Fully Committed

“There’s a difference between interest and commitment. When you’re interested in doing something, you do it only when circumstances permit. When you’re committed to something,

you accept no excuses, only results.” Art Turock

When Texas pastor, Jim Denison, was in college, he served as a summer missionary in East Malaysia. While there he attended a small church. One day during a service, Denison happened to notice some worn-out luggage leaning against the wall in a corner of the church. When the pastor finished his sermon, he extended an invitation for people to receive Christ.

  A teenage Malaysian girl made her way down the aisle to announce her decision to follow Christ and be baptized. As was their tradition, they baptized the girl and a few others who had decided to trust Christ at the end of the service. But Jim remembered the luggage he’d seen earlier and asked the pastor about it as he was leaving the baptistry. The pastor pointed to the teenage girl who’d just been baptized and told Denison, “Her father said that if she was baptized as a Christian, she could never go home again. So she brought her luggage.”

  That’s a very common occurrence, particularly in cultures or in families antagonistic to Christianity. The price to follow Jesus is very high. The commitment to Jesus by believers who pay the ultimate price for following Christ puts me to shame. When we get Home, I believe that they’ll be some that are closest to the Throne! I can’t wait to meet them!

  American culture is anti-commitment, particularly when it comes to our walk with the Lord. Committing to a local church has become unusual. Some believers will attend, often for years, and never make a commitment of membership. It’s a bit like someone who lives together for years, yet never takes that step of an official marriage.

  While it’s true the Bible never uses the term “church membership,” a study of Scripture clearly shows that membership was the norm for those early believers. Each local church knew who was committed to their fellowship and who wasn’t. Nearly every letter written in the New Testament was written either to a church or to the pastor of a church.

  During this Pandemic I’ve continually repeated, #ThisOURtime. In one of the most difficult periods in recent history, our God sold both of our properties that we needed to sell, though they’d previously been on the market for several years. During this Pandemic because of your generosity, we’re able to pave our parking lot. During this Pandemic, we’re able to hire a new part-time assistant pastor, James Hauser. During this Pandemic because of the Spirit working in lives, we’re adding seven believers to our church membership. It brings tears to my eyes as I contemplate our Heavenly Father’s hand of blessing on our church!

  The local church is God’s plan. Study the New Testament and you’ll quickly discover that it’s God’s plan for this post-resurrection age. Several New Testament metaphors for the church delineate official membership.

  The local church is a family. This is my favorite picture of the church (Gal. 6:10; Eph. 2:19). Paul and Peter both call the church God’s “household” (1 Tim. 3:15; 1 Pet. 4:17)—another word for “family.”

  What’s your family made of? Members, of course. Family members aren’t names on a paper or a file folder of marriage and birth certificates. A family is a network of relationships and obligations. Family members are bound to one another. They share meals, celebrate together, mourn together, rejoice together, make decisions together, and when they’re apart, they long to reunite. Family is a place where we share our intimate secrets and struggles, yet are still loved and accepted.

  Are you like me? I have lifelong friends in this church who are brothers and sisters in Christ. Yet, it’s not just our church. I have brothers and sisters who I’ve loved for more than forty years that I connected with at one of the first churches that I served in LaCrosse, Wisconsin.

  If you have a painful biological family history, in the church we have a new family. It’s not anywhere near perfect, yet unlike our natural families our spiritual one is functional not dysfunctional, in that we’re committed to Jesus, committed to loving each other, committed to unity in the midst of diversity and committed to biblical problem solving.

  The local church is a body. In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul refers to the church as the “body of Christ” and to Christians as “members” of that body—an image he likely adopted from Jesus Himself (Acts 9:4). The Bible knows nothing of an individual, isolated or independent Christian. A Christian is like a hand, a foot, a toe, an artery, a kidney, or any other body part—we’re only healthy and useful if we’re in the body. This metaphor is fertile for application. It dignifies every church member because every body part is necessary. It also suggests the danger of not being in the body. How healthy is a detached limb or a discarded organ? The metaphor ties our spiritual health to each other. As we know from our own bodies, when one member suffers, the whole body suffers.

  The Apostle Paul refers to the believers at Corinth as “members” of the body of Christ five times just in 1 Corinthians. A member of the body of Christ as being vitally connected to the life of the body—so much so that the joys and suffering of other members become your own (1 Cor. 12:26). The shared life between the members assumes that they’re rubbing shoulders with one another, bearing one another’s griefs, and sharing in each other’s joys and burdens.

  The local church is a temple. Paul calls the church the “temple of God” (1 Cor. 3:16–17). Peter calls Christians “living stones” that build up a “spiritual house (1 Pet. 2:4–5). As we await the return of Christ, the church is now the dwelling place of God. Like bricks mortared together, a church is composed of individuals built into a single temple. As we work for the “common good” of the congregation, we manifest His Spirit that resides in us (1 Cor. 12:7). We’re held together in Jesus, Who is the cornerstone of our foundation as a structure built by God through His Spirit.

  As we’re joined together by Jesus, He’s the source of our unity. Our foundation is God’s Word, so we must study it, teach and preach it, and frame our lives by it. It’s our blueprint. But the building is incomplete. We’re continually under construction, so we must not get used to the décor or become satisfied that enough rooms have been added.

  Scripture is clear. The Christian life is a call to total commitment. Jesus challenges us to “take up our cross and follow Him.” He loves the church so much that He died for it (Eph. 5:25). He’s called us to love His church too and live for it. It’s a call to commitment. Do you need to sign up?

Can we help you spiritually? Can we help you know Jesus better? Please check out more resources on our church's web page, Gracechurchwi.org. Or, call us at 262.763.3021. If you'd like to know more about how Jesus can change your life, I'd love to mail you a copy of how Jesus changed my life in "My Story." E-mail me at Carson@gracechurchwi.org to request a free copy. Please include your mailing address.