Responsibilties of Members: Attendance & Support

Introduction to Pre-Membership Class and Terms of Membership

0:03 The following message was delivered in the adult Sunday school class of the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. This is lecture number 11 in our pre-membership class. Now this morning we come to the 10th in our series of pre-membership classes. And I see several visitors with us, so just a brief word of explanation.

0:30 What we're doing in our Sunday school class is we are pretending that everyone sitting here this morning is applying for church membership. And it is our purpose to tell you those things that you need to know if you are to be able to join this church with a good conscience. Already we've considered the subject of conversion. Because that's the first and foundational issue that has to be faced when someone wants to join the church.

1:00 Secondly, the issue of baptism. And thirdly, the issue of our doctrinal distinctives. Where does our church stand doctrinally? And we've considered these things in the last nine Sunday school classes.

1:16 Now we have four classes left before you can join the church. And in these four classes we are going to look at, God willing, the terms of membership. As you can see, I have it written on the board. And the terms of membership is a broad subject.

1:36 It includes the requirements or responsibilities, the privileges, and also the liabilities. The requirements or responsibilities, the privileges, and also the liabilities. And hopefully we will be able to cover these things over the next four weeks. I plan to spend three weeks on the duties or requirements or responsibilities.

2:00 And then the final week, considering the liabilities and privileges. And as we consider these things together, let us pray for God's blessing upon us as we study the terms of membership at Trinity Baptist Church. Let us pray.

2:20 Our Father, as again we draw near to you, we do ask for your grace and blessing to rest upon us this morning as we study what you expect and require of those who are coming to you. We are coming to be part of the church of Jesus Christ. We pray, O God, that we may be kept from error on the right hand and on the left, from adding to or subtracting from that which you have required of your people. And rather we plead, O God, that a spirit of illumination may be given to us, that we may understand what you expect from us.

2:55 And we also plead for a spirit of grace to be given to us, that we may become the more and the fresh committed, to those things which you expect from us, who are the members and servants of Christ in this church. We pray these things asking for your grace and blessing to rest upon us. In Jesus' name, amen.

The Church Constitution and Three Major Responsibilities

3:21 Now, in focusing upon the terms of membership, and in particular upon the responsibilities of membership, we leave the study of our church confession or our doctrinal statement, and we move to the study of our... And we move to the study of our...

3:36 And we move to the study of our... And we move to the study of our church constitution, or our statement of church policy or polity.

3:44 And our church constitution describes the responsibilities of membership. In the current constitution, the conduct required of members is described on pages 6, 7, and 8. Of course, you were given a copy of the church constitution, and your membership packet, and I understand that you have been reading it. And last week, since this was a pre-membership class, I told you to bring it, and you brought it this morning.

4:15 It's all pretend.

4:17 Now, the conduct required of members is described in 8 paragraphs, paragraphs A through H of Article 5, Section 5, in our present constitution on pages 6 to 8. And basically, these 8 paragraphs, can be summarized into three major concerns. Three things that are expected, required of those who would be the members of the church. And the first has to do with priority.

4:51 And the second with purity. And the third with unity. There must be, first of all, a commitment to honor, a commitment to uphold the priority of the church. Secondly, a commitment.

5:10 You are required and responsible to honor and uphold the purity of the church. And thirdly, there is a commitment. You are required and responsible to honor and uphold the unity of the church. The priority of the church, the purity of the church, and the unity of the church.

5:32 These are the things that all the members of the church are expected, required, responsible, to honor and uphold. And these three main areas of responsibility and commitment are opened up under 8 paragraphs. Now, in our attempt, and I state this as an aside to you who are really here, in our attempt to revise the constitution of the church, we have rearranged or proposed the reestablishment, rearrangement of these paragraphs in order to make this more clear. And the first two paragraphs in the proposed revision focus upon the priority of being committed to the church.

6:24 The next two paragraphs in our revision focus upon the commitment to uphold the unity of the church. And the fifth and final paragraph actually combines four of the existing paragraphs and focuses upon the subject of the church. The subject of holiness or purity. And the commitment to uphold the purity or holiness of the church.

6:47 And so we have reduced it from 8 paragraphs to 5. Two paragraphs on priority. Two paragraphs on unity. And then one paragraph on purity, which has five sub-paragraphs, four that are already there, and another one added on the subject of worldliness and being free from the current practices and wicked devices of the world around us.

7:09 And God willing, in the next couple of weeks, we'll go over these. Now, this morning, I want to focus upon the first element of what is expected of church members. And then, God willing, next week, upon the second element. And the week after that, upon the third element.

