What is Right with the Church of Christ?

Mark Dunagan
11/14/10 - Sunday Morning

What Is Right With The Church of Christ

“In order that the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known through the church... in accordance with the eternal purpose which He carried out in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Ephesians 3:10-11).

The Church, as revealed in the Bible, reflects the wisdom of God. If the Church manifests the wisdom of God, then there are obviously a lot of things “right” with the Church. The Church that Jesus founded (Matthew 16:18), the Church that submits to Jesus Christ as its Head (Ephesians 5:23-24) is anything but an embarrassment to God. Rather than being the object of last minute planning, the Church revealed in the Bible is part of God’s eternal plan. God had the Church in His mind from eternity. He had eons to plan its work, worship, purpose, terms of entrance and exit, organizational structure, and what it would teach and practice, thus, the only “flaws” the Church has will be those caused by human failure to obey God’s instructions. One writer said, “Paul did not say that the wisdom of God is seen in our imperfect human activity in the church... our stupidity is made known when we disregard any aspect of his plan, challenge his authority in the church, or question his revelation of truth”(Ephesians, Caldwell, p. 122). Therefore the Church today will only manifest the wisdom of God when the Church is standing on the side of God’s wisdom. Or, in other words, things are “right” with the Church only when the Church is obeying the commands of its Head, Jesus Christ (Matthew 7:21; Luke 6:46; 1 Corinthians 14:37; Galatians 1:6-12; 2 Tim. 4:2-4).

Always Current

What really started me thinking about this lesson was something that F. Lagard Smith said in his book The Cultural Church. In speaking to what we would view as brethren in danger of going off the deep end, the above writer said, “While we are tempted to downplay the significance of baptism, the denominational world is once again beginning to baptize! While we are somewhat embarrassed by our lack of any formal organization, the most vibrant churches in the land are those locally-autonomous ‘community churches’ which don’t even have the extensive ‘brotherhood’ ties that we have. While we are starting to experiment with ‘high church styles’ and production numbers in worship, others are exploring the idea of simple gatherings without the need of formalistic ceremony or a professional clergy. And just when we are about to give up on traditional methods of Bible study, Evangelical churches from shore to shore are starting to dig back into ‘book, chapter, and verse’” (p. 216). And we could add more: (1) Are we tempted to downplay the Biblical roles of men and women? Many growing denominations are not! They stress male headship and home- focused moms (read some of the material published by Focus on the Family.) (2) Are we tempted to compromise the Creation account? Many growing evangelical churches are not. In fact, they show no tolerance for any compromise of Genesis. They strongly oppose any attempt to harmonize evolutionary theory with creation. The idea that the “days” of Genesis were millions of years long is not tolerated in many growing denominations (just read some of the material or listen to some of the tapes from Creationist Seminars that growing denominations hold.) (3) Are we embarrassed that we believe the Bible is the verbally inspired, uncorrupted and inerrant Word of God? Some of the best books written on the inspiration of the Scriptures, some of the best arguments made, have been made by conservative denominational writers (read some of the books that Josh McDowell has written.)

While a certain element in the church is always wanting to become like the human denominations around us (1 Samuel 8:5), and while some professed Christians are pushing for more conformity to what society views as acceptable (Romans 12:1-2; 1 John 2:15; 2 Timothy 4:3-4), a large segment of the denominational world is wanting to become more like us! As long as we are holding to the Word of God, we are right where we need to be.

Honest about Salvation

Unlike many denominations, the Church of Christ does not inadvertently lead people to believe they are saved, when they are not. We do not teach that one is saved by faith only, because the Bible does not teach such (James 2:26; Romans 10:9-10; Ephesians 2:8; 1 Peter 3:21). We teach that one needs to be baptized to be saved because that is what Jesus and the apostles taught (Mark 16:16; Acts 2:38). What is right about the Church of Christ is that it places the salvation of the individual on a higher priority than being “popular”, attracting a large crowd, or making people feel better than being actually saved. I admire the Church of Christ because it is straight-forward in its teaching, everything is on the level, out in the open, and it will tell you what you need to hear, instead of what you may selfishly want to believe (2 Timothy 4:2; 2 Corinthians 10:4-5; Galatians 4:16).

Honest about Human Wisdom

Obviously, we are all fallible human beings (Romans 3:23). Certainly we are incapable by our own intuitions, gut-feelings, emotions, and unaided human wisdom to properly discover the truth (Proverbs 16:25; Jeremiah 10:23). Even human “experts” in any given field are often dead wrong ( 1Corinthians 2:9). The honest man is humble enough to admit that we all need to follow God’s Word.

