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| Volume 25 Number 12 December 2023 |
Page 5 |
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| Volume 25 Number 12 December 2023 |
Page 5 |
T. Pierce Brown
Do you want to be a part of the Lord’s church or apart from it? There seems to be an increasing number of those connected with it in some fashion who would like to have all the blessings connected with being a part of the church, yet who by their language and actions indicate that they would rather be apart from it.
It is one thing to call attention to the shortcomings and failures of those who are or claim to be members of the Lord’s church, and it is another thing to ridicule the Lord’s church. If one determines what is the Lord’s church or even determines who is a Christian simply in terms of how well it or he functions in all respects, there is no church or Christian on earth today, and in fact, there never was.
I have been in a class where the teacher pointed out what the Lord’s church was doing in Jerusalem. For example, Acts 2:46-47 reads, “So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and 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…” (NKJV). The teacher made the point that they taught daily from house to house and did various other things that we apparently were not doing. His conclusion was that this thing of which we are members is not the Lord’s church. He could have just as easily pointed to verses 44-45 where we find, “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” or dozens of other verses. Must we have all things in common and sell all our possessions to be the Lord’s church? I raised then and now the question, “Did the church of God at Corinth cease to be the church of God because it was not functioning perfectly? Does one cease to be a Christian every time he or she fails to act as a Christian should?” The answer should be apparent to anyone who thinks and knows anything about the Bible. Each of us needs to know the difference between sin and apostasy or between breaking a law and rebellion against the government. If a lawn mower ceased to be a lawn mower just because the blade needed sharpening, we would have more than a semantic problem [understanding language and the meaning of words].
Part of the thrust of this article is to suggest that those who want to be a part of the Lord’s church should do at least two things: First, learn what the Lord’s church is in its most basic sense. Second, learn how to criticize our failures, shortcomings and sins without denying the nature or the value of the Lord’s church. If you do not want to be a part of it, then declare yourself apart from the church for which our Lord died to establish, instead of trying to destroy it from within. If you do want to be a part of the New Testament church, you must believe on Jesus as the Son of God, who possesses all authority in Heaven and on the Earth. You must be willing to submit to that authority in all things. You must demonstrate that willingness by repenting of every sin and being baptized into Christ for the remission of your sins. Then, you should continue to do everything Christ wants Christians to do. However, the fact that you will fail to do that from time to time does not mean that you have ceased to be a member of His body, the church. It simply means that you are not functioning properly, and if you do not care enough to try to change, you will be lost.
