Why Join a Local Church?

Father, we pray that as we turn from speaking to you in our prayers and in our praise to hearing from you in your Word, we pray that we might have Samuel’s ear—that we may say, “Speak, Lord, for your servant[’s] listening.”[1] For Jesus’ sake. Amen.

I invite you to turn to the Acts of the Apostles and chapter 20, and I’m going to read the section which in your Bible, if you’re using an NIV, has a heading above it: “Paul’s Farewell to the Ephesian Elders.” After I’ve read this, I’ll tell you why and why we’re going to look briefly at it this evening. But first of all, let’s read from Acts 20:13:

“We went on ahead to the ship and sailed for Assos, where we were going to take Paul aboard. He had made this arrangement because he was going there on foot. When he met us at Assos, we took him aboard and went on to Mitylene. The next day we set sail from there and arrived off Kios. The day after that we crossed over to Samos, and on the following day arrived at Miletus. Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus to avoid spending time in the province of Asia, for he was in a hurry to reach Jerusalem, if possible, by the day of Pentecost.

“From Miletus, Paul sent to Ephesus for the elders of the church. When they arrived, he said to them: ‘You know how I lived the whole time I was with you, from the first day I came into the province of Asia. I served the Lord with great humility and with tears, although I was severely tested by the plots of the Jews. You know that I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you but have taught you publicly and from house to house. I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus.

“‘And now, compelled by the Spirit, [I’m] going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace.

“‘Now I know that none of you among whom I have gone about preaching the kingdom will ever see me again. Therefore, I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of all men. For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God. Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.

“‘Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. I have[n’t] coveted anyone’s silver or gold or clothing. You yourselves know that these hands of mine have [supported] my own needs and the needs of my companions. In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: “It is more blessed to give than to receive.”’

“When he had said this, he knelt down with all of them and prayed. They all wept as they embraced him and kissed him. What grieved them most was his statement that they would never see his face again. Then they accompanied him to the ship.”

Those final couple of verses are surely one of the most moving scenes that is recorded for us in all of Holy Scripture in terms of interpersonal relationships, certainly between a pastor and his people.

I decided that I should use this evening and the opportunity that it provides to turn to this portion of Scripture with you for two reasons—first of all because, as elders, we are at the present time using a book which was written also in the seventeenth century by Richard Baxter. He wrote it as an exhortation to his fellow clergy of the time, men who were actually in the Anglican Communion. And the introduction to his book comes under the heading of Acts 20:28: “Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over … which the Holy [Spirit] ha[s] made you overseers, to feed,” or shepherd, “the church of God, which he ha[s] purchased with his own blood.”[2]

And as elders, we have been working our way—we reached, I think, about page 110 or 111 yesterday morning, as one of our elders is guiding us through it. And we have been confronted very seriously and very gravely by the exhortations which are ringing in our ears as sounding out from a few hundred years earlier. It’s clear that we have to contextualize the thing in a way that couldn’t be representative of what was going on in Kidderminster in 1765 or 1770. But nevertheless, the principles we’re seeking to take to heart.

And so I thought, “Well, it would be good for the congregation. I’m sure they must wonder from time to time, ‘What do these people do when they get together and have these meetings twice a month?’” And so I thought that this would be an insight into that and a helpful one. We spend the vast majority of the time reading the Bible and praying together and then reading books together, and we’ve found that the business of the church proceeds apace when you give yourself to these kind of priorities rather than the preoccupations that could so easily become our focus.

The second reason was because on Friday evening, when we had our dessert with interested friends and attendees and visitors and folks considering church membership and so on, I was struck by the fact—and I mentioned it yesterday morning—of the diversity of the people that come around Parkside Church. It really was remarkable on Friday evening. I think it was representative of a normal kind of Sunday. But given that there was a small group and there was an opportunity to share, it was clear that people were coming from all over the place. And they’re coming from all kinds of church backgrounds and all kinds of heritages and so on. And the questions reveal that. They were good questions. And it was a very positive and helpful time and without exception.