7:27 So this week, we focus upon the commitment to uphold the priority of the church. Next week, the commitment to uphold the purity of the church. Thirdly, the commitment to uphold the unity of the church. And then, finally, the privileges and liabilities in the fourth week.

The Meaning of 'Required' in Membership

7:47 Well, now you see what I put on the board. The terms of membership, responsibilities, liabilities, privileges. We're under responsibilities. There are three main focal points to uphold the priority, purity, and unity of the church.

8:03 Here are the paragraphs in our current constitution. And this morning, we focus upon...

8:09 Priority.

8:12 And before we get to focus upon priority this morning, there's one thing I'd like to say about the heading of this section. I want to expound the heading. It says, conduct required of members.

8:32 Conduct required of members.

8:41 Emphasis upon the word required.

8:49 These are parts... Part of the terms of membership.

8:52 This commitment to uphold, this responsibility to honor the priority and purity and unity of the church is something which is required. Now, what is the implication of this word required? Well, it is simple. Is it not?

9:12 It means plainly and clearly that you cannot neglect or renounce. Any of these requirements and still have the right to remain as a member in good standing in the church.

9:34 Isn't that clear? Now, this is spelled out implicitly with reference to attending the meetings in our current constitution. And again, I say to you, it is our intention and proposal that in our revision of the constitution, this fact be spelled out in greater detail and rather than just simply stating it implicitly, that it would be stated explicitly. Under the subject of exclusion or termination of membership, we read this on page 5 in our current constitution.

10:16 If a member habitually absents himself from the stated meetings of the church without showing just cause, or if due to relocation he ceases to maintain a vital contact with the church, he may be excluded from the membership at the discretion of the elders. And what we are, since you've wondered what's going on in this constitution revision, well, one of the things we are proposing is not only to continue to include that statement, but to go somewhere beyond it.

10:54 Listen to this. This is the proposal. This is the proposal. This is the proposal.

10:56 This is the proposal. This is the proposed addition. That would extend that comment not just to one requirement,

11:02 but explicitly to all the requirements of membership. If a member not guilty of sin, which calls for corrective discipline, either renounces his public commitment to keep any of the requirements of membership, or ceases without just cause to practice any of them as a pattern of life, and yet refuses to resign voluntarily, he may be excluded. But only after due admonition from the elders. In such cases, the elders at a regular or specially called meeting shall recommend that the person be excluded, explain the grounds for the recommendation, and obtain the consent of the congregation, etc.

11:46 Well, the idea is, look, we want to make it clear, explicit, that nobody has the right to flaunt the requirements of membership. If they are really requirements, then they are really required. And if a person is unwilling to comply with them, then that person does not have the right to continue in membership. This is implicit in the word requirement, but what we intended to do was to spell out a procedure whereby if someone says, no, look, I don't have to keep these requirements, and I can still remain a member here.

12:23 What are you going to do about it? Well, we want to provide, and just in case, anyone might take that kind of an attitude for dealing with it explicitly in a decent and orderly manner. In order to let people know that when you become a member of the church, there are requirements, and these requirements must be met, or you cannot continue as a member in the church. You can't flaunt them.

12:57 And I want you to know that right up front. You want to know whether you wish to apply for membership? I want to tell you right now, this is what you're getting into. This is what you're getting into.

13:09 You think of the text of the book of Acts. No man dared join them. You say, well, if that's the way it is, I don't want to be a member of a church like this that requires you. Okay.

13:23 It's all right.

13:26 Go to a church that doesn't require it. Join that church. Be happy there. But the scripture says, even though people were afraid to join that church, in the book of Acts, because God dealt with things seriously, it says, nevertheless, believers were the more added to the Lord.

13:45 Multitudes of men and women. And I tell you, this won't keep serious people away from the church. Because these requirements are not unreasonable. But these are the requirements which the word of God places upon those who are serious about religion and about Christ and about God's glory in their lives.

14:05 That's all it is.

14:08 It's no nonsense, though. If you want to join this church, take it to heart. We're serious. We mean it.

14:17 It is required. It's not suggested. It's not optional.

14:26 It is required. So, that's the first thing I wanted to say. Now, recently, you know, there are some people that I honestly forget where they are. So, I really do.

14:39 At least right now. Maybe if I thought about it, I'd remember who they are. And I don't want to remember. But there were some people who were thinking about implementing our church constitution somewhere in a church.

14:49 And when they got to this part, there were members of the church and some of them have balked. So, we don't wait. Whoa! This word required.

14:57 That can't go in here. That smacks of legalism and authoritarianism to require people.

