What you see all the time, it's easy to take for granted, but we have a core group that serves us in our worship each week, and I think it's very appropriate to grab them and say, thank you, like, thank you for singing. Thank you for playing. This morning, we come to the sixth mark in a series called Nine Marks Plus of a Healthy Church. And our qualification is not that in this series that we are putting forth our church, Grace Baptist Church, as a healthy church. but that God would ever make us more healthy, that we would reflect vital, flourishing spiritual health, and that in humility, we would take God's word as a mirror and have that spirit of the psalmist in Psalm 139, oh God, how are we doing? Are there any hurtful ways in us? How are we doing as a church with our clear mission? And so this morning, we come to Mark 6 on a biblical understanding of church membership. And I entitled this Stop Dating Christ's Bride, and for some of you, it may make you think of the book by Joshua Harris essentially to that same title about stop dating the church. And I think it's sobering when you realize that publicly in the last month or two, he's not only departed his marriage, but also the faith. And so I recognize that even as we come to the passage this morning, that in Hebrews three, The words we read here are this in verses 12 and 13. Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart leading you to fall away from the living God, but exhort one another every day as long as it is called today that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. So this is not a game. As we gather, this is serious. as we consider this topic of church membership, really making the case for vital church membership, or even as Judson, in our Sunday school this morning, our class on the trellis and the vines said, maybe partnership, as we see in the book of Philippians, would be better. Here's the idea as you think of where does this message, like what is the issue that intersects the message this morning in a simple outline from 1 Corinthians 12, verses 12 through 27, and it's this. We often profess a love for Christ's church, but we remain uncommitted to her. It's like anything where we say, I want to be a doctor, but I'm completely uninterested in studying anatomy or memorizing the parts of the body. I want the benefit. I want maybe the title or the job, but really I'm uncommitted to the process and the steps that make that up. I wanna be a lawyer, but I'm unwilling to study for the bar. I wanna be an accountant, but I have no interest in preparing for the CPA exams. And here's the big idea. We're called to join Christ's bride, the church, by the marriage of membership. We're called to join Christ's bride by the marriage of membership. In fact, yesterday, right here, a couple, was married. Wesley and Josh Marie, they joined together in the covenant of marriage. You know, nothing is really more maddening than a man who will date a woman, but never get serious enough to commit to marriage. Recently I heard about this couple, they were dating for five years, and it was said of the guy, he just couldn't commit to marriage. Okay, does that, Make sense to you? Five years of dating without any interest in committing to marriage? Sometimes, though, those roles are reversed, right? Sometimes, maybe it's the woman that won't commit. History is filled with the stories of those who like someone enough to enjoy the benefits of a relationship, but they're unwilling to make the commitment to a lifelong marriage. And it's true with Christians in the church. They profess this love for Christ and his church, but they remain perpetually and permanently uncommitted to it. And I'm warning you this morning, I'm gonna push. There's gonna be a degree of pushing to this message. And so please remember in the backdrop that it is ultimately God's grace that's gonna draw our hearts out. It's not simply the legislation or the obligations of membership that will draw our hearts out. But a real clear view of God's love for us and for his church is demonstrated at the cross. That's what's gonna do it. but there are many who will date the church, but they simply refuse to marry it by making a solid commitment to it in the form maybe not simply of formal membership, but really vital membership. Sometimes this looks more like we join, but we really don't engage, okay? We don't engage as vital partners and members of the body of Christ. Maybe, if you're honest, I'm describing you. Don't shoot the messenger. I'm bringing the message. Jesus says this, if you love me, you will love my church. If you love me, you will love my people. If you love me, you will love my gospel. If you love me, you will engage my cause. So this morning, my goal is to make the case for vital church membership in our day right here. So turn, open up to 1 Corinthians 12, and I wanted to show kind of a simple thing from this, and then kind of an outline from that, and then I want to answer three questions for us this morning. What