Truth Magazine

By Mike Willis

The church which Jesus built is a perfect institution. That church is all-sufficient to accomplish the purpose for which God built it. When men begin to doubt the all sufficiency of the`church, they then begin to build human institutions to do the work which God intended the church to do. In recent years, the church as been plagued with an ever increasing number of human institutions clamoring for church support. Each of these institutions first persuades the church that it is not sufficient to do its God given work and then suggests that this human institution can accomplish the divinely commanded work more efficiently than the church can. Consequently, the churches are encouraged to make a contribution to this human institution to do the work which the church was commanded to accomplish.

None of these institutions would ever have been supported by church contributions had men had faith in the church which God designed and Jesus built. However, becoming disenchanted with the church, these brethren turned to human institutions to do the work which God gave the church to accomplish. In order to prevent further and future apostasies of the same kind, we need to restore confidence in the all-sufficiency of the church.

We need to be reminded that the church is a perfect institution. We say this in spite of the fact that it is made up of men. The church might be considered from its divine side and from its human side. When we say that the church is a perfect institution, we are obviously speaking of it from its divine side. The human side of the church will never become perfect so long as it has imperfect men in it. The imperfect human institutions are also filled with imperfect men; they have nothing better to offer. Yet, the church is perfect from its divine side. Let us consider the ways in which it is perfect.

1. The church was conceived in the mind of our perfect God. Paul wrote, “. . .to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Eph. 3:10-11). Notice that the church was “purposed” or planned by God Himself. The Divine Architect of the church was none other than God.

The church reflects the “wisdom” of the Divine Architect in the same way as some earthly building reflects the wisdom of its architect. As I view a bridge which spans a large river, I am impressed with the wisdom of its architect. Similarly, when I see the church functioning as the church is commanded to function, I am impressed with the wisdom of its Architect. For example, I am amazed that the gospel could be spread throughout all of the known world within fifty years of its beginning with no organization other than the local church. Indeed, the church manifests the wisdom of its Architect. The church is perfect because it had a perfect Architect.

2. The church is perfect because it has a perfect blueprint. When we read of the construction of the tabernacle and later of the temple, we are told of God giving a pattern by which these were to be built. The men were commended because they built all things according to the pattern (Ex. 25:9, 40). The Hebrew writer reminds us of God’s instructions to Moses in erecting the tabernacle; he said, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount” (Heb. 8:5).

The Hebrew writer shows that the tabernacle was the type of the church, which was the antitype. Even as the tabernacle was to be built by the pattern revealed to Moses, even so was the church to be built according to the divine pattern. The pattern for the church is God-given and, therefore, perfect.

3. The church is perfect because it had a perfect builder. None other than God in the flesh built the church. The Prince of Peace, the Wonderful Counselor, the Everlasting Father, the Mighty God, built the church. To Peter, Jesus said, “Upon this rock I will build my church.”

If an imperfect person planned a house, it would have flaws in its design. If a perfect person planned a house, it would be perfect. The church was planned by God and, therefore, has a perfect blueprint. Yet, if an imperfect builder works with a perfect blueprint, he will build an imperfect house. Or, if a perfect builder works with an imperfect blueprint, he will build a perfectly built imperfect house. Yet, we have a perfect blueprint and a perfect builder. for the church. Hence, the church is perfect, from the divine side. It is exactly what God planned to build.

4. Perfect preparations were made for the church. The church was conceived by God from eternity. Yet, preparations were made through the course of history to bring it into existence. Even as David made preparations for the building of the Temple by his son Solomon, so also God made preparations for the building of the church by His Son Jesus Christ. The prophets foretold the coming of the kingdom of God (Isa. 2:1-4; 9:6-7; Dan. 2:44; etc.) Divine preparations were made. Finally, when the time arrived for the divine kingdom to be built, the message was sent out, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand” (Mk. 1:14). God sent forth His Son to build the church “in the fulness of time” (Gal. 4:4), when all of the preparation necessary for the coming of the church had been done. Yes, perfect preparations were made for the coming of the church.