But one of the questions has stuck with me ever since. In fact, I think it was the first question. And the question was essentially this: Why is it even important to become a member of a church? It kind of took the wind out of my sails immediately. I thought there was a sort of tacit assumption represented in the room that that was why we were there, and I tried to work my way around it. And as I was doing that—Jeff Mills said it was as fine a piece of dancing as he’s seen in quite a while—but while I was trying to reach a conclusion, I made a mental note to myself to make sure that I don’t miss, we don’t miss certain fundamental understandings and convictions that underpin what we do at Parkside. And it occurred to me that I probably hadn’t said anything, really, about why you should be in a church or the nature of the church or leadership of the church for any considerable time, because it hasn’t come to us in our study of the Gospels. And so, in order to reinforce what we are finding ourselves challenged by as leaders and in order to address a simple question at least in measure, I decided that I would take the time now to look at this particular portion of Scripture.

Keep Watch!

So, we’re not going to work our way through all of it, and it will be something of a thumbnail sketch, given the lateness of the hour, but I want you to notice that he gives this exhortation—and we’ll begin in verse 28 (I think that’s the safest place to start)—he gives this exhortation, directing it to the elders.

These elders have been addressed in verse 17. He has “sent … for” them in verse 17. There, the word that is used for “elders” is presbyteros, which gives us our word presbyter. The word that is used here in verse 28 is the word episkopos, which gives us our word episcopal. And this verse is sometimes translated not as an “elder” or a “leader” but as a “bishop.” And that is the reason for that particular word popping up from time to time. Also, in this particular verse, 28—and we might as well cover all the bases—the exhortation that is given to “keep watch over … the flock” and to feed the flock, the verb that is used there is the verb poimainō, which means “to shepherd” the flock. And so actually, in the scope of this brief section you have these three words which are used interchangeably in the New Testament for the responsibility of spiritual leadership amongst God’s people: presbyteros, episkopos, and poimainō. So, just when you find yourself coming up against that question, “Well, are you a Presbyterian church?” we say, “Well, we’re not actually a formally Presbyterian church, but we do have presbyters.”

“Oh, you do have presbyters? How do you have presbyters?”

“Well, they’re actually called elders.”

“Well, are you Episcopal?”

“Well, no, we’re not Episcopal, but we do have episkopoi.”

“Oh, you have episkopoi. Where do you have them?”

“Well, they’re actually elders.”

And so on, so that we might know who we are. Because some people think that we don’t have a clue who we are. But we actually do know who we are, and we know who we are because the Bible tells us who we are.

So, the exhortation is directed to a group of men who are appointed by God, responsible for the church, recognized by the church, having been entrusted with the responsibility of spiritual oversight. Okay? This is not the responsibility of an individual; it is a responsibility of a company of individuals, and you will notice when you read your New Testament that it is always a plural reference.

The exhortation is clear: first of all, to “watch yourselves.” “Watch yourselves.” “Keep watch over yourselves.” In a sense, he begins by saying, “Now, fellows, mind your own business. Mind your own business.” Especially given the charge to look after others, one of the great temptations is that we neglect to look after ourselves. And Baxter in this book, actually… I hope I can find this now, having… Yes, I can actually find it. It’s not difficult. He actually begins—in relationship to this question of the leadership taking heed to itself, he says, “If the people of our charge must ‘teach and admonish and exhort each other daily,’ no doubt teachers may do it to one another, without any super-eminency of power or degree.” And here’s what I wanted to note for you: He says, “We have the same sins to mortify, and the same graces to be quickened and strengthened, as our people have: we have greater works to do than they have, and greater difficulties to overcome, and therefore we have need to be warned and awakened, … as well as they.”[3]

So I think it’s just important to recognize that the leadership of Parkside—for those of you who are interested and who care, and I would take that to be most of you—that the leadership at Parkside at this present time is seeking to pay very careful attention to this exhortation: to watch yourselves, to look out for yourselves, to make sure that you’re paying careful attention first to your own spiritual condition. So, for example, the cross-reference would be Paul to Timothy, where he says in 1 Timothy, he says, “And I want you to make sure that you watch your life and your doctrine closely.”[4]

Why is this so important? If it’s not a matter of urgency in my personal life, it won’t be a matter of concern for me in your life. That’s why no church can go beyond its leadership, unless they throw the leadership out. And that is why Paul is so clear in this. He doesn’t elaborate on it, but if, for example, we were to cross-reference it with the guidelines that he gives to Titus for the qualification for an individual fulfilling the role of an elder,[5] it probably would be a fine place to go.