Honest about Fellowship

What is right about the Church is Christ is it declares that if I obey the will of God, then I am part of God’s family. We don’t draw lines of fellowship over race, ethnic background, social or economic status, intelligence, what you may have done in the past or how you were raised. The only lines of fellowship we ever draw will be when one decides to stop following God (Matthew 18:15-17; 1 Corinthians 5:11; 2 Thess. 3:6,14). How completely fair! In addition, the church of Christ has been relentless in seeking to keep fellowship honest. Some have argued that we cannot withdraw from anyone because Jesus taught in the parable of the Tares that the wheat and the tares were allowed to grow together (Matthew 13:28-30), yet this misunderstanding of the parable ignores the plain teaching of Matthew 18:15-17 and 1 Corinthians 5, which commands church discipline to be exercised on those who refuse to repent.

Others have argued that only Jesus can remove the candlestick from any congregation and therefore we cannot view any congregation as being unfaithful. Yet this ignores the facts that:

• Determining when a congregation is no longer faithful – is not a huge mystery. Scripture has given us very clear guidelines, including the dangers of tolerating false doctrine (Revelation 2:14-16; 2:20).
• We are specifically told not to fellowship those who go beyond the teachings of Christ (2 John 9-11), to test the Spirits (1 John 4:1), and to turn away from those who are teaching things contrary to the gospel (Romans 16:17). God’s people are commended for putting teachers to the test to see if they are true or false (Revelation 2:2).

Trying to confuse people on the issue of fellowship is frequently self-serving, that is, either we want to remain cozy with error, avoid making a hard decision or losing popularity, or we want people to ignore our lapse into error. It is inconsistent, for no one ‘fellowships’ everyone or every church, even those who complain about people being too stringent on fellowship themselves would not attend with clear conscience a human denomination.

Honest about the Church

The Church of Christ is absolutely right for speaking against human denominationalism. For the Bible teaches that there is only one body (Ephesians 4:4), and this one body is the church (1:22-23). This one body is not composed of denominations, but of individual Christians (Romans 12:5). If God wanted Jews and Gentiles in the same body (Ephesians 2:16), then God expects everyone who claims to follow Christ to do what is necessary to enter into this relationship (1 Cor. 12:13). Jesus Christ died for this one body (Acts 20:28), which means that the church belongs to Christ, and that means human beings, even professed believers don’t have the right to make their own “brand” of Christianity. The church of Christ is very rare for it has the courage to rebuke those who want to pervert, compromise or water down the teachings of Christ to accommodate the wishes of mere men (Galatians 1:6-9; 2 Timothy 4:2-4). Jesus prayed for unity among His followers (John 17:21), and the Holy Spirit has revealed that such unity is based on the right attitudes and the right doctrine (Ephesians 4:1-6).

Honest about our accountability and ability to change

The Church of Christ treats people with respect. It fully expects every member to live a life that strives for moral purity (Ephesians 5:1-3; Galatians 5:19-23; 1 Peter 1:14-16; 2 Corinthians 7:1). It preaches that the sinner must repent, even of the most addictive sins (1 Corinthians 6:9-11). The Church of Christ is right for refusing to teach that: (1) Ethics are situational. (2) It is unreasonable to expect the young to abstain from sexual temptation. (3) Sin is genetic. (4) The world is so evil and so filled with temptation that God’s standard for personal ethics are unworkable today. (5) If a person was raised in a bad environment, it will be impossible for them to succeed. Therefore, we must lower God’s standards for such people. The Church of Christ treats people with respect. It acknowledges you are created in the image of God (Genesis 1:26) and are not a helpless victim of your circumstances or upbringing (1 Peter 1:18). You have tremendous potential for good and evil and you have the freewill (Eph. 4:28-5:6) to decide what type of life you will live. You are not hopeless, neither are you genetically inferior. God commands everyone to repent (Acts 17:30), and that means transformation is possible! The Church of Christ treats young people with respect. It refuses to allow the young to think of themselves as simply bodies of flesh at the mercy of their hormones (Ecc. 12:1; Psalm 119:9; Titus 2:6).

There are young people of valor who see through popular culture’s stereotypes: "Our world cannot last another generation of Christian young people who fit in. The shackles of society are on our minds and hearts, not our ankles. We are held back only by the myth of adolescence and the lies of social expectations. If we would only recognize that our restraints are illusory, and then let God’s Word and all of history govern our sense of what we are capable of, we would be a force this world could no longer ignore. We face a crisis and an opportunity. A crisis, in the sense that we can no longer afford to slowly drift towards adulthood, viewing the teen years as a vacation from responsibility, and an opportunity, in the sense that we can embrace life now and make a difference for the glory of God, and for the good our family, our nation, and our world. Look down at your “ankle” and see the pathetic contrivance that has been restraining you. Now renew your mind in the light of God’s Word and take a step forward. (Alex and Brett Harris “Rebelution: The Myth of Adolescence”)

Mark Dunagan/Beaverton Church of Christ/503-644-9017
www.beavertonchurchofchrist.net