Questions On Local Church And Individual Responsibilities (2)

Question 6. There is no evidence that we are commanded to teach in a classroom setting. Why do the Churches of Christ practice this tradition when they have no biblical authority? Other than the command to Go Teach and preach the word there is no reason for it especially in the light that it cost so much to build classrooms. Please give me scripture for the authority to build and use classrooms in the local church.

Answer It may surprise you to know that not all congregations of churches of Christ believe in classrooms, though most do.

You are correct that there is a command to teach, but no command to teach in a classroom setting. Naturally, the same can be said for a building for worship. There is a command to assemble together (Heb. 10:25), and this requires a place to meet, but there is no mention in Scripture of the church owning or building a structure in which to meet for worship. When a command is specific, or when clear examples are given in the way in which a command was carried out, these commands and examples must be followed if one wishes to be sure he is following God's pattern. The reason for this is obvious: If we do what the apostles did in the way they did it, then we know that practice to be correct. This is what the apostle John meant in 1 John 1:1-4 when he wrote that the apostles had fellowship with Christ, and if we follow the apostles' writings, we can have fellowship with them (and hence, with Christ). In 2 John 9, he writes, "Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son."

But what if something is not specific enough to follow? The command to assemble in Heb. 10:25 does have an example in Acts 20:7-8, but the example lacks enough information for us to develop a pattern. They met in an "upper room," but it can not be insisted that we also meet only in "upper rooms" because (among other things) the place of worship is irrelevant (e.g., John 4:19-24). Furthermore, we do not know what provisions were made by the church to meet there. Did they rent the room? Did they own the room? Was it the in the house of a member? History tells us that the early church owned no buildings, but is history infallible? And even if it is true, do we know why they didn’t own buildings? Was it "unscriptural" or was it because their property was subject to seizure by the government (as is specifically stated in Hebrews 10:34)?

You are correct in noting that the Scriptures do command us to teach and preach (Matt. 28:18-20; Mark 16:15-17; Luke 24:46-47, etc.). We know WHAT to teach (the gospel), so anything more or less than that is unscriptural (Gal. 1:6-9; 2 John 9, plus the examples in the book of Acts). But nothing is said of how to teach or how to "go into all the world." Radio programs? Newspaper ads? Classrooms? Revival meetings? Mouth to mouth only? Airplane? Automobile? Horseback or "camelback" only? There is a pattern to show that each congregation carried out their own local work and the only way congregations sent outside their own localities was to send support to an individual evangelist (2 Cor. 11:9; Phil. 4:15) or to send to other needy Christians (Acts 11:27-30; 1 Cor. 16:1: collections "for the brethren" or "for the saints"), but beyond that, the Scriptures do not give any specific information regarding the carrying out of the local work.

Your mention of money spent (and maybe wasted) is an important consideration. Funds spent by the church should relate to the work of the church, but there may be more than one right way to do things. This is the principle of expedience (profitable, helpful, beneficial) found in passages such as 1 Cor. 6:12 and 10:23. Just because something is permissible does not mean it is the best thing to do. Just because a decision is not the best one, does not make it an unscriptural one. This is where the question of classrooms lies. It is a matter of judgment. If one congregation decides to build a building without classrooms, that is their judgment, and they are within the bounds of Scripture. But so is a congregation which decides to build with classrooms, if they are able. Suppose a congregation wanted to purchase an already existing building. Suppose they found only one that suited their purpose and it already had classrooms? Should they instead build a new structure without classrooms even if it would cost more?

Understanding the authority of Scripture is important if we are to be good stewards of Christ’s trust. If we loose where God has not loosed, we are no less guilty than if we bind where He has not bound. In either case, we may be guilty of presumption. Contact Doug

Question 7. How can we relate Christianity to government? Is it satisfactory to say that church and state are separate? If they are separate, then by what basis are laws made?

Answer Before getting to your question, let me first assert some Bible principles that are important to keep in mind. They are at the foundation of the answer I will give.

First, God is not only Creator but He has established the idea of government among men four the good of the righteous and the punishment of the wicked. See Romans 13:1-7. In this way, society is stabilized as well as possible. God not only has established government among men, but He (now through Jesus) makes judgments among nations, raising up and destroying governments based on the level of sin that is in a society. For example see Genesis 19 and Daniel 4.

Secondly, God expects a certain amount of righteousness to be found within a society, if it is to remain viable. See Genesis 15:16,18:23-33, Prov. 14:34. Whatever that level is, is determined by God Himself.

Thirdly, although God, in times past, had a special relationship with the nation of Israel where religious and national laws were one and the same, today, He has no such relationship with any particular nation for Christians can be residents of any nation in the world. See 1 Pet. 2:1-10. In other words, Jesus' kingdom is made up of all people from every nation and is not an earthly type of kingdom that engages in physical battles with other nations. See John 18:33-37.

Now, to your question, are church (the saved assembly of people) and state separate? Yes, in the sense that there is no such thing as a "Christian" nation - God having a specially relationship with one nation. However, there may be Christians, to whatever degree they conscientiously agree, who work within government. As to the extent of their work, this differs depending on how some might understand various passages.

Also, history has shown us what happens when people try to mix church and state to such an extent where Christianity is imposed on others. Usually, Christianity becomes corrupted because it was never intended to be forced on anyone or to serve as a political constitution. See Romans 6:1-18.

