WHATSA MOTTO YOU?

 

  The Church of Christ at Logansport (where I’m a preacher) is part of a group of churches called the “Restoration Movement.” But what is this “restoration” movement trying to “restore?” Simply put, we believe that God established His church - just the way He wanted it – nearly 2000 years ago beginning in Jerusalem. The Church God established is described in the New Testament and we seek to be as much like that early church as possible.

   Over the years however, many groups of religious people have felt they could improve on that early 1st century church. As a “restoration movement”, we reject such “improvements” as being presumptuous and foolish, and have sought to “restore” in our congregations a reflection of what that early New Testament church was like.

   I once spoke with a denominational preacher who disagreed with me on that. He said: “The church has matured over the years and we have learned to improve on the church you find in the Bible.”
  But, the idea of “improving” on something that Jesus died to establish, and which was built on the teachings we find in the New Testament, is bizarre to say least. The concept that man endorsed was that you could improve on what God established… not likely.

   But because so many church leaders, down through the ages, have felt they could “improve” on that 1st century church … well, that is part of the reason there are so many diverse and divided denominations today. Our brotherhood is committed to the idea that we will try to be nothing less than being churches who seek to be as close to the church that Jesus established in 33 A.D. as possible.

To help us in our objective we have a few mottos we try to cling to:

·       Bible Names For Bible Things.
·       We Are Not The Only Christians, But We Are Christians Only.
·       In Essentials Unity, Non-Essentials Liberty, In All Things Love.
·       The Bible Only Makes Christians Only.
·       No Creed But Christ, No Book But the Bible, No Law But Love.

  Those “mottos” are our goals. We don’t always do as well at sticking to them as we might, but it’s our prayer that those goals will keep us from being too quick to put our opinions above God’s teachings. Over the next few posts, I’m going to try to explain why these “mottos” are not just good for “Restoration” churches, but for all churches. So, stay tuned.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

HOW SHOULD YOU BE BAPTIZED?

   Long before “the prayer of salvation” and “asking Jesus into your heart” were introduced to the religious world in the 1800s, the big issue was:    Should a person be baptized by sprinkling or by immersion?   It was such a divisive issue that several denominations in Europe would drown those who preferred adult immersion over sprinkling of children. “You like water… we’ll give lots of water.”   But the question for honest students of Scripture isn’t whether religious leaders believe in immersion or sprinkling. The question is… what does the word “baptism” really mean?   WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY?   In John 3:23 we read, " And John also was baptizing in Aenon near to Salim, BECAUSE THERE WAS MUCH WATER THERE: and they came, and were baptized ."   In Mark 1:9-10 , we read, "Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in Jordan. And straightway COMING UP OUT OF THE WATER, he saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit like...
Read more

UNDERSTANDING THE FAILURE OF CREEDS

  Years ago, I supply preached for a small country church that had about 35 in attendance. They weren’t part of our brotherhood, but they liked me and asked me to consider becoming their preacher. Since they weren’t part our brotherhood I asked to look at their by-laws to make sure there wasn’t anything I had to consider before saying "yes" to them.   They handed me a document roughly 10 pages in length and I took it home to read it over. Their by-laws seemed fairly normal (essentially what ours might look like) until I got to the back pages. And I swear to you, the last 2/3rds of their constitution consisted of their church’s “Creed.” Most of it was fairly common Bible doctrine, but there were parts of it that I felt were questionable and hard to justify. So when I met with their leadership the next week I told I’d want to change their constitution’s doctrinal statements if I became their preacher.   “Oh no” one of the sighed, “the last 3 preachers have wanted to change ...
Read more

CHRISTIANS ONLY

    If you were to ask some people if they were “Christians” they might reply “I’m a Methodist,” or “I’m a Baptist,” or “I’m a whatever.” Odd. You asked if they were Christians and they told what “flavor” they thought they were.   That’s one of the dangers of denominational names – the loyalty to a denominational brand that often outweighs a person’s loyalty to Christ. NO ONE should do this. And that’s why the Restoration Movement has pushed so hard on the concept that “ We’re not the only Christians, but we’re Christians only.” If we insist on being only Christians, it becomes harder to use a man-made name that divides us off from others. (See footnote)     Recently a friend said to me “you’re an Arminian.” In other words, he was stating that I believed in the teachings of a man named Jacobus Arminius (who maintained that men and women have a free will).   Now, while that’s probably true, I responded “No, I’m not an Arminian. I’m a Christian. Arminius...
Read more