Last week Sean Smith introduced our series on church membership. This week we consider the ways church membership humbles us. Indeed, to join a church is an act of humility. It is a time when you admit you are no longer a “free agent.” You now stand for Christ and stand together with a group of Christians as you grow in Christ.  Here are four thoughts about church membership and humility:

Membership requires admitting your emptiness

When you join Grace Community Church, one of the first things you do is make a spectacular admission of sin and failure.  Right in front of the elders, and then again before the entire church, you publicly admit your sin and spiritual emptiness:

1. Do you acknowledge yourself to be a sinner in the sight of God, justly deserving his displeasure, and without hope except in his sovereign mercy?

It’s not an anonymous admission - we say your name out loud before everyone. “Hi my name is _________, and I am a sinner and need a savior…so badly that I have no hope except God’s mercy.”

Of course, every Christian knows those things are true, but only those who join the church confess them out loud before the congregation. And when you confess your sins, you also acknowledge your faith in Jesus Christ as the only savior of sinners, by answering this question in the affirmative:

2. Do you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ as the Son of God, and Savior of sinners, and do you receive and rest upon Him alone for salvation as he is offered in the Gospel?

Even as the membership questions explore your growth as a Christian, you admit your great need of God’s Holy Spirit in order to remain a faithful Christian:

3. Do you resolve and promise, in humble reliance upon the grace of the Holy Spirit, that you will endeavor to live as is proper for the followers of Christ?

Membership requires acknowledging your need of others

When we join the church, we connect with a community of spiritually needy and honest people, and we recognize the principles Paul lays out in Ephesians 4:1-16 that we need the gifts of others in our lives. We cannot stay faithful to Christ without others helping us. We cannot grow and mature in Christ all by ourselves. We need the gifts of others. Others need us to roll up our sleeves and get involved as well.

Here is a reality: one of the ways we grow in grace is by annoying and being annoyed by others in the church.  We can’t possibly live out the verse:

...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. (Colossians 3:13, ESV)

Sometimes it’s the very people and incidents that make us want to flee the church that cause us to humble ourselves, and move toward each other in compassion, humility, and love.

In our membership vows we acknowledge this in the form of a commitment we make to one another:

4. Do you promise to support the worship and work of the church to the best of your ability?

Membership requires you accept being led

Membership in a church is humbling because we connect with leaders God has placed over the local church and agree to be supportive of their leadership. This is humbling, because we live in a world that encourages us not to support and encourage leadership, but to do what we want to do and lead our own lives. In a world of constant contention with leaders at all levels, believers in Jesus humble themselves, connect with a local church and:

We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. (1 Thessalonians 5:12-13, ESV)

We don’t flee from that aspect of humility when members join Grace Community Church:

Do you submit yourselves to the government and discipline of the Church, and promise to "study" (promote or encourage) its purity and peace?

I’m thankful to be in a church with good leaders, and I’m thankful to be a part of a larger church where I too am led. I’m connected with other pastors and church leaders and have, at times, received direction from them. I personally think every healthy leader has someone leading them - someone beyond just the subjective claim that the Lord himself is their leader!

Humility is a good thing

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." Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. (1 Peter 5:5-7, ESV)

For many reasons that go beyond one blog post, humility is a great thing for us. It is healthy for the mind and soul to humble ourselves before God and others. It is a right way of thinking and acting. So, as you think about how church membership humbles us, don’t forget that humility is beautiful to God. He gives grace to the humble. I know I need lots of grace, and I want more of it. Humility is key to experiencing more of God’s mercy!

Thanks for reading,

Don Ward