First Baptist Church
August 23, 2026

      • John 3.16-17ESV

      • John 3.18ESV

  • In Christ Alone
  • Come Ye Sinners Poor And Needy
  • Before The Throne Of God Above

      • 1 Corinthians 12:12–14ESV

  • His Glory And My Good
  • I read this week that a 16 year long study has been ongoing of 49,000 nurses. They have been tracking the mental health of these individuals in this profession and looking at the commonalities of their daily lives to see what things produced good mental health. It was found that of those who were consistent and active participants in a church were 25% lower in probability to have depression. The clinical world calls this meaningful reduction, not just a marginal. That’s a significant statement. The world of science and sociology has seen the effects of what being involved in a church can do for one’s life.
    Furthermore, the studies also found that regular religious involvement not only decreased probability for depression but also had positive benefits across 15 different physical health measures, including associations with longevity and reduced disease risk. Now of course, the study also found that where a person went to church and participated made a significant impact. Healthy churches produced healthy people, where abusive, confrontational, greedy, unbiblical churches did not.
    Why do I bring this up?
    Well, last few weeks, we have been discussing the nature and Biblical understanding of church and it’s membership. We noted that though the phrase church membership is never stated in scripture, the concepts of it’s existence are all over in the pages of the Bible. We can most clearly see it’s implied design thru the submission to the church’s leader/leaders and thru the administration of church discipline. These things would be impossible to implement without the clear understanding of who is inside the church and who is outside the church.
    In speaking on the matter of church discipline, Paul instructs the Corinthian church to remove such an immoral man from among them. Jesus teaching on the matter instructs the church to treat this disciplined man as a Gentile or an unbeliever.… because his or her way of life no longer lines up with their confession of faith. Repentance and humility define a Christian walking with the Lord. If they are unwilling to admit fault, then they live more like the unregenerate that say there is nothing wrong then they do like Christ’s redeemed who by the grace of God recognize when they are out of line with God’s standards of righteousness.
    In thinking about church discipline.… removing an unrepentant man or woman from fellowship within the body.… we have to ask. What are they missing out on? In order for church discipline to mean something.… church membership has to mean something.
    Paul says in 1 Corinthians 5:4-5
    1 Corinthians 5:4–5 ESV
    When you are assembled in the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.
    Clearly what Paul meant in this statement, disciplining this man, it will have meaningful impact on his personal life as the result of being removed from his church’s membership. Being removed from membership delivers him over to the destruction of the flesh, which is the domain of Satan. That statement clearly implies that there is great value and worth in being inside the church of God, and clearly distinguishable as part of its membership. Definitively!
    So that brings us to the message for today. If church discipline is going to matter, then what we lose when we are disciplined has to be clearly defined.
    A more positive way to look at this is to say that if you are a church member, then with that membership comes much blessing and responsibility.
    When I was crafting this sermon… it was my intentions at first to teach on the blessings of church membership then next week look at the responsibilities, but after further study, I felt it was almost impossible to separate the two. Like saying I have a responsibility to love my wife, yet how could I not also include that as one of the greatest blessings of my life. Or a responsibility to teach and raise godly young people in my home as a father but not also say that it’s one of the sweetest enjoyments of my life. I cannot split the two. The responsibilities are my blessings, and the blessings are my responsibilities… this holds true as we look this week and the next at the church and it’s membership: Matters of Membership: The Blessings and Responsibilities
    As we look at these blessings and responsibilities, I want us to once again look at this as seen thru the descriptions and metaphors of the church.
    “Each metaphor teaches us something different about what a church and its members are like.… if all these metaphors or images have a job to do, then we need all of them. You cannot just pick your favorite fruit from the fruit bowl and leave the rest- ‘I’ll take the apples and leave the oranges, thank you.’ No, you have to grab the whole bowl.”
    -Jonathan Leeman (Church Membership)
    Leeman further challenges this thought with the illustration that the union of two bricks caries a difference in thought and connotation than the union of two people in marriage. Both convey union, but one highlights a certain aspect while that other highlights another.
    So let’s look at these once again starting with the blessings and responsibility of...

