Very good. Well, welcome. Thank you for showing up. Probably most people heard that the topic is of church membership is not exactly, probably the most electrifying and stimulating topic that we could go over, but I'll share with you and this will come out in our talk upcoming. It's actually a very, very important topic in the life of the church. And so I'm hoping that this will be edifying. Did everybody get a handout? There's some handouts on the back table if anybody is missing out. Let me state up front, the goal of my talk today is going to provide for you, I hope, a biblically informed understanding of church membership, what it means for the local church, and what it means for the member or non-member, as the case may be. And as a disclaimer for this, it's likely that some of the more prominent theological things that have been taught on in the larger church, a lot of times church membership has not been widely taught on. And so as I did a lot of research and study on this, one of the things that I concluded is that a lot of people have never been taught on this before. And so if there are things that are new and challenging, don't necessarily be surprised by that because it's not emphasized in the modern church. In fact, I work with churches professionally, and I'm actually aware of many churches that made a strategic decision to not even offer membership for a variety of different reasons, which I disagree with. So that's the landscape of the modern churches. Many churches just don't even offer membership. But it's something that our church takes very seriously, and we want to communicate clearly on that. And again, my personal story as it pertains to membership for many years, I'm a pastor's kid, so I just kind of grew up taking for granted that, well, of course, you join churches and things like that. But many people are coming at it from different angles. And as I studied it further, I came to a deeper understanding of how vitally important the matter of church membership is. Believe it or not, my talk on church membership is going to start back in the Garden of Eden. And we're going to go back before the fall of mankind. I think one thing that described the relationship of man to God is that man lived under the full and complete authority of a reigning and ruling God, and that was unquestioned. Man knew himself to be under the rule and reign of Almighty God, and that was unchallenged. Then, unfortunately, the fall happened. and cast our whole race upside down and twisted and mangled the entire race. And if you think about what happened in the fall of Adam and Eve, certainly it was driven by pride, but one of the things that flowed from the fall is that man was now at a place of refusal to live under the authority of God. If you think about what happened in the fall and post-fall, it was essentially Adam and Eve saying, I'm not willing to live as God would have me live. I'm rejecting His authority, His rule and reign over my life. And unfortunately, the whole race has suffered ever since that time. Turn with me real quick to John chapter 3, verse 36. It's a New Testament verse that talks about this principle. of obedience and submitting to the rule and reign of God in our lives. John chapter 3 verse 36 says, He who believes in the Son has eternal life. But he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him." So you see here the person who is described as being outside the kingdom, the person who is being decided, the contrast here is between one who believes and one who does not obey. So here we see the continual refusal of mankind, of unregenerate man, to live under the rule and reign of God. So it's a refusal to submit to the authority of Christ that really marks out those who are outside the kingdom as opposed to those who are inside the kingdom. So as we get into the notes here, kind of on page one, I want to talk a little bit about authority. And again, we touched on this just briefly. But what is the approach of fallen man to authority? We see it all around us. We see resistance to authority. We see pride against authority. But one thing we do not see is that we do not see in our natural state submission to authority. And we see this reflected in many different ways. We see it reflected in rebellion against the state. We see it reflected in rebellion against the Bible and in rebellion against parents. And for anybody here that had siblings, I think you could probably complete the phrase for me, but who didn't hear, at some point, hear their kids say, one to another, say, you're not the boss of me. Well, that just shows kind of mankind's native rebellion against authority. Now, let's talk a little bit about a redeemed man, the sight of the cross. Christ calls us to live a life of submission, of humility. I've got three verses referenced there, and we won't go into them right now, but I offer them up there for your consideration. The Hebrews 13, 17 passage is submitting to leaders in the local church. The Romans 13 passage is submitting to governing authorities, so governmental authorities appointed by God. And Ephesians chapter 6 verses 1 to 2 really is a command for kids to obey and honor their parents. So this is what things are supposed to look like in a kingdom context. Now let's move on and talk about the church. What is fallen man's attitude towards the church? What do we see all around us? We see an attitude of consumerism. We see an attitude of, what's in it for me? What am I going to get out of this? It's generally the natural man's mindset and our