It would be surprising to hear the answers that many people would in all honesty have to assign for their religious connection. Some are members of a certain religious fellowship because it is the most popular in their town, and the elite society of the community go there. Some go to a particular church because of a large membership, or a large structure and a fine building used as a place of assembly. Some go for business, political, as well as social reasons.
Then there are those who would tell you that they are identified with a certain church because they do some good, or because they teach some good things. These reasons are true of all religious bodies in the land. None, perhaps, could be found that does not have some good people, as well as some bad ones, in it's fellowship. Perhaps, there are none that do not teach some good from a mortal point of view and that do not teach some of the truth. If these reasons are to be the basis of church membership, then everyone should join every church in the community!
If such can serve as the basis for membership in one, it would be a good reason for becoming a member of all. All the churches teach contradictory doctrines and by belonging to more than one a man would put himself in a position of obvious dishonesty and insincerity. This means but one thing: there is but one basis for religion that is honorable, and that basis is conviction.
The only reason for being anything is because of what you believe! No one can honestly be a Baptist unless they actually know what Baptist doctrine is, and believe it in their heart. For the same reason one cannot honestly be a Methodist without knowing what Methodism teaches and believing it in their heart. The same is true of any other religious connection.
Another common practice is for someone to transfer membership from one denomination to another on account of their husband or wife, or family, in order to have peace in the home. This prostitutes religion and causes it to serve a purely social, rather than a spiritual purpose. God frowns upon such manifest insincerity in religion.
For instance, suppose a man transfers from the Baptist to Methodist Church because of his wife, and not on grounds of conviction at all. Is he honest? Baptists teach that baptism is by immersion alone; Methodists teach that it is not, but can be performed by sprinkling, pouring, or immersion, according to the conviction or preference of the candidate. Baptists teach that when a person is once saved and becomes a child of God, he cannot fall from grace or so sin as to be finally lost in hell; Methodists teach that a child of God can fall from Grace and be finally lost. You can really see that because their doctrine are contradictory one cannot transfer membership from one to the other at will, and that there is no honest basis upon which it can be done, except a change of conviction. Conviction Is The Only Honest Basis For Any Religious Connection!
Just as conviction is the only acceptable basis for any religious affiliations, so there Is Only One Acceptable Basis For Conviction, that Is Because It Is Taught In The Word Of God. Why do you believe it? Where has God ever said it? The only reason for believing anything is because God said it. That is reason enough for believing anything and it is the only acceptable basis for anything that is believed!
Religion simply cannot be put on the basis of personal judgment or what we may think. Nor can it exist upon the basis of human teaching whether it comes from mother or father, some prominent preacher, or some human creed. When we believe for such reasons it means that we have ignored the Word of God entirely.
We must remember that "faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God" (Romans 10:17). Paul said, "According to that which is written, I have believed and therefore did speak" (2 Corinthians 4:12). Believing a lie condemns (2 Thessalonians 2:11-12). Here is the order as God requires it: Religion must be founded upon conviction or faith; FAITH MUST BE FOUNDED ON THE WORD OF GOD! Faith must embrace what the Word of God has said, all that God has said, and only what God has said in order to be founded upon His Word. Why do you believe what you believe? Where has God said it?
These considerations bring us to the announcement of our text for this study. "But sanctify in your hearts Christ as Lord: being ready always to give answer to every man that asks you a reason concerning the hope that is in you, yet with meekness and fear" (1 Peter 3:15). With Christ established in our hearts this passage of scripture teaches that we should be always ready to give reasons for what we are and for the hope we have. Yet those reasons should not be personal reasons based upon our own judgment and conceit, or prejudices; they should be given with "meekness and fear" and that means they must be based upon the Word of God. They must be Bible reasons or else our confidence is not in God, our trust is not in Him but in ourselves. Can you give Bible reasons for your faith, practice, worship, and all of your other religious connections? We need to re-examine our positions religiously and once again test and try them in the light of God's Word to see if they are based upon truth.
When thousands of early Christians met the persecutions sent against them by pagan Rome, and gladly died in the arena rather than recant, they went so calmly to their death until the pagans who witnessed their death were prompted to ask, "What is the basis of their hope that they can die thus?" Surely a strong hope does have a foundation. No hope can be stronger than the assurance upon which it is based, and what better basis could one hope for than the promises of God? Hope based upon the promises of God can sustain us in any trial. We must be certain, however, that our hopes are not idle and baseless because we are not standing on the promises of God.
Why should anyone be willing to be a member of the church of Christ? What are the scriptural grounds for such a relationship? Why does such a relationship entitle one to the promises of God? In the discussion to follow we assign reasons for being a member of the church of Christ that are altogether scriptural and we offer these reasons for the careful investigation of every reader. They will stand the test of truth!
