Turn with me to First Timothy chapter three. Taking a one week break in our series in Hosea in light of our business meeting after the church to bring to you some needed thoughts and reminders. Verse 15 of First Timothy chapter three. But if I am delayed the apostle Paul writes I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God which is the church of the living God the pillar and ground of truth. Let us pray. Again, our Father, as we quiet our hearts in your presence in preparation for the ministry of your word to all of our hearts, we pray that the spirit of the living God would come and break the bread of life to each and every one of us. would give us clarity of understanding, would broaden our hearts to receive your word and apply it to the innermost being, that you would lead us and guide us, that you would cause your word to be a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path. Open our eyes that we might behold wondrous things from your law. For this is our prayer in Jesus' name, amen. The title is The Church of the Living God, and I'd like to talk about the doctrine of the church today. And I'm going to do a wide survey of a number of things regarding the doctrine of the church. I'm going to paint with a broad brush, but we're going to stop at least three or four times and unpack some of the particulars in the landscape. With all the teaching we have today and with all the resources and the written legacy of the Christian faith left to us by our spiritual forefathers there's a great dearth of teaching on the doctrine of the church and this is a greatly needed doctrine that needs to be expanded and applied both to our minds and our hearts. and our lives, especially in light of the scandalous behavior and rampant false teaching among many so-called pastors today, even church members. We need regular teaching on the doctrine of the church more than ever before. The doctrine of the church is a glorious truth given to us by God in the scriptures. We learn from it how we ought to worship and how we ought to live our lives especially in relationship to the local church. We find the Apostle Paul in First Timothy three giving Pastor Timothy instructions and all pastors that the members of the church ought to know how to behave themselves how to in a broad way relate to the local church. The members ought to know their responsibilities the vision God has in scripture for every member and person in the local church. So with that very brief introduction let's then look at our first point the doctrine of the church. Some of the truths I'll be covering you've heard before but I ask you to give me fresh attention on what I'm about to say because they're timeless. in their application and for the need of the church to live them out. The doctrine of the church is a very important doctrine. There are many truths we can bring out about the church in this brief study, but for our present purposes, let's just look at some of the basics with regard to the foundational underpinnings that the scripture teaches about where you're meeting today, about the organization called the church that you are part of or that you desire to be part of. There are two elements of the church there's the universal church and the local church the universal church consists of believers throughout the entire world universally who are saved they're spread everywhere some are members of the church some are not but they are the universal church is comprised of all believers. throughout the entire world scattered throughout every denomination and every or almost every church then there's the local church which is Christ Bible Church just one of them that has a self-contained autonomous independent structure government. and membership and has all the places or all the features and all of the mechanisms that God has designed for an individual independent local church to function in any given community. And the local church then is to give structure to have structure so that it is self-contained it has all the government diversity diversity of gifts and authority of Christ to cause growth and edification of every single person in the church as long as that church is biblical in the way they conduct their. activities and there's life in the local church spiritual life and as long as they are balanced that is they seek to obey all the counsel of God given to that local collective corporate body of believers. I know I'll be covering quite a bit of material you're welcome to go back through it covered again and again if you'd like but it's very important that we paint a broad picture here so that you have a general idea of the importance of the local church and the necessity of every genuine believer to be part and a member of the local church. Now the church in terms of its government and structure in the Bible is always portrayed as an independent organization though it has sister church relationships with other churches and fellowship with other churches other churches including hierarchical denominational structures have no authority in that local church. So if there's a large denomination spread throughout the world. Biblically speaking the denominational hierarchy the the pope the bishops and any other denominational authority figures has absolutely no authority and has no right to say anything or dictate anything for a local church congregation when you study the church and its structure its government that's just the way it is there's no authority except the apostles and the apostle The office of apostle was a temporary limited office that less than 20 occupied totally according to the portrait we have of the apostolic office from scripture permanently. Apostles had authority in the local church in the first century but no other office leadership office in the local church is identified other than pastor or deacon. and their authority stems from Christ alone as long as that authority is circumscribed by the Bible and conformed to the biblical description of how a pastor is to officially function in the local church. In other words, the pastor has to obey all the scriptures and has to stay within the boundaries of his limited authority that God gives him in his ministry in the local church. The pastor cannot just do anything he wants to do. He cannot just say anything he wants to say. He cannot interpret the Bible any way he wants to. Every single role and duty the pastor has has a list of rules that he has to follow for all of those specific duties in the local church. If he goes outside of those rules, then he is to be corrected. And that correction process is given by Christ to be a check and balance on a local church where other elders are equal in authority as that pastor no matter how long he's been in office. I've been in office in this church for 26 years. And it doesn't matter if a pastor of Christ's Bible Church has been in office for one day he has an equal amount of authority as I do so that there