cultural mindset as to how am I going to choose a church? Am I going to choose a church? And once I do, am I going to join it or am I going to not join it? Now let's talk a little bit about what redeemed man's attitude is toward the church. And I think there are a couple of different passages to reference, but one key one here is Matthew 18, verses 15 to 20, which is, we commonly know that as church discipline or restoring the sinner to fellowship. But rightly viewed, based on this, the church should be viewed by the believer as a gift from God, leading to protection and growth. And the next line down there is very, very important. One, in choosing to join a church, our relationship to the church is supposed to be one of the church has authority over me, I'm choosing to submit myself to the authority of the church. Now let's, and you see in the one another commands that are all throughout the New Testament, we see kind of again what body life is supposed to look like as that is played out. Now let's move on to the next section, the church's attitude towards people. How do we see, how do we see in the contemporary landscape, how do we see churches in their mindset and how they, their attitude towards people? The misguided approach, which I think is much more common these days, is an approach of that the attenders, members or non, are similar to like a business context where these are customers to be won. I mean, as we drive around our city, I mean, there are a lot of churches that candidly put up billboards, right? I mean, they're advertising in a mode to try to attract people to their church. We see it in a lot of churches, a lot of large churches have big media production facilities, they're international in their internet presence and things like that. I remember hearing John MacArthur, this is in a sermon from years ago, mentioning that he was reading the Saturday paper and there was a church in his area in Los Angeles that had put an advertisement in the local newspaper that was advertising Breakdancing Jesus Boy in their service on Sunday morning to try to attract to try to attract people to come to their service. So having some young boy doing breakdancing in order to try to attract a crowd on Sunday morning. So again, we see the contemporary church treating people really more as customers to be won over and maintained. rather than the next line down, a more biblical approach, would be that our approach to people should really be more in a shepherding kind of context, where people are, where Christians should be viewed as their sheep to be identified and loved and cared for and fed. And if we, if we, let's back, let's turn there real quick. 1 Peter chapter 5, if you would. This is such a foundational foundational passage to the topic of how people relate to the church and the church's attitude towards the sheep. 1 Peter chapter 5 verses 1 through 5. Therefore, I exhort the elders among you as your fellow elder and witness of the sufferings of Christ and a partaker also of the glory that is to be revealed, shepherd the flock of God among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God, and not for sordid gain, but with eagerness, nor yet as lording it over those allotted to your charge, but proving to be examples to the flock. And when the chief shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory. You younger men, likewise, be subject to your elders, and all of you clothe yourselves with humility toward one another. For God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble." So you see kind of the shepherd and sheep kind of a context, very gentle, very caring, very intentional. So rather than customers to be won over, the church's relationship to people should really be more of a shepherding and sheep kind of context. Caring, nurturing, feeding, providing for, that kind of thing. So, as we move on, you'll see at the bottom of the page there, I want to give you an additional book recommendation as well, if you choose to study this topic of church membership further. There's a book, it's not a long book, it's probably 120 pages or so, called Church Membership, by a guy by the name of Jonathan Lehman, who is one of the contemporary authorities on the topic. Very, very well done, very short, very to the point. And another one that I would offer up for your consideration is a book called Life in the Father's House, and the two authors of that are Wayne Mack and David Swavely. We talk a lot about that one of the chapters in that book talks about church membership. So just again for further study. Now as you turn on to page two of the notes, I want to be fully upfront. Jonathan Lehman, who wrote the book that I just mentioned, was in town for a conference this past week. And I've done a lot of reading of his work and the Nine Marks of a Healthy Church work on church membership. But he spoke on this topic Tuesday morning. So there's a lot of shameless plagiarism in the notes here on page two. But he was talking exactly about what I was hoping to talk on tonight. And so I stole a lot of my content and notes from his talk on Tuesday morning. But you know, again, we tend to think of church membership as, what's in it for me, what am I going to get out of this, right? And he would make the case, and I think very biblically informed, that the overarching question, when it comes to church membership or not, the overarching question here is really, who represents heaven on planet earth? So, again, going down my notes, the local church has heaven's authority to represent