Well, we are continuing our series on the doctrine of the church this morning. And if you would, please turn with me to the book of Hebrews in chapter 10. And we're gonna pick up right where we left off. Last week, we considered this fundamental foundational principle that there is and ever was and ever will be one people of God. and this one people, the church, yet we understand and we distinguish between the church visible and the church invisible. And today we wanna dive into the importance of the visible church, and in particular, why the visible church is so important and why membership within the church is so important. There are many different passages in our Bibles that stress this point. We could have considered a lot of them, but this morning we want to use Hebrews chapter 10, as our starting point as we consider this important topic. So look with me at Hebrews chapter 10. I'm gonna start reading for us in verse 19. This is the word of the Lord. Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he has opened for us through the curtain, that is through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, Let us draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some. but encouraging one another, and all the more, as you see the day drawing near. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we are your household. You have saved us through the body and blood of Jesus Christ, the once for all sacrifice of his blood that washes us clean. And because all this is true, we are to live in respect of this calling that we have. So help us this morning to do that. Grant us eyes to see and ears to hear and hearts that are willing and ready to receive your word. In Jesus' name, amen. I was just talking with someone the other day about good podcasts, and one of them is called Theocast. And one of the hosts, John Moffitt, he popped up on my feed this week and he had this excellent quote that really sets the stage for what this sermon is all about. He says, if God thought you were safe and strong on your own, he wouldn't have given us the church. And that really strikes at the heart of what we're talking about this morning and in this series on the church in general. It's unfortunate that so many Christians today hold so little value in the local church. It's the one institution that God himself has instituted that he divinely rules. It's the only thing that he promises that he himself will build. It's the only one that he has given his gifts of grace. But many times we hear people say something like, I have Jesus and I don't have any need for the church. Or they would say something like this, that I love Jesus, he's great, I'm a big fan of Jesus, but I don't care that much about the church. If we were to put that, sentiment into theological terms based on the categories we've been talking about in this series, the argument that's being made in a statement like that is this, that I can be a member of the invisible church without needing to be a member of the visible church. That's what they're saying. I can have saving faith in Christ and that's all I need without joining myself to any local community of fellow believers. The only problem with that kind of division is that that's found nowhere in Scripture. Nowhere in our Bible, nowhere in the New Testament is there a Christian who's described as being alone, being without the body of believers, without the church. And so there's so many passages we could look at to see this point. Acts chapter 2 right away, we see that as new believers come to faith after Peter's sermon on the day of Pentecost, it says that they were received and added into the number, that is into the body of believers, into the church. In 1 Corinthians 16 and Acts chapter 20, we see how the The saints would gather on the first day of the week, on Sunday, the Lord's day, that's the day that Christ raised from the dead, and so Christians now gather as the Christian Sabbath on Sunday. We worship the risen Lord on the Lord's day, and we gather together. They do not neglect to meet together corporately. Many places that we could look at, but our passage, and let's look there again now, so look there with me, it really drives home the importance of the local visible household of God. So the author of Hebrews, he's just finished summarizing what Christ as the greater high priest, as the greater sacrifice, all that he's accomplished, compared to the old covenant sacrificial system, all that, that are only ever just types and shadows. We did a series in Hebrews last year, I think we finished it up before I got here, but I know that you've heard Hebrews faithfully preached to you. You know what this is all about. So all this is true. Christ's sacrifice was once for all. His blood truly accomplishes the forgiveness of sins and cleanses His people from their guilt. So in verses 19 through 21, he summarizes all that he's already talked about. He's summarizing what Christ has done for us. So look there again. He says, therefore brothers, since we have confidence to enter into holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is through the flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God. You notice the word since there. He's laying the foundation of a causal argument. So we can draw near to God by Jesus' blood. He has provided the means of our salvation through his sacrifice. He is our great high priest over, and notice that, over the house of God, over us, we are his household. And since, or because these things are true, the author then makes a series of imperatives. These are a series of commands, of exhortations. Because this is true, Let us then do this and do that, verses 22 through 25. Let us then draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith. Because of what Christ has done, let us then hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering. Because of what Christ has done, let us then consider how to stir up one another to love and good works. And notice what's important for us today that we're considering, let us not neglect to meet together. as is the habit of son, but always meeting together to encourage one another, to help one another in our confession of faith, to help one another and remind each other of what is true of us in Christ Jesus, our Lord. This is the corporate reality