5. Perfect provisions were made to bring the church into existence. Miraculous powers were needed to bring the church into existence. God did not leave the establishment of the church in the hands of unaided men. Rather, God spared nothing in bringing the church into being. We need only to read the second chapter of Acts to be impressed with the many different miracles which transpired to bring the church into existence. Without going into all of the miracles executed by Christ, the death, burial and resurrection of Christ, the work of John the Baptist, or the work of the prophets, simply notice that God worked miracles in bringing the church into existence. He sent a sound from heaven like the rushing of a mighty wind, cloven tongues like as of fire which rested upon the heads of each of the apostles, and other tongues. Then, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Peter revealed the divine conditions for entry into the church. Yes, God gave perfect provisions for bringing the church into existence.

6. A Perfect Head was given to the church. The Scriptures explicitly teach that Jesus Christ is the Head of the church. Paul wrote, “. . .and hath put all things under his (Jesus’) feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all” (Eph. 1:22-23). The head of the church is not some imperfect pontiff. Nor, is the head of the church a group of imperfect men. The Head of the church is none other than the Son of God Himself.

7. A perfect law has been given to govern the church. The law which guides the church is perfect. Jesus imparted the Holy Spirit to the Apostles to guide them in all truth in revealing His will to mankind (Jn. 14:26; 16:13). The result was a “perfect law, the law of liberty” (Jas. 1:25). The law of God which governs the church has been “once-for-all-times” delivered (Jude 3) and furnishes man completely unto every good work (2 Tim. 3:16-17). Hence, the church is perfect because it has a perfect law.

The law of God furnishes the church completely with everything it needs to offer acceptable worship to God, to organize itself in order to accomplish its God-given work, to discharge its responsibilities in its given areas of work, etc. So long as the church walks within the confines of God’s revealed, perfect law, it will manifest to man the wisdom of God. When it departs from the law of God and walks in its own imperfect wisdom, it ceases to reflect divine wisdom and begins to reflect mere human wisdom.

8. It has a perfect mission. God has given the church a perfect mission. The work which God has given the church to accomplish is simple: the preaching of the gospel both to its own members (for edification) and to others (evangelism), and benevolence. (I will not labor to prove at this point that the work of benevolence is limited to the poor among the saints and that God has not charged the church in its congregational capacity with general benevolence responsibilities.) Humanly devised works-works not authorized in the pages of the perfect law of liberty which guides the church-distort the mission of the church.

9. It has within it the ability to perfectly carry out its mission. The perfect Architect who perfectly planned the church, created the church with the ability to carry out the works which He gave it. The work of God would be imperfect were it of such a nature that God has laid certain responsibilities upon the church and then not have given it the ability to perform those responsibilities. To illustrate the imperfection, consider what you would think of the designer and of the machine which was designed to harvest wheat but was unable to accomplish the purposes which God gave it to do. The church is perfect and is, therefore, able to accomplish its God-given works of evangelization, edification, and benevolence without the need of human institutions. The church is all-sufficient to do the work which God gave it to do.

Conclusion

When one begins with something that is perfect, he destroys that perfection when he adds something to it and takes something from it. The church can have its perfection destroyed by men appending things to it which God, in His wisdom, chose not to attach to it or by removing from it things which God placed upon it. My brethren, the church is perfect as it came to man from God. It is all sufficient to do the work which God designed for it to do. Let us be content with the church as it is revealed to us by God.

Truth Magazine XXIII: 7, pp. 115-117
February 15, 1979

By Irvin Himmel

Jericho was the first city to fall when the Israelites began the conquest of Canaan. Scouts were sent ahead to Ai, the next city to be captured. It was not a large city, so the reconnaissance resulted in the recommendation to Joshua that only two or three thousand men be used in the attack. A force of three thousand moved against the city, but the men of Ai drove them back and the casualties numbered about thirty-six.

The Israelites were startled at their lack of success in the initial move against Ai. Joshua and the elders put dust on their heads and complained to the Lord. Joshua reasoned, “O Lord, what shall I say, when Israel turneth their backs before their enemies!” God answered, “Get thee up . . . Israel hath sinned . . . .”

Joshua rose early in the morning to begin the unpleasant task of housecleaning. There was sin the camp. The guilty party had to be located. The guilt of one man was a stumbling-block to the advance against Ai. Joshua 7 tells the story. It was finally determined that a man named Achan was the transgressor. Only after appropriate disciplinary measures had been taken against Achan were the Israelites able to conquer Ai. Achan was stoned to death.

