What is the Lord's church?

What is the Lord's church?

           In Matthew 16:18, Jesus promised to build His church (not to be confused with the term "building". In Acts 2:47, Luke tells us that people were being added to that church. In fact, a closer study of the events in Acts 2 reveals that the Lord’s church was established on that first day of Pentecost following the Lord’s resurrection when Peter preached the first Gospel sermon.

A common misconception about the church of Christ is that it is a product of the Restoration Movement. WRONG! The church predates the Restoration Movement. The very name of the Restoration Movement tells us that the church did not originate with that movement. They were trying to restore something and that something was the first-century church, the one Jesus promised to build in Matthew 16 and the one established in Acts 2.

When I refer to the "Lord's church," I am referencing the church you read about in the New Testament (Acts 2 through Revelation 22). I submit that the Lord's church is radically different from all the numerous denominational (i.e., man-made) churches. The church Jesus founded did not and does not wear human names. For example, there was the church of God at Corinth (I Corinthians 1:2) and the churches of Christ referred to by the Apostle Paul (Romans 16:16). As a matter of fact, denominations were unknown during the apostolic period. The church was established by Christ; was built by Christ; was bought by Christ; and belongs to Christ. It is not our church; it is His church, the Lord’s church. We are not voted into the church by men, and we do not join a church the way some might join a country club. Instead, God adds us to His church when we obey His Gospel.

Are those in the Lord's church the only people who are going to be saved? Of course they are! God adds people to His church when they are saved. If you are not in the Lord’s church, then you are not saved. If you are saved, then you are in the Lord’s church. To be saved outside of the church is to be saved outside of the body of Christ and that can never happen. Jesus is not just a way to the Father; He is the only way to the Father.

              Thus, the question is not what is the Lord's church; rather, the question is how does one become a part of the Lord's church? That question was asked in the first century as it is asked today and the answer remains the same. We are saved and added to the Lord’s church when we obey the Gospel of His son, Jesus Christ. Those on Pentecost who "gladly received" the word that the Apostles preached to them "were baptized," and when they were baptized, "The Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved." (Acts 2:47). When these people heard the Apostle Peter preaching the resurrected Christ, they asked, "What shall we do?" Peter replied, "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins." (They had already believed the word the Apostles had preached.) When they did what the Apostle Peter said, "The Lord added to the church" those who were receiving the remission of sins (i.e. being saved). Like the Apostle Paul said, we are saved when our sins are washed away at our baptism (immersion).

"The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us
(not the putting away of the filth of the flesh,
but the answer of a good conscience toward God,)
by the resurrection of Jesus Christ:"
(1 Peter 3:21)

               There is only one, exclusive, original, acceptable-to-God church and that is the Lord's church. If you are a member of something else or something more or something less, then you are not serving God according to His plan or according to His will. He wants you to be a Christian and only a Christian, wearing only the name of His Son, Jesus Christ, who is the Head and the Savior of the church, His body.

It should be noted that the only thing necessary for learning the characteristics of that one and only, exclusive, original, acceptable-to-God church is reading the New Testament (Acts 2 through Revelation 22). The New Testament (Acts 2 through Revelation 22) sets forth the conditions for entrance into this one and only, exclusive, original, acceptable-to-God church. Furthermore, the New Testament (Acts 2 through Revelation 22) sets forth the worship in which this one and only, exclusive, original, acceptable-to-God church may engage with divine approval. All denominations are either apostate from this one and only, exclusive, original, acceptable-to-God church or apostate from some other apostasy.

          God's church ordains no ministers, preachers, elders, pastors, or bishops. Every member of the Lord's church is ordained by the Gospel of Christ to be a priest of God (1 Peter 2:9). Every member of the Lord's church is called by the Gospel (2 Thessalonians 2:14). Thus, while it is possible to be a church preacher, I am not one of those. Instead, I am a Gospel preacher. Because I am a Gospel preacher, God has obligated me to preach the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. The truth is the New Testament (Acts 2 through Revelation 22) and it alone. It is the Word of God the Father and was left to us by the New Testament (Acts 2 through Revelation 22) Apostles and Prophets (Ephesians 3:5). This New Testament (Acts 2 through Revelation 22) is the totality of God’s message to mankind on earth today (2 Timothy 3:16-17). The New Testament (Acts 2 through Revelation 22) is the only authority of Jesus Christ, and we have no authority to vary the tiniest little bit and still please God (Galatians 1:6-9). The church of Christ is the Lord's church, and so I will refer to it that way.The Lord's church stands today as the one and only, exclusive, original, acceptable-to-God church.

Daniel Ross - Gospel preacher