Good morning. Good morning. Thank you. Open your Bibles to the 12th chapter of the book of Romans. Romans chapter 12. If you remember a couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that we as elders felt like we needed to camp out on certain doctrines of the local church, some good old-fashioned ecclesiology, and that over the course of several weeks, I would be speaking on topics like, two weeks ago, the centrality of the church, This morning, church membership, next week, God willing, discipleship, and the following Sunday, church discipline. Thankfully, the Lord, in conversation with Michael, led him to contribute last Sunday with that great theme from Ephesians 1, one for all, all for one. And so we're just camping out on these various aspects of church life, church doctrine. We'll do so again this morning. I think historically, Providence Chapel has been very informal when it comes to church membership. Those of you that have been here a number of years would know this firsthand. It's not that we didn't do anything when it came to church membership, but I know the early conviction was if people come and stay and give themselves to the body, they're the real members of the body. Of course, in time, we developed a series of church membership classes. There were some steps that we took to formalize the process, but no doubt over the years, many balls have been dropped. And even in the drive to church this morning was joking with Jennifer and Kayla that they're not even technically members of the church, though they are members of the church. Many of you probably, Nick Hanson being one of them, could stand this morning and say, I've actually never publicly committed to be a part of this church, though he's been in the church for 12 years. So these are some of the loopholes to church membership at Providence Chapel that some of you have experienced. I was comforted this week as I was reading John MacArthur. on this theme, and after coming to Grace Community Church in 1969, it was some time before he ever preached on the topic of church membership. I think it was in the 80s. That's over a decade. And he preaches that morning on church membership and invites people that want to join to speak with elders after the meeting. 1,600 people joined the church based on that Sunday sermon. So I think they missed a few along the way. He took the blame entirely. Ends up preaching again on church membership several years later. I believe another eight years later, 600 people joined the church that Sunday. So I just didn't feel so bad. The theme this morning, church membership. Devotion and loyalty to the local church. If you didn't already know this about me, I love church history. I think in knowing something of church history, we can better understand the present day that we're in. Certain lessons that we learn, certain deficiencies maybe that we could better identify today based on things that we've seen God's work in history. Generally speaking, when we think of The average person, the average American, the average Westerner today, non-committal is the posture. Oh my. The West is all about quick fixes. Microwavable meals, overnight success. We want what we want when we want it. And that's just the way that it is. Today's youth seem to think in minutes, maybe hours. They give no thoughts to months, years, decades. We live in a day of self infatuation, truly the land of have it your way. You do you, I'll do me. Mind your own business. I'm going to do my thing. You do your thing. These notions and others like it have really saturated the Western culture of the 21st century and even infiltrated our churches. It wasn't always this way. As a matter of fact, as I've read through church history over the years, I've seen a radical difference in the posture of the average Christian of, let's say, the 18th century, 250, 300 years ago, or the average church of 250, 300 years ago, and the church today. As an example, from the 18th century, the average pastor pastored one church 71% of the time. Only 4% of pastors ever pastored three churches. The vast majority, where they were called, they stayed. Today, the average length of a pastorate in America is approximately three years. But 250 to 300 years ago, it was not. The case, pastors were loyal to their flocks and the flocks were loyal to their local church. Pastors really had some staying power and not just pastors but families too. Families would generally spend the whole of their lives in a single church in the 1700s. There was an account of one particular church that was pastored by a man, a father. Then, after his death, his son succeeded him as pastor of the church, and then one of that son's sons succeeded him. Three generations pastoring a single church for a total of 123 years. Can you imagine? The body knew one family over the course of well over a century. Pastors in the 18th century endeavored, those that were quality, to give their lives away to the local church, knowing that when they gave their life away to the body, then in holy confidence, they could demand of the church members to do the same. I will spend and be spent for your sakes, therefore you spend and be spent for one another's sakes. But in the West today, it's quite a bit different. I am convinced that this rotating door of pastors coming and going in one church off to another, moving from one opportunity to a better paying opportunity elsewhere, really preaches its own sermon, doesn't it? If the leaders can leave, then I'm free to leave. If the leaders aren't loyal, What motivation do I have to be loyal? If the pastor isn't committed, why would I have a high view of commitment to my local church? This is the problem that we are confronted with today, and it should grieve us that it is so. I would encourage you to pray that the Lord would so revive his church, even with the movings