God and His authority on earth. The local church is where heaven comes to earth, where the people of God gather and grow in Christ-likeness. And again, what we're talking about on page one is that, and we're going to learn, we're going to talk more about it in a minute, the local church was meant by God to be a means of grace to the born-again believer. So the church is here to help God's kids grow in Christ's likeness. And so, as we're going to learn here, it's very important to be formally committed to a local church. Now Matthew chapter 16, verses 18 to 19, talks about the keys of the kingdom of heaven where essentially whoever has the keys of the kingdom has the authority not to make a Christian but to affirm who is a Christian. A church doesn't make a Christian but essentially Christ is handed off the keys to the local church to either affirm or deny whether or not someone is authorized to represent Jesus here on earth. So. The local church, one of the analogies he uses, and I think it's a great analogy, the local church is God's embassy on Earth. He told the story of when he was studying when he was younger, he was studying overseas, and his passport expired while he was out of the country. So what he had to do was go down to the local U.S. embassy in the country where he was studying and have them renew that in order to allow him to come back from his time of studies. Similarly, he had to go to the embassy and the embassy had to affirm that yes, he is a U.S. citizen and revalidate his passport to allow him to travel. And similarly, that embassy did not make him a U.S. citizen, he already was a U.S. citizen, but it had to affirm his citizenship in order to allow him to travel and enjoy the status of an American citizen in his travels. So I think that's a helpful analogy when it comes to understanding what the church's role is in membership and things. So rightly understood, it's not really that we join a church so much as we submit to a church. As we go into this, I want to fully admit that this is, again, not the normal teaching that you're going to hear across the broader landscape. So, if you're struggling with this, that's okay. We'll work on that together. Again, going down my bullet points there. The local church officially affirms a person's membership in the Kingdom of Heaven. So, if it's the church that is the entity that has God's authority to either affirm or deny me as a representative of Christ here on earth, I as an individual do not have the authority to proclaim myself to be a representative of Christ. So, similar to If I go get a chair and sit in a garage, that doesn't make me a car. I can't make myself a car. I don't have the authority by God to claim myself to be a Christian. It's really the church's role in this process. It's the church's role to affirm or unaffirm, disaffirm, whether or not someone has the right to represent, say that they represent Christ here on earth. Church membership is a declaration by the local church that a person is a citizen in Christ's kingdom. A declaration that the person is a card-carrying representative of Christ on earth. Next bullet point. A person should stop calling himself a Christian if they have made a pattern of not submitting to the authority of a local church in formal membership. Now, many times, again, because of the landscape that this topic hasn't really been taught on in the contemporary church landscape, a lot of people are just really uninformed as to God's intention for how the Christian is to relate to the church, under its authority, submitting to the authority of the church. So a lot of times it's just a lack of information that really drives that. But I'll let you I'll let you think through, there are widespread implications for this, again, participating in the Lord's Supper, evangelism, church discipline, and counseling, that the impact of church membership is really more widespread than we tend to think of at first blush. Now, by clarification, church membership is for repentant and baptized believers. Church membership is not for the morally perfect, but for the broken. In Matthew 5 verse 6 he says, blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, I want to be righteous, which would be an evidence of the new birth. So, not for the perfect, not for the morally perfect, but for the broken. So I think the last bullet point is a powerful one. In receiving a person as a church member, the local church is saying, we recognize this person is broken, repentant, covered in the blood of Christ, and welcome to represent Jesus on earth. So in approaching a church and requesting to be admitted for membership, to submit myself to the church in membership, I am asking the church to affirm me as a born-again follower of Jesus. Good. Alright, next page. Next is coming up is a series of what I hope will be helpful articles for you to take with you as you consider the topic more deeply throughout the week. This next article is by a guy by the name of Matt Chandler, who's a pastor at the Village Church down in Dallas, a large church. And the reason I gave you this handout is it kind of helps unfold as he became a senior pastor and started to really wrestle with the topic of membership. I want to read about halfway down the first page. when he stumbled across Hebrews chapter 13 verse 17 which says, 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. Next paragraph, two questions occurred to me. First, if there is no biblical requirement to belong to a local church, then which leaders should an individual