November 11, 2001 Volume 2 Number 45
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The Work of the Church Every once in a while it comes into my heart and mind to question and assess what the church here in Oroville is doing and whether we are doing it well enough to satisfy our Lord. But before we can even begin to answer a question like this we have to determine exactly what God had in mind for the perfect church.
These are the kinds of questions each of us ought to be asking ourselves as we consider the bigger issues of why we are here, and what we ought to be doing with our time and effort. Our lesson will be dedicated to answering some of these questions. With these questions answered each of us can draw conclusions about the health of church here. What is the church and why did God create her? Jesus speaks of building His church.Mk 16:18 God added all who were
saved to her. Jesus purchased her with
his own blood. She is Christ's body and
He is her head. God's wisdom is seen
through her. The church in eternity consists of all the saved who have ever lived. The church as it exists in time on earth consists of all the saved who have been washed in the blood of Jesus Christ. God adds those who are saved to her and she exists as the body of Christ over which He as head expects definite things of her. As a submissive wife she seeks to serve Him well. Eph 5:23-24 The ideal situation would be therefore: Every member would make her the first priority. Mt 6:33 and His people would want to do the good works God gave them to do. Eph 2:10; Titus 2:11-14; 3:8; 3:14
The only thing left to complete the lesson then is to determine what the good works were that God ordained that we should walk in. The light of the world and
Salt of the earth. Make disciples of all the
nations. Preach the gospel to every
creature. Hold forth the word of
life. Be the pillar and ground
of the truth. Walk in wisdom, buy up
opportunities, know how you ought to answer each one. We all know this as evangelism. It is the greatest work any of us can do. We may be living in the days like Noah and only save a few, but we should always be trying. Jesus gave gifts to build
up the church. The growth of all the members is a critical work of the church that all the members need to be involved in. We call it edification. Therefore the teaching program of the local church, how it develops its converts and members is a critical assessment. If this is being done, the church is doing it's work. The needs of the members. God desired that the church be a wonderful safety net for her members. HOW WELL ARE WE DOING IN EVANGELISM? HOW WELL ARE WE DOING IN EDIFICATION? HOW WELL ARE WE DOING IN
BENEVOLENCE?
Have We Forgotten? What Is Our Business? “In a nut shell” our business should be, as Jesus said, “my Father’s business” (Luke 2:49). Our business should be the mission of Christ which was to “seek and save the lost” (Luke 19:10). This, of course, includes restoring the erring, edifying one another, and as Paul instructed Timothy: “And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also” (2 Tim. 2:2). Plain and simple, our business is “soul saving.” In the past forty years many churches of Christ have drifted into the “social gospel” mold and have turned to entertainment, recreation, secular education, and other things of the same secular stripe. But I am not writing about these brethren who have chosen to follow after “liberalism.” I am talking about those of us who are trying to maintain the church on a solid foundation. Have we forgotten what our “business” really is? Why are we not reaching many of the lost? Is it impossible? Is it because there are no honest souls left and our task is an impossible one. No, it is not true. There are still many about us who are “disciple material” and can be converted. The trouble with many of us, after having the door slammed in our face a few times, is simply this: nobody cares, and nobody will listen. We have talked ourselves into a negative attitude and have withdrawn into a dark cave of defeat to wait for the end. If the Lord had been so easily discouraged, we would never have had redemption.Difficult times Obviously, we are in hard times and most people are not interested. Let us remember, however, this was also true when Jesus came and through much of the ministry of his apostles. In spite of that, people were converted and the church grew rapidly. I have heard it said, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.” Maybe we need a little more of that spirit. The Value of the Soul I think the “value system” about the soul of man has been misplaced in many of us. Materialism has greatly diminished our value of a soul. Many of us have lost our “everlasting” view of the soul. Case in point: a man drowned in a bayou and hundreds joined in the search for his body. Thousands of dollars were spent in the recovery effort which, after four days finally succeeded. I am not criticizing the effort, but I could never find where any concern had been shown for his soul during life, even though he was surrounded by Christians. In death his body was supremely important. In life his soul was supremely unimportant. Jesus said, “For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Mt 16:26) Consider the following thought. I don’t know where it came from and I wish I had said it, but I didn’t. “There are many things in life worth winning, but when one is won over to the side of truth, we beat the devil in the battle over the eternal soul of man. This will outshine and outlast all the achievements of the world put together.” A Tragic Misconception Sadly, there is a common belief among members of the church that they do not have any evangelistic responsibility. “After all,” they say, “that is why we support a preacher.” When will Christians learn that the presence of an evangelist has nothing to do with their own responsibility toward saving souls. The astounding growth of the church in the first century is not attributed to preachers alone but to individual Christians. “Therefore