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Good morning and welcome to Let the Bible Speak. Over the past four weeks, we have been examining the church revealed in the New Testament: Its origin, its form, its government, and its membership. Today, we wish to consider its doctrine. I can’t think of a question about the church that will provoke more controversy than the question: What does the church believe? The reason, quite obviously, is the religious community is divided in hundreds of ways over what the church should be teaching. Not only are there scores of denominations and religious bodies, but those many organizations and religious traditions differ in belief, name, organization, and practice.

One might say “maybe so, but we are united by the most basic tenets of the gospel and nothing else matters.” First, it’s wrong to say nothing else matters but I’m not sure it is even correct to say that the religious community is united on “basic tenets of the gospel” however you define such and what you may or may not include within your definition. Rather, people claiming to be the church have been segregated into factions and denominational camps for so many centuries, until some take it for granted that this is the way it was from the beginning. But as Jesus once said in relation to another subject “from the beginning it was not so.” Christ and the apostles intended for the church to embrace, preach, and practice “one faith” (Ephesians 4:4; Jude verse 3).

This begs the question: what did the church of the New Testament believe? What constituted truth and sound doctrine? For our beginning text, we go to Acts chapter 2 and the Day of Pentecost, the day the Lord’s church began on earth. We read in verses 41 and 42: “Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.” There may be many disagreements about doctrine, but we will never even begin to sort out any confusion until we determine “where did the doctrine (or teaching) of the New Testament church come from? That will be the theme of today’s study.

To some, doctrine is intimidating. They think of the simple gospel as one thing and church doctrine as something entirely different. They try to avoid discussing doctrine because they believe doctrine divides people or doctrine is not all that important or they may think that doctrine ought to be left in the seminary and left out of the pew. But the word “doctrine” simply means “teaching” and the Christian should not try to avoid it but should pursue it. In fact, the church cannot be the church without doctrine. If you have a church without a doctrine, you have a social club or a human organization of some kind – but you don’t have a church.

We learned last week that the church is made up of disciples of Jesus Christ and Jesus told His apostles, when He commissioned them before returning to heaven, to go and make disciples by “teaching and baptizing those they taught.” The church is built upon teaching. Sometimes, the bible calls Christianity “the faith”, and the faith refers to a body of doctrine or teaching. Now then, not only was it teaching that brought people into the church, but the bible also tells us the church continued in teaching or doctrine. In Acts 2:42 we learn that those who were baptized on the Day of Pentecost and were thus added to the church “continued in the apostles’ doctrine…”  At least 45 times in the King James Version, the word “doctrine” appears in the New Testament and in many of those occurrences, emphasis is placed upon the importance of that doctrine and of that doctrine being correct and being followed by the church.  For example, Jesus went throughout the land during His ministry proclaiming His “doctrine”. When He concluded His Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 7:28, it says: “And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine:” Other translations say, “His teaching”. In John 7:16 Jesus answered them and said, “My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me.” So, Jesus came preaching doctrine and emphasized its authority but saying that His doctrine came from God the Father.

When the apostle later went out into the world preaching the gospel, they were called to account before the Jewish Sanhedrin in Acts 5:28 when they said: “Did we not strictly command you not to teach in this name? And look, you have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this Man’s blood on us!” Later, Paul emphasized the importance of the right doctrine when he told Titus, “But as for you, speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine.” (Titus 2:1) He likewise exhorted Timothy in 1 Timothy 4:13 “Till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.” The bible also repeatedly warns against believing and tolerating false doctrine. For example, in Ephesians 4:14, Paul said that God set up and equipped the church in such a way “that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine…”

So, the bible’s emphasis upon doctrine should tell us how important it was to the early church that its doctrine be pure and carefully preserved and guarded. But where did the church in the New Testament derive its doctrine? Where or to Whom did the first disciples look to as the source of their teaching and what was their rule of faith? What were they charged with guarding and keeping? Well, when Paul, the apostle, wrote to Timothy about his responsibilities as an evangelist he said in 2 Timothy 1:13-14 “Hold fast the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me, in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. That good thing which was committed to you, keep by the Holy Spirit who dwells in us.”