is a church? That's question one. Not exhaustively, but you might say prescriptively. Number two, why join a church? I wanna give us five good reasons to join a church, and then third, what does membership, or maybe what does partnership include? I'm gonna use membership, partnership a bit interchangeably this morning, okay? Or five commitments of membership. Number one, what is a church? Number two, why join a church? And then number three, what does membership include? And those second points, five reasons to join a church, five partnership commitments to a church, those are from Mark Dever's church, and this is ingrained, this has been woven into the DNA of Capitol Hill Baptist Church, the church that Mark Dever pastors. So I wanna give proper credit and note that that is the source in terms of the outline that I've used in preaching this. What I'd like for us to see initially, though, is three things from 1 Corinthians 12-27. For verses 12 and 13, the word unity. for verses 14 through 20, diversity, and then finally, verses 21 through 27, charity. Paul says, your body, my body is one, right? When you come to my house, I don't say, well, your spleen just arrived. I say, you arrived, okay? If I say, how are you doing today? I'm great, I'm overall good, but the pancreas is not giving a real good report about how things are going. No, we speak as organic one bodies, right? We're one body. And Paul says there's an essential unity. Look in verses 12 and 13. The body, the human body is one, has many members, that's right. Hands, head, eyes, ears, nose, feet, right? And he says, though they're all these members, distinct members, yet we think of the body as one. And he says, so it is with Christ. There's an essential unity. We are one body. I look out and I see men and women. I see millennials. I see those in their eighth decade of life. I see some in orange and blue and dark hair and blonde hair, but this is one body. And in fact, Paul says, to explain this, he says it's by one spirit or in one spirit that we, and again, he's writing to the Corinthians, so it is like it's we to Judy and Dave and Judy and Marsha, but it's we though distinct members making up one distinct, gathered, united body. We were baptized by this one spirit, no matter our nationality, our background, our distinctives, Jews or Greeks, slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one spirit. Paul is saying, there's an essential unity to the body. Now, secondly, he speaks to diversity in verses 14 through 20. And in a sense, 21 through 27 will be like the bookend to 14 through 20. Some of us might be tempted to think I'm worthless. I'm minor. I'm small. I'm not great. I'm not that gifted. I'm not a super essential member. And we want to minimize or marginalize our role, our place. But Paul says, no, no, no, no, no. You cannot say because maybe you're a hand and not an eye or an ear and not an eye that you're any less of the body. And therefore, you're not excused for not engaging because you discount your role, okay? Next door, there's a landscaping crew that cuts my neighbor's house. And there's a man on the mower, there's another guy on the weed eater, and there's a gal on the blower. And they come as a team, and in 20 minutes, they cut my neighbor's house. It's magical. That's it, 20 minutes, done. The gal on the blower, She's just on the blower. She doesn't ride the cool riding lawn mower. She doesn't even drive the vehicle. She can't say, because I don't cut the lawn and I don't edge the lawn, I only blow the driveway and the sidewalk, I'm not a part of the body. Diversity is needed. There's a cutter, an edger, and a blower. There's hands. There's ears. And just because the hand and the ear, right, Paul is saying, just because there's a hand, you're a hand, or you're an ear and you're not an eye, you're any less of the body. The reality is we need hands. We need eyes. I'll never forget. The worst I ever felt in my life was the day when my appendicitis decided it no longer wanted to be part of my body. That's the worst I've ever felt in my life. I'll never forget that. Lying in the emergency room at St. Francis right here, wishing for a moment that I could just be put out of my misery. And this little member, I promise you I'd never thought about my appendix until that day. It was that part that was concealed. I gave no thought to my appendix, I promise. But I realized it was quite necessary by virtue of the fact that when it was no longer functioning well, something radical had to be done, okay? Paul says, you're united. that though just like the body has many members, yet the body has this organic oneship, he says so it is with the body of Christ. Paul says we're diversified. You say, that's stating the obvious. We're not all alike. And praise God we're not. Praise God. Praise God. Paul says, look, who would do the handwork if everyone was an eye? Who would do the listening if everyone was a mouth? And this is what Paul says. This is God doing it. Just like God, by His