Posted in church on September 8, 2009 |
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Jim Wilkerson provides 10 answers to this question:
1. It demonstrates our desire to fellowship with Christ in love (Rev.3:20) who instituted particular churches for his glory (Rev.1:17-20).
2. It demonstrates our desire to follow the apostolic example (Acts 2:41ff) and the commands of Christ in love (Heb.10:25; Jn.14:15, 21).
3. It demonstrates our desire to worship the triune God (Ps.84:1-2).
4. It demonstrates our desire to encourage and bless the body of Christ (Heb.10:24-25).
5. It demonstrates our desire to submit to Christ’s leadership and bring joy to the elders as we follow their teaching and example (Heb.13:7, 17; 1Thes.5:12-13).
6. It demonstrates our trust in God’s promises to build his church (Mt.16:18).
7. It demonstrates our calling the Lord’s Day a delight that we may delight ourselves in him (Isa.58:13-14).
8. It demonstrates our longing to grow in union with Christ and the hope of glory through his feeding us by his Word, Sacraments and fellowship (Dt.8:3; Jn.6:35ff; Col.2:2-3).
9. It demonstrates our desire to struggle against the world, our flesh and the Devil through his public means of grace to reach maturity in Christ and rest in him (Ps.73; Eph.4:11-16; Mt.11:25-30).
10. It demonstrates our desire to live by his grace in the membership vows we have made before him and his church for his glory (Eccl.5:4).
(I wouldn’t rephrase “membership vows” to “church covenant commitments”)
Here’s the post in its entirety.
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