The Church, the Falling Away, and the Restoration

by J. W. Shepherd

A nation or kingdom of priests is equal to a nation or kingdom without priests. And so the whole Church of God is his lot, heritage, “clergy,” or priesthood. As a kingdom, not of this world, though in the world. When on trial for his life, Jesus said: “My kingdom is not of this world: if my kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now is my kingdom not from hence” (John 18:36). Though on earth, not earthly, and its honors and grandeur are not akin to those of the nations of this world. The subjects of this “kingdom” were born, “not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:13); “born of water and the Spirit.” They were all the sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty.

Congregated for worship and service they were not only a priesthood, but their edification was committed to the whole body of male members, excluding from ministering therein only those incapable of edifying. There were elders, required to be “apt to teach,” not to be the sole instructors of the church, but taking part therein; securing order and propriety on the part of all.

Every member was taught to attend the worship regularly, but this was not the end. Even if every member attended regularly and punctually, this was not to be the end of the teaching, the worship, the service. These were necessary, because without these the end could not be attained. The end was to excite and secure the active and earnest labor of every member in serving God and teaching and helping humanity. One could not serve God without helping others. He was to help them spiritually, morally, intellectually and materially. The end of all the teaching and training of men in the church was that they might bear fruit in doing good to men. Paul said of Christ Jesus: “Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a people for his own possession, zealous of good works” (Titus 2:14). They were to cease to do evil and be zealous in good works. “Faithful is the saying, and concerning these things I desire that thou affirm confidently, to the end that they who have believed in God may be careful to maintain good works. These are good and profitable unto men.... And let our people also learn to maintain good works for necessary uses, and that they be not unfruitful” (Titus 3:8-14). The end of the teaching and the worship was to develop the activity and direct the energies of every member in good works. The first element of true good to others was to bring them into proper spiritual relations to God, for without this no good can be enjoyed. But this spiritual harmony with God must show itself in bringing every thought into harmony with the will of God and so direct the bodily energies as to bring all good—spiritual, intellectual and material—to all creatures.

Every member of the Church was to participate in all the services of the church; and the members not only were competent to do all the work pertaining to the church, but they needed this work and service for their own spiritual growth. In this service alone could the Christian find the food and exercise needed for his growing wise and strong in the inner man. The spiritual man could no more grow strong and active without himself doing the worship and work of the church than the body could grow strong while refusing the food and exercise needed for its growth and life. In this service in the church man could alone find the highest development of the soul and the mind and the body. One could no more worship and do the work in the church by proxy and grow spiritually thereby than he could eat and take exercise by proxy and his body grow thereby. The well-being of every member demanded that he should take active part in the worship, the well-being of the church demanded the help of every member that it “may grow up in all things unto him, who is the head, even Christ; from whom all the body fitly framed and knit together through that which every joint supplieth, according to the working in due measure of each several part, making the increase of the body unto the building up of itself in love” (Eph. 4:15, 16). The point emphasized here is that every member had his work to do, his office to fill, and by this harmonious working of all the parts the body grew into the well-proportioned body of Christ—the Church. The welfare and development of the whole was dependent upon the proper workings of each and every member.

Every child of God, by virtue of his birthright into God’s family, a family of priests to God, had the right to perform any and every service connected with the Church of God, limited only by God’s directions and by the ability to do it decently and in order. All were encouraged to take part in the service, and in doing the service each member manifested his talent for the work and trained himself for fitness in God’s work.

Every dispensation has had its peculiar worship. That of the Jewish dispensation differed from the patriarchal. The worship under the Christian dispensation is radically different from both. The worship which was acceptable under the patriarchal would condemn a Jew; and that which would justify a Jew would condemn a Christian. During the patriarchal dispensation religion was confined to the family. Every one was his own priest, and he could build his own altar and offer his own sacrifices for himself and for his family. (Gen. 4:4; 8:20; Job. 1:5.) But when the priesthood was changed, and confined to the family of Levi (Ex. 28:1; Num. 25:11-13), this worship was no longer permitted by those included in the Sinaitic covenant; hence no longer acceptable. It is likewise true that the sacrifices offered by the Levitical priesthood ceased to be acceptable after the death of Christ and the establishment of the Church. When Christ ascended to the Father the priesthood was changed. The high priesthood then passed into the hands of one belonging “to another tribe, from which no man hath given attendance at the altar. For it is evident that our Lord hath sprung out of Judah; as to which tribe Moses spake nothing concerning priests” (Heb. 7:13, 14). The priesthood being changed, a change of the Worship follows as a necessity. “For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law” (Heb. 7:12). While the worship of the three dispensations had some things in common, each had its distinctive peculiarities. Since Christianity is distinguished from every other religion by its institutions and worship, it of necessity follows that, in order to its preservation, these must be strictly observed. Nothing short of this can preserve the Church from degeneracy and final extinction. As we have already learned, a fundamental feature of the worship in the Church of God is the Universal Priesthood of its membership. All the members of God’s family have became “a royal priesthood,” who no longer offer bloody sacrifices of the law of Moses, but they offer their “bodies a living sacrifice” (Rom. 12:1), and the “sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of lips which make confession to his name” (Heb. 13:15). Since all were priests, all worshiped God without any mediatorship other than that of the Lord Jesus Christ. They could all come with equal boldness to the throne of grace. Such clerical distinction and arrogance as we have at the present time had no place then.

That the apostles taught the churches to do all the Lord commanded will not be called in question by those who receive the Bible as authority. Whatever, then, the churches did by the appointment or concurrence of the apostles, they did by the commandment of Jesus Christ. Whatever acts of worship the apostles taught and sanctioned in one congregation, they taught and sanctioned in all, because all under the same government of the same King. But the church in Troas met “upon the first day of the week ... to break bread” (Acts 20:7), and Paul exhorts the Hebrew brethren to “consider one another to provoke unto love and good works; not forsaking our own assembling together, as the custom of some is, but exhorting one another; and so much the more as ye see the day drawing nigh” (Heb. 10:24, 25). From the manner in which this meeting of the disciples at Troas is mentioned by Luke, two things are very evident: (1) That it was an established rule of the disciples to meet on the first day of the week; (2) that the primary object of their meeting was to break bread. And Luke also tells us that the Jerusalem church “continued steadfastly in the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and prayers” (Acts 2:42), which shows us that the breaking of bread was a prominent item in those stated meetings. Other corroborating evidences of the stated meetings on the first day of the week for religious purposes are indicated by the instructions Paul gave to the church in Galatia and Corinth: “Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I gave order to the churches of Galatia, so also do ye. Upon the first day of the week let each one of you lay by him in store, as he may prosper, that no collections be made when I come” (I Cor. 16:1, 2).

As we have seen that whatever the primitive churches did by the approval of the apostles, they did by divine authority, now, as Paul approved their meeting on the first day of the week, it is as high authority as could be required for the practice of meeting to worship on the first day of every week. The items of their worship were:

THE APOSTLES’ TEACHING

They believed that the teaching of the apostles was from God and they constantly and diligently studied it, that they might know and do the whole will of God. The constant study of and the profound reverence for the Word of God were recognized traits of their character. They certainly had the word of Christ dwelling in them richly. Not only was reading the Scriptures a part of all the public worship, it was a daily custom in private life—in the family, the social circle, and even at their toil. On this point I will give the testimony of Lyman Coleman, who has gathered much information on this subject. He says: