In Search of the Lord's Way is presented by members of churches of Christ in the area of this station. No person or group or publication or university or anyone else can speak authoritatively for all churches of Christ. We are a closely-knit group of independent churches seeking to be like churches that you read about in your New Testament. But who are we today. Stay tuned and we will see.
S-a-y, my friend! It is good to have you with us for Bible study In Search of the Lord's Way. And that is where we will find the Lord's way always-- in the Bible-- nowhere else. We pray we will all be blessed by studying the Bible together today. In case you are new to the program, and some member of your family's hearing impaired, you need to know we are closed captioned, too.
A few weeks ago on the Nancy Grace segment of the CNN evening news program, a very unfortunate and inaccurate statement was made about churches of Christ. It was said that we are a young "cult like sect," having begun about 150 years ago by Alexander Campbell. Since this program is the most widely received such ministry of churches of Christ in America today, it was suggested by many that we explain who we really are and what we really do believe. And that is what we are doing this month. I, personally, have no ill feelings toward the fellow who defined us as he did. It did occur to me, though, that had I been in Nancy Grace's position, I would have asked someone from churches of Christ on my show to find out what we believe. And had I been asked to do the same thing for the Baptist minister's religious affiliation, I would have done some home work-- some study, before I went on the air with a statement like he made. A-n-y-w-a-y all our lessons this month have been devoted to that study.
They are being published in this little book. And they are available to you, free, if you would like one. We have had requests for thousands of them already. Some churches of Christ have even requested them by the hundreds for use in their literature rack and outreach ministries. If you would like a free one, write us, In Search of the Lord's Way, P.O. Box 371, Edmond, OK 73083, or by e-mail, it is searchtv@aol.com. Our toll free telephone number is 1-800-321-8633. Or you may access all the messages on our website at www.searchtv.org. Now, Ken Helterbrand is going to lead the Edmond, Oklahoma church of Christ in song; and then I will be back for Bible reading and prayer.
We are reading from the second chapter of the book of Acts of Apostles. And we are going to begin reading at verse 41. “Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need. So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.” And I read through verse 47, the end of the chapter. Let us go to God in prayer now. Almighty God, our heavenly Father, it is with grateful hearts that we come to You as we begin our study today, the study of your church. How grateful we are for it. Oh, that we may have a better understanding of what it is and our relationship with You and with other saved people who are in it. Grant it Lord, we pray in the name of our loving Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
In earlier lessons in this series we have studied about churches of Christ and whose church the saved really are. In the others then following, we considered the questions, who really did begin the church of Christ and when? And then last week in our study we considered the Bible prophecies of a departure from the faith of the gospel, and we studied very briefly how it actually developed. To give it in detail would require a whole year of such programs as these. We talked about the apostate church, the great reformation movement that swept Europe and the beginning of the denominations and all of that. And today, we will be considering an urgent need for returning to the original concept of the church as it is taught in the New Testament. What we read in the New Testament is true Christianity, friend. In view of the departure described in First Timothy 4:1 and 2, not much of what is being marketed as Christianity today really is Christianity. I find no pleasure in saying that, but if you are a student of the Bible, you know it is true, too; don’t you? You see no resemblance; do you?
We hold in admiration those men who devoted their lives to an effort to "reform" the apostate church with the intent of bringing it into conformity with the New Testament teaching about the Lord's church. Some of them were so dedicated to the idea that they died for it! Yes! I mean just that! I mean some of them were literally killed, put to death, for teaching and preaching what they believed. And that is hard for people today to understand-- and to believe. You see, what supposes or assumes itself to be "Christianity" in our current environment, is strongly influenced by the worldly philosophy of "relativity of truth." It is considered pure dogmatism in most churches nowadays to speak of "absolute truth" about anything, even about what the Bible says. But, in spite of their good intentions, they failed, these men, the reformists, failed in at least two respects. First, their "reformation" fell short in that they accepted without protest some of the major departures from New Testament teaching. Three quick examples will be sufficient here: first, there is infant baptism; secondly, baptism by sprinkling, thirdly, mechanical instruments of music in the worship of God. Secondly, in protesting major doctrines of the apostate church, they formed creeds of their own. For example: Martin Luther opposed "salvation by meritorious works" as practiced by the apostate church and established as doctrine, "salvation by faith alone." That distinguished his followers from everyone else who professed to be Christians. Does that make Luther and all Lutherans cult-like? No, no, not at all; a denomination, yes, but not a cult.
