The Government of His Church
The Government of His Church
When Jesus said, "I will build My church, .." (Matthew 16:18) His
right of ownership was fully established. With the rights of ownership
come also the right to structure the church according to His own good
pleasure. But there are literally thousands of religious institutions,
all claiming some touch with Christ, yet with such a wide variety of
governmental forms that hardly any of them are alike. There is only one
religious institution in this world that is governmentally identical to
Christ's original church. Which is it? Today we will see if we can
locate it. Please stay tuned.
The West End Church of Christ presents these fifteen minute
sermons each Sunday. We have only one reason for doing it -- we want to
preach the truth of God's word without being restricted by human
doctrines, creeds, and wisdom. That is why we repeatedly ask anyone who
listens to communicate with us if you do not agree with what we teach on
this program. This is not done out of a spirit of dare, or challenge,
but in sincerity and in the interest of being absolutely right about the
most important issue of this life and of eternity.
We also want to invite you to attend our services. Bible study
begins at 9 a.m. Sunday morning followed at 10 a.m. for worship -- we
honor God in the reading and teaching of His word, several prayers,
gospel songs, giving of our means, and partaking of the sacred memorial
feast of the Lord's Supper. Sunday evening we assemble for worship at 6
p.m. and mid-week Bible study is each Wednesday night at 7 p.m. Our
meeting house is located at the corner of Parkside Drive and Old
Morgantown Road, just across from Lampkin Park and Tapp’s Drive-in.
Please be our guest today.
There is a large variety of church government represented in both
protestant and catholic religious circles. Some religious groups favor
the convention form of government, where local churches within a
specific denominational framework voluntarily band together in a central
organization called the convention. Through their representatives, they
formulate policies for that particular denominational body, as well as
perform work as an aggregate body. Other denominational organizations
favor a form of church government called a Synod. A Synod is a council
or an assembly of local churches, which forms a particular denomination.
Some large denominational bodies are made up of a group of synods. Then
there is a form of church government which may be called "monarchial."
This form of church government is patterned after a monarchy with one
man at the top as supreme ruler, various cabinets and consulates under
him. This is the form of church government represented by Roman
Catholicism. Some of the religious cults pattern a form of church
government after our own representative form of democracy. Mormonism,
for example, is organized from a president at the top, who is also
called prophet and seer, with a group of so-called "apostles" under him,
who govern a large number of "stakes" and "wards." Do any of these
kinds of government even resemble the kind Jesus gave His church? If
so, which one is it?
Looking for the kind of government Jesus authorized in His church
can only be successful when we consult His last will and Testament. Let
us begin with His own words. "All authority, both in heaven and on
earth, has been given to me" (This is Matthew 28:18). Jesus received
total authority from the Father and gave His chosen apostles the world
wide commission to preach His gospel, based on that authority. If Jesus
has all authority, none is left for any other governing agency or body.
"All authority, both in heaven and on earth, has been given to me. You
go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them
into the name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,
teaching them to observe all things, whatsoever I have commanded you,
and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Matthew
28:18-20). Jesus left no authority for anyone other than Himself. He
delegated only responsibility; He never delegated His authority to
anyone.
Upon His authority, His disciples were allowed to make disciples
through preaching the gospel. Jesus invited the entire world to "come
to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me, for My yoke is easy and My
burden is light" (Matthew 11:27-30). This great invitation invites
people to learn of Him. There is but one way to learn of Christ today
and that is through the word He revealed to the world through the men
who were inspired to write it down. Jesus promised His apostles, "When
the Spirit of truth is come, He will guide you into all the truth" (John
16:13). When the Holy Spirit came upon the apostles they received, not
part of the truth, but all of the truth. There is no truth that
pertains to one's relationship to God, through Christ, not revealed to
the apostles. Listen to our Savior. To His disciples, He said, "He who
receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who sent
Me" (Matthew 10:40). Through His specially chosen apostles, He alone
governs His church.
