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• Is The Church Of Christ A Denomination?
• (Part Five)
• Introduction
• When we compare our congregation with those of the denominational world,
we see many differences.
• Many people do not have a problem with these differences.
• Many have just accepted that all the churches are different even though
they claim to all be in a relationship with God.
• This cannot be.
• It is not logical that different groups teach different doctrines and
messages and still claim to be one with another.
• As we attempt to show the differences between these groups and ourselves,
we must do so based upon what the Bible reveals.
• Salvation comes from God is a statement found many times in the Bible.
• If we are not doing the things God wants us to do, we have no alternative
but to declare that the things different are from man and not God.
• Man’s ways cannot please God and will not help any soul get to
heaven.
• Man’s ways are what he wants and what God wants really does not
matter.
• As we have already seen, there are several criteria that must be considered
to see if a group is a denomination.
• One thing necessary is to have a proper name, but that is only part
of it.
• Having a proper name does not make up for improper teaching or practices.
• We also saw that many do not respect Bible Authority.
• Now, let us look at another criteria which we will call the work of
the church.
• The Work Of The Church
• The predominant idea in the denominational world is that one church
is just as good as another.
• Because so many people believe this, churches are built in such a way
as to attract people with the amenities they offer.
• These amenities are not a reflection of what God wants in His church,
but rather of what men desire.
• And the various churches seek to out-do one another, adding more programs
and perks than their neighbors.
• Often, advertisements for churches fail to mention any kind of spiritual
message at all, and are consumed with the various physical functions that are
available.
• Sports teams, drama presentations, musical concerts, and the like are
the new normal for these churches.
• Actual Bible study is a rarity.
• Even at functions labeled Vacation Bible School, most of the activities
are nothing more than entertainment for children.
• Try as we might, if we search the Bible, we can find no such effort
put forth by the church in the first century.
• We never read of the Apostle Paul organizing a youth team to take to
the games.
• Peter never advertised a young men’s choir.
• John never had auditions for his Passion Play.
• If we do not see these things as a part of the first century church,
what do we see?
• What are we supposed to be doing as a part of our work in the church
today?
• It is very simple.
• The Bible reveals what our work is.
• Any work not found in the Bible is wrong.
• Evangelism, Edification, and Benevolence are the only revealed things
that we do as a congregation.
• Now, individual Christians have more liberty to do things which many
churches do not have the authority to do such.
• But this is the work of the Christian, and not the church.
• This is also a very important thing, as many groups have blended the
duties of the individual with the church, and that is wrong.
• We convert people to Christ, not the church…
• Rather than trying to draw people to “our church,” we should
be drawing them to Christ.
• When people are converted to the church, they are loyal to the church,
regardless of whether the church is doing what it is supposed to be doing or
not!
• On the other hand, if people are converted to Christ, they will be loyal
to Him and conform their practices (individually and collectively) to His will.
• Throughout the New Testament, all of the emphasis concerning conversion
is upon Christ, not the church.
• The message is always centered upon the gospel, not the activities of
the church.
• Consider a few passages of scripture to help drive home the point:
• For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of
God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the
Greek (Romans 1:16).
• When men today use some function of the church to draw others into their
church, they are showing that they do not have confidence in the power of the
gospel.
• Some insist that we must draw people in with some type of gimmick, but
once they are there we will teach them the gospel.
• This approach does not trust in the power of the gospel alone!
• In the end, it is not the gospel that holds people in these churches,
but rather the amenities that attracted them in the first place.
• Jesus answered and said, “This voice did not come because of Me,
but for your sake. Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this
world will be cast out. And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all
peoples to Myself.” This He said, signifying by what death He would die.(John
12:30–33).
• As Jesus spoke of His death, He made it clear that He would be the one
who would draw people.
• It would not be the church, or its entertaining functions (those things
devised by men) that would cause people to be drawn to God and saved from sin.
• True Christians should be pointing the way to Jesus, rather than putting
the confidence of our salvation in the church.
• Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers
of the people and elders of Israel: If we this day are judged for a good deed
done to a helpless man, by what means he has been made well, let it be known
to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ
of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this
man stands here before you whole. This is the ‘stone which was rejected
by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.’ Nor is there
salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among
men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:8–12).
• If we understand that our goal is to bring people to Christ, and not
to “our church,” our approach and our focus will be significantly
different.
• If we are seeking to bring people to Christ, then the amenities that
so many people put their faith and confidence in become insignificant.
• We become concerned only with what Christ wants, not with what pleases
us!
• Therein lies the problem.
• Most people do not know the difference and are drawn to amenities, entertainment,
and food.
• We in the church of Christ are different, and many do not like us because
we only offer the Gospel plan of salvation as God gave it to us.
• The church must please Christ.
• Seeing the need to lead people to Christ instead of to a local church
does not relieve the local church of being what Christ wants.
• The church is the bride of Christ, and as such has a responsibility
of being all that He expects.
• That is the very figure that is used by the Apostle Paul in Ephesians
5:22-33.
• After giving the instruction that wives are to be submissive to their
husbands, and husbands are to be the heads of their wives, Paul revealed that
he was speaking about the relationship between Christ and the church:
• This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church
(Ephesians 5:32).
• If we are going to be the church of the Lord, we must be willing to
submit to His headship in everything.
• That means that we do not have the freedom to determine for ourselves
what is pleasing and what is not pleasing to Him.
• He has revealed His mind to us, so that we can know what is right.
• But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches
all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a
man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things
of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the
world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have
been freely given to us by God (1 Corinthians 2:10–12).
• Conclusion
• If we do the things God has commanded of us, we can be saved.
• If we do not do those things, we will be lost.
• Our church is concerned with the salvation of souls, and the Bible gives
us the method to follow.
• Adding anything to the formula will destroy it and souls will not be
saved no matter how sincere they are.
• Remember that many have been deceived, and that deception is the work
of Satan
By Carey Scott from an article by Jody L. Apple and an article by Kris Brewer
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