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A common retort found today among many people who claim to be Christians
is that, There are good people in all churches, and One church is as
good as another. To point to the church mentioned in the New Testament as
the pattern for the Christian today is considered ignorant if not bigoted.
That's because of many philosophical changes in our society in the last few
years. Such as, religious pluralism, or the idea that all religions ought
to just agree to disagree in spite of glaring differences in religious
beliefs. Subjectivism is also to blame with its emphasis on sincerity as
the basis for fellowship rather than divine truth.
But to make such claims ignores the standard of truth in Christianity. That standard for man's conduct and life in the world is not what I think or you think. It is the word of God. "Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path" (Psa. 119:105). That standard proclaims Jesus Christ as the one and only way to the Father (John 14:6). In its pages Jesus taught of building "my church" (Matt. 16:18) and not 'my churches.' In the Bible, religious division is strictly condemned (John 17:20-21). For the last 2,000 years men and women have asked these simple questions: What church were Paul, Peter, Timothy, Titus, and Priscilla, members of? The answers to all these questions is in the affirmative because, as the late Thomas B. Warren wrote, "the Bible makes Christians only and the only Christians." Why is it arrogant to hold the New Testament up as the standard? "If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God (1 Pet. 4:11). Let us go back to the Bible and find out what the church is, that Jesus died for, and what He intended it to be (Acts 20:28). Is the church a building, an edifice, cathedral, or a sanctuary? No! God does not dwell in a temple made with hands (Acts 17:24). In Old Testament times God's chosen people were a particular ethnic group, the Jews, descendents of Abraham. But now, because of His Son, God chooses a spiritual fellowship with His people, Christians. As he saith also in Hosea, "I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved which was not beloved. And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God" (Rom. 9:25-26). The word church is bandied about by many, but what does it mean in the Bible? In ancient Greek it was the word ekklesia meaning the called out, or the assembly of the called out. Called out of what into what? Men and women called out of the world to do God's bidding. The apostle Peter wrote to Christians, "But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light" (1 Pet. 2:9). How is one called? Is it by a miraculous tug of the Holy Spirit? Or is one called by being born into a particular religious heritage? None of these things applies. One is called by the gospel of Jesus Christ (2 Thess. 2:14); by hearing and obeying the message of salvation. "To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be made known by the church the manifold wisdom of God. According to the eternal purpose in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Eph. 3:10,11). The manifold wisdom of God — God's plan of salvation for a lost humanity; His reconciliation of Jew and Gentile; His plan for the fellowship of man with Himself. All of this was in the mind of God for the church from eternity (Eph. 1:4). Unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places — the heavenly beings. Since the creation of these beings God's eternal purpose had been concealed (1 Pet. 1:12). God chose the church of Christ to be His vehicle for that Gospel to be understood by all. The eternal purpose — the redemptive work of Jesus on the cross. The church is part of that work. It is doing God's work of reconciling men to Himself (2 Cor. 5:18). Contrary to what many think, God has one eternal purpose — not many — in Christ Jesus (John 14:6). Are you a part of God's eternal purpose? "Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God. And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: in whom ye also are builded together for a habitation of God through the Spirit" (Eph. 2:19-22). The church of the New Testament brought together those outside fellowship with God in this world. They could now enjoy the blessings of fellowship with the Creator (1 Jn. 1:7). They were now members of the household of God, adopted into His spiritual family (2 Cor. 6:17,18). God considers Christians living stones in His temple, the church. His temple was His residence among His people. It was build upon the foundation the apostles and prophets laid (Eph. 2:19; 1 Cor. 3:10-11). We have that foundation today available to all in the pages of the New Testament; the doctrine of apostles (Acts 2:42). Jesus Christ is the chief cornerstone of that temple by which all the stones align themselves (1 Pet. 2:7). In the world of the First Century A. D., there were many temples. In Jerusalem there was the temple of Jehovah built by King Herod. In Egypt there was the massive temple at Karnak. In Ephesus there was the beautiful golden temple to the goddess Diana. But Christians knew that these were not where God dwelt. There was but one spiritual temple of God, the church, made up of His children. Today there are many churches which consider themselves God's temple but are not. They are built upon human tradition and opinion and not the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. "But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men" (Matt. 15:9). Their cornerstone is not Jesus Christ but human feelings and emotions (Col. 2:8). Are you a stone in God's one and only temple — the church of Christ? "Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ" (1 Pet. 2:5). "There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all" (Eph. 4:4-6). The one body Paul speaks of in the passage is the body of Christ, the church (Col. 1:18). It is the spiritual body of baptized believers with Christ as its head. It is composed of all the saved — not just some of them — but all of them in one body. "But now are they many members, yet but one body" (1 Cor. 12:20). The early Christians knew what this meant. No longer was there Jew, Gentile, slave, or free; but one body in Christ. In modern times men preach a divided Christ, a fragmented body: a denomination. The word denomination means a part of, just as a nickel is a part of or a denomination of a one dollar bill. It is claimed that a denomination is not the church of the New Testament but a part of it.
Millions who claim they are Christians would never deny one Lord and one God — yet by their actions they deny one body. "Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my kingdom not from hence" (Jn. 18:36) Jesus proclaimed to the pagan prince, Pilate, that His kingdom was to be spiritual in nature and not physical. It was to dwell in the hearts and lives of men and women, boys and girls. "The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you" (Lk. 17:20-21). That kingdom is the church, and the church is the kingdom (Matt. 16:19-20). That kingdom was proclaimed on a Sunday morning, the day of Pentecost, 30 A. D., in Jerusalem (cf. Acts 2). Before that date the kingdom was spoken of at hand (Matt. 3:3) or imminent. Approximately 700 years before that day, the prophet Isaiah had spoken of the kingdom being established in Jerusalem in the last days (Isa. 2:2-3). The apostle Peter proclaimed in Jerusalem that the last days had come (Acts 2:16 ff). We are now living the last days and have been for the last two 2,000 years! The Bible teaches that to be a citizen of Christ's kingdom is to be a member of Christ's church. To the church of Christ at Colossae the apostle Paul wrote of God, "Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son" (Col. 1:13). There are two spiritual kingdoms in this world: the devil's kingdom and Christ's kingdom, the church. How can Christ's kingdom/church be divided? A divided kingdom is what one embraces if they hold the idea of attending the church of your choice. Jesus said, "And if a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand" (Mk. 3:24). Or as the apostle Paul put it concerning the division of the church in Corinth, Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were ye baptized in the name of Paul?" (1 Cor. 1:13). The New Testament of Jesus Christ declares that there is one and only one church which Jesus built and it is not a denomination. Dear reader, if you are a member of a denomination I plead with you to leave it behind as fast as Joseph left Potiphar's wife. Leave it and become a citizen of Christ's kingdom, the church of Christ. Then you can agree with Paul when he wrote, "For our citizenship is in heaven; where also we wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ" (Phil. 3:20, ASV). |