Category worship

Sep 29 2007

How to build a 1st Century church in the 21st Century


 “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself” (2 Corinthians 5:19) Jesus said, “I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it”. (Matthew 16:18) It is clear that Jesus is in the church building business. He came to earth to seek and to save the lost. His mission is plain, His plan is sure. 

When you set out to build a great church like the ones you read of in the book of Acts your motive should be “redemption”. If it isn’t perhaps you should pursue some other endeavor. Tens of thousands of folks have set out to build churches and some of them had a measure of success. Many of them reached their stated goal, to build a church. In my view the goal should always be reaching folks with the good news about Jesus, the goal should not be building a church. If the job of presenting Jesus is done right the church will happen with little effort. 

Jesus mapped out a plan that was magnificent. Every time it has been tried it has been successful and when His plan is not followed there is little success. Matthew 28:18-20 is where we begin. “And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,  teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen”

 Before we “go” we must get Jesus’ “therefore” settled first. “All authority in heaven and on earth” is the most overlooked aspect of evangelism. In previous posts I have made the Bible case for having Holy Spirit power before you begin. I have heard possibly scores of sermons and Bible lessons on this great passage in Matthew 28 and almost all of them overlooked the most important part of the formula for success. We can only go and tell because of Jesus’ authority. If you and I will join God in His redemptive work we must go in His authority and power. It is precisely because He who commissions also gives authority. As the Apostle Paul pointed out in Ephesians 6 “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places”. In 2 Corinthians 2:4 Satan is referred to as “the god of this age”. We must understand that when we go to the lost with the message of reconciliation in Christ that we are invading a wicked, spiritual kingdom controlled by Satan and we can only do this work in the “authority” and “power” of Jesus Christ. 

The “go” of the great commission is assumed. There is no “opting out” of the command. The emphasis is not on going but rather, “making disciples”.  How do we then make disciples? The same way Peter, Paul, Phillip, and others made them. One only has to read through the Acts to see that the message, the only message, was the good news about Jesus. When the apostles were put in jail it was for preaching about Jesus. When the Ethiopian did not understand the book of Isaiah the Holy Spirit sent along Phillip to preach Christ to him. There is no message other than Christ. 

Building a church that is like the 1st Century one must follow the same formula. You will not build a Bible church, focused on Christ, by preaching the church. Many church planters have as their goal a church and their message reflects that goal. In churches of Christ much of our historic ministry has been “corrective” rather than “redemptive”. The most common method employed is to lay out a logical argument in favor of the church of Christ as the only true church, for water baptism for the forgiveness of sins, and to finally win the argument. The result in my view is that our churches are populated by many people whose security is tied to the church of Christ and the fact that they have been immersed and not to Christ alone. 

 While I am on this subject, I am reminded of the seriousness of preaching the pure, unadulterated, good news about Jesus. In Paul’s letter to the churches of Galatia he gave this chilling warning. “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 have said before, so now I say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed. (Galatians 1:8, 9) This is pretty serious language! “If I, an angel from heaven, or anyone else..” preaches anything other than Christ “Let him be accursed”! Inspired by the Holy Spirit, Paul was pretty upset that some were not preaching Christ and Him only. In verse 7 Paul spoke of those who “want to pervert the gospel of Christ”. What had they said or done that was so offensive that Paul would make such a strong defense for the gospel? The Jews who had given allegiance to Christ were teaching Gentile believers that faith in Christ is not enough, to really be saved you also need to be circumcised. That was it? Yes, that was the “perversion” of the gospel in this case. At first glance this doesn’t seem to be that bad, after all we of the faith have Abraham as our father, our history goes back to the old covenant, so what is so wrong about having some foreskin removed? Wouldn’t that be more proof of one’s allegiance to God? Paul would have none of that! The Holy Spirit through the pen of the Apostle says to those who preached circumcision in addition to faith “Let him be accursed”! 

