PREACHED: OL,9-28-03,am

 

“THE PLEA OF THE CHURCHES OF CHRIST”

 

INTRODUCTION:

 

11  READ EPHESIANS 5:25,26.

 

A.      In the context, Paul is talking about how husbands ought to treat their wives.

 

1.      He declares that they should treat their wives like Christ treats his bride, the church.

 

a.       Christ Loved the church so much that he was willing to lay down his life for her and desires that the church be seen in all her splendor, without any impurity or blemish.

 

B.      Without question, that should tell us that the church is a precious entity.

 

21  IT IS PRECIOUS TO…

 

          A.      God – his house, his family!

 

                   1.      I Tim 3:15

                             I John 3:1

                             Gal 3:26,27

 

          B.      Christ – his bride!

 

                   1.      Rom 7:4

 

          C.      Christian – body of the saved!

 

                   1.      Acts 2:47

 

31  BUT THE CHURCH IS ONLY GLORIOUS AS SHE MAINTAINS THAT IDENTITY INTENDED BY HER BUILDER AND SUSTAINER, JESUS CHRIST.

 

A.      She loses her glory when human innovations pervert her original design and beauty.

 

B.      She loses her glory when men dress her in human trappings to appeal to the world.

 

C.      She loses her glory when men forget that she is Christ’s bride and attempt to sell her in the marketplace of pop culture and popular, manmade religion.

 

41  BUT WHAT ABOUT THE CHURCHES OF CHRIST TODAY?

 

          A.      Who are these folks?

                   What are they about?

                   What are they trying to accomplish?

 

DISCUSSION:

 

1Ä   WE STRIVE TO BE NON-DENOMINA- TIONAL AND UN-DENOMINATIONAL.

 

A.      Which simply means that we do not wish to be just another denomination in a world of denominations and we are opposed to the very principle of the acceptability of denominating the Lord’s church.

 

          B.      No earthly headquarters

 

          C.      Congregational autonomy

 

D.      No synods, convocations, conventions or holy sees that determine our beliefs.

 

1.      One church may become apostate, but it does not affect the whole.

 

          E.      I Cor 1:10-13

                   Eph 4:5

                   Acts 2:42

                   I Pet 4:11

                   Jude 3

 

2Ä   IN A WORLD STEEPED IN DENOMINA-TIONALISM, OUR PLEA IS FOR THE RESTORATION OF SIMPLE NEW TESTAMENT CHRISTIANITY

 

A.      In the late 1700’s in America, there was a spirit of revival that began to sweep across the American frontier:  

 

1.      In Virginia, in l794, James O’Kelly and Rice Haggard became dissatisfied with the formalism of much of religion and withdrew themselves and called themselves, “Christians Only.”

 

2.      About the same time, in New England, two men, Abner Jones and Elias Smith became disenchanted with sectarian names, creeds and denominational division and also accepted the designation of “Christians Only.”

 

3.      In  the same period of time, a father and a son, Thomas and Alexander Campbell, deeply distressed over the unbiblical doctrines that divided churches that called themselves “Christian,” began a movement of “restoration” (not reformation).

 

a.       The father, Thomas, wrote: “The church of Christ upon the earth is essentially, and intentionally and constitutionally one…Let us speak where the Bible speaks and be silent where it is silent.”

 

4.      Two men in Kentucky, Barton Stone and “Raccoon” John Smith, not connected with the Campbells, began to call for a return to N.T. Christianity.

 

a.       Both groups eventually met and extended to each other the right hand of fellowship because of their common plea and practice.

 

5.      Their conviction was that if we do what the early saints did to become a Christian, we are Christians only. And if we practice collectively what the early church practiced, we are not a denomination but only the church of Christ.

 

B.      The key element for successful restoration is a respect for the New Testament as the manual, the creed, the standard, the pattern, and constitution of Christianity, telling us how to live, to worship and to determine the organization and work of the local church.

 

                   1.      II Tim 3:16

                             I Cor 4:6

I Cor 4:17

                             II Tim 1:13

 

a.       Sometimes the N.T. teaches in clear command…

 

b.      Other times if offers us examples that speak of approved practices of the early church…

 

c.       And finally, there are principles and inferences that must be respected as authoritative when they are necessarily drawn from N.T. teaching…

 

d.      And we follow the universal principle of biblical interpretation found in the Bible from beginning to the end, not to add to scripture and not to take away from it.

 

C.      These principles are imperative because when one local church leaves the truth of God’s word and goes into apostasy, it does not destroy the entire church!

 

1.      As long as the seed of the kingdom remains, the Lord’s church can be established!

 

                             a.       Luke 8:1, 5, 11

                                      I Pet 1:23-25

 

3Ä   PRACTICAL OBSERVATIONS:

 

A.      How does not become a Christian and enter the N.T. church?

 

                   1)      Acts 2:36-38,41,47

 

          B.      How do we determine what we do in worship?

 

                   1)      John 4:24

 

          C.      What governs our daily living?

 

                   1)      Rom 12:1,2

 

D.      We believe that in matters of faith or doctrine, there should be unity; if it is a matter of mere opinion, there should be liberty; but in everything, we must be governed by love.