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The Inspiration of the Bible

Those who wrote down the scriptures claimed to be inspired of God in doing so. Inspiration does not refer to a vague leading but specific guidance of the Holy Spirit in choosing the words which would perfectly communicate the mind and will of God to man. The bible is not merely a holy and divine book – it is the very Word of God. In part one of a series about the Bible, we look at the Bible’s claim of inspiration. What does it mean? Why should we believe that claim? What difference does it make? We address those questions in this broadcast of Let the Bible Speak.

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But I Thought (The Text)

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The apostle Paul said that the things written aforetime were written for our learning (Romans 15:4). I can’t think of a better example than the one we’re going to study today. The story is about a powerful and famous man by the name of Naaman. The Bible introduces us to him by telling us that despite all of the impressive things about his life, he was a leper. Leprosy was an awful disease in that day and it was a sure death sentence for anyone who contracted it. But God would heal Naaman, but not before quite an episode took place.

2 Kings 5:9-11 “So Naaman came with his horses and with his chariot, and stood at the door of the house of Elisha. And Elisha sent a messenger unto him, saying, Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean. But Naaman was wroth, and went away, and said, Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the Lord his God, and strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper.”

Now, thinking is typically a good thing, but here’s a case where thinking nearly cost a man his life. Let’s see what we can learn from this story.

Naaman was a decorated captain over the Army of Syria. He had won many battles and, as you can imagine, his position brought him wealth, recognition, authority and a big ego. Naaman was accustomed to giving orders—not taking them, and that includes from God and His prophets. He was surely accompanied much of the time by an entourage of servants and soldiers and his life wanted for very little. One day though, everything changed. Something didn’t look just right. Something appeared different on Naaman’s body, maybe a quick glance in the mirror or a casual glance down at his hand or his arm, and he knew that something was wrong. A small sore or canker had come up on his skin and it looked suspicious enough to cause him to catch his breath. Sure enough, when the doctor looked at it, his suspicion was confirmed: he had leprosy.

That’s how the Bible introduces us to Naaman. A man who lived a life of wealth, luxury, power and privilege, but the Bible utters the dreaded phrase that changed everything: “…but he was a leper.” (II Kings 5:1). Despite his great valor, despite all of the great things that could be said about him, he was a leper. That just cancels everything else out.

Leprosy is one of the most dreaded and grotesque diseases in the history of the world. It’s a disease that attacks the flesh and literally rots it away. If the symptoms of leprosy showed up in a person, the priest was to decide if it was indeed leprosy or some other disease. Because of the need to control the spread of this incurable ailment, the law required that lepers be isolated from the rest of society. The leper was required to wear mourning clothes, to leave his hair in disorder and keep his beard covered and to go about crying, “Unclean! Unclean!” so that everyone would know what he was and avoid him. The result is that he would die a lonely and excruciating death. It was an awful way to suffer and die. In fact, there was no cure whatsoever for leprosy. If a man was healed, it was because of a miracle from God.

Leprosy is a type or figure in the Bible for another disease, one far more serious. That is the disease of sin. You know, sin afflicts the human heart and has the same characteristics as the disease of leprosy. It’s an interesting comparison. Leprosy was an extremely contagious disease. The most casual contact could spread it from person to person. Of course, that’s also how sin operates.

Romans 5:12 “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.”

That verse simply tells us that sin got its start in the world and in the human family by Adam. He and Eve were the first to transgress that law of God, and everything changed the moment they did so. They polluted a perfect world. Their sin corrupted the earth. All of creation was tainted because of sin! As a result, even today, every human being is born into a world that is marred and ruined by sin. The Bible says that all of us have sinned (Romans 3:23). As we reach the age of accountability and we choose between that which is right and that which is wrong, we all become guilty sinners in the eyes of God, and there are a number of horrible consequences that result from that.

James 1:15 “…and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.”