Christian obey and submit to? And second, and more personally, who will I, as a pastor, give an account for? These two questions started my search for a biblical understanding of the local church, and they began around the ideas of authority and submission. Regarding the first question, the scriptures clearly command Christians to submit to and honor an elder body. If there is no understanding of local church membership, then who are we to submit to and obey? Is it anyone with the title elder from any church? Should you as a Christian obey and submit to those people at Westboro Baptist? In order to obey scripture, must you picket soldiers' funerals as the pastor at Westboro seems to imply?" So, who am I accountable to? That is really kind of the first question that he's asking there. Regarding the second question, the scriptures clearly command an elder body to care for specific people. Will I as a pastor be held accountable for all the Christians in the Dallas metroplex? There are many churches in Dallas that I have a strong theological and philosophical differences with. Will I give account for what they teach in their small group, how they spend their money, and what they do concerning international missions? So you see the lines kind of kind of becoming more clear as he thinks through that. I'll let you read the rest of that article on your own, it's very helpful, but the bottom line of the next page. So what's the bottom line, question mark? Local church membership is a question of biblical obedience, not personal preference. And again, I share that article that he wrote because it helps to walk through, as his thoughts were crystallizing and gelling around some of the key issues of church membership, And ultimately, the truth that he swerved into and became convicted of is that church membership is ultimately about obedience and not preference. That's very, very different from what the modern church landscape teaches, but I think it's biblically informed. Next page. What are the benefits of church membership to the Christian? I'm going to read this whole handout. It's short, but I think it's powerful. Number one, what are the benefits of church membership to the Christian? It commits you, the Christian. It's good to commit yourself to love and serve others. You will grow as a Christian as you commit to encourage, build up, strengthen, serve, rebuke, and pray for other Christians. Number two, others are committed to you. Becoming a member of a church means joining with an entire group of Christians who have now covenanted to watch over you spiritually. If you're a member of a church, you have an entire church full of people who are publicly committed to loving you and serving you and watching over you. Number three, elder protection. If you're a member of a church, the church's elders and pastors should care for you, pray for you, and personally counsel and teach you. As a member of their church, they are accountable to God for how they lead you. Number four, safety net. In his book, Stop Dating the Church, Josh Harris points out that it's comforting to know his church would kick him out rather than tolerate his unrepentant sin. Chew on that statement just for a little bit. It's comforting to know his church would kick him out rather than tolerate his unrepentant sin. If Romans 8.29 is right, and it is, and God's goal for my life is to be fully conformed to the image of Christ, and the church and being joined to a local church is a key piece of that conformity process, then I want to know. I want to be joined to a local church where I know that Mike Williams loves me enough that if he knows I'm walking in sin, he's going to approach me and he's going to make sure that to confront me with a difficult conversation. So I want to be attached to a local church where people love me enough and know me well enough where if I'm going to walk in unrepentant sin, they won't tolerate it and they'd rather kick me out than see me do spiritual harm to myself. So being a church member means that a whole church full of people are committed to helping you live a life that's pleasing to God even to the point of excluding you from the church if you stop repenting of sin. While this sounds harsh to some, to those of us who know the deceitfulness of sin, this is an immensely comforting and encouraging reality. Sin is very, very deceitful. I can do this on my own. I'll be okay. I would never fall into some kind of a heinous sin like that. You, my brother, are deceived. Number five, assurance. Membership is the church's affirmation of the validity of someone's profession of faith. The church looks at a person's life, hears their explanation of the gospel, and how they came to believe it, and says, you look like a Christian to us, so join us. Watch over our lives, and we'll watch over yours. So while membership in a church doesn't guarantee that someone is a Christian, it should assure believers of the genuineness of their faith. We'll get into the membership process here at CFPC in just a little bit, but there is a great safeguard in there that somebody called by God to this elder, to this pastoral situation. They've met with me, they've heard my testimony, they've observed my life, they believe me to be a valid follower of Christ. There's great assurance that goes along with that. Next up, 12 reasons why membership matters. I'm just gonna hit the tips of the waves on this real quick. Again, from Jonathan Lehman. Number one, it's biblical. Number two, the church is its members. Number three, it's a