Harvest Pointe Christian Church, Milford Ohio is a non-denominational Christian Church (Church of Christ) on the Eastside of Cincinnati OH

About the Church | Series: Have you ever wondered? | 07-12-09

About the Church
Series: Have you ever wondered?
John 17:21

Question #1:  Are we a denomination? NO

Question #2:  Do we have a creed? Christ

Question #3: 
    What is our attitude towards other Churches? LOVE

Question #4: 
    Why do we have Communion every week? Biblical Example

Question #5:  Why don't we speak in tongues, heal the sick, raise the dead, drink poison and play with rattle snakes? Acts 8

Question #6:  Why do we immerse for baptism? Immerse is the meaning of the Greek word

Question #7:  Is baptism necessary for salvation? Yes and No

Full Text 

In Acts 2 the Church began in Jerusalem
on a Jewish feast day, the day of Pentecost.

The Church grew rapidly in Jerusalem.
The 12 Apostles were there preaching and teaching.

A powerful young Jewish religious leader named Saul,
who later actually became the apostle Paul,
began a vicious persecution that
slaughtered Christians.

All but the apostles fled the city.
Wherever they went they started new Churches.
The Church exploded on the world scene!
It was awesome.

But without the apostles being in all these Churches,
false teachers quickly began creeping in.

One of the first false teachings was that
you had to become a Jew
before you could become a Christian.

Another that crept in while the Apostles were still alive was
Gnosticism.
It blended Christianity with eastern religions,
very similar to the new age movement today.

As the Apostles were martyred one by one,
finally, there were none left.
The Church was about 60 years old.

False teaching was still a problem.

So to keep the false teachers out of the Church,
one elder in each Church was
elevated above the others.

A little later the Church began modeling her organization
after the Roman empire's government.
One elder was put in charge of a region.
Another word for elder is bishop.

Finally, over 400 years after the Church began,
 there was a political battle and
the elder at the Church at Rome won,
becoming the 1st pope.

The reason for the structural change was to
hold the Churches together during persecutions and
to keep the false teaching out.

The only problem is,
since there are no perfect people,
(even though some people think they are)
imperfect people were ruling.

Gradually, through the centuries,
the Church drifted doctrinally from the Bible.

Basically, the Church remained united until 1054
when there was a split between the
Eastern Church and the Western Church.

The Western Church was based in Rome and became
the Holy Roman Catholic Church.

The Eastern Church, based in Constantinople, became
the Greek Orthodox Church.

The Roman Church continued to drift away from
the New Testament pattern.

Then along came a priest by the name of Martin Luther.
He studied the Bible with an open heart.

He made a list of 95 ways
the Church had drifted from where she should be.

One of the key doctrines of the Catholic Church that
instigated this protest was the sale of indulgences.

The Church had gotten to the point of teaching that
whenever you sinned,
you gained the forgiveness of the sin from the priest, but
then to show repentance,
you had to do something to pay a penalty for the sin.

Any sin you did not pay a penalty for,
you had to be tormented in purgatory for it,
until you had paid a penalty for all your sins.
And then you could go to Heaven.
Purgatory is not a Biblical concept.
It is a place they made up.

At first, the penalties were doing good works and prayers.
But by the Middle Ages
indulgences were being sold for money. 

By purchasing an indulgence,
you didn't have to pay a penalty for your sin
in this life or the next.

And it was extended to people who had died.
You could buy indulgences for your dead loved ones.

For each indulgence you bought for them,
that was a sin
they didn't have to spend time in purgatory for.
You could spare them
thousands of years of torment in purgatory.
In fact, though never officially sanctioned,
some were even promising to get people out of Hell

In 1517 Martin Luther
nailed his 95 thesis to the Church door and
began what is called the
Protestant Reformation Movement.

He actually did not intend to break from
the Roman Catholic Church.

He was protesting the Church's false teachings and
trying to reform the Church.

You can see the word "protest" in the word protestant and
the word "reform" in the word "reformation".

Luther tried to bring the Church back to
faith and repentance.

But the Church was making huge amounts of money through the sales of indulgences.
They weren't about to let that cash cow go by the wayside.

