearly defined church membership? That’s the question I’d like to spend both this Sunday and next Sunday answering. And here’s the main idea I’d like to get across this Sunday: a formal system of church membership facilitates clarity. A formal system of church membership facilitates clarity. And when I say “clarity,” I’m talking about a clear distinction between the church and the world, between the saved and the unsaved, between followers of Jesus and those who are not followers of Jesus. A formal system of church membership facilitates clarity about that. And if that sounds a little confusing to you, stick with me, because I’m going to explain it. We’re going to first look at some biblical foundations for clarity and then, secondly, about the church’s task of maintaining clarity, which it does through church membership. 

Biblical Foundations for Clarity

So first, biblical foundations for clarity. Basically, the Bible draws a clear line between those who are saved and those who are not saved. Please turn with me to Matthew 7. In Matthew 7:13-14, Jesus says, “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” So there are two gates, two paths, two different kinds of people in this world: those who are disciples of Jesus and those who are not. You know, there are many different ways we hear people making distinctions. They talk about black and white, old and young, rich and poor. Religiously, they talk about different denominational labels like Catholic, Presbyterian, Methodist, Lutheran, Baptist. These are all different ways to make distinctions between people. But from a biblical perspective, there’s only one distinction that truly matters: the distinction the Bible clearly makes between the saved and the unsaved. 

And here’s the thing:  if you’re truly saved—if you’ve truly put your trust in Jesus for salvation on the basis of what he did on the cross—then it’s gonna show up in your life. Your internal faith will manifest itself in very external ways. You’ll be a different person. Look back where we left off in Matthew 7, in verse 15: “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.” So Jesus says the way you can tell whether someone’s a false prophet or not is to look at the fruit of their lifestyle. Do they live a godly life? And just like you can use that test to examine prophets or leaders, you can also use that test to examine regular people. If they’re truly saved, if they truly have a relationship with Jesus, there will be good fruit in their lives. Now, keep in mind that it’s not like we earn salvation by living a godly life. Salvation comes simply by looking to Jesus for rescue, not by trying to be good enough to rescue ourselves. However, even though salvation isn’t attained by a godly life, it is evidenced by a godly life. A godly life may not save you, but it does demonstrate that you have been saved. Just like Jesus said: “every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit.” 

Let’s say my wife asks me to plant an apple tree in the front yard. Now, we already have a tree in our front yard, but let’s say she wants me to plant another tree because she wants to eat fresh apples. So I go out and make the purchase, and I plant that tree in the front yard just like I’m instructed. And it takes a few years, but the tree eventually starts to produce fruit. Only, for some reason, it doesn’t seem to be producing apples; it seems like it’s producing oranges. So my wife asks me, “Josh, I thought we agreed to get an apple tree and you said you had purchased an apple tree. What happened?” And I tell her, “Oh, I did purchase an apple tree. It just happens to be producing oranges at the moment.” How’s my wife gonna respond to that? She’s gonna be like, “What the heck are you talking about? Apple trees don’t produce oranges. Orange trees produce oranges. If that tree were truly an apple tree, it would be producing apples.”

And that’s the same thing Jesus is saying here. We may not be able to know with 100% certainty what’s in a person’s heart since only God can see inside people’s hearts, but according to Jesus here in Matthew 7, we can have some idea of whether someone’s genuinely saved or not by observing how they live their life—by looking at the fruit they produce. And of course, we never want to do that with a judgmental attitude, but the fact remains genuine salvation shows up in your life. 

Turn over with me to 1 John. Not the Gospel of John, but the letter of 1 John, two books before the book of Revelation. This book of 1 John gives us several marks of a genuine believer. By looking for these things in your life, you can have a relatively good idea of whether you’ve truly been saved. The first mark is walking in the light, and that’s found in 1 John 1:5-7: “This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him [if we say we’re saved] while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.” So are you walking in the light? That’s the first mark of a genuine believer. Are you trying to live the way God has instructed you to live? 

Number two: confessing sin. Look at verses 8-10: “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us [we’re not saved]. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.” So do you confess your sins to God and try to turn away from those sins, or do you tolerate areas of sin in your life and pretend they’re not even there? A true Christian is sensitive to the sin in their life and walks in regular repentance. 

