by Jeffrey W. Hamilton<\/p>\n\tI. One area that sharply distinguishes the Lord’s church from the various denominations is its\norganization\n A. The church is the organization through which God’s wisdom is made known – Eph\n3:9-11\n
1. It is a product of that wisdom and is organized by God.<\/p>\n
B. The head of the church is Jesus – Ephesians 1:18-23<\/p>\n
C. Jesus then gave duties in turn – Ephesians 4:7, 11-13<\/p>\n
1. Apostles<\/p>\n
2. Prophets<\/p>\n
3. Evangelists<\/p>\n
4. Pastors<\/p>\n
5. Teachers<\/p>\n
D. The apostles and prophets were the foundation of church – Ephesians 2:19-22<\/p>\n 1. The apostle’s brought the teaching of God to the church – I Thessalonians\n2:13\n 2. The church was expected to follow the teachings of the apostles – II\nThessalonians 2:15\n 3. Their teachings were spread throughout all the churches (the local\ncongregations) – I Corinthians 4:17\n E. Evangelists, also known as ministers or preachers, worked with local congregation\nstrengthening the members and bringing new members into the fold. They also\nestablished new congregations.\n 1. It does not require an evangelist to do these duties. Any male member of\nthe church can accomplish these things, but the evangelist had made this his\nlife’s occupation. – I Corinthians 9:14\n
2. The preacher’s purpose is to teach God’s Word to people – I Timothy 1:3-8<\/p>\n
3. They also see to the proper organization of the local church – Titus 1:5<\/p>\n 4. While working with a specific congregation at a time, they may and often\ndo, travel between congregations.\n F. Pastors, also known as elders or bishops, watch over the members of a local\ncongregation – Acts 20:28\n
1. Their selection and oversight is local – Acts 14:23<\/p>\n
G. Teachers are also charged with the instruction of members of a church<\/p>\n
II. The only organized entity found in the New Testament is the local church<\/p>\n A. The apostles gave instructions to the church as a whole, but often fulfilled their\nduties while working with individual congregations.\n
B. We can see the local church mentioned in I Corinthians 1:2.<\/p>\n
C. Some letters show the organization – Philippians 1:1<\/p>\n
D. All Christians are expected to join with a local congregation to fulfill their duties<\/p>\n
1. Saul was a member of the church in Damascus – Acts 9:19-20<\/p>\n
2. When he moved to Jerusalem, he joined the church there – Acts 9:26-28<\/p>\n
E. There are duties Christians must carry out as a part of a local group<\/p>\n 1. Christians come together to worship on the first day of the week – Acts\n20:7\n
2. They gather to partake of the Lord’s Supper – I Corinthians 11:17-22<\/p>\n 3. The collection for a common treasury is taken on the first day of the week –\nI Corinthians 16:1-2\n 4. It is important for Christians not to avoid the assembly times – Hebrews\n10:25\n 5. We work together, each using his best talents, for the church – Romans\n12:3-8\n
III. Each church is autonomous<\/p>\n
A. Apostles were the only ones given the authority to tell churches what to do.<\/p>\n
B. Elders are only over a single church<\/p>\n
1. Appointed in every church – Acts 14:23<\/p>\n
2. They had a certain flock they were responsible for – Acts 20:28<\/p>\n
3. They lived and worked among that flock – I Peter 5:2<\/p>\n
C. Each church was responsible for its own work<\/p>\n
1. Churches might send and support preachers to other locations<\/p>\n a. Jerusalem sent Barnabas to Antioch to help build the church there –\nActs 11:22\n b. Philippians 4:15-16 – The church in Philippi did what other\nchurches did not do. They sent funds to support the Apostle Paul\nin his work.\n c. Other churches supported Paul while he worked in Corinth – II\nCorinthians 11:8\n
2. Local churches cared for its members – Acts 4:32-37<\/p>\n a. When the work became too much for the apostles to handle, local\nmen were selected to tend to the work – Acts 6:3\n 3. Local churches also selected local men to be messengers in sending\nbenevolence to other churches whose members were in need.\n
a. I Corinthians 16:1-4 – The church was to pick their messenger<\/p>\n
b. II Corinthians 8:1-6, 16-24 – The actual sending of funds<\/p>\n c. Note that the only time a church sent funds to another church was\nwhen the local church was unable to care for its needy. Even then\nthe autonomy of the churches was maintained. The funds were\ndelivered to the hands of the local elders who then determined the\ndistribution of the funds. – Acts 11:27-30\n
D. Many brethren talk about local autonomy, but they do not practice it.<\/p>\n 1. Members of one congregation have no right in getting involved in the work\nof another congregation.\n a. Yet large congregations will nobly offer to help a small work. They\nbuild or repair the building for them. They hire a preacher for\nthem. They set the advertizing budget and even send the ads.\n b. In many ways the decisions are done by the distant congregation\nand not by the local group.\n 2. A form of this is sometimes referred to as a sponsoring church\narrangement. One church will decide to create TV and radio ads, so they\nask other churches to send them funds, then they will create the ads and\neven pay for having them broadcasted in the other churches’ areas.\n a. Notice though the local group has given up say in the contents of\nthe ads, where they are broadcasted, and when they are\nbroadcasted.\n
b. They are no longer autonomous<\/p>\n 3. Another method is to set up an organization independent of the church, but\nwhose board happens to be made up of the elders of a local church. This\norganization then solicits funds from other churches to do such work as\n
a. Disaster relief<\/p>\n
b. The sending of preachers to other parts of the world<\/p>\n
c. Care for abandoned children or the elderly.<\/p>\n d. These are not bad works, but the organization is not the local\nchurch, nor does the local churches control the use of their funds.\n
IV. But didn’t the church in Jerusalem tell the other churches what to believe?<\/p>\n
A. It was not a conference of churches<\/p>\n 1. Antioch had problems with men from Judea teaching false doctrine.- Acts\n15:1\n 2. That church sent representatives to the source of the problem (Jerusalem) –\nActs 15:2-4\n 3. This was not a conference of churches but one church dealing with a\nproblem caused by members of another church.\n
B. It was the local church who considered the matter – Acts 15:6<\/p>\n
C. The local church (singular) decided to send out a letter – Acts 15:22<\/p>\n 1. They chose as messengers two of the men from Antioch as well as two of\ntheir own members.\n 2. The letter addresses the fact that the false teachers were not going out by\nthe authority of the church in Jerusalem – Acts 15:23-24\n
3. The men sent were to verify the truth of the letter – Acts 15:25-27<\/p>\n
