Do you remember the Member’s Only jackets of the Eighties? They had the cool stand up collar and the epaulets or shoulder straps. They were the bomb! They came in a small variety of colors. There was even a leather version. But the mystique was “members only.” They also had a marketing tag line, “when you put it on, something happens.”
The reality of course was that “Member’s Only” was a brand name not an identification for the person wearing it. Wearing the jacket did not make you a member of anything. The only thing it made, was profit for the retailer and the manufacturer. The jackets, like my silk shirts and very large bell-bottomed pants have, by the grace of God, gone out of style.
It is my opinion that the jackets were so successful not because they were so fashionably impressive, but because people loved the idea of membership. Give people the idea that having a membership is something that makes them better than someone else, or entitles them to something that otherwise they could not receive and they will line up. Sam’s, Costco, J.B.’s and others are cashing in on that idea!
I have in my pocket a card that says I am a Sam’s club member. I also have a Costco membership; it is great to be king! However, I do not carry any responsibility for either of those companies. I do not go in and ask how I can help. I do not clean windows or pick up trash or offer customers assistance. I am a member for my consumption. Sadly, that mindset is a part of the church culture.
For most, we see membership as something that makes us special, that gives us entitlements, that gives us power. Because I am a member I have a voice, I have a vote, I have rights! But that is a far cry from what Jesus had in mind.
The word member appears in Scripture as a translation of two different words. One means a place on the council, the other a limb or part of a human body. Guess which one is always used regarding members of the body of Christ? You guessed it. In the context of a believer it is always as a functioning part of the body. Church membership as we know it today in the local church has no Scriptural basis. It is a tradition that began prior to the Reformation and is a legal stipulation if not a hijacking of the imagery of the Book of Life.
We are not called to be members of a ruling body! We are called to be the arms,legs, feet, hands, ears, eyes and mouth of the body of Christ. There are no rights. There are responsibilities. My legs have no rights. They have a responsibility to remain attached and subservient to every other part of my body. They are to enjoy the benefit of being a functioning part of my body, enjoying the benefits of all the others parts doing their share. Read 1 Corinthians 12:12-27.
Until the local church realizes that it is the body of Christ and not a political or social organization we will fail to change our world. It is time that we abandoned the stockholder with rights and privileges mentality. It is time for believers to embrace the fact that we are to be parts that are responsible to the whole body. That we have the responsibility to do the right thing for the right reasons and that slaves and servants have no rights!
The next time you want to demand your rights and your voice in the church business meeting remember this; If Jesus had put His crucifixion to a vote, His very own disciples would have voted down their only chance of missing hell.
The world is waiting to see a local church whose members embrace their responsibilities instead of expecting their rights. Are you a member?
