The family unit in the human race, formed and united by
human love, is a most precious and most important organization. A nation's
well-being and strength, survival or destruction depends on the unity, order and
discipline of its families.
TWO FAMILIES DISTINGUISHED
The Bible tells us that since our first parents' fall in
the Garden of Eden every human being is located in either of two universal
families. One is the natural Adamic family, the other, God's supernatural
family. Both are entered by birth, one by physical birth, the other by a
spiritual re-birth. "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is
born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I say unto thee, Ye must be born
again." (John 3:6, 7) Every human being may have this re-birth and thus enter
God's family. The process is: "Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of
incorruptible, by the Word of God which liveth and abideth forever" (I Pet.
1:23).
We read in John 1:11-13, "He came unto His own and His
own (Israel) received Him not. But as many as received Him to them gave He the
power (or right) to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His
name: which were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the
will of man (as in physical birth), but of God". What is His name? "Jesus",
"Savior", "for He shall save His people from their sins" (Matt. 1:21). "In whom
we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, through the
riches of His grace" (unmerited favor), and "of whom the whole family in heaven
and earth is named" (Ephes. 1:7; 3:15) .
God knew we did not and could not choose to be born into
the Adamic family of sinful lost souls. He graciously arranged that we can and
must choose, however, to be born again through "the last Adam", Christ, into His
heavenly family. In the moment of such choice our entire history and guilt in
the death-doomed earthly family of Adam is, in His reckoning,
blotted out forever! A
descriptive account of the two Adams is given in Romans 5:14-21, where we read:
"For if by one
man's offence (Adam's) death reigned by one; much more they which
receive abundance of grace and
the gift of righteousness shall
reign in life by one, Jesus
Christ. Therefore, as by the offence of
one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the
righteousness of one the
free gift came upon all men unto
justification of life. For as by one
man's disobedience (Adam's), many were made sinners, so by the obedience
of one (Christ) shall many be
made righteous." (Christ's obedience was His death for our sins on the
cross—Phil. 2:8)
Now, concerning
how to "receive" God's grace and righteousness in salvation we quote "the
gospel", or good news, found in I Cor.
15:1-5
as follows:
"Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you
the gospel . . . wherein ye
stand; by which also ye
are saved ... how that
Christ died for our sins,
according to the scriptures; and that He was
buried, and that
He rose again the third day,
according to the scriptures, and that
He was seen . . ." of witnesses.
RE-BIRTH A BLESSED AND PERMANENT REALITY
"Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my Word
and believeth on Him that sent me, hath
everlasting life, and shall not
come into (penal) judgment, but is passed from death
into life." "He that believeth
on the Son of God hath the witness in himself; he that believeth not God
hath made Him a liar; because he
believeth not the record that
God gave of His Son. These things have I written unto you that believe on the
name of the Son of God that ye may know
that ye have eternal life." The indwelling Holy Spirit "beareth witness
with our spirit that we are the
children of God" (John 5:24; I John 5:10, 13; Rom.
8:16).
"Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed
upon us that we should be called the
sons of God! Therefore the world knoweth us not because it knew Him not.
Beloved, now are we the sons of
God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that when He shall
appear we shall be like Him, for
we shall see Him as He is" (I John 3:1,
2).
We can realistically compare God's new-born babes with
natural babes thus:
As a normal baby has
life and cries, so also God's babes, for "he that hath the Son hath life"
and he cries,
"Father", in prayer (I John
5:12; Rom.
8:15).
A normal baby thrives
on milk. Peter wrote: "As newborn
babes desire the sincere (pure)
milk
of the Word that ye may
grow thereby" (I Pet.
2:2).
Natural children
possess characteristics of their
parents. Believers are told to "put on
the new man which
after God is created in
righteousness and true holiness"
(Eph. 4:24) .
Natural children
have love for each other. In I John
3:14 we read: "We
know we have passed from
death unto life because
we love the brethren". "By
this shall all men know that ye are my
disciples if ye have
love one to another" (John 13:35).
Allow me to ask you,
reader, Won't you
always be a child of your earthly
father, even though he might disown
you ? Does it require effort in good behavior on your part to
remain his son? Of course not!