So, first of all, “Watch yourselves.” And then, secondly, “Tend the flock,” “Feed the flock,” “Shepherd the flock.” It’s that word again, poimainō.

Now, here is where it becomes obvious that membership matters. Because “flock” is a corporate reference. You don’t have a flock of one. You have a sheep, but the sheep by itself is not a flock. And this is, of course, in keeping with the rest of the New Testament. Indeed, it’s in keeping with all of the Bible. The flock of God’s people are identified in the Old Testament. Indeed, God is identified in Isaiah 40 as the one who “tends his flock like a shepherd,” and he “gathers” the young “close to his heart.”[6]

The flock doesn’t belong to the leadership. The flock belongs to God: “Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you [shepherds],” and “Be shepherds,” notice, “of the church of God.” Whose church is this? It’s God’s church, and it is a church that has been purchased at great price. That’s why he mentions this: “the church of God, which he bought with his own blood.” He purchased our redemption. That’s why we sang about it: “Blessed assurance!”[7] “Perfect redemption, the purchase of blood! To every believer the promise of God!”[8] That’s why we sang, “Thank you [Jesus] for the cross”[9]—because it is he who has purchased our redemption. He has done so in our lives as individuals not in order that we might live in isolation but in order that we might live in association, in organic relationship, with one another: as a branch of a vine, as a brick in a wall, as a member of an army, as a sheep in the flock.

The flock doesn’t belong to the leadership. The flock belongs to God.

And that is why, you see, those whom God has redeemed the elders are to care for. But how can the elders care for them if they’re not part of the church? The only way that the thing can work is if individuals are committed to the membership of the church—that they’re actually identified with it. “Well,” you say, “well, I am identified. I come, and I sit in the seat.” Well, that is some kind of identification. It certainly distinguishes you from those who are over at Target right now. But in terms of actually submitting to the cause of the gospel in a place, offering our lives in service, asking for us to be pastored, and so on, if we refrain from actually becoming members of the church, we make it difficult for those who are entrusted with leadership to fulfill the responsibility of shepherds.

I don’t want to belabor this, but the New Testament—and you can check and see if what I’m saying is correct—the New Testament takes it for granted that every Christian, every Christian, will join together with other Christians in the membership of a local congregation. Indeed, the whole notion of the church, the idea of the church, the pictures of the church only make sense, only become real, when God’s people are united in the fellowship of a local church.

And the local church, which is just a tiny part of the vast organism of what God has put together—that local church is vitally important, because it is the provision which the head of the church has made for the development of the members of the church. How are the members of the church to discover their gifts? By being in the church. How are the members of the church to offer themselves in service? By being in the church. How are the members of the church to discover if they’re called into pastoral ministry? By being in the church. How are they to know if they’re to go out and serve the Lord overseas? By being in the church. This is the special provision that the head of the church has made for those whom he has added to his body. And it all sounds very pious and slick to say, “Well, I just believe in the great universal church—you know, the invisible church and so on.” Well, what are you, the invisible man? No, you don’t. You can’t—not if you’re reading your Bible, not if you’re paying attention to what the Scriptures have to say.

That’s the exhortation to the elders and through the elders to God’s people.

Well, it’s dirty work, isn’t it? It’s difficult work. My grandfather was a shepherd. I never met him. I look forward to meeting him. But as a result of that, I went to many sheep dippings in my time. My father was fascinated by sheep being shorn and sheep being dipped. And if you’ve never been and seen them dipped, it’s something to go and see. And when you get close by them, you’ll know that it’s a really good idea for them to be dipped. Because they’re dirty. Their wool absorbs unpleasant creatures that live in them. It’s essential that they’re dipped regularly in strong chemicals so as to rid them of lice and ticks and worms.