That’s the final penalty of leprosy (physically) and sin (spiritually). You see, with leprosy, there was no surgery, no antibiotic or drug that could treat or cure leprosy. If God did not heal it, you would die an awful and excruciatingly painful death. That’s also the fate of the sinner. That’s what all of us deserve. Sin is not only the cause of the curse of physical death, but even worse, it is the cause of spiritual death. The Bible speaks of “the second death,” and that simply means that the person who dies on his sins will be separated from God and be cast into hell eternally. That’s a serious proposition. I ask you today, how do you look at sin? How do you look at your sin? Too many people look at sin—especially their own—very flippantly. They shrug and go on their way unconcerned about their severed relationship with God. I’m convinced that any person who looks at sin that way is NOT looking through the eyes of God. Sin is incredibly serious in the eyes of a holy God. People don’t begin to understand what an awful thing it is to be lost!

Ezekiel 33:13 “…but for his iniquity that he hath committed, he shall die for it.”

Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

2 Thessalonians 1:7-9 “…when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power.”

Revelation 20:14 “And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”

Friend, you can’t afford to ignore your sin any more than a leper could forget that he has leprosy. I can promise you that Naaman’s life changed the very instant that he knew the dreaded diagnosis. He couldn’t push that out of his mind. He couldn’t afford just to go on as though nothing was wrong. He knew that he was a dying man. The Bible tells us that he had a young Israelite girl living in his house who had been captured in one of his battles. He made her a servant to his wife. This little girl from Israel believed in the God of Israel and in the prophets of God. She had every confidence that if Naaman could just meet the prophet Elisha that God would heal him of his leprosy. So, she told him about Elisha, and he was excited about that. He jumped at the chance! Here was a man who was desperate for healing, and time, money, effort didn’t matter. He was bound and determined to go see this miracle worker, Elisha.

To make a long story short, Naaman gets the King of Syria to write to the King of Israel to set up a meeting with this prophet, and when it’s all said and done, Elisha hears about it and sends for him. I think it’s at this point where we get our first true glimpse at what Naaman was really like. He begins to imagine, as would you or I, what was going to happen in this meeting with Elisha. He rehearses this in his mind. He may have been a leper, but he had not forgotten who he was in the eyes of the world. He was a very important man, and I can assure you that he expected the royal treatment.

2 Kings 5:5 “…And he departed, and took with him ten talents of silver, and six thousand pieces of gold, and ten changes of raiment.”

What that tells us is that Naaman was intent on impressing the people of Israel. Despite his ugly leprosy, he was going to flash his money around, and whether or not his motive was to impress or was just out of desperation to find a cure, the fact is, he missed the point. I’m told that what Naaman took to Israel amounted to a lot of money. They say that those ten talents of silver would be worth about $160,000 today. His six thousand pieces of gold would be worth about $2,000,000, and those ten changes of clothes weren’t for him, but rather were expensive garments considered an impressive gift. It would be like giving ten Armani suits to heads of state today. Naaman was determined to be cured, you see. But little did he know what was really in store. A great surprise awaited him.

That reminds me of how we as men and women let ourselves think of salvation today. A lot of us think that we can impress the Lord. “Oh, I do a lot of good deeds. I give a lot of money to charity and to the church.” Have you ever heard someone talk like that? They may say, “I know that I don’t assemble with the church like I should. I’m not really what you’d think of as a devout Christian, but I’m a good person and I do all of these good things. Surely that counts for something with God. He’ll surely let me in.” Well, it’s important that we do good things. But the Lord isn’t impressed with our show of goodness. If a man thinks that he can buy his way into the presence of the holy God in his sin, and that he can somehow win God over with all of his good deeds and his charity, he is in for a huge surprise. Our own righteousness amounts to nothing in the eyes of God. It’s righteousness that comes from the gospel, a broken and contrite heart, a life dedicated to loving God and keeping His commandments that God is looking for. So, already Naaman’s thinking is different from the man of God’s. When Naaman offers Elisha these gifts, Elisha refuses them. You should know that you can’t buy your way into the favor of God either.