Then the third mark is very similar: obeying the commands of God. Look at the next chapter, chapter 2, verses 3-4: “And by this we know that we have come to know him [that we’re truly saved], if we keep his commandments. Whoever says ‘I know him’ but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him.” So do you have a desire to obey God’s commands? We’re not talking about perfection here; nobody’s able to obey God perfectly. But are you at least striving to obey God?  

Then number four: someone who’s truly saved genuinely loves other believers. Verses 9-11: “Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness [he’s not saved]. Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.” So do you love other Christians? Do you have some desire to be around them and gather with them on Sundays? Do you have some inclination to serve them and put their welfare above your own?  Do you try your best to overlook any instances in which they rub you the wrong way rather than stir up needless division in the church? 

And finally, the fifth mark of a true Christian: they’re not in love with worldly things. Look at verse 15: “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world.” So is your heart more inclined toward the things of this world—earthly joys and treasures—or is it more inclined toward God? 

Those are the five marks we get from 1 John. Someone who’s truly saved will be walking in the light, confessing sin, obeying God’s commands, loving other believers, and not loving worldly things. And again, they’re not going to be perfect. They’re going to stumble and fall a lot—kind of like my one-year-old who’s just learning to walk. He’s a wobbly little guy, and he falls a lot. But he has that desire to walk, and he tries his best. And in the same way, a true Christian won’t be perfect, but they will be different. Not perfect, but different. 

Our Task of Maintaining Clarity

So the Bible separates people into two groups, the saved and the unsaved. And it draws a very clear line between those two groups of people, even giving us some tests so we can determine which of those two groups we might be in. And here’s what I want us to get from that—here’s the point of everything I’ve said in the past 15 minutes: just like the Bible draws a very clear line between the saved and the unsaved, Jesus has told the church to draw that very clear line as well. So, having looked first at biblical foundations for clarity, let’s now move on to the second point: our task of maintaining clarity. 

Like I said, Jesus wants the church to maintain that clear distinction between the saved and the unsaved. And like we’ll see, the way the church does that is through a formal system of church membership. Look at Matthew 16:18-19. This is Jesus speaking to Peter: “And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” If you’re confused by that, don’t worry, you’re not the only one. It certainly sounds kind of cryptic the first time you read it. But here’s what it means: The keys represent authority. Kind of like at a retail store, who’s the one who has the keys? The manager, right? They don’t just give the keys to every 16-year-old working at the store. You have to be someone sort of important to get the keys. They keys open the front door, the keys open the safe, and if those keys were to fall into the wrong hands, it probably wouldn’t be good. And the reason Jesus gives the keys to Peter is because he’s treating Peter as a representative of the 12 apostles, who in turn are the foundation of the church. So in giving the keys to Peter, Jesus is in effect giving them to the church so that, as it says, whatever the church binds on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever the church looses on earth will be loosed in heaven. And that’s confirmed two chapters later in Matthew 18:18, where Jesus makes this same exact statement to all of his disciples, not just Peter. 

Now, here’s what this doesn’t mean. This doesn’t mean the church has power to save people or condemn them to hell. Nothing the church does has any effect whatsoever on an individual’s salvation. In fact, scholars agree it would be more accurate to translate verse 19, “whatever you bind on earth shall already have been bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall already have been loosed in heaven.” So the heavenly reality isn’t based on the church’s binding or loosing. The church’s binding or loosing is based on the already-established heavenly reality. So that means the church doesn’t determine a person’s salvation. God saves everyone who puts their faith in Jesus, regardless of what the church says. However, he does give the church authority here to make a tentative pronouncement about someone’s salvation and says here that he will give them guidance in making that pronouncement. That’s what verse 19 teaches. Just like the president gives the white house press secretary authorization and guidance to speak on his behalf, Jesus gives the church authorization and guidance to speak on his behalf. Again, not directly saving or condemning people, but simply affirming or not affirming an individual’s salvation.

