Pleasing God Podcast
Pleasing God Podcast
Members Who Matter
Ever wonder why so many sincere believers still feel unmoored—attending services, sampling sermons, but never truly belonging? We explore how Scripture paints a richer, sturdier vision of the local church and why being counted and known is essential to a healthy Christian life. With Pastor Jim at the table, we walk through Acts 2’s immersive community, where teaching, prayer, generosity, and the Lord’s Supper form a shared life that assumes clear commitment. We look at Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12 to show how one body with many members actually functions, honoring both visible and hidden gifts. And we turn to Hebrews 13:17 to explain why shepherds must know their flock and why meaningful accountability only works when people commit to a real congregation.
From there, we get practical. We highlight four positives that make membership compelling: belonging that endures conflict and builds trust, accountability that cares rather than surveils, ministry that helps you discover and deploy your gifts, and mission that links your life to the Great Commission through a specific church family. We share personal stories about planting roots, resisting church hopping, and finding joy in co‑laboring for the gospel. You’ll hear why busyness is not the same as growth, how leaders can create healthy on‑ramps for service, and why settling into a church helps you flourish without burning out.
This conversation aims to help you love Christ’s bride as he does, embracing the ordinary means God uses to make extraordinary disciples. If you’re wrestling with membership, seeking a place to blossom, or simply needing fresh courage to stay and serve, this one’s for you. If it helps, share it with a friend, subscribe for future episodes, and leave a review so more people can find the show. Have a question about church membership? Email questions at pleasinggodpodcast.org.
Stock Music provided by wolfgangwoehrle, from Pond5
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Hi, and welcome back to the Pleasing God Podcast, a show focused on helping Christians to think biblically, engage practically, and live faithfully for the glory of God. I'm your host, Jonathan Sowell. And on this episode, I had another great opportunity to sit down with Pastor Jim, and we both got to talk about a subject that is meaningful to us, important in our lives, not just as pastors, but as Christians, and that's church membership, belonging in the local church. We talk through biblical rationale for why church membership is important. What does the scripture say about it? And then how we can kind of practically live that out with the benefits of church membership. So I hope as you listen, you are encouraged, helps you to again love your church, give thanks for your church, and if you're not a church member, to think carefully about joining and belonging to whatever local assembly you are a part of. And I hope you are encouraged from this episode. Well, Dad, welcome back. It's good to have you again.
Jim:Well, thank you, Jonathan. It's uh pleasure to be with you again.
Jon:All right. Well, we're gonna talk about I think a subject that we're both passionate about. We both have seen uh that has practically uh made a big difference in the life of a believer. I'd say it's a it's a necessity for being a healthy Christian. Uh and that's church membership.
Jim:That is so true, it is, and I think it's um it's undervalued today.
Jon:I agree. I think for some they might say, well, this isn't gonna be a dry conversation. I said, wait a minute, maybe, maybe not. Just bear with us. Uh and while we both care much about this subject, I do think there's a lot of valuable things that we can kind of uh work out from the scriptures and just practically on why membership in a local church is meaningful and it matters.
Jim:I agree, and I think that uh if we hope to really be the church as God would have us, then membership needs to have a higher esteem in the lives of God's people.
Jon:Aaron Powell So why do you think it is that so many Christians today maybe struggle to see the value of church membership?
Jim:Well, I think one is they say, well, formal church membership is not mentioned in the Bible. I find that's a very weak argument, uh, but I think that's it.
Jon:But is there is there a passage uh on the Trinity explicitly in the Bible?
Jim:That's that was my comment on that as well, and I've had that comment with other people, but but I think it's even more um an issue is because they don't understand uh the church from God's perspective. Uh perhaps even uh a failure to understand the metaphors, the husband and the bride, uh, the body and the head, uh, the vine and the branches. There's so many uh ways that God portrays his church, and I think Christians, generally speaking, uh they've been uh uh they've been worldly uh worldly eyes, so to speak, and thus they have a very low view of the church, even to the point where some people would even say, Well, it's just Jesus and me. I really don't need the church.
Jon:You know, I think while we can look at the individuals and say there's certainly ignorance there. It's a maybe it's also a symptom of a bigger problem, not just in individuals, but in the lack of intentional teaching on what is a church. You know, to expect a new believer just to go and find a way to just dive deep into ecclesiology, I yeah, we shouldn't expect that. And I mean, if we really wanted to give this full treatment, you start with doctrine of the church and membership flows from that. Although we're we're gonna deal specifically with church membership, but I do agree that a lack of understanding of the church, uh, both on the individual and in many churches, to teach and explain and give forth a kind of a robust ecclesiology or doctrine of the church.