John Calvin conceived a system of unconditional election, particular redemption, total depravity, irresistible grace and the final perseverance of the saints. He believed all that and taught it so strongly that those who followed him, were (well, still are) known as "Calvinists." Did that make all of them a "cult?" Be careful now how you answer that question, because if you reply in the affirmative you are going to label that Baptist preacher who called churches of Christ "a borderline cult." one himself. Those things you see, and others like them, gave birth to divisions or denominations, with their separate creeds, confessions of faith, and so on-- and they fathered the "old line denominations" or divisions in their efforts. By "old line denominations," I am saying the old ones-- in contrast to the new ones that are springing up daily. You see, when the idea of denominationalism gained approval of the religious community, it became popular to be the founder of a new one. It became the smart thing to say, "We may disagree on how to be saved. If you feel like you are saved, we will accept you regardless of what God says in his word.”
In the latter part of the 18th and early 19th centuries there were groups of people who, well, found among the reformers, among the founders and the reformers of Europe, recognized those failures and they rejected the idea of "reformation." They sought a "restoration" of the kind of Christianity they read about in their New Testaments. In other words, they were saying, "Back to the Bible. Let’s get back to the Bible." By that time the printing press had been invented, and ordinary people had access to the Bible. Well, they sought not to be a denomination of their choice, but to be "just Christians" with no separating labels-- simply members of the church Jesus Christ said He would build. Groups of them (congregations) were founded in Morrison's Court, Glasgow, Scotland in 1778; Leith Walk, Edinburgh, Scotland in 1798; in North Wales in 1779; Tubemore, Ireland in 1807; Manchester, England in 1810, and other places.
It shouldn't be surprising to any of us, then, that with the discovery and the development of the "New World," America, some of these people came to these shores and established churches here. James O'kelley, a Methodist minister who favored congregational government and the Bible as the only rule of faith and practice, established a church of Christ in Mankintown, North Carolina in 1793. Dr. Abner Jones, a physician from Hartland, Vermont, a Baptist who became dissatisfied with human names and creeds, established a church of 25 members at Lyndon, Vermont; one at Bradford and another at Piermont, New Hampshire in 1803. Barton W. Stone, a Presbyterian preacher, but with reservations as far as the Westminster Confession of faith was concerned, worked largely in Kentucky. Thomas Campbell and his son Alexander Campbell were former ministers in the Seceder Presbyterian church; they came to America (well, I am not saying both of them came in 1807, but along about that time). Thomas came first and Alexander followed later and they settled in Washington County Pennsylvania. Later they became Baptists. Through more Bible study, they became conscious of the necessity of baptism "for the remission of sins," as they were reading it in Acts chapter 2, verse 38, and in November 1843, they were forced to leave the Baptist church to preach New Testament Christianity. Walter Scott, a Presbyterian, came to America in 1818; they realized the error of human standards in religion and infant baptism, and they renounced them in order to be "just a Christian." Now, this is but a brief mention of only a few of the people and their work in churches of Christ-- many of them before the work of Thomas Campbell or Alexander Campbell. But, it is enough for any thinking person, and any student, to see that Alexander Campbell did not begin the church of Christ. How-- or how much he was influenced by those who went before him, we may never know. The point is: there were churches of Christ in existence in Europe and America, and only God knows where else before the days and the work of Alexander Campbell. Multitudes-- thousands of people were taught and inspired to be non-denominational Christians. This "Restoration" idea of the 19th century has been acclaimed even by secular historians of America in history as "The Second Great Revival Period in American history." The idea of being Christians and churches just like the ones we read about in the New Testament spread like some of the wild fires that we have experienced in Oklahoma and Texas this year.
Alexander Campbell's work is appreciated by people who understand what it was and what he did. But he did not originate or found the church of Christ. Jesus Christ said, "I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it" (Matthew 16:18). In substance He was saying, "Men may slay me, but they will not prevent me from building my church." Yes, they did kill Him, but they didn't prevent His building His church. He built it upon the solid rock foundation expressed by the apostle Peter, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Matthew 16:17). The Bible says in I Corinthians 3:11, "No other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ." I hear preachers saying, "I preach Christianity, not churchanity." Shame on them! It is impossible to teach the full story of Jesus Christ, and not teach about Him as the "tried Stone," the foundation stone, the builder of His church (Isaiah 28:16).
Soooo, for all the Nancy Grace’s wherever you may be or whoever you may be, who comes up with the question, "Do members of churches of Christ believe you have to be a member of their church to go to heaven?" Let me say this. Whoever you are, please hear me; hear me out now, will you, please? Saved people-- I am talking about people the Lord saved, He added to His church. I mean people who really are going to heaven in the life to come, aren't given the choice of being-- or not being-- members of His church." That is what the church is, friend-- saved people! If you want to be saved, but you don't want any affiliation with other people the Lord has saved, well, there is something wrong about your faith. Furthermore, you probably won't be happy in heaven if you should go there, because that is where all the faithful church will be. The Lord doesn't say to you, "Come follow me, and I'll take you to heaven, but you won't have to associate with those ugly old cult-like members of my church." No, that isn't the way it will be. The Lord adds to the church daily those who are being saved. And we read it awhile ago from Acts 2:47. He-- and He alone-- does the saving (Acts 4:12); therefore He knows who is saved. And no vote of a denomination, no conference or convention, has anything to do with it.
So, does that make churches of Christ a "borderline cult?" "Oh," but you say, "I'm a member of the Lord's church alright, but I am a member of such-and-such a denomination of His church." Oh, I see. Which one? Is it the one of Cephas? Or of Paul? Or of Apollos? As Paul asked the members of the church of God which is at Corinth in I Corinthians 1:1 to 13. Or is it the one of Luther? Or Calvin? Or Stone? Or Campbell? And let me ask you as the apostle did the Corinthians. "Is Christ divided?" Did that man whose denomination you joined die for you? Were you baptized in his name? Occasionally I hear or read of people talking or writing about being members of "one of the Stone-Campbell churches." My friend, I am not. When Jesus saved me, I mean, that day-- He inscribed my name in His "book of life" in heaven (Philippians 4:3). It was Jesus Christ Himself who added me to His church (Acts 2:47). And, you know what? It was at least a whole decade, ten years or more, later that I first heard the name of Alexander Campbell. Yes, it was! And I believe Jesus has done for every saved person since the day of Pentecost following the resurrection of Jesus Christ, just what He did for me! And that is enough for me! Thank God, I don't have to answer your question about who is going to be saved in heaven and who is not, because I believe the Lord knows every person He has ever saved-- and He has added them all to His church. To put it another way, I am saved by His blood! I am a member of His church! And I am not ashamed of either of them.
CONCLUSION
Thank God, He hasn't given me the heavy responsibility of saying who is going to heaven and who is not. But, He has told me in His word, how to be saved, and if I preach, I am bound by His word and my conscience to tell you exactly what He says in His word about being saved. And, it is entirely between you and Him whether you do it or not. Jesus is presented to us in both Old Testament prophecy and New Testament reality as the Savior of the world (Acts 4:42). Jesus Himself, after He had proved Himself to be the Son of God by His resurrection from the dead, said "All authority is given to me in heaven and on earth.....Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved." That is from Matthew's and Mark's recording of the same incident in Matthew 28:18 and Mark 16:15-16. Luke's account of that event is a bit different. He quoted Jesus as saying, "...that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem" (Luke 24:46).
And when the apostle Peter preached the very first sermon under that commission, he told the people who believed his message to "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit...Then those who gladly received his word were baptized, and that day about three thousand souls were added to them...And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved" (Acts 2:38, 41, 47). And that is what I am telling you, my friend. I hope you will be among those who gladly receive the gospel message of salvation in Christ, and permit Him to add you to His church. Will you? Oh, I hope you will. I must tell you, and the decision-- whether you do it, or not do it, is between you and the Lord. Many people who confess Jesus as Lord have refused to do so, and believe they are going to heaven. But, just remember, it was Jesus who said, "Why do you call Me Lord, Lord, and not do the things which I say" (Luke 6:46).
Well, it has been a pleasure to have you with us today. We are in Search of the Lord's Way. I pray we have had His message for you today. If you would like a free printed copy and all the others for this month in this attractive little book, please address your request to In Search of the Lord's Way, P.O. Box 371, Edmond, OK 73083, or by e-mail to searchtv@aol.com. Or if you prefer, you may use our toll-free telephone number: 1-800-321-8633. Of course you may avail yourself of it in audio or video or printed form on our website: www.searchtv.org. Thanks for being with us. I hope you will be back next week. God bless and keep you. We love you. |