Devotional
Author: Brandi With An I
•11:32 AM
Seven Gospel Imperatives
by J. Randal Matheny
Forthright Magazine

Wisdom sparkles from every line of Scripture. 

To fulfill our mission of proclaiming Christ to the world, look to other emissaries of peace for a great education in working with people and doing the will of God. 

The travels and experiences of the apostle Paul in Acts 19 provide many lessons for the followers of Christ. 

Open your Bibles and read Acts19:1-41; then follow the Seven Gospel Imperatives.

#1. Do it right (1-7). Make sure your obedience is complete, and help others to obey the Lord Jesus in all things, as he commanded in Matthew 28:20. A partial or incorrect obedience requires proper knowledge and correct compliance.

#2. Find your platform (8-10). The gospel is for proclamation. When the synagogue closed its doors to him, Paul found a school from which to preach. Discover how you can get out in the community to reach people.

#3. Know what you're doing (11-16). Going off half-cocked by going through the motions without personal obedience and submission to God will leave you exposed and bruised.

#4. Don't skip repentance (17-20). Not until sinfulness is exposed -- confessed and repented of --will God have space to remake us and use us for the gospel.

#5. Make plans for the gospel (21-22). The Lord will at some point change our plans, but He does use them to advance the kingdom.

#6. Expect disturbances (23-27). People have hidden motives and selfish interests and will often attempt to protect them at all costs. Beware!

#7. Avoid the uncontrollable (28-41). Sometimes you can bring sense to senseless situations; other times, you should stay out of mobs that react violently. Listen to those close to you.
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Scripture of the Day
Author: Brandi With An I
•9:12 AM
Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth: Lest the Lord see it, and it displease him, and he turn away his wrath from him.

Proverbs 24:17-18

 
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Chapter One: The Distinctive Pattern of New Testament Christianity [part three]
Author: Brandi With An I
•4:46 PM
E. The Faith

When the New Testament speaks of "the faith," it refers to the thing believed rather than the act of believing. The Christian religion as a system of justification by faith in Christ is therefore often referred to as "the faith" and is presented in the New Testament as both singular (one) and distinctive (identifiable). Paul tells us there is but one faith (Eph. 4:4-5) and that Christians can "all come to the unity of the faith" (v.13). This requires a doctrinal identity in order to distinguish the faith from counterfeits.

Religious unity requires unity of belief. Notice the New Testament's emphasis on the singularity of the faith. It is the faith. The faith can be preached (Gal. 1:23), obeyed (Acts 6:7), and continued in (Acts 14:22). We are to strive for the faith (Phil. 1:27), and contend for the faith (Jude 3). We can deny the faith (I Tim. 5:8); we can go astray from the faith (I Tim. 6:21). In each case it is the faith. The apostles do not teach us to negotiate a unity between conflicting beliefs. Rather we are all to seek the unity of the faith. One is not speaking biblically when he speaks of different faiths of the Christian religion.

Christian unity can be achieved and maintained only when we believe and admit that the faith is absolute (there is but one faith) (Eph. 4:4-5) and attainable (we are all to come to the unity of the faith) (Eph. 4:11-13). As students of God's Word, we may not agree on every point, but as believers in Christ we are to try to determine from Scripture what constitutes the faith. Then in the spirit of patience and humility, forbearing one another in love, we should strive to unify upon that one faith revealed in the New Testament.

F. The Truth

Jesus said, "If you abide in my word you are my disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free" (John 8:31-32). In context (v. 31-36) Jesus is speaking about the truth of his word that makes us free from sin. This "truth" is a distinct body of truth. Jesus says we can "know" that truth. Peter speaks about this same body of truth purifying our souls at the time we "obey" it (I Peter 1:22). Jesus said his truth would make us free from sin. Peter tells us our souls will be purified from sin when we obey that truth. Inherent in this language is a distinct body of truth for alien sinners. It can be known and obeyed and will result in purifying the sinner's soul from sin.


G. the Word of God Is Like Seed


When Jesus relates the parable of the sower, he speaks about seed falling onto different kinds of soils, which he likens to the hearts of men (Luke 8:4-15). He then says, "The seed is the word of God" (v. 11). We know that seed brings forth after its kind (Genesis 1:11-12). Never have apple seeds brought forth oranges or potatoes. Without exception we can rely on God's Word to bring forth Christians. It will produce a New Testament church in this modern era. We must admit that the pure Word of God, unmixed by human wisdom, will bring forth the church of Christ as it did in the first century.


III. Conclusion


Scripture reveals that Christianity is ordered after a divine pattern and that it therefore possesses a distinct identity. Christianity was designed by the Lord and preached by the apostles. The early church was taught to hold the pattern of their words. Based on the pattern principle, the church of Jesus Christ can be identified in the New Testament and is intended to be reproduced in perpetuity until Jesus comes.