of the Christian faith. We are to gather together. so that we can encourage one another, edify one another in our calling towards love and good work, stirring one another up, holding fast, holding each other accountable to the confession of our faith, reminding ourselves of what is true. And you know, this can and it should be done throughout the week. You know, I think the author has that in mind. We should always be thinking of ways that we can be together. So it certainly includes that, but it's not less than Sunday. Sundays are important because that is the day that the church gathers as the church to receive Christ's blessings, His word and His sacrament, and to worship God together. And that is what we are called to do, to not neglect this most important meeting. So we are the household of God, we must never neglect to meet together. This is the importance that we see in this passage about the visible household of God. So I hope already you see in this passage the importance of belonging to this special community and the necessity of our life together. But in the rest of our time this morning, I want us to dig deeper into this topic of the visible church, the household of God, why it's so important. And we're gonna do that by asking these three diagnostic questions of why and how and who. So first, we're gonna ask the question why. Why is the visible church, the household of God, why is that so important? And in particular, why is membership in the household of God so important? And then second, we'll ask how. I'm convinced that the church is important. Well, how do I join myself to a particular church? How does membership work? And then thirdly, who, who can be a member of the church? So those are the three things, the why, how, and who. We're gonna spend the bulk of our time on that first question of why, but let's jump in and look there together. So why is church membership so important? There's so many different arguments for why the church, why church membership is so important. Our passage already has laid out some of those reasons. Even still, it's very common for us to wonder why it's necessary at all. So many people are skeptical of church membership. They have an underlying suspicion. I can relate more to this argument. Why do you need me to join formally into the church? It's the same kind of thing when you're at the checkout line. Why do you really need my number? You don't need me to give you my number just to buy some eggs and milk. This is not necessary. You have something else in mind. We think that way about church membership at times. What's the ulterior motive you have behind wanting me to join? Others wonder why it's necessary at all. If I already belong to Jesus, then why do I need to go through this formal process of joining a church that seems superfluous? What complicates this even further, there are churches who have made errors in both of those directions. There are churches who have held to such strict membership requirements that put legalistic burdens upon their people that are contrary to the word of God. That's absolutely true. And it's so unfortunate. And there are churches who do not value membership much, if at all. And so by their own example, they've demonstrated that there seems to be some lack of necessity in doing this membership thing. But regardless of those errors, what we see in scripture is that the church and church membership are important. They are biblical. There are many ways that we see this. And I wanna consider a few of them together. So why the church is important, why church membership is important. One of the ways we see this is that the New Testament assumes church membership. So yes, there is no Bible verse that says you must be a member of a church. If there was, I would have started with that this morning. But that's not how we read our Bibles. We don't read our Bibles that way. That's a form of biblicism. That's not proper exegesis of the text. We read our Bibles as one cohesive story that's holistically and ultimately inspired by one divine author. And when we read the New Testament, especially the doctrinal and the instructive sections of the epistles and the letters, we see that church membership is assumed throughout. So just as an example, take 1 Thessalonians chapter 5. Paul says that we ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you. and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work." So you see, Paul, he's talking about the elders of the church. How can the elders be over someone to labor among them in love and to work among them and admonish them? How can that be without there being some sort of formal understanding and relationship between elder of the church and member of the church? Our passage we read earlier, Hebrews 10, demonstrates this well. How are they to gather together? Who are they to gather together with? Who are they to encourage and to stir up? What are they to confess if it's not some known group of people who have dedicated themselves to one another with a common confession of faith? Their great commission, going all the way back to that mandate, that itself likewise assumes that those who are saved by the gospel would be joined into the body of believers. That's why the commission is to go and make disciples. It's not to go and make converts only. to go and make disciples of all the nations. And disciples are those who grow in their faith, who are students of Christ Jesus and who are disciples among others. And we see exactly this happen when we look at the book of Acts and Acts chapter two, we've already mentioned that. We're gonna look at that again near the end of our time together. But we see that the believers, they are joined together into the number of the church. Another reason why church membership is so important is because discipline in the church requires church membership. In Matthew 18, Jesus gives the instructions of what we are to do when someone sins against us. There's a process that we go through. And the first step is for the person to address the one who has hurt them. and to explain their hurt, and hopefully he will listen, and you will have won your brother or your sister over to you. But if that does not work, then the person who's been hurt, he's to fill someone else in, one or two other people to bring