08.04 - Reversing the Trend

8.4 REVERSING THE TREND This is not to say that these local churches are perfect. They are not. They are made up of men and women, and they have all of the weaknesses of men and women. They make mistakes and often they go astray of God’s word. However, as long as they hold the word of God to be the only basis of unity and authority, they will return to it when their shortcomings are shown to them. Indeed, this is the major basis of determining fellowship (2Jn 1:9): "Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into [your] house, neither bid him God speed: For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds."

There is a trend within these churches to drift away from the word of God. This is no surprise to students of the bible. Many, if not most of the churches addressed in the New Testament had this same problem. Read through the first letter of Paul to the Corinthians. We have quoted the warnings with regard to false teachers over and over again. As long as churches are made up of people, they will have their problems. Is this evidence that the word of God is not sufficient and that we must accept the denominational model? Absolutely not! Consider Rom 3:1-3, which discusses the fact that the Jews of Jesus’ time had the advantage of the scriptures despite the fact that they did not observe them properly: "What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit [is there] of circumcision? Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God. For what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged." The point is that you cannot judge the truth by those who claim to have it, or even by those who faithfully endeavor to keep it. Man will let you down every time.

I will admit that the paragraphs above might sound contradictory. First we said that the uniformity of the churches who are dedicated to following only God’s word is evidence that the bible pattern can be attained. Then we indicated that these same churches have a tendency to drift away from God’s word. How can these two assertions be rectified? Quite simply, we must realize that churches, like people, are not uniform in their maturity. The fact that a person achieves a degree of righteousness proves that this degree of righteousness can be attained. The fact that that very same person falls into sin does not negate the first proof. The spiritual maturity of a church, of course, depends totally upon the spiritual maturity of its members. No church ever stands still. Usually a church is first formed by a small, very dedicated group of individuals who are dissatisfied with their current religious organization. They may have tried for years to convince those in their previous organization of the truth. Finally, convinced themselves that their efforts are not bearing fruit, they obey the command to "... come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean [thing]; and I will receive you, ..." (1Co 6:17).

These individuals seek and find others who share their desire to base their religion solely on God’s word. As such, they are highly blessed in their efforts to keep the Lord’s great commission. The small church of two or three increased to ten or twenty. Over the course of a generation it might grow to number in the hundreds. This is the tricky part, for here we have replicated either the church at Corinth, or else the church at Smyrna (see Rev 2:8-11) -- one was headed toward destruction, the other holding the course and obviously growing in spirituality. Certainly the same conditions can exist in any church today. This is the reason that we cannot stake our salvation upon a name or a group. For, the very same group can be removed from grace by God himself. The responsibility to reverse the trend away from God’s word falls upon each one of us, as indicated by the warning issued to the church at Ephesus (Rev 2:5): "Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent."