http://www.wayoflife.org/files/0c268465a47c4678e7a7cc01b9a269e6-682.html A few years ago, I received a letter from a young couple who exhorted me as follows: “Your book on separation is very good, but you may want to add a caveat that a person must have a better church to separate to before he separates from a church. We were shocked at the liberal doctrines held by the fundamental churches in our city.”

Later they wrote to me and shared with me more detail about these things. Following are specific things that they mentioned:

“(1) Their former pastor did not teach that women should not work outside the home, and the wife of the associate pastor worked. (2) The church held parties or fellowships on Valentines Day, Halloween, and Christmas. (3) The pastor allowed a divorced person to work in the bus ministry. (4) The pastor failed to correct publicly certain erroneous statements which were given during testimony times and certain (supposed) erroneous statements which were made by visiting preachers. (5) The pastor failed to do anything about missionaries who joked and told stories in the pulpit. (6) Though the church took a stand for the KJV, this man did not think there was sufficient teaching on the subject of Bible versions. (7) The pastor “used humor to break the tension” in his preaching, whereas this one felt that sober- mindedness required that such levity in the pulpit cease. (8) The pastor seemed to prefer to let God change people about such things as appearance (long hair, ear rings on men, etc.) rather than approach them directly.”

The couple eventually wrote and said they had “separated” from this fundamental Baptist church and from its pastor “because of his liberal teaching on remarriage, women working outside the home and his refusal to correct error.”

It is natural that in any church we will find things with which we do not agree. To practice Bible separation based on the type of things discussed in this letter, though, is not proper or healthy, in my estimation. These are not matters of “liberalism” or apostasy. These are matters of preference, or, at best, relatively minor issues. Church members must deal with many such things.

While we are to separate from error, we are also exhorted to submit ourselves to pastoral authority and to exercise grace in the church. I believe there are many types of things with which we can disagree in a church while continuing to submit ourselves to God-ordained authority. There does not have to be a contradiction here.

I know of others who have separated from practically all churches because none of them take what they believe is a proper stand in all matters. Many times these are good people who want to stand for the Word of God and who want to contend for the truth in a confused and apostate hour. (Many others, though, are contentious people who simply refuse to submit to God-ordained authority.) I praise the Lord for anyone who has a zeal for the truth in this wicked hour, but I also believe there are some important lessons in the Word of God that can help us deal with the complex matter of church membership.

I believe the following thoughts, which are an enlargement of my original reply to the aforementioned couple, can help us to have a more fruitful attitude toward the assembly in spite of the many problems and imperfections we find there. I have thought and prayed a lot about these things, so please bear with me while I offer seven things we must know and do in order to be a fruitful member of a New Testament church. I think of these things as “keys to fruitful church membership.”

NO ECUMENISM OR COMPROMISE

Let me hasten to say that I am utterly opposed to ecumenism and compromise. I realize that New Evangelicals and ecumenists take some of the things we will deal with in this article and misuse them to excuse their disobedience. They speak much of love and liberty, but they take verses on these subjects out of context and refuse to deal with the enormous amount of material in the Word of God on other subjects, such as separation, rebuking sin and error, apostasy, and discipline.

In this article I intend to deal with grace and liberty and submission to the church, but do not think that I am thereby ignoring the responsibility to stand for truth and righteousness.

Those who know us will not have to be told this, but I say this for the sake of our readers who do not know us. For twenty-six years, we have stood unapologetically for Bible separation. In this instance, though, we are dealing with other equally important matters.

SEVEN KEYS TO FRUITFUL CHURCH MEMBERSHIP

1. WE MUST HAVE AN ABIDING RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS CHRIST

The first and foremost key to fruitful church membership is a real and abiding relationship with Jesus Christ.

“Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away? Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. And we believe and are sure that thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God” (John 6:67-69).

“Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me” (John 15:4).

“And now, little children, abide in him; that, when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming” (1 John 2:28).

