Sermon: “Christians
Only or the Only Christians”
Text: Matthew
16:13-18, Acts 17:1-12
Dan Williams, El Dorado, Arkansas
Dan Williams, El Dorado, Arkansas
Aim: to
present the case for undenominational Christianity.
Thesis: our only
standard of comparison is the Bible!
Introduction:
If
our lesson this morning seems familiar to some of you, remember that it is new
to others. In fact, I am preaching this
sermon at the request of one of our newest members, who recently asked me this
question: “Dan, when I tell my friends
that I’m part of the College Avenue Church of Christ, they said, ‘Oh, they
think they’re the only ones going to heaven.’ What do I say to them?” How would YOU answer that question? While you’re thinking:
TURN
to the book of Acts, Chapter 17. READ
Verses 1-12.
A
true story: Once a father set his son to
the task of building a shed. The father
told his son to first cut all the lumber, and be careful to make each of the
boards the same length. To help ensure
that he followed this direction the father carefully measured and cut the first
board himself, then said, “Son, measure all the others by this one, and they’ll
come out even.” Then he left.
The
son, like so many of us when we were young, was a little impatient and
self-willed, so he didn’t exactly follow his father’s instructions. Oh, he measured the second board by the
first, as directed, but then tossed the first aside and measured the next by
the one just cut – and continued in this manner, measuring the 3rd
by the 2nd and the 4th by the 3rd, etc. –
until he came to the end of the lumber.
When
the boy began to put the shed up, however, the boards didn’t match up! What had happened? Each time he changed the boards it had
increased ever so slightly – just the thickness of a saw blade – but it slowly
but surely got him off track, away from the correct measurement, and the boards
were uneven.
You
see, when the young man tossed aside the original board his father had given
him, he lost his standard of measurement!!!
That
– in many ways – is a parable of what has gone wrong in Christianity. Because men have not been willing to stick to
the standard – to the way Jesus intended it/planned it/taught it – the
Christian religion has been split and splintered into hundreds of competing and
conflicting groups. Today’s denominational divisions developed over centuries,
little by little, not always deliberately or maliciously – just through
neglect.
· No one defends division –
the Bible condemns it too strongly!
· And no one argues against
unity – the Bible commands it too often!
Where
the confusion begins is when the discussion turns to what should we do about
it? After all – WE didn’t invent the
world; chances are, there’s no one here who’s gone out and started their own
church! We were just born into a
world that was already religiously confused and doctrinally divided. What can we do?
Our
answer here at College Avenue is – Restoration!
Go back to the original standard, the Word of God. To encourage every believer to seek God’s
will for themselves, and once they’ve found it – to DO it! To champion the freedom that we all
have to be responsible before God, to be able to seek the truth without having
to strain our faith through another man’s mind.
Use your own eyes – read your own Bible – see for yourself.
Did
you notice that this approach was specifically singled out in our text this
morning as being the evidence of nobility of character?
“Now the Bereans were of more noble character than
the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and
examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.” (Acts 17:11)
The
example of the Bereans is exemplary, but it shines even brighter when
contrasted with the behavior of the Thessalonians!
Did
you notice that the Thessalonians were a lazy lot? When Paul came to their
city to preach the gospel, a group of troublemakers whipped up a mob and
persuaded the crowd not to listen to the apostle’s message. Because the Thessalonians allowed someone
else to tell them what to believe, because they were dependent
on the opinions of others, rather than thinking for themselves, they missed
their chance to discover the truth and forfeited their opportunity to receive
the good news about Jesus.
In
keeping with these two examples – one good, one bad – I always urge people to
emulate the Bereans: read God’s Word for
yourself, without the man-made filters of any church or creed.
It
is my conviction that when we go back to the standard – to the sacred
and sufficient Word of God – and when we agree to accept and teach and
require the Bible only, and give our allegiance to Christ only –
then we will be “Christians only” – nothing more and nothing less.
I
also believe that is the only sensible and scriptural response to the religious
world we find ourselves in – I not only try to practice it, but I commend it to
others! I would like to see all
believers striving to drink from the pure wells of New Testament teaching,
focusing first and foremost on Jesus as the head of the church and Savior of us
all, and moving towards undenominational Christianity.
And
because this is the approach we’ve tried to take here at College Avenue – of
trying to require neither more not less than the obvious teachings of the Bible
– we have been successful in providing common ground for believers from
many different religious backgrounds. In fact, the majority of our members did
not grow up in the churches of Christ. Many people seem to appreciate our
invitation for all God’s people to be “Christians only.”