Timothy was an evangelist working with and developing the church at Ephesus. Paul wrote to him from the dark and damp prison cell in Rome shortly before he was executed by Nero. Aside from his personal request for Timothy to come visit him one last time, Paul wrote to charge Timothy to keep the faith that he had received; to carefully guard the doctrine Paul had taught him. That doctrine, of course, included the knowledge of the person and redeeming work of Jesus Christ. But not only that but instruction for how he and the church were to live as individuals and function as a church. In his first letter to Timothy a few years before, Paul told him that he wanted Timothy to know “how to behave himself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God.” (1 Timothy 3:15)

Now, in this second letter, he urges Timothy to hold onto the teaching he had been given. We notice several things:

• He was to “hold fast” the doctrines he had been taught. He had no right to ignore them or to set out to do things his own way, but he was responsible to obey and teach others to obey the things he had been taught.

• The things he had been taught were to serve as a “pattern”.  The word pattern means a form or a sketch. It refers to something that is to be traced or conformed to and imitated. Some people try to convince us that there are no patterns in the New Testament and we’re free to do as we see fit but Paul says that the teaching Timothy received was to serve as a pattern for he and the church.

• The thing that was to serve as a pattern was “sound words”. That implies that there are words in religion that aren’t sound. There is doctrine that is not sound because it’s not correct. How can we tell the difference?

• Paul says “sounds words which you have heard from me.” In other words, Timothy was to use Paul’s teaching or doctrine as a pattern for himself and for the church that he was responsible to teach. It mattered where his doctrine came from. No, friend, one way is not as good or as right as another! It does matter where we get our doctrine and what we teach and practice.

• Those teachings he received from Paul were a sacred trust! “Hold fast the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me, in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. That good thing which was committed to you, keep by the Holy Spirit who dwells in us.”  That phrase “which was committed to you” is one word in the Greek which means “a deposit, a trust, or a thing consigned to one’s faithful keeping.” Paul said the things that he had taught Timothy were being committed to him to keep and to follow.

Now, do you ever hear people suggest that what we really need to be worried about is the Sermon on the Mount or the Golden Rule and just try to follow the words of Jesus (the words written in red) and the rest isn’t as important and we shouldn’t get too mired down and wrapped up in the words of Paul? Well, that’s not what the early church understood. They were taught to respect the words of the apostles as being not only equal to the words of Jesus spoken while He was on earth but as constituting the words of Jesus as He had now spoken them from heaven.

You see, here’s the process or chain of revelation by which the church of the New Testament received its doctrine: Jesus came to earth with a doctrine. He came teaching the things not only concerning the kingdom of Christ itself but the wonderful truths that those in that kingdom would live by and follow. He entrusted those teachings to His disciples who would carry on when He had completed His redemptive work on earth and returned to heaven to receive His kingdom and build His church. In John chapters 14 through 16, shortly before He went to the cross, Jesus promised His disciples, who would be His commissioned apostles in the church, that He would send them the Holy Spirit to teach them all things and help them to remember all of the things Jesus had spoken while He was with them. (John 14:26) He would guide them (the apostles) into all truth. (John 16:13) Why would He need to do that? Because these apostles would be His channel of revelation to the all of the church. That’s why those men (personally selected by Christ) would serve as the foundation of the church (Ephesians 2:20) and that’s why they could claim to be the ambassadors of the King, Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:20) and why they could claim that Christ was speaking through and by them. (2 Corinthians 13:3) The writer of Hebrews stated it this way in Hebrews 2:3-4, “how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him, [4] God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will?”

So, you see, the teaching the New Testament church was given to follow and practice came from Christ and was delivered through the office of the apostles. They not only preached those things which Christ, by the Holy Spirit, gave them to preach, but they preserved them for the churches throughout the world then and for the centuries to come in their writings, the New Testament. Friend, the only creed the New Testament church was ever given to believe, preach, follow, and practice was the inspired instruction of the apostles of Jesus Christ. To us today, that is the New Testament scriptures.

Now, when you look to any other source for doctrine, division is the result. Some today claim to receive modern revelations from the Holy Spirit and that the church is being supernaturally guided by such. One of the many problems with such a conclusion is which ones do we follow? There are multitudinous people who claim to be supernaturally and extra-biblically led by the Holy Spirit yet they preach different and conflicting doctrines. Which ones should we listen to? One may say “well, whichever ones are in accord with the bible.” But doesn’t that defeat the purpose? If the bible already says it, then why do we need a separate revelation? Why not just point to what the bible already says? You see, the apostles received divine revelation and spoke by inspiration, they demonstrated and proved it by performing miracles which no man has the power to do today.

