Father, we thank you for this morning. We are thankful that you caused the sun to rise on the evil and the good, the just and the unjust. You make your rain to fall on those who love you and those who hate you, Lord. And we marvel at your common grace, your goodness, even towards those who oppose you. We thank you for the gift of family and friends, and we thank you for the gift of our church family, Lord, brothers and sisters, with whom we can walk with and encourage and bear each other's burdens. Father, we pray that we would more and more resemble what you call us to be as your church, a people set apart for your own possession, people that love one another, even as you have loved us, a people that demonstrate that Jesus has been sent by the Father, confirm the truth of Jesus' claims by our love for one another and our unity in the gospel. Father, we pray that we would not just consider truths this morning of what you call us to be, but that you would implant them in our hearts and that you would sanctify us, convict us, and change us so that we walk in a way that's pleasing to you. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Okay, so let's start with this question. Do you come to church to give or to get? Both, okay. So we'll just go to the next question, because I think that's a good answer. So what are some things that you come to church to, we'll start with to get. I thought I was going to be, I forgot I wasn't going to be able to write on my laptop here. So we won't, we'll just populate the answers in our, in our minds and pretend that they're on the screen. But what are some things that you come to church to get? to receive. Faithful preaching of the Word. Good, the preaching of the Word, get nourished by the Word. What else? Lord's Supper. Lord's Supper, the ordinances. What else? Get fellowship and encouragement from other believers. Good, fellowship and encouragement from other believers. Yeah, conviction by multiple means, that's something that we need. Accountability, yeah. So these are all the things, spiritual nourishment, teaching, encouragement, accountability, and fellowship are the things that immediately came to my mind. What about the things that we come to church to give? Money. Praise. You're going to give encouragement as well and accountability to a stranger. Yeah, so all those things, all the one and others, we benefit by them as we participate in the life of the Church, but then we're also called to engage in them proactively. So that would include all those fellowship, encouragement, anything else? Just our presence? Acts of service? What would be the problem with emphasizing—so both of these are realities, and they're both true and they're both biblical—what would be the problem of only emphasizing what you come to give as a member of the Church, and neglecting the fact that you do come to receive as well? Burnout. Burnout? What else? You lack humility then. If you're always giving, you kind of could get a prideful attitude. Yeah. They can't do it without me kind of thing. Yeah, and so I think it can definitely cultivate a sense of spiritual pride that is both horizontal in the sense that the church can't function without me. All these people need me, but then that can also happen vertically, where you are relating to God in such a way that, I come to church because God needs me, and God needs me to do something for Him. What are some scriptures that would, does anything come to mind when you think of that? I can't really recite the ability or like I can only get like an idea of it But it's something about like you shall not hold the docks or what it's refreshing. They like that in that scripture Not only from Jesus but also by Paul is described as like this is for you to receive blessings and gifts after working Okay, and blessing the church as well. Mm-hmm Yeah, I only can put up what I initially predetermined here. But good, any other scriptures that come to mind? God's not served by human hands? I would say, so you don't serve God then? Is he not served by human hands, period, or is he not served by human hands in a certain way? He's not served by human hands as though he needed anything. Yeah, I mean, so we are called to serve God. Paul is a servant of God. We're all called to be servants of God. And yet, we do not serve God in such a way that He is dependent upon us, as though He needed us to do His bidding, to perform His works. God is more than able to do everything that He purposes to accomplish, and yet, in His wisdom and in His providence, He still wills that we would serve Him voluntarily, lovingly, and joyfully. And it's His will to use means to accomplish the ends that He ordains. And so part of those means are our willing hands and our service. And yet we do it recognizing that God is not served by us as though He needed us. We do not come to church, and I hope you do serve in the church, and yet you ought not serve in such a way that you think God needs you, that God is dependent upon you. And so if you only come, if you're only thinking in terms of, I need to I need to give. The church needs me. God needs me. I just saw a church sign that says, Jesus needs you. No, he doesn't. He doesn't need you. And yet he is served by human hands in such a way that doesn't compromise his sovereignty, his ability to do all things according to his purpose. Okay. Any other scriptures? Anything else? What about something that speaks to, and there's a lot of verses here, so I just have one, but something that speaks to the fact that you do come to receive. Man, you guys are nailing it. There's so many verses that you could have chosen from. Good job, Jerilyn. So, the first one kind of emphasizes the fact that I don't come merely to give things, negatively. And then Matthew 11 emphasizes the fact that I positively do come to receive things. Jesus says, come to me all who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me for I am gentle and lowly in heart