____________________________________________________ THE GOSPEL OBSERVER "Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations...teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:19,20). ____________________________________________________ October 26, 1997 ____________________________________________________ Denominationalizing the Church (Part Six) by Roy E. Cogdill In our last article we set forth the simple pattern of New Testament church organization: (1) Christ is the head over all things to the church -- the only head it has, and his authority the only authority in it (Eph. 1:21-23). (2) Believers who were saved by their obedience to the Gospel in every community where it was preached were added together to constitute the ``church of Christ'' in that community (Acts 2:41-47; Acts 4:4,32; Acts 5:14; Acts 6:7; Acts 9:31; Acts 11:19-26; Acts 14:21-23; Acts 16:4-5; Acts 15:41; Romans 16:4; Romans 16:16; I Cor. 16:19; II Cor. 8:1,19,23; II Cor. 11:8,28; II Cor. 12:13; Gal. 1:22; I Thess. 2:14; II Thess. 1:4; Rev. 1:4,11,20; Rev. 2:7,11,17,29; Rev. 3:6,13,22; Rev. 22:16). In all of these above passages the reference is to the community of saved believers who constituted the church in the particular locality or area mentioned. This means that repeatedly in the New Testament the arrangement made by divine wisdom for the church, as a body unaffiliated with any other in manner, except in a common faith, salvation, and relationship with deity, existed and carried on the work and worship of the Lord. This is all that is found in the way of an organic body in New Testament scriptures that can be identified with the church of our Lord. We have learned, further, that each of these ``churches of Christ'' had the same organization: (1) elders, bishops, or pastors in every church (Acts 14:23); (2) that they were made up of saints (Phil. 1:1; I Cor. 1:1-2); (3) and that they had men who served in a special sense called deacons (Phil. 1:1; 1 Tim. 3:8-13). Both elders and deacons were men chosen by a divine standard of qualifications and appointed to do the work ordained of the Lord for them to do. Both are essential to the maturity of the church, therefore, and to a proper respect for God's plan for the operation of the church in its fullest capacity. No man has the right to dismiss these divine appointments any more than any other in the church, and it is just as much a matter of apostasy to teach there is no need for them today as to pervert this local organization to serve a brotherhood plan and purpose. Both evidence disrespect for divine authority. The New Testament teaches concerning the work of elders, bishops, or pastors that they are to have the oversight of the church. These three terms are used interchangeably in Acts 20:17-28. They were the same men in the Ephesian church and doing the same work. The words come from three words in the original language of the New Testament: elder is from ``presbuteros''; bishop from ``episcopos''; and pastor from ``poimenas.'' The word ``presbuteros'' is defined as it is used concerning this organization of the church -- ``(3) in the Christian churches, those who, being raised up and qualified by the work of the Holy Spirit, were appointed to have the spiritual care of, and to exercise oversight over, the churches. To these the term bishops, episkopoi, or overseers, is applied (see Acts 20:17-28, and Titus 1:5-7), the latter term indicating the nature of their work, presbuteroi, their maturity of spiritual experience. The divine arrangement seen throughout the New Testament was for a plurality of these to be appointed in each church'' (An Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, by W. E. Vine). It is sometimes contended that the word ``elder'' means only older men. There can be no question that the term ``presbuteros'' is sometimes used to denote age, or a person advanced in life. But it does not always mean that; and it never makes simply physical age a qualification of ``elders'' to oversee the work of the churches, except as physical age is required in order to develop Christian experience and maturity and to keep one from being a ``novice'' or a new hand (I Tim. 3:6). It is also contended that the work of elders or bishops belonged only to the age of miracles and passed away with that age, and that God has not ordained that such should exist in the work of the church today. The men who ordinarily so contend think, however, that the work of an ``evangelist'' has continued, and they have no hesitancy assuming such a work and even becoming officious in their very attitude as such. The fact is that no passage teaches that elders were to cease in the churches when miracles ceased or that the work of an elder in the New Testament day was dependent upon some miraculous endowment any more than any work of the church. In New Testament days all who were charged with special responsibility in the Lord's Church were distributed extraordinary endowments that they might under the direction of divine guidance perform their service and demonstrate to men the divine will. In this we see that the divine pattern of church government or supervision did not include the continuation of these extraordinary endowments but rather called for their discontinuation when revelation had been fully completed and the church had come to maturity through the knowledge of the divine will (I Corinthians 13:8-13; Ephesians 4:7-16). Under these qualified men the churches of the New Testament day carried out their divine mission. This government was adequate to the fulfillment of God's purposes in His churches then and it is adequate now. When this divine pattern (elders in every church) is not followed, then the church is left without any plan or means of carrying out the will of the Lord and at the mercy of every novice, untaught, unscrupulous, self-willed, individual that aspires to ``greatness in the Kingdom of God'' through prominence or by the exercise of authoritative direction or control. The church without this divine pattern of government is ``without form and void'' like the earth was before God set things in order in the beginning. Majority control is the only alternative to dictatorial power in the hands of a few (sometimes only one) who assume the right to direct the affairs of the church, when the church has no organization after the divine pattern. God has assigned the work of elders in the churches of Christ. They have no primary authority to exercise or residual right to direct the work of the Lord's Church by their own will. Like all other Christians who serve in any capacity they are prescribed, bound, limited, and restrained by what the Lord authorizes and can move only in harmony with his will. One of the qualifications laid down in the word of God is that they must not be ``self-will'' men (Titus 1:7). When any man uses the office of ``bishop'' to have his own way or follow his own will, he is not fit to be an elder for the reason that he is disqualified by such a