And then there are those who believe the church should have a written creed to unite around. By written creed, I mean a creed stated and assembled by the church distinct from the scriptures themselves. Well, which one? We’ve seen the Westminster Confession, the Philadelphia Confession, The Apostles’ Creed (and I’m talking about the one distinct from the actual New Testament itself) Which one?  Now, I know, people will rush to say that such creeds are simply an organization and restating of bible truth, but I have a hard time believing that because if you read and believe the various creeds, you’ll come away with different conclusions about things. Friend, if your church creed simply says what the bible says, then why do you need the creed? If your creed says MORE than the bible says, it says too much. If it says less than the bible says, it doesn’t say enough. If it says exactly what the bible says, no more and no less, then why not just take the bible itself? Someone else may say, but it’s no different than a tract you distribute or a sermon you preach about the bible. Oh, but it is. My sermon has no authority outside of the bible it contains. A tract may serve (like a sermon) to explain the teaching of the bible but unlike a humanly written church creed, one doesn’t have to confess my sermon or confess a tract and one isn’t expected to recite my sermon to be in good standing with the church. Yes, we must all abide in the truth but it’s the truth because it’s what the bible says and not what a creed, tract, sermon, or set of bylaws may say. The creeds which claim to foster unity are ironically the source of division. The church in the New Testament church followed no such creed.

Now, I know some point to Acts 15 when the elders and apostles came together at Jerusalem to discuss how to integrate Gentiles into the Jewish church but the keyword there is “apostles”. This was during the age when Christ’s revelation was just beginning, and the apostles (in their person) were overseeing the development of the infant church. It is in no way parallel to men today assembling a creed for others to follow. The New Testament is our creed. The apostles teaching in the New Testament is our creed if we are like the New Testament church. 2 Timothy 3:16 says “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.”

Now, very quickly, what did the doctrine of the New Testament church consist of? It certainly was focused upon the person and the work of Jesus Christ on earth and now in heaven. It was the teaching of Christ crucified, risen again, and now exalted as Lord and King. (Acts 2; 1 Corinthians 15). It included how one was justified thru faith in Christ and obedience to His gospel. Speaking of the Roman’s baptism into Christ, Paul said in Romans 6:17 “But God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered.” It includes the daily conduct and lifestyle of the Christian including admonishments for holy living and warnings against sinful and spiritually compromising conduct. It included way the church should conduct itself in its government, organization, work, and worship. It includes the believer’s future hope of life in the world to come. It is not only the apostles teaching ABOUT Christ, but it is also the teaching OF Christ taught and enforced by the apostles in Christ’s kingdom.

And then, are ALL churches expected to follow the same doctrine? Well, listen to Paul as he wrote to Corinth. 1 Corinthians 4:17 “For this reason I have sent Timothy to you, who is my beloved and faithful son in the Lord, who will remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach everywhere in every church.” You see, Paul didn’t allow that one church would believe one thing and another church believe something else.

And finally, should we in the 21^st century be concerned about following the same doctrine as the church in the first century today? Well, we turn to 2 Peter 1:12-15 where Peter wrote: “For this reason I will not be negligent to remind you always of these things, though you know and are established in the present truth. Yes, I think it is right, as long as I am in this tent, to stir you up by reminding you, knowing that shortly I must put off my tent, just as our Lord Jesus Christ showed me. Moreover I will be careful to ensure that you always have a reminder of these things after my decease.” The apostle Peter expected the church to remember and follow his inspired teaching long after his death. I would remind you, my friend, that the doctrine of the church is critically important. It is to be the right doctrine. We should strive to know the truth and believe and practice ONLY the truth. 2 John 1:9 “Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son.” 1 Timothy 1:3 “As I urged you when I went into Macedonia—remain in Ephesus that you may charge some that they teach no other doctrine.” If we wish to imitate the church of the New Testament, and that’s the only church Jesus established and authorized, we must be committed to learning and following the same doctrine they believed and followed.

 

©2023 BibleWay Media. All rights reserved. BibleWay Media grants permission to copy this material for personal use. Permission is also granted to distribute this transcript as long as it is reproduced in its entirety, used solely for its original purpose of spreading the gospel, and attribution is given to the author and Let the Bible Speak.

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Good morning and welcome to Let the Bible Speak. We’re amid a series about the church as it is described in the New Testament. So far, we have learned about its divine origin, its form, and, last week, we talked about the type of organization and government the Lord gave it. Today, we wish to look at its membership. What constitutes a member of the church? How do you become a member of the church of the New Testament? Who does Christ consider a member of His church? The only place we can find the correct answers to those questions is the scriptures. Humanly devised creeds may describe members of the denomination as one thing, but the scriptures may describe members of Christ’s church as something else. We defer to the scriptures in this matter as we should in every matter.