In order to submit to godly pastoral leadership and to have spiritual discernment to know right from wrong in churches, one must be born again and have the indwelling Spirit of God. Many church members who cause unnecessary problems in the church and who injure the welfare of the church do so because they do not have a saving relationship with Jesus Christ. They do not have spiritual discernment, they walk after the flesh rather than the Spirit, they do not know how to submit to authority, and they do not care how they harm the church, because they are not born again. The Bible warns that God will deal severely with those who harm His churches. “If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are” (1 Cor. 3:17). The reason many troublemakers do not fear God’s retribution for their actions in the churches is that they are not saved.

In order to be a fruitful church member year after year, one must not only be saved but he also must abide in Christ. He must walk in fellowship with Christ the Saviour day by day. When we walk with Christ and have our eyes upon Him, we do not become offended at what man does in this world. “Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them” (Psalm 119:165). This is why some church members throw up their hands and quit or become disgruntled and spiritually ineffective when they witness a pastoral failure or some such serious problem in the church, whereas other church members keep on for the Lord in spite of any discouragement that comes their way. They are disappointed when men fail them, but they do not quit or turn aside because their eyes are upon One who never fails!

Abiding in Jesus Christ is the most crucial key to fruitful church membership.

2. WE MUST UNDERSTAND THE IMPORTANCE OF THE CHURCH

Another thing we must understand to be a fruitful church member is that God ordained the church. It is a divine institution and it is the center of God’s work in the world today and is to continue until Jesus returns.

The Bible emphasizes that the church is God’s chosen means of accomplishing His purposes in this age. Even the most cursory study of the New Testament reveals that the church is God’s chosen means of accomplishing His purposes in this age. There are more than 100 references to the church in the New Testament. This shows the emphasis that the Holy Spirit has put upon the church, and the vast majority of those references are unquestionably to the local assembly, not to a general or prospective aspect of the church.

Men have corrupted churches, but the church is God’s plan. The Lord Jesus said, “I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Mat. 16:18). The church is Christ’s program.

The church is the pillar and ground of the truth (1 Tim. 3:16), and that is a church with elders and elders (1 Tim. 3:1, 8).

Most of the New Testament was written directly to churches. And even those portions not written directly to a particular church refer to the church. The theme of Acts is the planting and multiplication of the first churches. The Pastoral Epistles (1 and 2 Timothy and Titus) were written to instruct church planters in their work.

Even the General Epistles, which are not written to particular churches, always have the churches in mind. Hebrews refers to the church in chapters 10 and 13. Hebrews 10:25 exhorts God’s people not to forsake the assembling of themselves together. In Hebrews 13:7 and 17 Christians are exhorted to obey church rulers. The last chapter of James refers to the church. Those who are sick are to call for the “elders of the church.” The final chapter of 1 Peter also refers to the church, in exhorting elders in their duties. John refers to the church in his third epistle, when he mentions the proud Diotrephes. The book of Revelation, of course, is addressed to the seven churches that existed in that day.

Consider, too, that there is no Bible instruction about the discipline and watch care of Christians apart from the church. There is no instruction about leadership among Christians apart from the church. The entire life and work of God’s people for this age appears in the context of the assembly.

We must also understand what a church is. A proper New Testament church has certain biblical ingredients. It is not merely a group of Christians meeting for prayer and Bible study. Paul wrote to Titus about church work in Crete. The gospel had been preached and there were believers who were meeting together, but that was not sufficient. Paul instructed Titus that certain things were lacking (Titus 1:5). What were those things? The thing that was lacking was proper qualified leadership and biblical organization, and these are the thing that Paul addresses in the book of Titus. The very first thing that Paul instructs Titus about is the ordination of elders. “For this cause left I thee in Crete, that thou shouldest set in order the things that are wanting, and ordain elders in every city, as I had appointed thee” (Titus 1:5).

