Membership Has Its Promises
God continues to do great things here at RH...
This church is going to continue to grow as more and
more people come to Christ and more and more people
are going to want to become a part of our family...
And that shouldn’t surprise us at all. Our Lord and
Savior is so awesome, and His abundant love and
amazing grace will continue to draw people to Him.
& we can also say some great things about our church
family here, and I think our abundant brotherly love and
the joy that we radiate because of God’s amazing grace
will continue to draw people to our church family.
Responsibilities & Promises
I love to talk about the benefits of belonging to a strong
and healthy church family (especially RH), but today
want to talk about the responsibilities we each have
within the church family, and the very real commitment
we are to make to God and to one another.
As I’ve said before, membership does indeed have its
privileges. But this morning I want to remind you that
membership also has its promises...
In fact, we have the privileges that we do because we
also make promises to one another.
Being a member of the church is not intended to be a
casual relationship (neither being a member of the
universal body of Christ or of a specific congregation).
The decision to place membership (or to be a member of
a church family) is much more that just picking a church
to go to on Sunday mornings.
For any congregation to be a strong healthy church
family, the kind that truly blesses its members and the
community and world around them, it requires much
more than just a bunch of folks who attend its services.
For a congregation, for this congregation here at RH to
be the kind of strong healthy church family that God has
called us to be, it requires genuine commitment.
It requires commitment from each person that is a
member of this church family.
I’ve preached sermons before about our commitment to
God, that God is so committed to us that He gave us His
Son... and that kind of love + commitment demands and
deserves our love and commitment to Him in return!
But I don’t think I’ve ever preached a sermon before
quite like this one. Because this morning I want to talk
about the commitment that each one of us needs to make
to this church family.
This is something I’ve been thinking about + studying
about + praying about for a few months now. And I’ve
come to believe that God expects us to make a commitment to our church family that might just be as important
and serious as the commitment we make to Him.
Right now that still sounds kind of radical to me, but I
think it’s what the Bible teaches.
Uncommon Commitment
We live in a world where genuine commitment is not
nearly as common and valued as perhaps it once was
and certainly still needs to be.
There was a time when a long detailed written contract
was not always necessary for two people to make an
agreement. What was all that was necessary?
A handshake. If you said you were going to do
something, you did it. Your word was your bond.
There was a time when two people got married and they
knew how long they were promising to stay together.
Sandy and I got married 28 years ago. I don’t remember
everything the preacher said. I do remember Sandy had
to hang on to me because one of us was about to pass
out... How many of ya’ll think it was me?
But I’m pretty sure at one point the preacher shared these
words said by Jesus: “Have you not read, that He who
created them from the beginning made them male and
female, and said ‘For this cause a man shall leave his
father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and the
two shall become one flesh’?” (Matthew 19:4-5).
I want you to notice that word cleave there. It is from the
Greek word kollao/2853, and here it refers to the joining
in covenant commitment between a husband and wife.
It literally means “to glue together, to fasten firmly
together.”
It means, in regards to marriage, you make a promise to
stay together “til death do you part.” Real, genuine
commitment is important in our marriages and in our
natural families.
Now, what I want to impress upon you this morning is
this: that kind of total commitment is also important in
our church family. That promise, that commitment is
VITAL if we’re going to be the church family that God
needs us to be.
Here at RH, we believe in dreaming big as we seek to
know and live by God’s vision for this church. I really
believe that God has called us to do some great things.
Great things that He desires to do through us.
But here’s the point for today: In order for God to
bring about all His will and plan for us here at RH,
we need to be (have to be) a church family filled
with truly committed members!
Cleave to One Another
That word cleave applies to:
1. (that) Jesus used it to refer to the commitment a
husband and wife are to make in marriage
2. (the Bible also uses it to refer to) our relationship with
the Lord
3. (and) our relationship with our church family.

1 Corinthians 6:15-17 (Paul warns against
immorality)
Notice the phrase in v17, “joins himself to the Lord.”
The word joins is from the same Greek word kollao that
Jesus used about the commitment in marriage.
Just as we cleave to one another in marriage, so also we
cleave to the Lord when we are joined together with
Him.
It is a lifetime commitment, a lifelong commitment!
Then, after we’ve been joined with Christ in baptism, we
make decision to be joined to a local church family.

Acts 9:26-28 (remember Jesus spoke to Saul as he
was travelling to Damascus; consequently, Saul ends
up going to meet Ananias who baptizes him)
That phrase “he was trying to associate with them” is
translated as “tried to join with them” in several other
versions. And guess what? That word associate/join is
from the same Greek word kollao that Jesus/Paul used.
After the church in Jerusalem responded with skepticism,
doubting the genuineness of his conversion, Barnabas
vouched for Paul before local leadership of that church.
So you see, the Bible makes it clear:
1. when you get married, you cleave to your spouse; you
make a total commitment to each other to love, care,
support, and it is for the rest of your life!
2. when by faith you’re baptized into Christ, you cleave
to Christ; God calls us to be joined to Him thru Christ
3. after you’re baptized, you cleave again, this time to a
local body of believers. It is God’s desire for every
one of us to be joined to a local church family and
make a very serious commitment to that family
The Commitment We’re Called to Make
1. To SERVE the NEEDS of the Church Family
2. To SUPPORT the WORK of the Church Family
3. To SAFEGUARD the LIFE of the Church Family
Seriousness of Commitment