    1. A Spiritual Family That Knows and Cares

    What does it mean to be part of a family? One of the first things that is evident about families is their name.

    A. Share the Same Name

    Ephesians 2:11-22, Hebrews 2:11
    I will forever be a Belson. Good or bad… that is my family tree. I know where I come from. I know my roots. Because of my name, I know my heritage. That comes with a certain amount of knowledge to it. If I were to say I’m a Belson around this area… not a single person would know a single thing about me. But if I said I were a Belson in Mendon, everybody would know a great deal about me already. They would be able to identify me by my families trade, tax bracket to an extent, values, our location, and so on and so forth. It’s the same if I asked people around here about the name Miller or Powell. You’d already have a good sense of who they are.
    And that’s what we see in scripture.
    Ephesians 2:19 ESV
    So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,
    Hebrews 2:11 CSB
    For the one who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one Father. That is why Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters,
    Isn’t that just a wonderful thing. Before Christ, we were strangers and aliens. We think of strangers as random wanderers. Usually unknown and often unwelcomed. That’s what we were before Christ. In fact, it’s worse. The Bible goes on to further describe our foreignness as not just slightly different… but completely far off.
    Ephesians 2:12–13 ESV
    remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
    But in Christ, we now are given a new name.… an identify… not just with Christ.… but also with the other members of his household. To have this name places us within a family where God is the Father and the other members are our brothers and sisters. To not be named among the brethren would be to imply we are no longer part of the family. We lose that identity, and we’ve gone back to a time of identity crisis. Where do we belong?
    God says that if you are a Christian, you belong in His family with it’s many members. This is a great blessing and responsibility. You carry the name of Christ. Don’t dishonor God the Father by dishonoring God’s children, your brethren.

    B. Have a Real Sense of Belonging

    Matthew 16:18-19, Ephesians 4:1
    If any of you have spent time any real length away from family, there is something so refreshing about coming home. I was just talking about this with Amy, when my wife and I lived in West Virginia for about 6 and half years of our life… there was always a sense of foreignness about it. That’s not just merely because of different cultures, although there is definitively some differences… the foreignness always stems from the fact that wasn’t home. Home becomes home when you become fully acclimated to the people, the places, the feelings, and everything else. When you are always welcomed in and you are fully known by others. Embraced. You belong here. You look like us, talk like us, act like us… You belong here. That’s the joys of being a family. Now it’s true, that perhaps your immediate family doesn’t provide this for you because families today don’t operate as they should so these feelings perhaps aren’t there. But there probably is places that make you feel this way.
    The church is a place that ought to be this way. Matthew 16:19 carries this thought forward.
    Matthew 16:19 ESV
    I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”
    We spoke about how these verses are given to the church to affirm the salvation of a believer. In other words, this passage is the church opening up it’s arms and saying you belong here. We can tell by the way you look, the way you walk, and the way you talk. You’re one of us.
    That’s one of the great blessings of being a church member. We often deal with doubt. Am I truly a child of God. God gives us the local church and membership to help give individuals the understanding of their belonging in the family of God. When people no longer look like God-honoring faithful son’s and daughters of God. When they no longer bear His image, the church disaffirms their confession of faith and removes them from it’s family. But in the family, and if the church is doing it’s job to guard the integrity of the gospel, the sense of assurance is incredibly high. We continue to watch over you and still see that your walk is in line with your confession of faith so you have no need to worry about your assurance of salvation. That doesn’t mean the church or the individual can’t ever be fooled, but it does certainly add abundant filters so the church isn’t full of pretenders and strangers. But real children of God.