It is only when we are within the community of people to whom we have committed ourselves that we learn the nature of our own need for God’s grace, the benefits of corporate worship, and the encouragement of people who are able to lead and guide us.

Furthermore, they are—and I know some sheep lovers disagree with this—but they are largely apparently unintelligent, wayward, and obstinate. How interesting that this would be the primary metaphor that is employed in the New Testament for the local church! Well, I hesitate to make just too strict an application of it. But it is true that some people are a great trial to their pastors. Some people are just a great trial to their pastors. And it is equally true that some pastors are a great trial to their people.

What the church does is it reminds us of who we are and what we are. Because as long as you skate around and try and avoid a local church, you’ll never have to deal with all the annoying people. And all the lovely people will never get to deal with you, you annoying person that you are. It is only when we are within the community of people to whom we have committed ourselves that we now learn the nature of our own need for God’s grace, the benefits of corporate worship, the encouragement of people who are able to lead us on and guide us, and so on.

And it is a matter of increasing concern to me that at this point in the twenty-first century, there is a growing movement away from any kind of involvement in a local church. A significant number of my friends who are businessmen, scattered throughout the country, seem to be largely unengaged with any local fellowship of God’s people, choosing instead essentially to employ for themselves what we might refer to as life coaches, individuals that meet them at Starbucks and make sure they’re reading their Bible and not kicking the cat and going home at night to their wives and so on—all very important in the process of “one anothering,” but not at the exception of engagement in the local church. If Jesus died for these sheep, is it too much for him to ask that the elders would look after those for whom he died?

Look Out!

Now, the reason for his exhortation he then tells us. He says, “I’m telling you to do this because”—verse 29—“I just want to say to you: Look out!” If I was taking notes, which I’m not, I might write, first of all, all that I’ve said under the heading “Keep Watch!” and now just a couple of words under “Look Out!” “Look Out!”

Why? Well, he says, “[Because] I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among[st] you.” He’s really just saying what Jesus had said. Remember, Jesus tells the parable of the wheat and the tares: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. [And] while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and [then] went away.”[10] It’s naivety to think that the Evil One is not constantly at work seeking to sow false believers in a true and growing body of believers. Let me say that to you again: It is the ultimate naivety not to be alert to the fact that the Evil One is constantly seeking to sow falsity amongst the genuine and true body of believers.

And that was one of the other questions that was asked to me. They said, “Why do we have to have an interview?” The inference seemed to be, you know, “Who do you people think you are?” And part of my answer to that is: It’s a lot easier to join Parkside Church than it is to join one of the local country clubs. I mean, we don’t have to know your income to join. The reason is because we have to watch the flock, because savage wolves may arise from among us.

In other words, they won’t be coming from the outside. They will be on the inside. They will be pleasant people who come and seek to join the church. They will say the right things, they will affirm all the truths, and then, all of a sudden, from nowhere, they will emerge. That’s what he’s saying: “They will arise from among you.”

“So,” he has already said, “keep watch.” In other words, “Be vigilant. Be constantly providing sound instruction, constantly making sure that the people of God are able to affirm true doctrine and to refute those who oppose it.” That is a responsibility of an elder, incidentally, in Titus 1:9: that he may be able to affirm the deep truths of God,[11] and he may be able to refute those who oppose them. It doesn’t mean that every elder has to be a public speaker and stand to do what I do and some of my colleagues do, but it does mean that the elder has to have a solid working grasp of the Bible so that he might know the difference between truth and untruth.