 I ask this with a pure conscience and with love. Am I treading on the same ground if I tell people they are not really saved unless they are members of a local church of Christ? Is it a perversion of the gospel to tell a person they must be re-baptized to really be saved? Is a person in danger of being accursed if he preaches that only people who sing in worship without the accompaniment of instruments are going to heaven? These are serious matters not to be taken lightly.  One more quote from Galatians chapter 1. In verses 3 through 5 Paul clearly lays out the gospel story. “Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen”. The reason we must preach only Christ is that only He can save; only He can deliver us from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God. No church can do that, no religious act can do that, no pattern or from of worship can do that, and water baptism cannot do that. Jesus saves! Nothing or no one else does. 

Building a 1st Century church in the 21st Century requires the right motive, the right authority, the right message, and also the right ministry. We go in Christ’s authority and power, we preach Him and make disciples or (learners), we baptize them in water, and then we begin to teach them ALL Jesus commanded. The model is laid out clearly in Acts. These men and women, including Peter, who were prayed up and filled up with the Holy Spirit, preached Christ, baptized believers, and then the Scriptures say this of those new Christians, “And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship..” (Acts 2:42)What was the “doctrine” of the apostles? Christ! Read it for yourself. They taught that salvation was only though Him and were convinced enough to endure jail, whippings, hunger, and finally death rather than compromise the message of the gospel.

 There was an air of excitement in the air! These new believers met every day to break bread (possibly to share the bread and cup of communion remembering the Lord), the praises of God were on their lips, (they even had the favor of outsiders), they exhibited the unselfish love of God by pooling their resources for the furtherance of the gospel and the care of fellow believers, and the church grew like a prairie fire driven by the wind. There was no focus of how to “do” church; there was no preaching about the church. The church grew because of the Christ who was the focus of their faith, their love, and their surrendered lives, and He alone was their message. 

There is no question in my mind that any people who go into a community any place on the earth and follow this ideal will find God’s blessing and the church will grow, multiply, and men and women will become children of God. If the meetings take place on the patio of a Starbucks, in a rented saloon, in an abandoned theater, or in a beautiful church facility, the results will be the same if Christ is central in every message, motive, and mission. 

 Churches that make much of Jesus grow, and those whose focus is elsewhere do not. Admittedly, there are still false prophets and those who follow them. And the way to mark them out is the Jesus test according to 1 John, Paul’ and Peter’s letters, and Jesus’ own words. 

My prayer and sincere hope is that we will see scores of churches rise up whose only goal is the one Paul talked to the Corinthians about. I close this post with his words.    

                            “Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation. Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” 
(2 Corinthians 5:18-21) 

Grace to you,
Royce Ogle  

Aug 28 2007

Running like the wind


Legalists are fond of measuring spiritual things by human means. 5 tidy steps and whamo! A Christian! Attend services on Sunday a.m., Sunday p.m. and Wed p.m. give a little, sing some, listen to the preacher some, listen to someone pray, eat a cracker, drink some juice and you are considered to be “faithful”.

The Pharisees of Jesus’ day measured spirituality in much the same way didn’t they? They decided who was in and who was out by human observation. What they could ascertain about an individual by the 5 senses, (or by the “flesh”) was how they measured the relationship of a man with God.

Can we know all about a man by what we see, hear, taste, smell, and feel? No, because man looks at the outward appearance but God looks at the heart. That doesn’t stop us from trying though does it? We observe the baptism of someone and then make the statement, “He was immersed for the forgiveness of his sins so that makes him my brother”. Oh does it? Were you able to see faith? Could you know if there was true repentance? Of course not. Never mind that other stuff, I want to believe my eyes and ears and what “they” have always said……

Jesus came to the outsiders, the down and out, the wicked, and He loved them, forgave them, and saved them. He saw their faith, knew their hearts. He taught like no other man ever had. Then He explained the law by saying “The law says….., But I say unto you……” and they were astonished at His statements. You mean to tell me that if I hate my brother I am guilty of murder? Good grief! Are you nuts? If I have a brief fantasy watching the women bathe at the river I have become an adulterer? You must be kidding!