    C. Deeply Concerned and Committed to Care

    To be part of a family is to be a part of a group that truly loves and cares for you. No one on earth cares more for you typically than your family. Sometimes they too can be the source of great pain, but more so than others, families come together to support one another. You see this especially during times of crisis and pain. Family members who have long be estranged come together when a death in the family occurs. God created that sense of concern for family members in us, and it’s a good thing.
    So when the Bible talks about the church as the family or household of God, it should be obvious that the church regards its members the same way they would a family member in a loving home. That’s very clear in this text of scripture.
    1 Timothy 5:1–2 ESV
    Do not rebuke an older man but encourage him as you would a father, younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, younger women as sisters, in all purity.
    If you don’t know how to properly care for a family member here’s some of the ways scriptures tells us to deal with each other.

    -Love

    1 Peter 2:17, 1 John 3:14-16, 4:20
    1 Peter 2:17 NIV
    Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor.
    1 John 4:20 CSB
    If anyone says, “I love God,” and yet hates his brother or sister, he is a liar. For the person who does not love his brother or sister whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.
    By the way, do you see any middle ground here? You can’t say well I don’t hate anybody here, I just not loving anyone very well. John, the beloved disciple and the writer of this letter, is very clearly… repeatedly clear if you look at 2:9, 3:14-15… that to be in Christ is to do one or the other.
    1 John 3:14–15 ESV
    We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.
    The very next verse tells us what this love looks like.
    1 John 3:16 ESV
    By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.
    “Saying that church members are responsible to love one another is almost like saying birds have a responsibility to fly. Affection for God’s people defines our new identity in Christ (1 John 4:7). In the New Testament, love is tangible, active, and expressed through service. Every church member is responsible to fulfill the “one another” passages of the New Testament”

    -Teach and Encourage

    Romans 15:14, Colossians 3:16, 1 Thessalonians 5:11, Hebrews 3:13
    Romans 15:14 ESV
    I myself am satisfied about you, my brothers, that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able to instruct one another.
    Colossians 3:16 ESV
    Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
    1 Thessalonians 5:11 ESV
    Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.
    Hebrews 3:13 ESV
    But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

    -Welcome and Show Hospitality

    Romans 15:7, 1 Peter 4:9, 1 Corinthians 11:33, Romans 12:10
    Romans 15:7 ESV
    Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.
    Welcome or accept in some translations means “to take to” or “to take in addition”… has the ideas of taking someone in as a companion, to literally take by the hand, to receive as in taking one into your home with the idea of abundant kindness, and even further to grant one access into one’s very heart. That’s what all Christians are to do with every single member of their church family. That’s what true Christian acceptance looks like especially as it pertains to church members. Unreserved kindness and acceptance for all. Shower them in goodness so that they feel wanted and appreciated.
    1 Peter 4:9 ESV
    Show hospitality to one another without grumbling.
    1 Corinthians 11:33 ESV
    So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another—
    Romans 12:10 ESV
    Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.

    -Serve and Bear Burdens

    Galatians 5:13, 1 Thessalonians 5:15, Galatians 6:1-2, Ephesians 4:2
    Galatians 5:13 ESV
    For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.
    1 Thessalonians 5:15 ESV
    See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone.
    That’s the very definition of kindness.… it’s not passive and hopeful longing for someone’s good.… it’s active and attentive goodness. I’m actually going to do something about it. I’m going to see to it that there is good things coming to this person.
    Galatians 6:1–2 ESV
    Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.
    Ephesians 4:2 ESV
    with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,

    -Submit & Reconcile

    Colossians 3:13, Romans 12:16, Ephesians 5:21, 1 Peter 5:5, James 5:16, Ephesians 4:3
    The full expression of patience with a brother is found in forgiveness.
    Colossians 3:13 ESV
    bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.
    Romans 12:16 ESV
    Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight.
    Ephesians 5:21 ESV
    submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.
    1 Peter 5:5 ESV
    Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
    James 5:16 ESV
    Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.
    Ephesians 4:3 ESV
    eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
    To be part of the family of God is to experience these blessings that those outside the family never get to enjoy. It’s a real blessing… a real community… but it’s a covenantal community.… where we not only receive these things but we commit to do them ourselves.… if everyone comes to be served then who’s gonna serve. The Bible answers that question. To be a true child of God and a true member of His family, His household, his church… is to be responsible for one another in these ways.
    “When we join a local church, we are choosing to love others with clarity, not ambiguity, based on commitment, not convenience. Joining a local church provides clarity on who you’re committed to and what that commitment looks like. Healthy relationships require clear expectations. You should know whose burdens you are especially called to bear (Gal. 6:2).”
    -Matt Mihelic (9Marks Article)
    What a blessing it is to have an entire church watching over your life and soul. But it goes to an even deeper level, a level of accountability.