and you will find rest for your souls for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. So we glorify God when we come to Him as weak, needy people, and we look to Him and trust Him to do the things that we can't do for ourselves. We glorify God when we come to Christ and we find rest in Him. When Jesus comes, and says, I will give you something. And the way that we glorify God is by saying, yes, Lord, I am needy. I come with empty hands and I come to receive the rest that you alone can give. And so, you know, God is magnified and made much of when we say in our hearts and in our disposition and in our actions that God is the one who can give us lasting joy, not my hobbies. God is the one who gives me peace and contentment and security, not my money and career. He is the one who gives those things. And so we don't glorify God in this sense if we're coming with a mentality that I'm just here to give, I'm just here to serve. Well, actually you are here to receive, you are here to some sense be served. This is one of the most crazy almost shocking things that Jesus says to Peter, right? Peter said, whoa, you know, you shall not wash my feet. No way. And Jesus says, Peter, unless I wash your feet, you have no part with me. And the principle underneath that, unless you're willing to be served by me, your Lord, then you can have no part with me, because that is what Jesus does. He comes not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many. And so if we're not willing to be served by God, And these are crazy, the language is crazy, to be served by God, what God serves his people. And yet our God is a God who willingly, lovingly, and joyfully serves his people. And the primary way that he does that is by laying down his life as a ransom. And so this is confronting on the other side of the spectrum, where if you're not willing to be served by God, if you're too proud, if you're too arrogant, and God needs you, then you have no part with Jesus. And so, there is this fundamental sense in which we come to church to receive. But, let's think about the other side of the equation. What would be the pitfall of only thinking in categories, I'm coming to receive, or I'm coming to get, and neglecting the reality that you come to give? What's just a general problem, potential problems with that? You can get critical. Yeah. You can definitely become critical of what is going on. spectator Christianity. Yeah you're there to observe and watch what is happening. Anything else? Yeah, I mean, and just fundamentally, if this is the only thing that you're thinking about, the only lens through which you're perceiving, then everything is about you, and it is very easy to become critical. I don't like the music, you know, the teaching doesn't fill me as I want to be, the people aren't welcoming enough, they're not warm enough, they're not relational enough, and if you nurse that kind of attitude, you will become nothing more than a consumer, and the church becomes nothing more than a service provider and if you don't like the service and not meaning the the corporate worship but the product they're nothing but a they offer a spiritual product and you are the consumer and if you don't like that product then you just go and find another church that offers a better product that you like and unfortunately well actually let me hold off on that statement Oh yeah, so verses, I forgot to ask you guys. So one verse would be Hebrews 12, 28 to 29, where again, what are we engaging in church life to do? The author of Hebrews says, Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire. So yes, you come first as a recipient of God's grace. And as a result of receiving that grace, since we have received a kingdom that cannot be shaken, it should instill in our hearts a deep sense of gratitude. And out of that gratitude we thus offer to God acceptable worship with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire. And so in this sense, we don't come to church with a snooty self-centered attitude preoccupied on getting something. Well, what is the preacher going to offer me? What is the music going to offer? What is the services? What are they going to do for me? We are there to offer something. We come to offer to God acceptable worship with reverence and awe. So you can say, that is why we come to church. We come to offer to God worship. And there's a right sense in which we say, well, who cares if whether or not the music is according to your preferences? Who cares if the people are difficult? Who cares if the preacher doesn't speak in the particular kind of cadence in the way that you like? It's not about you. It's about you offering to God worship that's acceptable and pleasing in His sight. It's about Him. Another thought would be, let's think, I'll send it back to you guys, anything else that you would, any scriptures that would come to mind that think, well, no, we shouldn't just think about coming to get. We should be thinking about what we come to give. What would be another general truth that you might, or scripture that comes to mind? Spiritual giftings. Yeah, spiritual giftings. We're going to talk about that later. That's good. Basically, you are a member of the body and you have a function to perform. We're going to talk about that at length later on. Anything else? Therefore I exhort you, brothers, by the wishes of God, to present your bodies as a sacrifice, living, holy, and pleasing to God, which is your spiritual service. Yeah, so that's very much parallel to Hebrews 12, that in Romans 12 we are to present ourselves, we come to present something to God, namely ourselves as living sacrifices, which is pleasing and acceptable in His sight. That's a good parallel verse. Another just broad theme would be the fact that we are servants. We are. Christians universally, Paul identifies, all the apostles identify as a servant of Christ Jesus. And Jesus says, so also you, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, we