Majoring on the Minors

From the Original Baptist Observer, March 2013 Issue

Does a time of church services make a church Scriptural? Or do the teachings, the practices, and the origin make a church Scriptural?

We see in the Word of God that God spends a great deal of time admonishing his people to focus on what’s really important. God’s teachings of what a Scriptural New Testament church is to teach, God’s teaching on what a Scriptural N.T. church is to practice, and God’s teaching of where a Scriptural N.T. church is to come from is what makes a church Scriptural. (Eph. 4:5; 2:20-22; Col. 1:17-23; Acts 11:19-20; 8:14-17) In fact, we are admonished by God not to be tossed. “. . . That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive (Eph.4:13-14) “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the LORD, so walk ye in him: Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.” (Col. 2:6-8) There seems to be more and more philosophy (man’s beliefs) that is put forth as doctrine.

The time of services has nothing to do with the Scripturality of a church, (“Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday. . .” (Col. 2:16) but the doctrines that are taught, practiced, and the origin of a N.T. church. News flash! In every Scriptural church, all the way back to the first church that Christ started, (Matt. 4:12-22; 18:18) each independent body decided at what time, and day, and when they would meet. They decided that based upon, no doubt, the example in the Scriptures about the first day of the week, (1 Cor. 16:1-2; Acts 20:7) traditions of when times were held, and what worked the best for that independent body.

If you want to address a growing trend amongst the LORD’S N.T. churches that is dangerous and can effect the Scripturality of a church, it’s the practice of dropping Sunday School and Baptist Training Course (BTC) at night, as well as mid-week services. Did all our Baptist forefathers have these? No. Do they add and strengthen a church? Yes. Is there a danger in dropping these? Yes. (Heb. 10:25-31) Are these services dropped mainly because the LORD’S people allow the world to take precedence over our lives and God’s will is not the preeminence? Yes. (Col. 1:17-18; Matt. 6:33) Could a church that begins down this road eventually fall away from the truth? Yes. The less influence the LORD has in our life, the greater influence Satan and the flesh have.

Let us focus on what’s important for a church to grow and stay Scriptural. “And so were the churches established in the faith, and increased in number daily.” (Acts 16:5) That faith is a system of doctrine and teachings that are found in the Word of God. Matthew 15:9 warns us about teaching our ideas for doctrines. If we follow down this road the next teaching might be that we can’t take the LORD’S Supper on Sunday morning because it’s called “supper”, or there is no leadership of the Holy Spirit because the message was only twenty minutes long and not an hour? The LORD expects His churches to serve Him according to the Scriptures. Let’s stick to the Scriptures and allow the Holy Spirit to direct our paths instead of the way of man’s ideology.