Spirit, has baptized us into one body, verse 13, God has so arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as He chose. I'm always impressed when someone takes a deck of cards and they're able, like, just to put it together just right, like, and Paul says, God has so arranged the body of Christ, even G.B.C. Taylor's in September 2019, he's so done that in a way that reflects his love and his care for the church, because he knows that just like if someone came in and they were just a big nose, or someone came in and they were a liver, or here's someone else and they're a pinky, and they're walking in, you'd be like, what good are they? How's this gonna work out? Praise God, there is this diversity. Paul says, as it is, there are many parts, yet one body. There's unity and diversity. And then finally, verses 21 through 27, There's charity. This is the opposite of saying, I'm nothing, I hardly belong to the body because I'm a hand and I'm not an eye. Or I'm an ear and I'm not an eye. But Paul says, hmm, let's think charitably, let's think with love. We can't look at each other and our differences and say, as an eye, I look at you, you're a hand, and say, I just have no need of you. I don't need to give any thought of you. You have no functional value or worth to me. Paul says, no, no, no. Or even the head can't say to the feet, I have no need of you. But he goes on to say, actually, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker, there, verse 22, 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 presentable parts do not require. And then here's the word, just like verse 13, by one spirit, God baptized us into one body, just like verse 18 is an expression of diversity. As it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. Then there's this word here in verse 24. It says, but God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, and here's the purpose, as we think unity, diversity, and charity, here's the very purpose that there might not be division in the body, rather charity, but that there be this mutual care, that the members may have the same care for one another. And then he applies this, verse 26, if one member suffers, all suffer. If one member's honored, all rejoice together. You know, when I was seven, I accidentally shut the door on my finger. I'll never forget this. And it was one of those moments where I put it, it was in the hinge side of the door, and it just crunched my finger. And I was a little boy, and I am lying on the floor just like guarded, pulled like in a fetal position, just thinking this is the worst pain ever. And so I didn't like, hey mom, come, my finger's killing me. All of me, my whole body was suffering, every bit of it, for the pain concentrated in the tip of that one finger. And Paul says, that's how. That's how we ought to be. That when one member suffers, we all suffer. That when one member is honored, we all rejoice together. Obviously, there are applications for that as a church when we think of funerals and weddings and births of babies and baptisms and graduations and accomplishments, that type of thing. Well, that's the outline from 1 Corinthians 12 that gives us perspective. Let's just ask this question, what is a church? What is a church? When we're saved, we're saved into community and into the specific community, and those communities are local churches. God never designed our lives to be lived in isolation. It really, God did not intend that we live this Christian life streaming online messages when we're healthy, sitting in our pajamas, drinking coffee in our beds. And all the evidence from the New Testament is that the believers gathered and committed to biblically established churches. And when Paul is writing Philippians 1.1, that was a letter that was designed for a group of saints, gathered saints there in Philippi that even had officers, right? He said, Philippians 1.1, it was to saints in Christ Jesus. That's how the church was identified. Philippians 1.1, a named group. Number two, it was gathered in a particular town. In this case, Philippi, at a particular geographical location. with distinct coordinates. 41 degrees, zero minutes, 47 seconds north, 24 degrees, 17 minutes, 11 seconds east. That's where the church was. Just like 5020 Old Spartanburg Road, Taylors, 29687. Third, when you think about what is a church, not only a gathering at a specific location, but it's a church that had leadership, a distinct set of elders and deacons. And Paul understood this. Paul distinguished the elders and deacons by name. I noticed that with our little granddaughter, if we say, Caroline, where's Daddy? She points to Daddy. If we say, where's Mommy? She points to Mommy, and she understands. That's distinctly Daddy, and that's distinctly Mommy. In a church, A church is a gathering of saints at a particular location with a distinct set of leadership. As we consider more, what is the church? It was Edmund Clowney in his book, The Church, I know that's a profound title, The Church. He