A NEWSLETTER FOR THE MEMBERS OF THE GREENWOOD CHURCH OF CHRIST

VOLUME 2 NO. 36                                         October 23, 2005

THE CHURCH OF CHRIST

BY STEVE HIGGINBOTHAM

The fact that the church is or consists of all of those who have been saved by Jesus Christ (Ephesians 5:23,25) should certainly motivate all those who are concerned about their eternal welfare to become members of Christ's church.

However, we live in a world that contains literally hundreds of “churches”, all of which claim to belong to Jesus.  But the Scriptures tell us that Jesus only built one church, and that it is only in that one church that reconciliation to God can take place (Mt. 16:18; Eph. 2:16; 4:4).  Therefore, we must conclude that there are some impostors in the world.  And even further the eternal destiny of my soul rests upon being able to distinguish between the church that Jesus built and a church that does not belong to Him.

Allow me to illustrate this problem in the following manner.  Imagine that lonely Mr. Smith advertised in the newspaper that he would give $500.00 dollars to anyone who would come to his house and visit with him.  Seeing how that we would be interested in this reward, we decide to go visit Mr. Smith.  But as we examine the telephone directory, we discover that there are over 200 Mr. Smiths.  Therefore, we pick one at random and go visit him.

Now then, what do you think would happen if we picked the wrong Mr. Smith to visit?  Would we be entitled to the $500.00?  Would we have claim to the money upon the basis that we went to visit “a” Mr. Smith?  I believe that we all can discern the answer to the above questions.  Visiting “a” Mr. Smith will not qualify one for the $500.00.  Only visiting “the” Mr. Smith will qualify one for the money.

This illustrates well the religious world in which we live.  You see, Jesus has promised reconciliation to God to all who will become a member of the church that He built, but when one decides that he wants what Jesus has offered, he soon finds that there are hundreds of churches claiming to be the one that Jesus built.  It is at this point that many make their mistake, for they figure that one is as good as another.  They pick and choose to become a member of one among the hundreds, and expect Jesus to “pay off” on His promise.  But if Jesus promised reconciliation to all who would become members of His church, can one who becomes a member of some other church expect to receive Christ's blessing of reconciliation?  What “claim” would one have to reconciliation when one did not do as Jesus instructed?

Friends, Satan doesn't mind for one to be religious.  He doesn't mind that people love God.  He doesn't mind for people to live godly lives.  He doesn't mind that people become church members.  For so long as he can keep them outside of the “ONE” body of redeemed saints that Jesus promised to save, he has won.

In light of this fact, make sure that you are a part of the church, which Christ built.  Don't settle for some man-made religious organization.  How can you determine the difference between the church of Christ and the churches of men?  Open your Bible and compare.

YOU FINISH THE STORY!

BY STEVE NIEMEIER

Once upon a time there was a congregation in which every member was just like you.  Each member cooperated and supported every work of the congregation just the way you have been doing.  Everyone worked as hard and attended the same services just as you do.  Everyone was as interested in visiting the sick, cleaning the building, mowing the yard, shoveling the snow, preparing the Lord's Supper, attending a ladies or men's Bible Class, teaching the lost, visiting Gospel Meetings, giving of their means and teaching a Bible Class just as you are.

Within a year or so, what would happen to this congregation?  Would it be bursting at the seams or would it just about come to a grinding halt?  Give it some thought!