15:09 But I tell you, we're serious about the church being a priority. We're serious about the church being maintained in purity. We're serious about the church being maintained in its unity. And you cannot remain a member or become a member unless you are committed to uphold the priority and the purity and the unity of this church.

15:35 Make no bones about it.

Responsibility of Attendance: Substance and Definition

15:40 Therefore, I open up the title. Now, this morning, we've come to consider the priority of the church. And the priority of the church, our commitment to uphold the priority of the church, is expressed in two paragraphs. First is paragraph A, which focuses upon your person.

16:05 And the second is paragraph C, which focuses upon your possessions. I should probably write these paragraphs here. Paragraph A and paragraph C.

16:18 First of all, paragraph A focuses upon your... your person.

16:23 It has to do with attendance at the stated meetings of the church. Paragraph A reads as follows. All regular and temporary members are required to attend all the stated meetings of the church unless providentially hindered by illness, accident, unusual working conditions, and other such circumstances. The stated meetings of the church are all the services of the Lord's Day.

17:00 Bible school, morning and evening worship, and the Lord's Supper. The midweek prayer service, the business meetings of the congregation, and any special meetings which the elders shall occasionally deem it necessary to call. Now, in this paragraph, there is, first of all, a setting out of the substance of what is required. And that is that all, all regular and temporary members are required to attend the stated meetings of the church.

17:30 And then there's a definition of what exactly and precisely those stated meetings are. And then secondly, there is a limitation placed upon this, or a qualification. And that qualification or limitation is this, unless providentially hindered by illness, accident, unusual working conditions, and, et cetera, other such circumstances. And then I have a third heading, which is not here, although in the revision of the Constitution we have made mention of these passages.

18:07 And the third is the biblical support or the biblical basis for this requirement. And in our proposed revision of the Constitution, we propose, including two texts of Scripture under this, that we propose the inclusion of Acts 242 and the inclusion of Hebrews 10, 24 and 25. And so then, hopefully, the next time it's expounded, God willing, there will be a basis right in front of you on the page for all three of the headings. So there's the substance of the requirement with reference to attendance.

18:45 There is the qualification or limitation of the requirement. And there is, thirdly, the biblical basis or support for the, the requirement. Now, in the interest of time,

19:00 since I have two of these to cover this morning, I must move now quickly. Let us look, first of all, at the substance of the requirement. What exactly are you required to do if you join the church? You are required to be present at the stated meetings of the church.

19:18 And what are the stated meetings? Well, the stated meetings are those meetings in which the church is required by Christ called by Christ to fulfill her function, to fulfill her commission, which if she did not gather for these purposes, she would be sinning against Christ.

19:40 That's why we have stated meetings. Because Christ has not left His church free to decide what her commission and purpose shall be all about. But the Lord Jesus Christ Himself apostles in the Word specified, what the life and commission of the church is to be. That the church is commissioned to worship Him.

20:13 That all of the disciples are to be taught, teaching them all things which I have commanded you. That there is to be the systematic, comprehensive instruction of the disciples of Christ in the whole of the teaching and commandment of Christ.

20:33 That the church is to be involved. That the church is to be involved in the various other responsibilities which are part and parcel of its commission. The spreading of the Word of God. And therefore there are times when the church must gather to hear missionary reports.

20:55 The election and selection of church officers and leaders. Therefore there are times when the church must gather in order to appoint officers. The exercise of church discipline. Therefore, sometimes the church must gather in order to exercise suspension or excommunication.

21:12 These things are not optional. But the Lord Christ has required it. The commemoration of the new covenant.

21:21 And there are therefore times and seasons when the Lord must gather to remember and commemorate with the sign of the new covenant the Lord's Supper in the gathered church.

21:34 The conducting of all of its business of benevolence and the other things that are mundane affairs of the church. This is part of what we are commissioned to do. And because we are commissioned to do this as a church, there are times and seasons when we must gather in order to fulfill this commission to which Christ has called us as a church. And all of those who are part of the church are expected, are required to participate in the entirety of that exercise of that commissioning with which Jesus Christ has charged His church.

22:17 And that's the basis.

22:20 And as I say, it's kind of difficult to differentiate the basis and the substance because of the very opening up of the substance, the basis for it is really self-evident, isn't it? If you're part of the church and the church has been called to worship, how come you're not worshiping? If you're part of the church and the church has been called to receive instruction, why aren't you there receiving instruction? If you're part of the church and the church has been called to discipline, why aren't you participating in the discipline?