asserted this, that the church of Jesus Christ is called to three great tasks. And everything we do as a church is really under these three headings. And those three great tasks are this, worship, nurture, and witness. He says it this way, the church is called to serve God in three ways, to serve him directly in worship, to serve the saints in nurture, and to serve the world in witness. And so the New Testament churches gathered, now watch how we put these together, the New Testament churches gathered at regular times for corporate worship. They served one another in Romans 12-like nurture. They had recognized officers in the form of pastors, elders, and deacons. And they organized themselves together to live life in a missional community, in partnership. And that's the normal usage for the word ecclesia, or church, in the New Testament. It almost always refers to a local, visible, and established congregation rather than the universal and visible church of all ages. I'm married to a particular woman. I'm a father of four particular children. And Jesus has so designed the church the same way. It's more local, visible, and gathered rather than universal and visible. For example, Consider the church at Rome, the church at Philippi, or the churches in Galatians, in Galatia, or even think about Priscilla and Aquila. Paul writes at the end of Romans 16 of the church that met in their house. And all the commands of the New Testament drive great meaning when we understand they're lived out in the context of a local church. What are some one another's in the New Testament? Just shout them out for a moment. What are we to do? Love one another. Thank you, Ray. How about someone else? Encourage one another. Exhort one another. Pray for one another. Bear one another's burdens. What's that? Forgive one another. Serve one another. What's that? Show grace to one another. Greet one another. How? With a holy kiss. What's that? Embrace them. Good. Who else? Be kind to one another, tender hearted, forgiving each other as Christ has forgiven you. It's great. All right. We live that out here. The only practical way to do that is within a gathered body. Right, I can't do that for the saints in Madagascar this morning, or in Athens, Greece, or in Rome, Italy. We can do it here. That's the way they're intended to be lived out. It's impossible to obey what Jesus calls us to in Matthew 18 for church discipline, or in Hebrews 13, obedience and submission to leaders without church membership or partnership. And how in the absence of some type of membership or partnership do the elders of our body know exactly for whom we will give account, as Paul, as the writer in Hebrews 13 verse 17 says. It'd be impossible in every other area of life. We have a process where we can positively identify citizens in countries, partners in marriage, employees in companies, players on a team, students in a school. Some of you even have your social security number memorized or maybe your student ID. Why not the church? And why would it not also have a membership that can be identified? Otherwise we promote this culture of taking and not giving, of consuming and not contributing to the life and growth of Christ's bride. When I say G-I-F, how do you pronounce it? Jif, gif, there's some, okay. Is it gif, jif? But what about P-I-F? What about a culture of personal, individual fulfillment? How does that intersect the call to vital church membership? So let's answer the second question. Why join a church? And it's a question that needs some answers. I wanna give you five basic reasons not simply to formally join and commit to a church and even here to GBC, but what it means to engage. I think the greater concern is that sometimes we're formally part of a church, but we're not engaged. We have this degree of formal membership, but our engagement is here. So here are Mark Devers five. They're not original with me. I'll expand on each of them for a moment. Jesus says, stop dating my bride. But we marry the church by a process of membership, even as in three weeks from now, on October 20th, and the following Sunday, the 27th, we're gonna have like a membership immersion, two Sunday afternoons in a row. I wanna give you five reasons why to join a church, to join hands, to stand side by side, arms linked, with a faithful gospel church. Number one is to assure ourselves. When we join a church, in the act of joining, it's not to be saved, but to express that we are saved in our desire for an ongoing confirmation of God's gracious work in us. And I love this. Here's three basic questions, right? Here's three questions. What was your life like before you became a Christian? How did you become a Christian, and what is the ongoing fruit or evidence that you are a Christian? How is your life different now, post-conversion, than it was pre-conversion? Three great questions, three great questions to bring into any conversation. I love that when any time we interview someone for membership, all right? we can explore God's