maintains a check and balance in the local church. Of course the Bible teaches that those who are older or longer in the ministry should be respected for various aspects as long as they're faithful. But nevertheless all the elders have parity. in their authority in the local church. The church is organically united to Christ the head and to one another as members. So what is the union we have with Christ corporately and to one another? Is it an organizational union? Is it a theological union? Is it a structural union? No, it's an organic union based in life, essentially. There are other elements to the union. There's a doctrinal union there's other kinds of ways in which we are united to Christ and one another but that union first and foremost is essentially one of life one of life. We must be united to Christ savingly and there must be organic nourishment flowing between us and the Lord Jesus Christ. for us to be alive in the spirit right. So first and foremost our union with Christ is organic and that organic union is initiated by the new birth or regeneration and is perpetuated by the work of the Holy Spirit in us using the truth to sanctify us using his great power to transform us little by little increment incrementally over a lifetime into the image of Christ. And so those are basic principles of the church the doctrine of the church it's independent it's universal and local it has its own structure self-contained it has all of the gifts necessary to edify itself in love the local church can function anywhere in the world under difficult conditions even even persecution suffering even if the church doesn't have All of the gifts that it needs to have to be well rounded it still can function as a local church. OK. Secondly let's look at the doctrine of church membership. We first see the doctrine of the church then the doctrine of church membership. It's one thing to agree that the church is a self-contained organization that has its own government and gifts. But does God require everyone who saved to be a member of a local church and the answer obviously is yes there are many people who say that church membership is not biblical they say it doesn't say local church in the Bible just says church it doesn't say however Trinity in the Bible but we see the doctrine of the Trinity in the Bible taught there we sometimes create words to represent clear and definite teaching in the Bible, like the word Trinity. The word church is in the Bible, and if you look at 1 Corinthians chapter 12, turn with me there to 1 Corinthians chapter 12, 11 through 27, God uses the word member over 11 times to represent His will that we all who are saved become an organic part or member if you will of the body of believers locally first Corinthians chapter 12 beginning of verse 11. But one in the same spirit works all these things distributing to each one individually as he wills now versus 11. through 27 will teach that there is both unity in the local church and diversity. And he uses the metaphor of a human body as the perfect illustration and analogy to teach two very critical truths about membership. And you will find these truths The as the underlying doctrinal foundation of church membership first there's commitment. Secondly accountability. And there's no question that every member of the human body. Has these two elements commitment and accountability. And he transfers that analogy to our membership in the local church. Verse 13 for by one spirit. We were all baptized into one body. whether Jews or Greeks whether slaves or free and I've all been made to drink into one spirit for in fact the body is not one member but many notice the word member there keep mindful of that as we proceed. If the foot should say, because I am not a hand, I am not of the body, is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear should say, because I am not an eye, am I not of the body? Is it therefore not of the body? Stop here. So folks who go around and say, well, I don't see church membership in the body. It's like saying, well, because I'm not an eye or because I'm not a hand or because I don't agree with this doctrine, I'm not a member of the body. Nonsense. Whether the person agrees with this teaching or not, if they profess to be a born again believer, that person is a member of the body. And the idea of membership is defined here. It clearly teaches attachment to a larger group, a commitment to a larger group of believers, and a level of accountability to a larger group. Let's keep reading. Verse 18, but now God has set the members, each one of them, in the body just as he pleased. It doesn't matter what you and I believe. God himself has set the members in the body. He made the decision, and he's the one who teaches that the members should be attached organically to the membership of a local body of believers. 19. If they were all one member where would the body be? But now indeed there are many members yet one body and 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. No, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary, and those members of the body which we think to be less honorable, on these we bestow greater honor, and our unpresentable parts have greater modesty. So in 22 and 23, God is saying, just because a person is weak in faith, just because a person is weak in the body, just because a person is weak emotionally or spiritually, doesn't mean they are not qualified To be a member of the body doesn't mean they're they God doesn't want them to be a member of the body. No, these are identified as unpresentable parts. That is to the human eye. They may not be presentable in appearance. They may not look nice, but they are equal members of the body and they are needed. Verse 24 says, or 23 says, uh, that those members of the body, which we think to be less honorable on these, we bestow the greater honor. and our unpresentable parts have greater modesty. But our presentable parts, verse 24, have no need, but God has composed a body, having given greater honor to that part which lacks it, that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. So we all stand on level ground when it comes to being an equal member of the body. There is no other factors to consider in that regard in terms of equality like male female whether your ethnicity your economic status your your educational status each and every one of us however weak or educated uneducated rich poor we're all equal members of the body of believers and God builds in an element where there are going to be. a percentage of weak members in the body so that not only are you and I constantly challenged to hold these up as better than us, we're constantly challenged to look at them as equal or better than ourselves, we're constantly challenged to reach out to them and minister to them even if you have greater gifts. We are required to minister to the weaker parts of the body. God builds in an element of humility that provides a constant