Introduction:
Why am I a member of the church of Christ? I think this is
an appropriate question to ask considering the overwhelming number
of churches that have been started over the past 2000 years. Why
did I choose to be a part of Christ’s church as opposed to one
of the others? First, you need to understand what I mean when I
claim to be a member of the church of Christ. Then I will explain
why I decided to be a member of His church. I will end by showing
how I became a member—hopefully if you are not a member, you
also will be convinced to come into fellowship with Christ in His
church today.
Discussion:
I.
In what am I claiming membership?
A.
Please understand, when I claim to be a member of the
church of Christ, I am not claiming to be a member of some human
organization made up of all the local churches who have the name
“Church of Christ” on their sign. I am not a member of any
such super organization. Additionally, in this lesson, I am not
even talking about being a member of a local church of Christ.
Though I am a member of the Franklin Church of Christ. In a later
lesson, I will explain why I am a member of this congregation.
Today, I am talking about a universal body of individuals.
B.
The word “church” translates the Greek word “ekklessia.”
It is a compound word from “kaleo,” meaning “to call,” and
“ek” meaning “out.” Thus, the word “church” literally
means “the called out.” The term does not strictly apply to a
religious group, but simply denotes a group of people who have
been called together. However, I am not claiming to be a member of
just any “called out.” I am claiming to be a member of the
“called out of Christ.” When I claim to be a member of the
church of Christ, I am claiming to be a member of the universal
body of individuals who have been called out and belong to Jesus (cf.
Galatians 3:28-29).
C.
Note some passages that describe this church of Christ.
1.
In Ephesians
1:22-23
and Colossians 1:18, 24,
we learn that this church is the body of Christ, over which Jesus
is the head.
2.
In I Timothy 3:15,
Paul calls it the house or household of God, which is the pillar
and support of God’s truth. Paul had earlier spoken of the house
of God in Ephesians 2:19-22,
in which he describes the church as a building that was founded on
the apostles and prophets (that is, their revelation from the Holy
Spirit) and was being fitted together to be a dwelling place of
God in the Holy Spirit.
D.
As we consider all of this, we must recognize that this is
the very body which Jesus promised to establish in Matthew
16:18, as He spoke to Peter saying, “… on this rock I will
build My church…” Jesus came into this world with the plan to
establish and build a church. The New Testament described that
church. I wanted to be a member of it and I have become so. Yet,
you may still wonder, why I became a member of this church
described in scripture.
II.
Why did I become a member of the church of Christ?
A.
Before I can tell you why, I must give you a little
background information about myself. I am a sinner. I have known
that for almost 20 years now. If I were to catalog the sins I have
committed in my lifetime, I am certain that I would become as
loathsome to you as I have been to myself. But, please, let me
suffice it to say that I am a sinner and you can certainly believe
that because you can read for yourself Romans
3:23
and I John 1:8.
As such, I have become separated from God (Isaiah
59:1-3) and I have earned the sentence of death (Ezekiel
18:20). I am not talking about a physical execution, but an
eternal condemnation in the everlasting fire (Matthew
25:41, 46). I have become a member of the church of Christ,
because I have learned that the answer to my greatest
problem—sin—is in Christ’s church.
B.
Hebrews
12:22-24
speaks of Christ’s church. It says that when we come to the
general assembly and church, we are coming to Mount Zion
(fulfillment of Isaiah
2:2-4), the city of the Living God, the heavenly Jerusalem.
This church is made up of the firstborn, which is not a reference
to Jesus here, but rather a reference to the status of all the
members. That is, members of this church are like a firstborn who
has a claim on the inheritance (cf. I Peter 1:3-5). These numerous firstborn are registered in
heaven (cf. Philippians
3:20-21). And this is a group of people who have been made
perfect because they have come to a Mediator of a new covenant
whose sprinkled blood speaks better things than that of Able and
whose blood has the power to take away sins. This leads us to our
next passage.
C.
In Acts 20:28,
we learn that the church of God has been purchased with Christ’s
blood. Why is this purchasing or redeeming so important? Note what
it says in Romans 3:23-26.
With redemption through the blood of Christ comes justification.
And again in Ephesians 1:7,
when we are redeemed or purchased by His blood, we have the
forgiveness of sins.
D.
Notice also what Paul wrote in Ephesians
5:23-30. Paul described Jesus as the model of a loving
husband. The church is His bride. Jesus sacrificed Himself for His
church, becoming its Savior, sanctifying it and cleansing it. He
did all this so that the church might be presented to Himself as
glorious, without spot or blemish.
E.
Why am I a member of the church of Christ? Because these
promises are only for those who become a part of His church.
Salvation is only in Christ Jesus and in no other (Acts
4:12). Consider I
Corinthians 1:12-13. No one but Jesus shed His blood for me.
Why would I follow after some man in a church of man’s design?
Men may make up churches and creeds, but I am not a member of a
church in order to please men. I am a member of the church because
I desperately need what only Jesus can give—redemption,
justification, sanctification and forgiveness. That is why I am a
member of His church.
III.
How did I become a member of this purchased and forgiven
body?
A.
I looked to the scripture to see how those in the New
Testament became members of Christ’s church. In Acts
2:47, I learned that I cannot place myself into the assembly
of the firstborn. I can only be added by God. He is in charge of
the membership roll of His great universal church. I also learned
who God adds to this called out body—those who are saved.
B.
In Romans 10:9-10,
I learned that I must believe and confess that Jesus is the
Christ, the Son of God, and that He was raised from the dead. Both
of those are things I have done for more than 20 years. But I also
learned from II Corinthians
7:10 that I needed to have the godly sorrow that produces
repentance leading to salvation. That is, I must turn from my sins
and commit myself to doing right continually. I have been
committed for nearly 20 years—though, regrettably, there have
been lapses in that commitment, especially during my college
years.
C.
But even though I had recognized and done these things
while I was younger, having been brought up in a church that did
not belong to Christ, I learned suddenly at age 13 that I had not
submitted to Christ’s gospel, but to man’s. I had not been
saved and added to His church, but rather had been added to some
other church. I had not become a Christian, but had become
something else. At that moment, I had to decide if I truly was
committed to turning from sin and submitting to Christ’s
doctrine. I learned that in order to be saved and therefore added
to the church, I had to be baptized for the remission of my sins (Mark
16:16; Acts 2:38; Romans 6:3-4; Colossians 2:12; I Peter 3:21).
And that is exactly what I did, because I wanted to be saved. I
wanted to be a part of Christ’s church and nothing else.
D.
Certainly, had you asked me when I was 13, I could not have
spoken with the clarity and force of so many scriptures as I have
today. But even then, if you had asked, I would have told you that
I had learned that I was not saved. That I had become something
other than a Christian. I was a member in something other than
Christ’s church. I was still in my sins and I chose to be
baptized because I wanted to be a saved Christian only and a
member of Christ’s church only. I still do not want to be
anything other than a disciple of Christ and a member of any
church other than the church of Christ.
Conclusion:
Allow
me to ask you—are you a member of Christ’s church? Are you a
member of the called out body that has been purchased by the blood
of Christ, sanctified and washed clean of sin in order to be
presented to Jesus without spot or blemish? Have you obeyed His
gospel? Have you believed that Jesus is the Christ, confessed that
faith, repented of your sins and been baptized for the remission
of your sins? If you have, then continue steadfastly in the hope
of the gospel (Colossians
1:23). If not, why not be added to that body today? Why not
submit to Christ and have your sins forgiven as well.
Glory
to God in the church by Christ Jesus
Franklin
Church of Christ
|