work in them. And in the body, as we think of this first reason to join a church, which is to assure ourselves, we give and receive encouragement in the faith. We sharpen and are sharpened by one another. And we help point out and get pointed out the distance between our talk and our walk. As painful as it is, it is beautiful and safe When one of you, or when Jamie is my co-pastor during the week, says, Mark, you have a bad attitude. You need to repent of that. You're being, instead of being sweet and gentle, you're being stubborn and intransigent. And instead of being humble, you're being prideful. It's painful, but it's beautiful. Because it's in the context of that, that by my response, I get some degree of assurance that God is at work in me and I'm still showing the fruit of being a Christian. Sometimes it's on the end of the point of a spear of a hard question, but it's still beautiful nonetheless. Do you want to grow in assurance of your salvation? Join a gospel centered and faithful church. Number two, it's to evangelize the world. We join a church to engage in God's great charge to the church to evangelize the world. And make no mistake, right? God's great cause, that is to bring the gospel of his son to the nations, is the responsibility of his church, of the church, capital C, and therefore, the responsibility of visible, locally gathered, and constituted churches. Some of you have been on vacations with other families, and sometimes you'll split up meal prep. You've got tonight, we've got tonight, they've got this night, you've got that night. And that works, right? That works. But can you imagine the chaos if you have 20 people in a house for a week? and there's no plan to buy groceries or prepare meals, and everybody at about 4.30, they're like, I'm feeling hungry, and all the guys start opening the refrigerator, and then through the cabinets, let's just see if there's anything to eat, and then there's no plan. In the church, this whole call to evangelize the world is tasked to churches. It's the responsibility of visible, locally gathered, and constituted churches. It was the church in Antioch that through a process of prayer and fasting commissioned Paul and Barnabas for that first missionary journey. Well thirdly, why join a church? To expose false gospels. It's the opposite of false is what? True, it's not hard, alright? The Lord Jesus said he was the way, the truth, and the life. Paul wrote to Timothy in 1 Timothy 3.15. He said, make no mistake, there is a foundation for God's truth, and it's the church. The church is entrusted with that. The church is a pillar and buttress of truth. Paul said to Titus, one of the requirements for elders in Titus 1, they must be able to not only build up, that is instruct in sound doctrine, but be able to stand, push back, defend, make defense against those who presume to contradict it. The church through the word, the church through its teaching, the church through its life, must affirm the true gospel so that it may faithfully expose those false gospels which are no gospel at all. And if you want to embrace the true gospel and believe it's which promises all your life, God has designed the church as that location. as that place of deposit for the true gospel of Jesus to believed and affirmed to the end of the ages. Well fourth, as we ask the question, why join a church? It's to edify the church. To join a church helps counteract the individualism that we often embrace. Christianity is corporate and communal in nature, not individualistic. It's not to say that we're not individuals. You are an individual member if you're a member of GBC or of a church. But Paul puts this together in verse 27 of 1 Corinthians 12. He brings these together beautifully when he says, you are gathered the body of Christ. And then he adds, and, not in contradiction, but in expansion, and individually members of it. Dave is not Anthony. And Anthony is not Ken. These are individual members, but together we are the body of God's Son. We cannot help but notice all those one another's that we just spoke of in the New Testament. And they can only be lived out in the body of Christ. You can't edify the church by sitting in your living room in your pajamas watching live stream church services online as though you're getting your religious fix. It's not about you. We can edify and build one another up only by being together. That is presence. Presence. Gathering together informally and formally at stated times to invest in one another's lives. The way I think about this, even pastorally, And I know our other elders do is, we come early and stay late. For us, today is the most critical day to be with you and be in your lives, to be available and present, to engage you, to know your heart, your struggles, your names, your birthdays, your sorrows, your prayers, your hopes, your labors. You might have the greatest prayer life and the most disciplined Bible reading plan, but be indifferent in knowing and loving and serving your brothers