Church Membership

The writer of Hebrews encourages us in Hebrews 10:25 that we are to not forsake "the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. 

Martin Luther said of this, “Membership in a confessing body is fundamental to the faithful Christian life. Failure to do so defies the explicit warning not to forsake "our assembling together." His understanding of this prompted Martin Luther to say, "Apart from the church, salvation is impossible." Not that the church provides salvation; God does. But because the "saved" one can't fulfill what it means to be a Christian apart from the church, membership becomes the indispensable mark of salvation.”

Brother Luther and I are in complete agreement.

Blessings,

Dwayne

A Call to Humility

1 Peter 5:5-6 You younger men, likewise, be subject to your elders; and all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE. (6) Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time,

This is a call to humility for all of us. We are all the younger to someone and older than someone else.

Illustration: In the House at Bonn occupied by Beethoven there still is preserved the piano upon which the great master played, and which he used in the composition of his great music. Years ago, an American girl visited the shrine. She waltzed airily to the instrument and began playing a careless tune; and then, turning to the custodian, said, "I suppose you have many visitors here every year?" "A great many," was the reply. "Many famous people, no doubt?" said she. "Yes, Paderewski came recently." "I suppose, of course, he played on the piano?" said the girl, her fingers still thrumming the keys. "No," said the custodian, "he did not consider himself worthy."

This is the reverence of the great in soul. The flippant enter the hallowed places, the sanctuaries of the world, with light laughter and careless jest; they feel nothing in their shallow souls, and reduce everything to the flippant and commonplace; but the high-souled enter with bared heads, they take the shoes off their feet, they stand awed and in silence. "They do not consider themselves worthy."

We live in a society that has forgotten humility.

Luther on Bible Study

Martin Luther said, “I study my Bible like I gather apples. First, I shake the whole tree that the ripest may fall. Then I shake each limb, and when I have shaken each limb, I shake each branch and every twig. Then I look under every leaf. I search the Bible as a whole like shaking the whole tree. Then I shake every limb--study book after book. Then I shake every branch, giving attention to the chapters. Then I shake every twig, or a careful study of the paragraphs and sentences and words and their meanings.”

A Knowledgable Candidate

A candidate for church membership was asked, "What part of the Bible do you like best?" He said: "I like the New Testament best. Then he was asked, "What Book in the New Testament is your favorite?" He answered, the Book of the Parables, Sir." They then asked him to relate one of the parables to the membership committee. And a bit uncertain, he began...

"Once upon a time a man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves; and the thorns grew up and choked the man. And he went on and met the Queen of Sheba, and she gave that man, Sir, a thousand talents of silver, and a hundred changes of raiment. And he got in his chariot and drove furiously, and as he was driving along under a big tree, his hair got caught in a limb and left him hanging here! And he hung there many days and many nights. The ravens brought him food to eat and water to drink. And one night while he was hanging there asleep, his wife Delilah came along and cut off his hair, and he fell on stoney ground. And it begin to rain, and rained forty days and forty nights. And he hid himself in a cave. Later he went on and met a man who said, "Come in and take supper with me." But he said, "I can't come in, for I have married a wife." And the man went out into the highways and hedges and compelled him to come in! He then came to Jerusalem, and saw Queen Jezebel sitting high and lifted up in a window of the wall. When she saw him she laughed, and he said, "Throw her down out of there," and they threw her down. And he said "Throw her down again," and they threw her down seventy-times-seven. And the fragments which they picked up filled twelve baskets full! NOW, whose wife will she be in the day of the Judgment?" 

The membership committee agreed that this was indeed a knowledgeable candidate!