are unworthy servants. We have only done what was our duty. And so if we're thinking one of the paradigms that God gives us for the Christian life is that of being a servant. And so the servant doesn't go to his master and say, you know, this task isn't really what I felt like doing today. It doesn't really, it's not really my thing. So maybe you should assign to me a different task. That's not the place or the position of the slave to do. They hear, they receive a command, instruction, and they fulfill the duty that is required of them. The servant exists to do the will of the master. And so, while God is not served by human hands as though He needed anything, He is served by human hands. And we are, in a right sense, it's not the only paradigm, but there is one paradigm in that we are servants and we are made to serve Him. So out of these two potential pitfalls, you know, only thinking about coming to church to give or only coming to church to receive, which one do you think is the more common pitfall in American Christianity? Receive. Yeah, I would say, I would say far and away, it is the second one that I am coming as a consumer. I'm coming to receive something from the church. And if I don't like the product, well, then I'll take my consumption. I'll take my dollars. I'll take my presence to another church, really another business thinking in that paradigm that offers a better product. And so the sad part is that I say that's not just an attitude that has unfortunately developed because of the West and capitalism and different things that conspired together to push this influence on the church. It's actually something that has been intentionally cultivated and nurtured by evangelical churches in America throughout the last 60 to 70 years. So, without getting too deep into the history, it is good to have a little bit of framework. Because in the 1960s, there was a guy, so in the 1960s, started late 50s, there was a guy named Donald McGavern, and he really started writing and kicked off the church growth movement. He emphasized the need for numerical growth, as a sign of church health. He emphasized the importance of using sociology and cultural research to aid in evangelism and reaching people. And he also argued this idea of homogenous units, so that churches, he argued, should be composed of people that are of the same social status, the same class, the same economic, racial, not because he was, I'm sure, in principle, you know, a segregationist or anything like that, but because he believed that you should remove any and all barriers that would hinder somebody from attending church. And so all those things, whether it's economic background, kind of class or ethnic background, all those things can provide barriers that make people uncomfortable, that make it difficult to relate to the people in the church. So he argued we should aim for as homogenous of a unit as you can, and that will facilitate people feeling welcome and comfortable in church. You'll remove as many barriers as possible by making the church, the unit, as homogenous as possible. And there's a sense in which that's true. People will feel more comfortable and there will be less barriers for them to overcome. At the same time you have Robert Shuler, he's in Southern California pioneering really the seeker-sensitive movement before it was a seeker-sensitive movement. And then you got guys like Bill Hybels and Rick Warren who in the 80s and 90s really take some of the church growth principles and take some of the things that Robert Shuler is doing and make it more methodological and get a more full-orbed strategy for a seeker-sensitive church. So when I say seeker-sensitive, What does that mean? What do you guys think of when I say seeker-sensitive? Carly? Everything revolves around what they're trying to bring in. Yeah, good. That's a good definition. Anything else that you guys would add or house might you explain seeker-sensitive to somebody that's, you know, a brand new Christian and trying to find a church? Maybe trying to make some things more palatable? Yeah, so that's definitely a kind of a byproduct oftentimes. So a seeker-sensitive church, by definition, is a church that is trying to be sensitive to the needs and the desires of the seeker. And the seeker is the person who's not a Christian, they're interested, they're not committed, but they're, you know, looking around. And so the seeker-sensitive church wants to remove all those barriers, any obstacle, anything that would hinder the seeker from feeling comfortable, welcome, at ease in their church. And one of the basic ways to do that is that they would send out a survey to their community and say, well, what are the things that you most dislike about churches? What are the things that you would want in a church? And so if they say, well, the sermons are long and boring. Well, then you correct that by making the sermon short and simple and engaging. If they say, one of the things that I don't like is how formal it is. Well, then you make sure that your church service is very casual and, you know, low church. It's not liturgical, but you cater to the needs, the desires, the wants of your community and give them something that they want. If they say church. you know, kids programs are really important to me, well then you make sure that you have a very developed, efficient, you know, good kids program. And so that's really like, that's a fundamental aspect of a more robust secret sensitive church would do that. They would actually survey the community and get results. A less robust church would maybe just assume what they think what the community wants and try to reflect that in their services. What's the problem with asking the community what they want from a church? We're not Christian. But you're trying to reach them, right? Yeah, but the Church is for the Christian, primarily, right? I mean, it's for those of us that are wanting to grow