Let’s begin today with our scripture text found in Ephesians 2:19-22. Here, the apostle Paul writes: “Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.”

Here, Paul describes the household of God (which he defines in 1 Timothy 3:15 as the church) as a spiritual structure made up of people. It is not a building or physical temple. It is not a club, society, or human organization such as people seek membership in within the community. It is a spiritual organization of people. Each person makes up a living stone in this spiritual house built upon Christ and His apostles and prophets who revealed it and govern it yet today through their sacredly inspired writings. But what makes one a member of this household? Can anyone be a member and how do they become a member? We’re going to look at several descriptions given in the New Testament of those who make up the church and learn how you and I can know we are numbered among it.

The church of the Lord Jesus Christ is the greatest institution in all the world. That’s an incredible and even ridiculous statement to worldly minded people, but in the eyes of God, it’s true. It is not the numeric size of the church that makes it the greatest, for even the bible admits that the way to the kingdom is narrow and relatively few will find it (Matthew 7:14). It is not the political power or influence of the church that makes it the greatest because it is not a political organization nor did the church of the New Testament concern itself with the inner workings of the kingdoms of men (John 18:36). It is not the monetary value of the church that makes it supreme because the message of the church tends to attract the poorer and lowlier of society and not the rich and elite (1 Corinthians 1:26). Nor is the nationality or ethnicity of the church what makes it the greatest because first, God is no respecter of persons and He values men and women of all colors and ethnic backgrounds the same. Second, His church is made up of people from every color, every nation, and every ethnic and socio-economic background.

The church is superior to all other institutions because it is Christ’s. God planned it, Christ established it, the Holy Spirit revealed it, and the divine Three indwell it and work through it. It has the greatest message in all the world – the Lordship of Jesus Christ and the salvation He offers to all who will believe and obey the gospel. It does more to make the world a better place because it is the “salt of the earth” and the “light of the world”. That is because the power of the gospel transforms the character of people to make them like the wonderful Christ.

It also has the greatest future of any institution even though the world often predicts its demise and doom, and the powers of evil are always looking to destroy it. It has withstood the Satanic assaults of two-thousand years and Jesus promised that it would remain until He comes again and takes her to heaven. You will never become part of any other organization that possesses those qualities. I might add, churches which are the product of the teachings and practices of men are also inferior to the Lord’s church. Jesus said, “Every plant which my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up.” (Matthew 15:13) and the Psalmist said, “Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it…” (Psalm 127:1) With that in mind, it is a sacred and exclusive privilege to be part of God’s society – the church. Who are the members of the church as it is described in the New Testament? What makes them members of it? How did they become members of it? And – how can you become part of it?

It is possible to consider yourself a member of the Lord’s church and not really BE a member. Some are under the illusion that they hold membership in the church of the New Testament when that is not the case because they don’t meet the requirements of membership and the Lord has not registered them as a member of it. By requirements, I don’t mean money, societal position, self-worth, good deeds, or any such thing but rather the scriptural requirements described in the word of God. By being registered, I am not talking about a roll or piece of paper on earth but rather, God’s book in heaven. (Hebrews 12:23) That’s what we need to be concerned about.

Let me first say that one is not a member of the church because he or she claims to be. We don’t self-identify as part of the church and therefore God sees us as numbered among it, nor should the church itself consider such a person part of its number. The bible says in 2 Timothy 2:19 that “the Lord knows those who are His”, but that doesn’t mean that the church is some mysterious and secret society because God has described who the members of His church are how they became part of it. There is a door to the church and Jesus said that “He is the door and if a person enters by Him, He will be saved.”. (John 10:9) Well, Christ is the door to the sheepfold and there is a way to enter that door and if we have not done so, we’re still outside, regardless of whether we claim we are inside or not.

Second, one is not a member of the church by birth. In other words, being born into a family of Christians doesn’t make YOU a Christian. As others have said: “you can be born in a garage but that doesn’t make you an automobile.”

Third, one is not a member of the New Testament church by pedigree. It doesn’t matter what linage you descend from, what nation you are a citizen of, what color your skin is, or what part of society you represent. The church is made up of people from every walk of life. Jesus told Nicodemus that every person had to be “born again” to enter the kingdom. (John 3:3-5) Our natural birth doesn’t place us there.

And fourth, you’re not a member of the church by association. Assembling with the church, socializing with members of the church, doing things to contribute to the church doesn’t make you a part of the church. I have been acquainted with several people through my years of preaching who were so closely associated with the church; they attended its services more faithfully that some actual members; did many generous and sacrificial things for the good of the church; but they were not actually members of the church. How can that be? Because association, family ties, good deeds, good intentions, well-wishes, attending worship… none of those things make you a member of the church of Christ! You must become part of the church through the means of entrance the Lord appointed. What is that?