state of self-reforming, challenging us to maintain a high level of love for one another, to consider each other better than ourselves. And the reason is that there should be no schism in the body. Why? Because if we have cliques, if we elevate the ones that are winsome, that are better looking, more knowledgeable, richer, and so forth, then that is gonna fly against every principle that the Lord Jesus Christ taught in the second greatest commandment, that we should love our neighbor as ourselves. and that we are all equal in his eyes, so that there should be no division, no schism, no arguments, no contention in the body, but that the members should have the same care, the same care for one another. And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it. Or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. the body of Christ and members individually. So each believer and he's speaking to the church here in first Corinthians and also to the larger church of all time. Each of us are identified by God through the apostle Paul here in this inspired letter to the Corinthian church as members of the body of Christ. There's no option. We are members of a local church. And so in this passage, the term member and members, as I said, are used to illustrate the intimate spiritual bond between the believer and the larger group, the larger group called the body, the assembly, the church, the local church. We all have an intimate part. Nobody can say, oh, that guy over there? He's weak, he only comes to church once a month. He doesn't give any money, he doesn't do anything, he's just a bench warmer. How can you consider him a member of the church? Well, he's a member of the church, but he's weak. He needs to be built up and the elders are called and required to minister to that weak brother in an equal way as he would minister to everyone else. He's to look at that one through the eyes of Christ. Now, if that person is saved, truly converted, though weak, it means that Christ shed his blood for that person, Christ died for that person, Christ saw fit and went out of his way to sacrifice his body on the cross for that weak, despicable member, perhaps in our eyes despicable, Christ saw fit to give up his life for that member, right? Therefore, we are to view that member the same way as Christ does, right? Some of us have good jobs, we've got great education, we've got a house and two cars, we've got everything that the world esteems highly. We've got maybe credibility and respect in the church and everyone looks up to us. What about that person? We have to treat that person, that brother, who's weak in the faith and has all these other aspects about his life, that no matter how hard he has tried, He still can't seem to get over this plateau of weakness until the Lord comes along and jumpstarts his faith and brings him up to that level. There are some who stay in one state of spirituality without growing for 10 20 years. I know what I'm talking about. Pastors need to be objective and patient and loving. They need to minister to people even if they're at the same level of spiritual growth even if they're stunted in their growth for 10 and 20 years. They need to push through all their frustrations as pastors. They need to forget about the thought that comes into their mind, oh, I've told this guy a hundred times what he needs to do. But he's still not growing. He needs to minister to that sheep as Christ would have him do, as Christ would, patiently, perseveringly, lovingly, non-judgmentally. Amen? Because I know that's the way the Lord deals with me. Amen? That's the way the Lord treats me. And that's the way we need to treat one another. But the flesh always tends to gravitate towards cliques. We tend to fellowship with the people that are like us or that we connect with. We tend to gravitate to cliques. But when we have more of the spirit in, then we're able with the love of Christ to reach out to everybody and show the same love to one another. Because the Holy Spirit enables us to see something in another person to love even though there's nothing lovable in them. I know when I'm filled with the Spirit I can almost look like Hitler and look at Hitler and love him. When the Spirit of God re-implants the heart of Christ, you could pity a Hitler. Lord, he's blind. He murdered millions, but he's blind. He's lost. He needs to be saved. And I don't, of course, mean The Hitler who is still alive because he's not, but there might be a Hitler today that you look at and, ah, that person could never be saved. The only difference between that mass murderer and you is God gave that person over to follow the dictates of his own heart. And you and I, without the restraining grace of God in our hearts, would commit the same murders, right? Different people, but it's the grace of God. Like I said, the term members are members used To describe this intimate bond between the believer and church this spiritual union between the members is so deep or supposed to be an intimate that any individual member does not have the choice to accept or reject this union. and its spiritual activities that we're to be engaged in as a member of the local church united with other members. That choice is reserved for divine sovereignty alone as 18 teaches us verse 18. So this text in 1st Corinthians 12 conveys the idea of commitment accountability and spiritual attachment to the local church like no other text in the New Testament. What a metaphor or analogy. What other metaphor or analogy could portray the doctrine of the church and the doctrine of membership any better than a human body with all its parts fitly joined together? Because the terms member and members are used 13 times in this passage in describing the believer's commitment to the church, we can even conclude that the phrase church membership is biblical, because you're using two biblical terms to describe a doctrine that it clearly teaches. Now, most of you, if not all of you, are already convinced that membership is biblical. I need to bring it up because it's an important foundation. Everyone cannot just do what's right in their own eyes if they name the name of Christ. They cannot just run around needing no help from the church. God has ordained it and planted within the activities and the biblical dynamic within the gatherings and fellowship of the local church, to have a certain level of edification that produces growth in my life only take place in the context of the local church fellowship and activities. Those who are arrogant and prideful and say, like mavericks do, they don't need the church because of the scars they had in their past bad experiences and all these other excuses they make. The commandment of God still stands that we're to be members of a local church. And without the use of the member's gifts in his life, in this person's life, without all the spiritual ministry that God has intended to build up each member of the body only when in attendance