Let’s see what happens when Naaman arrives at Elisha’s house.

2 Kings 5:9 “So Naaman came with his horses and with his chariot, and stood at the door of the house of Elisha. And Elisha sent a messenger unto him, saying, Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean.”

Now, this is NOT what Naaman was expecting. He was not anticipating this. It was a shock to him. First of all, I think it’s significant that Elisha sent a messenger to him! What’s the deal with that? Naaman expected a personal encounter with this prophet of God. After all, he was an important man and it must’ve bruised his ego for the prophet to send a mere lowly messenger out to see him. Elisha didn’t even go out and acknowledge the man! He just sends a messenger out to speak to him.

Similarly, I think a lot of people are disappointed with the way God speaks today. What I mean is, they seek salvation expecting some grand, abstract experience. They’re looking for an encounter with God. You don’t have to look very far to find folks who’ll claim that God has personally spoken to them, or they’ve had some kind of dream or vision where the Lord granted to them forgiveness of their sins or some other blessing. But that’s not how God reveals His salvation plan to men today. People want to have an experience like Saul on the Damascus road. What they forget is that Jesus told Saul in that encounter to go into the city and a man would come to him and tell him what he had to do to be saved. A lot of folks aren’t satisfied with that. They want a religion that involves inner voices, fuzzy feelings, heavenly intuitions. But, you see, God’s salvation is very simple. God’s salvation is found in God’s Word. The gospel is not in men today. The gospel is in the book that inspired men wrote.

Romans 10:17 “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”

If you would be saved, don’t look to an experience. Look to the gospel! It is “the power of God unto salvation…” (Romans 1:16).

The second thing that I think disappointed Naaman was what the messenger told him to do. He was told to go down to the Jordan River and dip seven times in the water and he would be healed. There was nothing vague, convoluted or physically difficult about what Naaman was commanded to do. It was so simple that anyone could understand it: go down to the Jordan River, dip seven times under the water, and be cleansed. Can you believe that the Bible says that that made Naaman angry? He got mad when the messenger told him that. Now, that would sound strange, I suppose, to any of us were we in Naaman’s position, but it makes him angry. Why? The reason is found in three little words here: “Behold, I thought…” Naaman thought he had this thing all figured out before he even got there.

2 Kings 5:11 “But Naaman was wroth, and went away, and said, Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the Lord his God, and strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper.”

You see, he expected it to be a big ceremony of some kind, and the fact that he had to go and do something so humiliating, so humbling, made Naaman upset. Did you notice that what Naaman thought didn’t involve any obedience or effort on his part? That stands out here. It was all about what Elisha was going to do to him. Men are no different today.

Hebrews 5:8-9 “Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;”

Jesus is the author and provider of our salvation, but Paul says that it is conditioned upon our willingness to submit to Him in obedience.

My friend, the plan of salvation is no more difficult than God’s remedy for Naaman. God has simply required that sinners believe on Jesus Christ as the Son of God (John 8:24), He demands that we turn away from our sins in repentance (Luke 13:3), He expects us to confess Him before others (Matthew 10:32), and He commands us to be baptized in the likeness of His death, burial and resurrection for the remission of our sins (Mark 16:16, Acts 2:38, Romans 6:3-6…). In fact, in that transaction, we are made free from sin (Romans 6:17). There aren’t any plainer verses in the Bible found.

Mark 16:16 “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.”

Acts 2:38 “Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins…”

Yet, multiplied millions of people don’t believe that. Millions of people who profess that they believe in Jesus Christ will argue with the very plainest of Christ’s commandments and say that a sinner can be saved without it. In fact, I’ve had people get very angry, just like Naaman, over the fact that the Bible says they must be baptized in order to be saved.

Let me ask you something about that: Does getting mad at the truth change the truth? Suppose I step on the scales and they ask one of us to step off, and I reach down and pick up the scales and smash them against the wall. Do you suppose that my suit will fit any looser the next time that I put it on?

