The main point today for our lesson, The Truth About the Church, Part Four, is that Christ built his church through the members of the congregations throughout the world. Christ built his church through the members of the congregations throughout the world. If you've missed any of the previous lessons that we've looked at, we've talked about the difference and the connection between the nation of Israel as a plan of God and a people of God and the church as a plan and people of God. We've talked about understanding God's worldwide work in the world today, the body of Christ throughout the world. We have also talked about of the local congregations that are also called the church throughout the world. We've talked last week, most recently, about how Christ shepherds the local congregations through the word of God. through the pastors served by the deacons, and then equipping the saints to do the work of the ministry through their church. Today, we're focused now on what Christ is doing through the members of congregations. This is not a focus on the pastors or the deacons in their roles, but on every member. We will discuss in part the matter of church membership as a formal decision, as well as a fact, a reality. And we'll talk about the role that members play in doing the work of the ministry in a church, what God expects of each one of you. This is very important. It's important for a church to always grow and take steps forward in really understanding what is the role of a church member. It is so common, and we are in a church that we need to keep growing in this. But compared to the regular majority church or thing that calls itself a church out in the world, various denominations and so forth, so frequently ministry is considered to be something that the hired staff does, and the deacons do, and everyone else comes, gives money and benefits. And that really is a general expectation, but it's not a biblical expectation. We're going to look at that. Every member has a role and an important role in carrying out the mission of Christ in the world. Let's pray and then we'll get started. Lord, give us a clear understanding of our role in what you're doing in the church today, in the world. especially what you're doing with us here at our Church of Faith Baptist. We thank you for all the other many churches in the world that are accomplishing the same mission. May we be a church that is always growing in our involvement of every member involved in serving you. And may we all share the rewards at the judgment seat of Christ and give you all the glory for what you do. In Jesus name, amen. Christ builds his church through the members of the congregations throughout the world. He shepherds his churches through the pastors and the word of God. Number one, the Bible indicates that a professing baptized Christian should in fact identify with a church congregation. I'll make you aware of Acts 2.42. This is the first moments of the church when God started this work called the church. Of course, he foreshadowed it. And if you want to get the previous lessons on this, just go on to our church website, studygodsword.com or sermon audio, and you can get them because they will give you a lot of background. I'm going to avoid getting back into those previous discussions today for sake of time, but they will be a help. Acts 2 42. says the beginning of the church here is occurring. First sermon was preached. The church began as the spirit came down and united these believers together. In chapter two, verse 41, actually, then they that gladly received his word, that's for salvation, were baptized. And then the same day they were added unto them about 3000 souls. So, A congregation is something that is added to, and what is added to it, individual believers, members, the Bible calls them as well. Letter A here, sub-point, where do we get our practice of church membership from scripturally? Well, first of all, there is an early indication that there needs to be some kind of a personal identification with a local congregation in a practical way, an actual way. We looked at Acts 2.41. Later on in Acts 2.47, we see this concept, praising God, having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church, this particular congregation daily, such as should be saved. Acts 4, verse 4, just a page or two over in your Bible says, as the church continued to grow, how be it many of them which heard the word believed. And the number of the men was about 5,000 that were being added here. And you see this continuing to happen, Acts 5, 14. Believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women. Now, what we do at Faith Baptist Church is membership in the church, a formal commitment to identify with the church. To take that step in a simple way, you fill out an application, a record. Me and the deacons review that record. We evaluate your Christian testimony because not just anyone can affiliate with the church, There needs to be a testimony of having trusted Jesus Christ as Savior. And that is manifested publicly through baptism. And we follow that sequence of doctrinal expectations. Born again, baptized, professing faith, and then that formal commitment of wanting to be identified with this congregation. You say, well, pastor, is there an application form in the Bible that they filled out? That's a great question. I don't know. That's what we do. Let me explain the thinking behind that. There are some cultures in the world in which people who choose to attend a church, put their faith in Christ and are baptized and continue to be regularly involved in the church, the act of regular attendance, the act of regular involvement based upon their profession and their belief, their baptism, that continual participation is in itself from their worldview and from their culture, an act of commitment and