1) The Church Of Christ Is Built Upon The Foundation Of Eternal Truth That Jesus Is The Son Of God.
The foundation of any building determines it's strength. In this respect the church of Christ is singular. It is founded upon no individual.
Lutheranism is built upon Luther; Adventism upon Mrs. Ellen G White; Christian Science is founded upon Mary Baker Eddy; and in a similar manner every denomination has been built upon some individual or some particular theory or doctrine.
The church of Christ came into existence because it was part of God's eternal purpose (Ephesians 3:10-11). Jesus said, "Upon this rock I will build my Church" (Matthew 16:18). The rock spoken of was the truth confessed by Peter, "Thou art the Christ the Son of the living God." This being the foundation of the Church, it is divine. Paul, on this same theme, wrote the Corinthians, "For other foundations can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ" (1 Corinthians 3:11). Your position religiously is no better than the foundation upon which you stand. If all you believe, practice, and teach comes from Christ and by His authority, then you are standing upon the proper foundation.
If anything you have accepted in the name of religion comes from any other sources, then you are standing upon the wrong foundation. When the reason you believe what you believe is that you have believed first that Jesus of Nazareth is the Son of God, then your position is safe. But if you believe that Wesley, Luther, Calvin, or some other religious leader has taught and are a part of the religious movement founded by them, you have deserted Christ as your foundation. Why not just be a member of the church which recognizes as the only reason for it's existence that fact that Jesus Christ is God's Son? Why not belong to the proposed in God's plan from eternity and built by Jesus Christ Himself? Such a position is bound to be absolutely safe.
2) The Church Of Christ Recognizes Jesus Christ As It's Only Head And Only Source Of Authority.
Members of the church of Christ accept the authority of Christ as complete, and believe that it excludes all other source of authority.
Christians are subject to the will of Christ and it alone. Jesus taught, "All authority has been given unto me in heaven and on earth" (Matthew 28:18). Paul declared that God gave Christ "to head over all things unto the church, which is His body" (Ephesians 1:22-23). That means that no one else has any authority over the church at all. If this be the truth, and the Word of God teaches it, then the claim Catholicism makes for the Pope as the head of the church on earth is not true. Every act of his and the edicts issued are all without divine recognition and the authority claimed is merely usurped.
The same fact applies to all counsels, conventions, synods, and every other form of organization that undertakes to exercise any authority in religious matters. None of them has any in fact. All authority in religious matters belongs to Christ. His authority excludes all else. To be a Christian demands that we recognize only the authority of Christ, and refuse to be bound by any other in any matter. Jesus drew a distinction between human and divine authority that should be carefully noted. When the Pharisees came to Him and questioned Him as to His authority, He replied by asking them a question, "The baptism of John, whence was it? from heaven or from men?" (Matthew 21:25). This is the issue.
Is this thing you believe, practice, and teach from heaven, or from men? Did Christ authorize it? Have His inspired apostles taught it? If not, then it must be from men and to believe it or practice it will condemn rather than save. In Matthew 15:6-9, Jesus declared, "And you made void the Word of God because of your tradition. You hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy of you saying, 'This people honoreth Me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. But in vain do they worship me, teaching as their doctrines the precepts of men." Hence to recognize human authority in religion is to make your religion vain in the sight of God. No preacher, elder, or member of the church of Christ has any authority to legislate or bind one single rule upon anyone. Every member of the church of Christ is free under God to take Christ as his only lawgiver and to bow to His authority alone.
Furthermore, the church of Christ does not attempt to justify any practice by Old Testament authority. Much of the religion in this age is a combination or mixture of Old and New Testament authority. Many religious practices in which people today engage cannot be found in the teachings of the New Testament scriptures, accordingly, if those who practice them offer the Bible as authority, they must go to the Old Testament to find it. Many times, these practices have no authority even in the Old Testament scriptures.
The religious world needs to learn that even if a practice is authorized in the Old Testament, yet such authority does not justify its use in Christianity. In fact, the New Testament forbids the effort to justify ourselves by the authority of Moses and the prophets. Paul said, "You are severed from Christ, yet who would be justified by the law; you are fallen from grace" (Galatians 5:4). Again he declared. "God having in old times spoken unto the fathers in the prophets by divers portions and in divers manners, has at the end of these days, spoken unto us in His Son" (Hebrews 1:1-2). On the same point, John tells us, "For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ" (John 1:17). We are under the system of grace and truth, and we are subject of the authority of Christ alone. Jesus said, "All authority is given unto Me, both in heaven and on earth" (Matthew 28:18). John tells us that we go ahead and abide not in the teachings of Christ, we have not God (2 John 9).
The important principle is that Christianity is a religion established by the authority and teachings of Christ, and is found in the New Testament scriptures. What Christ and the apostles in the New Testament have not taught is no part of the religion of Christ. You can learn how the Jews worshipped in the Old Testament and see what God's will was concerning the patriarchs, but if you want to be a Christian you must come to the revelation of the will of God through Christ in New Testament scriptures in order to learn that. Hence, if the infant church membership advocates, those who use mechanical instruments in worship, burn incense, and all the rest of such innovations could be established by the authority of Moses and the prophets, which they can't, they still could not practice as a part of Christianity until they can be found in the teachings of Christ and the apostles.
It is position of the church of Christ, and has always been, that nothing belongs to Christianity that Christ has not authorized. Upon such a principle it is safe to stand.
3) The Church Of Christ Gives Preeminence To Christ In All Things.
This is the will of God according to Paul, "And He is the head of the body. the church; who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things He might have the preeminence" (Colossians 1:18). Men exalt doctrines, methods of procedure, and many other things and give them preeminence in many ways, but those who are simple servants of Christ according to His will must exalt only Christ.
The church of Christ does not exalt one doctrine above another. We believe with James, "For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he became guilty of all" (James 2:10). Men do not have the right to sit in judgment upon the Word of God and distinguish between God's commandments. It is just as disrespectful of divine authority to set God's Word aside at one point as at another. Yet in many ways men make distinctions that God has not made.
For instance, why would men name themselves religiously after some ordinance --- such as the Baptists have done? They have put so much stress upon the proper action of baptism that they have actually adopted the name of the ordinance as their religious name and thus have given it the preeminence over Christ. Methodists are guilty of the same thing for they have exalted the "method" above Christ by the very name they wear. Presbyterians are likewise guilty of giving the doctrine of the presbyters precedence over Christ. Catholics have exalted the idea of the universal nature of Christianity above Christ. Christians have exalted one doctrine of Christianity above another, but have always exalted Christ above every other consideration and undertaken to honor all that Christ has taught by striving to keep it and teach the world to do so.
4) The Church Of Christ Is Built After The Divine Pattern In Its Organization.
The churches of Christ have always believed and taught that the Church in this world is the fulfillment of God's eternal purpose (Ephesians 3:10). We believe God designed the Church, that He is the Divine Architect who planned it in all of its details. God planned the Church exactly as He planned the tabernacle in the wilderness. When He took Moses into the mountain and gave him the pattern of the tabernacle, He set forth even the details concerning it. Its length, height, breath, its different divisions, the material out of which it was to be built, and in all of its peculiarities, God designed in and gave to Moses the plan. He even told Moses what pieces of furniture were to go with it. Not one single part of the tabernacle was left up to Moses or the congregation of Israel. When the plan had been given, God said to Moses, "See that you build all things according to the pattern given thee in the mount," Paul refers to this vary charge and applies it to the Church today (Hebrews 8:1-5).
The church of God then must be built according to the divine pattern. If a single part of that pattern is changed, God's will has not been done. We are not left to guess about the organization of the church of Christ. Not one single detail of its organization has been left up to us. Every particular part of the Church has been planned, and in order for the God of heaven to recognize it as His own, it must be built after the divine pattern. The New Testament scriptures give us the divine pattern of the Church.
Christ is the only head of the Church. He exercises universal authority over it. No member in the Church anywhere has any right or privilege beyond that which Christ has given. The only authority any member has is to do the will of Christ. This is the picture of the Church universal with Christ, as the Chief Shepherd of our souls.
The Church, however, has a local organization, subject to the authority of Christ, and in existence only because Christ has authorized it. In every community, Christians are brought together in a local body. That body is a congregation of Christians. They assemble to worship in accordance with the divine authority. They carry on the work of preaching the Gospel, ministering to the poor, and edifying one another under the direction of the Word of the Lord. To the Church in this capacity Paul wrote, "Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, even them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with al that call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in every place." Thus we see the Church in the local sense.
It was characterized as "the church of God which is at Corinth" because it existed by God's authority and through His grace, and was constituted of those who had been called out of the world in obedience of the Gospel of Christ, and having been saved and sanctified are added together to constitute God's Church in that community. Thus the Church came into existence at Jerusalem (Acts 2:41). The same thing happened when people in any community heard the Gospel preached, believed and obeyed it (Acts 18:8).
In these congregations of the church of Christ located in different communities God ordained that elder should have the rule and oversight. The order was :Elder in every church" (Acts 14:23). "And when they had appointed for them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord." Contrary to the order of government in many churches today, New Testament churches did not have one elder over a church, or one elder over several churches, but they had a plurality of "elders" in "every church." This is God's will and plan. It cannot be improved upon and cannot even be changed with God being disregarded and disobeyed.