22:48 Why aren't you participating in the benevolence? Why aren't you participating in the selection of officers? Why aren't you participating in those things which Christ has called His church to do if you're part of the church? Does it make any sense at all?

23:02 I mean, required, it's obvious. Nevertheless,

23:08 that's the reason that we have the stated meetings that we have. Oh, how could I leave it out? The church is required to pray.

23:18 That's why we have stated meeting for prayer. And I'm going to explain this in a minute.

23:24 Now, therefore, the basic generic principle, the generic principle is the stated meeting. And the concept of the stated meeting is that which the church must do if it is to fulfill the commission which Jesus Christ gave it. That's the concept of the stated meeting. That if the church is not gathering for those purposes, it's violating its commission.

Specific Stated Meetings and Their Biblical Basis

23:52 Now, then, having stated the generic substance of what the, quote, stated meeting is all about, then let me come to the specific things that are included in the stated meetings. Why do we have stated meetings? For worship. Because the church is a priesthood.

24:11 The church is the priesthood.

24:14 It's not that the pastors are priests.

24:18 The people of God are priests.

24:22 And what's the difference between a day of rest and worship? It's the Sabbath day. And the Lord has called His people to gather in His special presence on His special day as a holy, royal priesthood to bring to Him that worship which He has required at our hand.

24:43 The worship of God on the Lord's day. You have the example of the disciples coming together on the Lord's day to break bread and gathering to exercise their priesthood and worship of God. Then you have the Lord's Supper. Again, the Lord's Supper on the Lord's day.

25:06 Acts chapter 20 and verse 7. And 1 Corinthians chapter 11 verse 18 and following makes it abundantly clear that the Lord's Supper is to be observed by the gathered church because the Lord's Supper is the symbol of the new covenant. And the community of the people of God under the new covenant is nothing other than the church. And so it is the church because they are the people of God under the new covenant who when they gather are to commemorate and to give visible expression to the sign of that new covenant which is the Lord's Supper.

25:45 It's clear from 1 Corinthians chapter 11. And also that this was done on the Lord's day. Now, there's no explicit teaching in the scripture that says it requires us to do it every Lord's day. But it says as often as you drink it.

26:04 And so we have come to the decision. Some churches have it once a quarter. Some churches have it every week. We have come to the decision to commemorate it once a month.

26:16 There are certain things that the Lord has left and don't have to do it in the evening service once a month. You could do it in the morning service. You don't have to do it after the service. You could do it before the service.

26:25 There are certain things that are matters of Christian liberty. But what is clear is that it's to be associated with the worship of God and with the gathered church. That's clear. But what is not required is the precise frequency of its observance.

26:41 And that's left to Christian prudence and to the judgment of the people of God. And what about instruction? Well, as I already quoted the text, it teaching them baptize and then teaching the disciples it is the clear duty of the people of God that the disciples would be instructed comprehensively. As Paul says, they know whole counsel of God.

27:08 And it's clear that the apostles implemented this in Acts 11 verses 26 and 27. They gathered the church together and taught. They gathered the church and taught. And so there is this requirement that the disciples would be gathered and taught.

27:26 And then in 1 Corinthians 5 you being gathered together excommunication the act of the gathered church. Again, Matthew 18 in the case of a private offense. That's the case of a scandal in the case of a private offense. You tell the brother himself privately.

27:45 If he's stubborn he won't listen. You take two or three others. If he's still stubborn he won't listen. You tell the church well how do you do that unless the church gathers to hear it?

27:55 And if he won't listen to the church then you cut him off.

28:00 So you have in the exercise of discipline clearly that the whole church must gather and be involved. Similarly, in Acts chapter 15 when there was a doctrinal problem the whole question of circumcision. True, the theological discussion primarily was involving the elders and the apostles in their private meeting but when it came time to take action it was the whole church gathered together that sent the men down to Antioch to take action in the resolution of the matter and the maintenance of inter-church peace and purity with reference to prayer. The apostle Paul clearly requires that the church pray.