in fellowship and whatnot. those that are not a part of the Church what they want and something that they know nothing about seems like an odd question. Yeah. So Janelle, if you couldn't hear, Janelle said fundamentally that the Church is for believers, so it seems like a weird thing to ask unbelievers and let them basically dictate what the agenda and the priorities of the church are. Which I would agree, that's the fundamental problem is that you are now basically handing over the agenda, you're handing over the priorities of the church to people who are not even regenerate, they're not even let alone members of the church or anything. You're letting the unbelieving community whose minds are hostile to God and they're estranged from God, tell you what the priorities of the church should be. What would be a better way to determine the priorities of the church? Yes, we should not be asking unbelievers what the Church should be about, but we should be asking God what the Church should be about. And the place where God has spoken to us and informed us what the Church should be about is in the New Testament. Primarily, all of Scripture, but it's more focused and more concentrated in the New Testament. That's what should guide and determine what the Church does. Nevertheless, but perhaps unsurprisingly, many of these churches explode. They become very large very quickly, and lots of pastors employ the same principles. Mega churches, I don't have the numbers, but if you just look at mega churches from the 70s by mega churches in the year 2000, it's just been exponential growth. They've exploded. Many of them, because they're employing these principles that have been laid out, and there's a method that they can employ, and it's working. And so for them, if one of your principles is that objective growth is a sign of health, then the fact that they're growing means inherently that they're healthy. It immediately stamps the approval that this has God's blessing because we're growing, because we have more people attending. Therefore, God is at work. God is blessing this. And so, all of that is still very, very much present in the American Christian landscape. It's present in the leadership, and it's present in the attitude of people, like nominal Christians, that the leadership has intentionally cultivated and fostered that attitude. That's what I find so sad, is that it's not just us battling with the unbelieving secular culture that influences us to be more consumeristic and more self-centered, but it's something that the evangelical leaders have intentionally cultivated and fostered by really playing to the carnal fleshly desires of people. You know, Christians have been taught by their leaders to intentionally think that participation should be easy, comfortable, and entertaining. And if a church doesn't earn my attention, then I'm going to take my attention and my, really, my spectatorship to a church that does. And it teaches people implicitly, whether or not they say it explicitly, it teaches people implicitly to think, I'm fundamentally a consumer, and whatever church offers the best product is the one I will go to. Perhaps I don't need to ask this question, but what's wrong with that attitude? If you were to try to articulate to somebody why that, in confronting somebody, why that is not okay, how would you explain that to them? Yeah, it focuses only on yourself. What else? They turn away from listening to the truth and wander off in the midst. There's no biblical substance to it, so it's extremely dangerous. They're not going to actually learn true biblical worship and what it is. Yeah, we're warned in the New Testament that people will have itching ears and they will accumulate to themselves teachers who tell them what they want to hear, essentially. And not always, so you have a spectrum. I'm not saying that there's churches that would employ these methods and yet they're still going to preach the gospel. But Yeah, there's going to be corruption, and there's going to be poor discipleship, and there's going to be side effects. I'm not saying that every single church that uses church growth strategies or is seeker-sensitive is heretical, but that doesn't mean they're healthy or that they're cultivating true discipleship in their members. Okay, so let me just highlight a couple. We'll go to the text now and think about, okay, why, what's wrong with there's lots of different ways that problems you would highlight with having a consumer attitude and a consumeristic approach. But one of them is that God intends for your participation in the life of the church to more resemble a covenantal commitment than it does a consumer consumption. And so one of the the paradigms that to show that from Scripture would be the regular use of body language. And this is what Josh mentioned earlier. And I just, I was trying to break this up into like, oh, I'll just get a couple of verses that really highlight it. But I ended up having to just take a lot of 1 Corinthians 12, because it's helpful in just parsing out this picture. So I'm just going to read at length here from 1 Corinthians 12 verses 4 to 20. Paul says, all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another, utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit. To another, faith by the same Spirit. To another, gifts of healing by one Spirit. To another, working of miracles. To another, prophecy. To another, ability to distinguish between spirits. to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues, all these are empowered by one and the same Spirit who apportions to each one individually as He wills. So, without getting into the issue of cessationism, we see here in verse 5 that the same God empowers to all, in everyone, to each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. So, verse 11, all these are empowered by one and the same Spirit who portions to each one, individuals, as he wills. So, The reoccurring theme here