Jim:Well, I think that's where it needs to start. I mean, I didn't want it to sound like we're just blaming the sheep, we're blaming these believers. It always starts with uh the shepherds before you go to the sheep. And we have uh we need to do a better job of educating in a vibrant, living way the positives of church membership instead of just making an informal thing.
Jon:I got an idea. Why don't we do a podcast on church membership to explain the positives of it? Yeah, for sure. That's a great idea. Uh so all right, you say uh some of the common maybe a statement is, well, I don't see church membership in the Bible. My response to that is it's there. And once you see it, you can never unsee it. So we think about some biblical passages. What comes to your mind uh that, you know, when we think about obviously New Testament church, any passages stand out to you?
Jim:Yeah, I think the uh the Acts 2 passage, beginning in verse uh 42. This is what uh Luke would write beginning in verse 42 of Acts II. And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship to the breaking of bread and prayers, and awe or fear 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. When you look at this passage, I ask myself the question if I was transported back in time to this period, would I stand out and be odd or would I fit in?
Jon:I look at this passage, and if I'm reading it, and I say, Well, I don't see I don't see him say church membership here. You know, how how do you how do you tell me this this means I should be the member of a church?
Jim:Well, I mean, in in in a simple term, I would say to rightly understand membership, it's about immersion. It's about immersion in each other's lives.
Jon:Ah, okay.
Jim:And here, it it seems like there is no individuality. It's all lost in the corporate, and not in a corporate in a formal sense. And let's remember, uh, they didn't have buildings like we have. Sure. And so there's this there's this immersion in lives where um they carried each other's burdens, they met tangible needs, they worshiped, they received instruction, and it says that fear came up on all of them, and we note at the very end when the church is operating in all of this immersion type language, if you notice the last part, and the Lord added to the number day by day's uh day by day, those who are being saved, it's almost telling us like be the church and evangelism will occur.
Jon:Yeah, that's really good. And we see here, okay, maybe it doesn't explicitly say here's the formula for joining a church, but what you do see principally here is that they're living out their membership and how they're relating to one another, centered around uh the apostolic word, here's the word of God, to the breaking of bread. I would say that this is this is more than just fellowship, this is the Lord's Supper. They're praying together, and they're and and and all who believed were together.
Jim:Together shows up uh quite a bit in the uh first few chapters of of uh of Acts as they were together and praying prior to uh Pentecost, and then this is a curse. Um when I read this passage and and people say, Well, I don't need to be formally attached to a church, I would ask the person this question, why wouldn't you want to be a part of this? This is exciting. I mean, this is this is the vibrant um corporate Christianity that changes the world.
Jon:Yeah, and and God, and it as it says you're praising God and having favor with all the people, and the Lord added to their number day by day those who are being saved. The fact that there is a number, they're counting. And in the sense of counting, to count, you need to know who's in and who's out. That's right. So that's right. And as Luke throughout Acts, he'll give us these little, you know, 3,000 souls were added, 5,000 souls were added. I I would say that's the membership role. That's the people who belong to the church as they're committing themselves in faith, you know, faith in Christ as they're regenerate and they're born again, they are in the church. Clearly, there's some someone's taken.
Jim:I believe so. I mean, I think that that's a strong evidence of uh of membership. And then you go on and read the book of Acts and you see all these the missionary trips of Paul, and you see how these local places are establishing believers and they're together, and three times throughout the book of Acts it says, and the word of God increased, and the word of God multiplied, which means that that was the vehicle, which we also see in Acts 2, of growth.
Jon:You see, you see that through faithful proclamation the church grows. You also see in the book of Acts, through persecution the church grows, and just through ordinary means the church grows. Growth is not dependent upon circumstances, it's dependent upon God.
Speaker 1:Absolutely.
Jon:Here's another passage. Uh Romans chapter 12, verses 4 and 5. For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function. So we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Here's a few things to frame here. Paul's writing to a local assembly, a local church in Rome, to the church in Rome, and he's telling them explicitly here, we are one body. This is this is one church. If it's expressed in the local, it's it's one gathering of a local assembly and have many members. And we do not all have the same function. So he's getting into the exercising of gifts and functions of many members of a local assembly. I think that's pretty clear right there on the importance of church membership.
