Blessed Assurance
A Series on Church
Membership
When we join a local church, we help to assure ourselves
of salvation and our place in the family of God. You should not join a church to be saved, but
you may want to join a church in order to get the help you need in making
certain that you are saved. You see, in
joining a church, we are asking our brothers and sisters to hold us accountable
to live according to our confession. We
want to live what we claim we believe.
Church membership does not save anyone in and of
itself. Being on some church role or
roster is not salvation. Yet, the
essence of membership can go a long way in helping to bring about our ultimate
salvation. What is the essence of
membership? Being with other Christians;
worship, prayer, singing, the spiritual disciples all in a corporate setting;
holding one another accountable; supporting one another; discipling one another
to maturity in the faith. Spurring one
another on, and carrying one another at times, is what brings about our ultimate
salvation.
We know that, “He who endures to the end shall be saved”
(Matt 24:13). And, the Lord, in His
providence and care, has ordained that Christians not attempt to endure this
life alone. No, we have been called to a
congregational life. We have been
adopted into the family of God. We are
to live life together in a community of those who love and care for one another
as brothers and sisters in Christ.
Important points have already been made, but let us make
one more simple point. Membership is
possibly the key expression of salvation in the sense that, through our
interaction with the local church, we are able to live out our faith and obey
the Lord. Without the validation of our
faith in the life of the church, especially from fellow believers, how much
assurance do we really have?