that Paul is emphasizing is that every single Christian has been empowered and indwelt by the Spirit and is gifted in certain ways to fulfill a certain function within the body. They are to serve the body for the common good. This is not fundamentally about you receiving certainly not exclusively, but this is at least part of your participation in the life of the church is that you have been indwelt by the Spirit so that you can serve the body for the common good. And he goes on, just as the body is one and has many members, And all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one spirit we are all baptized into one body, Jews or Greeks, slave or free, and all were made to drink of one spirit. For the body does not consist of one member, but of many. If the foot should say, because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body, that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body, that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? So the Spirit gives each member of the body uniquely a gift to serve the good of others. Neither the individual member nor the body has the right to treat other members as dispensable. There is a unique indispensableness that God confers to every single member of the body. Whether we initially realize that or feel like it, there is a sense that when each part is working properly, there is an indispensability that God places upon each and every Christian to the body. But as it is, God has arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of you, nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together. If one member is honored, all rejoice together. So, notice that there's not only the functionality, but there is the emotional union, and there's an emotional and spiritual care that they have for one another that God designs and intends, such that there's such an intimate sense of union between the members, such that the suffering of one, God intends to be felt by all. The honor or rejoicing of one, God intends to be felt by the whole body. And that just can't happen if your fundamental approach is, I'm here to listen. All right, I'm here to get my fill. All right, I got it, I'm going. If you do not realize that you are there to participate in the life of the body and that the joys and sorrows of another are intended to be in part your joys and sorrows, if you think I'm just a consumer who's here to receive a product, then that will never happen, clearly. But this is what God intends to happen in the body. And so none of that is going to happen without commitment, without time and without effort. None of those things are just going to happen without the requisite effort, intentionality, and time. So, Ephesians 4 also employs very similar language, but we see different truths highlighted. Paul says, "...and he gave," speaking about Christ, "...he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds, and teachers to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness and deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way in Him who is the Head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, being joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. So, we see early on here that Christ appoints leaders and he gives gifts to the church. Why? What do leaders, what are they supposed to do? Lead. Equip the saints for the work of ministry. Yeah, particularly here, Paul highlights that God gives the church leaders to equip the saints for the work of ministry and to build up the body of Christ. And so, contra a kind of consumeristic, seeker-sensitive approach, pastors and leaders are not called to put on an entertaining service that unbelievers like to consume, like to watch. They're called to equip, called to encourage Christians for service, not for consumption. And this is kind of what Janelle said, that Church is for believers. Church is the congregation of believers. It's an assembly of people who are following Christ in community with one another. So, it doesn't even make sense if you think about a church being for unbelievers. Like, the assembly is for unbelievers. No, the church is the body of believers. And the ultimate aim is in verse 16 that each part would be working properly so that it builds itself up in love. So again, every Christian is a part of the body and has a function to fulfill. So, this one line of argument, contra a consumer attitude and approach, is that You are a member of the body. The church is the body of Christ, and insofar as you are a member of it, you have a role to play, a function to fulfill, not merely to come and consume a spiritual product, a spiritual service. Another line of argument that we've already kind of mentioned is that to follow Christ means to serve others, not ourselves. So just coming back to this servant theme, you know, Jesus said, I came not to be served, but to serve and to give my life as a ransom for many. Romans 15, I think this is a passage of scripture that is very overlooked. I feel like it should be referenced and preached on far more than it is. For some reason, we just we just never really make it pass. Romans, well now Romans 13 after COVID, but we just never get to these later chapters of Romans. But this is so compelling and so radical. But Paul says, we who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good to build him up. For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, the reproaches of those who reproach you fell on me. For whatever was written in our former days was written for our instruction that through endurance and through the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope. May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another in accord with Christ Jesus that together you may with one voice glorify the God the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you for the glory of God." So, you know what people aren't thinking about when they're thinking about the music not being good enough, or