We see the same thing in the book of Acts. When Paul and Barnabas raised up groups of believers in various towns, they were careful to “ordain elders in every church” (Acts 14:23).

A proper New Testament church, therefore, is a body of baptized believers who are congregated together under the oversight of qualified and ordained pastor/elders and who are following the pattern of government and accomplishing the work described in the apostolic epistles.

It is clear from Scripture that it is God’s will that every believer be a faithful and fruitful member of a sound New Testament church. That is what we see in Acts 2. Those who were saved on the day of Pentecost “continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers” (Acts 2:42)

If there is not such a church in the area, the establishment of such a church must be the highest priority. A believer should never be content merely to listen to preaching sermons on a cassette player or CD, or to read sermons from a book, or to listen to preaching on the radio or television, or to meet together with a loose-knit group of believers without proper biblical leadership and organization.

The reason I have remained a faithful member of a church for 32 years is not that I have found perfect pastors and perfect churches, but because I know that this is God’s will and anything less would displease Him. It is my understanding of the doctrine of the church that keeps me going in spite of grave imperfections I have found in churches.

3. WE MUST UNDERSTAND THERE IS NO PERFECT CHURCH

Another thing we must understand is that there are no perfect churches. We have mentioned this, but it needs to be emphasized very strongly. It sounds like a simple matter, but it is not. It is something that must be relearned frequently.

Even the early churches founded and pastored by the apostles had problems. In fact, there were very serious problems in many of the early churches. Consider the church at Corinth. The members were carnal and divided. They refused to discipline one of their own although he was living in open fornication with his father’s wife! They were taking each other to court. They were getting drunk during the Lord’s Supper. They were misusing the spiritual gifts. They allowed false teachers to discredit the Apostle Paul. What a church! Yet Paul was thankful for the grace God had given them (1 Cor. 1:4). The seven churches mentioned in Revelation two and three also had many serious problems, including spiritual coldness, false teachers, and immorality. Two women in the church at Philippi had to be corrected for being antagonistic toward one another (Phil. 4:2). Paul had to rebuke Peter for his hypocrisy (Gal. 2:11-14). Paul and Barnabas had a contention that was “so sharp between them, that they departed asunder one from the other” (Acts 15:39). Need we go on? There never has been a church that did not have problems, and the simple reason for this is that church members are sinners.

It is not therefore surprising to find many problems in independent Baptist churches today. I have been a part of the independent Baptist movement for more than three decades and have spoken in 450 or more churches across North America and in many other lands, and I have observed the problems firsthand. When I was a young Christian at Bible school, I saw problems that almost devastated me. As I started Bible school training in 1974, I was almost 25 years old, but I was only one year old in the Lord, and I was shocked at many things. Thirty years later, I am still saddened by these same things! These were things such as Sunday School promotionalism which turn the church of Jesus Christ into a carnival; extreme levity at times in the pulpit; little biblical content in some of the preaching; exaltation of men above that which is proper; shallow, manipulative methods of evangelism and an overemphasis on “decisions” and “prayers” rather than repentance and regeneration.

Because of issues like these, I left after the completion of my first year, determined to attend a different school. The Lord gave me no peace over my decision, though, and within a few weeks I returned and completed my studies. In looking back, I am pleased with the Lord’s leading, though I did not understand it very well at the time. The other school that I was looking at was Calvinistic and was part of a group that was well down the path to New Evangelicalism, and I would have faced an entirely different set of problems--problems even more unhealthy to my Christian life than the ones I was trying to flee.

I still believe the aforementioned problems are wrong, and I try to avoid them as much as possible; but I have also learned some things that have helped me, I believe, have a more balanced attitude toward church problems in general.

In spite of the fact that all churches are imperfect, we do not see in Scripture any healthy examples of Christians who disregarded the assembly. In fact, those who separated themselves were considered unregenerate. John says, “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us” (1 Jn. 2:19).

