Visiting, Practical Applications

Sunday Sermons

Mark Dunagan
09/24/06 - Sunday Morning

Visiting

Practical Applications

How to make your visit Beneficial

· Do not just pop in and out.

· Manifest a genuine love for fellow believers (1 Peter 2:17; John 13:34-35).

· Get to know the Christians in that location.

· Take the extra time to accept hospitality. If Christians are command to extend hospitality (Hebrews 13:1; Romans 12:13), then we need to help them comply by accepting such invitations.

· Do not stand in the corner and wait for someone to approach you, be friendly, introduce yourself to others.

· Be involved in the class period. Get a copy of the material, answer questions, and participate in the class.

· Keep in mind that you represent Christ, and you also represent the congregation that you regularly attend.

· Remember to structure your vacation around God (Matthew 6:33). Our schedules should never be so tight that we cannot spend time with brethren.

· Be willing to adjust your plans so you can attend a sound congregation.

Having an Influence

At times Christians will justify their attendance at an unfaithful congregation by saying that they are trying to influence either the group or friends in the group. It is always admirable to want to bring people back to the truth (James 5:19-20), yet one needs to be honest concerning how much influence they have:

· Jesus did not have any influence with some people (Revelation 2:21), so we should not be discouraged if some people do not appreciate and value the help we are trying to give them.

· It will take more than simply attending to bring people back to the truth. We must present God’s truth (Romans 1:16). And it will take more than just a comment here or there, even though a comment can help. If a congregation is going to be brought back to the truth, then the elders and or preacher must be willing to study and rethink their position.

· So when addressing error in a congregation, change can only happen if those “in charge” are willing to listen. Complaining about the situation back at your home congregation or talking to someone else is not going to fix the problem.

· Registering an objection is helpful but more needs to be done. The Bible does not allow us to be in fellowship with error as long as we state an objection at the outset. Look again at 2 John 10-11; Ephesians 5:11 and 2 Corinthians 6:14-18. Either the sin needs to be corrected or I must “come out from their midst and be separate”.

· In addition, we must remember that the leadership or members of an unsound congregation are often not in ignorance concerning their error. We are probably not the first person to ask them questions about their stance. This does not mean “don’t even try then”, rather try but have your eyes open. It is healthy for a congregation to hear from a number of different sources, “Hey, something isn’t right here”.

· Friendship is never as strong as truth. What changes people is the truth (Romans 1:16). Mere friendship is not the power of God unto salvation.

Good People in Unsound Churches

There are Christians who are presently in unsound congregations who for various reasons stay in those congregations. A very few might be ignorant of what is being taught, especially if they are new Christians. Yet others probably remain because (1) They do not want to leave a congregation that they have put so much effort into building. (2) There do not appear to be any other congregations in the area, so they feel they have no other choice. (3) There might be a sound congregation, but it is lacking children for their children to socialize with. (4) Somehow they feel that they might be able to change things over time. (5) Even though the group is in error, they have developed many friends there over the years. (6) They do not want to leave and be viewed as a troublemaker. I certainly feel for such individuals, yet allow me to offer the following thoughts:

· “Some” fellowship with sin and error among God’s people is not an option for Christians (Ephesians 5:11 “Have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness”).

· In such a congregation I am only contributing to the spread of error and compromise. While apostasy will never be completely stopped, it might be slowed if sound brethren refused to financially support and attend groups that do not teach God’s truth.

· “One who remains in a digressive church not only supports error, but he robs God and His faithful people of the fellowship and support due them. Not only should one not want to support false doctrine, he should greatly desire to support only sound doctrine” (The Gospel Journal, Feb. 2005, p. 3).

· There are always options. We should love the truth enough to make the sacrifices necessary to hear it. This may mean driving farther to a faithful congregation, or starting a congregation with other like-minded members.

· There are always options concerning our children as well. If the faithful congregation in the area does not have children the same ages of our children, we can always make the effort to spend time with families who live farther away, or start Bible classes with couples who have children.

· Let us not forget that error in an unsound congregation typically has filtered down through the class system. While we might be able to correct the errors our kids hear from the pulpit, we may not be aware of what they are being taught while in class. In addition, our children are not going to take us seriously, if we say that the bible teaches something and we need to obey God while at the same time remaining somewhere that teaches the opposite because it is more “convenient”.

· “One who remains in an unfaithful congregation also runs the risk of becoming “desensitized” to error” (p. 3). In fact, one danger I have seen is that the longer one stays in this situation the more they tend to emphasize “sincerity” over “truth”, when in reality these things should always go together (John 4:24).

· It is rather awkward seeking to convert people in an area if in the end one cannot endorse the congregation where they would be attending. Evangelism only makes sense if I am presently in a congregation that is truth honoring or where I have started a congregation that will honor the truth. It really does not make any sense to spend time teaching someone if we are only going to bring them into a group that is not preaching the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:27).

“I am working on them”

It is interesting how “time” is such an illusive thing. We can convince ourselves that we are “working on changing a congregation” and then suddenly realize that we have spent 10 or 20 years of our valuable and limited time with no apparent change in the group. No Christian should want to spend his or her most productive years in a congregation that is not preaching God’s truth.

The encouraging news is that there are many sound congregations throughout this land that are filled with wonderful people that I can interact with and be edified as I travel. The other encouraging item is that some congregations that were at one time unsound have changed for the better because of the honest and persistent efforts of good brethren.

Mark Dunagan/Beaverton Church of Christ/503-644-9017