The Vows: Remain Faithful Members

According to the grace given to you, will you remain faithful members of Christ’s holy church and serve as Christ’s representatives in the world?

An older couple came to me for marriage counseling. She told me, “I want a divorce. He doesn’t love me.” I turned to him and asked, “Is this true?” He replied, “We have been married for fifty years. At our wedding, the pastor asked if I loved her. I 

As continue to we look at the membership vows of the United Methodist Church, we now turn to our responsibilities. We recognize again that our salvation is a gift of God’s grace. Remember that Grace is God’s unmerited favor. We didn’t do anything to deserve it; it’s all about what God did for us. While we were still sinners, Jesus died for us. That proves God’s love for us. There has often been raised the issue about our good works. In fact, there are some who seem to think that our good works are what save us. Apart from God’s grace, Isaiah 64:6 reminds us, that “when we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags.” But when we accept the gift that God gives us, when we accept by faith, then we are enabled to do the good works which God prepared in advance for us to do.

We as United Methodists recognize that grace surrounds everything we do. It is God’s grace that first calls us toward him. We call this grace “Prevenient” Grace. And so, we ask the next vow in the context of “According to the grace given to you…” 

There are two questions here. The first is will you remain faithful members of Christ’s holy church? What does this mean? The first important word is “remain.” The word “remain” means to continue in the same state. So many people in our culture are convinced of their need for a Savior, perhaps during a revival or a crusade. They respond to an altar call and give their lives to Jesus. That’s great. But the next thing, what this vow emphasizes first, is to remain. To continue in the same state. To not fall away. To not backslide. This is why Paul writes to the church in Ephesus in Ephesians 6:13: Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand. Remain. Continue. Persevere.

How are we to remain? Remain faithful members of Christ’s holy church. The wording here is deliberate. Remember that this church is not the pastor’s church. It’s not the DS’s church nor even the Bishop’s church. It is not your church or mine. It is always Christ’s church. Colossians 1:24 refers to the church as Christ’s body. This has tremendous ramifications for us. Many times we treat church as our own personal gatherings. We complain if we don’t sing our favorite songs or if the setting isn’t good enough or if the pastor starts things off before we get there, and of course, we come at our pleasure. We want things our way. We want to be catered to. But that isn’t church, certainly not Christ’s church. If it is indeed Christ’s church, then we have a duty to conduct our churches in the way that pleases Him, not necessarily us. 

Part of that conduct is meeting together. Hebrews 10:23-24 tells us this: And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. This is not just talking about coming to worship on Sundays, though that is included. The early church was known for meeting together regularly in one another’s homes. John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, mandated that his Methodists meet together in bands, otherwise known as small groups. In fact, at small group, members were given a ticket, and without that ticket, they were forbidden from taking Communion! 

Christ’s church is always a holy church. Holy means set apart by God for God’s purpose. It can be easy to want to nudge the church toward our own pet projects or plans. I want to see this accomplished. I want to see us do that. But when God puts us here, God does it on purpose. He has a purpose for his church. Because of that, we aren’t supposed to just look like the world around us. There is a reason my friend and fellow Good Shepherd pastor in the USA speaks weekly about a “moment of oddity that shapes our identity as a community.” As Jesus says in his prayer in John 17, he has sent us into the world, but he says of us, “they are not of the world any more than I am of the world.” John 17:14. When we are indistinguishable from the world, then we have lost our identity as Christ’s holy church.

But Jesus did send us into the world, and as such, we serve as Christ’s representatives in the world. Listen to Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 5:20: We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. An ambassador, in the secular sense, is a diplomatic official of the highest rank, sent by one sovereign or state to another as its resident representative. In other words, as Christ’s ambassadors, we are Jesus Christ’s representatives in this world. Meaning we act and speak on Jesus’ behalf. As individuals and as the church. But it also means he empowers us.

The final point is this: there is a reason that being faithful members of Christ’s church and serving as Christ’s representatives in the world are tied together in this vow. It’s because they are connected. We cannot be a faithful member of Christ’s church without being Christ’s witness in the world. Our job is a job of service, not just inside the house, but outside as well. There is no such thing as a Christian who only simply “goes to church.” It just doesn’t exist.