It’s kind of like when I traveled to Bosnia a few years ago on a mission trip. In order to go to Bosnia, or anywhere outside of the US, I needed a passport. And the purpose of that passport was to prove that I was indeed a citizen of the Unites States. Now understand that the passport didn’t make me a US citizen. I was already a US citizen from birth. I could have lived my entire life without ever obtaining a passport and still be just as much of a US citizen. However, even though the passport didn’t make me a citizen, it did affirm my citizenship. It’s an authorized document designed for that specific purpose. And that’s what the church does as well. Jesus has given the church authority to publically distinguish, to the best of its ability, between the saved and the unsaved. And it does that through church membership. And of course, the church doesn’t make that distinction perfectly. It often lets in people who shouldn’t have been let in and perhaps even occasionally keeps someone out who shouldn’t have been kept out—although I don’t think that happens very often.  So we won’t get it perfect, but the goal at least is for the membership rolls of our church and other churches to reflect as accurately as possible the membership rolls of heaven. 

So that’s why we do membership interviews at Redeeming Grace Church. In order to become a member of Redeeming Grace Church, you have to go through a membership interview. Now before you get too nervous about that, understand that our goal isn’t to grill people with insanely difficult theology questions. Interviews aren’t like that at all. First of all, interviews are an opportunity for you to ask us questions about anything that may be on your mind. And then, we just want to hear your story about coming to faith in Jesus. We want to make sure you understand the basics of the gospel like why Jesus died on the cross. We want to make sure you’ve repented and put your faith in Jesus to save you—and also verify that you’re giving good evidence of salvation by living a godly life. Again, we’re not expecting you to be a studied theologian, just someone who has the most basic understanding of Christianity. Making church membership a big deal like this is our attempt to follow Jesus’ instructions to maintain clarity. 

And really, if Matthew 16 isn’t clear enough or specific enough to convince you, here are some practical reasons why it’s critical for us to maintain clarity by practicing church membership. Number one: this helps the world by showing them an accurate picture of who represents Jesus. I think one of the reasons so many skeptics accuse Christians of hypocrisy is that there are a lot of hypocrites in the church, and many churches allow them right in to membership. We want make sure the world has an accurate picture of who exactly is a credible representative of Jesus. Number two: this helps Christians know who to treat like family. The Bible tells Christians to love one another in a unique way. Of course, we love everyone, but we’re supposed to have a unique love, a more committed love, for one another. But how would we know who we’re responsible to love in that way if there’s not a clearly defined boundary? How would we know who to treat like family? And how would I as a pastor know who I’m supposed to take care of? As a spiritual shepherd, the Bible says I’m going to be held accountable for taking care of my sheep. How could I possibly do that if I don’t know who my sheep are?

And then number three: not only does a clearly defined church membership help the world and not only does it help Christians, but it also helps the individuals themselves by helping them see things they may not see in themselves. This is ultimately a service to you. If there were some irregularity in your understanding of Christianity, wouldn’t you want to know about it? Wouldn’t you want to know if we had concerns about the state of your soul? And on the flip side, wouldn’t it be a comfort and an encouragement to you for us to affirm your faith? So this helps you more than anyone. 

Conclusion

For example, when I was nine years old, I attended a massive evangelism event. And after several nights at this event, the preacher gave an invitation for those who wanted to be saved to walk forward and repeat the words to a prayer after him. And I prayed those words and was very emotional while I was doing it, so I thought I was saved that night. But looking back, I’m not sure that I was, because my life wasn’t any different afterwards. My heart was just as rebellious towards God and just as indifferent to Jesus’ teachings as it had ever been. And if I had died before truly being saved five years later, I think I would have gone straight to hell. Thankfully, my dad was very careful in the way he handled that and was careful not to affirm my salvation when I showed no evidence in my life. And I’m so grateful for that. What a loving thing that is! What a way to serve a person! And what a disservice if we just tell everyone exactly what they want to hear. If God brings someone to our group and they’re interested in becoming a member, we want to love them well. And that’s why we practice church membership.

other sermons in this series

Feb 28

2021

Matthew 26: The Lords Supper

Preacher: Josh Tancordo Scripture: Matthew 26:26–29 Series: Doing Church Biblically

Oct 16

2016

Trusting in Man vs. Trusting in God

Preacher: Josh Tancordo Scripture: Jeremiah 17:5–10 Series: Doing Church Biblically

Oct 9

2016