Martin Luther was kicked out of
the Roman Catholic Church so
he started Lutheran Church.

Actually, he tried to bring the Lutheran Church to be like us, but his followers didn't follow him all the way.

He even told them not to call themselves Lutherans,
but rather just to call themselves Christians.

Others of the Reformation Movement
tried to reform the Roman Catholic Church.
The Roman Catholic Church refused to be reformed.

And others tried to reform the reformers
so today we have many denominations.

This saddens me because Jesus prayed for us
in John 17:21 "That all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me."

Then, in 1775, war broke out in a place called America.
Some independently thinking colonists
rebelled against the most powerful nation in the world,
England.

Though the Americans officially
declared their independence in 1776,
the war lasted until 1783.

One of our freedoms is to be able to
worship God as we see fit.
No longer was there an official state Church.

During this time period,
when all the old ways were passing and
people began to think for themselves,
many did the same with the Bible.
They began studying it with an open mind.

Across the nation, independent of each other,
began the Restoration Movement.
You can see the word "restore" in the word "restoration"
(all but the "e"!)
This is our movement.
The idea is to simply
restore the Church we find in the New Testament.

In 1794, James O'Kelly
a Methodist minister from Virginia,
led many Methodist Churches in the state to be
"Christian" only.

In 1801 Abner Jones, a Baptist from
Vermont and New Hampshire,
broke with the Baptist church and
began an independent movement
for the purpose of returning to the "old paths."

In Connecticut in 1807, Elias Smith, another Baptist,
led his congregation into the New Testament position. Later, in 1812, he and Abner Jones joined efforts.

While these events were taking place in the East,
out in the hills of Kentucky
a Presbyterian minister named Barton W. Stone
was leading Churches in Kentucky into being
"Christians only".

Also about this time, Alexander and Thomas Campbell-
a father and son-
both Presbyterian ministers from Pennsylvania,
broke from that denomination and
began organizing Christian Churches
throughout the state.

By 1832 the Campbell group,
united with Stone's Kentucky churches
to form the largest and fastest growing
religious organization of that time.

The 6th group to enter this growing stream was
the Scotch Baptists of New York.

It fascinates me that all 6 of these groups
developed totally independently of each other, but
came to the same stance on the Bible.

Groups from Virginia, Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and New York
coming from Methodist, Baptist, Presbyterian, and
Scotch Baptist backgrounds.

And it wasn't happening just in America.

About 1860, a sizeable group of Russian Orthodox
from the area of Northern Russia
broke with that church and
set out to restore the primitive New Testament church.

For over 60 years they grew until
they numbered over 2 million believers in
Russia, Poland, and other Slavic nations
It wasn't until 1918 that they discovered
there were Churches in America just like them!

And the same has happened in places like
Ghana and Chile.

All seeking to restore the doctrines, ordinances, and faith
of the New Testament Church.

So, who are we?
The 1st often asked question is
Question #1:  Are we a denomination?

This is a simple one.  No!

Each congregation is totally independent of all the others.
There is no head-quarters anywhere.

Question #2:  Do we have a creed?

The word, "creed" comes from the Latin "credo,"
meaning "I believe".

We believe in Jesus Christ the Son of God,
as Lord and Savior.

In Acts 4:12 Peter said of Jesus, "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."

Our book of doctrine, or list of beliefs, is simply
the Word of God.

One man has expressed it this way,
"No creed but Christ,
No book but the Bible,
No name but Christian."

[At this rate we can go through 3 questions and eat early!]
Question #3: 
What is our attitude towards other Churches? 
Simply, LOVE.
There is an old slogan that says,
"We are Christians only, but not the only Christians."

Remember, our creed, our belief is Jesus Christ.
If you believe in Jesus, I can call you brother or sister.

I may tell someone they are badly mistaken about
some Scriptures, but
they're still a part of the family of God.

Hebrews 11:6 tells us, "And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him."

So, we do not condemn any one.
There is a big difference between saying,
"You're wrong" and
"You're going to Hell"!!
Our attitude towards other Churches is love.

Question #4: 
Why do we have Communion every week?

Because of the Biblical example.

When the Church 1st began we are told in Acts 2:42 that
the early Christians "… devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer."

