off of one another, so we actually have, as you know, four classes, four sessions, and we're just gonna print session number one, and then next week, wouldn't you know, we'll print session number two, and then the third week, what do you think? We'll do session number three, and then, you know, and so, you know, this is intended to be a help for you, I'd love for you to keep these, Put them in a little binder, look over them every once in a while, and then, you know, refresh your memory on some of these things. And that's really, you may notice as we move along that some of this is, it's really tailored toward individuals. So, you know, this class is kind of has in mind, you know, two or three folks at the time that might be interested in church membership. And so just an intimate setting, you know, kind of going over what it would look like to be a member of our church, Providence Village Baptist Church. So if it feels that way, that's because that's the intent. Of course, we're just trying to do some cover fire here, refresh your memory on what it means to be a meaningful member of a local church. And historically, it is the historic Baptist who have really emphasized the necessity and the importance of being a member of a local church and being a meaningful member in that way. Of course, I think that over the years individualism, pragmatism, that has somewhat been lost or unclear. And so I think in many ways, even the Baptist folks that held that line so strongly kind of withdrew from that line. But we want to hold that historic Baptist position. There is a reason why we call ourselves Providence Village Baptist Church. And I think that hopefully this is going to clarify some of that for you. And then the importance of membership. So this is session one. So basically what I'm doing today is we are going to go, I'm going to make a case for why a person should join A church, that's what I want to do today. Some of you may be like, well, I come and I did join because that's what everybody expected me to do, but I don't really know exactly why. I joined the church. Or you may be here, and you may be on the fence about it. And you'd be like, well, I'm not really sure if I should join this church. I've never really made that commitment. I've come, and I've benefited from that. And we are certainly glad that you're here, and all of those things are true. But I want to make a case to you of why I believe that you should come on in. and join the church and what that might look like. So that's what I'm going to do today. And then the next session, what we're going to do is look over our statement of faith. We're just kind of going to walk through our statement of faith and see what it looks like, or rather see what we believe as a church. And so you would have to be a member, agree with that statement of faith. And then we'll look in session three, similar to statement of faith, we will walk through our church covenant. And so that kind of outlines what it looks like for us to live life together. So what we are committing to one another. So session two is going to deal with what we believe together, the beliefs that we hold in common, our statement of faith. And then session three is gonna deal with what we are committed, how we commit to one another in our church covenant. And then the last class, session four, is really what does that look like practically? How does Providence Village Baptist Church live out meaningful membership, considering what we believe and what we have committed to one another? What does that look like practically? So that's, we're gonna talk about our life together. as a local church. So without further ado, I want to introduce the material today and I want to introduce you to a few folks. The first fellow, we're just gonna call John, he follows Jesus. He understands himself to be a Christian, but he's not into organized religion. He feels like the best way that he can worship on Sunday is by playing a good round of golf or going for a hike or something like that, taking his kayak out on the lake. Next, the next person we'll call Leanne. Now Leanne, she understands herself to be a Christian, but she doesn't want to be isolated to just one church. She wants to get a flavor of all of them. She's what we would call a church hopper in the pejorative. But she's here for a while, there for a while. She likes this pastor. She loves these folks. She likes the way this church worships. And so to make sure that she diversifies all of her funds, she goes to every one of them. Next, we'll talk about Natasha. Now, Natasha, she loves the Lord, and she's a single lady, and she has found a group in the church near her home that meets together, a small group, a singles group. She feels ministered to. They can identify with her situation. When they study the Bible together, they talk about the way the Bible applies to their singleness. She likes the church. She goes on Sunday night where the singles group meets. Every now and again, she'll show up to church in the morning. If she sees in the bulletin that the next week's sermon is something, a topic that she might be interested in or a text that she's always had a question about, and she'll come on Sunday morning. And then we'll mention Jose. Jose, he likes the preaching of his church. The pastor is a dynamic speaker, and when he hears the word preached, he just feels so strengthened by it. But he also tends to slip right out after word. He doesn't really talk to anyone. He doesn't know anyone in the church. He's never really thought about joining the church. He just likes the way that the sermons strengthen his own soul. He's okay with being a faithful attender. He finds some strength in attending church, but he just doesn't see the point of joining a local church. So what are these four folks? I mean, we could go on. These are just hypothetical people. We could talk about others. But the question is, what do all these folks have in common? And what these folks have in common is that they all see themselves as Christians, and good chance they