However,
because what we’re trying to do in the churches of Christ is so distinctive –
because we’re attempting to be genuinely undenominational – we are often
misunderstood. If one of your friends
says, “Do you think you’re the only ones going to heaven?” the easy answer
would be to tell them to visit our website and review our mission
statement. When they do, here is what
they’ll read: Part Two of our mission
statement says we want To genuinely be
undenominational
That is our aim, to be like the church we read about in the New
Testament. We recognize that the present state of religious division
grieves the Lord (John 17:20-23). By respecting the authority of God's
Word as our only standard (Matthew 15:3-9), and by exhibiting a spirit of
humility appropriate for those who have been saved by grace (Luke 18:9-14), we
strive for unity in essentials, liberty in opinions, and in all things,
love.Thus, in a world of religious division our goal is to provide common ground for all believers by seeking to restore New Testament Christianity. We do not claim to be the only Christians, but we do seek to be "Christians only." We affirm that only the name of Jesus should be glorified in his church (1 Corinthians 1:10-13).
But
this morning let me address that question from a different perspective. When someone says “Do you think folks in the
Church of Christ are right and everyone else is wrong?” where are THEY placing
their standard? Between church
and church. This business of
“What does your church teach”? “My
church is better than your church” – is part of the foolishness that got our
religious world into the mess its in!
The
original standard is “What does the Bible say?” The basis of comparison is not “church to
church” – but “each person to God.”
And so in the churches of Christ our message is not “If you want
to go to heaven you’ve got to agree with US” – rather, let’s open our Bibles and sit down
together and make sure WE are in agreement with God. And if YOU
are – and I am, then
what’s to keep us from being in agreement with one another?
So,
NO, we don’t claim to be the “only Christians” – to do so would be to
make OURSELVES the standard, to be presumptuous and arrogant. Rather – we encourage all believers to be “Christians
only”: to make God’s word, and God’s
word only, the standard.
No,
we didn’t invent the world – but we ARE responsible for our
actions. No, we didn’t create the
religious confusion around us – but as individuals we CAN go back – back
to the Bible! TURN to Colossians
1:18.
Our plea – to be Christians only – is grounded in our
relationship with Christ and our desire to recognize his absolute authority.
READ Verse 18. “And he (Jesus) is the head of the body,
the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that
in everything he might have the preeminence.”
I
want to be a Christian only, because Christ alone deserves my allegiance. He alone has authority, is head of the
church, saves me, unites believers.
· If I ever forget that I will
become self-centered, proud, lose my own relationship with Christ!
· If I ever transfer my
allegiance to any party, sect, or faction – I will become narrow and
sectarian myself!
Some
warning signs of sectarianism:
· adopting a “church of
Christ” mentality, as though we are a “scriptural” denomination.
· assuming that “we” are
right, and thus righteous; instead of recognizing that CHRIST is righteous, and
HE makes me right.
· asking “What does our church
teach about…..” or “What does a leading brother (or the preacher) say
about…..,” rather than “What does the Bible say?”
· Christians who neglect Bible
reading, Bible classes, bringing their Bible with them. (are we lazy Thessalonians or noble Bereans?)
· judging others in terms of
ourselves: it is especially revealing to
talk with Christians who are absolutely sure the “other guy” is going to hell,
but not so sure they’re going to heaven! We are all judged by God’s Word!
· assuming a “party spirit,”
lining up behind men/factions.
· rating and evaluating others
by who they’re against.
I
am for Christ: my allegiance is
to HIM. If I don’t have
that commitment straight, it doesn’t really matter who else is or isn’t right
with God!
CONCLUSION:
Who
are we? And what are we trying to
be? Christians – nothing more or
less. That stand is sensible,
scriptural, and safe. There’s nothing
arrogant or narrow about that goal – on the contrary, we invite all our fellow
believers to make the same commitment!
N.B.
Hardeman, an old-time gospel preacher, put it this way in a sermon he preached
in the old Ryman Auditorium at Nashville, Tennessee, back in 1928:
“I
have never been so egotistic as to say that my brethren with who I commune on
the first day of the week are the only Christians on this earth. I never said that in my life. I do make the claim that we are Christians
only. But there is a vast difference
between that expression and the one formerly made.
But
you ask what my objective is…..I am trying to get all of God’s people
everywhere to stand together as a solid phalanx against the opposing forces now
working to destroy the church of our Lord.
I know that the cause of Christ needs its full strength. I know that in unity alone strength can exist,
and I think it a calamity for those who claim to believe the Bible, to
reverence Jehovah, and to wear the name of Christ at all, to stand thus
divided, and thereby invite the enemy to a victory over our scattered forces.” [Hardeman’s Tabernacle Sermons Vol. 3 (Nashville:
Gospel Advocate Co., 1928), p. 125]
We
shouldn’t let others force us into a narrow, unbiblical mold, either by their
“label” of us, or by our reaction to them!
In a world of religious confusion, of denominational loyalties and
sectarian affiliations, of conflicting and competing voices, where do we stand?
WITH CHRIST!!!
“On
Christ the solid rock I stand,
All
other ground is sinking sand.”
Disk: Sermons
2005-B File: Christians Only
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