- taken from "The Church of Christ: The Distinctive Nature of the New Testament Church" by Edward C. Wharton
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Chapter One: The Distinctive Pattern of New Testament Christianity [part two continued]
Author: Brandi With An I
•11:57 AM
C. The Apostles' Traditions

A tradition is that which is handed down. The Lord cautioned against traditions of men that invalidate the Word of God (Matthew 15:6). However, the traditions of the apostles, handed down from the Lord, are to be handed on to the church who is to hold them firmly.

1. What the apostles "received from the Lord" by revelation they "delivered" to the churches by inspiration (I Corinthians 11:23; 15:3).

2. The churches are to hold firmly to the traditions taught by the apostles (I Corinthians 11:2; 15:1-2; II Thessalonians 2:15).

The apostles' teachings are equated with traditions. What the apostles received from Christ they handed on to the churches. The churches, in turn, were charged to hold the traditions they were taught whether by word or by the apostles' letters. Hence the apostles' traditions constitute a pattern of teaching that is to be firmly held and passed on to future generations of the church until Christ returns.

D. The Preacher's Charge

Paul urged Timothy to remain in Ephesus so that he might charge some to teach no other doctrine (I Timothy 1:3). Observance of such instruction requires distinctiveness of doctrine to identify those who teach to the contrary. Paul passed on a similar admonition to the brethren at Rome when he directed them to "note those who cause divisions and offenses, contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and avoid them" (Romans 16:17). There must be a divine standard against which doctrines can be tested for correctness; otherwise, doctrinal differences cannot be distinguished.

Paul's final instructions to the preacher include: "Hold fast the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me, in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus" (II Timothy 1:13). The word "pattern" is rendered "standard" in the NASB: "Retain the standard of sound words." The NIV also renders "pattern": "What you heard from me, keep as the pattern of sound teaching."

Within the apostles' teachings lies a pattern of instruction for the church. And God expects his church to hold it, retain it, keep it.

The Bible teaches specific doctrines such as, the inspiration of Scripture, the deity of Christ, the atonement, the gospel of justification by grace through faith in Christ, baptism, the nature of the church, the organization of the church, the work of the church, the Christian lifestyle, worship, the Lord's Supper, the Second Coming, the Resurrection, the final judgment, eternal life and eternal condemnation. From such teachings emerge the pattern of sound words that is to be reproduced and lived by the Lord's church until Jesus comes. 


- taken from "The Church of Christ: The Distinctive Nature of the New Testament Church" by Edward C. Wharton
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Chapter One: The Distinctive Pattern of New Testament Christianity [part two]
Author: Brandi With An I
•11:23 AM
II. The Pattern Principle

The pattern principle means no more than going to the Bible to discover what God wants His people to believe, to be and to do until Jesus returns. The pattern embraces what men are to believe and do in order to be saved, it embraces the Christian lifestyle, it embraces certain elements of corporate worship in the church's assemblies as well as an individual's daily worship for God's Glory and our spiritual benefit, it embraces the work of the church and the organizational structure of both the universal church and the local congregations. The pattern principle implies that what God revealed to the apostles to be preached, believed and obeyed in the apostolic age can be identified in the New Testament, and that God intentionally made that clear in New Testament writings so that this same message would be reproduced in proclamation and practice throughout history until Christ returns. The New Testament pattern principle insures the identity of the body of Christ as God purposed it from eternity.

Not only, then, was the church in the first century ordered after divine pattern, but the church throughout history is to be ordered after the same pattern to the extent of our ability to recognize and reproduce it (II Timothy 2:2).

The following demonstrates that there is a pattern of teaching in the New Testament after which Christianity, and consequently the church, is to be ordered.

A. The Eternal Purpose of God

Back of the church in the Bible and in history lies the eternal purpose of God. The Bible teaches that God's purpose in Christ for our salvation includes the church wherein we are to glorify him throughout history (Ephesians 1:9-11; 3:10-11; 20-21). This purpose is referred to as the wisdom of God which he "ordained before the ages for our glory" (I Cor. 2:7). From this purpose, as revealed in the New Testament, emerges the pattern of God's own making after which the apostolic church was originally constructed. 

B. The Apostles' Pattern

Jesus prayed for the unity of all who believe in him, saying, "I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who believe in me through their word; that they all may be one" (John 17:20-21). Clearly, the ground of belief in Christ and the unity of all believers is the word of his apostles. Their word, therefore, necessarily becomes the pattern of belief and resultant unity for all who would follow Christ. Consider these examples of the pattern principle:

1. Acts 2:42 -> In the beginning the church "continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine." Jesus' prayer for the unity of the church as based on the apostles' word is realized here at this earliest moment in the history of the church. The church had a distinctive teaching from the apostles and continued steadfastly in it. This same teaching was the pattern of instruction for the early church.

2. I Corinthians 4:17 -> "For this reason I have sent Timothy to you, who is my beloved and faithful son in the Lord, who will remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach everywhere in every church." Paul's teachings were to be maintained in perpetuity inasmuch as the preacher was to remind the churches of Paul's original teaching. Obviously the Holy Spirit intended the apostles' teaching to be the universal pattern of instruction since they taught the same thing among all the churches. That pattern of teaching constituted the basis of the early church's belief and consequent unity and identity.