The second reason is because the distorters of truth will seek to draw away disciples after them. “Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them.” The picture here is of those who come up with perverse and seductive teaching. Let me just quote Calvin to you on this. It will help me get to my final point. Listen to what Calvin says on this “draw[ing] away disciples after them”:

Ambition is the mother of all heresies. The purity of the Word of God flourishes when pastors join forces to bring disciples to Christ, because the state of the church is sound only when Christ is the only Master who is heard. Therefore, when men want to be masters, the doctrine of salvation is perverted and the safety of the flock is imperiled. This verse teaches that almost all corruptions of doctrine flow from people’s pride; ambitious men will always turn away from the proper purity and corrupt the Word of God. Pure handling of the Scripture aims to give Christ the preeminence, and people cannot appropriate anything for themselves without detracting from the glory of Christ. It follows [then] that those who try to promote their own glory are corruptors of sound doctrine …. The word arise, moreover, indicates that these wolves were secretly nurturing destruction until they would get a chance to assert themselves.[12]

So it’s a kind of Trojan horse.

Read Your Bible!

Well, let’s go to his final point, if you like. Let’s go to the blessing that he extends upon them: “Keep Watch!” “Look out!” and “Read Your Bible!”

Verse 32: “Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace”—especially after the charge that they’ve been given! It’s a big charge, isn’t it? “You’ve been appointed to this. You didn’t make yourselves this. God has made you this.” How are we supposed to do this? Well, it must have been a balm to their souls, an important and a necessary reminder: It’s God’s church; it’s God’s Son; it’s God’s Word. And so he commits them “to God and … the word of his grace.” Why? Because that is what builds them up. That is what assures them of their inheritance.

And small wonder that when he had said all of this, they all knelt down together on the beach, and he prayed. And they all realized this would be the last time this side of heaven. And then he was gone.

One final quote from a similar scene. This is John Brown of Haddington, born in 1722 in East Lothian in Scotland. This is kind of Seventeenth Century Day at Parkside. I don’t know. I must be reading the old books this week. In chapter 25 of this book, there’s a section on his farewell words and his table talk. And so he now is bidding his flock farewell, ’cause he’s dying. And I’m not going to read the whole thing to you. It’s too long. But it’s really good. I think this book is in the bookstore, incidentally—John Brown of Haddington. He writes to his flock:

Having through the patience and mercy of God, long laboured among you, not as I ought, far, far from it, but as I could, I must now leave you, to appear before the judgment seat of Christ, to give an account of my stewardship. … The delight of my soul was to commend Him and His free and great salvation to your souls, and to direct and encourage you to receive and walk in Him. …

But I have no confidence in any of these things before God as my Judge. I see such weakness, such deficiency, such unfaithfulness, such imprudence, such unfervency, and unconcern, such selfishness, in all that I have done as a minister or a Christian, as richly deserves the deepest damnation of hell. I have no hope of eternal happiness but in Jesus’ blood, which cleanse[s] from all sin, in redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of my sins, according to the riches of His grace.

“It is the everlasting covenant of God’s free grace, well ordered in all things … sure, that,” he says, “is all my salvation and is all my desire.”[13]

He says, “I’m going to die, and you’ve got to get yourself another minister.”[14] And he gives them just a couple of words on how they are to get a new pastor:

With respect to your obtaining another minister, let me beseech you, by much fervent prayer, get him first from the Lord.

“Get him … from the Lord.” That doesn’t go without saying, loved ones. Seminaries don’t make pastors. God makes pastors.

Let it be your care to call one whose sermons you find to touch your consciences. May the Lord preserve you from such as aim chiefly to tickle your fancy, and seek themselves rather than Jesus Christ the Lord! Let there be no strife among you in calling him. And when you get him, labour at his entrance to receive his message from Christ with great greediness. Let your vacancy make you hungry and thirsty for the Gospel. And let all hands and hearts be intent on raising up a seed for Christ in poor withered and wicked East Lothian.

If only he could see East Lothian tonight! If it was wicked and withered in the eighteenth century, how he would describe it now!

