TO JOIN THE CHURCH

Preached by Gregory W. Lee
10 July 2005

I. Introduction
-- turn in Bibles to Acts 2: 41. Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.
42. They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
43. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles.
44. All the believers were together and had everything in common.
45. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need.
46. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts,
47. praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

-- the Apostle Paul likened our Christian life as a race -- as a journey -- that we must follow until the end -- keeping our eyes on our goal, which is eternal life with Christ
-- along the road, he warned, there would be obstacles, hindrances, barriers -- sin and other entanglements that we must throw off in order to run the Christian race
-- but that is not all that is along the road that we are all on as Christians -- in addition to the sin and the obstacles of the flesh and the world that seek to slow us in our pursuit -- there are also places of darkness and wandering -- times when you just look up and realize that you are lost and that you don't know where you are and you don't know how to get out of where you are
-- it is in these places in our Christian life that we find ourselves confronted with situations that we just don't understand and problems that we just simply don't have the answer to
-- it was in such a place that I found myself this week

-- on Monday, I was made aware of a situation that took place in a Methodist church in Virginia towards the end of June -- a person who was quite active in this local congregation -- participating in worship and singing in the choir -- presented themselves for membership -- and the pastor refused to allow them to join the church -- because they were a homosexual
-- now the pastor has been removed from his position and placed on involuntary leave of absence without pay for one year for his actions
-- the pastor's bishop, who made the decision to remove him from his position, stated that over the last 30 years, the United Methodist Church has consistently maintained the prohibition of ordination of gay clergy -- however, that prohibition does not apply to church membership -- and so the pastor was wrong in denying membership to this individual -- to quote her, "In regard to membership in the United Methodist Church of laypersons, homosexuality has not been prohibited as a reason for not accepting someone,"

-- when I first learned of this story, I was incensed at the actions taken against the pastor -- I understood his position -- how could we allow a homosexual -- someone who is living in what I think Scripture clearly defines as a sinful state -- how could we allow such a person to become a member of our church
-- but then, as I thought about this some more and as I prayed about it and studied scripture and listened to others talk about this case, I became less sure of my position -- I looked around and I found myself lost in a dark wood on my Christian walk and unsure how to get out -- I honestly did not know whether the pastor was justified in his stance or not
-- as I said, there are going to be times in our Christian lives when we are going to be faced with a situation and we are just not going to know how to handle it -- and this was just such a situation for me

-- so, after spending a lot of time reflecting on this case in Virginia, let me share with you my thoughts on the issue of membership in both the body of Christ and in a local congregation


II. Membership, But Where?

-- the passage from Acts that I opened with follows right on the heels of Pentecost -- after the resurrection and ascension of Christ and while the disciples were still in Jerusalem the Holy Spirit fell upon them with great power -- Acts 2:3 says that it seemed like tongues of fire came to rest on each of the disciples -- and they were filled with the Holy Spirit
-- immediately Peter preached in the streets of Jerusalem to the pilgrims gathered for the Feast of Pentecost and many people were convicted of their sin as Peter, through the power of the Holy Spirit, told them of the great work of Christ on the cross and of their need for cleansing and forgiveness through His blood
-- look back at verse 41 "Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day. "

- now look at what this passage says, "about three thousand were added to their number that day"
-- when I read that verse and weighed it against all the arguments approving and disapproving of what the pastor in Virginia did by denying membership to the homosexual, it struck me that there were two separate matters being discussed using the same terminology
1. Membership in the body of Christ
2. Membership in a local congregation
-- although we sometimes get them confused, they are not the same -- there is a difference between being a member in the body of Christ and being a member in a local congregation
-- this leads us to the two questions that I struggled with all week and that I want to discuss with you now

-- first, what does it take to become a member of the body of Christ -- or, in other words, what is required for salvation?
-- well, I think the Apostle Peter was quite clear in his sermon on Pentecost as to what was required for salvation -- look up at verse 37-38 "When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?"
38. Peter replied, "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."
-- so, what is required for salvation? -- repentance of your sins and seeking the forgiveness of the Father through faith in the finished work of Christ on the cross
-- most of the arguments that I read this week supporting the pastor in Virginia hinged on the term "repentance" -- in fact, this is where I first jumped on his bandwagon when I first heard the story
-- typically, all of those on the pastor's side recognized homosexuality as a sin -- so, we reasoned, a person living in sin could not join the church unless they repented of their sin and turned away from their sinful lifestyle -- then they would be welcome to join the church
-- in fact, that's one of the precepts that John Wesley put forth when he started the Methodist Church -- the precept of holiness in the life of the church member -- the early preachers called this "holy ambition" -- striving to live without sin in your life and confessing and repenting of any known sin
-- but, is that scriptural? -- repentance is definitely required to enter into the body of Christ -- to become saved through the blood of Christ -- but that is not the same thing as joining a local body of believers
-- in verse 41, when Luke tells us that about three thousand were added to their number, what is he referring to? -- is he saying that three thousand people joined the First Church of Jerusalem on that day? -- No, he is saying that three thousand people became members of the body of Christ -- three thousand people were forgiven of their sins -- three thousand people were saved
-- who determines if a person is really saved or not? -- can you look at another person and know if they are saved? -- you might be able to guess based upon their life and how closely they walk with Christ, but in reality, only God knows the state of a person's heart
-- God is the one who sets the standard and opens the door for membership into the body of Christ -- into salvation -- not us -- it is not our place to say who is in and who is out in regards to the body of Christ
-- if you get nothing else out of this sermon this morning, I want you to get this -- Jesus accepts us into His body as we are -- He doesn't require us to be holy and sinless to come to Him for salvation -- Jesus came to heal the sick, not the healthy
-- after you take the step of faith and trust in Him for the forgiveness of your sins, then He begins the work of sanctification -- the work of making you holy -- the work of making you more like Him -- to put it in fishing terms, Jesus doesn't clean you before He catches you -- He cleans you after you belong to Him -- after you are a member of the body of Christ
-- when you first come to Christ, you don't know enough to know just how many ways you have sinned against Him -- you just know you are a sinner in need of a Savior -- but, as you continue along your Christian walk -- as you grow closer to Christ -- the Holy Spirit begins to work in your life and to speak to specific areas of sin in your life and lead you to repentance and victory in those areas
-- so, what is required to be a member of the body of Christ? -- "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."