prerequisite for the Lord's Supper. Again, if I'm walking in obedience in the form of church membership, contingent for Lord's Supper. Number four, it's how to officially represent Jesus. Number five is how to declare one's highest allegiance. Number six is how to embody and experience biblical images. I'll let you unpack that paragraph for yourself. Number seven is how to serve other Christians. Number eight is how to follow Christian leaders. Again, we have clear identity of who we're to follow. Number 9, it helps Christian leaders lead. They know who they're responsible for, who they will give an account for. Number 10, it enables church discipline. Number 11, it gives structure to the Christian life. Number 12, it builds a witness and invites the nations. Let me read that paragraph real quick. Membership puts the alternative rule of Christ on display for the watch in the universe. The very boundaries which are drawn around the membership of a church yields a society of people which invites the nations to something better. If you think about it, if we're a member of a local church where elders are caring for our souls and where we are growing in sanctification and that church is being used by God, we're going to be that much more distinct, that much more holy, that much more otherworldly, and that much more distinct before a watching world. And the watching world needs for Christ's followers to be as distinct as we possibly can from the world around us. There's an attractional piece to this as well. Okay, next up, one of my favorite authors, a guy by the name of Jeff Kirkland, did a work on this on his blog, Membership Does Matter in Christ's Church. And in the interest of time, I'm gonna... Again, just kind of hit the tips of the waves here. Membership accurately pictures the unity of the body of Christ. Number two, membership willingly identifies with others in the body of Christ. Number three, membership eagerly submits to the leadership of the body of Christ. How counter-cultural is eager submission to authority? Number four, membership humbly accepts the accountability of the body of Christ. Number five, membership helpfully allows the shepherds to know who is among their flock. We've talked about that already. Number six, membership clearly demonstrates that one is not outside but inside Christ's church. Number seven. Membership faithfully follows the New Testament pattern of adding saints to a church's number. So again, I would encourage you throughout the week, read the paragraphs underneath those to get more of a depth of Jeff's thinking and more importantly, God's biblical thinking on what it means to be a member of a local flock. Oh, and look, I see membership application packets down on the front pew over here. Next up, CFPC membership commitment, the fellowship of the spirit. I'm just going to read a couple of highlights from this. This is the CFPC membership commitment, which you would find in the membership packet again on the front row. Let me hit a couple of the tips of the waves here. I understand this is when someone is submitting to the authority of the church in their life. This is what they're committing to. I understand that apart from the Holy Spirit's enabling grace, I cannot honor Christ. I believe that as a sinner saved by God's grace, indwelt by God the Spirit, and growing in knowledge of Christ, I can live a life of progressive sanctification. Therefore, trusting in God's grace, looking to Christ, and walking in the Spirit, I commit to the following. First line, as a follower of Jesus Christ, I joyfully and thoughtfully enter into, underline, a relationship of mutual edification, fellowship, and accountability. There's membership. Mutual, a relationship of mutual edification, fellowship, and accountability with the other members of this body. Paragraph two. I will faithfully, underline, participate. There's a community piece to that. End of line two, I will use my spiritual gifts for the common good. And the last line of that same paragraph, the immense significance of life in the body of Christ. So this is a very, very weighty number. There's a lot of substance to this that we don't necessarily appreciate. In addition to the regular meetings of the church, so you see there's a commitment, The next paragraph, I will work toward doctrinal unity, so we want harmony in the body, we want unity in the body, that's a commitment that a member is making, with a humble and teachable spirit. Fourth line down, same paragraph. I assume the liberty to ask questions and engage in edifying discussion. There's such a beautiful one another thing going on here within the membership of the church. Each looking out for the other. Next paragraph, first line. I will accept and fellowship with all members regardless of race, gender, background, social status, or level of education since we are all of equal value in Christ. Next paragraph. I will pursue peace with all people. especially with other believers. And the last two words there, Christian fellowship. Last paragraph on that page, I will seek the preservation of marriage knowing that God hates divorce and I will submit to biblical regulations regarding divorce and remarriage. So there's a one another aspect to all this. There's also a very prominent, I'm submitting to authority as part of this membership commitment. I'm glad we're having an opportunity to go over this because it's important for This side of the fall, members of the church, we tend to forget. It's important for us to be constantly reminded of the commitments