Column/Opinion
QUESTION: In the area around the Metroplex there are almost 300 denominations. I cannot believe that Christ founded all these various religious groups. How can one know about the church that Jesus Christ founded?
ANSWER: What an insightful question. When one carefully studies the New Testament, it is obvious that Jesus Christ built one church. Jesus established only one church. In Matthew 16:18 Christ plainly stated: “I will build My church….” One cannot find where Jesus stated anywhere that He would build His “churches.”
Jesus Christ taught that “the seed is the word of God” (Luke 8:11). We know that seed produces after its own kind. When the Word of God (the seed) is planted and obeyed in its original form, it will bear the same fruit. When one follows the pattern for the church of the New Testament, it will be the same church in the 21st century that was produced in the first century. If not, why not?
In the New Testament we find the exact term “the church” seventy times! The word “the” is a definite article. A definite article points to a particular person, place or thing. Here it is called the “body of Christ” (Eph. 1:23; 4:12; Col. 1:18,24). It is called “the kingdom of God” (John 3:5). Many congregations of the one church are called “the churches of Christ” (Rom. 16:16). Individual members are called disciples or Christians (Acts 6:1, 2, 7; 9:1, 19, 25-26, 36; 11:26, 29; 16:1; 19:1, 9, 30; 20:1, 7, 30; 21:4, 16; 26:28). Acts 11:26 tells us that “the disciples were called Christians.”
New Testament worship was upon the first day of every week. It included singing (Ephesians 5:19), praying and teaching (Acts 2:42), observance of the Lord’s Supper (Acts 20:7), and giving as each one prospered (1 Corinthians 16:1-2). Worship is rendered to the Lord God in spirit and in truth (John 4:21-24).
God’s plan for saving man has not changed. One must hear the Gospel (Rom. 10:17); believe that Christ is God’s Son (John 8:24); repent of all sin (Acts 2:38; 17:30); confess that faith in Christ (Acts 8:37; Romans 10:9-10); and be baptized into the name of the timeless Trinity for the remission of sin (Acts 2:38; 22:16). The Lord will add the saved believer to His one church (Acts 2:47). In Acts chapter two the Lord did not add one person to any man-made denomination of that day for one simple reason. None of them existed in that day, not the first one.
A warm welcome awaits you at all the services of the church of Christ meeting at the corner of Main and Ash Streets in Maysville. We offer Bible classes Sunday morning at 10 a.m. and Wednesday evenings at 6 p.m. We worship the Lord God each Sunday at 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. We invite your Bible questions and also offer a free Bible Correspondence Course. Contact us at (405) 867-4807, or write us at P.O. Box 562 in Maysville, OK 73057. You can email Jess at jessandterr@yahoo.com. Please come and be our guest this Sunday morning.