identification. It is the way that culture thinks. And here's the complete thought. Just by showing up regularly, just by participating in the events regularly, just by being there on a regular basis, they are by default accepting accountability, responsibility, and so forth. That's not the way our Western world functions. We don't think that way. Here's how we tend to think. We're very individualistic. We naturally like to show up at a thing, benefit from it, come out. come out to church, but if the pastor steps into our life and says, let me encourage you on a certain point, you need to consider this, or you do have an obligation to give to the work of the Lord financially, or so forth. Or in a worst case scenario, you're committing grave sin and you're hurting the body of Christ through this behavior, and we need to ask you to change it, we're gonna have to ask you to stop coming and to leave. There's a lot involved, it wouldn't happen that fast. Here's how we think in our culture. I'm not a member. I just come. You can't tell me those things. You see what I'm saying? While just participating and being present culturally is the way that membership is considered in other cultures. That's not the normal Western way of thinking. We say, I want to come, but I don't want to join. And generally, not always, but a lot of times there is this attitude of, I don't want the accountability. I don't want the responsibility. I'm not ready to serve. I'm not ready to feel those responsibilities and obligations. The same thing now is true in other aspects of life. One thing that is unique a little bit about where we find ourselves in New York City is that we have so many cultures and worldviews gathered together. Some of our worldviews are very much a Western worldview, individualistic and so forth. Some of our worldviews are very communal, very much like I described in the first place. And because of this range, we actually find more of a discussion on this matter. Me, myself, personally growing up in the Midwest, there's zero discussion in the matter of membership in a formal way, signing a paper and the church voting you in. Here in the East, there's more of a discussion about it because we have so many cultural perspectives coming together. The bottom line is this, regardless of how membership, commitment to a group is expressed culturally, it must be done. And that I think is what we stand on biblically. The clearest way to express that Understanding the cultural aspects is to make a formal declaration of commitments. When we study the Book of Acts, for instance, and we see this indication of this commitment, this agreement to participate with a group, we don't see a document being signed and all of these kind of things. And that's just not the way the mindset was. I also will add in this point, I'll add this perspective as well. It really seems from my study of scripture that the act of baptism well could be that declaration, the signing the document, so to speak. It's a very simple approach that by being baptized, you're identifying yourself with a local body, including whatever obligations are included with that. The reason that was possible so immediately at this state in time is because baptism was, again, a cultural norm. It was not exclusively a Christian thing. To participate in a group as a devoted follower, it was expected in the mystery religions, the various religions, the various Jewish groups, Jewish philosophers, other educators, doctors of the law, a lot of times it was the common practice to be baptized in the name of this philosopher or this person. It was the way of saying, I identify with this set of teaching, with this person, with this group. Baptism was the public identification. And that's why you find in the Bible, Christians are admonished to be baptized in the name of the Father, the Son of the Holy Spirit. That's where the allegiance is falling. We don't live then. We need to obey the commands of Jesus. We also need to account for the way people think and make sure that what was happening here is what is happening here. And so we recognize the need to be born again and recognize the need to be baptized. But today, what is baptism in the Western worldview? It is not a cultural thing. It is a religious thing. And even among churches, there are so many divergent views as to what baptism is and means and its significance doctrinally. It has to be taught carefully and clearly. It only had to be commanded in the early New Testament because it was totally understood. We have to command and teach. This is not going to save you. This is what Jesus taught. It's an illustration theologically of the death and the resurrection of Jesus. Careful teaching needs to occur. That's why a faith, I am not gonna encourage or support here the way that we do things. People getting saved and baptized all in the same day, the same hour. It could have happened here. It was totally understood. It can't happen here today because it's not clearly understood. We at Faith Baptist Church endeavor to make baptism something that happens as soon as possible, voluntarily, not coerced, as soon as possible after profession of faith, with the condition that it's clearly understood. It could take a couple of weeks to teach how important it is and what the Bible teaches about it. It could take several years for, especially a young child, to voluntarily want to do it. And we have to be patient with that. but we have to clearly teach what it means and encourage it to be done as soon as possible, voluntarily. Does that make sense? So I am not wanting to, what I'm not arguing for is just follow culture as your guide. What I'm arguing is we have to be biblical. We have to recognize how culture affects or damages our ability to be biblical. And so we have to slow down to teach what is biblical. 