the preaching not being good enough, or interesting enough, or the people not being welcoming enough or warm enough? They're not asking the question, how can I please my neighbor? How can I build others up? How can I serve those people? If you really are as strong as you think you are, and mature as you think you are, then you, of all people, have the greatest obligation to bear with the failings of those who are weak. To bear with the failings of those who, maybe legitimately, they're not warm enough. They're not welcoming enough. And if you are mature, as people often think they are, then the obligation falls upon you to go out of your way to serve them and to go beyond the call of what justice requires of you to love them and to lay down your rights so that you might serve others as Christ has also laid down his rights to serve us. To be a follower of Christ is not to ask the question of, what is pleasing to me? But how can I please others? And that's the problem with a consumeristic, seeker-sensitive model, is that it intentionally cultivates and fosters an attitude among its people that says, for them to say, what's pleasing to me? And that's the only thing that they think about. What is pleasing to me? What meets my needs? What serves me? But to be a follower of Christ is to think in the other exact opposite direction of not what do I need? What serves me? What is pleasing to me? But how can I serve? How can I glorify God by serving and loving others and laying down my rights? And so that's the kind of attitude that we have to intentionally cultivate and foster in ourselves and, of course, as church leaders among our people. And Philippians 2, 3 to 8, these are the kinds of ways that we need to be thinking about participation in the life of the church. Do nothing, do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men, and being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Some other verses, Galatians 6.2, bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. Galatians 5.13, for you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love, serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word. You shall love your neighbor as yourself. And I mean, we could easily, you know, multiply verses upon verses upon verses, Old and New Testament, about The fundamental disposition of the Christian should be, how can I serve others? And that obviously applies when we come into our church context. We're not asking primarily and certainly not exclusively self-centered questions that focuses on our needs and our wants and our desires, but the question of how can I serve others? How can I put the needs of others before myself? And how can I be a blessing to others? And again, a seeker-sensitive model intentionally cultivates an attitude that says, are my wants and needs being desired or being fulfilled and met? And if not, then I'm going to go somewhere else. And finally, I would say, and this is the most compelling to me, that We have divinely ordained duties imposed upon us as believers. So, and I would say this is really the heart of the matter. In the same way that I have obligations, so this is kind of for the sake of illustration, the verses here. I have obligations towards my biological family. And these are imposed upon me without my consent. I did not choose to be a part of my family. I did not sign a contract that said that I would do these things. But Paul says, if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for the members of his household, he is denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. When Jesus applies the fifth commandment to honor your parents in Mark 7, He applies it primarily in terms of financial obligations and commitment that one has to their parents. He says, but if you say, a man tells his father or mother, whatever you would have gained from me is korban, that is given to God, then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And the point is simply this with these passages, that I have obligations that are imposed on me simply by virtue of the fact that these are family members. And I don't have the right to say, well, my parents didn't meet their side of the obligation, so I'm just going to opt out of my obligations towards them in their older years. I actually don't have the right to do that. I can't say, well, you know, my parents or my children don't respect me and my wife is ungrateful, so I don't really care to provide for them. No, Paul says you're actually worse than an unbeliever if you don't provide for the needs of your household, especially those of your immediate family. But even your relatives, you know, you have an obligation towards your relatives. And so I don't have the option to say, well, you know, I'm just going to opt out. I don't want, I won't receive the benefits or the privileges of being part of the family, but I will also not have the obligations or the duties of being part of the family. I'm just going to opt out. It's not an option that we have. being part of the family that God has placed us in, there are certain obligations and duty that God imposes on you, and you don't have a choice. I'm not saying that there's nothing in the world that could happen that would alter the nature of those obligations, but the point is simply, there is a divinely imposed commitment and obligation by virtue of the fact that they are family, and I don't have the freedom to back out of those obligations of my own accord. And if you do, you'll be held accountable before the Lord for disobeying Him. In the same way that you can't back out and opt out of your obligations to your family, you don't have the option to just opt out and back out of your obligations towards church. They're binding upon you, whether you like it or not. And you will have to give an account for your failure to perform those duties on Judgment Day if you do. And I would say the reason I chose this family language is because that's the paradigm