disposition. The fact that there are men who mistakenly are selected or appointed and have such disposition and abuse the privilege of so serving the Lord does not mean that we have the license or right to dispense with the divine plan. There are unworthy preachers too. Must we dispense with preaching the Gospel? There are also apostate churches, so shall we just dismiss the idea of having the church in existence today. There is no justification in running past Jerusalem in trying to avoid Rome and knocking ourselves out on the walls of Jericho. One extreme is no more right than another. -- January 20, 1966 ___________________________________________ "Ere you left your room this morning, did you think to pray?" ___________________________________________ Serving God by Serving Others by Gene Taylor Those who are obedient to the gospel become servants of righteousness (Romans 6:17-18). As servants, they are to serve. They are to be doing those good works for which they were created in Christ Jesus (Eph. 2:10). In fact, they are to be ``zealous'' for those works (Titus 2:14). Romans 12:1-2 encourages Christians to be ``living sacrifices'' for the Lord. That is accomplished when we start living for the Lord and doing those things His will would have us do. One of the things the Lord wants His disciples to do is to serve others. He illustrated and emphasized this in John 13. At what many have come to call the ``Last Supper,'' Jesus paused, girded Himself with a towel, took water, and washed His disciples' feet. He told them, ``You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater then he who sent him'' (John 13:13-16). Jesus was not binding the rite of ``foot-washing''; rather, He was showing that those who would be His disciples were to be of a mind to serve others, regard their needs, and do what they could to help them. James declares that if one is going to have a saving faith, that serving others is an essential aspect of that faith. In the second chapter he states, ``What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, `Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,' but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead'' (James 2:14-17). One can profess again and again to be a Christian and to have great faith, but if he does not see to the needs of his brethren he, in reality, has no faith. Serving others is an important matter to the Lord. When He depicted the judgment scene in Matthew 25, He stressed how important it is to Him and how it should be to us for He showed that it affects one's eternal destiny. To the righteous He said, ```Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.' Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, `Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?' And the King will answer and say to them, `Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to me''' (Matt. 25:34-40). The unrighteous were told to depart because they had neglected to be of service to others (Matt. 25:41-46). Mike Waters wrote, ``Our Lord and Savior set a superlative example of serving others during his brief three-year ministry...A study of the life of Christ will reveal a character unconcerned with the serving of self. Jesus took advantage of every opportunity to instill this same trait in his disciples. Christ wanted his disciples to understand that they must learn to think little of serving self and much of serving others'' (Spreading the Word, Vol. 3, No. 8, March/April 1991). Opportunities abound for those who would be like Christ to demonstrate their love for Him by their service to their brethren. They can start by giving their brethren a friendly hello and a warm greeting. They can speak a kind word of encouragement; send a card to the sick or those absent from services; prepare a meal for the shut-ins; visit the sick, elderly, the weak, or discouraged; help the sick and/or elderly with chores; provide financial assistance when needed; and, of course, pray for their brethren. It is vitally important for all Christians to actively serve their brethren for in so doing, they serve the Lord. -- Via Reflections of Truth ___________________________________________ Nothing To Live For by David Watts Somebody once said, ``Many people have everything to live with and nothing to live for.'' How true that is. Many wealthy people live hollow, meaningless lives. They have more than enough possessions to make life comfortable, but they have little purpose in life to make it meaningful. It takes decades before some people eventually realize that life lived for mere self-indulgence is ultimately an empty life. A time can come, however, when even the shiniest new car, or the biggest house, or the flashiest jewelry, can't mask the hollowness of a life without high purpose. The Bible doesn't condemn all wealth, and new cars and nice houses are not wrong. But lasting satisfaction doesn't come from mere things or self-indulgence. On the other hand, people with little to live with may have much to live for. For example, Jesus' apostles were not wealthy (Acts 3:6), but their lives had real purpose. The scriptures assures us that God can bring purpose into our lives too. He can give us something to live for that is missing from the lives of people whose lives are hollow and without purpose. It has been said that ``a man who has not lost himself in a cause bigger than himself, has missed one of life's mountaintop experience that can last the rest of your life --it can ultimately take you to be with God. -- Via Gospel Power, 4/6/97 ___________________________________________ Divers Diseases The old mountain preacher's text was: ``They brought to Jesus those that were taken with divers diseases.'' The old preacher said, ``Now doctors can scrutinize you, analyze you, and sometimes cure your ills and make you well. But when you have divers diseases, then only the Lord can cure you. Divers diseases include: DIVING for the door after Bible school is over; DIVING for the couch and TV set on Sunday evening. Some DIVE for the car and take a weekend trip. Some DIVE for a county fair; forsaking the assembly and teaching. Still, some DIVE into a bag of excuses about the work that they should be doing or should have done. Yes, brethren, it takes the Lord to cure you of divers diseases.'' -- author unknown ___________________________________________ NEWS & NOTES Being the last Sunday of the month, tonight will be our ``sing night.'' If there are some songs you would like to have led, please mention this to one of the song leaders prior to the service. Let's all really sing out and make a joyful noise unto the Lord! ________________________________________ Tri-State CHURCH OF CHRIST 713 13th Street, Ashland, Kentucky 41101 Sunday: 10:00 A.M. Bible class 10:50 A.M. Worship 6:30 P.M. Worship Wednesday: 7:30 P.M. Bible study evangelist/editor: Tom Edwards (606) 325-9742 e-mail: tedwards@zoomnet.net Gospel Observer web site: http://www.zoomnet.net/~tedwards/go ________________________________________