Trinity and Humanity

Audio Part A:

Audio Part B:

Full Audio Message:

Watch on YouTube:

Scripture: Acts 3: 1-11

Summary:

“The Church is the Church only when it exists for others.”— Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Letters and Papers from Prison

What does it really mean to be a member of Jesus Christ’s Church?

In Acts 3:1–11, Peter and John encounter a man who had been unable to walk from birth. He is carried daily to the temple gate to beg, expecting Peter and John to give him money. Instead, Peter tells him, “I don’t have silver or gold, but what I do have, I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, get up and walk!” The man rises, enters the temple with them, and begins walking, leaping, and praising God.

But Pastor Timothy Brassell invites us to look beyond the miracle and ask an important question: Who are Peter and John, and what does their relationship with Jesus reveal about who we are as His Church?

Peter and John are not acting independently of Jesus. Acts is the continuing ministry of the risen and ascended Jesus Christ, working in and through His people by the Holy Spirit. Jesus remains the Head of His Body, and His followers are invited to participate with Him in what He is doing. This is not simply Peter and John’s story, it is also our story as members of Christ’s Body. Their lives show us something of what it means to be chosen by Christ, to belong to Christ, and to be sent by Christ for His purposes in the world. That changes the way we understand church membership.

Membership is more than having our name on a church roll, attending worship, or simply identifying ourselves as Christians. As Pastor Tim emphasizes, “Membership is union with Christ and participating with Christ.” We are members of His Body, joined to Christ and to one another for participation in His continuing ministry. To be a member of Christ’s Body means recognizing that we belong to Someone else. Our lives are His, and He has joined and gifted us together for the common good.

The Father has made His purpose for humanity known in His Son. Jesus Christ has taken our humanity upon Himself, represented and substituted for us, and included us in His relationship with the Father. The Holy Spirit invites and enables us to believe, receive, enjoy, and participate in that life, and to freely share this Good News with others.

Peter and John give us a picture of what that participation looks like. They worship together, pray together, witness together, and participate together in what Jesus is doing. The Christian life was never intended to be an isolated, individualistic existence. We are called to be in the world but not of it, learning to think, live, love, and serve according to Jesus Christ. Our life together reflects the relational, self-giving life of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Bonhoeffer’s words speak powerfully into this reality:“The Church is the Church only when it exists for others.“ Membership in Christ’s Body turns us outward because Jesus invites us to participate with Him in His continuing ministry to others.

Membership Has Its Privileges

One of the extraordinary privileges of belonging to Jesus is that we are real partners with Jesus Christ in His continuing ministry. The risen and ascended Jesus has not stopped working in the world. By the Holy Spirit, He continues His ministry through His Body, the Church. Each believer is gifted for the common good so that Christ may build up His Body and make Himself known to others.

Peter and John were not spectators watching Jesus work, and neither are we. Jesus invites us to participate with Him as He encourages, strengthens, heals, serves, reconciles, and draws people into the knowledge of Himself and His Father in the Holy Spirit. And this participation does not mean that we are doing Jesus’ work for Him. Christ Himself is at work in us and through us as we participate with Him. That is the extraordinary privilege of membership: the One who calls us is also the One who empowers us. Jesus chooses to share His ministry with us.

Membership Has Its Rewards

The greatest reward of belonging to Jesus is not material prosperity or an easy life. We receive Jesus Himself. In Him, we share His relationship with His Father in the Holy Spirit. Eternal life is not merely endless existence; it is participation in the life and love of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Jesus gives us His presence, peace, joy, the gift of the Holy Spirit, and a hope and inheritance that cannot be measured by the temporary circumstances of this world. This does not mean we escape difficulty. Jesus tells us that in this world we will have trouble, but He also tells us to take heart because He has overcome the world.

There is no uncertainty about the final outcome. The victory has already been won in Christ. The question Pastor Tim presses upon us is: Will we participate in His victory? Will we take our relationship with Jesus seriously enough to trust Him, follow Him, and participate with Him even when doing so requires us to press through discomfort, discouragement, opposition, or fear? Our greatest reward is Christ Himself and the astonishing gift of sharing His life with the Father in the Holy Spirit.

Membership Has Its Costs

Participation with Jesus also has a cost. After the healing in Acts 3, Peter and John proclaim Jesus Christ and soon face opposition, arrest, and imprisonment. Following Jesus was never promised to be comfortable. There will be times when participation in Christ means denying ourselves, pressing through discouragement, facing opposition, and continuing to proclaim the Gospel even when others do not want to hear it. One of the real costs of proclaiming the Gospel is accepting that not everyone is going to like it or receive it. Yet the possibility of rejection cannot silence the Church.

We live in the world, but we are not called to become of the world. Our thinking, living, loving, serving, and witnessing remain centered in Jesus Christ. Even when following Him carries a cost, we continue participating because we know who Jesus is and what He has accomplished for humanity. Pastor Tim reminds us that this does not mean forcing Jesus upon people, irritating them, or treating His name as some kind of formula. Instead, we look at others with the Holy Spirit, asking Him for wisdom and creativity in how we participate in what Jesus is already doing in their lives.

If someone already believes, we seek to help them believe more and allow them to strengthen us as well. If someone does not yet believe, we desire to help them come to believe. And if someone is rejecting Jesus, we continue lovingly pointing them toward the One who has already represented and substituted for them and desires that they know and receive the life that is theirs in Him. Why? Because we know the privileges and rewards of knowing Jesus Christ. We know the Father revealed in Him. We know the fellowship and power of the Holy Spirit. Having received such Good News, how can we keep it only to ourselves? Acts 3, then, is more than the story of Peter, John, and a man who was healed. It is a picture of the Church participating in the continuing ministry of Jesus Christ.

We are His Body. He is our Head. We belong to one another because together we belong to Him. Each of us has been called and gifted for the common good, and Christ joins us together so that, by the Holy Spirit, His life may be made visible and His Gospel may go out into the world.

Membership in Jesus has privileges. It has rewards. And yes, it has costs. But through it all, we are participating in something far greater than ourselves. The continuing ministry of Jesus Christ and the life and purpose of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit God revealed in Him.

Reflective Moment

What does membership in Jesus Christ mean to you?

Is it primarily a name on a list or a place you attend? Or do you see yourself as a living member of Christ’s Body, someone He has called, gifted, and joined to others to participate with Him in His ministry?

Where might Jesus be inviting you to participate with Him right now? Perhaps there is a believer He is calling you to encourage and strengthen. Perhaps there is someone who does not yet believe whom the Holy Spirit is inviting you to love, serve, and gently point toward Christ. Perhaps there is someone who has rejected Jesus whom you have stopped believing can ever change. Or perhaps Jesus is calling you out of isolation and into deeper fellowship with another believer. With someone you can pray, worship, serve, encourage, and walk with. Remember, you do not participate alone. The Father has called you into His purpose. The Son has joined Himself to you and shares His ministry with you. The Holy Spirit lives and works in you, empowering you to participate.

So the question is not simply, “Am I a member of the Church?” The deeper question is:

“Am I actively participating with Jesus Christ, by the Holy Spirit, in what the Father is doing in the world?”

Watch Pastor Timothy Brassell’s full Gospel Message, to hear more about what Acts 3:1–11 reveals about belonging to Christ, participating in His continuing ministry, and living together as His Body in the world.