08.02.02 - Restoration

8.2.2 RESTORATION

Reformation has proved to be futile since Martin Luther attempted to reform the Roman Catholic church. Those who know the history of the Roman Catholic church recognize that it was not significantly altered by the reformation. Unfortunately, those denominations which were formed by the reformation were also attempts to reform the Roman Catholic church. They were not attempting to totally restore the church which Jesus created in the first century. As a consequence of this, they have all too many remnants of Roman Catholicism which are totally foreign to the New Testament. The alternative is a restoration of the practices which led to the establishment of the churches which existed in the first century. [Note that we do not say a restoration of the first century church, since that church has not ceased to exist (see Heb 12:18-24)]. We will describe the procedure by which you can accomplish this in this section. In the following section we will describe in more detail the nature of the churches which existed in the first century in order to understand just what it is that we are attempting to restore. The first step toward restoration is total and utter obedience to 2Co 6:17: "Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean [thing]; and I will receive you..." Once the determination is made that the organization is not going to respond to the truth, anything short of a complete separation from that organization will be identified as fellowship (sharing). This will be recognized by both God and man. This is the reason that God gave this command. As long as there is an inference that Christians support an apostate religious organization in any way, there will be no way that they can influence members of that religious organization to disassociate themselves from it. It must be made clear, according to the principles which you can clearly state from the New Testament, that this organization is not attempting to teach the whole truth, therefore is not then under the authority of Christ, and therefore cannot be leading people to salvation. Any fellowship with such an organization by faithful Christians can only weaken their ability to lead individuals away from the clutches of this apostate organization. The second step is a most difficult one for many to make: seek and find others to work and worship with who have the same respect for the authority of Jesus as you do. I anticipate the first question to be: what church is that? Name the organization and we will join it! Unfortunately, it is not as easy as that. For, while those who abide by the authority of Christ will call themselves by a designation which can be found in the New Testament, the fact that someone calls themselves by one of these designations does not within itself guarantee that they are respecting the authority of the Lord. (This gets into the non-denomination aspect of the church which many find difficult to understand, and which we will discuss in the next section.) This step can take two possible turns: you either can find such a group with whom you can meet, or you cannot. For the sake of argument, let us assume that you believe that you have identified such a group. The next steps would be to visit with them, both their formal worship and with them as individuals. Learn everything that you can about them, especially with regard to their teachings and practice. If you are met with resistance or animosity in such an inquiry, then chances are you have not found a sound group. Those who are honestly endeavoring to practice what the bible teaches will be overjoyed to discuss the reasons for doing everything that they do. This is not just in an effort to convince you that they are right -- it is also an honest inquiry of themselves, so that if you bring about a better understanding of an issue, they will change as their knowledge of the truth increases. A sound congregation will collectively be willing to change as they learn about their errors. Conversely, those who are overly defensive about the status quo and resist your inquiry are clearly putting their current practice above their desire to attain a better knowledge of God’s word.

It is essential that we interject a qualifier here. It is the attitude of this group toward the authority of Christ and the scriptures that is important. There are any number of religious and even non-religious organizations who are filled with really good, friendly people. Faithfulness to the word of God is not measured solely by friendliness. Indeed, love is essential to the integrity of the group; however, love can be emulated in a variety of ways. True love holds the concern for the salvation of the visitor’s soul as the greatest objective. While straight, hard gospel preaching is often seen to be judgmental and narrow minded by the world, the worst form of contempt and hatred is displayed by those who have no greater concern for your soul than to gloss over those words essential to your salvation. Such is self-serving hypocrisy. While we are not advocating undue offensiveness on the part of Christians, we are pleading for those who are evaluating various groups to "Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment" (John 7:24).

Once you are comfortable with the attitude of this group, it is essential that you become an integral part of them (Heb 10:25). Not only is this to obtain spiritual nourishment from them, but it is also your responsibility to provoke them to love and good works (Heb 10:24). The final step is to assure that this group remains faithful, which we will discuss further in Section 8.4.

We have not dealt with the possibility that it might be extremely difficult, or even impossible, to find a faithful group of Christians to meet with in your geographic area. We invite you to contact us and enlist our assistance in this regard; however, due to the essential autonomous nature of local churches, there is no way to assure that any given congregation is maintaining its integrity and moving in the direction of greater maturity and faithfulness. This determination must be made by the reader, and the selection of the group that you associate with is your responsibility. Remember, you are the victim of your environment (1Co 15:33: "Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good morals.") However, the implication of this statement is that you have the ability to change your environment; thus, "come ye out from among them and be ye separate." These are individual responsibilities, and those who allow others to make these decisions for them are not looking out for their own souls. But what do you do if there is no sound group of Christians that you can associate with? The answer is simple: a group has to start somewhere. Thus, if it does not exist, start it. Jesus recognized that the nature of the Kingdom of Heaven was such that it would often be difficult to find. Thus, He stated to them (Mat 18:20): "For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." We learn of many Christians in the first century that had "churches in their houses" (see Rom 16:5, 1Co 16:19, Col 4:15, Phm 1:2).

We recognize that this might seem quite uncomfortable and might be very difficult for those who have depended upon a denominational organization to facilitate their religious services from birth to death. It was also difficult for Abraham, when he was called out of his father’s homeland and to go to a land that he knew not (Gen 12:1-4). Indeed, God is not a respecter of persons. When we leave that which is familiar and do the will of God, we are exhibiting the same faith that Abraham had. Notice what the scriptures say in reference to this event (Rom 4:3): "For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness." As with Abraham, nothing short of your complete faith in God will get you through this period. But you will get through it! We suggest that you place the following ad in your local paper close to the religious section: "We are seeking others with total respect for the authority of Jesus as given in the New Testament to establish a new work for the Lord. We are meeting on Sunday morning at ... your address ...; if interested, please call ... your phone number." This will not go unnoticed by faithful Christians who will seek you out; nor will it go without a response consistent with the providence of God.

One of the reasons that this is such a strange action to most individuals is because of the misunderstanding of the nature of the Lord’s church as organized on this earth. We have summarized this concern in the next section after which we will talk more about the trends of religious organizations and then bring our discourse to a close.