To Infidelity and Back

by Henry F. Lutz

The purpose of the assembly or church services is revealed to us in Acts 2:42, where we have a record of the practice of the first church of Christ. We read, "And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' teaching and in fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers." Here are four things mentioned as belonging to the service of the church. The first has reference to teaching the Word of God or, more especially, the teachings of Christ as revealed through his Apostles in the New Testament. The Apostles received their teaching through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit who revealed in the New Testament all things necessary for our guidance and edification (2 Pet. 1:3; Jude 3). Christ gave his Apostles commandments before his ascension (Acts 1:2), which they were to teach to the church (Matt. 28:20), and the church is exhorted to give heed to these commandments (2 Pet. 3:2). Not all the commandments that Christ gave while on earth are for the church, but only those he instructed the Apostles to teach after the descent of the Holy Spirit and the establishment of the church on Pentecost. Paul exhorts Timothy to commit unto faithful men, who are able to teach others, the things he had heard from him (2 Tim. 2:2), and further exhorts him, "Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth" (2 Tim. 2:15); "I charge thee therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; preach the word, be instant in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine" (2 Tim. 4:1, 2). Alas! how often this last solemn charge of Paul goes unheeded. We preach in season and out of season, but do we preach the Word of God as we ought? The emphasis the New Testament puts on the Word of God can scarcely be overestimated. It is the incorruptible seed (1 Pet. 1:23) employed by the Holy Spirit to beget the Christian (Jas. 1:18; 1 Cor. 4:15); it is the sword of the Spirit (Eph. 6:17) by which he pierces the sinner's hard heart (Heb. 4:12) and brings conviction to his soul (John 16:8,9); it is the nourishment for the new-born spiritual babe (1 Pet. 2:2); it is the means used by the Spirit to strengthen, sanctify and build up the members of the church (1 Thess. 2:13; John 17:17; Acts 20:32); it "is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works" (2 Tim. 3:16,17). No other books were used in the early church as authoritative and all efforts to replace it or to supplement it with human creeds, catechisms or disciplines is an unwarranted effort to steady the ark of the Lord.

The second item of the public services is fellowship. The original word here is koinoonia, which, according to Dr. Thayer, means "joint participation," "a benefaction jointly contributed, a collection." The word sometimes refers to joint participation in religious privileges and sometimes to joint collections or contributions made for gospel work. It seems to have the latter meaning here, as spiritual communion is embodied in the next item. That this was a feature of the public service is apparent from the words of Paul in I Cor. 16:2, "Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him." The Emphatic Diaglott translates thus, "Every first day of the week let each of you lay something by itself, depositing as he may be prospered." While Paul gives these directions in reference to a particular collection taken for the poor saints in Judea, it is evidently given because it embodies the divine wisdom as to the best way of raising church money. It teaches that each church-member is to give weekly, according to his ability. When this precept is practiced and we restore the liberality of the primitive church (Acts 2:44, 45; 4:32, 35), there will be no financial problem in the church.

The third item in church worship, according to Acts 2: 42, is the "breaking of bread," or the Lord's Supper. This was the most important thing in the early church service. It was to commemorate the death of Christ and to point forward to his second coming (I Cor. 11:26). Every Christian is under obligation to partake of the Lord's Supper (I Cor. 11:24), but each must examine himself before eating lest he eat condemnation to his soul (I Cor. 11:28, 29). The greatest thing in the Lord's Supper is a spiritual eating or communion (John 6:32-58), and this is needed frequently. The primitive churches of Christ observed the Lord's Supper whenever they met for worship (I Cor. 11:20), and this we learn was every first day of the week. "Upon the first day of the week when the disciples came together to break bread" (Acts 20:7). The Greek article "tee" here indicates that it was on every first day of the week that they met to break bread and this is confirmed by I Cor. 16:2. The early churches never met for worship on the seventh day of the week or on the Sabbath, but always on the first day of the week, or on the Lord's Day, in commemoration of Christ's resurrection from the dead. It was the practice at first to have a meal in connection with the Lord's Supper, but as this led to abuse it was abolished by Paul (1 Cor. 11:20-22, 34). The feet-washing which is commonly supposed to have taken place at the time Christ first broke bread with his disciples, was simply a custom in vogue in that country, which Christ used to teach a lesson on humility. We have no record that the Apostles ever washed feet as a church ordinance or desired others to do so. When Christ washed feet it was not at a public church meeting, but at a private feast.