    D. Willing to Protect and Correct

    Galatians 6:1-2, Hebrews 3:12, 1 Corinthians 5:1-5
    Churches offer accountability and protection to their members, in part, by committing to remove unrepentant sinners from from their membership. Being part of a church family means being part of a people who so strive to help you live a life that’s pleasing to God, that they are even willing to exclude you from the church if you stop repenting of sin. While this can sound harsh to some, to those of us who know the reality of sin and it’s deceitfulness, this actually becomes extremely comforting and encouraging (Heb. 3:12).
    Hebrews 3:12 ESV
    Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.
    My church family isn’t going to let me be ruined by my own sin. They love and care enough about me to not let me be destroyed by my own battle with the flesh. They are going to speak up and speak out about where my life is at, and I am encouraged to do the same thing in their life.
    When they say, you longer are looking like the family, you are no longer walking in a manner worthy of the gospel, that’s the loving correction that is a real joy to my life. We take offense because we are proud beings, but by God’s own design this is for our humility and for our good. Without this blessing, there is nobody there willing to actually speak up about the sin in my life, especially no one to actually speak up truth about it from a loving heart. That might criticize you of your faults but not from a heart of love. All the world wants is just acceptance and tolerance of everything and everyone. No one should tell me what to do, yet our hearts are desperately wicked. The church stands guard as one of our greatest defenses against our own wickedness. Without her, we are hopelessly lost.
    The family is a great picture of our blessings and responsibilities. But the Bible actually goes even deeper. Within our own homes and families, what relationship perhaps is given even more special treatment. The marriage relationship. Within this marriage, we see much language of covenantal commitment and devotion. To leave father and mother and cleave to wife and the two shall be one flesh.
    God chose this relationship to further help the church understand her blessings and responsibilities.