First, the church is made up of the saved – or baptized believers. The New Testament scriptures are very plain about this, and I want us to notice carefully what the bible says. Acts chapter 2 records the beginning of the church of Christ on the Day of Pentecost. There were multiplied thousands of people in the city from all over the Jewish world that day because of its importance on the Hebrew calendar. None of these people, save the apostles and relatively few others, were part of the church when it began. They had not yet believed on Christ and been obedient to the gospel. In fact, just 50 days before, many of them had been clamoring for Jesus to be crucified. They may have been religious, but they were lost because they were unbelieving sinners. But the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the apostles and the events of that hour impressed those who saw it and served as a sign and a fulfillment of prophecy that the kingdom of Christ had finally come. This provided Peter with the opportunity to preach and convince them, from the scriptures, that Jesus was the promised Christ. By the end of his sermon, they were convicted of that fact and convicted of their sins and wanted to know what they had to do to be saved. That’s the first question that any person who comes to understand who Jesus is and wants to be a member of His church needs to ask! Acts 2:37 says “Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Men and brethren, what shall we do?” Verse 38: “Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

Notice carefully how Peter responded to their question. He didn’t call on them to come and kneel at an altar. He didn’t ask them to boy their heads and follow him in praying a pray. He didn’t say, “just ask the Lord to come into your heart to save you.” He had reminded them back in verse 21 of what the prophet Joel had said about that day: that “IT SHALL COME TO PASS THAT WHOEVER CALLS ON THE NAME OF THE LORD SHALL BE SAVED.’” But in verse 38 he tells them how they were to call on the name of the Lord. It’s the exact same thing Ananias told Saul to do to call upon the name of Christ to save Him in Acts 22:16. Peter said “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission (forgiveness) of your sins…”  Now then, look at their response in verse 41: “Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them.” Alright now, these people believed what Peter preached about Jesus, were convicted of their sins, turned away from their sins and embraced the truth, and they were baptized that very day.

Now, my friend, that’s how the bible shows Christ saving people and the result was they were “added to them” that same day. Added to what? Look at verse 47: “praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.” Do you see who was being added to the church? Those being saved. Do you see when they were added? Each day people were being added as they were being saved. Do you see who did the adding? The Lord added to the church those who were being saved. What the bible doesn’t say is that the church took a vote to see if converts could be part of the church. The bible doesn’t say that the church added people to their own number. The bible doesn’t say that people were being saved and then later (perhaps at the summer revival or on “baptism Sunday”) were joining the church through baptism. That’s foreign to the bible. It doesn’t even say that people were “joining the church” when they were saved. And neither does it say that people were being saved and then choosing a denomination to join. There were no denominations in the church of the New Testament. There was only the Lord’s church. And people didn’t join it as a separate transaction after they were saved but rather the Lord added them to the church AS they were being saved. Friend, the New Testament church is a body of people who have believed on Christ, repented of their sins, and been baptized to receive the forgiveness of their sins That’s what the bible says, regardless of what creeds written by men and church by-laws enacted by man might say.

Now then, the bible uses another description of the church and those who are part of it and that is “a body and its members”.  This was a favorite metaphor of the apostle Paul in describing the church. In Romans, 1 Corinthians, Ephesians, and Colossians, Paul employs these terms referring to the church sometimes universally and sometimes locally. Now this implies several things about the church and what it means to be part of it.

First, it implies that Jesus is the head of the church. To be part of the church, we must be connected to Christ. The bible says in Galatians 3:27 that as many as are baptized into Christ, put on Christ.

Second, it implies a relationship to one another. Paul reminded the divided church at Corinth in 1 Corinthians 12 that one part of the body serves a purpose in the context of the whole body. A hand or a foot detached from the body is a useless piece of dead and rotting flesh. The same is true of a professing Christian who is not attached and part of the life of the body of Christ, the church. To be a member of the church means more than just being saved from past sins, it means living in Christ and that life is enjoyed when we are attached to the body of which Christ is its head.

Now then, Paul in 1 Corinthians 12:13 tells us how we become part of that body. He said, “For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free—and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.” That’s not talking about the baptism OF or WITH the Holy Spirit which the apostles received on Pentecost; it’s talking about the baptism we are led to submit to by the teaching of the Holy Spirit in the gospel. As we saw in Acts 2, when the words of the Holy Spirit which Peter preached led people to faith in Christ, they were baptized for the forgiveness of their sins and the Lord added them to the church. Well, Paul reminds the Corinthians that by the Spirit, they were baptized into the body of Christ.