4. They clarified their teaching – Acts 15:28-29<\/p>\n
a. You could say this was telling the other churches what to believe.<\/p>\n b. Since the Apostles were a part of the writing and delivering of the\nletter, they had the right to do so. \n
c. But without apostles to back them, no church can do so today.<\/p>\n
5. It was received as a letter of encouragement – Acts 15:30-35<\/p>\n D. This doesn’t even come close to the religious conferences in the denominations\ntoday.\n 1. Here representatives come from various congregation in different regions\nto consider matters that are brought up for a vote.\n 2. Proclamations are issued as to the denominations official stance on the\nissues addressed.\n 3. Member churches are expected to follow the decision or leave the\nassociation.\n
V. The organization of the church was established by the wisdom of God<\/p>\n
A. Man might think he can improve on it, but God knew what He was doing.<\/p>\n B. For example, the autonomy of the local churches prevents Satan from corrupting\nall the churches at once. There is no way for Satan to get all the churches to be\ntold that abortion is allowable, or that homosexual marriages will be permitted, or\nthat women don’t have to submit to their husbands.\n
C. Many churches might get caught up in false doctrine, but not all. <\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Jeffrey W. Hamilton I. One area that sharply distinguishes the Lord’s church from the various denominations is its organization A. The church is the organization through which God’s wisdom is made known – Eph 3:9-11 1. It is a product of that wisdom and is organized by God. B. The head of the church is Jesus – Ephesians…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[448,192],"class_list":["post-61801","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermon","tag-church","tag-liberalism"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2595,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-the-church-a-business\/","url_meta":{"origin":61801,"position":0},"title":"Is the church a business?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 24, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Is the church a business? Answer: Generally, a business is \"an organization established for generating profit; a commercial organization.\" As such, the church is not a business. It is an organization, established by God for the primary purpose of worshiping Him and spreading the good news of salvation to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":70599,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/which-church-is-right\/","url_meta":{"origin":61801,"position":1},"title":"Which Church Is Right?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 27, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Ephesians 4:4-6 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0How do we measure \u201cright\u201d? \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0We must settle on a standard. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0If God is the only God and the Bible is His teachings \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a01.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Then truth and error are as distinct as light and dark - I John 1:5; James 1:17-18 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a02.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The same\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sermon"","block_context":{"text":"Sermon","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/sermon\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":29235,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-organization-of-the-church-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":61801,"position":2},"title":"The Organization of the Church","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 8, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Text: Hebrews 8:1-5 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0We give God glory when we teach His doctrine and execute it accordingly - I Peter 4:11 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Thus we are to follow the pattern set for us - Philippians 3:17 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Warnings abound not to change the message - Galatians 1:6-10 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0C.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Any change would give glory to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":63000,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/understanding-the-difference-local-and-universal-church\/","url_meta":{"origin":61801,"position":3},"title":"Understanding the Difference: Local and Universal Church","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 30, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"by Bill Robinson I have a lot of friends that I dearly love and count them as brothers who are going to disagree with this article. Nonetheless, there are others that I dearly love and also count as brothers, for whom I feel compelled to write this. We are fast\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":69794,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-it-right-for-a-church-to-support-a-bible-school\/","url_meta":{"origin":61801,"position":4},"title":"Is it right for a church to support a Bible school?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 12, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Greetings to you, Brother Hamilton; I trust you have been in good health. I need your guidance on these issues: Is it a sin for the church to financially support Bible schools? The church sometimes requests Bible school students to help carry out a massive evangelism campaign. How can\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":61314,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/notes-on-the-organization-of-the-bible\/","url_meta":{"origin":61801,"position":5},"title":"Notes on the Organization of the Bible","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 10, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Old Testament Divison Purpose Books Books of Moses History of the World Genesis Law Exodus Leviticus Numbers Deuteronomy History History of Israel Joshua Judges Ruth I Samuel II Samuel I Kings II Kings I Chronicles II Chronicles Ezra Nehemiah Esther Wisdom Poems Job Psalms Proverbs Ecclesiastes Song of Solomon Prophets\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Notes"","block_context":{"text":"Notes","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/notes\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61801","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61801"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61801\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}