Why I Should Become a Partner of Southern Gables Church?

In Acts 2 those who received the message (becoming believers) and were baptized were also added to the church. They were recognized as part of a particular church. They somehow indicated their identification with that church as opposed to a church in another location. They joined the church. Just exactly the form that joining took is not described but that they did belong to that particular church, and that they and everyone else knew it, is quite obvious.

Did they become a member of the church so they would go to heaven when they died? No! Did they need to be a member of a church so they could participate in the programs for themselves and their kids - a kind of religious "Costco" where you have to show your membership card to get in? Of course not! But belonging God's world-wide church (sometimes called the church universal) is largely meaningless apart from belonging to it locally. Belonging to an abstraction (the church universal) is clearly not the same as belonging to flesh and blood fellow-believers. We don't belong to or have a relationship with a concept or an institution, we belong to people.

And just as baptism is the visible expression of the invisible "new birth", so the act of joining the local church is the outward visible expression of the inward commitment to that group of people. I have for years likened joining a church to the marriage ceremony. What makes a marriage? A ceremony? I have asked that question of those who questioned the need for a wedding. And the response I usually get is that the ceremony doesn't make the marriage; it is love that makes the marriage. I have responded that that is true but marriage is more than love, it is committed love and committed love is publicly declared, publicly vowed love. Felt love is not the basis of a marriage; Commitment is!

This is similar to becoming part of a local church: Being present is not enough. What is needed is a declared commitment. As with any relationship, foundational to the trust that is essential to build the relationship is the commitment that you will be there tomorrow whether you feel like it or not. Trust is built on permanence, the permanence declared in commitment. Vows (public commitment) are what protect a marriage and the vow of declaring your commitment to this group of people in joining the church are what protect relationships in the church. Membership doesn't create the relationship but it can make it responsible and public.

If you are trusting in Jesus as your saving-Lord then we need you and we need you to commit yourself to us as we commit ourselves to you. We need you to make that commitment by joining us - by vowing to be part of us. We have been "engaged" to some of you for years, it's time to tie the knot - to make the commitment.

The above text is excerpted from the sermon "Church, Why Bother" by Dr. Jerry Nelson presented on January 5, 2003. You may read the whole sermon available on this web site under "Sound Living Online."  You may also listen to the sermon online.