Oh! how it would delight my soul to be informed, in the manner of the eternal state [i.e., “I’d like to find out when I’m in heaven”], that Christ had come along with my successor, conquering and to conquer! How gladly should I see you and him by hundreds at the right hand of Christ at [that] great day, though I should scarcely have my ten! Oh, if Christ were so exalted, so remembered among you, as to make me scarcely thought of! I desire to decrease, that He may increase.[15]

Loved ones, when we come to you in the next few weeks and months and share with you the vision for the reconstruction of this place, for the establishing of a chapel here for weddings and funerals, for a new auditorium that is going to allow us to reach out to the world and expand our capacity and everything else, don’t ever think for a moment, don’t ever think for a nanosecond that it has anything to do with your present leadership’s ego or interest or designs or desires. It is this: that in going forward, the subsequent generations will do greater, will see more, will have their hundreds in comparison to our tens. Oh, may it be that he who succeeds us will be so conquering and so conquer so as to make our memory vanish in a moment so that the flock will know that they’re under the custody and under the care of faithful men able to teach others also,[16] keeping watch over themselves, looking out for the sheep, and commending them to the word of grace which is able to build them up and to give them an inheritance in the saints of light.

There’s only one life, and it’ll soon be past, and only what’s done for Jesus will last. And “there’s a work for Jesus” that “none but you can do.”[17] So if you’re not a member of this church, and you’re not a member of another church that is teaching the Bible and exercising discipline and finding your gifts and using you to his glory, then you might want to consider coming to one of our classes—not so that we can have more members but so that more people who are only loosely attached to the local body in this place may actually fit the metaphors that we find in the New Testament.

Father, you search us, and you know us.[18] Here we are—such a diverse group of people—and you have chosen at this time to put us together in this place. “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord ha[s] laid on him the iniquity of us all.”[19]

And they said to him, “But shepherd, there are ninety-nine, which is a pretty good percentage.”

“Oh, but,” he said, “there’s one that’s out and lost. And I will go out and find that one.” And he brought it back home on his shoulders, and his neighbors and his friends rejoiced with him. And Jesus said that there was singing in heaven over the discovery of those who were lost.[20]

And the elder brother refused to go in. He didn’t like the party, didn’t like the dancing; he didn’t like anything of it at all. And “his father [came] out, and intreated him,”[21] and he exposed the fact that he didn’t understand the nature of a relationship with his father. He was a slave in his father’s own house. And his father said to him, “Listen, we had to do this, because your brother was lost, and now he’s found. He was dead, and now he’s alive again.”[22] But he “refused to go in.”[23]

O God, bring us into the custody of your fold, we pray, by grace, through faith, and stir up our hearts that we might serve you and that we might see scores of people coming to an understanding of this wonderful good news. For we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

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[1] 1 Samuel 3:9 (NIV 1984).

[2] Acts 20:28 (KJV).

[3] Richard Baxter, The Reformed Pastor, ed. William Brown (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1974), 51.

[4] 1 Timothy 4:16 (paraphrased).

[5] See Titus 1:5–9.

[6] Isaiah 40:11 (NIV 1984).

[7] Fanny Jane Crosby, “Blessed Assurance” (1873).

[8] Fanny Jane Crosby, “To God Be the Glory” (1875).

[9] Graham Kendrick, “Thank You for the Cross” (1985).

[10] Matthew 13:24–25 (NIV 1984).

[11] See 1 Timothy 3:9.

[12] John Calvin, Acts, The Crossway Classic Commentaries, ed. Alister McGrath and J. I. Packer (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 1995), 339.

[13] John Brown, quoted in Robert Mackenzie, John Brown of Haddington (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1918), 284–85.

[14] Brown, quoted in Mackenzie, 285, 288. Paraphrased.

[15] Brown, quoted in Mackenzie, 288–89.

[16] See 2 Timothy 2:2.

[17] Elsie Duncan Yale, “There’s a Work for Jesus” (1912).

[18] See Psalm 139:1.

[19] Isaiah 53:6 (KJV).

[20] See Luke 15:3–7.

[21] Luke 15:28 (KJV).

[22] Luke 15:32 (paraphrased).

[23] Luke 15:28 (NIV 1984).