those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word” (Acts 8 4). I like the story of the store owner who went to a convention. Someone asked him what his business was. He replied, “My business is to serve Christ and win souls.” He added, “I run a hardware store to make a living.”Preachers Have a Duty Preachers should lead the way in spreading the word They should set an example for others to follow. I fear we dig ponds and sit back and expect the fish to jump in. That is, we build nice buildings and expect the lost of this world to rally in them. We would do well to remember that the Lord has made us “fishers of men” and not merely the “keepers of the aquarium.” Preachers face a lot of discouragement, you may be sure. I fear that many of us have retreated to ivory towers where we read what pleases us, play with our computers, and look for something to write about that will attract a lot of attention. I don’t look for this to improve unless we get a renewed interest in what our “business” really is. Preachers need to lead the way and also teach the members their responsibility toward the souls of others.Enlist God’s Help by Prayer There is a song which says, “Lead me to some soul today; O teach me Lord, just what to say; friends of mine are lost in sin, and cannot find their way. Few there are who seem to care; and few there are that pray; Melt my heart and fill my life: give me one soul today.” I believe we ought to pray for the Lord to help us in the work of “saving souls.” When there appears to be a drought of prospects, ask the Lord to help you open a door. But someone fearfully says, “Will I be lost if I don’t win a soul today!” NO! Someone else is involved and we can’t always succeed. But the danger of our being lost is because we are not trying. The danger lays with our indifference toward the souls.What Could We Expect If We Were To Suddenly Change? What could we expect if all preachers, elders, and paper editors, along with each congregation suddenly returned to what “our business really is?” This is what I think would happen and it would all be for the good.
Of Course, Error Must Be Exposed In the meantime, when real error (not just some slightly different slant) rears it ugly head, sound and faithful brethren must step forth and expose it as needed. We should expose what is wrong and teach what is right and give brethren an opportunity to consider it before we plunge into what sometime seems to be a personal warfare I still have a lot of confidence in our brethren about seeing the truth when it is plainly and lovingly set forth. Let us trust the power of truth when rightly applied. Don’t look too long and hard for something to expose. If you do, you are likely to see things that really never existed. But, when error becomes obvious, don’t put it off, deal with it.We Still Have a Common Mission I remember back in the fifties and sixties how united we were in our fight against institutionalism, centralization, organizational corruption, and the social gospel. All during that time there were things of a “lesser lights” about which we differed, but we rallied to a common and much needed cause. When I was up to my neck in a debate, I remember how so many preachers and others gathered around to help any way they could, great or small. Many of those preachers, in their heart, very likely believed they could have done a better job, but it didn’t matter. They were behind the truth and they were behind my efforts. It was one of the most unselfish outpourings I have ever witnessed, except in cases of natural disaster. My brethren, though the former conflict is in the past, we still have a “common mission” of supreme importance, namely, “to seek and to save the lost.”Let us not forget our real business. Evidence of a
Worldwide Flood Evidences of a worldwide flood can be found in more than 270 flood stories and historic records found in many parts of the world. Following is just one of these stories: Found in the histories of the Toltec Indians of ancient Mexico is a story of the first world that lasted 1,716 years and was destroyed by a great flood that covered even the highest mountains. Their story tells of a few men who escaped the destruction in a "toptlipetlocali," which means a closed chest. Following the great flood, these men began to multiply and built a very high "zacuali," or great tower, to provide a safe place if the world were destroyed again. However, the languages became confused, so different language groups wandered to other parts of the world. The Toltecs claim they started as a family of seven friends and their wives who spoke the same language. They crossed great waters, lived in caves, and wandered 104 years till they came to Hue Hue Tlapalan (southern Mexico). The story reports that this was 520 years after the great flood. Source: Dinosaurs by Design The Spirit Expressly
Says ... True Christian Spirit "Have this mind in you which was also in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 2:5). The spirit of Christ is what the original church sought to emulate. If we restore the New Testament church in a community, this true Christian spirit must be one of the major things we determine to restore. Unselfishness and service are included in the Christian spirit. So Is a readiness to forgive. Also, returning good for evil. Being thoughtful and helpful and speaking kindly to people are also included. In short, this is having the mind of Christ. See Matthew 22:3740, and I Cor. 13:1-13. This spirit of truth with restoration of the New Testament church and Bible teaching all go hand-in-hand. We of the Church of Christ do not claim to be perfect by any means, but we are striving to restore the original Christianity of the Bible. We believe you will find a love for the Lord, love for people, love for truth. Come Worship with us. Worship is at 9:30 AM with Bible Classes at 11:00 AM. Food For Thought “The kind of religion that makes a man look sick, can't be expected to cure the world.” We
hope you find this bulletin useful in your Bible study. 2
Sam 22:31
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