and sisters. And to some of you, I say, get up out of your seat and walk 30 paces to another part of this world. Auditorium this sanctuary and say to someone that you've seen a hundred times, but never spoken to once. Hello My name is Mark. What's yours? Can you tell me what your life's been like since you became a Christian? Just do something different Ask a child their name Ask them Ask them their favorite subject in school. Ask them the name of their best friend. Ask them what they're learning in school right now. Ask them what they're looking forward to next week. Ask them if they have a relationship with Jesus. Membership, that is partnership. Both its privileges and responsibility are designed to move you towards your brothers and sisters for the purpose of mutual building up in faith, love, and holiness. Some of you know, you might have heard, it's a little story about the kid that was playing point guard for his team, but he's really struggling. He was completely ineffective. And his coach called him over. He kind of did a timeout. He said, he said, his coach called him over and said to him, what's your problem, he says. He says, essentially he said, the coach is wondering, is this, he says to him, are you ignorant in playing this position? Or are you apathetic in playing this role as point guard? And he says to the coach, I don't know and I don't care. That was his response, okay? I don't know and I don't care. And some of it, if we can be moved to seeing one another, opening our eyes and seeing each other with this desire to know one another. You don't need to know everyone in every church. But if you're here, get to know your brothers and sisters. Say, I want to know you, and I want to care for you. Well fifth, is we ask this question, why join a church as this? It's to glorify God. You know the answer. You know the question and the answer to that first question in the catechism. Maybe some of the children can answer this. What is the chief end of man? Kids. Okay, someone, thank you. Thank you, JF in the back. What is true of man is true of the church in this sense. The church is designed as a body of missional loving worshipers to spread his glory, to spread his name and his fame to every tribe and language and people and nation. Remember that what the apostle Peter wrote to persecuted Christians, he said this, keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable so that when they speak against you as an evildoer, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of your visitation. That's 1 Peter 2.12. Jesus says this, he said, let your light shine before men that they may see your good deeds and may glorify your Father in heaven. And so we don't have a misunderstanding. Our value before our heavenly Father is not in our functional doing, but in who and whose we are. That's why Jesus told Martha at the end of Luke 10 that actually, in terms of choice, Mary had chosen the better part in sitting at the feet of Jesus. Your worth, my worth, is not in what we own or even in the units of service that we give as members of the body of Jesus. but we're not defined by how much we do our production. But I still want to quote Mark Dever here. Mark Dever says this, if you are a Christian and you regularly attend a God-centered Bible-preaching church, you may be frustrated by one thing or another. But consider the obligations and opportunities of membership. Our basis as a congregational church family must always be found in being even more than in doing. If you join a church, you are not being included merely for a function you could perform, but you are being adopted into a family. And the relationship to which you are committing yourself will bring glory to God. to God. Well finally, just very briefly, let's answer this question, what does membership include? And I always cringe, I cringe when I hear someone say, I'm checking this or that church out. That's like anathema. Like you're going to a food tasting party or you're trying a new restaurant out. I'm trying this church out. I'm checking this out. Membership is not PIF. It's not about personal individual fulfillment. It's not the receiving or consuming of religious services or spiritual experiences from a church. It's not getting your weekly spiritual shot in the arm or like a diabetic getting your finger pricked on the hour. It's not a shot of spiritual espresso. It means faithful commitment to a particular church as a bought-in, invested partner with something to gain or lose. And I will list briefly for us five commitments for church membership that Pastor Mark Dever and those at Capitol Hill Baptist Church encouraged from their members. Here they are. They're self-explanatory. They'll be brief. Here they are. Number one, attend services regularly. Well, if you can hear this, you're probably here, so that's great. But it's the idea of presence. Be present. Number two, attend communion particularly. And that's this act of remembrance. A family should eat together. That's what Paul implies