Jim:Oh, absolutely. I believe that that's one of the strongest passages, especially when he mentions we are members one of another. There is an individuality about the Christian life, but there's not a privatization of the Christian life. There's a difference. We're saved individually, but we grow um corporately, we grow in our togetherness. And I don't believe you can uh adequately practice the one another's, which there's over fifty of them, unless you're committed in a very close-knit ecclesia, so to speak, a in a local assembly.
Jon:Yeah, that that's good.
Jim:Other passages? Um 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians chapter 12.
Jon:Well, it's almost like a parallel to what's Paul's saying in Romans.
Jim:And he talks about um in the heading of uh of my Bible, it says one body with many members. It's 1 Corinthians 12, uh beginning in verse 12. And he would say, For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one spirit we were all baptized into one body, Jews or Greeks, slaves or free, and all were made to drink of one spirit. And he would go on and talk about uh the different parts of the body. I think the main thrust here is what you just mentioned in Romans. You know, we are not our own. Uh I am responsible and privileged to be a part of the body of Christ, not in the invisible sense, but in a visible local way that I'm held accountable and I'm also holding people accountable in the spirit of Christ and of his love.
Jon:It takes a body of believers exercising their uh unique spiritual gifting for the church to thrive and be healthy. And for as for us, we've been gifted as teachers and shepherds to the church. Yes, we do administration as well of that of that nature. That's part of being an overseer, but we're only uniquely gifted in one area. The church is bigger than just our giftedness. We need our brothers and sisters who are gifted in other areas so that as a whole body we carry out the mission of Jesus in the world.
Jim:Yeah, I think when you talk about giftedness, uh, as much as um uh we have to recognize those. I know that you're teaching a uh a class on spiritual disciplines in our Bible institute. I believe a l a reason why a lot of Christians don't immerse themselves in a formal church membership or in this type of uh climate that we're reading about about is they are not healthy individually.
Jon:Yeah, it's important to grow as a as an individual Christian in your own disciplines, and to grow as kind of a corporate Christian.
Jim:But that's not in and you're not and you're not teaching that, that's not in isolation. Uh I grow individually so that I can contribute to the larger. Um we're only as strong corporately as we are individually, bringing it into the corporate setting.
Jon:Yeah, and even in teaching spiritual disciplines, I'm learning and growing so much because of the classroom that we're in and we're coming together. So uh we're we're made to we we grow as individuals, but we're not made to just grow and learn in isolation. And so as we're together in community, that's one of the helpful things. And so, yeah, I mean, clearly the scriptures say the the church has many members because we are gifted in many ways for ultimately pleasing God, making disciples of Jesus Christ.
Jim:And I think one of your responsibility, my responsibility as the pastors, teachers, preachers, is we got to make sure uh that uh no one uh no one is excluded. There is no um uh non-important person in the body.
Jon:That's right. Amen.
Jim:Because the first Corinthians 12 talks about the wide the variety, like the the foot, the hand, and so forth. And we gotta be careful that uh the more visible gifts are not uh accentuated at the expense of the lesser ones.
Jon:That's right.
Jim:Yeah, which we need, we've got people here that are behind the scenes that uh are just phenomenal using their area of giftedness, and uh they're they find satisfaction in that. We can't uh overemphasize the more visible gifts at the expense of those that are not.
Jon:I 100% agree with you because uh and I would also say because of just in our positions and the exercising of visible gifts, that comes with such an added weight. I didn't ask for this, I didn't sign up for this. I didn't I didn't say, like, God, you know, make me a pastor. I mean, if I get bitten to my backstory, I was kind of like uh Yeah, I know I can relate to that. Let's just be very clear about that. Some of these come with a a weight of responsibility that you know, you say, Man, wouldn't it be nice to have that invisible? You know, like I just want to put my head down and when we are operating within our giftedness as members of the church, our service doesn't feel like sacrifice, our commitment isn't drudgery. I think about Jesus in the Olivet Discourse when he's talking, you know, those that were hungry that fed his people, those that were uh when they were hungry, fed them, when they were naked, you know, they clothed them when they were in prison, they visited them. They were like, when did we do these things to you? Like, we're just we're just living out our authentic Christianity. And he's like, To do to any of my brothers is to do unto me. And they're like, We're just being servants. You know, we're weren't like, hey, look at what I've done. Very much so. Here, all right, here's another passage. Uh Hebrews chapter 13, verse 17. Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy, not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you. A few observations to make from this one. Leaders need to know who their sheep are. Sheep need to know who their leaders are. Does this mean that if somebody shows up to the church that I'm pastoring and they show up for two weeks, that I'm automatically their leader? And then they automatically need to submit to me and that I'm keeping a watch over their souls? I would say no. I'd say there there needs to be, at least in this sense, church membership helps us to understand who's in and who's out. Who am I responsible for? And who do I have that spiritual authority and oversight of? I can't, it's not, he's not talking here about general Christians all over the world, that if you're a pastor, you have authority over all Christians. No, you it has to be specific. Like if somebody's a member of a church down the road and they come to me, I have no authority in their life. I can give them some biblical counsel and maybe send them, you know, help them along their way. This I probably wouldn't send them back to their pastor. Clearly, to have a leader means to have a congregation.