Breaking of bread is another term for
Communion or the Lord's Supper.

Acts 20:7.  "On the first day of the week we came together [Why?] to break bread. Paul spoke to the people and, because he intended to leave the next day, kept on talking until midnight."

The Church did not get together because
Paul, the great apostle was in town.
They gathered together each week to
meet around the Lord's Table. 
And because they were together, Paul preached.

Early historical records,
including spies checking out the Church,
tell of how they met each Sunday for Communion.

The Lord's Supper is a time when
we celebrate the victory Jesus won for us on the cross.

It is His blood shed for us that
washes away our sin.

I Corinthians 11:23-25.  Paul wrote:"23For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, 'This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.' 25In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.'"

The unleavened bread, which we call a cracker,
represents His body, broken on the cross for us.
The grape juice represents His blood poured out for us.

Communion is also a time to look forward with hope
to the 2nd coming of Christ.

Verse 26.  "For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes."

When life gets tough,
when it is hard to follow Jesus,
remember, He's coming again and
our struggles will be over!

And this is also a time to
rededicate ourselves to King Jesus.

Verse 28.  "A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup."

Each week we look at ourselves and say,
"Here's where I'm growing and here's where I blew it.
Please forgive me and help me to do better."

Remembering Jesus' sacrifice,
remembering Jesus is coming again, and
rededicating ourselves to Jesus
are too important to not do each week.

Some people try to say that
if you take communion every week
it will become common and
lose its meaning.

Now, some meals that I eat are better than others.
But I still try not to miss one!

And yes, some communion times
seem more meaningful than others.  
But I know spiritually I need it.

And, by the way, anyone can take Communion.
There is no where in the Bible where it says
you have to be a Christian or
a member of a Church to take it. 

Communion can even be meaningful to someone
who is considering giving their life to Christ.

Communion makes a person
think about salvation and
what it is all about.

Question #5:  Why don't we speak in tongues, heal the sick, raise the dead, drink poison and play with rattle snakes?

In Acts 8 Philip, who was one of the
1st deacons in the Church and also a great evangelist,
went down into Samaria and led many to Christ.

He was one of those scattered by
the persecution in Jerusalem where the apostles were.

He had the miraculous powers of the Holy Spirit,
but he could not pass those powers on.

They could only be passed on by
the laying on of the apostles' hands.

So Peter and John, 2 apostles, went down to Samaria and laid their hands on the people and
they received
the miraculous powers of the Holy Spirit.

Since none of us is old enough
to have known any of the apostles,
we do not believe people have those same powers today.

We do believe that God still steps in and
does awesome things that
there is no physical explanation for.
That's why we pray.

But people today do not have the powers of the apostles.

Question #6:  Why do we immerse for baptism?

This is another simple one.
Because, immerse is the meaning of the Greek word.

The New Testament of your Bible was written
mostly in Greek.
The Greeks had separate words for
sprinkle, pour, and wash.

The word used is always immerse.

Question #7:  Is baptism necessary for salvation?

Is it OK if I sound like a politician and say, "Yes and No"?

Now, follow me here. 
Please don't turn me off.

Years ago I preached 2 sermons on
Jesus turning water into wine at a wedding feast.

The 1st sermon was on the miracle.
The 2nd sermon was on the topic of drinking.

In the introduction of the 2nd sermon I told of how
the Bible does not condemn drinking, but
it does say not to get drunk.

Then the 3 points to the sermon were about
why I don't drink and
Scripturally, why I believe it would be better
if Christians didn't drink.

After the sermon an older gentleman rushed up to me,
loudly condemning me for
creating alcoholics in the Church.
He had not heard a word I said after the introduction.

One of the last to leave was an alcoholic who was
very active in Alcoholics Anonymous.
He was highly grateful for the sermon.

He said it was the best he had heard
outside of an AA event.

So, what I'm asking, is that
you do not imitate the older gentleman
by turning me off.
Please hear me out.

By the way. 
Once the older man cooled off he was
back to being my friend and
he did have some qualities we should all imitate.

So, the first answer I want to give is, "No."

Let's take another look at Hebrews 11:6.
 "And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe [What?] that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him."

Obviously there have been and are
many devout Christians who do not understand
the place of baptism in God's scheme of things.

Most often it has more to do with
the way we are raised and taught than anything else.
If a person believes in God and is seeking Him,
God honors that.

But, if they know what God wants them to do and
they refuse to do it,
then that is rebellion and
they can't honestly say they are seeking God.

So, is baptism necessary for salvation?
In this sense, the first answer is, "No."

Now, just like a good politician,
I would like to answer the same question, "Yes!"
We are going to look at it from a different angle.

Baptism has been attacked and misunderstood
for many a year.

In response to the Roman Catholic emphasis on works,
some of the reformers went to the opposite extreme,
emphasizing faith alone.

Indeed, Ephesians 2:8-9 declares,
"8For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith-and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God- 9not by works, so that no one can boast."
But faith does not stand alone.
In fact,  the very next Verse, Verse 10 tells us
"For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus [Why were we saved by faith?] to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."

Our faith is ultimately to produce good works.
Faith and works go hand in hand.

If you have the faith, the works should follow.
James 2:14-17 asks us,
"14What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? 15Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. 16If one of you says to him, 'Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,' but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? 17In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead."

And James goes on to tell about how
Abraham's obedience showed his faith.

Then he says in Verse 22, "You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did."

Faith produces action.
They work together.

Verse 24.  "You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone."

After another illustration, James concludes by saying in
Verse 26, "As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead."

So our faith is to produce some actions.
But what actions?

The 1st response to true faith is repentance.

II Corinthians 7:10. 
"Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death."

To repent means literally to change your mind.

The Greeks knew that your mind controls your body,
so the word was used in the military for both
"about face" and "retreat".

They were going in one direction.
But when the order to repent was given,
they turned around and went in the other direction.

Repentance is the point at which you decide
you are going to turn your life around.

You have been living for self and Satan.
But now you turn and
give your life to Jesus and
accept Him as Lord and Savior.

But a saving faith doesn't' stop there.

When you repent, when you turn,
you are then willing to admit your faith in Jesus to others,
which is what we call confession.

Romans 10:9-10 says, "9That if you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10For it
is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved."

We admit our faith to others.

Now, even those who say we are saved by faith alone
will say we need to repent and to confess.

But there is another action produced by faith.
And that is baptism.

If you step back and look at baptism with an open mind,
you will quickly see it is not a work.

To begin with, it is in the passive mood.
In other words, it is not something you do.
It is something someone else does to you.

Repentance and confession are actually things you do.

Now, let's see some Scriptures.

Acts 2:38.  "Peter replied, 'Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ [Why?] for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.'"

According to God's plan,
even though out of grace He may
accept something less,
baptism is a part of God's plan for salvation.

Colossians 2:12.  "Having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead."

Do you see here how the Bible does not
separate baptism from faith and
the salvation experience.

Everything happens all at the same time.

Read through the book of Acts and
read the accounts of conversions.

People were baptized the same hour they believed.

And notice in all these Scriptures how
baptism is the point at which
the promise of salvation is made.

Paul was told in Acts 22:16,
"And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name."

Now, when we talk about baptism being
a part of God's Plan for Salvation,
we have to realize that
there is nothing magical about getting dunked
that saves you.

I Peter 3:21.  "And this water symbolizes baptism that now saves you also-not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience toward God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ."

If just dunking someone under water saved them,
my sons were saved at about 6 months old,
I was saved at a very young age, and
I saved a ton of kids by the time I hit college!

Getting dunked means nothing without.
the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

It is only through faith in the resurrected Christ that
baptism is meaningful.
It physically illustrates what's happening on the inside
The death and burial of your old person of sin and
being raised to a new life.

Also, we need to point out that
this is the reason we don't baptize babies.

They do not yet have a conscience.
They have not sinned.
They have not come to the point of faith in Christ.

But what about you?

If you are ready to make Jesus Lord and Savior of your life,
when we sing, come forward with faith in Jesus and
be baptized into Him.

Or maybe you've already done that and
would like to place your membership with us,
Then come as we sing.
Thanks to the Christian Restoration Movement website for a concise historical account.