that is given of our relationship towards one another all throughout the New Testament. And it's not necessarily explicit. There's one place where it's kind of explicit, but it's mainly implicit everywhere. It's just, we are brothers and sisters in the Lord. This is the family of faith. This is the household of faith. But, you know, one place where it's Jesus kind of parses it out, is in Mark 3, and a crowd was sitting around him and they said to him, your mother and your brothers are outside seeking you. And he answered them, who are my mother and my brothers? And looking about those who sat around him, he said, here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother. But you get a sense of the force of it, the implications of it in a place like 1 Corinthians 6, where Paul says, Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to settle a dispute between the brothers? But brother goes to the law against brother, and that before unbelievers. So, you know, it's unfortunate, sad, whenever there's lawsuits. It's always a mess, no matter what the circumstances are. But it's especially ugly, right, when you see a parent or a child suing their parent or a brother suing their biological brother, and you're like, oh man, what an ugly thing. And Paul says it's the same way in the church, for it's especially ugly. It's especially messy. It's a reproach upon the church when brother is going to court against brother because There's a spiritual, it's a spiritual family and it ought not be that way in light of the fact that you have this relationship to one another. And so, because of our Our relationship to one another as spiritual family, brothers and sisters in the Lord, in the same way, we have obligations towards one another. We have duties to perform, whether we like it or not, and we don't get to opt in, we don't get to back out of those. And that's simply true, family language or not, by virtue of the fact that Jesus commanded these things. So, you're commanded to gather with believers. You're commanded to serve. All those things that we looked at earlier of what you're required to give. You're commanded to encourage one another. You're commanded to bear one another's burdens. You're commanded to confront an erring brother. You're commanded to pray for one another. And if you're going to be a Christian and follow Christ, you can't opt out of any of those responsibilities. You can't just say, yeah, I'm choosing to leave those ones on the table, Jesus, but I'll take these commands over here." So it's not like a gym membership where you get being a member means you have the right to participate. That's not what being a member of the church is. It's not even like being a member or, you know, of having a contract with Verizon where you agree with Verizon that you will exchange a certain amount of money for a certain amount of services, and you decide what services you want and which ones you don't want. There's no build-your-own-plan in the church. There's one plan, and it's binding upon every person who wants to follow Christ. And you're either going to be faithful to that and the commands and the duties and the responsibilities that God has placed upon you in relation to your brothers and sisters, or you're not going to be a faithful member of the family. And so, being a member of the church is not like being a member of a gym. It's not like being a member of Verizon. It's more like being a member of a family. I have certain obligations and responsibilities towards my brothers, sisters, parents, whether I like it or not. And I didn't choose those when I was born. I didn't opt in. They were simply imposed upon me. And that's basically what our church covenant outlines for us. It's a summary of the responsibilities before the Lord unto one another. So I just have it, as I know, we've all read this multiple times, but it's good to take a minute to reflect upon them. So that's what the function that our covenant is performing. Having as we trust been brought by divine grace to repent and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and to give up ourselves to Him and having been baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit we do now relying on His gracious aid solemnly and joyfully renew our covenant with each other. Now what are those Responsibilities We will work and pray for the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. We will walk together in brotherly love, exercising an affectionate care and watchfulness over each other, and faithfully admonish and entreat one another as occasions require. We will not forsake the assembling of ourselves together, nor neglect to pray for others and ourselves. We will endeavor to instruct our family in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, and by a pure and loving example, seek the salvation of our family and friends. We will rejoice at each other's happiness and endeavor with tenderness and sympathy to bear each other's burdens and sorrows. We will seek by divine aid to live carefully in the world, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, and remembering that as we have been voluntarily buried by baptism and raised again from the symbolic grave, so there is on us a special obligation now to lead a new and holy life. We will strive together for a faithful evangelical ministry of this church as we sustain its worship, ordinances, discipline, and doctrines. We will contribute cheerfully and regularly to the support of the ministry, the expenses of the church, the relief of the poor, and the spread of the gospel through all nations. May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with us all. So, in this covenant, we just have got a couple minutes left. What are the things that If you're just kind of bullet points, what are the things that are highlighted? The duties and responsibilities that we have towards one another. Pray for one another. Pray for one another. What else? Assemble