that we make to the church and we make to one another. Top of the next page. I will watch over the other members in love as they watch over me. That's a powerful commitment. Next paragraph. I will submit to the church's discipline upon myself and lovingly assume my responsibility to participate in the discipline of other members." Next line down, I will seek resolution within the church. Go to 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, fifth paragraph down, I promise to remain faithful to this church in membership. So as you go through this, and again I would encourage you to review this more in the upcoming week, This is a high-value commitment. It makes me sleep well at night, knowing that there are others of you out there who have committed to watch over me in my life and practice, and I'm committed to do the same in your lives. There's a purifying effect that goes along with that. But again, back to what our culture says. Our culture tends to take membership, not even just church membership, very lightly. How hard is it to join the Sam's Club? I mean, anybody with a pulse in $35 gets to join the Sam's Club, right? So we think of, I'm a member at the Sam's Club, but have I really made any commitment to the Sam's Club other than they get my $35 or $50 every year, right? But from our standpoint, look at the depth of commitment that we're making to one another. This is a big deal. This is a weighty issue. And so it's something that, again, I'm glad we're getting an opportunity to kind of refresh our memories as we go through this. All right, turn two pages. We've got the CFPC membership questionnaire. I think we're going to get this done just on time, but the very last page of the membership, I'm sorry, second to the last page, we have the membership commitment. So this is in the questionnaire, right in the middle of the questionnaire, the membership commitment. Page two of that document. I enter into a mutual relationship with the members of this church. You'll see the scriptural references that support all these things. I will commit to attend regularly. I will commit to give joyfully. I will commit to witness as the Lord gives opportunity. I will commit to pursue personal holiness. I will commit to fellowship regularly with other believers. I will commit to submit to the leaders of this church. I will commit to submit to the loving process of church discipline and strive to restore others in sin. I will commit to pray for the pastor and elders, the fellow members, and for the ministry of CFBC. It's a big commit. That's a big commitment. Candidly, as an elder, I can't remember the last time I did not pray for everybody on our membership list. At least once a day. I don't recall that. But it's good for me to be reminded of that commitment and you are likewise committed to pray for me and the rest of the flock as well. Lastly, I'm committed to serve at CFPC regularly and specifically in the area of discipling one another. So discipleship is very much part of the culture that we want to have here at CFPC. So as we go through the notes and as this all unfolds, I would encourage you to take the packet home, review the information, think about it, pray about it, and again, it's good for our hearts and our minds to be refreshed about, for those who are here who are members, to be reminded of the commitment that we have to one another. Big deal. And I want to be in prayer for you and I certainly want all of you to be in prayer for me. But I think at the end of the day, as I've thought about this topic, you know, God knows what's best for us. He knows we've got an independent bent. He knows that we, because of indwelling sin, we don't readily and anxiously submit to authority. But that's also how He wired us, right? I mean, go back to the Garden of Eden, God created us to be under authority. The issue is, I am under God's authority, the only issue is whether or not I'm going to recognize it. And, if God has put the local church, again, keys to the kingdom. If God has put the local church to be that governing institution which has the kingdom, that has the keys to the kingdom. who has responsibility for, if I have a credible public profession, and if they discern that I have the right, that they're going to affirm my right to represent Jesus here on earth, that's a big deal. And then also responsibility for my ongoing growth and sanctification. So the church is, again, our culture takes membership so very lightly, particularly when it comes to the church. I remember, I'm in banking, so I remember back in the day when you actually had to have qualifications to join a credit union. Now, I think anybody can join a prayer union. It used to be that to be a member was special. Now we take it so, so very, very lightly. I think God would have us be very committed and plugged in to the local church. Again, the church is a primary means of grace that God wants to use in our sanctification. Oddly enough, we've got a couple of minutes. Any questions? Jason. Hopefully this is helpful in this area of church membership. When do you believe it would be appropriate for a church member to resign their church membership? In what circumstances? Great question. Jeff, thoughts? I mean, I have my thoughts, but he's got the PhD, so why don't we go ahead and hear from Jeff. It's actually a great question. The elders got together this morning, and we began talking about that very question. And this is a great question. If you're a part of a church, how do you know when to leave? Because there is a time