28:40 He says this is how men should behave themselves in the house of God which is the church of the living God. I will that the men pray. 1 Timothy 2 1 and following and then 1 Timothy 3 14 and this is what the church was doing when there was a crisis they were gathered for prayer in Acts chapter 2 chapter 12 it was the church giving themselves to prayer with regard to missions in Acts chapter 14 verse 27 when they had finished their missionary journey they gathered the church together and they rehearsed to them all things that they had done they had a missionary meeting and the church was gathered for the purpose of hearing a missionary report because the whole church was involved in the subject of evangelism with reference to church church officers Acts chapter 6 what did they do when they needed deacons they gathered the whole multitude of the disciples together and they said look ye out from among you all of the people in the church were expected required to participate in congregational suffrage with reference to the recognition of church officers with regard to the exercise of benevolence 1 Corinthians 16 1 and 2 he says benevolence is an act of worship associated with the Lord's day each one of you lay up I am in store

30:10 furthermore the church in 2 Corinthians 8 and 9 and even the churches there was an inter-church cooperative effort with reference to that special benevolence need in Judea and not only did a church meet and discuss it and appoint a fellow but the churches each of the churches in Macedonia had meetings appointed men and they said send those men together with regard to that special task of benevolence so it was a church concern benevolence reason for gathering the church together discipline doctrinal unity prayer missions benevolence officers these are the stated meetings now it's in reference to this that we have the stated meetings that we have we have the worship services of the Lord's day that focuses upon the commission of the church to worship God we have the Sunday school class that focuses upon the commission of the church to instruct the disciples in all the teaching the whole council of God we have the midweek prayer service that focuses upon the commission of the church to pray with regard to God's blessing upon all of its tasks and commission and we have any other business meetings

Rationale for Specific Meeting Structures

31:38 and special meetings which the elders will call whether for discipline or for doctrinal unity or for missions or for benevolence or for officers or for some combination of the above now those are the stated meetings we have those are all the meetings we have that's it you see each one of those meetings is in some way clearly associated with the explicit explicit commitment and commission of the church given to it by Jesus Christ and that's the and clearly implemented in the New Testament by the apostles someone says well now we get into questions I suspect that some of these questions we could ask I can't take a lot of time with them because it's getting to be ten after and I have a second whole heading I have to cover yet but I'm sure there are questions about this questions like well how come we worship both morning and evening why do we do that why don't we just have one worship service in the morning well here's the thing the Lord's day is a whole day of worship and rest under the new covenant and that the whole day belongs to the Lord is not negotiable that's the foundation now that's the first thing secondly God has given a special place of blessedness to his corporate worship

33:05 on his special day you see in the worship of God morning and evening there's a special benefit and glory of God because this is the house of God to thy people thy temple I repair Lord I love to worship there where within the veil I meet Christ before the mercy seat and in the worship of God there is that which we bring to God our spiritual sacrifices of ourselves and of our praise and of our substance and then there is that which God brings to us and especially for that purpose God has given to his church those with the ministerial gifts and the two two-fold focus of the ministerial gift is upon prayer and prayer and prayer and upon the preaching of the word we will give ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word and there is the exercise of that ministerial gift of intercessory prayer and of the public reading and of the preaching of the scriptures and the primacy of preaching and the worship of God is simply the primacy of God in worship because it is through the instrument of his ministerial gifts that God brings these things to us and so that's why there's an emphasis on this because God has taken the care to give these gifts to his church for this purpose and therefore on his day when the priesthood gathers there is the emphasis upon the corporate worship and so the principle is this

34:34 we want to bring to God he's worthy of all of our worship and we want to bring to God all the worship and we want to bring to God the best worship that we can bring him all day long that's the purpose and that's the principle and especially then the focus is upon our corporate worship but we are not disembodied spirits and we could not sustain week after week gathering from dawn to dust in the worship of God you want to try it? see how we do? some probably would like to try it we could sing hymns for three hours and then we could pray for an hour and then we could preach for two hours and then we could sing more hymns and say whoa we could do that no why not because we're if we could do it amen let's do it but the thing is we are not disembodied spirits we are creatures with bodies and weakness of the flesh someday we will be able to worship God like that amen may the day draw near soon but now for now we have the limitations of these bodies so we do what we can we worship him in the morning then we rest we commit ourselves back and we worship him in the evening again but the principle is to give God all the worship and the best worship that we can possibly give him and our rest is therefore

36:01 rest unto worship because it's a day of rest and worship that's why we have morning and evening worship but you see the fact that we have this morning and evening is not an iron clad rule that absolutely has to be followed the necessities of the community and the lifestyle may dictate slight changes in the life of us but we give God all we can and the whole day is holy to the Lord for example I know of one church where they worship and then they eat and then they worship it's not worship rest worship but it's worship in the morning and eat lunch and then worship in the afternoon and then they go home and rest and they take care of the necessities of their farming community am I going to say they're sinning against God are you you see they're following the principle they're trying to in their own context of giving God all the worship and the best worship the whole day that they can give Him that's the principle but why do we have Sunday school well the Sunday school is because God has required us to teach the disciples this is what the Sunday school is really all about it's this particular class it's the requirement of teaching the disciples all things that I have commanded you gathering the church and teaching well it could be done on Friday it doesn't just have to be gathering the church on Sunday morning to be instructed there's nothing that limits us to that even as we're not limited

37:31 to only having prayer on Sunday the task and the commission of prayer and the commission of teaching is not like worship in that sense it's not limited to the Lord's day so we could have the teaching sessions on Tuesday night Wednesday night Thursday night next week I plan to Friday night Saturday night we could do that every week but what would happen well again what would happen well we would become exhausted and we would begin to neglect our other duties so why do we have Sunday morning well because we're already gathered here and because most people don't have to work on Sunday and so they're able to gather and it would be perhaps too draining to have to gather in the evening so we'd gather in the morning for instruction to whoa what are we going to do with the children well we could hire babysitters we could just do that but we want to redeem the time so we've asked some of the people if they would be willing to try to supplement the parental time training by training the children downstairs in grades and in classes but this does not mean that this is to replace the parental nurture and training that they receive in the home that's not to be the purpose of teaching the children downstairs is to redeem the time while we're trying to teach the disciples the whole counsel of God up here it's not to undermine or to replace parental nurture and training of children someone ought not think oh yeah my children are being taught the word of God

38:59 they go to Sunday school that's a bad way to think so if you come to the church yes we have Sunday school that's why we have Sunday school we don't have to just have Sunday school or how it used to be in the Southern Baptist Church they had training union and in the training union they taught the people prior to the evening worship but what's wrong with that you say you can't do that I'm sure you could no law says you can't and you could have teaching sessions on Friday night you could have teaching sessions on Saturday morning if you wanted to no law says you can't what's clear to me is that you can't do that what's clear is that the day of rest and worship is to be filled with the worship of God and in the interest of stewardship and redeeming the time we've chosen this point in the morning to have our weekly instruction with a view to teaching the disciples and the whole council of God but what about prayer meeting well the general principle of prayer is that your prayer in its frequency is determined by the need give us this day our daily bread every day we need to confess our sins privately every day we need to depend upon God that's why we're called the secret daily prayer but what is to be the focus of the prayer life of the church it's to be the ministry of the word of God it's to be the worship of God it's to be the spread of the gospel of God and with what frequency has God ordained that that take place well as a general rule weekly because God has ordained the weekly Sabbath day and every week

40:28 comes the ministry of the word so we ought then to be praying we ought then to be praying we ought then to be praying weekly for God's blessing upon that ministry of the word of God that goes out weekly in accordance with our need so also the frequency of our prayer does that mean we only have to pray once a week no we could pray Wednesday night Thursday night Friday night does that mean you know it has to be Wednesday night no it could be Thursday night could be Saturday night could be Saturday morning why'd you pick Wednesday well again it's a matter of judgment first of all it's about in the middle of the week and it keeps us in some sense the whole week long at least in some way focused on the worship and service and church and things of God secondly it's conventional and people come into the area as visitors they pretty much would expect to find a midweek prayer service on a Wednesday night in an evangelical church we wouldn't want to disappoint them or confuse them so we picked Wednesday night that's not inspired of God say well then how can you buy my conscience well you see here's the point that's the only prayer meeting we have and what's clearly your duty is to be present to pray and if that's the prayer meeting then be there we're not saying that Wednesday night is binding on your conscience but the general duty of prayer is binding and God has committed some of these things to the leadership of the church to make judgments and since there has been the decision that it should be Wednesday night

Qualifications for Attendance and Biblical Support

41:57 then you should be there on Wednesday night it doesn't mean that Wednesday night is the law of God you can see the difference between those things right trust you can and so that's why you're expected to be at the prayer meeting required to be at the prayer meeting because of the requirements to prayer now let me come to the qualification it says providentially hindered by illness now we're not saying that the elders are going to come drag you out of bed with a 104 fever and say what are you doing there come on accident come to the hospital and drag you in your wheelchair to the church unusual working conditions we realize that from time to time there may be circumstances which require you to be present at work now that's a delicate thing isn't it because what if you have your work more important than your commitment to the church that unusual working conditions no that's a failure to have your priorities right so where do you draw the line well if you've got a question about that and whether you're going to be able to keep the commitments then you've got to go seek counsel because if you're looking for a special regular exception you can't just take it upon yourself to do that you have to go get counsel and have it basically approved so that it can be stated openly what's going on and all things can be done decently in an order and it's evident to the people of God that you have a good testimony you're not flaunting the requirements and that's not for you to make a completely private decision about it when you join the church because your action is not private it's public