Here is the blueprint; we must follow it or depart from the divine plan. Paul wrote Titus and said, "For this cause I left thee in Crete, that you should set in order the things that were wanting, and appoint elders in every city, as I gave you charge." The inference here is that there was one congregation to the city, and therefore elders in every city. There were not city officials, but officials in the church of the Lord. These elders were the "bishops" and "pastors" of the churches where they had the rule. The only diocese that the Bible bishop ever had was the local church. In Acts 20:17, the record tells us, "and from Milerus he sent to Ephesus, and called to him the elders of the church." Then when Paul addressed these Ephesians elders we hear him saying, "Take heed unto yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you "bishops, to feed (pastor) the church of the Lord which He purchased with His own blood."
Here we learn that the elders are the bishops and do the pastoring. The same word which occurs in Ephesians 4:11 and is rendered "pastor" in that verse occurs here and is rendered "feed" The elders are to do this work in the church of the Lord. In God's plan the preachers are not the pastors at all unless they are elders also. The modern "pastor" idea comes from the Catholic priesthood and is not a Bible idea at all. There was not one pastor in the New Testament congregation, but several of them over each congregation.
In addition to these men who serve as elders in the churches of the New Testament period, we have the pattern for having deacons in the church locally. Paul wrote to the church at Philippi, and addressed his letter, "To all the saints in Christ Jesus that are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons." So here is a church of the New Testament period that had "bishops" and "deacons". These deacons were "special servants". That is what the word means.
They were assistants to the elders in the local work to be ready to do whatever they might be called upon to do. With preachers to preach, members to work, deacons to serve, and elders or bishops to supervise the work of the Lord, the church locally carried on its program under the authority of Christ. None of the members in any capacity in which he served had any authority except to do the will of the Lord. Even the elders could not rule arbitrarily, but must do so by themselves being obedient to the will of Christ in carrying out their work.
With this local arrangement the church of Christ was able to carry out the greatest program of missions in the New Testament age that has ever been executed in the history of religious movements. Christianity grew faster during the first thirty years after its establishment in this world than any religious movement has ever grown since, and this great success was achieved without the aid of any human organization like a "missionary society," or anything akin to it.
If we would see how the church of the Lord carried out its missionary work, then let us look at Paul and the church at Antioch. The church there "sent them away" (Acts 13:3) and when they returned from the first missionary journey, "and had gathered the church together, they rehearsed all things that God had done with them." Here a preacher of Christ being sent out only by the local church, and making his report to the local church when he returned. Such a divine pattern cannot be improved upon.
The same principle holds true in the divine pattern for doing benevolent work. In Acts 11:29, we read, "And the disciples every man according to his ability, determined to sent relief unto the brethren that dwelt in Judea; which also they did, sending it to the elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul." Their work of benevolence was done through the church of the Lord. Their contributions were placed in the hands of the elders of the local church for distribution. Could an example be any plainer than that? What more do we want in the way of a precedent?
Should not we be satisfied with God's arrangement, and be willing to do God's work in God's own way without demonstrating unbelief by trying to improve upon God's plan? If a man is not satisfied with God's church just as God designed it and Christ built it, them he is not pleased to do the will of God and does not respect the Word of God. What is the difference between trying to improve upon God's ways and God's Words?
It would be just as well to try to write an improvement of the Bible as to try to build an improvement of God's Church. All of these human organizations, federations, societies of every sort and kind that fasten themselves upon the Church are evidence of someone's dissatisfaction with God's plan for the Church in the world.
These local churches were not banded together in some kind of federation, council, convention, or synod. They were independent, self-governing units of the Body of Christ, and each one free to carry on its own work under the authority of Christ. They could cooperate, and did so in carrying out their objectives, but always without surrendering their independent sovereignty by becoming amalgamated into some organization larger than the local church.
The church of Christ is universal with Christ as its head, and local with elders to oversee its work in accordance with the will of Christ. This is the sum total on the question of church organization. No Christians, satisfied with the Lord's plan, should be a member of anything else. The least departure from the divine arrangement of the church government is no more warranted than the Pope of Rome and his College of Cardinals. We should not be beguiled from the simplicity that is in Christ.
Denominational organizations belong in the same category with the doctrines and commandments of men. They corrupt the religion of Jesus Christ. They are divisive and therefore destructive to the unity of God's people. None of them is as good as the Church which Christ built.
A friendly welcome awaits you. We do not wish to embarrass you in any way. You will not be asked for contributions. We assemble for Bible study and worship each Sunday morning and we welcome you to meet with us. We would be happy to talk to you about your questions and we want to be of encouragement.
Please contact me, Dennis Crawford, at BibleTruthsToU@gmail.com or call or text 253-396-0290 for more Bible information, or for the location of a congregation belonging to Jesus Christ near you.
No comments:
Post a Comment