2,000 years have happened since the New Testament church started. A lot of heresy has crept in. A lot of errors and divisions have occurred. We have to account for that and remain biblical in what we teach and in our practice. And so some basic teaching through a Bible lesson, a guided study on the word of God's teachings regarding baptism, its importance, its meaning, its implications. What it is not must be made clear. church membership, it would be nice if it could automatically put a person into a church. Some churches practice that. What you're going to find me practicing as pastor and leading us in is baptism and salvation are required to be formally joined to the church. I will generally, unless all of this happens before baptism and it's already done, account after baptism for a week or two of more systematic teaching regarding what does it mean to be a member of a church? Do you know what you're committing to? Do you understand you're committing to be accountable? Do you understand you're committing to be responsible? Do you understand you're committing to be involved? If we don't take the time to teach that, What happens is a person is baptized, they're joined to the church procedurally, but they don't realize what just happened. And then we come to them and say, you really, you know, you need to serve. No one told me that. They didn't sign on to that. When did that happen? When you got baptized. Oh, I didn't realize that. You see what I'm saying? I want to make sure that what that is is clearly understood doctrinally. And so I give pause for that in the discipleship teaching process. I do think it's important not to delay it, but to be deliberate, to teach the right doctrine regarding it. Does that make sense? You say, pastor, could you not teach all of that before baptism? I could, but here's what you're saying then. It's not wrong. It's kind of a preference thing. A person can't get baptized until they understand all of those things. I prefer to let baptism happen as soon as possible. As soon as baptism is understood theologically, it happens. Then give the pause the space for teaching on what church commitment is, the act of identifying with a group, which at this stage in time happened at baptism because it was understood that way. I don't want anyone to be surprised. And so, for instance, we had a brother baptized here recently. There was no reason to wait. He wanted to declare his faith in Jesus Christ. We carefully walked through what that meant scripturally. He's been saved for many years, just hadn't done that. And now we're walking through what it means to be a member. What is the importance and significance of that? And then very soon he'll step forward. He's preparing to do that and will recognize his testimony in Christ and his commitment to be a part of the group. And we know he knows what that means. I trust that that thinking helps you to understand the process and the cultural aspects that do affect how that plays out. We must remain doctrinally clear all along the way and not just do things because we're supposed to do them. We have to do them with understanding. And so much time and so many cultural changes have brought us to a place where more understanding is required. We have to provide it. We also have to make sure we don't just push off, push off, and push off things. We need to obey as soon as they're understood, and as soon as it's clear. And so, salvation, the next step after salvation and discipleship is teach to be baptized. Don't wait forever, whether it's a child or not. You teach, and then you wait for the voluntary commitment. You encourage if it continues to protract, and you wait for the voluntary decision. When that happens, You let them know that, really, you need to be committed to this church. Baptism is a mark of recognizing that. Do you understand what that means? Are you ready to do that? And you don't drag that on any longer than needs to be, but you make sure that the doctrinal commitment is understood biblically. There is a legal aspect that's just very basic, and that is, in the social and legal aspects of things, there's no way to demonstrate commitments to a group outside of the church when it becomes necessary if there's not a formal acknowledgement by the group of recognizing that person and a formal commitment of that person doing it formally and a record of that. And again, that's because of the way that our Western world thinks. We have to recognize that and say, look, whatever being a part of the group is, that's all I want to do. I want to be a part of the church. I'm going to make that commitment clear, however that happens, and we're going to move on. We're going to be accountable. We're going to be responsible. We're going to be involved. That's kind of the perspective there. Letter B, it is an implied necessity being a part of the group formally. 1 Peter 5, 2 is a command to feed the flock of God which is among you. How do you define that flock? Who am I responsible to care for? Anyone who comes? How frequently? One time, once a year for Christmas and Easter, every Sunday. It has to be defined, it has to be clear what the flock is. A shepherd doesn't just go around and shepherd whatever sheep kind of walks through his pasture. There has to be a clarification there. And the formal act of membership provides that clarification, those who've committed to the group. And that's, again, it's an implied necessity. And there are other examples given here for various reasons, and for time, I'm not going to get into all of them. Let me just mention a note regarding children. Children can get saved as soon as it's clear to them what the gospel is, and as soon as they demonstrate a voluntary, strong desire to be saved. That can happen, and I always defer to parents to help guide in that process if they're at all available and