43:27 you're not here that's not a private action it's a public action everybody knows you're not here at least they should at least we should what other requirements yes okay any other other such circumstances that's too broad anything where duty or necessity may keep you away from stated meetings as an exception these are things which the Lord understands that if a person has night blindness and they can't drive at night God's not expecting you to violate the sixth commandment drive here blind have an accident die on the way maybe someone else could ride you though so maybe instead a little humility to let your need be known would be in order but you might be able to get a ride to church rather than think well if I have to do it all myself no that's it the Lord is gracious and reasonable with his people and understands that there may be special circumstances well then I come to the final heading under this and I need to move along because I only have ten minutes left here I knew this was going to happen but so be it at least you know I'm not going to spend the whole time pressing you to give money Acts chapter 2 and Hebrews 10 25 forsake not the assembling of yourselves together and not the and they all continued steadfastly in the apostles

Responsibility of Financial Support: Rationale

44:56 teaching doctrine breaking of bread fellowship and the prayers and so that's the basic biblical basis I just mention it because I must of necessity move to paragraph C that is not only is the Lord requiring a commitment with reference to your person is also requiring a commitment with reference to your possessions and paragraph C reads as follows since it is clearly taught in scripture that Christians should support financially the work of the Lord by systematic and proportionate giving made through the local church Malachi 3 8 to 10 1 Corinthians 16 1 and 2 2 Corinthians chapters 8 and 9 all the members of the church are expected to conform to this rule of scripture the tithe 10% of one's income is not imposed on the people of God as a tax and we decided God willing and we proposed to take that particular statement out because we thought it might be a little bit well maybe some inflammatory but we're not opposed to people tithing but we're not going to require it that's where that's the reason for that but it is strongly urged that's the language settled on strongly urged

46:24 and we're going to leave that that way God willing upon each member as an expression of worship and the biblical norm for basic giving to which should be added gifts and offerings according to one's ability and the willingness of his heart 2 Corinthians 8 1 to 5 and Exodus 36 2 through 7 now basically what I wish to say about this and I knew that I would have to be brief I want to give the rationale for this for giving I want to then speak about the manner of giving which is mentioned at the end of the paragraph according to one's ability and the willingness of his heart and then the measure of giving which is also mentioned in the paragraph to tithe not as a tax but as a norm now then let me start with the rationale it is abundantly clear that the Lord Jesus Christ intends that the church be supported in representing all of its commission which he has given her to do we read in 1 Corinthians 9 first of all with reference to the supporting of the Christian ministry that those who preach the gospel should live of the gospel and that those that are taught in the word communicate to him that teaches all good things so those set apart to labor with the ministerial and with the teaching gifts ought to be remunerated

47:54 and financially supported by the church and we stand up to that and committed to this in our confession of faith furthermore the worship of God we would have a difficult time worshiping God today if we did not have shelter would we not you carried umbrellas in here many of you well how would it be today if we had no building no roof over our head certainly as a general rule one can state that where we have the resources it's evidently more convenient and conducive to the worship of God to have a building to meet inside and worship God on a rainy day than it is not to have one could anyone gain say it but this building costs money the construction of it costs money and the maintenance of it costs money but this building is designed to promote the worship of God and the instruction of God's people and the fulfillment of all the tasks of the church furthermore we're committed to spreading the gospel Paul talks about churches having fellowship with him in his ministry furthermore we're committed to care for the poor only I would that you would remember the poor which thing I was very forward to do benevolence evangelism a place for worship and the support of the ministry of ministers of the word of God teachers and preachers of the word all of these things are clearly the will of Jesus Christ

49:22 for his church and all of these things cost money well who's to provide it should we go to the government and say we're not going to give us money should we go to the world and say give us money where are we going to go where's the money going to come from it's going to come from the people who are committed to that work let him that is taught in the word communicate to him that teaches all good things the people that worship here the people that are taught here the people whose hearts have been touched by the gospel so they spread the gospel the people who have the people who labor working with his hands that he might have to give to him that has need we're supposed to work not just with vacation in mind but with other people in mind not just for a subsistence living but that we might have more than subsistence so that we might give to him who has less than subsistence that's who's supposed to do it that's us see isn't it clear that's the basis the rationale for giving now what about the manner how are we supposed to do it well it just says I have several things to say under this

Manner and Measure of Giving

50:50 the manner in which we're to do it we're supposed to do it systematically and proportionately that's mentioned let each one of you lay up by him in store week by week systematically and proportionately there is to be that setting aside of giving giving is part of life it's not to be the occasional thing the exceptional thing but it is to be a systematic proportional act of worship on the part of the people of God secondly and that brings us to the second thing because it's on the first day of the week and because it's called a spiritual sacrifice in Hebrews 13 16 and in Philippians chapter 4 it is to be done as an act of worship that's why we have no embarrassment about including a collection in our corporate worship because it is an act of worship to give the things which came from you a sacrifice but to do good and communicate forget not for with such sacrifices God is well pleased Hebrews 13 16 giving is a spiritual sacrifice it's worship and that it is to be done generously that is not grudgingly but rather cheerfully and benevolently with a heart that's filled with love and out of a freedom of the will not grudgingly but cheerfully and cheerfully generously and you know what the pattern of generosity is

52:17 it's articulated in 2nd Corinthians 8 one of the passages mentioned first it says they gave themselves to the Lord that which is the very root and foundation of all generous giving is first being committed to Christ so that your attitude is 10% of my time doesn't belong to the Lord 100% does 10% of my money and talent doesn't belong to the Lord 100% does first they gave themselves to the Lord that's the foundation that's the principle upon which we begin our giving first you give yourself to the Lord you're not your own you're bought with a price everything you have is Christ's and on that foundation you give so you give systematically you give worshipfully you give generously but then and our time is gone but I have to at least mention it briefly how about the measure what about timing? well we don't command tithing or require tithing but you have the tithe rooted in something deeper than the Levitical law you have the tithing that took place under the patriarchal period Abraham giving tithe to Melchizedek the high priest then you have the people giving tithe to the priesthood and similarly under the new covenant the principle is that the people of God and the servants of God give tithe to the high priest and to the priesthood

53:45 but the high priest under the new covenant is the Lord Jesus Christ and those givings and those offerings are received through the priesthood which is the church considered collectively so you have the church of God giving to their high priest and his body which is the priesthood and the beauty of it is that the very the priesthood is also the people of God so you have the people of God individually giving to the priesthood collectively which represents its high priesthood the Lord Jesus Christ and so you have the general principle and that is not to be considered as a maximum but as a basic rule established among the people of God for centuries from the days of Abraham and the days of the Old Testament and even now and if anything we ought not to be less generous than the Jews but more if the unconverted Jews under the old covenant could do that more can we not do that much at least if not more under the grace of the new covenant I say that to put anybody to shame who doesn't even have in his heart the generosity of the unconverted under the old covenant that's my argument if you can gainsay that tell me how show our hearts

Caution Against Abuse in Giving and Concluding Prayer

55:11 because where a man's treasure is there will his heart be too if you have a man's heart you have his pocketbook now I want to say a word of caution here when I talk about the measure we must also give prudently because we have seen and there has been a history over many many years of abuse of the people of God in fleecing the sheep rubbing consciences raw pressing people for money money money money that's terrible and you won't find that going on here you won't find it you join this church your conscience is not going to be rubbed raw Sunday after Sunday to give money it's not going to happen guaranteed nor are you going to be pressed to take out a second mortgage on your house so pastors can drive Mercedes Benzes nor is there going to be effort to devour widows' houses or to take money out of the kids' mouths or to no longer suffer you to honor your parents because it's core band given to God there's none of that stuff going on and when you give you must not only give as an act of worship and systematically and generously out of a heart that belongs to Christ based on the measure set up by these fundamental norms of the Bible but the measure also has to be tempered with prudence with prudence and a recognition that you have other God-given responsibilities to support your family

56:39 and there is not an effort on the part of the church to take the bread out of the kids' mouths or to devour widows' houses for all such things are an abomination to the Lord Jesus Christ well, our time is done I wanted to begin this morning with the foundation of what is required of members the requirement of commitment and attendance with your person the requirement of systematic proportional giving with your possessions is of the foundational requirement of the priority of the church of God let us pray our Father we give you thanks this morning that you have so worked in our hearts a desire to be committed to Jesus Christ and his church we thank you Father for giving us a desire to attend the meetings of the church and to support the church financially and we pray oh God that you will be pleased to increase this desire in our hearts and that we may be faithful in the attending and faithful in the supporting of this church for the glory of Jesus Christ and that it may be mightily used of you to bring the spread of the gospel to our generation and the salvation of sinners

58:02 and the edification of saints we pray for any who are joining our church to old God that they may understand clearly what is required that they may not shrink back but that their hearts may first be committed to you and then also to the work and that you would be glorified as they come faithfully to attend and as they give generously to the work which Jesus Christ has called his church to do here we pray hear then our prayers oh God and be pleased that this church may be marked by a commitment to the priority of these things throughout its days for we ask it in Jesus name Amen