The fourth item in church worship, as mentioned in Acts 2:42, is "prayers." The primitive church believed profoundly in prayer. In fact, the entire New Testament is the record of a prolonged prayer-meeting. Paul, in writing to Timothy, says, "I exhort therefore that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions and giving of thanks be made for all men" (1 Tim. 2:1), and Christ admonishes his disciples to "watch and pray" (Matt. 26:41).

Self-preservation is the first duty, upon which all our helpfulness to others depends. So it is with the church. Its first duty is to perpetuate and strengthen itself through the means of grace God has provided; but it will become sick and soon die, if it does not reach out in loving services to others. It is commissioned to "make disciples of all nations" (Matt. 28:18), but it cannot do this by merely proclaiming the gospel to all people. Paul preached the gospel in many lands, and a few missionaries could soon evangelize the entire world if this were all that is necessary. God spent thousands of years to prepare the soil for Paul's preaching and confirmed his message with miracles. We cannot evangelize the world by giving a few dollars to send a few missionaries to preach a few sermons. Most of the work of missionaries is educational and philanthropic, or, in other words, preparatory. It will require the best and united efforts of all Christians to entirely open the door of faith among the heathen. Christ says, "Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven" (Matt. 5:16). Peter exhorts Christians, "Having your behavior seemly among the Gentiles, that, wherein they speak against you as evil-doers, they may by your good works which they behold, glorify God" (I Pet. 2: 12). The churches need the miracle of good works, through the power of the Holy Spirit, to confirm the message of our missionaries. The acts that emanate from so-called Christian nations and people do more to hinder than to help the missionaries. If Christians will, by the power of the Spirit, live the life of Christ in the home, in business, in politics and everywhere, the heathen will soon glorify God in Christ because of the good works which they behold. "Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit" (John 15:8).

It is the mission of the church to bring heaven down to earth. If this is the high and holy calling of the church, is it a wonder that Christ so loved it as to give his life for it? The church is the "pillar and ground of the truth" or the material organization through which heaven is bearing its message of love to this sin-cursed world. Speaking of the church, Paul says, "If any man destroyeth the temple of God, him shall God destroy" (1 Cor. 3:17). All who attain unto the mind of Christ will love the church and give themselves for it.

The Unity of the Church.

It was God's eternal purpose to unite all things in Christ (Eph. 1:9, 10). Christ declared that he would establish but one fold (John 10: 16); he prayed that all his followers might be perfectly united and put that union as a necessary condition for the conversion of the world (John 17:20-23); he died to unite all in one body (Eph. 2: 14-16), of which he is the head (Col. 1: 18).

If we turn to the book of Acts, we discover that the Holy Spirit, through the Apostles, did establish but one church, and that it was thoroughly united in love, teaching and practice.

If there ever was an excuse for different Christian denominations, it was for a Jewish Christian denomination and a Gentile Christian denomination; but the Holy Spirit did not establish such denominations and Paul put forth the effort of his life to prevent such a breach. Where in all history can you find twelve men more radically different mentally and temperamentally than the Apostles? Yet the Holy Spirit did not establish separate churches to cater to and further develop these temperamental eccentricities. All were united in one church so they could counterbalance and complement each other and thus perfect their own character and give greater symmetry to the church. "And when the day of Pentecost was fully come they were all with one accord in one place" (Acts 2:1). After three thousand were added unto them we read, "They continued daily with one accord in the temple" (Acts 2: 46), while farther on we read, "And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul" (Acts 4: 32). From the Epistles of Paul we learn that there was but one church in each community. Christ's relation to the church makes it impossible for Christians to be loyal to him and at the same time divided. All must be perfectly united in allegiance to him as king, lie is the head of the body of which his followers are members. All the members of the body are perfectly united to each other and to the head; and, although the members may differ in function, they are all directed by the same commandments, motives and purposes. As soon as a tendency toward division became manifest it was severely rebuked and ascribed to the carnal nature. Paul, in writing to the Corinthians, says, "Now, I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same things, and that there be no division among you; but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment" … "For ye are yet carnal; for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal and walk as men?" (I Cor. 1: 10; 3:3).