Membership Requirements #1: Age and Maturity

The point: Keep foundational issues of church purpose and membership constantly before your minds.

Martin states that the church is always 'just one generation away from apostasy,' emphasizing the fragility of spiritual truth and the need for constant vigilance in maintaining God's purpose.

That we are always just one generation away from apostasy. We were reminded of that in the previous hour in our survey of the book of John. And if you were to ask me, well, Pastor Martin, what can ensure that Trinity Church will continue in successive generations to hold to its God-given purpose? My answer would be fundamentally and foundationally it will only be if God sustains that purpose by the power of His grace.

9:35 - 10:08 Read in full sermon

The point: Understand that a God-prescribed purpose for the church and a God-prescribed standard of membership will stand or fall together.

Martin imagines his deathbed words to the congregation: 'I commend you to God and to the word of His grace,' to underscore the ultimate dependence on God's grace for the church's perpetuation.

He commends them to God and to His grace. And if I were lying on my deathbed and someone said you have but a few words to say to the people among whom you've labored for your lifetime, what would they be? These would be the words. I commend you to God and to the word of His grace.

11:17 - 11:39 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Using the analogy of God's house with a front and back door, Martin argues that the ultimate stewardship of admitting and dismissing members rests with the congregation, not…

The church is likened to a vast house with a front door for admission and a back door for dismission, illustrating the process and responsibility of church membership.

using the means prescribed in the Holy Scriptures. And as a general rule then, this God-prescribed purpose for the church and a God-prescribed standard of membership in the church will stand or fall together. I want you to think with me of the church as a vast house, and that's a biblical imagery. There in 1 Timothy 3, 5, speaking of elders, would-be elders, Paul says, if a man rule not well his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?

14:13 - 14:49 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not throw open the church door just because someone 'sounds good'; validate their claims of discipleship.

Saul of Tarsus is described as an 'angry beast' brought into 'gracious chains of grace' and bound to Christ's 'chariot of conquest,' vividly portraying his conversion.

And Jesus comes forth riding on the charger of gospel conquest and he brings this mad opposer of the church Saul of Tarsus. He brings him in gracious chains of grace and binds him to his chariot of conquest and he converts him. Well then he goes into his hometown he goes there into Damascus and preaches a bit and now we read this verse 23 of Acts 9 And when many days were fulfilled the Jews took counsel together to kill him and their plot became known to Saul and they watched the gates day and night that they might kill him but his disciples took him by night led him down through the wall lowe...

19:26 - 20:10 Read in full sermon

The point: Do not throw open the church door just because someone 'sounds good'; validate their claims of discipleship.

Paul's attempt to join the disciples in Jerusalem is framed as him 'knocking at the front door' of the church, and the disciples' hesitation as their 'not unlocking it,' to illustrate the congregation's role in vetting members.

And when he was come to Jerusalem he assayed he attempted to join himself to the disciples Come back to our imagery we're going to stick with it all the way through this. Paul shows up at the front door of the church in Jerusalem and he knocks and people say knock knock who's there? Saul of Tarsus now Paul the apostle I've seen a great light I've heard the voice of the risen Christ the Christ whose name and cause I've sought to wipe off the face of the earth as being an imposter and a blasphemer

20:10 - 20:52 Read in full sermon

The point: If anyone suggests opening the door to those without biblical credentials, stand firm and say 'no, the scripture says'. If leaders won't be led by the Bible, find a church that will.

The imagery of clearing out the house of leaven before Passover is used to explain the necessity of church discipline and the congregation's role in purging sin.

and I'll give you an apostolic direction but my judgment and my direction cannot replace your action as a congregation look at it very carefully verse 3 For I verily being absent in body but present in spirit have already as though I were present judged him that has so wrought this thing in the name of our Lord Jesus you being gathered together and my spirit with the power of our Lord Jesus to deliver such a woman unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh that the spirit may be saved in the day of our Lord Jesus then he uses the imagery of clearing out the house of leaven

24:48 - 25:32 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin lists the seven requirements for membership from the church constitution, categorizing them as explicit and implicit, and explains that the sermon will delve into these…

An inferred requirement is compared to a seed in the middle of a peach – it's 'inherently within something, but it's not standing there on the surface,' to explain the nature of implicit biblical truths.

and those that we come to by deduction and inference and the collation. When something is inferred, it is inherently within something, but it's not standing there on the surface of it. It's like the kernel that's in the, not a kernel, it's like the seed that's in the middle of a peach. It's in there, but it's not lying on the surface like the fuzz.

35:42 - 36:07 Read in full sermon

Driving home: As we went to our Bibles, we came to the conviction that our Bibles taught that church membership is for men and women, not just males and females, but for adult males and adult females.

Martin recounts the church's original name, 'Calvary Fellowship,' and why they changed it to avoid 'guilt by association' with charismatic churches, illustrating the historical context of their doctrinal development.

Because as someone who's been a part of wrestling with this issue from the very beginning, when there was no Trinity Church, there was just a fellowship, we originally called ourselves Calvary Fellowship. When we first started, we had to have a name and open up a checking account and have somebody handle the monies, so there'd be no question about our integrity. So we said, well, Christ has drawn us together, and he's drawn us together by his cross. Tell him, Calvary Fellowship.

37:59 - 38:23 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin examines Acts 1, 2, 4, 5, and 8, highlighting that specific descriptions of church members consistently use terms for adult 'men and women,' with no mention of children as…

Martin uses the example of being asked who sat at his supper table and only naming his wife and himself, to illustrate that if children were present and not mentioned in biblical accounts of church membership, it implies they were not formal members.

If you ask me who sat at your supper table last night, and I say you want to know precisely who was at my table, yes, I do. It was my wife and I sat at the table. And if you were there and six others, I've been dishonest in responding to your question. I've deliberately misled you.

50:10 - 50:29 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin examines Acts 1, 2, 4, 5, and 8, highlighting that specific descriptions of church members consistently use terms for adult 'men and women,' with no mention of children as…

The example of asking 'young men with strong backs' to help after supper is used to illustrate the natural identification of 'young men' in the church context, implying their physical capability and adult status.

And the very act that they are engaged in points in the direction of them being young men, the same way at the end of the supper. Mr. Davies or someone will say, will some of the men help us, especially the young men with strong backs? That would be most natural.

52:09 - 52:24 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin explains why the church constitution does not specify an age for 'man or woman,' emphasizing that it refers to emotional, mental, and psychological maturity sufficient for…

Martin describes himself as 'wiggly' like 'mercury on a flat piece of steel' when pressed for a specific age for membership, emphasizing that where the Bible is not specific, he will not be either.

When is a kid, a young man? It all depends. You say, well, you're being as wiggly. There's mercury on a flat piece of steel.

64:55 - 65:07 Read in full sermon