at a worship service or a prayer meeting or the fellowship of gathered believers. That individual member is going to be a lot weaker and more susceptible and vulnerable to temptations and the fiery darts of the wicked one because they have an arrogant attitude. An unsubmissive attitude towards this command to be a member of the local church now certainly I'm not preaching on this to solicit some of you to be members of the church we don't do that the Holy Spirit has to lay that on your heart in God's time but certainly we need not have a casual or indifferent attitude about church membership it's commanded and anything God commands we need to be zealous about obeying. So. With that backdrop, let's look at, quickly, four things about membership. The first, which I've already laid out for you, because I have a number of verses I can use, but I'm not going to go into them because of a lack of time. We looked at the principles of church membership, and those two principles are commitment. My arm is committed to my body. It's not going to jump off and do its own thing. My eyeball is committed to seeing what the rest of my body needs to see to help protect the whole body. It's not going to pop out and go off on its own. That's a vivid metaphor to describe the level of commitment that all of you should have to the local church and accountability. We are accountable. Every one of us has various people God set in our lives to hold us accountable so that we obey God's law and man's law. I have several people in my life who I'm accountable to. Somebody said, oh, Pastor Joe, you're just accountable to God. No, God has put a number of people in my life. He's also put a body of people in my life called this local church. And everybody watches me. I know that, that comes with the territory. And if I go out of the way, people know that I'm approachable. I want people to come and email me, phone calls. Talk to me at church and say, Pastor Joe, you know, I was thinking about something you said in your sermon, or I noticed something. Is that biblical? With all due respect, is that biblical? And if it's not, I'd be the first to thank that person because I'm now, because I was corrected the right way and no longer doing something wrong that I used to do. Now I'm more knowledgeable. He's helped me or she's helped me become more obedient to God than I was before. So the principles of church membership that this doctrine of church membership rests upon our commitment and accountability. Secondly there's qualifications of church membership not just anybody can be a member of the church. I don't know how some of these pastors do it. They give an altar call and somebody they met for the first time they. That person offers the shallowest profession of faith, and oh, you could be a member. The Bible says the two qualifications of membership are salvation and baptism. You can't be a member of the body unless you're alive, unless you have this living union with Christ, and you can't really, you shouldn't be a member of the body in open disobedience to one of the most important, well, one of only two important ordinances that God has given us in the New Testament, that of baptism. Thirdly the responsibility of church members. I'll just list them. There are probably hundreds of responsibilities and I'm not listing them to give you a guilt trip. And if you're a member of the church I'm not. My motive here is not to give you a guilt trip. It's important that we know what our responsibilities are but we point you to Christ because all of us in this room how many of us have not failed at one time or another to live up to your commitment as a church member at Christ Bible Church in one way or another. And it could be because you forgot or it wasn't intended, but still maybe you broke one of these rules in the Bible for church members. But we have the Lord Jesus Christ who was always transforming and sanctifying, cleansing, renewing us in every area of our lives, including our responsibilities as church members to make us better. to make us better. He's there when we fall, when we fail as church members to lift us up, renew our hope, help us understand what a joyful privilege it is to be a member of his church and receive forgiveness and keep on moving. Thank God for a shepherd, the head of the church who nurtures his sheep so gently as members of his churches. And the more he nurtures us in love and gentleness the more loyal and dedicated we become as we see over and over again the wonders of his patience and his kindness and his ability to teach us in a way that moves us to obey out of love. So first is members have to be at the meetings. You can't avail yourself to all these blessed gifts of the spirit that God has given the other members and all these wonderful services, the preaching and teaching of the word, the communion service, and all of these other things we are commanded to do unless you're there. We all get weak, we all get discouraged, but you still have to obey. If you don't have the greatest motives and obedience, God still wants you to obey. Right? What? We're not going to obey because we don't feel like it? We're not up to it? We're depressed today? No, we still obey. Right? Trust and obey for there's no other way. Two, guard the unity of the church. Remember, the church is not about me. Edification is one of the highest goals next to the glory of God in the church. Our other member, brothers, sisters, edification is more important than me expressing my feelings. Although there's a place for that. Number three, we're to use our spiritual gifts to edify the body. God didn't give us a gift to bury it in the sand or to put it on a shelf and have it lie dormant. Some of the fruit we bear in which we receive eternal rewards come from the use of our spiritual gifts in believers lives not in unbelievers lives that's another category evangelism discipleship that's fruit fruit comes from those efforts of outreach and evangelism but then there's fruit that we bear from the members of the body by using our gifts among the members and that takes preparation. To use your gift to the fullest benefit for the glory of God and the help of the brethren. Number four, we need to support the church with gifts and offerings financially. The church has bills to pay, right? Just like you have a budget and you have bills to pay. The church has bills to pay. God commands us to give financially to his work. We'll get into that later on not in this message but later on. Number five we need to bear with the weaknesses and imperfections of the church. Everyone you see on Sunday or any other time the church gathers including the elders and the deacons and the teachers of this church is imperfect is weak in one way or another. How many of you will say I'm not weak. I don't sin every day in one way or another knowingly or unknowingly. I'm the first on the list. I'm weak. To conduct my ministry, I need the Lord all the time to help me. To