of God in Asbury right now. and redirect our shifty independence towards a deepened dependence on God and loyalty to Jesus Christ, who is head of the church. But this isn't just the sins of those churches out there. It touches us as well. This independent, lacking loyalty, feed-me-serve-me mentality exists even among us. In transparency, I confess my own self-centeredness and the self-love that wars within my heart daily. Oh, to be set free from these ugly sins. How this should make us long for heaven where we can be like Christ in totality, always selfless, always serving, always generous, always satisfied. you may feel these nasty temptations like I feel them. You may be able to relate to this kind of ugly individualism. I appreciate what one modern author said of the predicament of the church of the West. He said, the New Testament picture of the church as a family flies in the face of our individualistic cultural orientation. God's intention is not to become the feel-good father of a myriad of isolated individuals who appropriate the Christian faith as yet another avenue towards personal enlightenment. Nor is the biblical Jesus to be conceived of as some sort of spiritual mentor whom we can happily take from church to church or from marriage to marriage, fully assured that our personal Savior will somehow bless and redeem our destructive relational choices every step of the way." End quote. Harkening back to What Brother Michael said in his sermon last week, I remind you that you will not find the expression personal savior anywhere in the pages of Scripture. But what do we find in Scripture? Well, consider the Apostle Paul's perspective in his letters when he refers to Jesus as Lord, as our Lord, a total of 53 times in these letters that he's writing to bodies of believers. 53 times we see Paul refer to Jesus as our Lord. In contrast, only one time do we see the Apostle Paul refer to Jesus as my Lord, which appears in Philippians 3, by the way, verse 8, an autobiographical moment for the Apostle Paul. Beloved, we must be willing to face the fact that our doctrine of the church, has been somewhat shaped by a worldview that is diametrically opposed to the outlook of both the early Christians, the first century church, and the teaching of scripture. We have been conditioned in some measure to prize our own personal fulfillment and happiness over and above the selfless and sacrificial care we are called to have. toward our brothers and sisters in the context of a local church. This is an area of our lives where, in a rather subtle but poisonous way, we have been conformed to the thinking of this world. This is a significant problem. But, I believe Scripture gives a sufficient remedy to this significant problem. We must fight, both individually and corporately, to maintain healthy and fruitful church life. Yes, we must fight to maintain this kind of life among us. When we stop fighting, we stop progressing and begin digressing. It's just the facts. Church membership then is mission critical. Now, I know the word membership gets a bad rap. I would imagine there are those seated here today that maybe have a variety of memberships. There's at least one that I know of that has a AAA membership. Maybe some that have an NRA membership. Maybe some that have a gym membership like me, one that's rather underused. There is a club for everything under heaven these days, so many memberships. But if that's what you think of when you think of the word membership, then no wonder you might be a little skeptical when you think of this phrase, church membership, the word membership attached to the Holy Church of Christ. So think with me then. Instead of thinking is the church as a club or organization, God forbid that we do that, we need to see the high view that Scripture gives us of the church as a spiritual building, or the body of Christ, or the household of God. Now, no one here would walk up to a fellow American and ask them about their membership in America. Like, how's that working out for you? No comment, by the way. In the same way, Laney, I'm not gonna embarrass you too bad, I wouldn't walk up to Laney Price this morning and ask her how her membership in the Price family is doing. Like, how's that paying off? Laney is a daughter in that home. She's family, not merely a, quote, member of the household. Americans are citizens of their country, Membership doesn't really begin to grasp the depth of meaning there. So when we come to the scriptures, I think we see that the Bible actually promotes a very high view. of church membership. It's more than a club with one of the goofy little ID cards and some kind of annual dues. It's devotion and loyalty and body life and sacrifice and service, all for the glory of Christ, all with brothers and sisters as children of God. So let's get to the text now and allow scripture to shape our views here. I've broken the remainder of the sermon up into two parts. First, membership illustrated. Second, membership implied. And I wanna look at just one New Testament example where membership is both understood, it's the norm, and body life is being encouraged. So we begin with membership illustrated and our text here in Romans 12. I'll read verses three through six. This is the living and active word of God. For by the grace given to me, I say to everyone among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them. If prophecy in proportion to our faith, if service and so on and so forth. There are several things that you really need to see here. A little Ecclesiology 101. First, The Apostle Paul is speaking plainly about the life of a particular local church in a letter written to that particular local church. He is not writing universally, he is writing to the church at Rome according to chapter 1 verse 7. So this isn't a letter to an invisible unknowable group of people. It