them along, and then this small group comes to this person and addresses the issue. And if still that does not work, then the third step of the process, Jesus says, is to go and to tell the church. Now, what is he saying? That the person comes up and gives an announcement to the entire church on a Sunday morning about the beef that they have with someone else? That's not what Jesus is saying. He does not mean the entire congregation, but he's referring to the elders of the church, the assembly of elders, those who have spiritual authority over that congregation. And that is the process that the elders would then get involved and seek to bring about and help the process of true repentance and restitution. And of course there are times when there are sins that are public and the elders will have to disclose that information to the congregation and that's necessary. We see that even in scripture in 1 Corinthians chapter five, Paul talks about this notorious case. But notice what's important now we see is that all of this occurs within the context of the church. The elders have no spiritual authority over those outside of the local church to which they have been elected and called to serve. So there is an extent to which we can offer spiritual advice, we can offer our help, we can offer our prayer, we can provide counsel, but we have no spiritual oversight except for those members of the church who have submitted themselves to her elders through church membership. That's what's envisioned here in texts and in cases like this. And along with that, we see how the elder member relationship is supposed to work. This is another verse, another passage I had thought about as using as an orienting passage, but later in Hebrews chapter 13, verse 17, we have this very important text here. The author says to obey your leaders and submit to them. for or because they are keeping watch over your souls as those who will have to give an account. So the members of the church, they lovingly submit to their leaders because it's the leaders of the church. They're those who will one day give an account before the living God over each of the souls entrusted to their care. And that's something that your elders and I, we take very seriously. because we are accountable to God for you. We are accountable to the members of Christ the King. I don't know how it's gonna work on that day when Christ returns. I don't know if he'll have a yellow legal pad that'll have all of your names listed on it with our names at the top. I don't know what that process is gonna look like. All I know is that I'm accountable for you. What a high calling that is, but what a privilege that I have and that your elders have. to be shepherds of souls. But notice the logic of the text. How can we be good shepherds if we don't know who belongs to us? And how can we give an account for those who have not taken that step in saying that I belong to you and you belong to me? That is what the church and that's what church membership does. Another reason for the importance of church membership is that the sacraments, and by extension, all of God's gifts, His blessings to us, word, sacrament, and prayer, all the ordinary means of grace are given and bestowed by God, by Christ, through the church. But the sacraments especially are given to the church. We see that the Lord's Supper throughout the New Testament, when it's taken, it's taken in the context of the church. And that makes sense, because this is the meal that Jesus gives to his people, collectively. And so we see this over and over, that the believers would gather together on Sunday, and it says that they would break bread, which is a way of saying that they took communion together. It is not a meal that we are to take apart from one another. It's not a meal that we are to take apart from the church. And that's why it's not appropriate to take the Lord's Supper at home, by yourself or even with your family, because it's to be done in communion with the church and with one another. And that's unfortunately become a very common practice, especially with the online live services, people taking it at home and that should not be done. But this is the same reason This is the same reason behind why we have started taking our Lord's Supper all together. Paul addresses this concern in 1 Corinthians chapter 11, right before when we commonly read the words of institution earlier in that chapter, he addresses some of these concerns. So Paul says this, he says, when you come together, referring to the gathering of the people on the Lord's Day, He says, when you come together, it is not the Lord's supper that you eat. How can he say that? He says, for in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal. Now, like in many ways and in many different things, the Corinthians had gone to the extremes. And so we see the extreme here is some were even getting drunk on the wine of the meal, God forbid, while others were going completely without. But notice the important implication of this text, is that we're not to go ahead of one another. And we should not partake individually or as groups divided within the church, but it's one meal. And we are one family. We're one church. And so it's appropriate that we take it all together. The sacraments are given to the church collectively. Well, those are just some of the reasons why we feel so strongly about church membership. There's so many other reasons we could discuss. Membership, it keeps us accountable. It declares before the world that we're part of something bigger and greater than just ourselves. Membership is a commitment, and commitment is so valuable today, especially in our culture that doesn't put any value on commitments at all. But I hope that you see from all of this that membership is necessary because it is biblical, because it is how Jesus has instituted his household, his church to be. So we've looked at the first question, the why question. We've seen why the church and church membership is so important, but what about the how question? So you've gotten to the point where you understand this is important, I'm all for it, but now the question is how? How does this process work out? Well, it did work out perfectly that we had a good example of that already this morning. And I wish I was able to tell you that I'm smart enough to plan ahead like that, but it was just a happy providence because we know God works providentially in that way. But what we saw today was really just the final part of the process. And so let's take a step back and consider what happens when someone joins the church. And this is when we need to remember the distinction we hold between invisible and visible. Because we as elders, we cannot bring anyone into the invisible church. Because the membership requirement for the invisible church is true saving faith, is regeneration. That's the work that God does alone. And he's the only one that works faith in you, to bring you into salvation, to bring you into his household, to write your name in the book of life. That's what God alone does. He alone can judge the heart. But for those who have come to Christ, and if you have professed your faith in Christ, you can be confident and assured of your salvation in him. For those who have made that profession, then it is appropriate for you to join a local congregation of the visible church. And that's where we come in. The membership requirement for joining the visible church is a credible profession of faith. And so the way that we do that in our church is through these membership vows. We meet with the family, we meet with the individual, we go through these vows. And these are not our vows, that's so important as well. These are not vows that we made up at Christ the King. These are our denomination, the Presbyterian Church in America, which itself is a church. We use these vows, and that's wonderful because it shows how we're not just one congregation, but we're a part of the much larger church. But notice what these vows are getting at, and you can even look back at them in the bulletin if you'd like. You see, the first three vows, they acknowledge that you are a Christian. That's what you're saying when you take those vows, that you are a sinner, that Jesus saved you, and because of that, you're gonna live a life that's pleasing to Him. The fourth and fifth vow get at the importance of church membership that we discussed, that we need one another. And so that you are going to give yourself to a local congregation, you're gonna give yourself in membership to Christ the King because you need us and we need you. You're going to submit to the elders of the church and you're gonna seek to do what Hebrews chapter 10, what we've just read. You're gonna seek to do what that's encouraging and asking us to do. And so that's the process of becoming a member. And it really is that straightforward and that simple. And so if you have any questions about church membership or if you have not yet joined in membership, then why not? And come and please talk to myself or one of the elders after the service. We'd love to talk to you more about why church membership is so important, why we love and value and cherish church membership so much. We'd love to talk with you more about that. And that also, that leads us to the last thing, this last diagnostic question, we'll end with this. That's the question of who? So we've seen why the church is important, we've seen why church membership is so important, and we've seen how it's done, that process of going through membership and taking those vows. But now the question is who? Who can be a member of the church? What are the requirements to be a member? One of the reasons I love the vows that we take is because it clearly shows for us who can be a member of the church, who can qualify for this. And the only requirement for membership in our church is that you're a Christian. That's it. that you profess that you need Christ, like each and every one of us. So that is to say our membership vows are not any more narrow than the narrow gate itself. If you are a sinner in need of Jesus, and if you are resting in Him alone for your salvation, then you are in the right place, because that's all of us as well. So let me say that again, the only requirement for membership in the church is that you profess Christ. But you say, but you're a Presbyterian church. Yes, we are. And we cherish that and we find great value in our Presbyterian history and our form of government and our reformed theology and all of those things, but that's not a requirement for membership in our church. To be a member of our church does not require that you agree with every single point of doctrine. It does not mean that you have to toe the line and agree with every particular belief we have in this particular church. Though we hope that you will consider what we have to say, that you'll listen to our instruction and our teaching. We find it very valuable. and we don't shy away from what we believe to be true. But the requirement is not full conformity. The requirement is actually not any kind of qualifier that we could add, not any kind of perfection in this life, not any kind of status or wealth or any other kind of qualifier that we could conceive or think of. It's only if you profess Christ. It's only like that tax collector that beat his chest and said, God have mercy on me, a sinner. That's the only requirement. So if you're like those believers on the day of Pentecost, the word preached cut them to the heart. There was conviction of sin and an understanding that they were in need. And so listen to how this story is told in Acts chapter two. It says, now when they heard this, that is when they heard Peter's sermon on the day of Pentecost, they heard the word preached and they were cut to the heart. And they said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, brothers, what shall we do? And Peter said to them, repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself. If you have been saved by faith, if you have been cut to the heart by what Christ has done for you, then come and join in with the rest of us. As it says at the end of Acts chapter two, and the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved. So come and join in the number of the visible household of God. Let's pray. Lord Jesus, you have saved us. You have claimed us and you have made us one family with you. May we never lose sight of the importance of our membership in the household of God. And help us to grow closer together and to grow closer to you. And we pray this in the name of Jesus, amen.