Commit to the Church: Join a Church

I recently began a new sermon series called Commit at my church on what biblically committed church membership looks like. This post is based off of the third sermon in that series, which you can listen to here.

Sermon Text: Acts 2:41-47; 1 Corinthians 5:9-13; Heb 13:17; others

Two weeks ago, I began a new sermon series called Commit. This sermon series is on the importance for us as Christians to commit to Jesus by committing to a local church. Last week, we saw that baptism is the first step of obedience for a new believer and is a prerequisite for church membership.

Today, I want to speak on the importance of joining a church. When I say that you need to join a church, I do not mean that you attend a church. I mean that you formally become a church member. If the church has a church covenant and you agree with it, then sign it and join.

Church membership has in some ways fallen on hard times. Many people have begun to question whether church membership is even biblical.

As I mentioned in the first sermon of this sermon series, there are several factors that have contributed to a low view of church membership. I want to briefly remind you of three – easy believism, emphasis on a personal relationship with Jesus, consumeristic view of the church.

Easy believism is the unbiblical view that salvation is a one-time decision and thus there is no need for personal holiness or good works. This essentially makes church membership irrelevant because salvation is simply a decision with no need for a changed life. Jesus is simply fire insurance.

Others are apathetic toward church membership due to an emphasis on a personal relationship with Jesus. Some people are so tired of church conflict that they’ve given up on the church and instead believe that personal Bible reading and perhaps listening to a TV preacher are sufficient means to grow spiritually.

And finally, some people view church like consumers view a shopping mall.^[1]For more on this, see Franchising McChurch by John Mark Yeats and Thomas White. They only attend the church when they think it can give them something (e.g. encouraging sermon, good music, fun youth group). These folks attend services with no sense of commitment. They don’t care to be known to be known by anyone and they contribute nothing to the church. Many of these people dropped off during Covid and have not returned.

Thom Rainer writes the following in the Foreword of Membership Matters:

“Most churches view their constituencies in one of two ways. One group of churches has minimal expectations of its members, if any expectations at all. Membership is meaningless in terms of commitment and accountability. These churches typically see significant fallout of members to inactivity. When membership does not matter, the members will care little about their levels of commitment. Another group of churches does not even encourage attenders to become members. For them, membership is an unbiblical concept that they refuse to impose on the local church. This group of churches also sees low levels of commitment among those who regularly attend.” (p. 12)

Thom Rainer, Membership Matters, 12

If you have low expectations of your members, you’ll get low commitment. Neither of the two positions mentioned in Rainer’s quote above are biblical. Jesus calls us to follow Him. The New Testament calls us to join a church and commit to it. We must recover a biblical view of church membership and we as Christ followers are called to glorify God through a local church.

In another book, Rainer writes, “I [believe] that congregations across America are weak because many of us church members have lost the biblical understanding of what it means to be a part of the body of Christ.”^[2]Thom Rainer, I am a Church Member, 5

Today I want to do four things. First, I want to convince you that committed church membership is in fact biblical. Next, I want to tell you why you need to formally join a church. Third, I want to help you know what to look for in a church. Finally, I want to help you know how to be a faithful church member.

While there is no command that says, “Thou shalt join a church,” church membership is implied and assumed throughout the New Testament. I want to give you three reasons that church membership is biblical.

(1) Church membership is biblical

First, we see the pattern of the early church.

Reason One – The pattern of the early church (Acts 2:41-47)

Let’s once again return to Acts 2. After Peter’s sermon on the Day of Pentecost, recall Acts 2:41, which is kind of a summary verse that we’ve read several times already in this sermon series.

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.

Here’s the paradigm we see.

• Those who heard Peter’s preaching about Jesus (vv. 14-36) repented of their sin and trusted in the person and work of Jesus.
• These same folks were baptized and then “added” to the church (v. 41).
• Verses 42-47 show how these new believers “devoted” or (committed themselves) to one another.

Acts 2:41-47 is enough for me to see the importance of church membership, but I will give you two more reasons why church membership is biblical.

