https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/RealIssueRegardingKitchensAndFellowshipHalls.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n\tby Jeffrey W. Hamilton<\/p>\n\t
Text: Colossians 3:12-18<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I. Over the years Christians have experienced disagreements that have led to divisions<\/p>\n A. In the late 1800’s it was disagreements over missionary societies and instrumental\nmusic in worship. It lead to the formation of the Christian Church and the\nDisciples of Christ.\n B. In the 1940’s and 1950’s divisions occurred again. This time it involved authority\nfor what the church did with its funds and a split occurred over churches\nsupporting orphan’s homes, colleges, and collectively pooling money at one\nchurch to take on major evangelism projects.\n C. In 1947, M. Norvel Young, during a lectureship in Abilene, Texas and in later\narticles, advocated the building of new meeting places in good locations to attract\nmore people. With the new buildings he encouraged the building of large\nfellowship rooms and kitchen facilities.\n
1. It wasn’t well received.<\/p>\n 2. Bill Hall recalled “I remember when I was in high school, one of the\nchurches in the city where we lived built an addition on their building, and\nindeed, they put in it a place for eating. But they felt a little pressure about\nthis and defensively said, “We’re also going to have a Bible class in this\nroom.” That’s the way they excused themselves.”\n 3. I grew up a bit later, but I remember in the 1960’s and 1970’s that it\nbecame more prevalent for churches to add what they called fellowship\nhalls, but often it was called a multi-purpose room.\n 4. I remember talking to Don Underwood, who was the preacher at the time\nat Sunnyslope. He was showing me their new building and I asked him\nwhy a kitchen was included. He quickly told me that it was all donated\nitems and the church’s funds weren’t used to build that part and wouldn’t\nbe used in the future. That, of course, did not remain the case after he left.\n 5. My point is that prior to 1960 it was almost unheard of and afterward it\nbecame so common that young people today assume that is the way it has\nalways been.\n
II. Defining the issue<\/p>\n A. Many times when issues arise, one side doesn’t really listen to what the other side\nis saying.\n
B. What wasn’t the issue about kitchens and fellowship halls<\/p>\n
1. It wasn’t about whether you can eat in a building owned by the church<\/p>\n a. “Why, if these people are right, a mother couldn’t even give her\nbaby a bottle of milk in the building!”\n b. Of course, no one ever said such a thing. It was a strawman\nargument.\n c. I’ve munched on things down in the office many times while I’m\nworking on lessons.\n
2. It wasn’t about whether the building was sacred.<\/p>\n a. Now, if a building is built with the Lord’s money, it ought to be\nused for purposes the Lord approves.\n
b. But this is just a physical building.<\/p>\n
c. The issue is not that we think the building is holy or sacred.<\/p>\n
C. What was the issue about kitchens and fellowship halls?<\/p>\n 1. Is there authority for the local church to plan and provide materially for\nsocial activities as a part of its work?\n
a. God told us what was authorized – II Timothy 3:16-17<\/p>\n
b. Authority is required – Colossians 3:17<\/p>\n
c. Going beyond authority is rejected – II John 9<\/p>\n
III. What ought the church do?<\/p>\n
A. Churches are to have assemblies – Hebrews 10:24-25; I Corinthians 11:18<\/p>\n
1. So why do we have a building? Because we need a place to meet.<\/p>\n 2. Other ways to meet can be done, but the point at this time is to note that\nwhat we are doing does fall under these commands.\n B. Churches are to observe the Lord’s Supper on the first day of the week – Acts\n20:7; I Corinthians 11:33\n 1. The unleavened bread, the fruit of the vine, the trays, etc. are provided\nbecause of the command to partake.\n
C. Churches are to sing songs – I Corinthians 14:26; Ephesians 5:19; Colossians 3:16<\/p>\n 1. The providing of song books and having someone lead the singing falls\nunder these commands\n
D. Churches are to pray together – Colossians 4:2<\/p>\n
E. Churches are to teach God’s word – Ephesians 4:11-14; Hebrews 5:12<\/p>\n 1. Thus, there is a pulpit to hold Bibles and materials, some places have a\nsound system so everyone can hear\n
2. There are classrooms to teach different topics at age appropriate levels.<\/p>\n
F. Churches are to have a collection – I Corinthians 16:2<\/p>\n 1. The things churches are involved in do involve expenses and the funds do\nneed to be collected. \n
G. Churches support the preaching of the gospel – Philippians 4:15-16<\/p>\n
H. Churches provided for destitute saints – Acts 4:34-35; II Corinthians 9:1-2<\/p>\n
I. But where is the authority for planning and providing social activities?<\/p>\n
1. Without authority, we cannot act.<\/p>\n
IV. Arguments to justify kitchens and fellowship halls<\/p>\n
A. Well, there is no justification for a water cooler<\/p>\n 1. The idea is that if we can act without justification in one area, then we can\nact without justification always\n 2. First, the issue is can the church plan and provide for social activities as a\nchurch’s work. It is not whether we can drink water while in the building.\n 3. Lynn Headrick once said, “When we find the church planning social\nactivities around the water cooler, then we’ll take the water cooler out.”\n 4. Actually, I’ve been pointing out for years that government laws require\nthat a public meeting facility has to have bathrooms and water. This is just\na part of meeting man’s laws while providing a place to meet.\n
B. Love feasts – Jude 11-13; II Peter 2:12-17<\/p>\n 1. The argument is that the early church had love feasts and that is what is\nbeing done in the fellowship halls.\n 2. First, we have the term “love feast” but they are providing a definition\nwithout evidence.\n a. There is definitely no evidence that the meals provided in\nfellowship halls are love feasts.\n 3. What is being emphasized is that there are evil people closely associating\nwith the righteous while leading a life of sin and leading others into sin. \n a. Actually, the best evidence is that “love feast” is just another term\nfor the Lord’s Supper or communion – I Corinthians 5:6-8\n b. Paul is discussing the need to try and keep the purity of the church\nand its worship as best we can by removing those involved in sin\nfrom the church, just as Jude and Peter are saying that false\nteachers are staining the feast.\n c. For a Christian, the idea of call the memorial supper of Christ’s\ndeath a “love feast” is obvious – John 15:13\n 4. If a person wishes to claim that a “love feast” is the gathering of Christians\nfor common meals, they need to show \n
a. Such usage in the New Testament <\/p>\n b. How such meals illustrate the problem of sin within the church\nwhich is the core point in Jude, Peter, and Paul’s teachings.\n