themselves know the Lord. It's very important. I believe a child can be baptized. If a child can be saved, a child can be baptized. So long as they understand what it means doctrinally and voluntarily agree to that and the parent's consent. There's no reason to hold that back either. That is important to understand. The Western worldview does not recognize in any way a minor's voting capacity, affiliation with a religious organization, or anything. until they're 18 and older. We have to recognize that. And that's why a child who's saved and baptized in our church, we will use them in ministry. We'll give them ministry opportunities through evangelism. We'll give them ministry opportunities in music, in choir, frontline, serving as they get older and helping in so many ways, visiting widows. I mean, the list is long. That's not a problem at all. We're gonna be biblical about that. We don't let children vote in a business meeting because it's a meaningless exercise. It can't be counted. Does that make sense? Because they're a minor and those kind of formal acts must be with parental consent and there's no way to account for that. Which is why you're gonna find me as pastor encouraging a child who's grown up in our church and come through who's been saved and baptized and involved As soon as you become a non-minor, 18 years old, there's no reason to wait around. You should know what church membership is because of the teaching that you've heard, and it should be the next natural step, and it shouldn't take very long. And that decision should be made very quickly. There should be no going back and getting baptized again. These things are not necessary. Does that make sense? And so, and that's important to understand as well. Point number two, The Bible emphasizes the importance of church members doing the work of the ministry. Ephesians chapter four and verse 12. Ephesians four and verse 12 teaches that the previous verses, the spiritual leadership gifts are given. and they are given for the perfecting of the saints, the maturing of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. It is my job in part as a pastor to teach and to train, to lead, to guide, to care, to tend your spiritual lives as a partner so that you are more capable of doing ministry. It is not my job to do all the ministry here. It's my job to enable all of you to help get all the ministry done. By the way, if every member would get involved in ministry, it would be less of a big load for the few that do. And that's an important point to consider. You say, I'm too busy. Well, what are you going to do? Leave it all for the people who are just a little bit busy to do it all? If we spread it out more, The Lord will orchestrate this, and it will come together. And we all need to find our place of service, and I'll try to be helpful in providing opportunities that you can participate in. What a joy yesterday in frontline training to see some of our members leading the training, see their gifts at work, see their heart, their burden, their God-given hearts at work. And then to see the feedback of members. We had between 20 and 30 adults in our church presence. men and ladies, quite a few men, husbands, others involved. I just enjoyed watching it. I couldn't talk to my wife enough about it yesterday afterwards. I was so moved. Because to me, it just said the saints are doing the work of the ministry. And I look forward to the judgment seat someday when I get to stand back and see the rewards of ministry given out to the saints of this church. So sitting in a pew is only a start. It's not the work of the ministry. It's just you sitting there letting me equip you so you can do the service. That's the Bible understanding. Letter A, God equips. evangelists and pastors, he gives them to the church to help do that. When I bring in an evangelist, by the way, to preach in the evangelistic way to us, an evangelist focuses on the gospel, whether for salvation or just clarifying gospel truth, Christian living truth pertaining to the gospel, and getting us equipped to do the work of the gospel. It's an equipping gift. When I bring an evangelist in to preach, He's being brought in by the Lord to equip you in a way that I am unable to do through his gifting, his preaching ability, and so forth. His perspective of many different churches and what's happening outside of us. It's so helpful. So when a man like that comes in, it's very much a part of the equipping that needs to take place. We'll have an evangelist after the teen retreat end of September. He's going to stay over and preach to us Sunday morning. John Beasley is an evangelist. He's a great guy, a special person. And that's important. Don't miss that if you can't. Next year, middle of the year, I think May or June, we're going to have a whole week of evening services, evangelist services, where an evangelist will be preaching to us. That's an important stage in equipping us for ministry. And that's why those things take place. Letter B, these leadership gifts equip you You are to be focused on the Great Commission, Matthew 28, 18 through 20. This is not a spiritual gift. This is a spiritual responsibility regardless of your spiritual gifts. This is an every member responsibility. You are to be evangelizing regularly. It should be a part of your life, talking to people about Jesus. about the gospel. And part of my job is to encourage and to train and to motivate you to do that because it's something you're supposed to be doing. If I never talk about it and teach about it, the natural course is you probably won't do much of it. But if I emphasize it and teach it and promote it and equip you and give ways to encourage you to do it and materials, I'm assuming you're doing it, I'm making it possible. I'm training the team to do the work. Evangelizing regularly. Baptizing new