Jim:Yeah, absolutely. I think that um what happens uh people will will come and for there's no formal m church membership, uh it's so loose that people don't feel accountable, nor do we uh feel like we have any type of relationship with them because they may come for two weeks and then you never see them again. So you've got to be careful that we don't take ownership of uh of sheep that they may not even be sheep. The scripture it says, for they are keeping watch over your souls. So could keep watch over their souls, I need to know the state of their souls. Do they need do they need to be saved or do they need to be discipled? And you can't know that in a matter of just a couple weeks. So what you've ins emphasized here with uh with with a new membership class and and uh and regenerate membership, sure, and that's an important part because I can't keep watch over their souls unless I know their souls, and you can't know that in a short period of time.
Jon:The church membership is is very much reciprocal in that we receive and we give, we give and we receive, we're fed and we feed, um, we're served and we serve. And that's again just the whole cycle of the body working together for the glory of Jesus. So I think these are even these four passages lay a pretty solid biblical foundation. We could look at more, but uh just to kind of move along with our conversation, think about some advantages. What are the positives? I don't want to talk about the negatives of why you should, but like what is what would compel a person? What's a positive thing that compels someone to say, I do want to be a church member? I think of four, and we could talk through all four of these, but belonging, accountability, ministry, and mission. And certainly you could come up with a bunch of other ones, but just at a high level, these are positive things that are in the life that that can be in the regular rhythm in life of a believer who is a member of a local church. So let's talk a little bit about belonging. We were made for relationships. It's not good that man should be alone. God says that companionship, but belonging to some something and something bigger than ourselves, local church membership, that's where it is worked out and lived out.
Jim:Yeah, and I think I think when you look at the the fact that we are family, that God in salvation has formed a forever family that he wants that fleshed out in this life with the anticipation of eternity together. And when we stress that this is a family, it really provides safety, it provides uh comfort, it provides mutual help. If we're developing like we should as a church in a family context, then I'm gonna have relationships where I wouldn't hesitate at two o'clock in the morning when life is falling apart, that I would pick up a phone and call someone because I know they'd be there.
Jon:And the reality is family life sometimes gets messy. Very conflict. What belonging does in local church membership, it helps us to be able to work through sometimes messiness, our own messiness, maybe the messiness of someone else working through and navigating conflict in a way that like we don't just say, well, off to the next one.
Jim:I think there's very few reasons to leave uh a local church if you understand the belonging, because you don't I don't leave my physical family because it gets messy. Why would I do that to the eternal family?
Jon:Yeah. And so belonging gives us a place where we call home and we know that we are loved and we can love. The healthy church is a place where people can be transparent and vulnerable, be loved, be encouraged. Again, it's something that's extremely valuable that we need in this life. If we are uncomfortable with the people of God in this life, why do we assume that in the life to come it's gonna be great? Oh, because it's without sin? We need to start getting ready for eternity today.
Jim:Well, and I think that the the messiness is also the uncomfortableness of being corrected. Well, that that's the next one, accountability. Yeah, accountability.
Jon:Accountability. This is a positive. If you are wanting to walk in the light, that's correct. If you are somebody that's trying to conceal yourself in the darkness, well, I don't think you you shouldn't be a church member, right? First John makes that very clear. That's true. That if you walk in darkness, you have no fellowship. So accountability is a beautiful and wonderful thing. When it's done according to scripture, with the heart for caring for others. When accountability turns into surveillance, nobody wants that. That's right. That's right. Whatever Christian you are, nobody's wanting that. But somebody that's gonna, you know, make sure that I'm, you know, loving my wife well. How's your marriage, John? I want to be asked those questions because I want to ask those questions, not not to just, you know, surveil someone, but from someone who's asking me those things from a heart that says, I care about you as my brother, and I want to help you follow Jesus better. That's the motivation for accountability.
