donutspart three

 

I see you. I know who you are.

You’re that one who has been thinking about visiting but you just can’t seem to break down and do it. You pull in the drive way and you almost stop, but instead you spin around and hit the road again.

It’s time to park the car and come in. What’s the holdup?

“WELL I DON’T WANT A CHURCH THAT IS OLD-FASHIONED”

Is that the problem? You think we’re old fashioned? Let me tell you something: The church of Christ is a very old institution and there’s nothing wrong with that. You know what’s NOT old? The Roman Catholic Church (started 600 years after Christ died on the Cross and established His church). You know what’s NOT old? Denominations which branched off of that Catholic Church (about five hundred years after the Catholic Church started). You know what’s NOT old? These “Community Churches” that have popped up everywhere lately. You know what they all have in common, besides being “not old”? They are all started by man. They were founded by man, are run by man, are organized by man, are added to by man and–like men do–change with the times so as not to be seen as “old fashioned” by man.

So if you think the “church of Christ” (the body of saved people belonging to Jesus) is old-fashioned, I can’t offer much to change your mind.

The things we do we do because they were done 2,000 years ago. Is that “old”? I guess so.

But you know WHY we do those things? Because 2,000 years ago the Apostles of Christ were left in charge to see to it that the early days of Christianity followed the template that Christ (the Head of the church — Ephesians 5:23) intended. And you know what happened when people stepped out of line and challenged the Apostles’ instruction for how to be a Christian?

They DIED. D-I-E-D, died (Acts 5).

One does not simply mess around with Christianity, because God does not mess around.

Now there are things we do that are not old-fashioned. We meet in big, central locations. We sit on cushy chairs. We use song books to give us the words to sing. We drive cars to the assembly. We wear a tie or a polo or our best pair of jeans. In the first century Christians met at each other’s houses, they sat wherever they could, they sang the Psalms, they walked to the meeting place and wore robes and sandals. Things are different because our culture has changed.

Our DOCTRINE however is the same as it was in the first century. The things we teach, they taught. The things we do, they did. They things we believe, they believed.

Is it “old-fashioned?” That’s one way of putting it. I call it “tried and true and confirmed by God Himself.”

For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:

Revelation 22:18

I would rather do something the Devil called mocked as “old” than something God disapproves of as “new.” It’s His church, I belong to Him. I’ll let Him tell me how to worship Him.

If you think that’s a perfectly sensible approach to Christianity, you’re not alone. Christians have been following that template for a very long time…since olden days…why not follow it with us?

 

Stop doing those mental donuts in our parking lot. Instead, come worship with us Sunday or join us for Bible study on Wednesday evening. Let us study with you and you study with us. Together we will know the truth and draw closer to God.

Have a great day!