[Biblemat] S) CONGREGATIONAL INDEPENDENCE (2)

[J5827Sasser at wmconnect.com]

Brethren and Friends, Jim Sasser here.  Here is the continuation
of this particular study started yesterday.  Use to the glory of God.

CONGREGATIONAL INDEPENDENCE  (2)

IT IS SCRIPTURAL: (CONTINUED): -- Now I want to ask a few
questions.  I'd like for you to think about them.  If we are justi-
fied in adding to the New Testament with reference to organiz-
ation, why can't we add to it with reference to worship?  if we
are justified in have some organization that is not known in
the Bible, why can't we have something in the worship that's
not known in the Bible?  The Holy Spirit said by the pen of 
Paul, "All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is prof-
itable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction
in righteousness; that the man of God may be perfect, thorou-
ghly (or completely) furnished unto all good works" (2 Tim. 3:
16,17).

     If the Word of God is not a complete guide on organization
how can we assume that it's a complete guide on worship?
In fact, a guide which is incomplete is not a guide.  A stand-
ard to which you must add in some instances, ceases to be
any standard at all.  If you add to the Bible where your judg-
ment so dictates, then your own judgment and not the Bible
is your standard.

     Inter-congregational organization, the piano in the worship
and all other additions to God's Word come in at the same
door.  Before this audience I don't need to argue that it's a sin to add to 
God's Word, that on points where God's Word
does not legislate, we must stop right where it stops.  That
ought to settle forever the argument about congregational
independence.  You know that there is no Bible authority for
any church organization except that of the local congregation

     Since the local congregation is the only church organizat-
ion God has given us, then whatever work God wants the 
church as an organization to do, can be done by the local
congregation.  You agree, I believe, that the local congregat-ion is the only 
church organization revealed in the Bible and
that it is, therefore, the only one that has any right to exist.
That being true, a work which cannot be done by a local con-
gregation is not a church work.  Whatever is the work of the
church as an organization must be done by the congregation.
Whatever is not the work of the church should not be impos-
ed upon, or undertaken by, the church.  Why should the church as such be 
expected to support, sponsor, or promote
that which is not church work?

IT IS EFFECTIVE: -- In the next place, I would like to call your
attention to the effectiveness of this divine plan, congregat-
ional independence.  Jesus said, "Go ye into all the world and
preach the gospel unto every creature" (Mk. 16:15).  That was
an exceedingly big order.  Thirty-four years afterward, the 
apostle Paul said that the gospel had been preached unto 
every creature under heaven (Col. 1:23).  Think of it!  In a 
span of thirty-four years the gospel had been preached unto
every creature under heaven.  This remarkable success was
achieved without any church organization except that of the
local congregation!

     But someone may say, "The world as known by the early
Christians was not nearly as big as the world we know today"
In one sense tht may be true.  But it's also true that they did
not have our modern methods of communication and trans-
portation.  They had no telephones, no radios, no printing
presses!  When you take such things into consideration, the
world was far bigger then than it is now.  And yet with their
primitive means, they preached the gospel to every creature
in thirty-four years without any organization except that of
the local congregation.  If it could be done then, why can it
not be done now?  Our trouble today is not a lack of sufficie-
nt organization but our failure to use the organization which
the Lord has provided.

     During that period of thirty-four years the gospel was prea-
ched by individuals as they went from place to place.  The
apostles went in various directions.  When the church at Jeru-
salem was scattered abroad the Bible says they went every-
where preaching the Word.  Individual effort-- everybody 
teaching wherever he is to whomever he is with!  That's one of the finest and 
most effective means of doing missionary
work.  It's practical, it's effective, it's inexpensive, and it is
Scriptural.  What else would you want to recommend it?  That
was one of the chief methods used by the early Christians
in accomplishing their great work.

     If members of our Lord's church had been doing that in
the United States for the last twenty-five years, I would dare
say there would not be a town in this nation with as many as
twenty-five thousand people without a strong congregation
of saints.  Members of the church still move around over the
country.  The trouble is, we don't go everywhere preaching
the Word.  If we did we could get the job done.  We cannot
atone for our personal failures by supporting or promoting
some sort of a big scheme or combined effort.  Such will not
excuse our failure to do our individual duty.

     When  Paul went out to preach, different churches sent
directly to him.  He said, "I robbed other churches, taking
wages of them, to do you service" (2 Cor. 11:8).  Philippi sent
once and again unto his needs (Phil. 4:18).  And may I remind
 you that there is not one word in the Bible about the church-
es sending money to some sponsoring church to be forward-
ed on to Paul?  They sent directly to him.  You can make of it
whatever you will.  There is no Bible example of funneling
money into one congregation to be distributed over the world
by that congregation.  According to the Bible they sent to the
preacher.  You may think you know of a better plan but that's
the Bible method.

     Paul wrote letters and visited churches in Galatia, Achaia,
and Macedonia telling them about the needs of the poor saints in Jerusalem.  
Concerning the collection for them, he
ordered everyone to lay by in store, upon the first day of the
week, as God had prospered him.  See Acts 24:17; Rom. 15:
25; 1 Cor. 16:1,2; 2 Cor. 8,9.  "Taking thought for things hon-
est, not only in the sight of the Lord, but also in the sight of
men," Paul himself, in the company of others, delivered the
funds to Jerusalem to be used in ministering to the saints
there.

     Agabus came to Antioch and told about the need in Judea.
"Then the disciples, every man according to his ability, deter-
mined to send relief unto the brethren which dwelt in Judea:
which also they did, and sent it to the elders by the hands of
Barnabas and Saul" (Acts 11:29,30).  In like manner the church at Chapel 
Avenue has sent money to the elders at Fifth Street to be used by the deacons 
there in taking care of
the poor saints in the area.

     That's the way they did it then.  They didn't have all of 
those poor people to come to some big institution which the
church at Antioch might establish and be cared for through
it, but disciples at Antioch sent their money to the elders in
Judea where the poor people were, to be used in taking care
of them there.  For this method we have a Bible example.  We
don't have a Bible example for some centralized scheme.

     If the local congregation was sufficient then to evangelize
the world in thirty-four years, and take care of the poor on an
international scale, why do we need any other organization 
today?

     Many of you know that a few years ago, brother E.L. Flan-
nery gathered statistics which showed that the Chapel Avenue congregation did 
more missionary work in one year
than all the members of the United Christian Missionary Soc-
iety in North Carolina.  And yet some of my brethren are ris-
ing up today arguing that we ought to have a central organiz-
ation for the sake of effectiveness.

     A man sitting in my office a few days ago said, "Don't you
think that you will have to organize in order to meet compet-
ition?  Other churches are organized and you can't compete
with them unless you are."  There are two things wrong with
that.  First, to organize in order to meet competition would be
to set aside God's plan in favor of our own, as if we knew bet-
ter how to get the job done than He.  And, second, the very
minute we organize, we will have already lost the battle, be-
cause the thing we are contending for is strict adherence unto the Word of 
God.  If we violate that principle in an effort
to make a bigger show than some of our religious neighbors,
then they will have won the battle.  Because we will already 
be over on their side -- guilty of error with respect to organiz-
ation as well as they.

     So I contend for congregational independence, first becau-
se its effectiveness has been demonstrated.  To set it aside
for some human scheme would be to substitute man's judg-
ment for the wisdom of God.   ---- Harris J. Dark in The Pre-
ceptor, Vol. 1, No. 2, Dec. 1951.

     




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