In Acts 10, there was still skepticism about whether Gentiles could become members of the church, and God orchestrated a series of events to convince Peter and other Jewish Christians that they could be and when they beheld those evidences, Peter asked in Acts 10:47, “Can anyone forbid water that these should not be baptized who have received the Holy Spirit as well as we.” By receiving the Holy Spirit, he was referring to the miraculous signs unique to that occasion that were manifested to show that Gentiles could enter the kingdom on the same terms of faith in Christ as the Jews. It was when they were baptized in water that the Gentiles entered the body of Christ and became one with Jews in Him.

And then, look at another description of those who made up the church, found in Acts chapter 11. When Barnabas and Saul spent a year with the church there, the record says in verse 26: “And when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. So it was that for a whole year they assembled with the church and taught a great many people. And the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch.” Notice, the disciples (which means learners or pupils of Christ) received the name Christians (which means followers of Jesus). You see, being a member of the church at Antioch was not holding some nominal membership in an organization, but rather meant to be an active learner and follower in practice of the Lord Jesus Christ. To be a member of the New Testament church today means to be one who is following Jesus and endeavoring to serve Christ with other disciples and to daily live the Christian life.

Now, if you look at the Great Commission as Jesus gave it to His apostles in Matthew 28:19, notice that He said “Go ye therefore and make disciples of “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” How did they make disciples? By preaching the gospel to them, according to Mark’s account in Mark 16:15. And what else was involved? “Make disciples…baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit… then, teaching them to observe the ordinances of the church and of the Christian life. Baptism was not an ordinance for the Christian. Baptism was the means of accepting Christ’s teaching and becoming a disciple and thus becoming a member of the church. Then, one begins to serve Christ IN the church and live for Him.

Does this describe you? Are you a member of the New Testament church? There is no greater institution to be part of and I hope you will let the Lord add you to it today by obeying the gospel of Jesus Christ.

 

©2023 BibleWay Media. All rights reserved. BibleWay Media grants permission to copy this material for personal use. Permission is also granted to distribute this transcript as long as it is reproduced in its entirety, used solely for its original purpose of spreading the gospel, and attribution is given to the author and Let the Bible Speak.

Click here to watch this sermon.

Welcome to Let the Bible Speak. I’m pleased to be with you today and grateful for a few moments of your time to study the word of God together. We’re in the midst of a series of studies of the church as we read about it in the New Testament. Our objective is to carefully look at the church as it existed in the lifetime of the apostles when Christ established it – after His Passion and then His glorification and enthronement in heaven.

We learned in our first sermon that the church is divinely planned institution and that it began on the first Pentecost after the ascension of Jesus. It is therefore an ancient thing. God planned it; Christ built it; the Holy Spirit working through the apostles revealed it; and the New Testament, therefore, defines and describes it. No one was ever given any right by God to build any church other than the church that Christ Himself built. And if that church is revealed in the inspired New Testament scriptures, shouldn’t we be concerned with what the scriptures say about it? And shouldn’t we be interested in honoring God’s design and plan for the church as opposed to renovating and rearranging things that God revealed about it in His word?

Last week, we learned about the form of the New Testament church. What exactly is the church anyway and what form did it take when Christ established it? Today, we wish to take that question a step further and ask: how did the Lord intend for it to be governed? Not only does every human institution has some framework of organization and government, but every living thing does also as well. Well, the church is not a human institution, but it is a divine institution, and it is certainly a living organism. It is the body of Christ. And that makes it all the more important that we understand how the church is to be governed and thus, how it should operate on earth. This is not a matter that God left it up to us to do as we please. Rather, the Holy Spirit, through the apostles, gave specific instructions and revealed certain facts that tell us how He expects the church to be organized and governed, even today.

Reading now from Ephesians 4:11-12, where Paul wrote: “And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.” And this is one of several passages we will look at today that give us a composite picture of the government of the church as we find it in the New Testament. There are many forms of church government that are not found in the scriptures but are rather the result of changes on the part of men. We want to see what type of framework Christ placed within His church from the beginning and that will be our lesson today: The Government of the New Testament Church.

So far in our series, we have established the following facts about the church of the New Testament:

1. That the church of Christ is a divinely planned and planted institution.

1. That Christ established the church, just as He promised, immediately after His ascension to heaven, nearly 2000 years ago.