live physically, I need the Lord every second to keep me alive. To be what God wants me to be. I'm weak and He alone is my strength. So when you look at each other in those eyes, looking to yourself first, removing the log out of your own eyes so that you can help remove the speck out of your brother's eye, nine times out of 10 will be less likely to go to somebody, because if everyone is always criticizing and rebuking and correcting and admonishing, we'd not have a church, we'd have a court proceedings when we gather. But we're to be patient with one another. We're all a work in progress. We need to give each other some space, because God is dealing with each of us in his own way, according to his own timetable. If a pastor dealt with every single member the same way, with the highest expectations, there'd be no members in the church. It would just be Owen and me, and then we'd be looking judgmentally at each other. But we need to remember as elders, just like the Lord Jesus deals with us, that every single one we minister to is at a different level in every way. And we just need to size that person up and say, okay, I need to minister to them on this level, And then when I see the Lord Jesus bringing them up a notch then I go up a notch. But I got to wait for the Lord to bring them up a notch. I'm not going to manipulate them up a notch. I'm not going to push them or drive them up a notch. I have to wait until the Lord brings them up a notch and sometimes it's years before they go up a notch. Who am I to say when I just sit back OK Lord keep on this level on this level without judging them because I could be the same way. bear with the weaknesses and imperfections of the church. Number six, submit to the lawful, with the emphasis on lawful, authority of the church. Elders or pastors, the term is synonymous, are to be loving leaders by way of example. We lead by example and by love. Okay? And when you have confidence that God has Raised up to elders at Christ Bible Church and one or one of those elders or both of those elders come with you with something that you need to look at in your life may be change may be correct and those elders are gentle and they're patient and they're kind and they're bringing it to you with love looking to themselves first. You need to obey it right. You need to obey it because it's coming from God not from them. It's rooted in scripture. We're not dictators or tyrants here but when we do come with lawful authority and bring something to you, you need to say okay it's biblical. I can't ask for a better attitude. I need to do it. I need to do it. Not everyone has the right attitude. And elders need to be careful, yes, but we don't fight back. Don't shoot the messenger. We're just a messenger. I didn't write this Bible but I apply it as the Lord would have me to his word in a person's life with the demeanor and the tone God would have me use. And if you say no, then you're not resisting man, you're resisting God. The privileges of church membership, one vote per member in all of our congregational meetings. Number two, physical care provided by the church as needed. We should have no member of the church living on the streets. As long as one member has a couch or could set up an air mattress, nobody should be on the street. Physical care. Number three, spiritual care provided by the members. Administering to the needs of the body and its hurting members. Bearing one another's burdens. Praying for one another. Just listening at times. Not talking, but listening to another member. Sincerely, genuinely sympathetic to the other person. with a heart for that person. Number four, every member has the privilege to express views and ask questions. Decisions have been made by the elders in the 26 year history of this church based on the wonderful advice given by another member, not a deacon per se or a teacher, but another member. One person can only see things or two men can only see things two ways. But there are other views, other ideas that are helpful. So every member has the right to express their views, ask questions, give suggestions. Number five, opportunities for service. To serve, use your gift to serve. We have many ministries. Which one do you want to serve in? Take a pick, take your pick. So we have the qualifications, the principles rather, the qualifications, the responsibilities and privileges of church membership. Let me paint a quick vision, the next thought, of the local church. I'm just gonna lay it out, not gonna explain it. A biblical church has goals. There's three goals that every church has according to the Bible. The first is to glorify God, that's our goal. Day and night, the elders, should be eating, sleeping, breathing. Is God being glorified at Christ Bible Church? If we don't see God being glorified, it should break our hearts. We should be on our faces. We should ask ourselves, what is Joe and Owen doing wrong? Or what are we doing wrong? Is our worship going in the right direction? Are our activities mainly spiritual and are they pure? And is the Holy Spirit working through them? If God's not being glorified and if we don't see spiritual fruit from our worship, from our evangelism, from our holy walk, then we've got problems. God's not getting glory. and we need to step back as elders and say, okay, here's the situation, like we will do later on this afternoon, giving everyone an updated evaluation or assessment of where the elders think we're at right now or where we can improve. The elders need to be concern mostly for the glory of God, not for us, not to have our agenda implemented in the body, not to have any one member's agenda implemented because they're a person of status or money, no. We want to see God glorified, that's the first goal. The second goal is the salvation of souls. We want to see souls saved. And we can't be schlepping around, moping around, sitting on our hands, or sitting on our hands, in that we have to be pushing, pushing, pushing, praying always, God save souls. We need to aim high using every legitimate means God's given us to get God's attention, to have our prayers for the salvation of souls answered. Why do you think the elders or me in particular are always texting and emailing and asking, come to the prayer meeting? Because if you're not at the prayer meeting, both corporately and during the middle of the week at the cell groups and in your own individual life with intercessory prayers, We're not going to see that many people saved. He uses the prayers of his people to bring others to a place of conversion. God does all the saving. Christ does all the dying for them. The Holy Spirit does all the drawing of them but he's ordained it. He's designed it that through the preaching of a weak individual and through the prayers of weak individuals that he will save those that believe. So it is an urgent for us to pray. It's not an option. If we have unsaved people in the church, if we have unsaved people in