is a letter to a specific church in a geographic location a knowable invisible body of believers with leadership and all that comes with a healthy New Testament church. This local church is a localized body of believers that are there in Rome representing Christ serving Christ in that specific geographic area. Second, the Apostle employs imagery of the body to illustrate the life of the church. the interconnectedness, the shared experience and mission, the union that we have as brothers and sisters in Christ as those, as we heard last week, united to our living head, Jesus Christ. He's emphasizing that just as the human body is characterized by both unity and diversity, so is the church. So let's briefly consider first the diversity of the local church as Paul explains it. For starters, we need to see something very important. This inspired encouragement, and that's what I see Paul doing here, it's an exhortation, it's an encouragement. He's trying to strengthen the body. This encouragement presupposes something that is essential to Christianity and the Christian life. It presupposes Christian community. It presupposes a gathering people. Not a bunch of individuals spread out doing their own thing. It presupposes a gathering people. Now hear me, dear ones. Christian growth primarily happens in the context of congregational life. Did you hear that? Christian growth primarily happens in the context of congregational life. I feel like the Scriptures are very clear here. God isn't at work creating individual superstar Christians. His biggest plans, His highest aims are for flourishing and fruitful churches, congregations of saints. Lone Ranger Christianity is not only a cheap substitute for the real thing, it is an ugly knockoff. It is unbiblical through and through. It is antithetical even to God's great design for His church. But another question still needs to be addressed. Why all the variety? I mean, shouldn't we all basically look alike and talk alike and wear the same kind of clothes and have the same kind of interests? Why all the variety? Variety of gifts, variety of graces. It's because God has called and gifted the individual parts of the body to work best together for the well-being of the whole. If we believe that Jesus Christ is head of the church, Lord of the church, that he, as he promised, is going to build his church, then we have to understand that he's putting the pieces together. He's placing stone upon stone and brick upon brick, and he's building his church with the variety of gifts and graces because he knows exactly what we need to represent him in Denton, Texas. Are you following me? Are you following me? Okay. Individual giftedness, which does exist. Every one of us, according to the measure of faith that we have, we have been given certain gifts by God. Individual giftedness is for the edification of the body, not the acclimation of the individual. But there's something more, something bigger, something we can't afford to miss. The church is the body of Christ. He is the head, we are the body. We heard a good bit about this last week. I won't camp out here long, but he informs, he charges, he strengthens us as his members. Then we are to go and faithfully fulfill all his holy will from the head to and through and out of the body, head, heart, hands. That's the way it works. This is the very language, the language of one body, many members, that Paul uses not just in Romans 12, but in each of the three places where he discusses Christ's spiritual gifts to the church. It's all from the head to and through the body. So here's the big picture, and this is what I really want you to get ahold of this morning. Gifts and graces, individual giftedness, it's not about you, nor is it for you. It's all about Christ, to Christ, and for Christ, and through Christ. Because Christ is so glorious, because He's so beautiful, so abundant in perfections, a one-dimensional body operating in the earth, and didn't Texas, as our living example, for instance, it just isn't going to cut it in displaying Christ's beauty to the world. If we all looked alike, talked alike, had the same interests, had the same giftings, That doesn't represent Christ in the earth. We must have the diversity of gifts and graces if we're going to properly represent Christ. He's so great. We must be so diverse. The church, then, is to be vibrantly unified in service to Christ. Unified, not uniform. For you and I to be all that we're called to be as a local church, we need one another. We don't just want one another, we need one another. As those whom Christ has gifted and graced to labor in their gifting, me laboring in my gifting for the sake of each other. Think of it, dear ones. You have something I need. Otherwise, you would not have been attached and called to this body. And I have something that you need. Otherwise, I wouldn't be serving as an elder here. Christ is Lord of His church, is He or not? As much as you need what I need, I need what you need. We need each other. We are gifts of the Lord Jesus Christ to each other. I know when I need encouragement, There are brothers in this church body that I can go to, those that have been gifted by God to have a word in season for me, to help me, to encourage me. I know them. I could identify them, but I won't. When I need admonishment, I have the same. Mercy, the same. Helps, the same. On and on we could go because there's a variety of gifts among us. You and I really need each other. As individuals, in a sense, we are nothing. As a diverse unity, a body, a local church, we are the body of Christ, capable of mighty deeds in the earth. That's the beauty of diversity in a body. And Paul then goes on in the fifth verse with a further encouragement. I'll read it now. So we, though many, are one body in Christ and individually members one of another. He shifts gears from diversity