Truth Magazine

By Johnny Stringer

Jesus is king. The commandments of a king are law. Yet, there are those who deny that we are subject to divine law. When we insist that brethren adhere to God’s law in our worship and service to God, we are told that this is not necessary, for we are under grace, not law. Some brethren evidently believe that grace and law are mutually exclusive – if you have one you cannot have the other.

Do not be deceived. The fact that we are under a system of grace does not mean that we are not subject to law or that it is not essential for us to be guided by God’s law.

Paul described himself as “being not without law to God, but under the law to Christ” (1 Cor. 9:21). The word which we are to learn and do is called the law of liberty (Jas. 1:25). If we were not amenable to law, we could not sin, for sin is transgression of the law (1 Jn. 3:4). It is undeniable, therefore, that God has given us a law.

It ought to be obvious that if God has given us a law, we are expected to obey it; and the Bible makes it plain that we must be guided by god’s law in our conduct and our teaching (2 Tim. 3:16-17; John 4:24; Matt. 7:21-23; 28-28:20; 2 Jn. 9; Jn. 8:31; Acts 2:42; 1 Cor. 16:13; Jude 3; 2 Tim. 1:13; Tit. 1:9; Jas. 5:19-20). Indeed, whenever God has spoken to man or given a law, he has expected men to give his law supreme respect and strict obedience (Deut. 4:2; Lev. 10:1-2; Prov. 30:5-6; Rev. 22:18-19). Failure to do so in sin (1 Jn. 3:4).

No, brethren, our being under grace does not mean we are not subject to law; rather, it means that we have a means of forgiveness when we violate that law. The forgiveness is dependent on our meeting certain conditions, including repentance (Acts 8:22); hence, we cannot persist in violating God’s law with impunity.

Paul’s teaching in Romans regarding grace and law is often misunderstood. Because he teaches that we are saved by grace rather than by law, some conclude that we are not subject to law or that submission to God’s law is not essential. It should be obvious, however, that this is not what Paul means. If it were, he would be contradicting the Scriptures we have already cited.

What Paul teaches in Romans is that we are not under a system of mere law (without grace) as a means of justification. We have more than law; we have grace by which we can be forgiven when we violate his law.

If we depended simply on law as a means of justification, we would have to keep that law perfectly. We could not repent of our violations and obtain forgiveness, for there would be no grace; we would be depending strictly on law, not grace. We can be thankful that God has not simply given us a law and said, “Now to be justified, you have to keep this law; but once you violate the law, you have blown your chance for justification; there is no grace – no forgiveness. “

If we were justified by perfectly keeping God’s law, grace would be excluded. Our justification would be earned by our sinless living. If we kept God’s law perfectly, we would be sinless; hence, we would need no grace.

A person who taught that we were saved by perfectly keeping God’s law would be a legalist. I am not a legalist in that sense of the word, for I know I cannot be justified in that manner; I have not kept God’s law perfectly. I must depend on God’s gracious forgiveness. But I cannot persist in violating God’s law and be forgiven; I must repent.

An upcoming article will confirm this view by examining a misunderstood passage regarding law and grace: Romans 3:19-4:9.

Guardian of Truth XXXII: 7, pp. 196, 215
April 7, 1988

By Mike Willis

Several years ago, the Crossroads church of Christ in Gainesville, Florida began to draw national attention. Ira Rice rarely published an issue of Contending for the Faith without devoting some attention to the Crossroads movement. Some early articles had trouble elucidating the problem at Crossroads. Several years have passed and one is able to write more clearly about the Crossroads movement for we are well beyond the crossroads and able to see where the philosophy and doctrines espoused at Crossroads lead.

The Crossroads church in Gainesville, Florida was formerly known as the 14th Street church. They changed their name to “Crossroads” for they were at a crossroad in their thinking. Would they continue in the mainstream of liberalism and walk in the path which other liberal churches were walking or would they venture into new fields and try something different? They were at the crossroads and chose to reject the option of staying in the “traditional” path walked by most liberal churches in order to cut a new path into territory previously unwalked by churches of Christ.

Crossroads Is A Big Liberal Church

Whatever one might not be able grasp about other aspects of the Crossroads groups, he should have no trouble grasping that the Crossroads movement is thoroughly committed to and entrenched in liberalism.

