Church, Churches, Assemblies, Individual Responsibility –
Review:…
Introduction: There are many ideas concerning the use of
the word Church. There are many ideas about the church
such as:
1. What the individual Christian can do, the Local Church
(Congregation) can do;
2. What the Local Church (Congregation) cannot do, the
individual cannot do;
3. No such thing as a local church.
4. The church universal should be activated in collective
action. Following are some old and familiar matters
which members of the church have dealt with for years.
Review them and then size up some current problems of
the brotherhood. It will help.
1. The Lord Built But One Church, Yet We Read About
Churches:
A. When we read of churches (plural) local churches are
meant – Acts 14:23; Romans 16:16; 1 Corinthians 4:17;
7:17.
B. When the One Body is referred to, the Universal
church is meant – Matthew 16:18; Ephesians 4:4; 1
Corinthians 12:13; Ephesians 1:22, 23.
C. One member is not a Body – Romans 12:5; 1 Corinthians
12:14
2. “Let Not the Church Be Charged…” (1 Timothy 5:16)
A. Here is something which the individual must do to
obey the Lord and which the Church is not to be
burdened with. When the proper individual or
individuals fulfill their responsibility, it is not
the church doing it in such a case.
3. Why Is It Wrong For Churches to Have Foot Washing
Services?
A. Such is usually based on John 13, Christ’s example of
servitude.
B. Such falls into the category of private duties such
as in 1 Timothy 5:10.
4. Women to Keep Silent In the Church: 1 Corinthians 14:19-
34.
A. She is in the Lord’s Body (Church Universal) from the
time she obeys the Gospel (Acts 2:47; 1 Corinthians
12:13). Does this mean she can’t speak from the time
she obeys the Gospel? Hardly.
B. We can also consider 1 Corinthians 11:17, 18, 20 and
1 Corinthians 5:4. The word church means the
assembly, the Local Church assembled. The church
assembles and disperses, yet exists all the time,
though not in the congregated or assembled sense.
5. “Casteth Them Out of the Church…” 3 John 10
A. Did Diotrophes undo what the Lord did in Acts 2:47?
No.
B. Did he remove them from the Lord’s Body, the church
universal? No. Again the word Church means the
assembly as in 1 Corinthians 14.
6. Why Aren’t the Branches Churches? John 15…
Because a man is not a church. Compare James 1:26, 27.
Review these frequently.
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