together. Assemble. Admonish. Admonish. Love. Love. Gathering together. Gathering, assembling. Instruct. Instruct. What's the one in the bottom? If you were to one word for seek the salvation of family and friends? Evangelism. What about on the second page here? What else? Bear each other's burdens. Give. Cheerfully support. That could take multiple forms. Hold accountable. Accountability. Just to summarize here, and I know we just read it and now we're, it basically is just this short summary, but it's good to highlight. Maintain unity, walk in love, correct one another, assemble, pray for each other, teach family, evangelize, bear each other's burdens, live holy lives, strive to maintain gospel witness of the church, support the church, relief for the poor, and the advancement of missions. Do you guys think that this is 100% comprehensive? Probably not. I would say there are things that are missing that come to my mind. But it at least gives us a foundation to say, okay, what are the obligations and duties of a Christian in general in relation to their local church? And this is a short foundational summary of what some of those essential ones are. And so, therefore, if I'm going to be a member of Cow Creek, these are my obligations that I'm voluntarily committing to if I'm going to be a member of this local church. I would say, whether or not you're a member, they're still binding upon you from the Lord, and you ought to become faithfully engaged as a member of some local church. But when you actually become a member of a particular local church, this is what you're saying. I'm committing to engage myself in doing. One question though, why even bother with a document like this? Why not just say, well, we're going to do what the Bible calls us to do? Why have a different document? Why not just say, well, we do what the Bible says. We need to be reminded that these things need to be highlighted. Yeah, we need to be reminded and it's helpful to highlight that. Anything else? I would simply say that it's helpful because everyone in all of Christendom everywhere believes that they are doing what the Bible says. Nobody says, well, I have these convictions, but they're actually the opposite of what the Bible says. Everybody thinks that they're doing it according to Scripture. And so it's helpful to outline what we as a particular local church believe Scripture is to actually say and mean for us as Christians. So this is what we mean when we say we're going to do what the Bible calls us to do in relation to one another as a local church because the person who's doing church in nature believes that they're doing what God calls them to do and we would say no you're not doing what the Bible calls you to do because church by definition is an assembly it's a gathering so you can't do church while you fish by yourself that's not a thing and again not to get sidetracked But the point is that we have divinely ordained duties that are imposed upon us as Christians, and we don't get to choose which duties we want to opt in for and which ones we can opt out for. That's the fundamental truth. And the Church Covenant just works to make that explicit for us, to say these are the things that we believe the Bible to lay upon us as duties and responsibilities towards one another. And so to bring this full circle, the question, do you come to give or do you come to get? Well, we go back to the beginning. There are definitely things that you come to church, and not just on a Sunday morning, but for the life of the body that you come to receive. We are needy sinners. We need God. We need the local church. And so there's a right disposition in which you come humbly, you come empty, you come weak, needing to receive certain things from the Lord Jesus Christ and from his body, but also realize that you have duties and obligations that God imposes upon you as a Christian, and they are binding upon you whether you like it or not. And so, partially, You engage in the life of the church because that is what being obedient to Christ demands and requires of you. And when you're looking through that lens, it doesn't matter if it's comfortable. It doesn't matter if it's easy. It doesn't matter if it's convenient. It doesn't matter any of those things. If for no other reason, you do it because God has called you to and you are a follower of Christ and he is your Lord. And so you seek to obey and honor Christ as Lord. And so. In one sense, all the seeker criteria that they're trying to meet, the needs, wants, and desires of the seeker, it's like none of that matters. The only thing in one sense that you need to think about is, am I being faithful to what God has called me to? That's at least a foundation. And then on top of that, by all means, yes, seek a healthy church. But even in the absence of a healthy church, those duties still remain. upon you. So, yes, we're about to finish up here. It might come to a place where it would be wise to find a healthier church, and there is a legitimate occasion for that. But until you do that, I would say, be faithful in the church that you are in, even if it's an unhealthy or unfaithful church. Those obligations are still binding upon you. So insofar as you are in that place, Be a faithful member there. Be committed and do what God requires of you as a follower of Christ. All right, we'll stop there. Father, we thank you for the Church. We thank you for the gift that the Church is to us. We thank you that you've given us brothers and sisters in the Lord who do pray for us, encourage us, and support us, and for whom we are called to pray, encourage, and support. Lord, we thank you for your grace that meets us in our weakness, in our need. We thank you for the gospel ultimately, and we thank you for the church that you've called to proclaim that gospel and to enjoy all the benefits of the gospel. We just thank you for this morning. We pray that you'd bless the rest of our worship in Jesus' name, amen.