our family and in our acquaintances at work, In each one of those situations, it's a life and death situation, is it not? But because we're human and weak, our urgency for their salvation diminishes. It tends to grow cold. And we need to be in the place where we are constantly quickened and stirred up and reminded of the urgency and the desperate notion and truth that souls need to be saved. And you should expect your pastors, as painful as it may be, to get that text from Pastor Joe with a quote from Thomas Watson or John Owen that said, he that's not at a prayer meeting, there's something wrong in his life. I'm quoting not verbatim, summarizing. Oh, I didn't wanna hear that today. Oh, here's another guilt trip from Pastor Joe. Now, if you know anything about John Owen, he's one of the greatest theologians in the church. These are my teachers, many of these men, and I've learned from them. And they reflect what God has taught in the scripture, what God has given to his people. We are the frontline organization that God has ordained to reflect his burden, his concern, his tears, his groans, his desires for the salvation of the world. As we see in the wonderful biblical example of our Lord Jesus when he was weeping for Jerusalem. Oh Jerusalem and he knew all the theology behind why they didn't believe and why most of them died and went to hell. He knows all the Calvinism before Calvinism was born. but he still wept for them and prayed for them in his humanity he prayed for them he prayed for Peter that his faith would not fail he prayed for Peter John and James when they fell asleep in the garden of Gethsemane he's constantly praying though we knows the theology of election he himself is the word and he Along with the father rather the father chose those who would believe and gave them to the son he knows all about it. Why even bother praying somebody would say the hyper Calvinist would ask because God told us to. He told us to and it's an amazing condescending privilege on the part of God to use us in this process of the gathering of the Saints unto eternal life while we're here in this temporary world we are about we are to be about our master's business and anything else that we do even things that God gives us as gifts and. legitimate gifts, even our jobs and education, all of this, they're but interruptions in our desire to serve God, in our responsibility to walk with God. So we need to be a spiritual ministry. A ministry that is spiritual. Our minds are spiritual. Our outlook is spiritual. And we want to see spiritual results. We expect spiritual fruit. And our activities are primarily spiritual towards that end. We need to be a balanced ministry of word and spirit. Balanced. Not just dead Orthodox where we have preaching and teaching with no heart and love and affection for Christ himself. No, we need to have word and spirit. We need to preach the word and we need the spirit to apply the word and be active in our fellowship and in our membership. We need to be a Christ-centered ministry. Christ, Christ, Christ, everything is about Christ. Did he not say, without me you can do nothing? Did he not say that he is the summation of our everything, everything we are and have and are? He is the sum of it. How can we not talk much about Christ in our one-on-one fellowship, in our group fellowship, in our preaching and teaching? How is it that many churches, they go off on a tangent and you hear about Christ and the doctrines of Christ. and all the other roles and offices and perfections of Jesus Christ, but once a year or twice a year taught out of their catechisms. And they've got to go through their catechism once a year to make a revolution in their catechism. Preachers, however, should preach Christ because they love Christ, because Christ and his presence and his word is burning in their hearts, and they can't help it, lest if they shut up, they'll explode. We need to be a praying ministry, praying. If we don't pray, we're saying, we can do it, God, we don't need you. Or at least pay lip service towards it, but not in reality. We're not praying. This is a day where the church is more dead to prayer, I think, than in the history of the world, the entire world. Individual churches don't want to pray, but we have to fight that tendency. We have to fight and battle against that tendency, don't we? The flesh does not want to go into the prayer meeting. The flesh does not want to make it his business to be the first one through the door. Because we have busy lives. Make them less busier. Have less things. If you have less things, that means you have less bills, and it means you have more time to serve the Lord, pray, and do the work of the Lord. vision for the church. There's an element of the doctrine of church membership that carries another huge stewardship and it's the matter of worship. Worship is not something that is to be approached flippantly or haphazardly. It's a huge responsibility. And most of the work takes place before the actual event, corporately at least. But there's individual worship. It means every day you and I need to worship the Lord in our walk, in our quiet time. It's a daily responsibility. He's called us to use the means of grace in worship, reading, prayer, intercession, meditation. And this helps us to maintain the mind of Christ. We need Christ outlook when we leave our home so that everything is interpreted through the mind of Christ so that we can give a biblical and obedient response to everything we do and encounter. We need to always be ready to worship wherever we are on the bar train if you're in the spirit. If you have an attitude of worship, an outlook of worship, you could worship him on the bar train. Wherever you're going, you're driving. It's a huge individual stewardship. It's also a corporate responsibility that requires preparation. I'm not going to ask you how many prepared before you came into worship today. I'm not going to ask you to raise your hand. But preparation is needed. There needs to be unity of purpose. Do you as a member or as a regular visitor considering membership believe that at Christ Bible Church, worship in the spirit and worship in the truth is an extremely high priority? Is that one of the reasons why you're here to begin with? There needs to be a unity of purpose in this. We need to all agree. We need to be stirring each other up, stirring each other up, exhorting one another on this. Hey, brother, afterwards, when the church is in fellowship, hey, brother, you know, I was really able to worship today. I made it a matter of prayer before and it works. God answers prayer. Yeah, I did the same thing, brother, but I didn't have as much liberty as I did last week. It's a matter of fellowship and encouraging one another and quickening one another over. Unity of purpose. Corporate worship demands that we seek the Spirit's help. It's something you cannot just do in your flesh. And of course when all of those Adams meet and