Being the Church

Ok—you should know by now I am not referring to the building, a service or a time slot on our Sunday schedule. I am writing about the people! We, who are in Christ, are the church of Christ! Jesus, referring to Peter’s confession that He is the Christ, said in Matthew 16: 18, “Upon this rock I will build My church”. Paul would later greet the Roman Christians by writing in Romans 16:16, “All the churches of Christ greet you”. I am honored to be part of the church of Christ! It is His church!
But what does it take to be the church? Let me suggest a few characteristics of the church as taught in the New Testament. This is not an exhaustive list, but hopefully will be enough to help us identify the church of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Right Lord
If we want to be the church that Christ built, we must have the right Lord. When Peter made the good confession in Matthew 16:16, he identified the right Lord. When Jesus asked who do you think I am, Peter responded, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God”. Later in Peter’s first Gospel message he said, “God has made Him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you have crucified” (Acts 2:36). Later Paul would plainly write that there is only “one Lord” (Ephesians 4:5). In the New Testament church we must only have one Lord. It is not the eldership as a group. It is certainly not me, your evangelist. It is Jesus! He is the Christ! He is Lord! He is the Savior! He purchased the church with His own blood. That is why we insist on identifying ourselves as His church—namely the church of Christ!

Right Faith
If we want to be the church that Christ built, we must also have the right faith. Biblical faith does not have varieties or flavors. Don’t you love going to a nice buffet restaurant? At the buffet we pick and chose what we want to eat. Many would have you believe that biblical faith is like that. Pick a little doctrine of the New Testament here, and a little there, maybe throw in a small dash of the Old Testament and load on the opinions!

That is not what Paul taught when he wrote to the Ephesian Christians that there is only “one faith” (Ephesians 4:5). The Apostle Peter would word it this way in his third recorded gospel message: "There is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). Peter was referring to the one Lord and the one faith needed for our salvation and to be identified as His church! He of course was referring to Jesus and His way. The right faith involves both our trust in the message of the Gospel (the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus) and our obedience to that message (repentance, confession of our faith, immersion into Christ for the forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit, and faithfully living with Jesus as Lord). When we have the right faith, and we teach the right faith and we live the right faith, we can be the church of Christ!

Right Remembrance
If we want to be the church that Christ built, we must have the right remembrance, and may I add, on the right day! Each and every Lord’s Day, the church gathers for at least four reasons. Luke wrote about the early church devoting themselves to “1. the apostles’ teaching and to 2. fellowship, to 3. the breaking of bread and to 4. prayer” (Acts 2:42). Luke would later write about the apostolic practice of “breaking bread” on the first day of the week (Acts 20:7). Besides the Gospel accounts of the institution of the Lord’s Supper, we have Paul’s teaching in I Corinthians 11. The breaking of bread is a great weekly reminder of what saves us—the death of Jesus on the cross. This is why when you visit South Side, we have the Lord’s Supper every Sunday. It is His church and we certainly want to be the church!

Right Attitude
If we want to be the church that Christ built, let me suggest one last thing: we need to have the right attitude! The church exists for two main purposes. We exist to seek and save the lost (not the unchurched, but the LOST). That is why we insist on bringing the lost (churched or unchurched) to the New Testament position. We also exist to encourage and build up each other. In meeting both of these purposes, we must have the right attitude. Paul wrote to “speak the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15). We must believe that we have the truth (the faith), but be willing to present the truth in a loving, humble way. The Apostle Paul knew the importance of love as he was dealing with the problems in the Corinthian church (I Corinthians 13). If we want others to know that we are the church of Christ, we need to show love toward one another (John 13:35). As the church, we need each other. I never quite understand the person who thinks they can be the church without being part of the assembly.

Jesus built His church! He died for His church! One day He is going to present His church (his bride) “in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing” (Ephesians 5:27).
Joshua made the commitment to serve Yahweh. I pray that we will make the same commitment. And in doing so, we will be committed to being His church, the church of Christ! I am thankful to God to be the church along with you here at South Side. Let us be His church to the best of our abilities!