Then, upon what basis should our laws be made. To some degree, our laws should reflect righteous principles that we can see revealed by God in His word. See Romans 1:18-32. When a nation turns to approving divorce, mistreatment of parent and/or children, homosexuality and sexual permissiveness, you can be assured that God is not pleased with it. Contact Gary

Question 8. Is it Christian to sue someone? What does the Bible say about this?

Answer Paul talks about "going to law" against a brother in 1 Corinthians 6:1-8. In Chapter 5 verse 11 he had told the Corinthians not to do anything that would encourage their fellow Christians in their sin which they had been doing (5:1-2). But they were to "judge" any fellow member and withdraw from them in order that they might see the error of their ways and return to God. They were neglecting their duty in chapter 5 in failing to judge at all and in chapter 6 they were avoiding their responsibility in taking the matters to pagan courts.

"Dare" (6:1) implies their going to civil courts to settle differences between Christians is inconsistent with the scriptures and it also shows the serious nature of what they were doing. (6:2) "The smallest matters?" were evidently trivial matters. Sort of like today our courts are overburdened by trivial lawsuits that should never have reached the courts.

We must realize a Christian lives in two kingdoms, the Kingdom of Christ and the kingdom of this world. (Rom. 13:1-4) Civil government is ordained of God for the purpose of restraining evil. The whole world is not going to become Christians so God uses civil government to restrain those, but Christians are regulated by both civil law and by the scriptures. The problems they were having in Corinth should have been settled on the basis of scripture. The difference is that Christians have an absolute standard, but the world’s standard changes as we can see by the changing laws of our day. (Today they are trying to justify lying!)

If the saints are going to "judge the world" and "judge angels" (no matter how), then should they not be able to judge these smallest matters? This judging was prophesied in (Dan 7:22) "Until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom." And Heb. 11:7 tells how it is done. "By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith."

1 Corinthians 6 verse 4 indicates that the settlement of the problems should have to be on the basis of what was revealed. Because of their pride and bickering about miraculous gifts, it was to their shame there was no one able to judge these matters. But if two have a problem and both want to solve it, then it will be settled easily though. Better yet would it not even been better to suffer wrong than to split the church over the matter? When we think of what our Lord gave up for us finally being put to death with a mockery of a trial, why should we not being willing to give up our "rights" to keep unity in the church? Jesus could have pointed out all the laws they violated in trying him, but he refrained in order to set an example and become our Saviour.

Paul said (1 Corinthians 6:12) "All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any." We might have a "right" to take a matter before the church, but it might not always be the best thing to do. The same could be said of suing in civil court. It might be better to "suffer wrong" rather that to go to court., but if it is a "religious" matter we should never take these matters to civil court.  Contact Danny

Question 9. What verses in the bible speak to fasting?

Answer Yes, there are several passages in the Bible that relate to fasting and I will list a few of them below. From the following passages, there are several points that we can gain and I will list these before the passages. They are

1. Although God does not make fasting mandatory, it does have its place in the lives of individuals when certain circumstances arise.

2. The most common circumstances that we see the practice of fasting are times of great trial, grief and when major spiritual decisions have to be made.

3. Finally, fasting, when done, should be directed toward God and should not be an empty, open display done only for the notice and approval of others.

With all this in mind, here are some passages that relate to fasting.

MAT 6:16 ¶ "And whenever you fast, do not put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites do, for they neglect their appearance in order to be seen fasting by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full.
MAT 6:17 "But you, when you fast, anoint your head, and wash your face
MAT 6:18 so that you may not be seen fasting by men, but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will repay you.

MAT 9:14 ¶ Then the disciples of John came to Him, saying, "Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?"
MAT 9:15 And Jesus said to them, "The attendants of the bridegroom cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they? But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.
MAT 9:16 "But no one puts a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; for the patch pulls away from the garment, and a worse tear results.
MAT 9:17 "Nor do men put new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wineskins burst, and the wine pours out, and the wineskins are ruined; but they put new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved."

ACT 13:1 Now there were at Antioch, in the church that was there, prophets and teachers: Barnabas, and Simeon who was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.
ACT 13:2 And while they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them."
ACT 13:3 Then, when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.
ACT 13:4 ¶ So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia and from there they sailed to Cyprus.

ACT 14:21 And after they had preached the gospel to that city and had made many disciples, they returned to Lystra and to Iconium and to Antioch,
ACT 14:22 strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying, "Through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God."
ACT 14:23 And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, having prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed. Contact Gary

Question 10. My husband and I are attending church on the internet. Is this alright, or must we attend a church in our community? Isn't there a phrase in the bible that says if two of us are there, He will join us?

Answer Matthew 18:16 says that. The problem is that there are many other passages that you cannot fulfill by "attending church on the internet."

The worship service of the New Testament church (which, btw, is the only one that counts) consisted of praying, singing, preaching, taking the Lord's Supper, and giving. You can read passages in Acts 20, 1 Cor. 16, and 1 Cor. 11 that talk about these acts of worship.

I don't know what kind of internet setup you have, but if you have audio and video, you might say that you fulfill praying, singing, and preaching. But how do you take the Lord's Supper? How do you make an offering from what God has blessed you with?

It is not possible for your husband and yourself to attend church over the internet and be pleasing to the Lord. Read through Acts. Everywhere Paul went, he joined himself to a church. Everywhere. He didn't do that because he didn't have the internet. He did that because that is a Christian's responsibility: to encourage those who are weak, visit the sick, preach the word, etc. It is not possible for you to fulfill God's commandments over the internet. Contact Michael

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