to unity. many members, many gifts, many graces, but we operate as one body under one head for one great purpose. And that's the glory of Jesus Christ. One thing I hope you see in Paul's progression here, it's the reason I think Paul begins where he begins in verse three. Unity can never happen apart from humility. That's where he began in verse three, wrong thinking, people thinking more highly of themselves than they ought to. This has blown up the unity of countless churches. Pride, of course, is simply the gateway to division. So for unity to exist, there must be an abundance of sober judgment among the various members of the body. Hands can't be complaining about fingers, nor can feet be complaining about toes. That is true dysfunction. That is a recipe for disaster. Definitionally, we understand unity to be diversity without divide. Unity as diversity without divide. Union without uniformity. And so the fight to preserve unity in the body, the ongoing necessity of each of us to humble ourselves, the sharpening of iron against iron, and the mercy that covers it all. This is God's primary way of sanctifying his people. This is what the New Testament teaches. Lastly, Paul closes out this portion of his epistle with a straightforward admonition to use the gifts God's given you. However it is God has gifted you, and there's a variety of gifts according to the New Testament, at least 25 that are specifically named. However it is God has gifted you, we come to verse six and we see Paul saying, use the gifts. Use the gifts, exercise the gifts, walk in the gifts, bless your brethren according to God's design. We are called, dear church, not to sit idle and rot on the shelf or bury our gifts in the sand. We are called to use them for the good of one another, for the glory of Christ. We aren't called to be those who live the glamour shot lifestyle, only satisfied with the giant accomplishments and the watershed moments of life. No, we are called to be those in the trenches, working tirelessly, serving faithfully, loving sacrificially, giving generously. It reminds me of what D.L. Moody once said, there are many of us that are willing to do great things for the Lord, but few of us are willing to do little things. Maybe you feel that. We need to be people who are as eager to sweep the floor when nobody's watching as we are to do public things that may be seen and applauded. Use your gifts again and again and again with consistency, with delight, with love for one another. Use your gifts. Serve, labor, lay down your life. That's where Paul lands here in Romans 12. If you don't know how God has gifted you, then just serve until you figure it out. No standby. Serve until you figure it out. Now, beloved, this is one passage, just four verses that we read, part of a fifth maybe, among countless other passages where the writers of the New Testament, not just Paul, but Peter and John and James, they're speaking to actual gathered bodies of believers about how the church is to live, how the church is to behave. This kind of talk then is the heartbeat of the New Testament. They're letters to churches. The solid implication then is that God has prescribed his people to unite themselves to a local church and then be fruitful within that geographic location, within that sphere of local influence. Membership illustrated. Now secondly, membership implied. In total transparency, Here's the facts. There is simply no single verse in our Bible that says something like, thus says the Lord, join a local church. Now, maybe the closest we get is Hebrews 10, 24, 25, about not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together as an authoritative command. But there's not a single verse that says you've got to be all in on church membership. This sounds like a bad sermon, doesn't it? And yet, everywhere it is implied. I've got many legs to stand on this morning. I want to run through, rather quickly, seven brief arguments for church membership. Yes, seven, and yes, quickly, Many other arguments could be made. I struck several as I was preparing, thinking, okay, this is probably too many, 27 arguments. I might not be able to do that. Many arguments could be made. We will look at just seven. Number one, the locality argument. 1 Corinthians 1, verses one and two, Paul called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus and our brother Sosthenes to the church of God that is in Corinth. to those sanctified in Christ Jesus called to be saints together, so on and so forth, to the church of God that is in Corinth. Galatians 1 and 2, the same. Ephesians 1 and 1, the same. 2 Corinthians 1 and 1, the same. 1 Thessalonians 1, 1, the same. 2 Thessalonians 1, 1, the same. The locality argument. Paul is addressing these varied epistles to the needs of specific churches with knowable leadership, with knowable membership, with knowable problems. He's addressing, he's helping, he's encouraging. This indicates that from the very beginning, from the first century, from the time that Jesus came up out of the tomb and then ascended into heaven, this was the apostolic way. The focus was on the local church. and a believer's life within the local church, not without it. To drive the point home further, let me put it this way. There isn't a single New Testament letter addressing individuals on how they must independently live for Christ, detached from a local body. It's not in there. 27 books of our New Testament, not one speak to this kind of individualistic Christianity. the locality argument. Number two, the widow argument. 1 Timothy 5 9. I'm actually gonna turn there. I may have a couple of extra comments. 