What Does the Bible Say About Why Am I A Member of the Church of Christ #2?

In this second episode of why am I a member of the Church of Christ, Glenn begins by noticing the warning Paul gave to the elders of the local church at Ephesus about how there would be those among them who would seek to draw away disciples to follow them. Jesus gave the same warning, and we discuss that situation as well as the specific name Jesus gave them. Jesus discussed certain ones who thought they were following what God said but were in fact not doing so. We discuss what Jesus said to them and how important it is to keep the Lord's commands. We look at what Jesus told His apostles about Him sending the Holy Spirit after He left them and why He was sending Him. We note our discussion in the last episode about Jesus being the builder of the Church of Christ that is referred to in the New Testament. We point out that Jesus is the foundation of His Church, as well as the King over His Kingdom, which is simply another way His Church is described. We talk about how important it is for us to speak and follow what the words in the Bible say. For instance, we know that He tells us that everything we need to obey God and be pleasing to Him is provided in His words. We discuss what the Hebrew writer said about how God communicated to man in the Old Testament and how he does that today. We note the problem that we see in the world of denominations today, what they have done and why this is so important to understand. We begin our discussion about when the Church of Christ was established, by noting that the division or denominating of the Lord's Church was criticized very early by Paul the apostle, which was contrary to the unity the Lord requires. In the next episode, we will look at when the Church of Christ was established. Take about 30-minutes to listen in on our discussion. Have your Bible handy so you can verify what we are saying. There is a transcript of this Buzzsprout episode provided for your convenience.

Transcript

Fred Gosnell: 0:00

This is a presentation of the Woodland church of Christ, meeting at 3370 Broad Street in Sumter, South Carolina. We meet for worship on Sunday at ten thirty am and five thirty pm. We meet for bible study at nine thirty am on Sunday and seven pm on Wednesday. If you have questions or comments on this lesson, you may email them to Arnie Granke at a, g, r, a, n, k, e,440718@twc.com or to Glenn Landrum at s, c, b, a, m, a, b, o, y, 2 003@yahoo.com or to Eric McClam at e, r, i, c, m, c, c, l, a, m, 50@outlook.com or to Fred Gosnell at f, g, o, s, n, e, l, l, @, f,t,c - i.net,

Arnie: 0:55

Good afternoon. This is what does the Bible say, brought to you by the church of Christ at Woodland in Sumter, South Carolina. We certainly hope that if you happen to be in the vicinity, perhaps temporarily or even permanently assigned at Shaw Air Force Base, or just viewing some of the sites around this this area of the state, we would be delighted to have you come worship with us and study with us and speak with us with regard to Bible things here at Woodland. We're just up the road, about two miles from the main gate of Shaw Air Force base at 3370 Broad Street extension. So we would look forward to having you with us. Last week, we began talking about why I am a member of the Church of Christ, and we had a few more things that we wanted to share with you. So Glenn, I'm going to pass this to you and let you pick it up from there.

Glenn: 2:06

Well, where we ended up last week, we were talking about what the church is called, or a name for the church. And I'm going to read the paragraph that we ended up on last week because it leads into the scripture that we did not get to read last week. So today, when we refer to the church, we should be speaking of the church that belongs to Jesus Christ. It is the one he is ruling over that he is the head of and He is the Savior of. You should be able to see that sh that the church belongs to Jesus Christ, therefore it should wear his name. Today, there are over 2000 groups or denominations that call themselves Christian, but most of them wear names that do not indicate or reflect that Christ is the owner of the Church. You know many of the different names that the churches today wear. These are names of different men, such as Baptist, Wesleyan, Lutheran, Saint James, Saint John, etc. Or it's of different doctrines, such as Catholic Presbyterian, Methodist, Mormon, Holiness, etc, And many of others that do not reflect Christ as being the owner. In Acts 20, 28, through 31 we find Paul warning the elders of the church in Ephesus of those that would come in among them and lead many astray. And that reads, this is Acts, 20 verses, 28 to 3; Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd of the church of God, which He purchased with His own blood. For I know this, that after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Also from among yourselves, men will rise up speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after themselves. Therefore watch and remember that for three years I did not cease to warn everyone, night and day with tears. So Paul is warning the Ephesian elders, as it were, the elders of the church in Ephesus, about false teachers, about people that would be coming in and trying to lead the the flock, or the church, members of the Church away from correct doctrine.