Achan’s Desire

God put a ban on the city of Jericho before it was captured. No spoils were to be taken. Everything in the city was accursed or devoted to destruction except the silver, gold, and vessels of iron and brass. These valuables were to be put into the treasury of the Lord. All else was to be burned.

Achan’s first mistake was in seeing and desiring the forbidden. He later confessed, “I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them . . .” (v. 21).

Sin often begins with unlawful desire brought on by what we see. Eve “saw that the tree was good for good” (Gen. 3:6). King Ahaz of Judah “saw an altar that was at Damascus” (2 Kgs. 16:10) and arranged for one like it to be built at Jerusalem. This was only one act of many that “provoked to anger the Lord God of his fathers” (2 Chron. 28:25). David “saw a woman washing herself; and the woman was very beautiful to look upon” (2 Sam. 11:2). That was the first step toward his committing adultery with Bathsheba. Simon “saw that through the laying on of the apostles’ hands the Holy Ghost was given,” and he attempted to buy the power of the apostles (Acts 8:18).

“Covetousness” is unlawful desire. Achan coveted the items of value that he saw even though he knew they belonged to the accursed city. Eve desired the unlawful fruit in the garden of Eden. Ahaz desired the idolatrous altar that he saw, knowing that God had forbidden idolatry. David lusted after the beautiful woman that he saw and made opportunity to gratify his lust, knowing all the while that the law said, “Thou shalt not commit adultery.” Simon desired the power that he saw in the apostles, but for two reasons that desire was unlawful: (1) God’s gifts are not for sale; (2) Simon had neither part nor lot in the ministry of the apostles.

Achan’s Disobedience

Achan “took of the accursed thing” (Josh. 7:1); he acknowledged later, “I saw. . . l coveted . . . and I took” (v. 21). What he had taken he hid in the earth in the midst of his tent. This shows that he was conscious of his disobedience. Although a person may sin in ignorance, Achan sinned in a willful manner. He knew he was disobeying God.

All disobedience is serious. Saul was rejected as Israel’s king because he disobeyed God (1 Sam. 15). The man of God out (if Judah lost his life because he “was disobedient unto the word of the Lord” (1 Kgs. 13:26). The people of Israel were taken into captivity because they “were disobedient,” and rebelled against God, casting His law behind their backs, and they slew His prophets who testified against them (Neh. 9:26). The wrath of God comes upon “the children of disobedience” (Eph. 5:6).

Achan’s Detection

What Achan had hidden in the earth in the midst of his tent was not concealed from God. In time, Joshua learned the identity of the guilty party. To use the words that Moses had spoken on one ocassion, “Be sure your sin will find you out” (Num. 32:23).

All trespasses are not detected by one’s fellows in the course of life. Paul wrote, “Some men’s sins are open beforehand, going before the judgment; and some men they follow after” (1 Tim. 5:24). No act of disobedience and no wicked thought will escape detection in the day of judgment. “For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil” (Eccl. 12:14). “Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do” (Heb. 4:13). Let us learn from Achan that no sin is kept secret from God.

Truth Magazine XXIII: 7, p. 114
February 15, 1979

By Earl E. Robertson

“Happy is he that condemneth not himself in that thing which he alloweth,” wrote Paul (Rom. 14:22). Liberals and perverters of truth, practicing some things “contrary to sound doctrine,” must exercise care that their inconsistencies are not too obvious to the public. Their preaching must be geared to their practice, not their practice to their preaching!

Recently such an one said he had never preached on instrumental music in the worship and would not. The reason being, he said, such practice is not mentioned in the Bible. Another preacher of the same persuasion concurred with this statement. They support religious activities for which there is not one verse of scripture to support them and they obviously know it; and, furthermore, they know instrumental music in worship parallels such practice. They believe in one church sponsoring a work for which all churches are equally responsible. But let them produce a scripture authorizing a sponsoring church! They believe that churches may monetarily subsidize human organizations to do the work of the church. But let them produce a passage of scripture to authorize churches of Christ to furnish with subsidy David Lipscomb College or Potter Home and School. They know the scripture makes the difference, and they also know their practice places them “in the middle”.

Any departure from the truth, though it may not be specifically named in the word of God, must be condemned. Paul shows the Ephesian elders that some from among themselves would arise “speaking perverse things” to draw away disciples (Acts 20:30). Do those “perverse” things have to be named before I can preach on them? There is only one gospel but many perverters of it (Gal. 1:6-12). The perversion of truth does not have to be specified in the scripture for one to preach against it! The gainsayers of truth must be stopped – they teach things which they ought not (Tit. 1:9-11). Paul told Timothy to charge some “that they teach no other doctrine” (1 Tim. 1:3). Does the doctrine have to be named in the scriptures before I can rightfully preach against it? There are some things “contrary to sound doctrine” (1 Tim. 1:10) which are not specifically named in the scriptures – instrumental music in worship being one of them! Sins in the “such like” category must be condemned as well as the ones specified (Gal. 5:21). False teachers (2 Pet. 2:1) lead men away with error (2 Pet. 3:17). Instrumental music in worship is unauthorized and must, therefore, be preached against inconsistent preachers to the contrary notwithstanding.

Truth Magazine XXIII: 6, p. 107
February 8, 1979

By Mackey W. Harden

These are the words the angel of the Lord spoke to the apostles in Acts 5:20. The apostles had just been arrested for the second time because of their preaching the gospel. The Sadducees were very upset because the apostles could not be persuaded to quit preaching about Jesus. Upon their first arrest (Acts 4:1-3), Peter and John had been threatened, “. . . and commanded not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus” (Acts 4:17-18). This however did not stand in their way at all, for they continued without any hesitation to teach and preach in the name of Jesus. This is what led to their second arrest, as recorded in Acts 5:17-18.

After they were imprisoned, the angel of the Lord came by night and set them free. They were instructed to “Go, stand and speak in the temple all the words of this life” (Acts 5:20). Let it be observed that they were not set free just to go somewhere and hide from these rulers that were threatening them. They were set free in order to fulfill a divine mission. They had a job to do for the Lord and in order to achieve that goal they had to “Go, stand and speak . . . all the words of this life.”

Those of us who are Christians today have the responsibility to spread the cause of Christ to those who live in this generation. We need to be as zealous of this as the apostles and first century disciples were. Let us notice what the Bible teaches as to how we can “Go, stand and speak .

Go

Jesus our Lord said, “Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields; for they are white already to harvest (Jn. 4:35). As a boy of six or seven years old growing up in southern Alabama, it was very easy to visualize what Jesus is saying. As one looked out over those cotton fields all you could see for acres and acres were those little “cotton balls.” Then the workers would go out into the fields and begin to pick and harvest the cotton. Likewise, it staggers the imagination to look out into the world and see the many people who need the saving power of the gospel. Truly the harvest is ready if we will but “go.” “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations . . .” was the command of our Savior (Matt. 28:19). We have to be willing to obey the command of “go” if we are to spread the seed of the kingdom.

Stand

In writing to the church at Thessalonica, Paul said. “Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle (2 Thess. 2:15) To “stand fast” means to remain firm in our beliefs of the gospel that has been delivered unto us. People who are willing to live for the Lord have to take a “stand” against things foreign to the word of God. We need to remain firm and “stand” for the truth. The apostles knew very well what it meant to remain firm for the Lord. In so doing, they gave their lives for the cause of Christ: How firmly entrenched are we?

Speak

To spread the word we have to “speak.” We have to share our knowledge about the gospel with others if we expect to convert them. Paul was an ambassador in bonds for the sake of the gospel. He prayed that he might boldly make known the mystery of the gospel, “. . . that therein I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak (Eph. 6:18-20). Notice that Paul says, “as I ought to speak.” He had the attitude that it was a necessity for him to “speak boldly” the gospel. I fear that many today do not have this wonderful attitude that Paul here displays. Most Christians probably do not talk to people enough about the gospel. If we do not tell them the wonderful story of Jesus, how can they be saved? Let us strive harder every day of our lives to, “Go, stand and speak . . .” to a lost and dying world.

Truth Magazine XXIII: 6, pp. 106-107
February 8, 1979