Articles
The Lord's Church (3)
Through the centuries, countless churches have been devised and created by the desires and authority of men. Yet, Jesus plainly taught, “Every plant which My heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted” (Matt. 15:13). The last number of weeks we have focused our attention upon the Church that we read about in the Bible, the Lord’s Church.
We already noticed how the Church was planned according to God’s eternal purpose (Eph. 3:11), how it would be the kingdom God would set up that would never be destroyed (Dan. 2:44; Luke 1:30-33), how this kingdom (church) was spiritual in nature (John 18:36-37) and would come with power in the days of His disciples (Mark 9:1). And that the Church that was predicted in the Old Testament (Isaiah 2:2-4) was revealed and fulfilled in the New Testament in Acts 2 on the Day of Pentecost (vv. 1-47).
Further, we noticed how Jesus promised to build His Church (Matt. 16:18). He built it with His own blood (Acts 20:28); He’s the only foundation (I Cor. 3:11); He’s the head of the Church (Col. 1:18); and He only built one Church (Eph. 4:4; 1:22-23).
Thus, the often heard statement to just “join the church of your choice” does not fit the Church of the New Testament, since the Lord only built His Church (Matt. 16:18; Eph. 4:4; 1:22-23).
In fact, when men and women gladly received the Word of God, repented, and were baptized into Christ for the remission of their sins (Acts 2:38, 41), the Lord Himself “added to the church daily those who were being saved” (Acts 2:47). So the Lord’s Church is made up of saved individuals. The unsaved (or lost) are those not in the Lord’s Church.
An individual is not “in” the Lord’s Church until they are baptized. “For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body” (I Cor. 12:13). Once again, that “one body” is the one “church” (Eph. 1:22-23; Col. 1:18).
When a person simply reads about the Lord’s Church spoken of in the New Testament, they soon realize that there are not many different churches to choose from, but only one true and right choice!