Fred Gosnell: 4:42

Well, you know,Jesus warned the people there that there would be false prophets in Matthew 7, 15, and 16. Again, he says that, Beware of false prophets who come to you in sheeps clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from thistles? Of course, he said the same thing in Matthew 24 verse 11. So look at those two verses that he says that there will only be a few who find and follow the path, straight is the gate and narrow is the way. And few there be that follow it, he says, at least through righteousness to heaven. So in verses 21 to 23 in the same chapter, Jesus said there would be many who claim to be doing all the good and wonderful things, but they were not doing God's will. Therefore they were rejected and told to depart from Jesus because they were committing iniquity or lawlessness is is the word for sin. So there's many other passages that show that there would be and will be those who try to deceive those who try to follow Christ. So what are these people called? Of course, you may be surprised because of the false teaching on this as well. They are called antichrist. In first John 2, 22, and 23 notice what John says. He says, Who is a liar, but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ, He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son. Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either. He who acknowledges the Son has the Father also. So some, some people, are looking for antichrist to come. Of course, antichrist is someone who denies Christ. They've been here since the first century, and they're still here, and they'll always be here as long as they deny him. So I know some are saying that all these that are not wearing the name of Jesus Christ are not denying that Jesus is the Christ and that God is the Father. Of course, you need to carefully consider that passage in Matthew 7, 21, to 23 and let's just, let's just go there. Give me a second here, and we'll, we'll read that again. And Jesus there in verse, beginning in verse 21 he says, Now, not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father, which is in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name and in thy name, have cast out devils and in thy name done many wonderful works? Then will I profess unto them. I never knew you depart from me ye that work iniquity or lawlessness. And of course, that's the tendency. People tend to think that the things that they're doing, they think they're good, and they may be good from a human standpoint, but if they're not what Jesus tells us to do, what is his will, then it doesn't matter how we feel about it. And he says that, you know you're working lawlessness. So those were or will be, the people who are believing in and doing great things for God. But Jesus, again, says they were or are not doing God's will. So remember John 14, verse 15 simply says, Jesus said, If you love Me, keep My commandments.

Eric: 8:11

Keeping God and Jesus' commandments is more than staying in line with the red letters or the word that Jesus spoke. John recorded what Jesus said about the Holy Spirit in John 15, verse 26 he said, But when the Helper comes whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me. Then he also said, in John chapter 16, verses 13 to 15. Christ said, However, when he the spirit of truth has come, He will guide you unto all truth, for He will not speak of His own authority, but whatever He hears, He will speak, and He will tell you things to come. He will glorify Me, for He will take of what is mine and declare it unto you, All things that the Father has are mine. Therefore I said that he will take of Mine and declare it to you. Jesus told the apostles that the Holy Spirit will come to them after he left them, and will guide them into or unto all truth. This was saying that there still be more truth to be taught them. In reading the four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, we learn the moral teaching of Jesus, both right and wrong. We learn how to personally live our lives from Jesus teaching. What do? What we do not learn from Jesus personal teaching while he was here on the earth, is any information about the church except that is was that it was his church. And the actions with the church that was primarily the teaching of the Holy Spirit to the apostles and those that follow who wrote the epistles. It is Acts and the epistles that we find the informations concerning the Lord's church. You may ask why Jesus decided to convey the message in this manner, but we do not know. We can assume that he did that, He did it that way, because the church did not exist until after his death, resurrection and ascension. We will see later in the study when the church began, and how it began, and who was involved.

Arnie: 10:47

So you know, some of the things that we've, that we've covered so far are really basic things that we need to know about answering the question, Why am I a member of the Church of Christ? So we've, we've had a kind of an introduction in in this regard. We learned that basically, or biblically rather, speaking, the church is, we're not talking about a building, but we're talking about a body of believers who make up Christ's Church. Many people might be confused about this because Jesus said He would build His Church, which would make some think that he planned to physically build a, a building, an edifice, stone and brick and mortar and all those those kinds of things. And yet that that wasn't what he had in mind and and he wasn't going to call that structure the Church. And of course, that's not the case. Nowhere in the New Testament is the church referred to as a as a building and and we covered this very well so so far. We've talked about the importance of using God's word, that which is the Bible, to learn about the Church that God had and Jesus wanted us to be members of. We've talked now about a bit about the Church, what it should be called, what the name, if you will, would be. The Church of our Lord Jesus, Christ, should be identified by a term that indicates ownership. Who is it that owns the church? In this case, course, we see that that Jesus was the builder of the Church, and therefore the Church belongs to to him.