are Christians, but they all see the church as largely unrelated to their faith. Their Christianity is just individualistic. And in so doing, I think that they all share a fundamental misunderstanding, I would say a fundamental misunderstanding of the church, but maybe even a fundamental misunderstanding of what it means to be a Christian. And so we want to have those folks in the back of our minds as we think about that. You may fall into one of those categories. Again, I'm not angry at you. We are not angry at you. We are glad that you're here, and we're glad that you find strength from God's word. But we do want to make a case for you coming on in here and joining the local church. So let's look then to the scriptures, and I want us to begin first in the book of Ephesians. It's a great letter to the church that deals so much with, I think, or gives us such a good argument for why you should join the church. Just a brief summary, many of you probably already have this in your mind, just a brief, very light summary. Chapter one of the book of Ephesians is kind of a beautiful, it's a beautiful description of our salvation, where Christ has redeemed us, not by our own goodness, but because of his purposes of grace before the foundation of the world. So that's a beautiful picture and description of our salvation, how it is we're saved from sin. The purpose of our salvation, right, is to the praise of His glorious grace, to the praise of His glory, it says over and over again. Ephesians chapter 4. I'm sorry chapter 2 in verse 4 says but God being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us Even while we were dead in trespasses and sin made us alive together with Christ so the first couple several chapters first two or three chapters of Ephesians they kind of give us the theology of that undergirds what it means to be saved and then the application comes as it does in many of Paul's letters And that first implication of the gospel we come to is in chapter 2, verses 14 and 15, where it says that the dividing wall of hostility has been broken down, destroyed. Let's look at that together. For he himself is our peace who has made us both one, talking about Jews and Gentiles, and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace. So here is the idea, the implication of this gospel truth that we are saved by God's grace for his glory. Part of the way that that works out is that the dividing wall between Jew and Gentile has been broken down. As a matter of fact, this unity is so profound that Paul even calls it a mystery. in Ephesians chapter 3, how the mystery was made known to me by revelation as I have written briefly. And then Ephesians 3, 6 tells us something else about this mystery. This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. So why did God do this? Why create unity between redeemed Jews and Gentiles who have nothing in common but Christ? Chapter 3 verse 10 answers that question. So that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places. So why did God do this? It was so that his wisdom and glory would be known. So that the church would be made known abroad. So the church exists as a community of believers, just summing it up, often different from one another, Jews and Gentiles even exceptionally different from one another, but they are united in Christ in order to display the wisdom and glory of God. So the church has been united as a group of people who are united in Christ, often the only thing that they have in common is Christ, and they have been united in such a way so that God's glory can be revealed, so that the world around will know. John 13, 34, right, it says something similar. A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. So right, that's what we get in Ephesians. We see the love, that we were loved before the foundation of the world, and then we are redeemed. So a new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. You are also to love one another, By this, all people will know that you are my disciple. All people will see my glory on display. They will know that you are my disciples because you love one another." So love right between Christians, that isn't just an add-on. We're redeemed, and then if we're really good Christians, we'll love one another. We're saved from God's wrath, but then if we're an extra-special Christian, we'll love one another. No, love between Christians is not extra credit. It doesn't make us super-Christians. It's essential for us to love one another. And sometimes folks that are united in Christ that are called to love one another, that can get messy. So let me only speak for myself. There are times when I am not super lovable, right? You can ask Miranda. There have been a multitude of times over 25 years of marriage that I have been an unlovable person. Sometimes loving one another, it's messy, it's hard. Sometimes it hurts. Sometimes it looks like self-denial and self-sacrifice. And it's certainly not always easy to love people who are different from you, i.e. Jews and Gentiles. But that's the whole point. That's the whole thing. Christian love is different in kind from the world's love. Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, if you love those who love you only, what reward will you get? The world loves those that love them. And so it is shocking to the world to see people from all sorts of backgrounds, all sorts of ideas, all sorts of raisings, and all kinds of things to join together and to love one another even when it hurts, even when it's messy, even when we don't know exactly what to say or what to do. And what it does is it puts on display in Union County, in the region, and everybody and everywhere that knows about us. Those folks love each other. They're not like each other. Some of them are farmers. Some of them work on computers. Some of them are law enforcement officers. Some of them were raised in strict fundamental homes. Some of them were raised in liberal homes. They have all sorts of backgrounds, they've had all sorts of influences, but somehow or another, here is a group of people that display the glory of God, but in spite of all of those things, they just love one another. So that call is to love one another. Much of the body, Much of body life, as it relates to being a member of the local church, commands us to love one another. 