Devoted to the Propagation and Defense of New Testament Christianity
VOLUME 19
September 14, 1967
NUMBER 19, PAGE 10

Obligations Of Members Toward The Local Church

Edgar J. Dye

Note: Before reading this, refer to the first article on this subject. After reading, once more, the first part of this theme, then study carefully this, the second and last part. There we introduced our study and showed the need for it by reviewing the attitude of some concerning membership in and responsibility toward the local church. We have suggested what we believe is the main reason for an indifferent attitude toward the local church and its work. It is this: They do not understand the relationship that a Christian sustains to the local church of which he is a member; consequently, they neglect the responsibility God has placed upon them as a Christian in a local church.

Because some do not seem to know why they are members (or why they should be members) of a local church, we ask and answer this question: Why should one be a member of a local church anyway?

First, we approach it negatively. He is not there to be a spectator, but a participator. I am convinced that some (certainly not all) take a back seat at services because they do not want to get too involved in what is going on. They had rather be a spectator than a participator.

He is not there to pay dues for services rendered, but to render services. (Mt. 20:26-28) That $5.00 or $10.00 on Sunday morning will not open heaven's portals for one who refuses to render any other service as a member of the church where he worships. If he is not a participator in the work which that contribution supports, it does him no good. That is if he simply occupies a seat and feels no other obligation, or, while feeling an obligation, simply ignores it. A gift without the giver is vain of no avail for the giver. (I Cor. 13:1-3)

He is not there to hear, but to do. (Jas. 1:21-25) You may hear at 11 o'clock only, or you may not miss a service from now until the end; but if you don't do your part in the local church of which you are a member, your hearing will be in vain; for only the doer is blessed.

He is not there just to be another name in the church directory, but as an essential part of the God-ordained work of the local congregation a functional, active, zealous part. (Eph. 4:11-16; read again vv. 12, 16) He is not there to be a "filler" (one who simply swells the crowd, or helps fill up the available space) but to be a tiller (one who tills, a husbandman, a cultivator, a plowman.) (Jno. 9:4; Mt. 20:1-16; 7:21; Phil. 2:12-16; I Cor. 15:58.)

He is not there just to be called on in an emergency, but to be depended on regularly to do his part in every service and all work of the church.

Approaching the question positively, we suggest that he is there because God ordained it; God expects it. He is there to support its program of work: With his dollars and deeds; with his mouth and his might; with his ears and his eyes; with his talents and his typewriter; with his presence and his participation. He is there to carry out God's will in God's way in God's organization, which is God's Missionary Society, God's Edification Society, and God's Benevolence Society.

If you are not a member of a local church for these reasons, then why are you a member? There are no honorary cross-bearers with no duties to perform; all have duties unless, of course, they are not physically able, etc. There are no honorary preachers, elders, deacons, or saints!

Now look at one or two possible consequences when members fail in their obligations toward the local church. Of course, first and foremost is their own eternal damnation in hell. In addition to this, if we do not learn and discharge our obligations as members of the local church we are helping to promote, at least indirectly, such unscriptural things as the Sponsoring Church, Institutionalism, and Centralization in various forms. Yes, and I would even throw in church support of colleges.

Do you ask why I would charge that such is the result of members being indifferent and failing to discharge their obligation to the local church of which they are members? Well, you are helping the advocates of such unscriptural things to prove (?) there is a "need" for such human innovations and church related institutions.

As I see it, to know what is expected of you and to appreciate what the Bible teaches on the subject under consideration, one must consider it in the light of the Christian's relation to the local church of which he is a member, the work of the local church, and how the local church performs its work.

-Pine Bluff, Ark.