believers. It's not a normal Baptist church practice, at least in America, but I am really seriously considering the idea of myself being present as pastor and being there, you know, officially. But I really like the idea. of men in particular, because I think we can see this in scripture. I don't see ladies baptizing ladies anywhere in the Bible, so I'm not going to be doing that here. But if you're a man, and you have been the key person involved in seeing a person saved and discipled, and you're committed to that, and you have a clean testimony of ministry yourself, you don't just kind of show up periodically. You have a regular testimony of the Lord in ministry. I am really seriously considering being the person who stands in the baptistry back there, says a few words, and lets you baptize that person. It's not something I've seen done a lot. I do know it's done. And I think it has real potential biblically. So that's something, and it's not something you would have to do. I would be very glad to do it. But if it's something that you have a heart to do, I think biblically, it would be a meaningful thing. because it is this church, it's the members of this church, men in particular, who need to guide the process of seeing souls saved and baptized and so forth. Number three, teaching increased obedience. Hebrews 5.12 says, you all should be teachers. Whether you have the gift of teaching or not, whether you're really, really good at teaching spiritually or not, all should be teachers. We should teach the gospel and baptism according to the Great Commission, and we should all be able to teach others how to obey the things that Jesus commands. So I really hope that in the style of preaching that I present, the content biblically of the preaching that I present, I don't just teach you what to think, I teach you how to think. I teach you how to approach the scriptures, how to study the scriptures. Sometimes I'll throw in little study tips or a thought process that may seem redundant, but just to show you how I arrived at a conclusion from the words of scripture. There'll be training events at times, institute classes and so forth to provide more skills to us so that all of us are more skilled at teaching all kinds of things from the Bible. That's one of my purposes as a pastor. That's why you hired me, whether you knew it or not. To train you to teach whatever the Bible teaches. And to make sure, through spiritual encouragement, that you have a testimony that backs that up. It is important. It's a fun job that I have. And I love seeing more of the saints get involved in Mormon ministry. It's a very special thing. Letter C. And this great commission ministry is also enriched, it's enhanced by the particular ministry gifts provided by the Holy Spirit. In addition to the general responsibilities all of us have, we find the need to work together because God doesn't give all of us all the abilities that are needed for maximum production, maximum fruitfulness and so forth. The Holy Spirit, has all the qualities needed for ministry. And he spreads some of those qualities out among the members of a church so that we benefit from each other. I will do more teaching about this in the future as God allows. I've been asked to do that, and I have a burden to do that, and as the Lord opens the opportunity, I will be taking steps towards that. 1 Corinthians 12, Romans 12, 1 Peter 4 gives some teaching on the spiritual gifts that God gives to us that enhances our corporate ministry together. Some are gifted with merciful ways. Some are gifted with exhorting ways, confrontational ways, perhaps. Some are gifted with administrative ways. Some are gifted with giving ways. Some are gifted with serving ways. That doesn't mean you just administrate, or you just serve, or you just show mercy. It means you come together, you all do the teaching work of the Great Commission together, and in doing that, you find the different enablings that God gives. Enhance that together. Some people need to hear the teaching of the Word of God. from a merciful perspective. Some people need to hear it from a strong, exhorting perspective. Some people need to hear it from a person with a heart who gives. Some people need, I mean, face it, the church needs administrators, right? I won't give any names, but yesterday it was fun watching the frontline training time. I learned a little bit more about who are probably people with administration gifts. Thank you for your humility and your corporate working together, as well, because it's easy for an administrator to take charge and think everyone else's ways are wrong. But the little insights that were shared about how to improve a process, how to shore up a record keeping, that's the gift of administration, by the way. And it comes out. If I try to do all that myself, it will never get done right. If I let some of you get your hands on it, It gets done right. And that's my job. But if you don't get involved, if you just sit around and look for administrative things to do, no, no, no, you get involved in the Great Commission and the need for your administration will pop up. Does that make sense? That's how it works. The Great Commission that we're all responsible to do We'll come up then. Here's what happens. We get carnal when we all get involved. We come to church and we wait for the pastor to recognize our spiritual gift and wait for us to get some position that lines up with our spiritual gift and we don't get the position. That's pride. That's accentuating something about yourself, waiting to be recognized. The biblical model is all get involved in the Great Commission and the spiritual gifts will enhance what's happening. Yesterday was a perfect example of that. It's beautiful. It's more beautiful than any orchestra or symphony you will ever hear. It's a wonderful thing.