1 Peter 2.17 tells us to love the brotherhood of believers. Galatians 6.10, so then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, especially those of the household of faith. And this isn't just that kind of feeling, that fuzzy feeling of love. We're talking about love and action, right? So it's not just, oh, I am endeared to this person. No, this is love that acts. It's doing good to everyone. Romans 15.1 is an example of that as well. We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. So here's another way that we love one another is that when sister so-and-so Just, she keeps asking the same shallow theological questions. And we keep answering them, and she keeps living contrary to them, and keeps asking them, and I'm just so sick and tired of this. Right? We bear with the failings of the weak. Because if you'll be honest with yourself, you're weak in other areas where that person may be strong. It's just an example. Romans 12 too, contribute to the needs of the saints, seek to show hospitality. I'm sorry, Romans chapter 12 also says rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep, live in harmony with one another. So this is a sacrificial self-giving love that we are called to show toward one another. Just like marriage, a marriage doesn't image Christ's love for the church if the husband or wife just walks off anytime that love gets hard or self-sacrificial. Right? Love in a church doesn't say much about the power of the gospel if it doesn't have any commitment, if it doesn't have any staying power, if there's not something that binds this group of people together, and despite their differences and difficulties and weaknesses, they stick it out. They love each other. What's important is that these passages and the dozen more like them is that they are given to all Christians, again, not just to the super-Christians. We're called to encourage one another. Let me say this, in the packet, I am not even going to come close to covering all of the one-anothers. in our little lesson today. So there's a supplement to the packet, and that is the 59 one another's of the New Testament to show how we are to relate to one another. So I'm talking about loving one another, encouraging one another. Paul writes to the Thessalonians in 1 Thessalonians 5.11, encourage one another and build each other up. Hebrews 10.24 tells us to consider how to stir up one another to love and good works. Right? So it's good for us to Generally be an encouraging person to stir other people up to love and good work. That's what that's what I want to do It's what I want to do with my Co-workers, it's what I want to do with the inmates that I interact with It's what I want to do with the volunteers that I come in contact with people in my workplace That's what you want to do in your workplace. Just generally But is that what these two authors have in mind? No The author of Hebrews goes on in the very next verse to tell us explicitly what he means, and that's that famous passage of Scripture, Hebrews 10, 25, not neglecting to meet together. You see that? So consider how to stir up one another to love and good works So okay, that sounds good, so am I just general? No, we do it when we meet together, 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. So obedience to this New Testament command to encourage each other is to be done quite specifically with other people that you meet regularly with. You see that? Each of us is called to this ministry. Also, we're to guard one another. The third group of commands has to do with guarding one another. In Hebrews 12, the author writes to Christians about their responsibility for each other. He says, see to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God. that no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled, that no one is sexually immoral or unholy. Do you see that? See to it that no one does this. This is the call to Christians to guard one another. See to it that no one is caught in sexual immorality, that no one fails to obtain the grace of God, that no one has a root of bitterness growing up within them. How are we going to know if anyone has a root of bitterness growing up in this kind of a hidden thing, right? Unless we're in constant and regular interaction with them, unless we are joined together in some way. That famous passage in 1 Corinthians 5, right? He writes to the Corinthian church, it is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you and of a kind that is not tolerated even among the pagans. For a man has his father's wife, and you are arrogant. Ought you not rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from you." So there's a person in the Corinthian church who's having an affair with his stepmother, and no one is saying anything. Paul is saying, you've got to do something about this. You've got to confront this man's sin. You've got to remove him from among you. For though I'm absent in body, I am present in spirit. And as if present, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing. When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus, and my spirit is present with the power of the Lord Jesus, I don't have time to talk about this, but that says something about the special presence of the Lord in the assembly where two or three are gathered, there I am in the midst. And that goes right back to Matthew 16, Matthew 18. But all the same, with the power of the 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. So here is a group of people who are called to guard this man from continuing in sexual immorality by confronting his sin and casting him out of the church by excommunicating him, disciplining him in that way. It might be that this man in 1 Corinthians, Corinth was an exceptionally filthy and vile society, promiscuous maybe I