In the same way, fighting against the truth doesn’t change what the Bible says. One day, the scripture says that we will be judged by what the Bible told us to do.

John 12:48 “He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.”

So, the Bible says that Naaman was angry. There was another misconception in his mind.

2 Kings 5:12 “Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? May I not wash in them, and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage.”

Naaman is asking the same question that so many people ask today: what difference does it make? I mean, Naaman is thinking about a number of rivers that were perhaps cleaner, more convenient, more expedient…We’ve heard THAT word in religion before: “Oh, but this is much more expedient. The Bible may not specify it, but this is expedient.” Let me ask you this, and I want you to be honest with yourself: What if Naaman had gone down to the river Abana and waded out into the water and dipped seven times? The way we typically reason things is that water is water, isn’t it? Anywhere you go in the world, water is water. Isn’t dipping the same in one river as it is the next? I mean, is it really that material what river I go to, as long as I perform the action, and dip seven times? So, what difference would it have made? What would Naaman have been if he had dipped in the river Abana? If he had chosen some other river in Israel and gone down very carefully, making sure that he dipped himself seven times, what would he have been? You and I both know what he would’ve been. He would’ve been a wet and angry leper.

Now, why can we see that in the case of Naaman, but we have such a hard time seeing it when it comes to God’s will today? Does it make a difference what God says about salvation, or about the church, or about our worship? Won’t one way do just as well as another? That’s what people tell us today. My friend, it made a difference for Naaman, and it makes a difference today, too.

John 4:23-24 “…when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.”

Take a look at what happened here to Naaman. The story is not over, thankfully. His servants were watching him throw this big fit, and they finally approach him with some common sense and reason.

2 Kings 5:13 “And his servants came near, and spake unto him, and said, My father, if the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? how much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash, and be clean?”

In other words, if Elisha had told you what you wanted to hear, if this had all happened like you had imagined it in your mind, you would’ve gone away from here thinking he was the greatest preacher in the world. Isn’t that how a lot of people measure preachers today? They love a preacher who will agree with them, pat them on the back, tell them everything’s all right and validate their lifestyle. But they don’t necessarily love the preacher that tells them what they need to do to be saved. They asked Naaman, if you would’ve accepted his word in one case, why won’t you accept it now? Can’t you see, Naaman, that this is just your pride getting in the way?

Well, that got through to Naaman. I think he stopped and realized what a predicament he was in, and he realized that he wasn’t in any position to be giving orders to others. And neither are we. You see, our sins have left us to bow before the mercy of a righteous and holy God. Why fight against Him? Why shun His commandments? Why try to explain away His Word?

Friend, if you’ve not done so, won’t you humble yourself and submit to God’s will today? Be baptized for the remission of your sins. If you haven’t done that, I hope you will, right away.

©2019 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.

But I Thought

The conflict is as old as time itself: God’s thoughts versus man’s thoughts. Pride and preconception will always blind a person’s eyes to the truth. In this broadcast of Let the Bible Speak, we learn about a man who had a terrible disease of the body. Even worse, however, was the disease he had within his spirit. Learn what happened when a man who was accustomed to giving orders finally learned to take them.

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Is Church Membership Necessary? (The Text)

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Many times, people who ask if church membership is really necessary are trying to justify living a Christian life apart from any attachment to a local church. The idea became popular several years ago that salvation is only about a personal relationship with Jesus, and involvement in the church, while perhaps a good thing, is not necessary to be saved. It has nothing to do with salvation. At least, that’s what we’re told. There are millions of people who will tell you that they are spiritual, but not religious. And in some cases, what they mean is that they believe in God, perhaps even in Jesus, they might pray. But they don’t openly practice any particular religion by assembling with a church for worship. But, is it possible to love God, to serve the Lord Jesus, and live your life by the teachings of God’s Word, and not be an active part of the church? It doesn’t matter what you or I think. What matters is what God’s book says.

Ephesians 5:30-32 “For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.”