Jim:Well, you you need that. And much as we don't like it because we we we've still got some pride issues. Um, James would tell us what is the the most devastating of deception. It's not satanic, it's self-deception. He said, be doers of the word, you're not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. And I think accountability will allow us to avoid the self-deception because we're in those relationships. I know that we're not all going to be so close. I mean, Jesus had different circles of the disciples, but it's important that we have those accountability relationships. And like you said, it's not for surveillance, it's for uh it's for the mutual encouragement and growth of uh of the body and individual members of the world.
Jon:We want to be a church that is growing corporately into the likeness of Jesus, and we can do that by being accountable to one another. And that's what church membership really is. A part of it is accountability. All right, ministry. Here's another one. Membership isn't just about getting benefits of belonging and accountability, it's also about serving. So, how how do we help people get into positions of serving, maybe to discover their spiritual gifts, so that as we've talked about in Romans and in the Corinthian letter, first Corinthians, how do we help people get into positions where they can thrive?
Jim:Well, I I think our responsibility is um is to prayerfully as a leadership team uh create opportunities to fall in line with our vision of uh of the Great Commission and the Great Commandment is create opportunities. And even in our um our membership classes uh to regular and our quarterly meetings, we should regularly be promoting and and letting people know that there are opportunities. These opportunities exist, and also that by observation of people, uh we should individually uh approach people. But you know what? Have you ever considered uh this area of service? Of uh watch your faithfulness, and you know, I've seen you interact with this, maybe this would be something you might want to consider. Um so I think we as leaders we got to be constantly on awareness of where people might fit in, so to speak, and then and have them test the waters, so to speak.
Jon:And so yeah, opportunities.
Jim:We we need to create opportunities for them.
Jon:And oftentimes I think where our passions and desires lie is where God's gifted us to. Sure. You know, obviously sanctified desires, sanctified motive in that, and uh those are important areas which we can serve. Local church membership allows for the expression of service and ministry that you I mean, you can get in the pair church and get it uh elsewhere, but plan A of God's plan through the gospel is to build a church. I mean, Jesus said, I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. This is the plan, this is the outflow of the gospel. Jesus gives the mission, the great commission, and what do the apostles do? They go and plant churches, they go and evangelize and they and they create local assemblies. And this was the whole mission of the first century. What's really cool is that through through church membership, in a sense, we lock arms with the generation that preceded us, who locked arms with the generation that preceded, and we go all the way back in this continual mission of the church, back to the apostles.
Jim:Yeah, we're standing on the shoulders of those who've gone before us. I giants. Yeah, giants. And what you've what you've said numerous times here is true is we got to be careful that in our seeking to get people to serve uh is not to have them equate their spirituality to their flurry of activity in service. And that's why we won't let people do multiple, many things. We will restrict them because uh I think Dr. Martin Lloyd Jones said one time, he says, uh one of the worst things you can do for a new convert is tell them to get busy. Uh they need to s they need to settle in, they need to learn, they need to grow. And I'm not saying no service, but what I'm saying is let's don't just get them into a flurry of activities where it's always output and there's no input. And so we we've done a good job, I believe, uh of restricting people.
Jon:Limit limiting the Marthas and cultivating the martyrs.
Jim:Absolutely.
Jon:That that's the illustration it should be. And uh we have a heart to serve, we love to serve, we love to be about busy about the kingdom work. Um but as we as we output, we need input as well. Being a member of a local church connects you to the mission of the church.
Jim:Absolutely.
Jon:Of making disciples. And I think it's one of the most healthy expressions that we can make as as believers.
Jim:One thing about your gift that you said about giftedness and accountability and ministry, uh, we gotta make sure, and I believe we're striving to do that, is cultivate in the church that Christianity is a uh a participant sport, so to speak. It's not spectator. We don't come to to set, we come to participate. And that participation has wide uh ranges of expressions, but we don't we're not passive Christians in the local church. And uh we all have a role, and our responsibility is to help people fit into their roles.
Jon:Okay, so let's talk about just briefly here living out church membership. A couple questions for you, just personally, not as a pastor, but as a Christian throughout the the course of your life. How has belonging to committing yourself to a local assembly, how has that affected your walk with Christ?
