As one goes about his daily activities, he cannot help but notice the numerous religious groups. Throughout our society, slogans such as: "Attend the church of your choice" or "Join the church of your choice" are very popular. As I begin to contemplate these statements and the implications made, I wonder if the majority of our society has forgotten that it is God's choice that we should be concerned with. In Isaiah 55:8-9, we read "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." The choice that we make may not necessarily the choice that God has made and God's choice should be our only concern.
As one begins to consider the church that God approves of, the questions may be ask, "Which church is right, since all churches claim to follow Christ?" Or, "Could all of the denominations (with the conflicting doctrines they teach) be pleasing to God?" To answer this, let us look to the Bible to see what the mind of God has revealed to us. First, we will notice the church God approves of is the church that Christ built. In Matthew 16:18, we learn that Christ said, "Upon this rock I will build my church." We can clearly see that Christ said that He was going to build His church, not churches. The apostle Paul stated that Christ did exactly that when he said that Christ gave himself for the church and purchased the church with His blood (Ephesians 5:25; Acts 20:28). Then, notice what the inspired apostle wrote to the church at Ephesus. Speaking of Christ he said, "And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things to the church, which is his body" (Ephesians 1:22-23). Then, as we look at Ephesians 4:4, we learn that there is one body or one church. Therefore, we can see that the Bible only speaks of the church in the singular sense and that the one church spoken of belongs to Christ. Since, the church belongs to Christ, it should wear His name. In Acts 4:12, as Peter spoke to the rulers of the Jews, concerning Christ said, "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must must be saved." Therefore, a church that claims to have been built by someone other than Christ, or, a church that follows the teaching of some man other than Christ, is not the one church approved of in God's sight.
The question then follows, "How can one identify the New Testament church?" The church that God approves of will be the church that we read about in the Bible. It will be be the church that began at Jerusalem, on the first Pentecost after the resurrection of Christ (Acts 2). Therefore, the church that is pleasing to God will be one that uses only the inspired word of God as its rule of faith with regard to its practices. It is evident that conflicting doctrines are taught by the various religions that exist. These conflicting doctrines do not originate with the word of God, but by the creeds and traditions of men. In Matthew 15:9, Christ said that the Jews were worshipping him in vain because they taught for their doctrine "the commandments of men." The gospel of Christ is sufficient; we see this is Paul's statement to the Galatians that "though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed" (Galatians 1:8). God is pleased with those that abide in the pure gospel; those who "speak as the oracles of God" (1 Peter 4:11). The church that follows the word of God, in all that its practices, can be identified from what we learn from the Bible about the worship, work and organization of the church in the New Testament. The church that uses only the Bible will bear fruit whereby it can be identified. Christ said in Matthew 7:20, "Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them." Any group that teaches any point that is not in keeping with what the Bible teaches, is not the one church that God approves.
There is no doubt that there is much confusion in the world concerning religion, but I want it understood that this confusion comes from men and not from God. God desires that men do His will. This is exactly what Christ taught in the sermon on the mount when he said, "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven" (Matthew 7:21). Doing the will of God is imperative if we are to be pleasing to Him. Many people may have good intentions, engage in works that they believe are good and attend a church that they have chosen by their standards, but Christ said that if they did not do the Father's will, they would be classified as workers of iniquity (Matthew 7:22-23). We should never attend the church of our choice, but we should always insist that the church of God's choice be attended.
Let us examine the scriptures to learn what the church of God's choice is. May we never seek our own choice, but rather look for God's choice.
~In Gospel Power, Anderson, Alabama, 8/13/95.