So it is also in God's family, once
a son,
always! God
"scourgeth every son whom He
receiveth" (Heb.
12:6), but He never disowns a single
one. His Bible-believing children can testify:
"Surely, goodness and
mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I
will dwell in the house of the Lord
forever" (Psalm
23:6) . Believers are "the household of God"
(Eph.
2:19), which household will never break up!
FAMILY HEADSHIP AND THE
CHURCH
In this present
dispensation, God unites His family
or "household" in
"one body" which He calls
"the church which is Christ's
body" (Ephes. 4:4; 1:22,23:
Rom. 12:4, 5). We read in Ephesians
5:23, 24, "The husband is the head
of the wife, even as Christ is the
head of the church. Therefore, as the
church is subject to Christ, so let the
wives be subject to their own
husbands "in everything." Not only
did God ordain that the church be subject
to Christ "in everything", but that the
church, as a spiritual organism function in relation to the
Head, Christ, just as the physical body
functions in relation to its physical
head. This is explained in I Cor.
12:12-27.
The natural earthly
family consistently acknowledges and
remains united under but
one head-of-the
family
name before the world. So also is
it God's will concerning His spiritual family as commanded
in Col. 3:17; Ephes. 4:1-6; I Cor. 1:10.
Behold, however, the host of
diversified
sect-names
used by professed members
of God's family, dishonoring Christ their Head and confusing the World! Little
attention is given to Christ's sincere prayer recorded in John 17:21, "That they
all may be one as thou, Father,
art in me and I in thee, that the world
may believe that thou hast sent me".
May I ask this question: Does a son organize his father's
family and choose a name for it? Preposterous! you say. May a son take the
unlawful liberty to re-name himself apart from other members of the family? Of
course not! Then what about such carryings-on in the
professed family of God,
Christendom, with its host of different man-organized churches, or sects, named
apart by man?
What is a sect ? It is defined by the original Greek
word, "heresy", which means choice, or dissention arising from diversities of
opinions and aims, with a naming apart from others. Very few of the members of
God's precious family realize that "heresy"
is sin. The majority live in
this sin, in sects. With searching severity God's Word teaches that to
"join a church of your choice" —
a man-devised and propagated so-called "church" (as though a divinely
originated, united body, the family of God, does not exist)—is as truly sinful
"works of the flesh" as adultery and fornication. This is revealed in Gal.
5:19-21:
"Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are
these: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry,
witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife,
seditions, heresies,
('divisions, parties', R.V.) envying, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such
like . . ."
Sect members readily concede that unbelievers are in all probability
members with them. There are no unbelievers in God's family, or church, since He
himself joins the members. An unbelieving child of Adam is spiritually unclean
in God's sight. "Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean ? Not one" (Job
14:4). Therefore, to be joined to a religious organization with unbelievers is
to be joined to or to "touch" an
unclean thing. God plainly forbids this in II Cor. 6:14-18. Marriage
alone is not designated here as is commonly taught, for in I Cor. 7:10-14 the
exhortation is given to Christians unequally yoked in marriage not to dissolve
the union. Hear God's separation command in I Cor. 6:14-18; 7:1.—
"Be ye not unequally yoked with unbelievers, for what fellowship hath
righteousness with unrighteousness and what communion hath light with darkness
? And what concord bath Christ with Belial, or what part hath he that believeth
with an infidel ? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols; for ye
are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them and
walk in them; and I will be their God and they shall be my people. Wherefore
come out from among them and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the
unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you and ye
shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. Having therefore these
promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the
flesh and spirit, perfecting
holiness (separation) in the fear of God."
Please note the words, "touch not the unclean thing",
meaning, have no fellowship with uncleanness. The word "touch" is similarly
used in Proverbs 6:29, "Whosoever toucheth his neighbor's wife (in adultery)
shall not be innocent." It is God's
Word, friend, not mine, that a sect is
"unclean" and must be shunned.