when it's appropriate to leave the church. Or if it's an unliberal church, if there are sin issues that are being dealt with, theological error, that sort of thing. I think that would almost deserve its own payment of Bible law. It's really talking about what are some reasons, legitimate biblical reasons, to leave church. But I think what we're dealing with today is this, when there is a good Bible-teaching church, and someone has been going there for so long, really exhorting them biblically, tenderly, compassionately to And I would think, Jason, that when a church is properly functioning, that if, like let's just say that unbiblical things were being taught. One would hope that one of the sheep or one of the shepherds would go to the pastor and bring that up, which would lead to hopefully repentance and right the ship and then move on from there. So I think that Christ cares about the purity of his bride. And so he wants us to be pure. He wants us to be distinct and shine brightly so that the world will see that Christ is more precious to us than anything else. And so Hopefully, if things were, I think to a large extent, the right response to that is going to be when, whether it's leadership or otherwise, when they're confronted with sin, how do they respond to that? Is it corrective or is it not? You know, is there repentance that flows and things like that. Yeah, good. Yeah, Davina. Oh, great question. I don't know how to respond to that. Like if a pastor were to be called to a different church even though things were healthy? I don't know how they would discern that. Oh, great question. I don't know. I'd have to think that through. As to whether or not the pastor left as opposed to a member. Yeah. But the pastor, as a member, as a sheep within the flock, does have a commitment to that local flock. I mean, there's no question about that. Yeah. The Lord's Supper. So I didn't see it here specifically in St. Justine's, but in the other, in the gap. It says that the Lord's Supper should be sold for a member of the flock, per se, or does the Supper Well, I think the way to connect the dots on that is that yes and no. From the standpoint of, yeah, the Lord's Supper is supposed to be reserved for born-again believers. who are not walking in disobedience. Now, again, the tragedy of it is that the contemporary church doesn't really teach on membership issues very much, if at all. And so what happens is it's very possible that somebody could be a long-standing Christian, be born again, have never really thought much about membership. They thought it was kind of optional or a throwaway thing, never really kind of thought through the matter. And so their conscience isn't being tweaked because they've never really thought about church membership and how important it is. So the church really has an obligation to teach on the topic and to inform people as to how important church membership is. Now, if somebody is informed and they are not willing to join the church, you can make a strong case that that's disobedience, right? And if somebody is walking in long-term disobedience and just is not willing to join a church because they're just not willing to obey, then like any other unrepentant sin, that person would be well-served to not participate in the Lord's Supper. Right. That's exactly right. Most churches, if you have a pulse and a street address, they'll be happy to receive you. That's the landscape of what we are. But I don't think that's biblically informed, right? So if we understand the keys of the kingdom, that a follower of Christ is supposed to come and seek membership to submit to the church leadership and seek an affirmation that they do have the right to call themselves a representative of Christ here on earth, a born again Christian. Again, it's so lightly taught, rarely taught, in the contemporary culture. So for the most part, a lot of people have just never been taught on the matter, never really thought deeply about the matter. But your church leadership thought it was important enough that we should tackle that. Yeah, John. I think this is a focal to the biggest question on the Lord's Supper. In two weeks, for the fable of Babylon, that will be the topic of this. Good. Good. Why don't we go ahead. It's nine minutes till let's go ahead and wrap up. Let me wrap up in prayer and we'll be off to corporate worship. Heavenly Father, thank you for this time together. Father, we thank you for Christ. Father, without him we would have no hope. We would have no joy. We would have no freedom from sin. We would find ourselves obviously and necessarily under your wrath. for today and for all eternity. Father, we thank you for the great gift of Christ. We thank you for the gift of your word by which we learn about Christ. Father, I pray for the worship service upcoming. I pray, Father God, that you would bless the preaching, Father, that you would be honored through the music, and Father, I pray that that you would work on the work of regeneration. If there are those among us tonight who have not yet been born again, I pray that your Holy Spirit would bring that about. And Father, I pray also for the saints, Father, that we would be edified, that we would love Christ, that we would celebrate him as we hear another testimony and experience of baptism, and as we enjoy the sweet fellowship of Christian fellowship after the service. Father, we offer all of these things up to you as an act of worship. May you be pleased and praised. We ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen.