How Do We Compare?

Two thousand years later, how much do we look like the church in Jerusalem (Acts 2)? Probably about like the fellow who claimed he owned an axe dating back to the days of George Washington.  When someone questioned him “Your axe doesn’t look that old,” he replied, “Oh, it’s that old all right. It’s just had three new blades and five new handles. But, other than that, it’s the same old axe.” That’s about how much of what we plea for today resembles the original New Testament church.

 

Somewhere we fell into the trap of believing we’ve restored the church of the New Testament. Let’s not forget that restoration is an on going project. It’s never finished. It has to be resold and reduplicated in every succeeding generation. This present generation, being the most educated generation in our history, has realized that much of what had been sold as scripture in the past is actually nothing more than the traditions of men. These educated Christians are presently challenging some of our most sacred doctrines. And the baton passers have dug their heals in and taken a defensive position. They aren’t aware their traditions have crystallized into law. They still resist “new words” or “no words” said during a baptism. They continue to label hand raising as rank Pentecostalism, yet ignore plain passages of scripture authorizing it (1 Timothy 2:8). They would faint if someone asked them to send off a missionary by the laying on of hands. Divorce and remarriage, the Holy Spirit, and instrumental music continue to produce judgmental attitudes and division in their assemblies.   

 

These things have taken their toll on our numbers and our witness to a lost world. Will we ever learn to disagree without drawing lines in the sand? If the 1^st-century church, that we’re trying to restore, had followed this path they would never have been “of one heart and one mind” (Acts 4:32). No one, other than the Lord Himself, has the qualification or authority to judge.

 

Maybe we should go back to what the early believers did, and just preach the Word. Let’s begin by emulating what the Restoration Movement was founded upon. The freedom to approach the Scriptures individually, without the fear hat repudiation will be the consequences or our conclusions.