Glenn: 12:54

Well, one of the factors that we have already gotten started on is who built the Church and who is its foundation. We've established that Jesus Christ is the true builder of the Church we read about it in the New Testament, and he is the foundation of that Church, as well as the head of that Church, or the king of that kingdom. When we when there is a head of an organization, it is that person who makes the rules and sets the standards of that organization. All rules and standards of a kingdom are authorized by the king. No law or rule can be made unless the king approves it by setting his seal of approval upon the new law or rule. As Christians in Christ's Church, our standard, our set of rules, our set of laws, is the Bible, nothing more, nothing less. One of the passage we read at the beginning, first, Peter 4, 11, applies, If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God, if any one ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things, God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen. Well, this passage lets us know that whatever we speak concerning God's Word, we must speak what the words of the Bible says. And another passage is in Second Timothy, 3, 16, and 17. All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. You will hear us use this scripture often, for it is of great importance when we are speaking of God's Word. This passage tells us a few things. God's Word gives us doctrine, reproof, correction, instruction in righteousness. God's word is sufficient to make us complete in knowledge, so that we can be complete and complete the task that God has given us.

Fred Gosnell: 15:10

Well, in another passage that you will hear us use often is Second Peter, one, two through four, and there Peter right there, he says, Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and Jesus, our Lord, as his divine power, has given us all things that pertain to life godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us by glory and virtue, by which hath been given to us exceeding great and precious promises that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. So it says that he's given us all things that pertain to life and godliness. There's , didn't leave anything out. We've got everything that we need in the words that he has provided. So of course, this is another important passage that lets us know that through Jesus, that's through his authority has provided us with everything we need for the conduct of our lives and to live godly lives. He has given us these things through his word the Bible. Many people say that, well, they exercise a different standard. They make their own rules about how one should become a Christian and enter the church, the structure of the church, the conduct of worship in the church, the leadership of the church, and a number of other things, including the name of the church, concerning being a Christian and and the leaders and the church. We may have been given everything we need in God's word to conduct our lives and be and strive to be righteous. We don't need anything else, just God's word.

Eric: 16:40

And in John 14, verse six, Jesus said, Jesus said to him, I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through me. We have all read this passage many times that it sounds simple, but it really carries tremendous weight. Jesus said that the word that the word that would that he has spoken, and this include the words written by those He gave authority to write, through the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Remember the first lesson where we read about, we read this about Jesus sending the Holy Spirit to the apostles after he had died, was buried, resurrection and ascended. This is important. Jesus words are not only those words we find in the four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. But his words are also the ones recorded by those given the Holy Spirit's guidance to write those things. In Hebrews, chapter one, verses one and two, it says, God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in times past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days, spoken to us by his Son, whom he has appointed heir of all things, through through whom also he made the world. This passage established that God in the Old Testament time, spoke through fathers and prophets. But in this age, the New Testament, age he's he has spoken through Jesus, and those Jesus authorized. They are the ones who wrote Acts, the Epistles and Revelation. So what we have established is that it is through God's word, and only through God's word that we receive instructions or information on becoming a Christian, living as a Christian, and all things about the Church,

Arnie: 18:49

Eric, those are, those are good thoughts that you've suggested there, because what we see in the world of denominations is a set, sort of an arrangement where the group heading that denomination says they're guided by God's word, but they have a set of bylaws and creeds and manuals and liturgies, catechisms that are established by various synods and presbyteries and councils, general assemblies and conferences, or some, in some cases, papal authority. When we see those things, there are rules, laws, standards that are established by men who are neither God nor Jesus, Christ nor the Holy Spirit. What men have done is decided that the Bible's not given enough information that it's vague in certain areas. That the information contained in it is out of date in some way, so that they set up their own groups to give their own interpretation of God's word, or what they think it ought to be, and they add to it and take away from God's Word. Remember friends those passages about adding to God's Word or taking away from it that we've that we've read. We may think that it's only directed to lowly regular Christians, and not to the ones who are trained in semmin, seminaries and and in charge of their denominations. Guess what? Those statements are directed to everyone, everyone, everything the Bible says is, is a value to everyone and keeps us on the track. If we vary away from it, we're like a train that's that's just derailed. We're not going to get to the destination that we hope that we would, that we would get to. We've, we've read several passages of Scripture already last, between last week and and this week and and First Peter 4, 11, is one. Second. Timothy three, verses 16 and 17 is another. We've we've also read Hebrews chapter one, verses, verses one and two. Glenn, I'm going to go ahead and pass it to you.

Glenn: 21:39

From all this information we should take from it, the following God's Word is truth. It is on only through His truth, that's his word, that we can be pleasing to Him to become Christians, worship Him in His Church as he would have us to and inherit eternal life or heaven. If any, anyone other than God, through His word the Bible, is making any of the rules or setting standards, establishing a church, we know that is not within the Church of Christ. You need to examine this. This is one of the reasons I'm a member of the Church of Christ. Christ built it. It is through his word that we get all information concerning it, and we look to his word for the conduct of the church.