C. Fellowship<\/p>\n
1. Well, the church is to have fellowship!<\/p>\n 2. A study of the word fellowship will demonstrate that it is used in the\nScriptures to discuss a spiritual relationship and not a social gathering\n
a. It means a partnership – Luke 10:5<\/p>\n
b. Fellowship with the Son – I Corinthians 1:9<\/p>\n
c. Fellowship in the gospel – Philippians 1:5<\/p>\n
d. Fellowship in the Spirit – Philippians 2:1<\/p>\n
e. Fellowship in the sufferings of Christ – Philippians 3:10<\/p>\n
3. Here is what biblical fellowship is all about – I John 1:1-4<\/p>\n
4. Actually, we do have a fellowship hall. You are sitting in it right now.<\/p>\n 5. We do have a fellowship meal. It’s called the Lord’s Supper – I\nCorinthians 10:16-17\n
V. There is a distinction<\/p>\n A. Corinth was not observing the Lord’s supper properly, they weren’t partaking\ntogether – I Corinthians 11:20-21\n 1. This was like a common meal, one to be taken at home, distinct from the\nchurch – I Corinthians 11:22\n 2. Some might respond, “Paul is correcting the abuses of the worship.” And\nthat is exactly right!\n 3. In worship, the Lord’s Supper is to be taken together. For common meals,\nyou have homes for such activities.\n
B. There is a place for social activities. It is a work of the home – Acts 2:46<\/p>\n C. I’ve used this illustration before. The last time I was at Sunnyslope was when they\nwere having a gospel meeting. At the end of the service, Gary Hutchinson, the\npreacher, asked James Johnson, the preacher at North Omaha, to lead the final\nprayer and if he would to ask blessing on the food prepared in the next room so\nthat no one needed to wait to dig in.\n
1. The very distinction Paul said needed to be done was ignored. <\/p>\n D. The reason we don’t post the meetings fliers of the liberal congregations in town\nis because every one of them features as a draw the fact that they will be serving\nfood – John 6:26-27\n
\n
Based on an article by Bill Hall<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Colossians 3:12-18 I. Over the years Christians have experienced disagreements that have led to divisions A. In the late 1800’s it was disagreements over missionary societies and instrumental music in worship. It lead to the formation of the Christian Church and the Disciples of Christ. B. In the 1940’s and 1950’s divisions…<\/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,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[119,32],"tags":[154,151,593,192],"class_list":["post-63314","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-audio","category-sermon","tag-church-funds","tag-eating-in-the-building","tag-fellowship-hall","tag-liberalism"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":54477,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/church-issues-and-love\/","url_meta":{"origin":63314,"position":0},"title":"Church Issues and Love","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 25, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"by Edward O. Bragwell Throughout church history, divisive issues have arisen among Christians, even to this present day. While this should concern us, it should not cause excessive alarm. They are to be expected. After all, the apostle Paul wrote in the First Century: \"For, in the first place, when\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":58603,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/paul-barnabas-and-us\/","url_meta":{"origin":63314,"position":1},"title":"Paul, Barnabas, and Us!","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 1, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by Greg Gwin We received an email communication from a man named Joe. He is a member of the First Christian Church. He has been using the Internet to search for \"people of like-minded faith.\" In his letter, Joe explains what he sees as the necessary conditions before he can\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":69947,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/a-biblical-view-of-the-local-and-universal-church\/","url_meta":{"origin":63314,"position":2},"title":"A Biblical View of the Local and Universal Church","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 27, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Download Audio by David Bunting Understanding Christ's Church","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":5035,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-do-you-think-about-the-divisions-among-the-churches\/","url_meta":{"origin":63314,"position":3},"title":"What do you think about the divisions among the churches?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 28, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I wanted to ask you a question about Romans 16:17 and I Corinthians 1:10 about there being divisions in the church.\u00a0 I have been a member of the church since 1960, at the age of 13, and led singing most of the years since.\u00a0 My dad preached over twenty\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":89194,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/lines-of-separation\/","url_meta":{"origin":63314,"position":4},"title":"Lines of Separation","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 7, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer (Note: for starting points about what to do when we differ, you can see \"When We Differ.) Christians are taught to walk in love and unity. Paul wrote, \"I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to\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":30794,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-are-there-denominations\/","url_meta":{"origin":63314,"position":5},"title":"Why Are There Denominations?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 16, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: I Corinthians 1:10-15 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0I was asked by a gentleman in Nigeria why there were so many denominations \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A denomination simply means a division. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Among those who call themselves Christians, there are a great number of divisions \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\u00a0Even within various divisions, there are divisions \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\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":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63314","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=63314"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63314\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63314"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63314"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63314"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}