By: M Kidd- When men set out a century and a half ago to restore the New Testament church upon the precepts of the Bible and the Bible only, so-called Christianity was full of corruptions in worship. Over the centuries leaders of the apostate churches had borrowed from paganism, Judaism and their own misguided wisdom to fill the religious bodies with unauthorized innovations, modernism of every kind, and rituals which had caused the people to completely lose sight of the simplicity which is in Christ. The worship of God has in many cases been changed from the reverent, pure, holy service He intended, into a place of actual entertainment for the people. Others had changed the worship of God through Christ into a system which elevated the clergy to a position of mediator. Such men as the Campbells, B.W. Stone, John Smith, and many others could see that the systems of worship of their day were far removed from the purity of the New Testament pattern. They could see that if the New Testament church was ever to be restored, many sweeping changes would have to be made in the acts of worship as practiced by men of that day, as well as in the peoples attitude toward the worship. So they set out to destroy all the innovations of men with the plea, Back to the Bible. They began to urge men to do away with all their own ideas on worship, and to begin worshipping just as the New Testament reveals that the Christians of the first century worshipped. In a few short years thousands of people across the country had rallied to this effort. The same conditions still exist today, and the effort is still going on. From Genesis to Revelation the Bible is full of warnings that men are not to change the commands, arrangements and plans of God. In the very first record we have of men worshipping God, we see one of the participants, Cain, changing Gods order and being punished for it (Gen. 4). The New Testament writer speaks of those who are presumptuous and choose their own manner of worship and says they have gone in the way of Cain. He pronounces a woe upon such for walking after their own lusts (Jude 11-16). The history of the nation of Israel is full of their corrupting and changing the worship God demanded of them and the punishments they received for so doing (Mal. 3:7-9, Joel 1:5-20). Isaiah said of that nation, and Christ also applied the words to the Jews of His day, But in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men (Matt. 15:9). It has alway been fatal for man to add his own methods or ideas to the commands of God. David tried to move the Ark of the Covenant in the wrong way, and his failure was marked by the death of Uzzah. David himself said it was because they did not seek God after the due order (1 Chron. 15:13). Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, died because they substituted their own fire for that which came out from the Lord, thus corrupting the worship of the tabernacle (Num. 3:4). Thus we see that God has always punished those who refused to do what He commanded in exactly the way He commanded it. The New Testament teaches that this principle is just as true concerning the wor-ship of the church. We must do what God tel us in the way He tells us. To deviate from the new Testament pattern in worship will cause God to have no respect for our worship. Paul wrote to the Colossians and said, And whatsoever ye do, in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus (Col. 3:17). In the name of simply means by the authority of or by the direction of. Therefore, we are to perform all our religious acts only as we are commanded and directed by Jesus Christ in his Word. Christ has, through His inspired apostles, given us certain acts to perform as worship or service to him. They are: singing, (Col. 3:16; Eph. 5:19), praying (Col. 4:2; 1 Thess. 5:17), eating the Lords Supper, (1 Cor. 11:23-26), giving into a common treasury for the work of the church, (1 Cor. 16:1-2), and teaching the gospel. (Matt. 28:18-20; 1 Cor. 14). These are acts which can be engaged in in any nation under heaven. They are acts which can be performed by any mentally responsible person, regardless of race, education, or station in life. They are acts which are much more beautiful and reverent when done as simply as humanly possible, without adding any of mans trappings to make them more entertaining or interesting to the people. The purpose of these acts of worship is to give glory to God (Eph. 3:21), not to any man or set of men. It is useless to do these things unless they are done from the heart, with a full desire to be pleasing unto God. When the day comes that all religious people are united on the basis of doing these acts of worship, and these only, in the way the New Testament teaches, New Testament worship will be restored completely in the earth. This is far from being done yet; there are still many obstacles to overcome. But by the help of God all Christians must press toward the mark of one day seeing the true worship of God restored throughout the earth in all its purity, glory and simplicity. What Would You Call Them? It is reported that during World War I, in the hills of Kentucky, two denomination-al preachers—a Baptist and a Methodist—decided to conduct a Union Meeting. They agreed that no denominational doctrine would be preached at all, but just the simple gospel according to the great commission as given by Jesus; ...Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned (Mark 16:15-16). They decided that, at the close of the meeting, they would let each convert join the church of his choice. The meeting was well attended, interest was high, and many believed and were baptized in obedience to the gospel. About three hundred people responded, and therefore there was great interest the last night of the meeting to see these new born Christians join the church of their choice. That unity was short lived, however, for the meeting of the last evening was to see them divided and join one group or the other. If they had only known Jesus prayer for the unity of his followers! (See John 17:20-21). One hundred of them chose the Baptist denomination. Another hundred of them chose the Methodist. But the rest refused to join either. They said they would continue as the Lord directed—worshipping and working together as Christians, being just members of the church of Christ. What would you call them? If all would do what the last group did, the prayer of Jesus would be answered. His followers would all be one. We would be of the same mind and judgment, and would speak the same thing. We would be simply Christians (Acts 11:26, 26:28, 1 Pet.4:16). There would be no division! Would that be worth our every effort? All agree that these three hundred people who obeyed the Lord were Christians. They were born again, blood-bought and were in Christ. To what church did they belong? They had joined no denomination as yet; therefore they were neither more or less than Christians. They were still undivided —a group of Christians undivided by de-nominational names, creeds or practice. They were simply Christians! If the same thing were to occur today that is described about as happening in the hills of Kentucky during the war, what would you call the ones who believed and were baptized to be saved, and who refused to join any denomination? Christians? Surely ALL of us would agree on this.)
Posted on: Fri, 05 Dec 2014 03:10:54 +0000
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