Fred Gosnell: 22:35

So I guess that brings us to the question, when was a church established? So many will say, well, that point, the points that we're making about the church are just being picky so or being too critical, and that these details do not matter. So we believe that they do, and believe that we have established a standard for everything concerning serving God His Word, the Bible. Through the years since Christ's death and the following deaths of those who were inspired to write His word, many groups, denominations have made changes. They've added to or they've taken away from God's Word in many areas. So these areas started in the first century. Remember what Paul told the Ephesians there in Acts chapter 20, that there would be those who would enter among them and would draw away people, those from the flock. And of course, he was warning them about that. And of course, history shows us that that happened. Of course, the flock that he was talking about was the the local church there, Church of God, which He purchased with His own blood and led them straight. So again, Jesus spoke about it in Matthew 7, 15, through 20, which we also read. So we have evidence of it in two passages in particular. So Paul went to the Corinthians, First Corinthians, chapter 1, 11, to 13. He said, Now, for it has been declared to me, concerning you, my brethren, by those of Chloe's household, that there are contentions among you. Now I say this, that each of you say I am of Paul, or I am of Apollos, I'm of Cephas. I'm of Christ. Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? So we see that very early in this passage that Paul was admonishing the Christians in Corinth, members of the church, there of their contentions among one another. They were dividing themselves into groups following different men, Paul, Apollos, Peter and even Christ dividing in that way. So Paul asked them, If Christ was divided. Of course, the answer is certainly not.

Eric: 25:01

The second passage that we'll be reading is coming from Galatians, chapter one, verses six through nine, and Paul said, I marvel that you are turning away soon. Turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ to a different gospel, which is not another. But there are some of, there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed. As we had said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed. Now look out. Look at how concerned Paul is about the church in Galatia departing from the truth a different gospel. He mentioned that none, that no one, not even an angel from heaven, should not teach or preach something different than had already been preached by the inspired apostle who had brought them the gospel. This is serious, and it certainly supports what we have said about not changing God's word. No one, not even an angel from heaven, has that authority.

Arnie: 26:27

Let me. Let me refer you to John chapter 17, if you have your Bible handy, and if you don't, we'll read it to you anyway, beginning in verse 20, there. I do not pray, Jesus is speaking. I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they all may be one as You, Father, are in Me and I in you, that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me, and the glory which You gave me, I have given them, that they may be one, just as we are one. I in them and you in Me, that they may be made perfect in one, that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them as you have loved me. Father, I desire that they, also, whom you gave me, may be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory, which You have given me For you loved me before the foundation of the world. Jesus' prayer is very specific in that he desired all those who followed him to be united, to be one and speaking the same thing. We see the turmoil caused by people believing and saying different things in our society, for example, in in governments and and especially in the church. Why are there over 2000 denominations? And that's no exaggeration. There may be even more than than that, that call themselves Christian, but teach contradictory doctrines because they're divided and have departed the truth of the Bible. If one of them is right, then the other one, the next one, is wrong. We just can't all be wrong, all be right, differing in the things that we're saying that the Bible teaches, either stick with God's Word or we're off in the la la land somewhere, I'm afraid.

Glenn: 28:55

Well, you know, we've given you a lot of information about why God's word is important, and that God's word is absolutely true, and it is what applies to us. When we depart from that that word, just like the Galatian churches did, they were, they were departing from the gospel that had been preached to them. Well, that gospel that was preached to them, today, we have it in this book we call the Bible. If we depart from the words that we find in it, today, we are doing just like the Galatians. Actually, we may even be doing just like the Corinthians did in the passage we read in First Corinthians, one where they started calling themselves Paul, of Paul, of of Peter, of Apollos, of Christ. Well, each one of them, they were calling themselves by someone's name. We mentioned this earlier in this lesson, that. That that people have started to call themselves by other others, names, or others, doctrines, things of that nature. We have to be very careful of this, and we have to pay attention to what we're doing. This is going we're coming to to a close on, on the lesson. So what we've learned today. We've learned that, well, I'm a member of the Church of Christ because it was established by Christ. It wears his name. It uses God's word as an example. Well, you can become a child of God, a, and become, be placed a member of that church by Christ when you hear God's word. That would be Romans, 10 and 10, believing that word that Jesus is the Christ who died for you in John 3, 16, through 18, confessing your sins, find that in Matthew 10, 32, repenting of your sins. In Luke 13, three and verse five, it says the same thing two times and being baptized for the forgiveness of your sins, we will find that in Acts 238, you would be added to that church, Acts 2, 47. That concludes our lesson tonight. We hope that you will go through it and listen to it, read the scriptures that we provided to you, and hopefully that you can come to an agreement with us.