1. He only established one church. He never gave anyone the right to build any other church or to change the one He established. It is HIS church.

1. That church exists on two levels.

Universally, it is simply the spiritual collection of all baptized believers in Christ. Universally, it is a description of all the saved throughout time. The universal church is a spiritual reality but not a visible organization in the way that we think of other organizations. The universal church is headquartered in heaven, governed from Heaven, and it does not have any earthly form of organization. However, baptized believers in a given locality come together as the body of Christ and form a congregation of the church of Christ (Romans 16:16). It is the local church through which the work of God is carried out from place to place throughout the world. Any religious organization larger than the local church is not found in the scriptures. There is no such thing as a denomination in the Lord’s church. You have the church universally and you have local congregations of the church each made up of Christians who assemble and work together to carry out the churches mission and message. If we would return to that simple and straight-forward concept, we would get much closer to understanding God’s plan for governing the church. So, keep those facts in mind today and it will help us as we note several passages today.

Now, it is also necessary to understand that the kingdom of God is a divine monarchy, not a republic or a democracy. It does not operate by the will of the majority or follow the dictates of the state or the demands of the culture. It is a divine government sovereignly ruled by Jesus Christ. He is its King and its only head. Colossians 1:18 says: “And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.” As we have already emphasized: Christ has but ONE church. He promised to build HIS church and no other. And that church is the one which submits to Him as it supreme and only ruler. But King Jesus had an envoy of ambassadors to whom He delegated authority when He built the church. Those ambassadors where His personally chosen apostles who were with Him and were eyewitnesses of His resurrected majesty. In Ephesians 2:20, Paul taught that the household of God (the church) was built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Christ Himself being the cornerstone.

So then, who are the prophets? A prophet was a person given a spiritual gift that allowed them to miraculously speak forth messages from God. The prophets were people selected by the apostles and who the apostles laid their hands upon to impart this miraculous ability. There were several prophets who functioned in the early church and assisted the apostles in the work of revealing the truth to the church. Some of these prophets were used by the Holy Spirit, even, to pen scripture. Men such as Mark, Luke, and Jude all wrote portions of the New Testament, and their writings were accepted by the early church as scripture because they were recognized as inspired prophets.

Now, today we don’t have apostles and prophets living among the church because the apostles were selected by Christ personally and no man today can meet the qualifications of an apostle. Nor do we have living prophets because we don’t have apostles to lay hands on others and impart the miraculous gifts necessary to function as a prophet. Besides, the purpose of apostles and prophets was fulfilled when the New Covenant was fully revealed, according to 1 Corinthians 13: 8-13. Actually, the apostles and prophets are still with us today, not in person, but in the form of their inspired writings left to guide us. Jude said that faith was once for all delivered to the saints, according to Jude verse 3.

So, the church of Christ is solely headed by Christ and He has expressed His authority over the church through His apostles and prophets who left us the New Testament which is our guide and our authority in the Christian faith today. The Lord never established any other framework or hierarchy of authority to govern the worldwide church, nor did He sanction the dividing of the church into separate bodies or denominations with systems of government over each of them. He established ONE church with Him as the head and that is to follow the teachings of His apostles and prophets who were originally appointed in the early days of the church. You will not read in the New Testament about a pope, an archbishop, a cardinal, nor will you read of a president or superintendent, a convention, a synod, nor any other such form of government larger than or outside of the local church.

You see, beginning on the Day of Pentecost, as the gospel began to spread first in Jerusalem and then from there to Judea, Samaria, and ultimately throughout the Gentile world, when people were converted and baptized into Christ, a congregation would be planted in a city, or a region and it would be left there to function as the body of Christ in that place. Each church was intended to be self-sustaining and sufficient to carry out the work of the kingdom in that locality and they were to be guided by the teachings of the apostles and prophets. But there would be a need for that congregation to be organized and overseen. It had to be shepherded; instructed in the faith and in the Christian life; it had to have a system of internal accountability. It had to have some kind of organization, just like a physical body, for it to properly function as a SPIRITUAL body. So, in Ephesians 4:11,

Paul says besides apostles and prophets (who had authority over all churches for all time), Christ also put evangelists, pastors, and teachers in place to function in each local church. These men function in the context of the local church. Evangelists were men sent out by a congregation to spread the message of Christ, including establishing new congregations.  “Pastors” is another word for a shepherd or an elder and does not refer to a preacher ‘per say’. I know most people refer to preachers as pastors but that’s a misnomer. A pastor may be a preacher, but preachers are not necessarily pastors. Pastors are simply men who are appointed by preachers (evangelists) to oversee the congregation they are members of.  So, when you hear the word “pastor”, if you think biblically, you shouldn’t think of your 30-year-old preacher, but you should think of the elders in the congregation – older, experienced men who meet the qualifications outlined in Titus 1 and 1 Timothy 3, who have been appointed to oversee and shepherd the flock. That’s a distinct work from simply being the preacher.