in 1 Corinthians 11 when he's giving instruction about the Lord's Supper. It's the meal, the communion meal is that one meal we're to take together as a body. We do that one Sunday a month. And if you miss, because you're not here on a morning or an evening, if you miss the evening service, you're only taking communion six times a year. I want to encourage you to prize the time when we together celebrate communion and remember our Lord's death and proclaim that to one another. Some of you want to preach. Well, your opportunity to preach and proclaim the gospel is when we have community together. If you say you want to preach and you're not here when we have communion, I'm not sure how bad you really want to preach. Well, third, and that is to attend members meetings consistently. And we have two coming up, October 6th, five o'clock, October 9th, seven o'clock, right here. And that's the idea of vision. When we call a members meeting, we want to make them count. The goal is not to put you to sleep for an hour. It's for us to engage, to create vision, to create and nurture vision about our life together as a people formed by the book. A people shaped by the gospel. A people who are focused on the cross. That's the goal. We desire to make these times substantial and helpful for the life of the body. We're not gonna meet just to meet. But if you're a member of GBC, you are a stakeholder. You are a stockholder in what is going on. In what we're trying to do together. And our goal is to use these times to communicate to obtain input, to listen, and to create and provide vision as we chart a path forward as a church. And then fourth is to pray. To pray regularly, that is expressing dependence. If we don't pray for each other, who will? All right? And Paul says this in 1 Timothy 2. He says, I urge that all types of prayers be made for all types of people. And even though Mark Dever doesn't make prayer in his book, one of the nine marks, the first nine, Who can doubt the importance of us praying together as a body? We do that most Wednesday nights in the chapel. We pray together, regular, corporate, earnest, organic, planned and unplanned, gospel-centered, kingdom-focused prayer emanating from tailors outward to the ends of the earth. And then finally, not only to be here, that is presence in our services, not only to attend communion particularly, that is remembrance, not only to attend members meetings consistently, that is vision, not only to pray regularly that expresses dependence, but finally giving regularly, that is the idea of stewardship. Our giving is not about our wallet, because our giving always reflects our heart. Your giving does not reflect your personal balance sheet financially. Your giving reflects the nature of your heart. That's why Paul says of the Corinthians, he speaks of even of the Macedonians giving out of extreme poverty. God's focus is not our wallets, our hearts. And it goes without saying that our church requires financial resources. Every church does. Something like $35,000 a month here for our church. And the New Testament provides all types of unapologetic evidence that we should give to God's work for, Psalm 24 says, everything you own, is the Lord's, Psalm 24.1. The earth is the Lord's in the fullness thereof. And when you die, you will not take it with you, but you might, by the way you live, send it on ahead. It is both a great privilege and responsibility to give and support God's word. There's a rightness in taking a portion of it and supporting God's cause. It's not yours, you're a steward of it. Paul says in Galatians 6, one who's taught the word must share all good things with the one who teaches. And then verse 10, so while we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, especially to those who are of the household of faith. We've asked this morning three questions. What is a church? Why join a church? And what does church membership or church partnership include? And we spelled out five commitments. Before you join the church though in membership, you must join Jesus Christ in turning in faith to him. All of this doesn't make sense apart from having a relationship with him. He's the only one. He's the glorious one who can save us from our sins. He's the only one who can make us part of his family and his bride, the church. this morning, may God, by His Spirit, cause all of us to love His Son and love His church. What would it be like What would it be like in our membership meeting when David, one of our elders and our clerk, if someone says, do we have a quorum of our 135 members? He says, not only do we have a quorum, every member is here, present and engaged, excited, prayerful, ready to see and hear of what we might be doing for the kingdom of God and what God is doing in us. What would that be like? May we be united to Jesus in one another to spread his great name so that Habakkuk 2 and verse 4 will be fulfilled in our generation. For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the seas. Amen.