Precious is the promise: "I will
receive you". The word "receive"
here (once so used means, "to treat with favor". There is great compensation
experienced by those who obey this separation command. They bask in God's
special favor in His intimate
fellowship, enjoying peace, comfort and relaxation from worry as well cared for
children of a heavenly Father — "Almighty" in every necessity and emergency in
life on this turbulent planet.
Spiritual life is found only where God put it—in His
born-again family, the church of the living God; not in dead works-of-the-flesh
sects of which he is definitely not the author (I Cor. 14:33) . Anything God
calls good works, as soul winning, helping the poor, etc., if done in a sect is
and can only be done by members of God's family found there. The credit is
proudly given to the sect instead of to God alone —another reason for God's
family to "come out from among them".
Every creation of God being perfect, men cannot make
improvement. Christ said, "I will build
my church". Men say, "Let us build
us a church — and make
us a name". (Compare the Babel
confusion in Gen. 11) Some, indeed, have a
"reformed church".
Significantly, men's religious institutions grow in numbers and diversity while
apostasy increases! Remember, the
grave puts an end to all sect names.
Be assured, no betterment is needed as to God's family
(or church) as a functioning organization. "For by
one Spirit are
we all baptized into one body .
. . and have all been made to drink into (or receive) one Spirit". "Ye are
all one in Christ Jesus" (I Cor.
12:13; Gal. 3:23). "Speaking the
truth in love, grow up into Him in all things, which is the Head, even Christ:
from whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which
every joint (or member)
supplieth, according to the
effectual working in the measure of
every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in
love." (Eph 4:15, 16).
WHERE TO WORSHIP?
But where shall we go "to church"?, is the usual question
when faced with these plain truths. In the first place, believers
are the church, "an habitation
of God through the Spirit" (Ephes.
2:21, 22). The Bible word "church" means, "a called-out
assembly of people". "Where two
or three are gathered together in my
name there am I in the midst of them", said our Lord (Matt. 18:20). The
Christian household is a small assembly. "The church which is in Nymphas'
house", we read in Col. 4:15. The first mention of public buildings for worship
is found in Tertullian's 3rd century writings. Meetings need not be advertised
by a name but simply as to location.
In God's Word believers are called,
"Christians", "brethren",
"saints", "the church", "the church of God" or, "churches of Christ" (in a large
area, for example, "of Galatia"). Other descriptions are, "church which is His
body", "the body of Christ", "the house of God", "the household of God", "the
family of God". Do you not see how using any
one of these descriptions
distinctively apart from the
others as a banner before an ignorant world is but confusion and ungodly
division?
Spiritual, obedient Christians acknowledge as did godly
Abraham, that they are in themselves "but dust and ashes". They see that
not in the description of God's people
(as listed above), or by
invented names, must they carry on, but only in
"The Name that is above every name",
the name of Jesus Christ the
Lord, or Head (Phil. 2:9; Col. 1:18;
3:17). Martin Luther is known
to have said, "Do not call yourselves 'Lutherans'. Who is Luther but miserable
dust and ashes. Let us call ourselves 'Christians' (Christ-ones), after Him from
whom our doctrine comes" — yes, and our salvation. Thus, do all
in Christ's name simply
as a Christian only.
"0 magnify the
Lord with me and let us exhalt
His name together. Give unto the Lord the glory due His name; worship the
Lord in the beauty of holiness", or separation (Psa.
34:3; 29:2).
The fellowship of separated Christians meeting on the
ground that there is only "one body", or church, and only in Christ's name, will
grow as to numbers through personal work and testimony. Their children and
succeeding generations reared "in the nurture and admonition of the Lord" (Eph.
6:4), will enlarge such assemblies. The Holy Spirit provides elders, or
ministers, who are to be recognized as such when they have the qualifications
of this office as described in I Tim. 3 and Titus 1. So-called "presiding
elders" are not mentioned. The word "bishop" simply designates the
office of an elder (Titus
1:5, 7), not higher
rank as commonly believed. This
error of rank, from early times has hurtfully divided an equal brotherhood,
giving rise to a priestly order, or "clergy" over "laity" and finally, a "pope"
over all. Condemnation of this evil is found in Matt.