The 1982 Budget of the Crossroads church listed these expenditures:

World Bible School $5,600

Alan Cloyd, Restoration Ministry 600

Bus Ministry 12,600

Christian Family Services 45,000

Kitchen Supplies 4,000

Flowers 2,200

The Crossroads church is a liberal church committed to ministering to the “whole man.” “God expects benevolence, personal and family counseling and every other ministry to be emphasized and utilized in seeking and saving the lost.”(1) Committed to this philosophy, the following programs were a part of their ministry:

1. Fanning Springs Development. A retreat with accommodations for about 250.(2)

2.Christian Family Services. 120 acres of land at Riegel Ranch were purchased for this facility.(3) Group care facilities at Riegel Ranch were projected to care for 40 to 60 children in 6-8 cottages. “We want to start with one cottage to house eight children with house parents. We estimate the first cottage will cost about $250,000. In addition, operating funds of about $100,000 per year must be raised.”(4)

3. Time and Stress Management Workshop.(5) This workshop charges a fee for participation.(6)

4. Girl Scouts troops meet in their building.(7)

5. An annual “Play Day.” “Our annual Play Day will be coming up on Saturday, March 24 and will be held as usual at Fanning Springs. A nominal fee will be charged for the meal. A full day of games, recreation and sports activities are planned for the entire family.”(8)

6. Donations have been taken at times other than the first day of the week. “Our annual Bring Your Neighbor Day is coming up April 1. There will be two services that morning, the first at 9:30 and the second at 11:30. Following each service there will be a barbecue lunch and a program by the Crossroads Singers. On Wednesday evening, March 28, we will be taking donations to pay for the chicken.”(9) Churches which developed from the Crossroads movement have followed in their footsteps of not being content with the pattern of a contribution taken on the first day of the week (I Cor. 16:1-2). The Boston Church bulletin wrote, “Our elders in Boston have provided us with an opportunity to meet the needs of the poor around the world by scheduling a Wednesday night contribution.”(10)

7. The Crossorads church receives donations from other congregations. In a bulletin stating that their Sunday worship attendance was 991 and their contribution was $12,679, the following statement appeared: “I want to bring you up to date on our fund raising for the new facilities. The initial response to our new building program has been tremendous. Despite a world-wide recession and economic problems in our country, our members and brothers and sisters around the country have given generously and have made sacrificial pledges.”(11) What a departure from the New Testament pattern in which one church sent another church money! In the New Testament, one church sent another church money to relieve the benevolent needs of its members (Acts 11:27-30; 1 Cor. 16:1-2; 2 Cor. 8-9; etc.). The church in better financial circumstances sent to a church in worse financial circumstances, not the other way around.

8. Black History Weekend. The Crossroads church conducted a “Black History Weekend” in connection with Black History month. A musical drama entitled “We’ve Come This Far By Faith” was conducted at the Crossroads church.(12) Another concert was conducted in February 1988.(13)

9. Crossroads Singers. The Crossroads church formed a special group of singers called “The Crossroads Singers” who entertain at the worship services and conduct special concerts at Gainesville and around the country.(14) They have produced several albums for sale through their ministry, including a Christmas album entitled “Holiday Souvenirs.” In their advertising brochure, the Crossroads church explains the function of this group,

The Crossroads Singers are an integral part of the total work of the congregation. Their local concerts serve as an effective way to share with the community the message of committed Christian living. The Singers are used in conjunction with evangelistic crusades, vacation Bible schools, and special services.

10. A day care center.(15)

The Crossroads church is a big, liberal church. In this respect, the Crossroads church is identified with the liberal churches across this country which have redefined the work of the church to include fields of work not authorized by God. Every passage of Scripture which has been used to condemn other liberal churches for being involved in the social gospel applies with equal force to the Crossroads church and its satellites.

Crossroads’ Unique Features

Despite the objections which most of us would have to the Crossroads movement, these are not the objections of their sister liberal churches. Across the country, objections began to be made to the Crossroads church and her satellites. Here are some of the common objections to the Crossroads movement:

1. The Prayer Partner. Following the principles enunciated in Robert Coleman’s The Master Plan of Evangelism, the Crossroads brethren developed a plan in which “every member must have a master – someone must be designated for every member to serve as his master . . . called ‘prayer partners’. . . . The prayer partner functions much in the same way a Catholic priest functions.”(16) The prayer partner system is used to exert pressure on the member to control his conduct.

2. A restructured organization in which the preacher and a group of “soul talk leaders” make up the leadership of the congregation.(17) Chuck Lucas at Crossroads was the leader of the Crossroads movement, even though there were elders in the local church. A new theology of organization began to evolve in the Crossroads churches in which a commitment to the preacher predominated.

3. Total Commitment. No Bible believer is opposed to total commitment to Jesus; however, many are opposed to the Crossroads philosophy of total commitment. “Total commitment at Crossroads, according to all that I can find out, involves slavish loyalty to the Crossroads program and its leaders, the giving of large sums of money to the cause, even if one has to borrow it . . . and giving up their jobs to devote more time to the Crossroads cause.”(18) Slavish commitment to a human leader and man-made rules brought objections from many different parts of the country where Crossroads satellites existed.

Nevertheless, this was just the crossroads. The Crossroads church was not content to stay at the crossroads; they were determined to move beyond the crossroads. We will relate this development in the next issue.

Endnotes

1. At the Crossroads (hereafter abbreviated ATC), [6 November 1973], p. 1.

2. ATC [31 January 1982], p. 1.

3. ATC [31 January 1982], p. 1.

4. Quarterly Newsletter for Christian Family Services [January 1984], p. 2.

5. ATC [31 October 1982], p. 3.

6. ATC ( 14 March 1982], p. 2.

7. ATC [5 September 1982], p. 2.

8. ATC [11 March 1984], p. 3.

9. ATC [25 March 1984], p, 3.

10. Boston Church of Christ [1 November 1987], p. 3.

11. ATC [9 October 1983], p. 3.

12. ATC [15 February 1987], p. 1.

13. ATC [14 February 1988], p. 4.

14. ATC [31 October 1982], p. 3; [18 October 1981], p. 3; [11 July 1982], p. 3.

15. The Crossroads Singers, p. 8.

16. Charles G. Goodall, “A Letter To A Crossroads-Type Church,” Torch [August 1981], p. 4.

17. Charles G. Goodall, “A Follow-Up Letter To Sunrise Members,” Torch [September 1981), p. 22.

18. James P. Needham, “The Crossroads Phenomenon,” Torch [October 1981], p. 6.

Guardian of Truth XXXII: 7, pp. 194, 214-215
April 7, 1988

By Johnie Edwards

The place of deacons is very vital to a successful working church. A man who had been a deacon for some twenty-five years once asked me, “Just what is the work of deacons? I’ve been one for twenty-five years and I do not understand what I am supposed to be doing.” Realizing many deacons may not have the proper concept of their work, we study:

Qualifications For Deacons

The qualifications for deacons are found only one time in the Bible. Please take your Bible and read 1 Timothy 3:8-13. Please do that right now. It can be seen from this reading that deacons can be out of place.

(1) Double-tongued. A deacon must not talk out of both sides of his mouth. He must be a man who is stable in his speech. It is like Paul told the Colossians, “Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man” (Col. 4:6). A deacon must not say one thing and mean something else!

(2) Drink. A deacon must not drink. Can you imagine the influence a deacon would have on others if he drinks. One appointed to serve as a deacon must not be 44given to much wine.” Does this mean he can drink a little every now and then? The wise man said, “Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging; and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise” (Prov. 20:1). It would be difficult to drink even a little and observe the admonition which says, “Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his color in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. At last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder” (Prov. 23:31-32).

(3) Greedy of filthy lucre. A man who serves as a deacon must not acquire his money or possessions by base gain. He must be honest in his dealings. A greedy deacon would not have time to do his necessary work in the church and thus would be out of place.

(4) Deacons are not elders. A deacon is out of his place when he tries to be an elder or do the work of an elder. A deacon is a deacon, is a deacon, is a. . . ! Deacons do not have the oversight of anything; oversight belongs to the elders (Acts 20:28; 1 Pet. 5:1-3).

The Place of Deacons

The qualifications for deacons also teaches us something about the place of deacons. It is the place of deacons to:

(1) To be grave. Deacons must be honorable men who are respected by others in the church. They must be men of dignity who are sober minded and reverent in decorum.

(2) Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience. A deacon’s place is to have a good attitude toward the truth. He must be sound in the faith. Too often there has been a continual struggle between sound elders and liberal minded deacons in regard to the work of the church.

(3) Blameless. It is the place of a deacon not to have any cause for blame in his life. This does not mean that he is to be sinlessly perfect. It does mean that his life must be above reproach as he uses the office of a deacon.

(4) A family man. It is the place of a deacon to be the husband of one wife and rule his children and house well. The family of a deacon can disqualify him from serving as a deacon. The wife of a deacon must “be grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things” (1 Tim. 3:11). A deacon must have the respect of his own family in order to have respect of others.

A Deacon Is A Servant

The work of deacons does not involve oversight but service. The office of a deacon is not an honorary position but a place of serving. The deacons arc to serve the local church under the oversight of the elders. Deacons are like minutemen – ready to serve at a moment’s notice. If a man does not want to serve, then he ought not be a deacon! There are a number of things that a deacon can surely do in his serving. The deacons can help the elders in carrying out some things such as: seeing that the church building is open and closed, that the building is cleaned, that things are in place for worship; maintaining the grounds around the building, the baptistry, ushers, work in the area of benevolence, keep attendance records, keep the tract rack filled, be a treasurer, see about the sick, serve tables and the list goes on. It is not stated that those men in Acts 6:1-6 were deacons but certainly deacons would do well to help serve in this business. Of course, a deacon has other responsibilities because of his relationship to Christ as a Christian.

The reward of one who serves well as a deacons is worthwhile. “For they that have used the office of a deacon well purchase to themselves a good degree, and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus” (1 Tim. 3:13).

Guardian of Truth XXXII: 7, p. 197
April 7, 1988

By Harry R. Osborne

Have you gone to the worship services of various churches? There is an amazing variety among them. In fact, there is so much variety that one wonders how so many practices could come from people supposedly following the same book, the Bible. The obvious fact is that they do not follow the simple New Testament pattern for worship. Instead, they add to and subtract from that biblical pattern to suit their own desires.

Examples of denominational “worship” seem to be reaching a new high in lows these days. We all remember the denominational group in California several years ago that added a drive-in window for all of their members who could not spend the time to come in for the whole service. It was a kind of “Jiffy-Prayer” booth. So many gimmicks have come down the line that it is impossible to list or even remember all of them.

A few weeks ago, however, I was intrigued by the scheme of a group who came to the Living Stones church here in Alvin, Texas. Several fellows of muscular build, called “the Power Team,” did karate chops pulverizing huge blocks of ice in “worship” to God. I thought surely that was the worst it could get – until last Sunday. On that Super Bowl Sunday, the Second Baptist Church in Houston had services in the gymnasium where they erected a 20-foot TV screen to watch the football game. During the whole thing, the deacons sold nachos, hot dogs, popcorn, and cokes while young women dressed as cheerleaders pranced around and lead cheers. At halftime the preacher, called the “headlines man” for the evening, gave his address. I am certain all were edified. Is this “worship” as God intended it?

Let’s look at what the New Testament says about the worship of the church. In Colossians 3:17, we are reminded that we need authority for whatever we do, either in word or in deed. Let us see what that church in the New Testament did and what they were instructed to do. In this way we can determine the full pattern regarding worship as God gave it by the inspired writers.

First, we see that the New Testament church engaged in prayer to worship God. Jesus taught the disciples that prayer was an act of worship and reverence to God (Matt. 6:9). In Colossians 4:24, the church at Colossae is enjoined to pray. The church in the book of Acts is seen praying (Acts 2:42).

Second, we see the preaching and teaching of God’s word in worship. Acts 2:42 says that the early church “continued steadfastly in the apostles’ teaching.” 1 Thessalonians 2:13 makes it clear that the apostles’ teaching is in fact the word of God. When men speak “the oracles of God,” it is so “God may be glorified” (1 Pet. 4:11).

Third, we see Christians in the first century singing praises to God. They were commanded to speak “one to another in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord” (Eph. 5:19). Nine times in the New Testament we find commands to or examples of singing in worship to God.

Fourth, we find New Testament Christians gathering on the first day of every week to partake of the Lord’s Supper (Acts 20:7). This was in fulfillment of the command given by Christ on the night of his betrayal (Matt. 26:26-29). Paul makes clear the place and manner of partaking the Lord’s Supper (1 Cor. 11:20-34).

Fifth, we mad of first century Christians giving of their means upon the first day of the week (1 Cor. 16:2). Paul affirms that this is an act of worship in 2 Corinthians 8:5. Christians gave to meet the needs God authorized the church as a unit to discharge, but they gave only on the first day of the week.

When we have noticed those five acts of worship, we have covered completely what the New Testament calls “worship.” No ice smashing, nacho selling, cheerleader prancing, TV watching and so on – just things that focus on adoration of the God of heaven.

The term “worship” in our New Testament is defined as “to make obeisance” or “do reverence to.” It is said to denote “an act of homage or reverence.” Praying to God does that. Singing praises does that. Preaching God’s word does that. Thinking upon Christ’s death in the Lord’s supper does that. So does contributing out of love for God and his cause.

Where in the world did people get the idea that these other things give homage and reverence to God? They may be things in which men like to engage, but “worship” is to please God! We please God by doing the things he says we ought to do.

Brethren, we need to be very cautious about these principles, too. There is always some well intentioned soul who comes along and decides that we could add “enthusiasm” into our services by various means. What lies behind the well intentioned, but often errant suggestion that follows is a basic misunderstanding about the nature of worship. Worship is to please God! The uplifting we derive from it ought to be a by-product of the fact that God is praised, not the other way around. I hear a multitude of brethren talking about the main purpose of worship being the energizing of ourselves and our brethren. That concept is nothing short of sectarian thinking and will lead all who follow it into the same practices we see in the denominational world! The denominations structure their services around what will excite them the most. The Christian seeks to worship, adore, and praise the Almighty God of heaven and receives joy as a by product of his service to God.

Guardian of Truth XXXII: 7, pp. 195-196
April 7, 1988