2007 Hillsboro Family Camp

The camper and a tent were our humble abode this last week. We attended the 2007 Hillsboro Family Camp in Hillsboro, OH. The preaching was great! The singing was wonderful! The fellowship was fantastic! The family time was great! The camp looked really good! Person to Person Ministries always plans a program that is top notch. Five immersions (that I know of) into Christ for the forgiveness of sins; one man went forward to go into ministry and another man went forward to rededicate his life! It is always a blessing to be on Restoration Acres! The temperatures were hot - and we drank a lot of water!
I have been blessed to be able to attend most of the Family Camps at Hillsboro since 1988! If you love great, Bible based, straight down the line preaching - you will love Hillsboro! Plan to go next year if you can - July 28-31, 2008 - If the Lord tarries, and Lord willing, my family plans to be there next year! My daughter asked, "Daddy are we coming next year?" I asked her, "Why, do you want to come back?" Her quick, excited response, was "YES!" Maybe I will see you there!

Who Are You To Judge?

To judge or not to judge? That is the question. At least the question I will attempt to answer. Several years ago I heard Mike Breidenbaugh, former preacher at Macon Church of Christ, speak on judging. It was a great outline! It was the best sermon on judging I had ever heard. Mike is a powerful evangelist and has a ministry called “Open Your Heart”. His web address is: http://www.openyourheartministries.com/

But before you go out and surf the web, lets run back through that outline on judging! In the New Testament, there are three types of judging that God condemns:

Do NOT judge according to appearance.
In John 7:24, Jesus says, ”Do not judge according to appearance”.
Don’t jump to conclusions. In order to make a proper judgment about something, we must not simply guess. Know the facts! Make sure you know things that were said or done! And never make a mountain out of a molehill. It is easy to do—just add dirt! We are not to judge a person’s motive or intention. So if we are going to make a judgment call on something—know the facts, not just what it looks like.

Do NOT judge lest you be judged.
In Matthew 7:1-6, Jesus says, "Do not judge so that you will not be judged. For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you”.
What Jesus condemns here is judging hypocritically. We are not to judge in another what we are guilty of doing ourselves. This is the same thing that the Apostle Paul is referring to in Romans 2. We must clean up our own act before we try to clean up someone else's act. Jesus implies that after we remove our sin, there is a proper way to judge. He says, “then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye” (Matthew 7:5). How can we take the speck out of our brother’s eye without some sort of judging? God's people must determine the difference between 'holy' and 'dogs', 'pearl' and 'swine' in this Matthew passage. This involves judging.

Do NOT judge in the realm of opinion.
In Romans 14:1, the Apostle Paul writes, “Now accept the one who is weak in faith, but not for the purpose of passing judgment on his opinions.”
What Paul is referring to is disputing over doubtful matters or matters of opinion. This is what the Apostle is referring to when he says, “Therefore let us not judge one another anymore” in Romans 14:13. Our opinions are not law. A person should not make their opinion Scripture. A lot of church problems could be avoided if church members would keep quiet in the area of opinion.

There is one judgment which God commands:

Judge righteous judgment.
John 7:24—”Judge with righteous judgment.”
How? By using the righteous standard - the Bible. II Timothy 3:16-17 says that the Scriptures are to be used for instruction in righteousness. “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work”.

When you use the Bible to make a judgment—that is righteous judging. If we, as Christians are not to make a “righteous judgment”, what did the Apostle Paul mean by “reproof, correction and training in righteousness”? All of those take a judgment call by someone. But the standard MUST be the Scriptures!

When people do that, don’t get mad at them. Jesus Christ commanded Christians to judge a righteous judgment. So please don’t hate or blame the messenger. They are there to help bring you back in line with the Scriptures. In fact, if someone comes to you and suggests that, according to the Bible, you should be doing things differently in your life, thank them for loving you enough to confront you. Maybe that person is like the person James was referring to when he wrote, “My brethren, if any among you strays from the truth and one turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins” (James 5:19-20).

Two more thoughts—all things are to be done in love and with the purpose of bringing someone back to the Lord. Personally, I am thankful to all the righteous judges in my life who have helped keep me on the straight and narrow. And I didn’t have to go to a courtroom! All I needed was a Christian brother or sister who loved me enough in Christ to judge my actions, according to the Bible.