should say. So this guy might've thought of himself as a Christian. He probably went to church regularly. I mean, it seems like that Paul knew that they knew who he was talking about. He did all the things a person might do in that community. And that's precisely the reason why Paul had to write them to take action. Somehow they had to make it clear to him for his sake that his life was not aligned with his profession to be a Christian. And that was the most loving thing that they could do to that guy. He could not just continue on in his sin. That's not loving him wrong. Not only for this man, but also for others, the weak folks in the church that might have been like, well, maybe this is okay. Maybe sexual immorality is okay. I'm not sure, maybe it is. But when we guard one another, it makes the gospel clear to unbelievers and to the weak, both inside and outside of the church. Those who are attending church, those who are members of the church, it makes it clear. So I've heard it said like this, and it's a pithy way of saying it, but I think that it's true. You know, it has some weaknesses. But the local church is like an assurance of salvation co-op, right? We're struggling with sin. I'm not sure if, you know, it's starting to cause me to doubt my assurance. But if the church is there guarding you, if the church is there calling you to repentance, and you do repent, then it really helps you understand, okay, no, I'm moving in the right direction. Often, when I counsel with people or talk to people, and they say, I'm just really dealing with a lot of doubt right now. One of the first questions I ask, especially if I know that they are attending a healthy local church is, have you been excommunicated? No. So everybody in your church thinks that you are still a Christian. Everybody in your church says that your profession lines up with your life. Right? So you may be doubting, but you're the only one doubting. And it's a salvation, assurance of salvation co-op. So, we're moving here, and I want to put, so, because I think maybe up to this point you're thinking, well, yeah, Jamie, all that sounds good, but all of that can happen as Hebrews 10 says, and as 1 Corinthians 5 says. All of that can happen if we just assemble together. So you're making a case for us assembling regularly together. But what you haven't really done is made a case for why we should join together and commit to one another. Can't we just come together and do those things? Well, first of all, no, I don't think that's true. But I think where we move now maybe draws a finer point to it. That's because we are called to obey our leaders. So the Word of God calls us to love one another, encourage one another, guard one another, and all the other one another's. But the Word of God also calls us to obey our leaders. That's this fourth group or category of commands made to every Christian about their life in the local church. Hebrews 13, 17 tells us to 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 groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you." So this verse has implications for church members and church leaders, doesn't it? Think about this. The call The call that every Christian has in their life to obey their leaders, I think, raises the question, what leaders? Which leaders? Who? Right? So, I have friends that attend First Baptist Church in Lake Butler. So do I have the spiritual authority to go to them and say, hey, I think you ought to do this? Or what if I did go to them and say, hey, I think you ought to do this? And then Jason comes along the next day and says, hey, I think you ought to do this. Now there's a conflict. Jamie's a church leader. Jason's a church leader. Which one do I obey? Which one am I held accountable to? Are you to obey every Christian leader that comes along? Maybe you have your favorite YouTube pastor, right? And you go to a conference and you ask advice and he gives you advice contrary to the advice that you know that your local church pastor would give you. Who do you obey? Who will you stand in judgment for? Or give an account for, right? No, you're to obey the leaders of your own church. the one that you've signed up to submit to. And this, for church leaders, there's implication there. Will church leaders give an account for every Christian? Am I held accountable for everybody in Union County? I don't know everybody in Union, I don't know every Christian in Union County. Am I going to give an account for them because I'm a church leader? Will they recall? I mean, the Bible says that I am going to give a stricter account for people in the church. Oh no! I don't even know every Christian within driving distance of this place. How about no? We'll give an account for a particular flock. Which flock? This flock. the one, the flock that has committed to be submitted to one another and to the leaders. It doesn't work if the believers are hopping churches or only being a consumer while attending church. It only works if the people in that church are clearly marked off as to who it is that is a believer and an unbeliever, who it is that is committed to submit to God's authority, in the local church, who it is, and that means leaders and one another, and what the commitment looks like, what commitment have they made to one another. The reason churches exist is because people say, look, no church is perfect, but I'm going to settle in this place this place that aligns with my doctrinal commitments, and I'm going to live out my Christian life and grow and mature there. I agree with what they teach, the statement of faith. I agree with how they're going to live that out together, their church covenant. So I'm going to covenant with them, and I'm going to live the Christian life out with them. That's the kind of commitment that allows us to live out Hebrews 13, 17. Obey your leaders. So that puts a point on it, I think. So put it all together. So if you look at your handout There's a little diagram. I did not draw this or create this. As a matter of fact, I thought that I might try to modify