You know, whatever the church is, Paul says that it is one with Christ Jesus. So, what is the church? What does it mean to be a part of it? And must I be numbered among it in order to be saved?

As I stated earlier, the question under consideration today is a relatively recent question. Despite the unfortunate misunderstandings and consequent divisions in religion today that have turned a lot of people off to Christianity, the fact is that until the last several decades, people who wanted to practice Christianity tried to do so within the scope of a local church. But the idea has been gaining steam that church membership is superfluous. Some even believe that it’s a mark of disingenuous or even hypocrisy. I think that notion has arisen from the unfortunate scandals and abuses of Christianity that have been so visibly publicized in recent years and people have a distaste for what they think of as ‘organized religion.’ Sometimes people see hypocrites in the church and they say, Well, I’m better than that and I’m not part of a church; I have a personal relationship with God and I don’t need the church.

We’ve also seen a rise of televangelism in the last half-century. These independent ministries have muddied the water and confused people about the church and their relationship to it. There are people who think that they are a member of a television church somewhere. The problem is compounded by the fact that many don’t understand what the church is. They don’t understand its purpose in the world.

You may think that being a member of the church simply means “going to church.” Actually, that phrase isn’t technically correct. It’s a little misleading. Now, we can speak of the church assembled, in a literal assembly, and I guess in that sense, loosely, we could talk about “going to church,” if you mean going to the assembly of the church. But really, a Christian can’t “go to church.” The church isn’t a building; the church is the people who make it up. A person assembles with the church, but really he doesn’t “go to church.” We use phrases like that because we have lost sight of what the church is.

Many also misunderstand what it is to be a member of the church. Did you know that the Bible never speaks of people “joining” the church? We hear that phrase all of the time, but the Bible never uses it. The scriptures don’t ever talk about having your name written on some type of church roll, yet people use terms and concepts like this because they don’t have a true understanding of the church.

Sometimes people misunderstand the question itself. Someone may think you’re asking, Will I be saved because I’m a member of the church, implying that Christians believe that simply because men look at them as having some association with the church, or having their name written on a church roll, or attending worship assemblies, by virtue and merit of that fact, that they are saved. But that is not the question. It’s not, Will I be saved because, in the eyes of men, I’m a member of the church? That is putting the cart before the horse, and it is also misunderstanding church membership is. The question is: Will I be saved if I am NOT a part of the church? Are people out here who are not a part of the Lord’s church going to heaven? Are they saved in Christ Jesus? Those two questions are entirely different.

To explain that, let’s look at what happened when the church was established. We know that Christ has a church. In other words, men didn’t come along and think up the concept of a church out of thin air.

Matthew 16:18 “And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.”

So, Christ has a church. But what was He talking about? Constructing some type of building, like the temple stood amongst the Jewish people for so many centuries? An ornate cathedral? Was that what He meant when He said, “I will build My church?”

Acts 2 is where Christ fulfilled His promise and His church was established. We don’t read anything about the building of an edifice. It was something entirely different. Peter preached Jesus to the lost multitude there on the day of Pentecost. Those people were convicted of their sins and they wanted to be saved.

Acts 2:38 “Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins…”

Now look closely at verse 41.

Acts 2:41 “Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them.”

Well, what were they added to? Look at verse 47.

Acts 2:47 “Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.”

You know, this verse can clear up a lot of confusion, and it answers a lot of questions. What is the church? It is not a building, because the Bible says that people are added to it. It’s obviously not talking about these people being moved inside a literal building. Verse 41 tells us that “about three thousand souls were added unto them.” So the church is made up of them. Who are they? The number already in Christ on the day of Pentecost, including the apostles, those who were already saved. And those from that day forward who were being saved in obedience to the gospel were added unto them, “to the church” (verse 47).

The second thing we need to see is that God does the adding—not men. That tells me that the church is a divinely appointed institution—not a human one. There are many groups that have bylaws that say that a person has to be voted into the church or accepted into the church. Friend, the church in Acts 2 didn’t have any bylaws aside from the gospel that was preached by the apostles. And men were added by God to that church when they were saved. I cannot overstress how significant and important that is! Nobody voted them in. They were simply made a part of it by virtue of their faith in Christ and their obedience to the gospel.

