Benefits of Church Membership

11302014WhatAreTheBenefitsOfChurchMembershipDonRuhl

What are the benefits of church membership? 

Don Ruhl • Savage Street, Grants Pass, Oregon • October 26, In the year of our Lord, 2014

Prelude: 

  1. What are the benefits of church membership?

Persuasion: 

  1. Only the Church Shall Remain Forever25 See that you do not refuse Him who speaks. For if they did not escape who refused Him who spoke on earth, much more shall we not escape if we turn away from Him who speaks from heaven, 26 whose voice then shook the earth; but now He has promised, saying, “Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven.” 27 Now this, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain. 28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. 29 For our God is a consuming fire (Heb 12.25–29).
    1. Everything that we hold dear shall be shaken that day.
      1. Nothing shall last,
      2. except the Kingdom of God.
        1. Does that not make church membership the supreme concern?
        2. How could someone not want to be a member of the church?
    2. What was it like when the Lord spoke from Mount Sinai?
      1. Did anyone escape from Him?
      2. Speaking from Earth, His voice shook the Earth.
        1. However, Haggai the prophet spoke of another day
        2. when the Lord shall speak from heaven and shake the Earth.
          1. Which is greater? Earth or heaven?
          2. Heaven is greater.
            1. Therefore, declarations from heaven carry greater weight.
            2. When He speaks again, what shall happen?
              1. Those things made by hands shall fall apart.
              2. Those things not made by hands shall remain.
    3. Only the Kingdom of God, which is the Church of God, fits that description,44 “And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. 45 Inasmuch as you saw that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it broke in pieces the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold—the great God has made known to the king what will come to pass after this. The dream is certain, and its interpretation is sure” (Dan 2.44–45).
      1. The God of heaven
        1. did set up that kingdom during the days of the Roman kings, and
        2. He did it without hands.
      2. Therefore, it shall never be destroyed.
    4. Hebrews 12 says that we are receiving this kingdom.
      1. Therefore, we should have grace by which
      2. we can serve God reverently and with godly fear,
        1. remembering that our God is a consuming fire and
        2. with that fire and with His voice,
        3. He will shake the heavens and Earth.
  2. The Church Is the Kingdom
    1. What is your view of the church?
      1. It seems that many people think it is an option, and as such
      2. there are no consequences for rejecting it or treating it lightly.
    2. What is your view of a kingdom, or any kingdom?
      1. As Americans, we tend to be anti-kingdom.
      2. A true kingdom requires absolute loyalty and subjection to the king.
        1. And that turns us off, so much so
        2. that we fought a war over it.
    3. Is the kingdom of God
      1. a republican form of government?
      2. Is it a democracy?
        1. We have to abandon our governmental thinking
        2. when contemplating the kingdom of God.
    4. Let us understand that the church is the kingdom of the prophets.
  3. Perhaps we should ask first whether church membership is necessary.
    1. Acts 2.47 shows that the Lord adds you when you become a Christian.
    2. The church is the bride of Christ.
      1. Can we have the bridegroom without the bride?
      2. Why would we not want a man’s bride?
    3. The church is the body of Christ.
      1. If the church is His body,
      2. that makes Him the head.
        1. Why would we want the head without the body?
        2. Does He want us, if we do not want His body?
    4. The church is the kingdom of Christ.
      1. Why would anyone not want to have part in the church?
      2. Revelation 21 shows
        1. that the magnificent view we have of the heavenly city
        2. is actually the bride of Christ,
          1. which is the church,
          2. in her glorified state.
  4. Why would someone not want to be part of the church?
    1. They like the benefits of religion, but they do not want the commitment.
    2. They claim that someone did them wrong.
      1. I have had that happen to me…many times!
      2. 1Jo 4.20–21
    3. Their schedule will not allow it.
  5. Acts 20.28
    1. You have membership in that for which Jesus died.
  6. James 5
    1. The prayers of righteous men and women.
  7. Second Corinthians 8 and 9
    1. Financial help
    2. I never asked for one cent,
      1. yet, brethren gave over $31,000 for my transplant, replacement of my donor’s lost income and other things.
  8. First Samuel 18.1
    1. Friendship
    2. The Proverb that says there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother
    3. The best associations that I have are in the church.
  9. The Church Is a Family
    1. What are the benefits to being part of a natural family?
      1. There are people we love and who love us in a family.
      2. We belong to one another.