Second, the practice of church discipline assumes church membership.

Reason Two – The practice of church discipline assumes church membership

In 1 Corinthians 5, Paul condemns the Corinthian church because they are associating with a sexually immoral man.

1 Cor 5:9-13

9 I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— 10 not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. 11 But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one. 12 For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? 13 God judges those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.”

Notice in verses 12-13 that Paul differentiates between those who are inside and outside the church. There are plenty of people in the world today that are living in sexual immorality. But Paul says that we aren’t to judge outsiders, meaning that we should expect those outside the church to be living in sexual sin. Rather, Paul says we should judge those inside the church, because they should be living holy lives in obedience to Christ.

You cannot remove someone from the church unless they belong to the church in the first place. It seems obvious that the Corinthians knew who was a church member and who was not. Church discipline assumes church membership.

Third, we see that the relationship between pastors and the flock assumes church membership.

Reason Three – The relationship between pastors and the flock assumes church membership

Elders (or pastors) are called to shepherd certain people. In 1 Pet 5:2, Peter tells the elders to “shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight.” As a pastor, I am commanded to shepherd the flock of my local church. I am not commanded to exercise oversight over every Christian in my town or my county. Rather, I am called to shepherd FBC Harrisburg. In the same vein, Christians are called to submit to their leaders.

Heb 13:17

Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.

Christians can only obey this command if they know who their leaders are. Obviously, we could say more about this verse, but the point is that Christians know who their leaders are. Donald Whitney writes, “A flock of sheep isn’t a random collection of ewes, rams, and lambs. Shepherds know their flocks. They know which sheep are theirs to care for and which are not.”^[3]Spiritual Disciplines within the Church, 48.

Pastors are called to shepherd the people in their specific flock. Those in the flock are called to submit to the leadership of their shepherd-leaders. This relationship only makes sense when pastors know which Christians are members of their flock.

By now I hope you see that formal church membership is indeed a biblical idea.^[4]For more, see Church Membership by Jonathan Leeman. Consider once more:

• Church membership can be observed in the early church throughout the book of Acts.
• Church membership is assumed in the practice of church discipline. You cannot remove someone from the church if they were never inside the church.
• The relationship between pastors and the flock assumes that pastors know who they are supposed to shepherd and members of the flock know which leaders to follow.

(2) Why should you join a church?

When you join a church through formal church membership, what does that mean? For most congregational churches, it simply means that you get a vote at business meetings. But biblically, does it mean more?

Put simply, church membership means that a local church takes responsibility for you and you are take responsibility for others within that local church. The church commits to helping you grow as a disciple of Christ, and you commit to helping others in the church grow as disciples of Christ. We are taking responsibility for one another’s spiritual growth.

When you join a local church, you are responsible to the other believers in that local church in a way that you are not responsible for other believers that you know. We could think of it like the county police. Poinsett County police has jurisdiction in Poinsett County but not in Craighead County. Both are county police departments. Both have the same function. While the Poinsett County Police is concerned about the safety of Craighead County, it’s ultimately responsible for promoting safety in Poinsett County.

Similarly, while we care about Christians in other churches (even in our own town), we are formally responsible only to those Christians in our local church. Even if we see someone living in unrepentant sin (such as adultery), we only have jurisdiction over members of FBC Harrisburg.

Five Reasons to Join a Church

1. When you join a church, pastors watch over your soul. (Heb 13:17; 1 Pet 5:2-3)
2. When you join a church, other believers help you to not be deceived by sin. (Heb 3:12-13)
3. When you join a church, you have other believers to regularly assemble with. (Heb 10:24-25)
4. When you join a church, you can build others up with your spiritual gift(s). (1 Pet 4:10)
5. When you join a church, you commit yourself to “one another” ministry. (For example, see Rom 12:10; 14:19; Gal 5:13; 6:2; Eph 4:15, 25, 32; Col 3:13; Jam 5:13; 1 John 4:18-19.)

So far, we’ve seen the biblical case for church membership and that joining a local church helps us grow in spiritual maturity. In the rest of my post, I want to briefly explain what to look for when joining a church and how to be a faithful church member.

First, what should you look as you seek to join a church?

(3) What to look for in a church^[5]Also see these articles from G3 and 9Marks.

Obviously, what to look for in church could be a sermon or even an entire sermon series. I want to boil it down to three non-negotiables.

First, join a church that submits to the Word of God. By this, I mean the church draws a line where Scripture draws a line. The church will be marked by expositional preaching through books of the Bible. The church knows and preaches the gospel. The church has a clear statement of faith. The church’s music is faithful to the Word of God.

Second, join a that has biblically qualified pastors (elders) who will shepherd you. After attending for a period of time, get to know the pastor(s) and their families. As best you can tell, do they meet the pastoral qualifications found in Titus 1:5-9 and 1 Timothy 3:1-7? Pastor(s) should be approachable and willing to care for you.

Third, join a church that will help you grow in spiritual maturity and equip you for ministry. We are called to grow in spiritual maturity (Col 1:28). We are called to be actively ministering to other believers as well as nonbelievers (Eph 4:12-16; Matt 28:19-20).

I’m begging you, don’t choose a church because your kids like it. Don’t choose a church because the music is hip. Don’t choose a church because you think the pastor is funny. Choose a church that is faithful to Christ and His Word!

I want to finish today by giving you some encouragement to be a faithful church member.

(4) How can you be a faithful church member?

Once again, in Acts 2:41 we saw that after people were converted and baptized that they were added to the church. After they were added to the church, we saw in Acts 2:42-47 that these new believers devoted themselves to one another.

That’s what church membership is in a nutshell. You are committing yourself to Christ and His people. I’m not going to spend a ton of time telling you how to be a faithful church member because I’m going to do that the next several weeks in this sermon series. However, I will quickly go over several ways to be a faithful church member.

First, you must be a follower of Jesus. Church membership means nothing without a personal devotion to Christ. Church membership does not save you. Christ does.

Second, you need to be baptized. Baptism is the first step of obedience for a Christian. For more, listen to my sermon from last week.

Third, be involved. So often, our lives are oriented around the wrong things. Our lives revolve around our work and our leisure time. It’s been said that, “We worship our work, work at our play and play at our worship.” Brothers and sisters, this should not be. In Acts 2:42-47, we see the early believers oriented their lives around Christ and His church.

Acts 2:42-47

42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 43 And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. 44 And all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

We need to recover this. Our lives should give priority to Christ and His people. Jesus said, “I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it” (Matt 16:18). Our big houses, nice cars, academic achievements, and sports trophies won’t mean anything in eternity. C.T. Studd said, “Only one life, twill soon be past. Only what’s done for Christ will last.” Give yourself to the local church!

How do you prioritize the local church?

• Attend regularly.
• Be a student of God’s Word
• Pray fervently for the church and its leaders.
• Give generously to God’s kingdom work.
• Serve faithfully.
• Fellowship joyfully with others in the church.
• Rescue lovingly those who are being deceived by sin.
• Promote unity.
• Disciple younger believers to maturity.

Did you catch the last phrase of Acts 2:47? And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

Perhaps the reason we don’t as see many people saved as we used to is because we’ve given our lives to other things. Our calendar revolves around our work and children’s sports and activities. Friends, if you want the church to grow, commit to the church. Get built up in the faith so you will be equipped to share the gospel.

• When was the last time you attended church Wednesday and Sunday in the same week?
• When was the last time you attended Sunday School?
• When was the last time you hosted other church members in your home?
• When was the last time you prayed for the church?
• Do you regularly support the church through giving?
• When was the last time you lovingly confronted someone in their sin?
• When was the last time you reached out to someone to see how they were doing?

Are you in Christ? If not, repent of your sins and trust in the person and work of Christ.

Have you joined a local church? If not, find a biblical church to join. See the articles I linked below for more help.

Are you prioritizing the local church? For more, see Donald Whitney’s book linked in the footnotes.