it and I copied and pasted it and I don't know how the person did it. Someone that was better with computers and documents than I am. But there's this triangle here, and it just kind of diagrams what we're talking about. The triangle diagram has you at one corner, right? You see that? You see yourself down there in the bottom left corner? That's you. So then there's church leaders at the top, and then the rest of the congregation to the right of you. I'm hanging a triangle. So there are some biblical commands about your relationship with church leaders along one side, right? So the elders, they have oversight over you. That's the outside arrow. They have oversight over you. They will give an account for you. They will stand in stricter judgment for the way that they stewarded their leadership for you. And then the inside arrow there points up to them that you are to obey them as the church authority that you have submitted to. So you're to submit to them and they will in turn one day give an account for you. And then there are some biblical commands about your relationship with the congregation at large. You are to love and encourage them. They are to love and encourage you. And you will also be held accountable to one another, you and the congregation. And then there you see the congregation has a responsibility to the elders, and that is to recognize elders. The church has that responsibility. The entire congregation recognizes its pastors or elders, and then the elders are to equip and shepherd the congregation so that then they can hold one another accountable and love and encourage one another to do ministry together. Do you see how that works? Now that, again, is not always easy. It doesn't always come natural. There are some times when we have to trust one another's judgment, where sometimes we have to hold one another accountable when it's not easy to do. You know that that person has committed sin, and you have to follow the biblical pattern in Matthew chapter 18 to go to them. If they don't hear you, to take two or three. If they don't hear you, to bring it before the church. It's not always easy. But it is the way God has intended. And I think that you will find peace and contentment in that. I certainly have. Because it's God's way. And doing it God's way is also the way that we display His purposes of displaying His wisdom and glory in the church. So if these things are going to be true, you're going to have to do some things in relationship with some church. It's got to be a committed relationship because this love and encouragement cannot happen without real commitment. That speaks to our covenant together, our church covenant. It's a relationship with a defined group of people. Church leaders need to know who they're giving an account for, for example. That I think speaks to the statement of faith because the person joining the church says, I agree with this statement. I agree with the doctrine of this church and I am going to be led in this way. And it's a voluntary association. but one in which you're giving these people permission through this covenant commitment with them to do the things for you, loving, encouraging you, and even those things that you may not necessarily like, i.e., the guy in 1 Corinthians 5 who was committing sexual immorality, his church had to go to him and be like, hey, boss, you can't do this. We're going to have to excommunicate you. It requires a breadth and depth of commitment. And I'm nearly done, I promise. The first is this, that the commitment of membership has some depth to it. If you decide to join, then join. Commit deeply. Show up early. Stay late. Don't be like the cat that just pops in and leaves and doesn't know anybody in the church. What was his name? Jose. Don't do it, Jose. And then get to know others. Let them really know you. Now, in churches, in a setting like this, it's a little more intimate. It might be easier for all of us to know one another in that way, or for most of us to know one another. But in a larger church setting, it might not be. But you need to still have, hey, I hope we get to be a large church, or at least a medium-sized one. But it might be more difficult. But still, to maintain that depth of commitment, it might not be, well, everybody knows, but this group of people knows. I have a depth of commitment. Sharing meals together, fellowshipping with one another, weeping when one is weeping, rejoicing when one is rejoicing. But then a breadth of commitment. So scripture calls us to a commitment with breadth. with breath we're not going to agree on everything so we have a we're deeply committed committed to one another but we're not going to agree on everything right we agree on the covenant the our church covenant we agree on our statement of faith but as we might have different eschatologies we're not like well I hate you and I'm not accountable to you because you don't believe the way I believe about the end times no that's not the way we need to have a depth or a breadth of commitment Just as Jews and Gentiles, they had nothing in common. They didn't have anything politically in common. They had nothing in common but Christ. But they lived together in this local church. It requires a breadth of commitment. So it is our prayer that our congregation be made up of people who are young, old, well-educated, minimally educated, different types of ethnicities, political affiliations, nationalities, personality types, careers, backgrounds. What's going to be most natural is for those groups of people just to clump together. And there's nothing wrong with those friendships. But if all of your friendships are with people that are just like you, then you don't want that. You want this breadth of commitment. Part of what it means to be a church is loving people who are different from us. We're getting to know them, maybe a little more work. So that it's our prayer that we display the glory of God by being united around these gospel principles. Principles that we'll talk about in the next couple of sessions, and I'll pray.