Church Membrship - Part Two

Last time, I painted a picture that was pretty black and white as I contrasted the different objectives within the church of the true, born-again believer and the make-believer. But I'm sure you know that in the real world, nothing is ever that black and white. Especially with people, they come in shades of gray.

Sometimes new believers don't seem much different from the world they were just saved out of. they still carry the smell of the fires of hell on them, and they still have lots of that old baggage from the world they carry around. They desperately need to be discipled by an older, dedicated believer. On the other hand, some unbelievers are the sweetest, most generous and moral people you would ever want to meet. You would never know they have never trusted Christ for salvation - that they are still as lost as a billy goat. You'd swear by their actions that they are good Christians. So sometimes, it is really hard to tell them apart. Is this person a carnal Christian? Or is this person a moral pagan interested in the church? And how can you tell them apart?

Remember, the basic problem in the Parable of the Wheat and Tares is that you can't tell them apart - not until the harvest - when the tares show themselves by not producing any fruit. That's the problem we face in every church. How do we tell them apart? Christians don't come with a big "C" tattooed across their foreheads, and unbelievers don't come with that "666" tattooed across theirs. Not yet, anyway. So how do we know who is on our side and who is on the devil's side?

And quite frankly. sometimes the tares don't know either. Quite often, they are deceived into thinking they are just as good a Christian as the next person. And lots of times they are, to our shame. Except that they really aren't. But that's one of Satan's most effective tactics - the tactic of deceit. Revelation 12:7-9 says,

"And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So that great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him."

Do you see? Satan is now down here on earth stirring up lots of mischief, and his most effective tactic is deceit. Satan deceives the whole world. And Satan loves nothing more than to have the tares think of themselves as wheat. He loves to deceive the make-believers into thinking of themselves as genuine (They aren't likely to get saved that way).

But that is precisely why Paul urged personal introspection. 3nd Corinthians 13:5 teaches, "Examine yourself as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? Unless indeed you are disqualified." Self examination is so vital. Just because you are a member of a church doesn't mean you have been saved. Make sure you are. Examine your life. And that is why perspective members need to be examined for the genuineness of their faith. Are they really, truly a part of the true church?