What is the
Just what is the New Testament church? This is perhaps the most unasked religious question since the inception of the church some 2,000 years ago. This question will be the focus of this lesson. I am aware that every “church” out there believes itself to be right with God. Let me ask you just one question, if two “churches” disagree on one doctrine, then who’s right? It’s a certain logical fact that one or both of them must be wrong. Is it possible to know if you’re right if you’re right? Is it possible to know that you’re saved if you’re saved? The answer to both of these questions is yes, though there be much disagreement in the world about it. Consider the following three passages;
John 17:20-21
“Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also
which shall believe on me through their word;
That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in
thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou
hast sent me…”
Ephesians 4:1-6 “I
therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the
vocation wherewith ye are called, With all lowliness
and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; Endeavouring
to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. 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.”
Matthew
In each of these instances,
God’s will is evident, expressing the singularity and unity of the church that
Christ established. As I stated before
with two “churches” in disagreement, one or both must be wrong. No more than one can be entirely right. What is the
case then with multiple world religions, or the some 3,000 denominations in existence in Christianity today? You're right, only one or none can be
right. We will examine both cases at
this time.
Imagine for a moment that there has been a worldwide
nuclear holocaust, and only a small handful of people survived. Several hundred years later, as the
population grew; an individual discovered a completely untarnished copy of the
Bible. Would this individual and his
people be able to restart the church in the same form as Christ had founded
it? (I hope you answered yes). The Bible itself contains the entire recipe
for man’s salvation, and his eternal destiny.
In all honesty, we don’t need all those creed books, discipline books
and commentaries in order to have Christ’s true New Testament church. We can wholly believe this because all of
those books were written by mere men MANY years after Christ Himself had lived,
died, resurrected, and ascended. Christ
had this to say of himself in Matthew 28:18:
“All
power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the
Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all
things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.”
These verses make it abundantly
clear that Christ has all
power (authority), and has told us to observe (OBEY) all things that He has commanded us. We simply cannot pick and choose verses and commandments to follow. If the commandment is only in the Bible one
time, it’s enough! Also, there is
some discrepancy about whether or not commandments are mandatory – What do you
think? If you told your child to obey
and he didn’t, you would punish him right???
God is a just God, if He blesses the righteous, he must punish the unrighteous!
Christ will have all
authority, and we must obey all
His commandments until the end of time, or the end of our lives, whichever
comes first---
1 Corinthians
So, returning to our illustration, if a person were to discover a Bible, he could know that Christ has all authority, and that all people must obey all His commandments if they desire to receive eternal life.
Now comes the hard part. If Christ has one church, and only one set of rules (commandments) for it, are you following all of them? For example, there is much dispute in the religious world over what one must do to be saved. Some say only belief, some say only faith, some say only prayer… and the list goes on. According to what we have read form the Bible, one must do all things. So, logically speaking, one must first hear, or know about Jesus in order to believe in Him. That’s why in Matthew 28:18 that we read earlier, he says “…teaching them…”. An individual first has to be taught. After he has been taught, he must decide whether or not he believes the doctrine that he has been taught, if he does, then he must obey all things he has been taught. From reading the entirety of the New Testament, we can see a numerous list of things we must do in order to be saved, and thus be added to Christ’s church by God Himself (Acts 2:47). First of all, as I mentioned one must hear the gospel message, this is why Christ sent His apostles to teach. (Romans 10:13-16)
“For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord
shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they
have not believed? and how shall they believe
in him of whom they have not heard? and how
shall they hear without a preacher?
And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written,
How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring
glad tidings of good things! But they
have not all obeyed the gospel.”
It is obvious from the above
text there are truly many
things we must do in order to be saved.
There are six actions that must take place in this passage alone, but
they are not all that we must
do. There are
many more book in the New Testament to consult before we can know that we are saved. Take the first underlined segment above
“calling upon the name of the Lord”, we see this
phrase again in Acts 22:16-
“And now why tarriest
thou? arise,
and be baptized, and wash away thy sins, calling on the name
of the Lord.”
From this
verse alone we can be assured that baptism is a crucial part of our salvation.
Baptism is washing your sins away, as well as calling upon the name of
the Lord. I am aware that many say “Ahh, well, you don’t have
to be baptized to be saved.” Well, this
individual needs to read more of the Bible, starting with the verse that says
we must obey all His
commandments. Consider for a moment all
of the blessings that are found IN
Christ, how do we get them? How do we
get in
Christ? (Galatians 3:27). There are MANY more verses on this topic, but we will
only examine two more at this time.
First, does baptism really save
us? And secondly, is baptism really a commandment? Our first answer comes from 1 Peter 3:21:
“The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ”
No, the actual water cleansing (putting away the filth) our flesh does not save us, but our obedience to it is a direct indication to God that we do believe ourselves to be sinners, and that we do need His help to be saved. It’s simply an answer of our good conscience, in that it shows our obedience to Christ’s commandment. So, yes, it saves us.
Secondly, is baptism really a commandment? Let’s read Acts 10:48:
“And he commanded
them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then prayed they
him to tarry certain days.”
Yes, baptism is a
commandment. No, it doesn’t save us all
by itself, but it is an essential commandment that is an integral part of God’s
plan of salvation for man.
Now, I am going to point you to
Romans the 6th chapter, only because it will indicate to us what we
must begin to do after baptism. Let’s read Romans 6:3-5.
“Know ye not, that so many of us
as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism
into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the
Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the
likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his
resurrection:”
These verses indicate many
things. First of all, it’s important to
notice that baptism puts us in Christ by means of His death. (See also
Galatians 3:27). At this point, we can
see that God expects us to walk (live) in newness of life. God is simply telling us to stay away from
all of that sin we repented of and were cleansed of. He then makes an interesting point, If we’ve
been planted together (baptized) with Christ, then we’ll be resurrected with
Him too! Imagine, if we weren’t baptized
with Him, we wouldn’t be resurrected with Him in the Last Day! Now, once someone begins walking in this
newness of life, the Bible teaches that they must remain faithful to Him.
A good example of this can be found in Revelation 2:10
“Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold,
the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and
ye shall have tribulation ten days: (BUT) be
thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.”
Christ not only expects us to be
faithful until we die, but unto the point of death if
that’s what it takes! Now, ask yourself, is this a commandment? Well, was Christ asking or telling? I think you know the answer---He’s telling,
that is, He’s commanding. And we know from this discussion that we must
obey all of His commandments.
In conclusion, we must accept
the fact that for us to obtain the gift of grace (eternal life) that God has
prepared for us, it is imperative that we obey all of His commandments, from the first to the last. As Paul told Timothy in 2nd
Timothy 2:15;
“Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of
truth.”
If we just listen to a preacher or teacher and don’t study for ourselves, we will not be approved (acceptable) to God, nor will we know how to appropriately divide (use) the word of truth. Once again I ask, is He asking or commanding…..I think you know.
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We will respond quickly, and
thoroughly.