so to speak and we worship corporately where the presence of God is there all you just know God is being glorified. But fifthly we need an atmosphere of respect and godly decorum as befits the occasion we can't just come in here. Slap, back slapping and joking, coarse jesting and fool with foolishness. We've got to be careful. Doesn't Proverbs say you need to be careful when you come into the house of God, what you say, what you do. But there needs to be decorum. Our dress, our attire needs to be modest, right? Less other stumble. Cell phones need to be turned off. Unlike last Sunday when four people were texting while I was preaching. against going through the motions. There needs to be the doing away of light or a flippant mindset, as I suggested. There are others who just talk during worship. They just talk. It's like, well, I'm bored. I'm bored with worship. Might as well talk to this person next to me. How are you doing today? And if you are that person that you should say, shh, I'm trying to worship, please. and physical displays of affection like scratching each other's back, rubbing shoulders, holding hands, leaning on shoulders. Save that for outside of here. We're worshiping the Lord. Most of us are so sensitive physically that even a touch stirs up the flesh, right? Keep that for another time in the bedroom if you're married. But not in the house of God. Christ is looking. He's seeing this Sensory emotional attitude. True worship demands the full use of everything we are. Our affections are to be poured into our worship. Our intellect, our intellect, we're to be listening carefully to every word. What does that mean? How does that apply to my life? Our memory and intellect is to be fully engaged. Our emotions. If we feel the Holy Spirit prompting us with joy, it's okay to praise the Lord. I'm not saying shout, praise the Lord. As long as it doesn't cause others to stumble in worship. You remember we had a guy here one time about two years ago, I forgot his name. Every other word was amen, amen. Nobody could follow the sermon. I forgot his name. You know most of you know who I mean. Douglas bless his heart. I mean his heart was in the right place. And today we still have good fellowship with Douglas once in a while when we see him. We never had an argument with that dear brother. But this man loved the preaching of the word so much he couldn't stop saying amen every other word. And I'm not saying that's the right thing to do. We wouldn't be able to get through the sermon. But. I think you understand my point. Lastly, thirdly, the doctrine of spirituality. Spirituality, active spirituality, which means the church is a spiritual organism. Yes, it has government, it has organization to it, and God has built into that level of organization only enough that we need to function in an organized way to be able to do things decently in an order that would foster order. But it ought not to be the baby and we throw out, or not to be the bathwater and we throw out the baby. In other words, we need to be focused on those spiritual exercises and activities that would build up the body spiritually. And there is no such thing in the Bible, therefore, as an inactive church membership where the members don't participate in the spiritual activities of the body, because in essence, we are spiritual people. Yes, we still have a body, but the flesh wars against the body, lusts against the spirit, so that we cannot do the things that we would, yes, but we are given our Lord Jesus Christ, we are given the Holy Spirit to help us overcome the works of the flesh, that constantly militate against the works of the spirit in us. But we are a spiritual people we understand that and the greatest commandments in the Bible teach us that fact in terms of our responsibility to love God with all of our heart mind and strength and to love each other. It requires the full exercising and involvement of our moral and spiritual faculties, or you're not gonna be able to fulfill those two great commandments. Active spirituality, not inactive. It grieves my heart when I become aware of the events of any particular church, and that Sunday worship service is the only event they have that comes close to a spiritual activity, and even that one hour has about 75% of it devoted to entertainment and other things that often are very fleshly in nature. So when you boil it all down, they have about 15 minutes a week where they strive and struggle to worship God in spirit and in truth. The other activities are, you know, the soccer, the First Baptist Church soccer team, or, you know, all these other activities. to cater to every age group in the church. But we were saved and for a very strict clear purpose to be spiritually engaged with God and with one another because when God blesses that he receives glory. We're to be spiritually involved with one another and the motivation behind these two things is the love of Christ compelling us driving us. And the nature of the church requires and the purpose of the church requires your active spiritual involvement in our activities. And if you can't do that because you're outside Commitments don't allow you to do it, then you need to change your outside commitments. God is number one in our lives. God is number one in our lives. Can I say that? God is number one. He doesn't take second place. We don't cast the bones to him. Whatever's left at the end of our schedule, at the end of our pocketbook, the end of paying bills, the end of this, that. God is number one. We're to be servants and slaves of Christ. Our all is to be committed to him. And we need to adapt that truth to our busy lives and our culture that is constantly trying to suck more time out of us, and more money from us, and more efforts from us, and more strength from us. It's still the world when you come to the end of that conclusion. It's still the world. It may be much more sophisticated than a hundred years ago, but its desire is still to suck everything out of us, that we are to devote to Jesus Christ. We need to be a lot more sophisticated and wise in the way in which we make commitments so that at the end of the day and at the end of the week, We can wear all of the multifaceted hats that God would have us wear faithfully. Husband, wife, church member, we're to witness, we're to pray, we're to read, we're to do how many things every single day? How can you wear all those hats faithfully and fulfill those roles for the glory of God and in the way God wants you to fulfill them unless you have time to do it. Right? to keep up with the spiritual needs of this church, I find I have to use every second of every day wisely. If you talk to my wife, she will tell you how often I'm doing two to three things at once. They call it multitasking, Brother Rob? Because while I'm driving, I'm trying to get some phone calls in, so two things at once, so I can spend more time in other spiritual areas. Now, of course, Bluetooth, Bluetooth