No, God is a Spirit and those who worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in truth. Those are truths not observable by human means. We can’t place them some where on a “pattern” or a “plan” can we? Remember Nicodemus? Jesus laid some truth on him that caused him to exclaim “How can these things be?” I can just imagine how shocked he must have been when Jesus said to him:

“The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” (John 3:8)

Unless I missed something, Jesus has just taught one of  the leaders of the Jews a lesson in theology. “Nick my friend, you can’t observe who is in my kingdom and who is not by human observation any more than you can monitor and measure the wind. They have been set free. Free to run like the wind.”

Grace to you
Royce Ogle

May 25 2007

Give me that old time religion…..?


“It was good enough for my mother and its good enough for me, give me that old time religion, give me that old time religion.” My earliest memories of church include hearing that song at home prayer meetings, little country churches, and the front porches of rough wooden houses in the Blue Ridge hills of North Carolina.

 But do we really want that “Old time religion”?

 I fear that most of what was experienced then, and much of what is experienced now, is just that, “religion”. In my view religion is a series of attempts to find favor with God. In other words, it is trying to do some act, or several acts with a view of getting God to like us, or perhaps to even love us. The opposite of religion is Christianity which  is God’s perfect work of setting undeserving trangressors right with Himself and entering into a loving relationship with them through Christ and wholly upon Christ’s merit.

 Are you religious or are you in a loving relationship with God through Jesus? What is passed off as Christianity in many places is nothing more or less than “that old time religion”. What motivates your Sunday morning attendence at church  services? Duty or love? If you attend and sing 3 to 5 songs, give some money, listen to 2 or 3 prayers, participate in the  Lord’s Supper, and listen to the preacher, have you really worshipped? Is that what worship is about, doing things? I will  readily admit that all of these 5 things can be worshipful, but the simple doing of them is not necessarily worship.

 You  see, a lost person can do those things quite well, and even more according to Jesus’ own words. (Matthew 7:21-23) Jesus made it quite clear that not everyone who says he or she is a Christian really is. (Matthew 7:21)

 Paul’s letter to the church at Rome made it clear that worship is much more than tagging the bases on Sunday. He characterized worshippers as “living sacrifices” whose lives are marked with holy living. This he says is “reasonable” acts of service, or a better translation is “spiritual service of worship”. (Romans 12:1,2) Worship is spiritual according to Jesus. (John 4:21-24) He said God “is seeking” people to worship Him who will worship in “spirit” and in “truth”. 

We flesh bound humans tend to go to one extreme or the other. We either lean heavily on the “spirit” part of the equation, resulting in many of the problems Paul addressed in the Corinthian church related to giftedness and the use of spiritual gifts, or we put far to much emphasis on “truth” at the expense of “Spirit” and go through the motions “having
 a form of Godliness but denying His power”. (2 Timothy 3:5) The context Paul was addressing to young Timothy was false teachers but the principal applies to all of us. Jesus made it clear when He spoke of those who honor Him with their lips but whose hearts are far from Him. (Matthew 15:8; Mark 7:6) I ask this, are the people who only go through  the motions on Sunday morning with hearts far from God in any better standing with God than the ones who are moral, don’t use bad language, raise good kids, and do good works through a civic club like the Lions Club or some other?

 It is clear that many do think so, and not only do they believe they are right, but also believe they are far superior to everyone else, even other “Christians”. Now, let me quickly add that I can’t see a persons heart as Christ can. But an honest, casual observer can spot a sham with little effort.

 Christ died in your place and mine, not to make actors but to give everlasting life to spiritually dead sinners whose lives were an offence to a Holy God. He did not come to offer a new start but rather a new heart.

How sad to be religious but lost. Jesus gave a parable about a sheepfold and the way in by “The good Shepherd” (John 10:1-16) Those who try to enter by their own faithfulness, their own “doing”, will be lost. Jesus said “I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no man comes to the Father but by me”. (John 14:6).

 All of the religion of a thousand worlds, the good deeds of every person, and the faithfulness of the best of human history can not give life to the dead. (Ephesians 2:1-4)

 “Give me that old time religion”? No, give me Jesus!

Grace to you,
Royce