1 Corinthians 3:5-15 (remember there was division in
the church family; they were not loving and caring
and encouraging; were not building up the church)
Don’t miss the context here! Paul wrote, “You are God’s
field, God’s building.” (Some who have different
viewpoint on this, but I believe) He is addressing the
local church in Corinth.
In addition to all their problems, there’s one other thing
they needed to get right: they have a responsibility to
each other...
Paul said, as a master builder, he laid the foundation of
the church in Corinth. Apollos also helped in the
establishment of the church in Corinth.
But then they moved on, and so the members of the
Corinthian congregation were left behind, and they had a
job to do.
That job was to continue building up that church family.
From that point on, v28 says, Paul’s relationship is
described as “with them.” In other words, he placed
membership with them; he became a member of that
community, of that church family in Jerusalem.
They were to cleave to one another, and to be truly
committed to one another. They were supposed to be
doing all those things we just talked about that Christians
are to be doing for one another within the local church.
Let’s look at one more passage about this:
How serious was that commitment supposed to be?

In v10, Paul warns that each member “must be careful in
how he builds upon” that foundation.
Acts 17:34 (Paul preached in Athens; many scoffed)
Here Paul preached the gospel, while some scoffed,
many became believers, and the Bible says, they “joined
him” (kollaomai) KJV: “clave unto him” [which is I
guess a King James variation of cleave]
When we become members of a local church, we are to
cleave to that spiritual family with the same kind of
serious commitment with which we cleave to our spouses
and our natural families, and the way that we cleave to
the Lord Himself.
He says we can build with strong, high-quality materials
that endure (like gold, silver, precious stones), or we can
build with poor, weak, low-quality materials (like wood,
hay, straw), materials that will fail and crumble.
The members at Corinth could choose to do good quality
work in the church, work that would lead to positively
building up their brothers and sisters in Christ, work that
would result in their congregation being a strong,
healthy, growing church.
this church family here at RH to contribute to the
NEEDS/WORK/LIFE of this church family.
Or they could choose to do low quality work, work that
would result in their congregation weakening, and
declining, work that would lead to their ultimate
destruction.
God is serious about the local church and our
commitment to it. And so we need to be just as serious
about it.
Look now at v16-17; it gets even more serious!
16 Do you not know that you are a temple of God
and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? 17 If
anyone destroys the temple of God, God will
destroy him, for the temple of God is holy,
and that is what you are.
Again, we must not lose sight of the context here. I used
to think Paul was talking about the physical body, and I
applied this verse by saying that we ought to stay away
from things that would damage our physical bodies like
smoking and drug abuse.
I still think you ought to stay away from those things, but
I no longer think that was what Paul had in mind here.
Thayer’s Greek Lexicon says that Paul’s use of the word
temple here (the original Greek na-os) means this:
“metaph. of a company of Christians, a Christian church,
as dwelt in by the Spirit of God.”
The “temple” Paul refers to in this passage is neither the
universal church nor the individual believer’s body.
(Again, I may be wrong, but) The temple is the local
church in Corinth, the body of believers exhorted to work
together to build each other up in the faith.
And what does Paul say about the seriousness of the part
every one of us plays in building up the church family?
“If anyone destroys the temple of God, God will destroy
him!”
Do you see how serious this commitment to one another
is to be?
You’ve surely heard this saying before: that 80% of the
work is done by 20% of the people.
This 80/20 rule actually applies in many fields and in
many ways. Unfortunately, it often applies to church.
According to Paul, that’s not an option!
Scripture does not allow for any part-time members or
junior associates.
It does allow for new Christians, but the end-goal is not
junior status!
The NT does not allow for “Sunday morning only”
Christians...
God expects more and your church family needs more!
Conclusion
God has called us to do great things in this church...
But we can’t do all that God has called us to do without
every one of us being involved.
And I’m not just talking about coming to church more
often. That comes naturally with commitment...
We need your time and your talents (money comes
naturally too)
Ask yourself: what can I do to help this church do the
work that God has called us to do?
If all you can do (really) is come on Sunday morning,
then thank you for doing that. You encourage us by
being here. You’d encourage us a lot more if you were
able to be here more, but I know some of you are doing
all you can to be here now...
1. Every one of us is to be using our gifts and abilities to
build up this church family (physical, spiritual, time,
money, skills).
2. If we fail to use our gifts, if we fail to be involved in
the work of the church, if we withdraw our full and
committed fellowship from this family, then we are
actually contributing to the weakening of this church,
causing this church to be less than what God intends.
3. (most serious) God will destroy those whose actions,
or lack thereof, destroy this church family.
Some of you are already giving all you can...
Some of you are working as much as you can...
As I said, I’ve never preached a sermon like this before.
Oh, I’ve preached about “not forsaking the assembling
of ourselves together,” but this is way beyond that.
Not only BE HERE more, but DO more, to USE your
gifts and talents and abilities to serve this church...
I’m convinced, after studying about this for several
months now, that God clearly expects every member of
But some of you? Maybe you can you do more.
I honestly believe that some of you can do more. And
you will do more if and when you decide to be as
committed to this church as God expects you to be.
Our elders are serious about every member...
Husbands, wives, families, I’m asking you to talk to each
other today about your commitment to this church...
Let this be the day that you decide to truly cleave to this
church and help this church to do MORE, to do EVERY
good work that God has called us to do.