thanks brother Will. Legally. Well you say most of the Christians don't do that they just kind of schlep along and do their own thing. Well we're all going to stand before the judgment seat of Christ aren't we. To give an account if we're not saved obviously. If we're saved we don't give an account for our sins because Christ paid our debt, our sin debt. Thank God for that. But our rewards will be given based on the spiritual fruit or the fleshly works, the wood, hay, and stubble, the gold, silver, and precious stones. Time is important. It gets away from every one of us. Active spirituality. Spiritual gifts of believers require an active spirituality. When was the last time you consciously exercised your gift in the assembly of God's people? If most or maybe half of all of you can't remember, that's a problem. It means you're not praying about it. It means you're not consciously aware or actively desiring to exercise your gift in obedience to the word of God. That means half of this church, is unfaithful, is not faithful when it comes to exercising your spiritual gift. That's a problem. That's a problem for Owen and for me. It should cause our hearts to be broken. Now, I don't know what the percentage is. There's always going to be some percentage, but not half, not half of the membership. That's serious. It's a serious issue. It means we're not fulfilling our calling, our stewardship, not exercising our spiritual gift. God designed that gift in you and in me to be exercised somewhere during our lifetime as Christians for the fruit of that exercise gift to redound to his glory. Jesus has a parable or two devoted to this very issue concerning those servants, those virgins, those people that don't either exercise their gift or have oil for their lamps or are not faithful on their watch in this life. I'm not happy for more members of Christ's Bible Church. Owen is not happy just to get more members of Christ's Bible Church who don't function as active spiritual representatives and children of the living God. We need people who are saved first. And more and more I'm convinced that we have We have a very great work ahead of us. I feel like we're just getting started after 26 years. I know this was a hard message to hear. Jesus said to those who said to him in John 6, this is a hard saying, who can hear it? Only those who have the ears of the spirit and a heart of submission to God and a love for Christ will hear this message and take action. I am not here and Owen is not here to tell you what you want to hear. We're here to shepherd your never dying souls. You and I never know when we're going to be gone. When God will call our number and say next take him or her up. Some of us have serious issues in our lives that are causing our health and other things to go downhill, emotionally, physically, and otherwise. We're seeing things get worse and worse in some ways, not better and better. But like I say all the time, suffering is part of it. But when we see these negative things going on in our lives, we should at least sometimes say, what message is God trying to say to us? Is he using things to chastise us, to get our attention, to wake us up? Because you definitely don't want to start dealing with this the moment you die and you stand before God on judgment day. Now is the day of salvation. Now is the acceptable time. Now, while we have some time left as believers, are we to make up for lost time and bear fruit for the Lord. But the first thing, in the first place, it requires dedication. Now, of course, we're all weak. Like I said earlier in the message, we all fall short. I fall short. But it should never be because of a lack of dedication and consecration. It should never be because we're just doing, we're desiring to do the bare minimum to get by. Do you love the Lord Jesus Christ? That's the motivation, that's the inspiration for doing what we do, love for him. Do you not remember that he gave up your life for him? do you not remember he said seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be given to you don't worry sufficient for the day is the evil thereof he who does not forsake all that he has and pay take up his cross and follow Christ will not enter the kingdom of God it's not our works but if we're saved the Holy Spirit progressively gives us a dedicated desire to be more faithful to God. And it's all by grace. We look to Christ to do it. And wherever we lack and fall short, we fall down before Christ who is willing, ready, and able, and even commanded that we go to him. If he's commanded something, isn't he going to give us the grace to do it? He loves us. It doesn't tease us he doesn't frustrate us do this on your own. No he gives us the grace to do it but we must have this vision for being active spiritually. There is no excuse for disobedience none none. Let's be obedient Christians let's be engaged and involved in a spiritual ministry individually with the Lord and corporately with the brethren. Let's mean business and it's not going to be without a battle in the flesh that God is going to help you through but it's going to be a battle in the flesh for you to go to the next level and break free from the strongholds that you've been held in some of you for maybe months and years. I don't understand. I don't understand, but I just am trying to be faithful as a pastor to your soul. God looks at you as a living soul, a member of his church, you're one of his sheep, and he's gonna get through to you. Stubbornness and all, he's gonna get through. He'll take away your health and slow your lifestyle down, and boom, you're in bed, flat on your back. You can't move. All right, God, I'm listening. It's happened to me three or four times in 40 years of being a Christian. I'm listening, I'm really listening. What do you want me to do? It's because Christ loves us. He loves his church. He's not going to give up on you. He saved you. He already forgave your sins if you're a believer. You're a member of Christ's church. He is not going to give up on you. And he knows how to get your attention. He knows how to keep you from temptation. He knows how to bring you back gently to the sheepfold when you wander. He's not going to give up on you. Listen now to him who is calling you. Father we close in prayer thanking you for your church. Thanking you for the patience and the wisdom and the grace you've given your people to bear with the word of exhortation. We pray that you would help all of us from the greatest to the least to apply this word to our lives that we would understand the doctrine of the church the doctrine of church membership and the doctrine of active spirituality teach each and every one who's heard this message. The truth of those three doctrines forming your doctrine of the church help us to respect the church and be godly and faithful church men and church women because Lord Jesus you love the church that so much that you gave yourself for her in Jesus name we pray. Amen.