Thirdly, the Bible doesn’t make any distinction between the time a person is saved and the time they become part of the Lord’s church. Unfortunately, preachers today plead for people to be saved and then they encourage them to “join the church.” But that’s not what the Bible teaches. In fact, the Bible never gives one single indication that anybody was ever saved and then encouraged to go join the church. Rather, the Bible clearly shows that a person is added to the church by God when they ARE saved. There’s not one bit of difference between those two things. Being added to the church equals being saved.

When you divorce yourself from all of the unscriptural notions that most people have about the church, and you see it through the lens of the New Testament, it becomes a lot clearer. The people who were baptized on the day of Pentecost didn’t come out of the water, dry off and ask Peter, “Do I need to join a church?” or “What church am I now a member of?” You see, there was only ONE church: the one that Christ established, that He died for, that He purchased with His blood.

Acts 20:28 “…to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.”

Those people understood, when they understood the gospel, that when they obeyed the gospel and were thus saved, that they were becoming a part of the Lord’s church. God counted them as members of Christ’s body by virtue of their salvation, and that was that. There was no other process to it. They were added to the church upon their having been saved.

By the way, what does the word ‘church’ mean? It actually comes from a Greek word ecclesia, which means called out or an assembly. In other words, it means those whom God has called out of the world by the gospel and separated unto Himself in salvation. Now, when I’m saved, I may still be physically in the world, but I’m no longer of it spiritually. I become a citizen in Christ. I’m now a member of Christ’s kingdom and a part of a community of saved believers in Christ. Now, please understand: I am not saved merely because I associate myself with the church. Rather, I am numbered among the church because I am saved.

Now, what are the practical implications of all of that? Let’s look a little closer at the passage in Acts 2.

Acts 2:41-47 “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 stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles. And all that believed were together, and had all things common; And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need. And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart. Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.”

You see, the Lord added them to the church when they were saved, and they, the church, continued in worship together and common association one with another. It certainly doesn’t appear that all of these people were just freelance Christians. They were part of a community of faith and service that worshipped and prayed and worked and served the Lord together.

The book of Acts is a record of early church history. It shows time and time again that the church was a functioning unit of believers knit together. When disciples were made from city to city as the gospel was spread throughout the world, congregations were established and left behind by the apostles to carry on the worship and the work of that local church.

Acts 11:26 “And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called Christians first in Antioch.”

Acts 20:7 “And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them…”

Acts 14:23 “And when they had ordained them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed.”

Acts 14:27-28 “And when they were come, and had gathered the church together, they rehearsed all that God had done with them and how had had opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles. And there they abode long time with the disciples.”

Acts 15:4 “And when they were come to Jerusalem, they were received of the church, and of the apostles and elders, and they declared all things that God had done with them.”

Later, when Paul wrote his letters to various congregations:

Romans 16:5 “Likewise greet the church that is in their house…” (regarding Priscilla and Aquila)

1 Corinthians 11:18 “For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you; and I partly believe it.” (rebuking the Corinthians for their abuses of the Lord’s supper)

And we could go on and on and on. My friend, the idea of the church, as a local group of Christians who come together on a regular basis for worship and edification, is found all throughout the New Testament. So, again, I remind you that the Lord adds to the church daily those who are saved (Acts 2:47).

Now, there are several terms that are used in the bible to describe the church. One of them compares the church to a body.

Ephesians 5:30 “For we are members of his body…”

Ephesians 1:22-23 “And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.”

That last passage teaches a wonderful truth: Christ filleth all in all. That is, He alone is the source for all spiritual blessings and endowment and bestowment, and that the church-His body—is the fullness of Him who filleth all in all. In other words, the church is the receptacle where we connect with all of the blessings and unsearchable riches that are found in Christ Jesus.