-- which brings us to the second question I struggled with all week and the one that cost the pastor in Virginia his job, namely what does it take to become a member of a local UMC congregation?
-- as I said a few minutes ago, when I first heard about the case, I agreed with the pastor in Virginia that people who presented themselves for membership should have repented of all known sin in their life
--but, as I thought about it, it is obvious that the homosexual man who presented himself for membership did not consider his sexual orientation a sin even though he professed Christ as his Lord and Savior -- could it be that this was an area that the Holy Spirit would work on and convict him of further along on his spiritual path? -- could this be why he had not repented of this particular sin?
-- some of the people who responded to this situation pointed out that they considered smoking to be a sin -- does that mean that they have the right to deny membership in the church to someone who smokes because they haven't repented of all known sin in their lives? -- what about someone who is known to drink occasionally -- or to gossip -- or to exaggerate in their stories? -- these could be considered sins -- should we deny them membership as well?
-- are we holding people desiring to become a member of our church to a higher standard than God demands for them to enter into salvation?
-- a group of early Jewish believers called the "Judiazers" tried to do just that with the Gentiles who were being saved -- they insisted that the Gentiles could not be saved just by repenting of their sins and believing in Jesus -- they also had to be circumcized and follow the law -- but Paul and others argued against it, mainly because of the fact that these Gentile believers had received the Holy Spirit upon salvation -- they argued, "If God has given them this seal of membership, then how can we place additional demands on them?"
-- are we placing additional demands on people desiring to join our churches by making them be sinless and holy in their lives before we let them in? -- or, are we going to trust in the work of the Holy Spirit to convict them of their sin and lead them to forgiveness and repentance?
-- this is a fine line we are treading here -- on one hand, we expect members of a church to be moving forward into holiness and perfection through the work of the Holy Spirit -- while on the other, we recognize that all of us came to the cross as sinners and we still sin every single day of our lives -- if the standard for church membership was sinlessness, then how many of us would be members today?
Joe Stowell summed this thought up well -- he said, "If Jesus accepts us just as we are, then bringing Jesus to our non-Jesus world means that we too must receive people just as they are. They'll need to repent of their sins and seek to live godly lives. But how do we expect them to start the process if they feel that church people are too good for them or too condemning of their lifestyle?"

III. Closing
-- so, after a week of struggling with this question, let me share with you my understanding based on prayer and the reading of God's word and the advice of more mature Christian brothers and pastors
-- in order to be a member of a local body of believers, a person must profess to being a member of the body of Christ -- in other words, they must profess to having been saved through the blood of Christ -- and, they must state that they are willing to serve Christ through this body of believers -- supporting the church through their gifts and offerings and talents as they allow the Holy Spirit to lead them down the path of sanctification
-- I think the best way to state this would be to say that you don't have to be in a local church to be saved, but you have to be saved in order to be a member of a local church -- we can't ever forget the fact that salvation is not dependent on our name being on a local church roll
-- I like what William F. Hill had to say about the church -- "We are Christians. We are united to one another and we are to live in harmony with one another because of the fellowship we have in Christ. We are to work for unity as often as we can and in areas we disagree we are to be charitable, working and laboring together for the glory of God and His church especially as it pertains to secondary doctrines and matters. We are not called to divide. We are called to love. Love does not seek its own. Love does not desire its own way. Love desires the good of the body and the unity of this most precious work God has given us -- His church; His bride. "
-- we should work towards holiness -- as individuals and as a church -- we should strive for perfection -- but we can never let it keep us from our primary mission as the body of Christ on earth
-- our goal -- our mission -- our driving force as members of this local body of believers -- should be to work together as one -- to seek the lost and to introduce them to Jesus -- and to invite them to share their Christian journey with us -- as fellow sinners saved by grace, who are being shaped and formed and transformed by the Master's hand into who He has called us to be
-- let us pray