Church Membership: Who Needs It?

Talk about church membership and people start to bristle.

Perhaps some have been “burned” by a ministry in the past and fear repeating that scenario. Others cite a lack of perfect agreement with church policy or personnel. Still others are “just looking,” and plan to continue doing so indefinitely. Most simply resist the idea of committing to a long-term relationship with an assembly of believers, preferring the cafeteria-style approach of “take it or leave it.” Choosing a place to worship for many falls into the same category as selecting a wireless phone carrier: avoid long-term contracts and get the best service for the cheapest price.

It doesn’t take long before somebody challenges, “Where in the Bible does it say ‘Thou shalt join a church’?” While no Bible verse explicitly commands church membership, there are several reasons every Christian should want to become a member of a sound, Bible-believing assembly of fellow believers. The question the New Testament leaves us with is “Why wouldn’t you want to join a local church?”

I Love the Church

I regularly thank the Lord for three gifts which are foundational to my Christian walk: the indwelling Spirit, the living Word, and the local church. Thus, I was pleased to read Mark Perry’s feature article on local church membership. Membership is out of vogue, I think, because the church itself is out of vogue. Whether due to a reaction against unbiblical sacerdotalism, parachurch ministries, the potentially unhealthy focus of books on one’s “personal relationship with Jesus Christ,” the anti-authoritarian spirit of this age, or our sin nature which wants commitment from everything and to nothing, the local church is often looked down upon even by professing Christians. Apparently oblivious to centrality of the church in the New Testament and the affection with which New Testament writers (and the Lord himself!) speak of it, many think they can embrace Christ while passing on His body. Not so. First John repeatedly insists that we demonstrate our love for Christ by loving His church (2:10; 3:10–11, 14–19; 4:7–12, 19–21). The testimony of every believer should be “I love the church because I love her Lord!”

July 2009

“Unmuzzleable” Ministry

President Obama is coming under fire for repeatedly saying that America has many Christians in it, but that we are not, or at least not now, a “Christian nation.” Few would say that we are still a Christian nation, many claim we once were a Christian nation, and some question whether we were ever one. While the United States has a system of government that stems largely from Judeo-Christian values, what qualifies America to be a Christian nation?

The Church’s Corporate Self-Identity

The Scripture speaks of the church as a temple in which God dwells. It uses the analogy to communicate several vital truths. Christ is our Builder and Owner (Matt 16:18). He is our Cornerstone, and the apostolic and prophetic revelation about Him is our Foundation (Eph 2:20). We are being built by a team of “sub-contractors,” making competition and schism sinful (1 Cor 3:9-10). God lives in us, corporately (1 Cor 3:16) and individually (1 Cor 6:19), and therefore warns us against “defacing” His temple, either by harming the local church (1 Cor 3:17) or by immorality (1 Cor 6:18, 20).

All of that is wonderful. However, another lesson from the “building” imagery has become increasingly precious to me: The church is a “work in progress.” Ephesians 2:21–22 and 1 Peter 2:5 both indicate that the church is being built. It’s not finished. We haven’t arrived. And construction sites—whether physical or spiritual—are usually messy. Every church could appropriately display a “pardon our dust” sign to announce its spiritual condition.

In light of this, I encourage you to consider what your church’s “Corporate Self-Identity” is. How do you, your church leaders, and your fellow members view your local church? Is it the good church in town? The conservative music church? The uncompromising church? The serious church? The dressy church? The friendly church? The everything-runs-like-clockwork church? The our-children-are-perfect church?

I understand that every church will have a number of words that describe it well. But the most obvious description—the one that pops most readily into every member’s head—should be this: “We’re a congregation of sinners in need of God’s grace. We’re the we’re-a-mess-and-we-need-Jesus church.” Paul’s self-identification as the chief of sinners in 1 Timothy 1:15 should be our corporate calling card, too.

Such a self-perception would turn most churches upside down. It would go a long way in prohibiting the charade church members put on each week in which they pretend that they’re growing, their marriages are healthy, and their children obedient. It would encourage struggling Christians (and that’s all of us!) to get help for relationship problems and besetting sins rather than working to keep up appearances. It would motivate godly transparency. It would increase mutual empathy and spiritual fellowship. It would help the church reach out to the lost, who are either frightened away or turned off by the “we’ve all got it together” air of many churches. It would inspire humility. It would invigorate worship. It would, most importantly, magnify Christ, who came into the world not to gather perfect people to Himself but to save sinners like us (1 Tim 1:15; Luke 5:32; 19:10).

So, what’s your church’s Corporate Self-Identity?

June 2009

Separation from Brethren

Several years ago I spoke to a group of independent churches in a neighboring state on the subject, “The Church Today: Its Affiliations.” I had two main points, explaining the policy of our own church. (1) We will not associate the name of our church with any church, mission, youth movement, or evangelistic movement that does not believe and obey the Word of God. (2) We will not associate the name of our church with any church, mission, youth movement, or evangelistic movement that maintains connections with men or movements that do not believe and obey the Word of God. The first point received head nodding and amens. The second point made an abrupt change in the climate of the meeting.

After the message, the president of a well-known Bible school and a retinue of his followers cornered me. They protested that my message was unscriptural, that it is never right to separate from other believers; after all, we will all be together in Heaven. The final volley was, “We believe in separation, but we do not believe in second degree separation.”

Biblical Advice for Difficult Situations

Not surprisingly, people often turn to the Bible for help when life is difficult. In the face of a bitter divorce, the unexpected death of a loved one, or crushing financial pressure, people look to God’s Word for relief. Peter writes his first epistle to Christians who are suffering terribly—he calls their ordeal a “fiery trial” (4:12). Often times our difficulties are our own doing, but these believers’ only crime was trusting Jesus Christ. Peter’s response is rather unexpected: he offers no sweeping assurances of brighter days ahead, no programs of financial aid for victims of persecution, and no empathetic pity. Rather, he repeatedly points the suffering readers to Jesus Christ and his suffering (1:11, 19; 2:4, 21–24; 3:18; 4:1, 13; 5:1).

As he sums up an extended discussion of Christian suffering, Peter offers this conclusion: “Therefore let those who suffer according to God’s will entrust their souls to a faithful Creator while doing good” (1 Pet 4:19). Here I see three lines of advice for difficult situations.

Your suffering is God’s will.
The fact that suffering is “according to God’s will” fairly jumps off the page. Although his readers were suffering severely and unfairly, Peter assures them that difficulties do not take God by surprise; rather, he has ordained and designed them so that the glory of Jesus Christ will radiate from our lives (cf. 4:13). While we commonly assume that God’s will is for every Christian to be healthy, financially secure, and emotionally carefree, Peter says that his readers’ suffering is God’s will.

Your greatest need in suffering is to trust a sovereign God.
Since God is sovereign, Peter entreats us to place our entire lives in the hands of our faithful Creator. Many otherwise obedient Christians jettison all biblical principles, attitudes, and priorities when difficulty comes, as if God’s sovereignty works in “auto-pilot mode” but must be switched over to “manual control” for tricky situations. The same sovereign God who created the entire universe and maintains all things for his glory is perfectly capable of governing your life in chaotic times (5:10–11). Trust God with your life. Let God be God.

Your responsibility during suffering is to obey God’s Word.
But what are we to do? Surely trusting God does not mean we hide in our bedrooms with the shades drawn and the covers over our heads, does it? It does not. As we trust the sovereign God who has ordained our suffering, we should continue to “do good.” We ought to live holy lives (1:13–16; 2:11–12) that are obedient to authority (2:13–3:6) and marked by love for one another (3:8; 4:8–11).

Difficult times call for biblical measures. Trust God and do good.

April/May 2009

Reconciling Scripture and the Problem of Racism

One of our world’s current “hot topics” is racism. Corporations posture themselves carefully to avoid any allegation of racism. Politicians, media personalities, and sports stars have ruined their careers with racist remarks. Billions of dollars each year are poured into improving race relations. Churches and religious groups are uniting for the all-important task of “racial reconciliation.”

What do we mean when we talk about “racism”? What race of people are we talking about? What does the Scripture have to say about this problem?

“Only In the Lord”

There was a time when many fundamentalist Christians argued against inter-racial marriage on presumably biblical grounds. It was believed that interracial marriage was an attempt to rebel against God’s division of the races at Babel and a foretaste of the sinful uniting of humanity against God that will characterize the rule of the antichrist.

Such arguments against interracial marriage are flawed on a number of levels, particularly because they arise from a mishandling of the Scriptures. They wrongly assume that there is more than one human race (an idea which Mark Perry effectively disproves in this month’s feature article). Further, they wrongly assert that the distinctions made by God in Genesis 11:9 were physical and final, when in fact they were linguistic, geographical, and reversible. No one would argue, for example, that a European whose native language is German is forbidden on the basis of Genesis 11 from marrying one whose native language is English, or whose native land is Australia. The distinctions made at Babel were neither physical nor absolute. Finally, the union of mankind under the antichrist and against God will be sinful, political, economic, and religious, not ethnic (Revelation 13 and 17).

Does Scripture teach that there is a factor which prohibits marriage between men and women with deep-rooted differences? Absolutely. But that factor is spiritual, not physical. When addressing the permissibility of a widow remarrying, Paul provides an inspired answer that must inform our understanding of marriage even today: “she is free to be married to whom she wishes, only in the Lord” (1 Cor 7:39). Paul, a Jew by birth writing to a church filled with Gentiles, placed only one prohibition on the marriage of two single people: both must be Christians. Marrying outside of the Christian faith rebels against a clear command of Scripture and has tragic results—marriages in which Christ is the source of division rather than unity and children who are torn between the irreconcilable values and worldviews of their parents. We must marry “only in the Lord.”

However, just as we would be wrong to omit this God-breathed requirement, we are also wrong to add to it. Given the perfect opportunity to forbid marriage between different ethnicities, Paul did not do so. Nor should we.

Lest it be argued that the Old Testament forbade inter-ethnic marriage, it is clear that even texts such as Exodus 34:16 and Deuteronomy 7:1–5 were concerned with the faith of would-be spouses, not ethnicity. Among other examples, God’s ordaining the marriage of Boaz to Ruth the Moabitess (Ruth 4:10) and including her in the lineage of Christ (Matt 1:5) proves that spiritual rather than ethnic factors must be weighed in the selection of a spouse. Despite her ethnicity, Ruth was an eligible wife for Boaz because she had come to faith in Jehovah (Ruth 1:16).

Of course, our desire is not to be politically correct. We cannot merely capitulate to the opinions of our day. However, fundamentalists of all people should yearn to be biblically correct. The standard for marriage in Boaz’s day and Paul’s day was simply that a potential spouse be “in the Lord.” The same standard is sufficient in our day, as well.

March 2009

The Independent Church and Its Missionary Program

Periodically we reprint articles from past issues that offer helpful insight for us today. Roger Bixler pastored Westerville Bible Church from 1963 to 1996 and now serves with Gospel Fellowship Association as a mission representative.

Someone has made the statement, “The church is missions and missions is the church.” Every local church is, or should be, interested in missions. Rarely does a week pass in which the pastor does not receive some inquiry from a missionary desiring to present his work to the people of that church.

Pride, a Groundless Thing

Let’s be frank: the reason humility is so elusive and pride so natural is that we think we have so much about which to be proud. We roll our eyes at the hickish (and irreverent) crooner who complains that “it’s hard to be humble when you’re perfect in every way.” Yet, his self-estimation is very like our own. The essence of every person’s sin nature is a self-love that strives for the exaltation, freedom, and pleasure we believe we deserve. Of course, such inborn idolatry has no grounding in reality. We have no reason to be proud, as Isaiah 6 vividly demonstrates.

God’s infinite majesty is humbling.
Isaiah 6 begins with a reminder of how finite even the greatest of men are: “In the year that King Uzziah died.” Uzziah had enjoyed a 52-year reign! Yet, he succumbed to death like all others before and after him.

The passage immediately contrasts Uzziah’s death with the eternal and infinite majesty of King Jesus (for we learn in John 12:41 that Isaiah saw Him!). The names used of God in Isaiah 6 highlight His majesty—He is “the Lord” (adonai, v. 1), “Jehovah of Hosts” (the Commander in Chief, if you will, vv. 3, 5), and “the King” (v. 5). Furthermore, His royal train (much like the long train on a bride’s gown) flooded the entire Temple
(v. 1)! God’s majesty and our finiteness should humble us.

God’s infinite holiness is humbling.
King Jesus is served in Isaiah 6 by royal attendants. Seraphim offer Him constant and humble praise. They cry that He is holy—entirely “other,” separated from everything, without rival (v. 3). They demonstrate this point by humbly covering their eyes, lest they look on God, and their feet, lest they offend Him (v. 2). What is so fascinating about their abject humility is this: they are sinless! They are humbled not because they are wicked, but because they are creatures, as are we. God’s holiness and our creatureliness should humble us.

God’s infinite purity is humbling.
Finally, God is contrasted with Isaiah himself. Upon seeing a glimpse of God, Isaiah fell prostrate and confessed the sinfulness of his heart and his people (v. 5). What he did not do was side with God in an “us vs. those sinners” spirit. Though undoubtedly among the godliest men of his day, Isaiah rightly associated himself not with God, but with every other sinner in the world. He was broken by God’s unimaginable purity and his own wickedness. God’s purity and our sinfulness should humble us.

Are we proud? Absolutely, but not because we have any real cause. In the words of Spurgeon, pride is “a groundless thing…a mindless thing…the maddest thing that can exist” (Park Street Pulpit, No. 97). Pride is delusional, and only gazing on our infinitely majestic, holy, and pure God will cure us of it.

February 2009