Jim:Well, I I think multiple ways. I was having this conversation with someone the other night. There was a question about church membership, and uh I said, what it's done for me, because you remember from our last time is that I was I was on a ship and I was an associated with a church and the church never sought me and I never sought the church and all was well. Well, all wasn't well. And uh what happened to with me in church membership is I saw that that I was able to see these are my people and I am their people. Uh and so it created this real spirit of intimacy that why would I want to hurt or why would I want to do anything to bring uh disrepute to the to the cause of Christ? So it really developed within me membership is that these are my people. I have committed to these people through thick and thin, you know, just like a marriage and through thicker thin. Now I understand God providentially moves us and things like that. But one thing it has that, it it created within me this desire uh to publicly uh acknowledge that these are my people. And the other thing is that um it it gave me a real focused opportunity to to serve uh alongside other Christians in the work of the mission. I don't believe there's anything of greater joy than to co-labor with someone in the work of the gospel. I mean that that is such a thrilling thing, and you don't you can't get that individually, you can't get live uh had that living the Christian life Jesus and me. It just doesn't work. You need so uh the intimacy of belonging, and these are my people. Secondly, opportunity to to be about the mission of the church together. It's lonely if you try to go by yourself and it's discouraging. The church provides the opportunity uh for us to uh lock arms and to be together in the in the great text.
Jon:We've heard the illustration, I'm sure it's gone through so many different changes, where you have you have a fire that's burning. You've got your logs in the fire. Yeah. And as if you were to remove a log or a or a burning coal from that fire and put it to the side, it's just a matter of time before that coal goes out. The fire that is is gonna keep going, but that one piece is no longer lit. And I think about church membership in a way of where we got all of our sticks in the fire, and this is where we are all together because as we are together, we are better together. That's right, we are stronger together, we can accomplish more for the kingdom of God together, and we keep the fire going. And I I need that, I need that as a local church member to be connected to the fire. Because if I'm isolated, I know my own heart.
Jim:Well, you're clo you're quoting Solomon in Ecclesiastes 4. Two are better than one. You know, when when you fall, who's gonna be there to pick you up? So that's part of it too.
Jon:All right. What encouragement would you give to someone right now who might be listening and say, you know, I've thought about church membership. I I've kind of been dancing around on this, or you know, I'm kind of in between churches right now. What positive good word would you give to somebody uh concerning this subject of church membership?
Jim:Find a place that you're aligned up with scripturally, plant yourself and blossom. Yes. I mean, plant yourself and blossom.
Jon:But I would also say to an individual, if you find a perfect church, don't join it.
Jim:Because you'll ruin it. Yeah, yeah. That's right. So and if if you came here and you think it's perfect, just say you're six weeks and you'll find out. Uh so I would I would tell the person, it's just, I said, don't be nomadic. I said, don't be, don't, don't be a hopper. Go to a place and plant yourself, go deep into roots, be involved in the mission. When the church is doing that with his people, I love what Acts 9 says, 931. So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up and walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied. That's right. So I would tell that person, you want to be in an exciting place, plant yourself, uh, get involved, grow, plant roots, bear fruit, and enjoy the Christian life in a strong biblical-based community.
Jon:That's great. Because belonging to a local church isn't about checking a box. It's about living out your Christian life in community with one another.
Jim:Well, there's fifty over fifty one another commands. Uh, you have to have some place to obey them, and the church is the place that God has ordained it to be. And and what a great promise is that the Lord would build his church. That's right. And that he has promised, as we've been studying the revelation on some Sunday nights, is that he walks among his candlesticks. So God takes great delight in meeting with his people, uh, among his people when we gather and being the church.
Jon:Yeah, that's wonderful. And it's a be it's a beautiful thing. Just again, I want to reiterate the church is not perfect, but it is the bride for whom Christ died. Jesus loved the church so much that he gave his life for her. Our expression as Jesus' people is to love his bride as he does. And so I don't believe you can be a healthy Christian and hate the church.
Jim:Or you could, I agree with that wholeheartedly, and you cannot be a healthy Christian and not be involved in the things we talked about in the local church. And if uh yeah, and because there is no perfect church, find you a really good one and and and just immerse yourself in it.
Jon:Sure. All right. Well, thanks for joining me again.
Jim:Love having conversations with you. It was awesome, and uh, I'll be happy to join you anytime you'd like. All right. All right.
Jon:I want to thank you for listening to the Pleasing God Podcast. If you have any questions, especially about church membership, what that looks like, wherever you are and wherever you're listening from, you can always reach out at questions at pleasing godpodcast.org. I would love to hear from you, and I would answer any questions that you might have. And I want you to remember 1 Thessalonians 4 3, this is the will of God, your sanctification.
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