1 Timothy 5 9. I want you to take note of this, the widow argument. Let a widow be enrolled if she is not less than 60 years of age, having been the wife of one husband. I'm gonna keep reading. and having a reputation of good works, if she has brought up children, has shown hospitality, has washed the feet of the saints, has cared for the afflicted, and has devoted herself to every good work." You take care of that one. You let that widow be enrolled, is the language of the text. I could give, and maybe need to someday, a whole sermon to this text, which is unique. You think, well, okay, yeah, we'll care for our widows. I get it, brother. No, there's a lot here. But the widow argument is simply this. Paul appeals to young Timothy to care well for the widows of a church. Two things. The church must care for widows in their midst. That's obvious. This isn't Paul's appeal for universal widow care. This is Paul's appeal to care for those widows in the local church. No, it's these widows that are in the church, known by the church, and must even meet certain criteria before being enrolled in the church's special care. That term enrolled should be a rather convincing term. when it comes to church membership, especially for people that have a problem with the formality of it all. What I want to add, if you want a good picture of what it means for you to be in a body and a healthy part of it, read the description of what is desired and acceptable in this widow. That's a pretty high standard. But then again, it's not. It's normal Christianity. Hospitality, washing the feet of the saints, caring for the afflicted, so on and so forth. I think some would look at that text and say, wow, don't you want to just care for the poor widow? Yes, Paul says, as long as she meets this criteria. Brothers and sisters, What are we doing for this local church? Does it come anywhere close to meeting the criteria of what's stated here in terms of the widow? Argument number three, the commissioning argument. Acts 15.22, then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders with the whole church to choose men from among them and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They sent Judas called Barsabbas and Silas, leading men among the brothers. The sending out of saints, the commissioning of saints, missionaries, pastors, teachers, evangelists, sending them out for missionary and church planting purposes was something from the beginning that happened in a context of a local church. Nothing willy-nilly about it, nothing individualistic about it, no big shots, no church CEOs that are calling all the shots, no. It was the apostles and the elders in Jerusalem with the whole church, recognizing these leading men from among them and appointing them to go for this specific task. I love the phrase, choose men from among them. How do you have among them if you don't know who the members of the church are in the first place? Barsabbas and Silas were not only members of that body, but leading members of that body. They were sending out the best of themselves for this particular mission. And much like Phoebe in Romans 16.1, sent out from the church at Tzincre, they were sent out from the church in Jerusalem for the church. This is the commissioning argument. Number four, the exhortations argument. Back to Romans 12, verses 10, 13, and 16, just by way of a few examples. Love one another with brotherly affliction, not affliction, that sounds bad. Outdo one another in showing honor. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. Live in harmony with one another. How do you do that without a local congregation? How do you do that if you don't know who makes up a local congregation? You see, from a single chapter in our New Testament, Romans 12, we have multiple exhortations. You know, it's like a scattershot of exhortations there, starting with verse nine. We have multiple exhortations that necessitate Christians being planted in a local church together, committed together. It necessitates that. Otherwise, Paul's just wasting his breath here. But this is Paul exhorting the church in Rome. To the church of Galatia, he says, bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. And we could go exhortation after exhortation after exhortation, dozens and dozens of them, exhortations to the church. This is how you live in the context of a local church. How can you ever begin even to do the one and others of the New Testament outside of the context of a local church? Number five, the pastoral argument. Our brother read it this morning, Ford. I was jealous. I would have loved reading that text in Acts 20, but I appreciated how you read it, brother. Paul, in his final address to the elders of the Ephesian church, says this, Acts 20.28, Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God which He obtained with His own blood." How can a pastor pay careful attention to all the flock if he doesn't know who the flock actually is? Turning the tables now, this isn't just pastors. Turning the tables now, believers are commanded to know their leaders well. Hebrews 13, verse 7, remember your leaders. Those who spoke to you the word of God, consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. How can a member of the body do that? apart from knowing who their leaders are. All of this, Acts 20, 28, Hebrews 13, 7. In light of this, Hebrews 13, 17. Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with droning, for that would be of no advantage to you. How could I, Mac, Jeff, Alan, Philip, give an account before God one day of your souls if we don't know who the your are? None of these things can happen in a context where the body, both leader and member, is known, identifiable, accountable. Taking the two Hebrews 13 texts together, means that two lists of names are required, if I could simplify it. A list of church leaders on one hand, a list of church members on another. We have to know who each other are. Number six, the discipline argument. First Corinthians chapter five, verses four and five. When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present with the power of our Lord Jesus, you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord. This chapter is wholly given to addressing a church discipline issue in the church at Corinth, not a universal matter, a Corinthian matter. It's all very personal to the local church. The actual sin is identified, it's publicly named, it's inscripturated for all to see, and even the prescribed directions from the Apostle Paul are outlined in this fifth chapter. Furthermore, hear what Paul says as he concludes his instructions, verses 12 and 13. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? It is not, is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside. Purge the evil person from among you. You see how personal that is. You see that in order to exercise church discipline, the membership actually has to be identifiable and knowable in order for them to truly be accountable. That's the discipline argument. And lastly, number seven, The theological argument. I feel like in ways I've been building from the least to the greatest. We could camp out on here much. Michael did in part. Two weeks ago, I did in part. 1 Corinthians 12, 12, for 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. With Christ. The church is the body of Christ. This speaks to union with our head, most glorious. This also speaks to how Christ carries forward His ministry in the earth. We are His hands and feet, so to speak. Jesus Christ, the Lord of the church, works preeminently, predominantly, wonderfully through His church. the first century, today, and tomorrow. This is the theological underpinning of our doctrine of the local church as Christ's body and the need for church membership. Now, many of you were already convinced, I imagine, that church membership is both viable and valuable. Some of you maybe were here listening this morning and you weren't so sure, maybe a little bit of skepticism, wondering, eh, why do you have to check all those boxes? Why the formality? I hope these scriptural evidences have at least helped. Now I want you to hear the heart behind these appeals and the heart behind a sermon like this on church membership, probably the first sermon that has been preached in the 22 years of this church's history on church membership, I would guess, at least in the 12 that I've been here. Our time is short and the need is very great and the people of this body are downright precious. As an elder in this church, I think I can freely speak for all five of us in saying we are called by God and commissioned to equip the saints for the work of the ministry and to build up the body of Christ. Ephesians 4, 11 and 12. We take that work seriously, God helping us and with much infirmity, but we take that work seriously and are committed to spending and being spent for your sakes. for the glory of Jesus Christ. We want to encourage you in godliness, compel you toward fruitfulness. We want to protect you from wolves. It's part of our calling, part of our commission. To do all of this, we have to know who's in and who's not. Who's a part of the flock I'm called to care for and who's not. This is why church membership is necessary now. With recent growth, In the past several years, this has become increasingly important. We have recently tidied up our membership process, and in March and April, we aim to work back through our updated membership classes for these very reasons. We plan to be more active or more proactive, I should say, in identifying those that are coming to the church, in getting with them on an introductory level, in walking them through the church membership process, the coming eight classes, the statement of faith, et cetera, and then having some sort of final interview to determine if they really do belong here. They're called by God to be here, and they want to be fruitful here. We want to do that in our care for you and for the glory of our dear Savior. Let me be clear. Membership is vitally important. It's a spiritual covering for you. It's a provision to you from a very gracious God. And if you're considering membership at Providence Chapel, or maybe after this morning's sermon, reconsidering it, I want you to hear me loud and clear. Only commit to this body if you are willing to be like that widow in 1 Timothy 5, and be all in, all in. If you aren't ready or willing to lay down your life for these people, and really, you should take a moment and just look around, for these people, if you're not willing to sacrifice yours for theirs, then you need to find another church where you can joyfully and faithfully do so, because that is the need for every believer under heaven. If it's not here, it must be somewhere. If it is here, you got to be all in. With all of her sins and immaturities, this church is precious. You beloved members of Providence Chapel are precious. So if your heart surges with love and joy for this local body, in this local body, then my call to you, Scripture's call to you, the appeal today is to be all in for her. By God's grace, with His empowering help, be all in for her. Simply put, Christ demands your devotion and your loyalty to the local church, to His bride. And in this, He is glorified. Will you join with us and labor to that end? Let's pray. Father, your care for the church is perfect. Again, you know what we need in this season of church life and growth. You know our heart's desire as pastors of this flock. You know intimately every desire, every need within this body. O Lord, may your ministry to us be full and active. May you make us, as a local church, all that we could be for your glory. As lovers of one another, as servants to Christ, as evangelists, as helpers, O Lord, we want to be those that lay down our lives for the sake of this body, ultimately for the sake of your Son. Help us, equip us, move us, quicken us. I ask this in Jesus' name, amen.