But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. — 1 Timothy 3:15
Do you feel like the Bible, your local church, and the Jesus you know and love are properly represented in contemporary Christianity? Depending on your doctrinal positions, you’re likely to say no. Today, it’s not uncommon to hear people say that they don’t see the need to follow Christ in the context of a local church, or at least that they don’t feel that a local church should have any authority over their lives. I would submit there are three very clear reasons why the local church is deemphasized in contemporary Christian culture.
1. The word of God is not the priority
Why would contemporary Christian culture honor the bride of Christ if they don’t honor the groom?
It’s hard to be the pillar and ground of the truth if you don’t believe you have it, or if you don’t recognize that Jesus alone is the sole authority of truth (John 17:17). We at the Living Faith Fellowship talk about the certainty of the words of truth frequently (and even dedicate whole conferences to it), but it doesn’t change the reality that holding fast to the faithful word puts some distance between our particular local New Testament churches and the majority of today’s Church with a capital “C”. Why would contemporary Christian culture honor the bride of Christ if they don’t honor the groom? If our local churches hold fast to the faithful words, we are going to be at odds with a mainstream mindset which doesn’t see the words of God or the local New Testament church as authoritative. What often separates biblical local New Testament churches is observation and commitment to a literal interpretation of scripture and observance of the following:
1. A commitment to the great commission until Jesus Christ returns.
There is no discharge due to persecution, whether political or religious. This call is not conditional to your financial situation. In poverty or prosperity, the local New Testament church is to accomplish the mission of God. Most of the work done in Contemporary Christianity is good, but not great—or rather, isn’t the Great Commission. Digging wells and feeding people is important and should be done, but not without the greater work of sharing the gospel and making disciples of all nations.
2. A commitment to the ordinances.
This seems simple, but it is profound. Jesus didn’t leave us a set of bylaws and a constitution; he left us two simple ordinances in baptism and the Lord’s Supper. They are both symbolic of our relationship with him and remind us of our identity in Christ and our identity as his body. We are the sons of God, and we would not know that without a literal view of scripture. We are the bride of Christ, and we only know that because the scripture tells us (Ephesians 5:32).
3. A commitment to the authority of the local New Testament church.
The New Testament was not written to nor stewarded by parachurch organizations; it has been delivered to the Church, which is comprised of individual, Bible-believing, local New Testament churches. When Jesus wanted to commend and correct the saints, he spoke his words through his apostles who then gave those words to local churches. Certainly, faithful men are part of that equation. But the head of the church is Jesus Christ, and his pastors and deacons are under his divine authority. He is building his church, and that church is comprised in this dispensation of autonomous local New Testament churches that work together as one in brotherly charity. God may bring fruit through parachurch activity, but there will not be lasting sustainable fruit apart from connectivity to local New Testament church ministry, because that is God’s ordained authority alongside the word of God and his Spirit in his bodily absence.
2. The local New Testament Church is not recognized as an authority
love the Lord Jesus Christ enough to be part of the solution instead of part of the problem.
If the word of God is not your authority, the local New Testament church won’t hold the same priority as it does in scripture. Before we move on, it is important to note that all individual local churches do fail. We should not be smug and arrogant and think that our particular church or the group we’re running with is the best thing since sliced manna.
What we see in the word of God is that local New Testament churches struggle. Paul wrote to the church of Corinth in glowing and radiant terms in the first nine verses of chapter one. After that, it was sixteen chapters of reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness. The seven churches in Asia minor were individually critiqued by the Lord Jesus Christ. Their respective angels were commended and corrected as deemed prudent by Jesus Christ himself. This leads us to a sober reality: what we do in our local New Testament churches matters to Jesus first and foremost. If we study the first three chapters of the Revelation of Jesus Christ, we recognize that local churches do have a responsibility to be salt and light. We cannot forget or forsake Christ as our preeminent authority.
And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. Colossians 1:18
It has never occurred to many who call themselves Christians, yet have little to no regard for the bride of Christ, that if you dishonor a man’s wife, you dishonor him. How can you say, “I love you Lord and I lift my voice to worship you; oh my soul, rejoice” and not love his church?