23:8-12
and I Pet. 5:3.
COMMON FAMILY POSSESSIONS AND ACTIVITIES
Truly, in God's family we can say, "The lines
(allotments) are fallen to me in pleasant places, yea I have a goodly heritage"
(Psa. 16:11). First of all we
have in common our Father's Word,
the Bible, giving us instructions for walk and worship in this present
dispensation and wherein things are written of His people "aforetime, that we
through the patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope" (Rom.
15:4). The Bible is a "family
album", with a roster of heroes of faith (Heb. 11). It contains "exceeding
great and precious promises" and tells of a coming great family re-union above
and of a glorious future in eternity, with our Father's angels being servants
as "ministering spirits" (I Thes. 4:13-18; I Cor.
15:51-57;
Rev. 21 and 22; Heb.
1:14) .
God's family has a common Teacher, the Holy Spirit. What
they learn from Him they all learn alike! "He will guide you into all truth"
(John 16:13; I John 2:27). All
truth is not always accepted, sad to say, resulting in divisions.
God also gives to His one universal church (not to
sects), "gifts" in "evangelists, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of
the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of
Christ" (Ephes. 4:11, 12). These men are made "overseers over all the flock",
God's family, by the Holy Spirit (Acts 20:28) . What loss to God's children
scattered in various sects when these God-ordained men are not recognized and
heard!
Doing "all in
the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father by Him" as
commanded in Col. 3:17, God's separated children are "ambassadors for Christ"
(representing Heaven) and are "workers together with Him" (II Cor. 5:19; 6:1).
They are jealous over God's family
"with a godly jealousy, fearing lest their minds should be corrupted
from the simplicity that is in Christ Jesus" (II Cor. 11:2,3). They pray "for
all saints" (Ephes. 6:18) .
Sectarians are narrowed down to: "our people", "our church", "our preachers",
"our work", "our missionaries". Every
Christian missionary anywhere is in his activities a participant in the
functioning of the entire body
of Christ. (See Ephes. 4:11, 12 quoted above, and Col. 2 : 19)
In God's family there is also a "family budget", to
supply "the necessity of the saints" and to support those who "should live of
the gospel" (Rom. 12:13; I Cor. 9:14; Gal. 6:6). All this is scripturally
observed in giving "as every man purposeth in his heart, so let him give, not
grudgingly or of necessity, for
God loveth a cheerful giver" (II Cor. 9:7). It is well known that covetous sect
builders loudly preach the "necessity"
of the Mosaic, legalistic tithing of a past dispensation.
God's separated children actively endeavor "with all
lowliness of mind, to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace" and to
"stand fast in one spirit, with one
mind striving together for the
faith of the gospel" (Ephes. 4:2, 3; Phil. 1:27). They have concern for
the family reputation and for the honor of its Head in heeding the command,
"That ye speak the same thing
and that there be no divisions among
you, but that ye be perfectly joined together in the
same mind and in the
same judgment" (I Cor. 1:10).
They heed the admonition: "Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together,
as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more as ye
see the day (of Christ's coming) approaching" (Heb. 10:25).
When such Christians meet others who "walk in the light"
(I Jo. 1:7), they are aware of precious kinship and acquaintance in Christ and
have warm fellowship together — a little foretaste of heaven. Their meetings
have a family spirit. They exclaim with David, "Behold, how good and pleasant it
is for brethren to dwell together in unity!" (Psa. 133:1).
Friend, we ask you, Can one have more or do more in a
puny religious sect than what you have just read concerning God's great family?
There is no comparison!
Are you in Gods family? If not, why not let God place you
there — forever, by accepting His Son as your personal Saviour? God says,
"Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation" (II
Cor. 6:2) . Eternity starts when the heart beats stop! No second chance
hereafter! (Prov. 29:1; 11:7). To die in rebellious unbelief results in eternal
existence in the place "prepared for the devil and his angels" (Matt. 25:30), in
"outer darkness" —"the blackness of darkness forever" (Jude 13).
"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be
saved, and thy house" (Acts 16:31). Then, "Be ye separate"
— in God's blessed family.
—Ed Stevens
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