Since Christ rules His church through His apostles, and since they
no longer live on earth, how can He govern? Jesus anticipated this
precise matter. He said to the apostles, "Assuredly I say to you, that
in the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His
glory, you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging
the twelve tribes of Israel" (Matthew 19:28). Regeneration means
generating something again. God generated (created) the world in the
beginning. That was a physical creation of heaven and earth. Jesus
spoke of another generation, in which He would sit on His throne as
supreme monarch, and the apostles would sit on twelve thrones to judge
"the twelve tribes of Israel." Judges do not rule -- they serve under
the ruler, Jesus Christ, as His ambassadors. And should we stumble at
the fact that they no longer live among us, therefore cannot judge, we
should remember that Jesus still rules, while no longer alive in the
flesh. This regeneration is the New Testament age, when Jesus promised
His church would come into existence. That is the age in which we live
and will continue to live until time ends. Thus, Jesus is now reigning
over God's people and the apostles, through their inspired words,
continue to be judges. The fact that Jesus called His church "the
twelve tribes of Israel" is in accord with other statements in the New
Testament. The short book of James was written to "the twelve tribes
which are scattered abroad" (James 1:1). The church was made up in part
of converted Jews, who still retained their tribal identities, but not
their former religious views and practices. In fact, the whole church,
both Jew and Gentile, were referred to figuratively as "the Israel of
God" (Galatians 6:16).
The apostles, through preaching Christ's gospel, made disciples in
every nation on earth. They did this through preaching His gospel.
Then, they taught them to "observe all that" Christ commanded the
apostles. As time came for them to "go the way of all flesh," they
followed Christ's authority and set up a system by which the church
would be governed after their departure. First, they made sure Christ's
gospel would continue to be preached. Paul wrote a young evangelist,
"And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit
these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also" (II Timothy
2:2). Anticipating the claim that even angels might bring another
revelation, he wrote to the churches of Galatia, "But even if we, or an
angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have
preached to you, let him be accursed" (Galatians 1:8). So sure was this
made, that the anathema of God rests even on a angel who would preach
anything other than what the apostles, under Christ's authority,
preached in the first century.
Those who were made disciples by apostolic preaching were formed
into local groups called "churches of Christ." Paul used this very
expression in Romans 16:16 where he said, "The churches of Christ salute
you." Churches here refers to a number of local churches, all following
the apostolic order. Within each of these local groups, by Christ's
authority, the apostles ordained men who were called "elders" to
superintend the group. A very plain statement of this is found in Acts
14. Luke tells us of Paul's travels which led him to the Asian cities
of Lystra, Derbe, and Iconium. After having made many disciples in each
city, he and Barnabas returned and, verse 23 reads: "So when they had
appointed elders in every church, and prayed with fasting, they
commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed." These elders are
also called bishops, pastors, or shepherds. There is no distinction
between elders, pastors or bishops. And that is the only body of men
who have oversight of anything in the church today, by Christ's
authority. Men who were called "deacons," or "ministers" were also
chosen to serve with and under the elders of each local church
(Philippians 1:1).
Each of these local groups were organized autonomously and
independently of each other. Peter wrote to elders, "Shepherd (or
pastor) the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not
by constraint but willingly, not for dishonest gain, but eagerly" (I
Peter 5:2). The oversight of a single group of elders was (and always
should be) limited to the flock of God which is among them. It may
interest you to know that the first step away from the Christ's
authority in the government of His church occurred when a group of
elders assumed the oversight of several other local churches. This
gradually led to what historians call "a monarchial form of church
government."
The government of Christ's church may be summarized as follows.
(1) Christ is the supreme governor of His church. (2) His government is
administered through the apostolic office of making disciples through
preaching His gospel. (3) The apostles, under Christ's authority,
organized the church into local fellowships and appointed certain men to
function as elders or overseers. (4) These elders were limited in their
oversight to the congregation where they served. (5) And that is it --
there is no more government to Christ's church. That is why the
convention, the synod, the monarchial, or even the democratic forms of
church government must be rejected. The only church that duplicates the
kind of government Christ gave His church in the first century, is the
one that has elders in every church, and which operates completely under
apostolic teaching, and limits their oversight to their own
congregation. Next, we will look at how these men were selected.
But, time is gone for today. If you have a question contact us. Our
mailing address is, The West End Church of Christ, 1609 Parkside
Drive, Bowling Green, KY. 42101 -- our phone number is 842-7880.
Thank you very much for your time. Until next Sunday, may God richly
bless you. Good bye.
Radio Sermon No. 63
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Children's NT Studies