If you really think the local church is that bad, that hurtful, and that harmful to the cause of Christ (and some churches truly are), then love the Lord Jesus Christ enough to be part of the solution instead of part of the problem. Paul didn’t write off Corinth; he corrected them. Jesus didn’t solely rebuke the seven churches; he gave them clear instruction on how to correct their way. That is calling people to repentance, and that is what the church does as a pillar and ground of the truth. We say the hard things, we don’t go along to get along, we judge sin in the church, we live by the standards of holiness as prescribed in the Bible. We know that if they answer the voice that is knocking, they too can join the head with his body and be part of the benefactors of the body of Christ.
The grace we all need will not flow outside of submission to and participation in the Bible-believing, local New Testament church. You need pastors, you need deacons, and you need them to be holy and without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation so we can shine as lights in the world. The church can do without a lot of things. We can limp without a leg, we can try and get by without an arm, we can lose an eye or an ear and be hearing and vision impaired, but we cannot function without our head! Jesus Christ and his word must be the priority, or the local church and her authority is undermined by humanistic and carnal means as she is beguiled from the simplicity that is in Christ.
Contemporary Christianity isn’t feeling the local New Testament church like it used to because the two have differing objectives: one to adhere to scripture, the other to capitalize financially from scripture. One on submitting to the authority of the Word of God and the local church, and the other on making merchandise of the local church. Is it any wonder that the local New Testament church has lost its street cred with Contemporary Christianity?
They limit their access to charity. And I don’t mean contemporary charitable efforts, but rather biblical charity. The charity necessary to accomplish God’s mission is not a reality when we dismiss or dishonor the local New Testament church as God’s ordained authority. The embodiment and definition of love is entrusted to the church. The context in which Christians are designed to both learn what and how to love is the local New Testament church. It is from there that the overflow of God’s love works to win the lost world to Christ. If you are not part of a local New Testament church, you are not connected to the body. Subsequently, your ability to love supernaturally will be limited by your lack. Conversely, the local New Testament church is impacted as well. When charity has a breakdown in development or execution, we all feel it, which is why Paul wrote 1 Corinthians 12 just before he spoke of charity in 1 Corinthians 13. This is also why Peter concluded 2 Peter 1:7 with charity, just after brotherly kindness. The most compelling reason to be committed to the biblical local New Testament church is the practical outworking of God’s love. Without the local church, the mission of God and the will of God are thwarted, and the enemy gets a victory where we were designed to take victory laps.
So, the local New Testament church is increasingly deemphasized in contemporary Christianity because Christ is continually deemphasized in favor of seemingly good works or supposed unity. It is no surprise, then, when the Church that is promoted by big business has no resemblance to the church Jesus died to save. This is not the first time the identity of the church has been hijacked. It happened around the 4th century, when the Pagan Roman Empire took on the form of the Holy Roman Empire. That led to about 1000 years of darkness that the world did not recover from until the dawn of the Philadelphian church period.
We live in a time when apathy leads to apostasy, which leads to anarchy just as in the book of Judges. We also know that before Jesus returns to establish his earthly kingdom, the antichrist will rise just prior. Like Saul preceded David, the antichrist and his bride will precede Christ and his bride and their ascension to the throne. We should not be deceived, dissuaded, or disengaged at the revelation that we as Bible-believing local churches are being marginalized by the world around us. This has been the case for much of our existence. We should be resolved to look to Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, for our identity, because it’s in Christ and Christ alone that we find our value and realize our potential to impact the culture around us one soul at a time, one disciple at a time, one mission trip at a time, one church plant at a time.
If these issues are weighing on your heart (and they should be), you will not want to miss this year’s Certainty Conference. You can probably guess that the subject will be the local New Testament church. You will not want to miss a session or the chance to make a good investment that will provide, protect, and give you every opportunity to possess the promises that God has for you and your life and the ministry of your local New Testament church.
If you are interested in learning more about Pastor Brian Hedges’ ministry, check out this episode of the Postscript.
Brian Hedges is the senior pastor of Heartland Baptist Fellowship in Harrisonville, MO.