Then, Paul uses the word “teachers”. He says, “some pastors and some teachers”. We should note that in the Greek text here, scholars say it reads “the pastors and teachers” and some point out that when you apply rules of grammar, pastors and teachers refers to the same person and that being a “teacher” is just a further description of the work of a pastor or elder. After all, Paul said in 1 Timothy 3:2 that a qualification of an elder was he be “apt (or able) to teach”. So, within the local church, pastors or elders are to shepherd, feed, and oversee that flock. Each church, in other words, is to have its own elders to oversee it.

This is apparently God’s will for the government of EVERY local church, for Paul directly commanded Titus in Titus 1:5 “For this reason I left you in Crete, that you should set in order the things that are lacking, and appoint elders in every city as I commanded you.” In Acts 14:23 were told of Paul and Barnabas’s travels together. It says, “So when they had appointed elders in every church, and prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed.” So, every church, you see was overseen by its own elders. These elders did not oversee multiple churches, they oversaw the church where they were a member and were appointed to serve in that role. To the elders of the church at Ephesus, Paul said in Acts 20:28 “Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.”  Later, Peter would write in 1 Peter 5:1-2, “The elders who are among you I exhort, I who am a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that will be revealed: [2] Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly.”

You see, each church had its own oversight. The only authority outside of the local congregation was that of the apostles and prophets. This idea that churches come together and form an organization with a system or hierarchy of governance is simply not taught in the bible. In fact, its contrary to the bible. Now, I know there are many who make a distinction between the offices of an elder and a bishop and some claim that a bishop is a higher office with a broader scope of authority but that’s not what the bible teaches. In the New Testament church, a bishop and elder were the exact same person. In fact, in Acts 20:28, which we read a moment ago, the word overseers is the exact same word for bishops and Luke makes it clear that the ones Paul was calling bishops or overseers in verse 28 were the elders of the Ephesian church that he called for in verses 17 and 18. An elder, a bishop, an overseer, a pastor, a presbyter, they are all the same person and they are appointed overseers of the local church of which they are members and no other. They were to shepherd the “flock that was AMONG THEM”, Peter said.

Consequently, something else we never read of in the New Testament was a church with multiple campuses or locations under one central leadership. Each church was a congregation of people who came together in one place (1 Corinthians 11:20; 14:23) to eat the Lord’s Super together, learn the word of God together, and to edify one another, and to serve together as a body. Once men could be found who met the qualifications Paul cited in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1, those men were appointed to oversee the work and shepherd that flock. And that church functioned as the body of Christ in that place.

But then, there was another role described in the local church. In Philippians 1:1, Paul addressed the church by writing: “Paul and Timothy, bondservants of Jesus Christ, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are in Philippi, with the bishops and deacons:” You see, Paul refers to the bishops or overseers in the church at Philippi and mentions the deacons. Now, a deacon is simply a servant. There are qualifications for those who were serve as deacons in 1 Timothy 3 as well, but these people are appointed to meet and carry out the more temporal and physical needs of a congregation while the elders focus on the more spiritually related issues within the church. And the bishops and deacons work in tandem to see that that local body functions as it ought it.

Friend, that’s God’s simple but profound design for the church. Now, any other arrangement than that is simply not of the bible. Any organization larger and more complex than that, is not what we read about in the New Testament. And we need to abandon the inventions and traditions of men and return to that simple New Testament model. You can’t improve upon God’s design, though men and women have certainly tried. In fact, one of the first departures from the design of the original church was in the corruption of these offices in the local congregation. In a relatively short time after the ministry of the apostles, a regional and then worldwide hierarchy of power evolved in the church that ended up opening the door for all manner of apostasy and false doctrine. And that’s one of the problems with replacing God’s simple arrangement with a larger pyramid of power. My friend, if we desire to imitate the church of the New Testament and simply be the church as Jesus established it, a necessary part of that effort is to restore the form, organization, and government of the church as it existed in the beginning. And that means to lay aside the ideas of men that are contrary to the bible and let the scriptures be our pattern and our only guide.

 

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