 The
Proclaimer
"To Christ Be Loyal And Be True"
The plea of the
restoration movement to go back to the Bible and restore New Testament
Christianity is indeed a noble one. The efforts of courageous men of the
past who studied themselves out of the chains of sectarianism and
denominationalism should certainly be appreciated by those of us today who
attempt to serve God in God’s way. We owe a great debt to those of days
gone by who have helped us understand more accurately the way of the Lord.
But the fact is, we are still a part of that great restoration movement
today in that we continue to study and learn exactly what God would have us
to do and how to do it.
Certainly we are, and
should be, practicing that which we believe to be right in the sight of
God. Not only so, we should be able to agree on the truth of God and stand
together in defense of that truth (Phil. 1:27). At the same time, we need
to make sure that we keep a proper attitude toward truth. We should still
be “examining the scriptures daily, whether these things were so” (Acts
17:11). Whenever such examination ceases and individuals begin to consider
their practice as the equivalence of truth, they are no longer in “search of
the ancient order” and find themselves in the world of sectarianism.
Many in the church today
perceive themselves as that body which accepts and obeys God’s truth, and as
such, consider themselves to be the true church. They reason that only
those who do as we do are members of the true church. Consequently, they
deduct, “Since the Church of Christ is the right church, if the Church of
Christ is doing it, it must be right.” Such a subtle change in attitude is
hardly recognizable, but the conclusion is unavoidable – human standards are
substituted for divine standards. It is precisely this attitude that has
caused brethren across the land to be involved in practices for which there
is no Bible authority.
Whenever we place
our confidence in the “Church of Christ” to be the “right church” to do the
“right thing” we become no different than the denominations around us who
are teaching and practicing what their sect has always done or wants to do.
Our confidence must be in the Lord and in His word. Our criterion of
determining whether a thing is right must be whether we have a “thus saith
the Lord.” We cannot stop searching for truth. We cannot be content to
allow others, either in the past or the present, to determine our
convictions. A thing is right not because some preacher, elder or church
says it is, but because the Lord has authorized it in His word.
There is an objective standard of truth outside
of one’s self that contains commands, teachings, examples, principles and a
pattern that may be studied, received and obeyed. It is indeed the law of
Christ. “God, having of time spoken unto the fathers in the prophets by
divers portions and in divers manners, hath at the end of these days spoken
unto us in his Son” (Heb. 1:1, 2).
After His resurrection and before His
ascension, Christ said, “All authority hath been given unto me in heaven and
on earth” (Matt. 28:18). Hence, to be under the law of Christ is to be
under the law of God, for Christ’s law is within the scope of God’s
authority. Paul makes this plain as he said he was “not being without law
to God, but under law to Christ” (1 Cor. 9:21). Our allegiance must be to
the Lord, not to the church of Christ, for Christ is our King and Savior,
not the church.
-- Clark Dugger
The Proclaimer
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