is church membership biblical?

This Sheep Was Born [Again] There
It was the the Lord Jesus, the good shepherd (cf. Psalm 23) who says in John 10 that the "sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name," (John 10:3). Jesus Christ is Yahweh -- the same God who spoke that he came for his sheep in Ezekiel 34:11-16 (cf. John 10:3-16).

It has been the consistent model of God's redemptive history that he would know each of his covenant people and that they would know him -- and know each other (Genesis 1-2; Numbers 1:1-2). The Exodus narrative shows the Lord appointing leaders to for his people (Exodus 18:21; Deut. 1:13-15). And in the New Testament, God has given under-shepherds to shepherd, tend, and lead his people (1 Peter 5:1-5; see 1 Timothy 3:1ff, Titus 1:5ff).

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