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This is the first of a series of articles entitled "I Am A Member Of The Church Of Christ Because...", based on the excellent book, "Why I Am A Member Of The Church Of Christ" by Leroy Brownlow. Every religious body in the world was founded by someone. Therefore, each religious body was established either according to the promise of scripture or not. This is important because if a religious body was established unscripturally, it can never be scriptural. A. Christ Jesus said that He would build the church.
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"This Bread Is My Body" One of the greatest privileges we have as Christians is being able to partake in the Lord’s Supper. When we partake in this sacred meal we partake in a memorial: we proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes (I Corinthians 11:26). In partaking in the Lord’s Supper each Sunday we continue a pattern that was given to the first century church (Acts 20:7). We are fulfilling the Lord’s command to worship in spirit and truth (John 4:23-24).
Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper during the Jewish Passover, this has a great significance for us when we study the Lord’s Supper. The Passover is also called the Feast of Unleavened bread (Matthew 26:17). The significance of this is that it determined the items that could be in the house and therefore used during the Lord’s Supper. Psalm 127:1
(1) Unless the LORD builds the house, They labor in vain who build it; Unless the LORD guards the city, The watchman stays awake in vain. The first part of this verse seems to contradict itself as it talks about the LORD building the house but then talking about people building the house. So who builds these houses in question? We understand that God needs to be behind whatever venture we engage in: Hebrews 3:4 (4) For every house is built by someone, but He who built all things is God. Today there are so many different churches, it can be rather confusing. There are churches calling themselves all kind of names and teaching a wide variety of doctrines. This is not what we read in the Bible. This not what Jesus wants.
The very first time we read the word 'church' in the Bible is in Matthew 16:18. A popular catchphrase is "follow your heart", this can be seen and heard as advice given not only in physical matters, but also in spiritual matters. In some circumstances, following one's heart is a perfectly acceptable practice. If a person was having trouble deciding between buying apples or bananas, the advice to follow one's heart is unlikely to have dire consequences. If, however, someone was to ask whether or not they should continue to take their life-preserving medicine, the consequences of 'following your heart' could be disastrous. By 'heart' people do not mean the blood pump in the middle of their chests, they refer to the mind or conscience.
The problem is that the conscience is something which can lead a person into error. It is possible to do something wrong but have a good conscience at the same time. The Apostle Paul is proof. Sometimes we look for answers to the wrong questions. If we start with a wrong question how can we get a right answer?
"Which church is best for me?" could be one such question. |
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