    2. A Bride to Wholly Love & Submit

    Ephesians 5:22-27, Acts 2:41-47, Romans 12:10 NIV
    In Marriage, much different language is used. In the Bible, it is very clear the responsibilities of the husband and wife.
    Ephesians 5:22–25 ESV
    Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her,
    Husbands love and wives submit. This is the Biblical language. As people, we seem to have a phobia to the word submission, frankly because we have lost the right understanding and it has been misused. But this quote from Jonathan Leeman’s book is correct about submission...
    “Truth be told, people are not afraid to submit. They just want to submit to beauty, like the valiant hero who submits himself to rescuing the damsel in distress. What’s unexpected about Christianity is that its hero doesn’t risk all for a damsel but for what the Bible likens to a harlot. Then He calls everyone that he saves to submit themselves to this same harlot- the bride still being made ready, the church.”
    -Jonathan Leeman (Church Membership)
    We talked about this in Sunday School class a few weeks. The church isn’t attractive to Jesus because of something that she did. There is nothing intristincally appealing or good about us. When the church is described as beautiful in the eyes of the groom, Jesus, it’s because He is making her to become beautiful. He dresses her in His own righteousness and purifies her to look like himself. Simply put, she is becoming beautiful because she looks like Him.
    Ephesians 5:25–27 ESV
    Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.
    God in his Holy Word tells us the task of Jesus. To sanctify the church. To make her become like Him. How given to the endeavor is He? Fully invested. Nothing that she can do will ever stop Him from pursuing her beautification.… NOTHING!
    That’s how commited He is to her.
    So what’s the blessing here. To be part of the church is to be part of the people and place that Christ is actively working to make beautiful, and glorious, full of splendor, righteous, lovely, and grand even as He Himself is. But to not be part of the church is to miss this entirely. You can’t have this unless you are committed to being with His bride.
    And that’s where the responsibility comes in.
    Just as a husband and wife exchange vows to love, serve, honor, protect, till death do us part.… so should our vows to the church be.
    “I’m not just here sometimes.… I’m invested”
    That’s the Acts 2 way.
    Acts 2:41–47 ESV
    So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls. And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.
    Romans 12:10 NIV
    Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.
    What’s interesting what the Greek words for “they devoted themselves...” actually state. It is best understood as they were continually devoting themselves.… this wasn’t a one time act.… but a part of their regular and ongoing lives. If they had calendars in those days, these items consistently found their way on it. Weekly and daily… that’s what the scriptures state. Church is not just something you attend once a week, it’s something you belong to and invest in constantly. Our weeks should be filled up with our engagements to the church. That’s the kind of devotion scripture talks about.
    For many of us, we look at the one another passages, as we did in our earlier point, and say yah I cared for my church family. I helped someone a couple months ago move something in their house, or I said something really encouraging to someone when they lost their family member last year. But is that the level of engagement that being a spouse requires. Can you imagine me telling my wife that I’m doing good as a husband because last month I took out the trash, or like during Christmas I gave her a nice present.… and yet we treat the church like that. Husbands are called to love their spouses daily (actively). Just just once in awhile. So it is with the church.
    For a church “member” to only participant in once a week attendance is like a husband who rarely comes home, and when he is here he only sits around and never engages with anyone. That’s the true picture of an “attendance” only Christian or the Christian who only periodically engages in one another commands. But true to the word of God.… we ought to submit to one another, serve one another, teach and encourage one another, love one another, and be deeply devoted to one another even as the Lord Himself is deeply and daily devoted to us.
    Application Questions:
    -If you are not a member, why not?
    -As a member of the family of God and individual members of His local church, are you regularly aware of and appreciative of the blessings you enjoy as being part of this family?
    -As a family member, have you committed yourself to the love, care, and spiritual well-being of your other members? Are you willing to do the hard things because of this deep commitment. What are things that you are unwilling to do that need confession?
    -As a spouse, how devoted are you the the Bride of Christ? How consistent are you in giving yourself to the beautification of the bride? Have you made tangible plans to work do this in the upcoming week, or the next week?

        • 1 Corinthians 5:4–5ESV

        • Ephesians 2:19ESV

        • Hebrews 2:11ESV

        • Ephesians 2:12–13ESV

        • Matthew 16:19ESV

        • 1 Timothy 5:1–2ESV

        • 1 Peter 2:17ESV

        • 1 John 4:20ESV

        • 1 John 3:14–15ESV

        • 1 John 3:16ESV

        • Romans 15:14ESV

        • Colossians 3:16ESV

        • 1 Thessalonians 5:11ESV

        • Hebrews 3:13ESV

        • Romans 15:7ESV

        • 1 Peter 4:9ESV

        • 1 Corinthians 11:33ESV

        • Romans 12:10ESV

        • Galatians 5:13ESV

        • 1 Thessalonians 5:15ESV

        • Galatians 6:1–2ESV

        • Ephesians 4:2ESV

        • Colossians 3:13ESV

        • Romans 12:16ESV

        • Ephesians 5:21ESV

        • 1 Peter 5:5ESV

        • James 5:16ESV

        • Ephesians 4:3ESV

        • Galatians 6:2ESV

        • Hebrews 3:12ESV

        • Ephesians 5:22–25ESV

        • Ephesians 5:25–27ESV

        • Acts 2:41–47ESV

        • Romans 12:10ESV

        • Wonderful Words Of Life (Words Of Life Wonderful Words)
        First Baptist Church
        howardcitybaptist@gmail.com
        2319374809
        https://fbcohc-howard-city.faithlifesites.com
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