A faithful church member

Joel R. Beeke

EP BOOKS

Faverdale North, Darlington, DL3 0PH, England

e-mail: sales@epbooks.org

web: http://www.epbooks.org

133 North Hanover Street

Carlisle, PA 17013, USA

e-mail: usasales@epbooks.org

web: http://www.epbooks.us

© Joel R. Beeke 2011. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.

First published 2011

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data available

ISBN-13: 978-0-85234-777-5

ISBN-10: 0-85234-777-4

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, Authorized (King James) Version.

Contents

The problem

Mark One: Receiving Christ’s Word

Mark Two: Union with Christ’s person

Mark Three: Connected to Christ’s people

Mark Four: Serving others for Christ

Mark Five: Growing into Christ’s image

Be faithful to Christ and his body

He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things. And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: that we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; but speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: from whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love

(Ephesians 4:10–16).

The problem

For an annual fee, you can be a member of your community recreational centre, where you have access to its exercise equipment and swimming pool. If you choose never to visit the building, it’s no problem. You can sit at home and eat ice cream all day and never get your membership revoked. So long as you pay your dues, you are a member.

Similarly, you can be a member of a book club or a music club that offers great deals on books or CDs. Club mailings say you are under no obligation to buy anything; you can return a book or CD at any time and cancel your membership.

In such a cultural setting, it is not surprising that membership in a local church has also become non-demanding. One denomination discovered that, on average, only 70 of its 233 members attended church worship.1 The church leadership is partly responsible for this easy membership by not upholding biblical standards and discipline. So are people’s views of the ...