4. WE MUST EXERCISE KEEN SPIRITUAL DISCERNMENT, DISTINGUISHING BETWEEN THE IMPORTANT AND THE LESS IMPORTANT

Another key to fruitful church membership is keen spiritual discernment. Notice the following Scriptures:

“Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone” (Matt. 23:23).

“And I myself also am persuaded of you, my brethren, that ye also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another” (Rom. 15:14).

“Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Tim. 2:15).

“For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil” (Heb. 5:12-14).

In Matthew 23:23, the Lord Jesus Christ taught that not all things in the Bible are of equal importance. Some biblical teachings are “weightier” than some others. Everything in the Bible has some importance, but everything is not of equal importance. Knowing the difference between the two requires a thorough knowledge of God’s Word and keen spiritual discernment. This is the lesson of Romans 15:14; 2 Timothy 2:15; and Hebrews 5:12-14. Such discernment comes only through long and diligent study and through exercise of the senses to discern good and evil. Paul told the church at Rome that the reason they were able to admonish one another was because they were full of goodness and filled with knowledge (Rom. 15:14).

It is my conviction that the friends who wrote to me that they were separating from that independent Baptist church lacked the maturity to distinguish between the “weighty” matters of biblical truth and those matters that are less significant. Although they lacked such maturity, they felt they had better discernment than even their godly pastor. This happens frequently. In fact, it is a characteristic of young Christians. Someone has wisely stated that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. This is one reason why God forbids a novice to be a church leader (1 Tim. 3:6). The young Christian begins to gain some knowledge of the Bible and the ministry, and suddenly he “knows it all” and tries to straighten out everybody else, blithely ignorant of his own serious shortcomings. This happens frequently to young Christians who are in Bible College. They have some knowledge, but often they don’t have the experience and maturity to use it correctly. If they are not careful with their newly found knowledge and zeal, they can cause more problems than they solve!

Pastors and churches are to be judged by the Word of God (1 Thess. 5:21), but church members cannot do this until they first gain the necessary biblical knowledge and discernment required for such judgment. Young Christians need to be extremely cautious and patient about exercising judgment against the pastor. Unless the matter in question is something that is exceedingly plain from the Bible and unless there are mature Christians who can confirm the judgment, it is wise for the immature Christian to the pastor’s greater knowledge and maturity.

One of my evangelist friends differentiates between the “weightier matters” of God’s Word and the less weighty by calling them “fatal” and “non-fatal” teachings. That is a good distinction. It does not mean that the “non-fatal” teachings of God’s Word are of no importance; it simply means they are less important than some other matters.

Some of the “weightier matters” of God’s Word in relation to churches are things such as sound doctrine, the gospel, Christian love, godliness, separation from error, and soul-winning and missions. Some of the less weighty matters are things like the music program (within reason), Sunday School materials, promotions, youth activities (again, within reason), special speakers, and political involvement. Good examples of less weighty matters are the list of eight things mentioned at the beginning of this article: whether or not the church has fellowships at Christmas or jokes being told from the pulpit, etc.

I am not saying that the child of God should ignore Christian rock music or false teaching or unqualified leadership or anything like that. I am not saying we are to be blind to things that are wrong. I am simply saying that not all matters are of equal importance, and we must learn to weigh various issues of church life in order to exercise mature judgment.

We see this in Christ’s judgment of the churches in Revelation 2-3. The problems He rebuked were of a truly serious nature. He did not rebuke a church because of joking in the pulpit; He did not rebuke a church for having a church social on Valentine’s Day or for using recorded music during the specials. I’m not trying to be facetious. I’m not trying to make light of the less important things, but the fact remains that Christ did not treat all church problems with the same degree of seriousness, and we must follow His example. This is exactly what we see in the church epistles. The problems rebuked by the Apostles under inspiration of the Holy Spirit were of a very serious nature. The Church at Corinth was not rebuked for allowing a divorced man to work in the evangelistic ministry, but for drunkenness and immorality and carnal divisions.