3. I Corinthians 7:17 -> "And so I ordain in all the churches." In context there was a particular practice to which Paul directed all the churches. all the churches of Christ come under a common obligation to observe whatever apostolic authority directs. From this we perceive a pattern of teaching.

4. I Corinthians 14:34-37 -> "Let the women keep silent in the churches... If anyone thinks himself to be a prophet or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things which I write to you are the commandments of the Lord." A universal practice to be observed among the churches is clearly taught. Paul undergirds the importance of retaining the practice of women keeping silent in the assemblies by insisting that Christians acknowledge his writings as the very commandments of Christ.


Paul grounds this teaching not in cultural practice but in accordance with the law of Moses. In agreement with this exposition Paul also grounds this same instruction in the creation as he reveals God's original intent for men and women regarding particular areas of human activity from the beginning (I Tim. 2:1-15).


5. II Timothy 2:2 -> "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." Paul's commission to Timothy to pass along his teaching to others who will pass it on to yet others is reminiscent of Christ's commission to the apostles to make disciples of all nations, "teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you" (Matthew 28:19-20). The teachings of Christ through his apostles are to be passed along in perpetuity.


6. I John 4:1, 6 -> "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world... We are of God; he who knows god hears us; he who is not of God does not hear us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error." In this context the spirits seem to be different teachings, those that are different from the teachings of the Holy Spirit through the apostles. We are not told to test the teachers but their teachings. The standard for the test is the apostles' teachings. By comparison with their teachings we can know the truth or the error of another's doctrine.


"Pattern theology" is a term expressing the belief that the apostles' teachings for the first-century church are to be reproduced and observed until Jesus comes. By this means the uniqueness of the original Christian faith and the consequent unity of the body of Christ can be achieved and maintained not only in theory but also in reality.




- taken from "The Church of Christ: The Distinctive Nature of the New Testament Church" by Edward C. Wharton
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Chapter One: The Distinctive Pattern of New Testament Christianity [part one]
Author: Brandi With An I
•11:13 AM
The Bible teaches that we are to glorify God "in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end" (Ephesians 3:21). From the beginning the church has existed, not only in its nature as the saved body of Christ but also in a distinct form or structure in which she has been designed to function to the glory of God. Because of this unique nature and form, the church of Christ possesses distinctive marks of identity.

The intent of this lesson is to demonstrate that Christianity, and consequently the church, has been ordered after a divine plan and that God intended that plan to be the pattern by which the church in the New Testament can be identified and reproduced throughout history.

I. The Pattern Concept Defined

From the Greek, tupos means standard, pattern, form, figure and example. The biblical use of the term carries these ideas: 


A. The Moral Idea


Christians whose lives are worthy of imitation are held up in Scripture as models or patterns of the Christian lifestyle. Paul said of the apostles, "Brethren, join in following my example, and note those who so walk, as you have us for a pattern" (Philippians 3:17). Evangelists are to be models for believers to imitate (I Timothy 4:12; Titus 2:7).


B. The Technical Sense


The word tupos is used of a "pattern in conformity to which a thing must be made," as when God commanded Moses to make the tabernacle "according to the pattern that he had seen" (Acts 7:44). The writer of Hebrews also speaks of God's instruction to Moses when he was about to make the tabernacle, "See that you make all things according to the pattern which was shown you in the mountain" (Hebrews 8:5).


C. The Doctrinal Sense

Tupos is used of a particular teaching. Paul reminded the Roman Christians that they had obeyed from the heart a form (tupon) of teaching in order to be made free from sin (Romans 6:17-18). Paul charged Timothy to hold a distinct body of doctrine (teaching): "Hold the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me" (II Timothy 1:13).


A pattern may be thought of as a mold, cast or form into which some substance such as concrete, lead or wax is poured, and each time the same image is reproduced. Doctrinally speaking the pattern concept should produce the idea of doctrinal identity. Consequently modern church builders should search the scripture for and attempt to conform to the same pattern of teaching that the apostles delivered to first-century churches. This pattern of teaching gives the church her distinct identity of nature and form.


- taken from "The Church of Christ: The Distinctive Nature of the New Testament Church" by Edward C. Wharton
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A quick note!
Author: Brandi With An I
•10:44 AM
Hello everyone!

For starters I would like to thank all of you for reading and supporting this blog. I hope something here has blessed your life while reading as it blessed my life when posting.

Now, on to the reason for this post.

This is just a quick note to inform all readers that there will be new content featured on the Church of Christ Blog for the next few months.

In addition to what you already see on a regular basis, the book "The Church of Christ: the Distinctive Nature of the New Testament Church" by: Edward C. Wharton will be posted and shared on here.

This book breaks down the origins of the Lord's church, what's expected of those in it, how we reach out to others and more! Many questions that a lot of people have will be answered throughout the course of it. 

Everything in here is backed up by Scripture and it's truly a must read for all.

I hope, and pray, that we all gain a better understanding of The Church of Christ and what the Lord expects from us while we live here below and strive to make Heaven our eternal home.

God Bless you all,
- B.
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