1 Corinthians 12:26-27 “And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it. Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.”

Here, Paul exhaustively uses the metaphor of a physical body to illustrate the relationship of members of the church. How can that be, if Christians can function independently of each other? How can I serve the Lord with no association with the local church? What good is a hand, foot, eye or ear, as the apostle Paul uses for comparison, if it’s not attached to the body?

Then again, the church is depicted as “the bride of Christ” in Ephesians 5. It doesn’t say that we’re all “brides” of Christ. It says that the church is His bride. Stop and think about the implications of shunning the church. Would you be offended if someone claimed to love you, but shunned your wife? Or your husband, whom you love? I would be. I dearly love my wife. She’s the closest person to me in all of the world. If you reject, shun or hate her, you and I won’t get along very well. So, how can people claim to love Jesus and shun His bride and want no association with her? You may say, Well I know a lot of members of the church who aren’t perfect. Well, neither are you. You may say, Well they “go to church” but they’re just a bunch of hypocrites. Yes, unfortunately, some are. Jesus even acknowledged that some of the people who claimed to follow Him would be hypocrites. But not all of them are. The church is made up of fallible human beings, but it is still His bride and Jesus loves His bride. The church is worthy of my service, my loyalty and my devotion by essence of the fact that I love its bridegroom, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Did you know that there are also certain duties to God that you can only scripturally fulfill as a faithful and active member of Christ’s body, the church? The church is to come together to commune (I Corinthians 11:23-30, Acts 2:46, Acts 20:7). The Lord’s Supper is not just about eating bread and drinking fruit of the vine. The word ‘communion’ means a common union or sharing in those elements. And the church must assemble together to do so, as the Lord Jesus instructed. I know people who get the idea that they can just get off in their hotel room or at their house, with some bread and some grape juice or whatever they choose to use, and have their own little communion and observe the Lord’s Supper, but there’s not one example in your Bible of that. Communion is God’s people coming together to share in the remembrance of Christ’s death.

1 Corinthians 16:1-2 teaches that I am to lay by a portion of my income for the work of the kingdom, including the relief of needy saints.

1 Corinthians 16:1-2 “Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye. Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.”

It’s very important to note that Paul did not only say for each person to set it aside. He said for that money to be set aside so there would be no gatherings when the time came to use those funds for their purpose. That implies that they gave what they had set aside to some sort of common treasury that was used for the relief of needy saints. Now, if Paul was simply telling those Christians to set aside or earmark some money at home, there would still have to be some sort of collection or gathering when he arrived. But he said he didn’t want that. He wanted that money to be there, already gathered by the time he got there. He tells them to take care of this on the first day of the week, consequently the same day that the church came together to commune and hear preaching from God’s word (Acts 20:7). So these were all things that are done not by individuals, but by the collective church.

Many of the early Christians were faced with temptations and pressure to denounce Christ, just like Christians today are. And many served God under the threat of bloody persecution. The Holy Spirit admonished those Christians as follows:

Hebrews 10:25 “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.”

My friend, you simply cannot serve the Lord without a relationship to other Christians. And that relationship exists within the framework of the local church—a group of people bound together in faith, truth and love, who function as a body to carry out God’s work in that locale. That, my friend, is God’s plan. The Lord adds those who are saved to His church. What sense would it make then, for a man to say that he can be saved without the church because he has his own relationship with God? God adds all who are saved to the church, and the church is a functioning, assembling, praying, worshipping, giving, serving unit. Are you a faithful member of Christ’s church? Not a denomination, now. Christ’s church. It predates all of the denominations that men have built. Are you a member of the church that you read about in the New Testament? You don’t become a member by joining it. The Lord adds you to it when you obey the gospel in baptism for the remission of sins. If you haven’t done that, I hope you will today.

Irvin Barnes On Social Drinking (1988)

Is it right for a Christian to consume beverage alcohol even on a social basis? In the LTBS Classics broadcast, we go back to May 1998 when Bro. Irvin Barnes looks at this important and controversial topic.