While staying in Portland, TN conducting a gospel meeting some time ago,
I came across a booklet titled The churches of Christ salute you
compiled by Ralph O’Neal and David East.
While perusing I came across the following article and when I saw the
writer, well, it was worthy of reprising.
Raymond Crumbliss served as the preacher at the East Side church of Christ
(where I currently labor) from 1963-1967 and continues to be revered and
honored by those that were attending East Side
at that time. It is worthy to post here
since, well, one time bro. Crumbliss proclaimed the gospel…literally…from the
Wildwood.
IS CHURCH MEMBERSHIP NECESSARY? Raymond Crumbliss (deceased)
Membership in the Lord’s church,
as it is revealed and described in the New Testament, is indeed necessary, if
we would please God here, and live with him hereafter. Contrary to many of the confused notions
which infest the religious world of our day, the church is not merely a
convenience to which God is indifferent.
Nor is it a body into which men may enter, or refuse to enter, and be
equally approved of God.
The church was in eternal plan
of God, Eph. 3:8-12. Part of the will of
God which Jesus came to do, was the building of the church, Matt. 16:18. His blood was its purchase price, Acts
20:28. The church is described as his
body, and Jesus is himself the head of it, Eph. 1:22, 23. It is this body in which responsible, mature,
individuals, must have membership, if they would please God to the saving of
their souls.
It is necessary in this
twentieth century to make a distinction that was not necessary in the first
century. Then, there was but one church,
the church of Christ, of which we read in the New
Testament. But now, there are hundreds
of additional churches, none of which can be found in the pages of God’s
book.
Then, no one would have asked the question: “Of which church must I be a
member?” There was but one, variously
designed the church, the churches of God, the churches of Christ, etc. (Col.
1:18; 1 Thess. 2:14; Romans 16:16). Now,
with the existence of so many churches of human origin, with human teaching,
and with human governments, the question can be very earnestly asked: “Of which
church must I be a member?”
A multiplicity of churches in
addition to the one which God purposed is not God’s will, nor is membership in
them is pleasing to Him. It was (and is)
His intent to reconcile all men unto Himself in one body, Eph. 2:14-18. He is not with the discordant hodge-podge of
churches of human-devising existing today, 1 Cor.1:10-13. God is not the author of such confusion, 1
Cor. 14:33. There is only one church
which is God’s “plant”. All others will
one day be disclaimed, dishonored, and destroyed, for Jesus said: “Every plant
which my heavenly Father planted not, shall be rooted up”, Matt.15:13.
To be a child in the family of
God, a citizen in the kingdom of God, a stone in the temple
of God, a member of the body of
Christ, and a member of the church
of Christ, are all terms indicative
of one thing, i.e., being in a saved condition before God. All are accomplished by one and the same
process, which: that the grace of God permits our faith to exercise itself in
obedience to the commands of Christ to the salvation of our souls. We are baptized into one body, 1 Cor.
12:13. By that same baptism (for there
is but one baptism, Eph. 4:5) we are baptized into Christ, Gal. 3:26-27. In that same baptism we are born of water and
of the spirit, thus entering the kingdom
of God, John 3:5.
Although membership in no
humanly devised church can profit one at all in the eternal view, membership in
the Lord’s church is an absolute necessity for every responsible being who
longs for heaven hereafter. It is so
vital that the Bible pictures the Lord himself as presiding at the induction of
every obedient believer! In Acts 2,
those sinners who heard the first gospel sermon, believed. They were told to repent, and to be
baptized. About 3000 gladly received the
word, and were baptized. Verse 47 says:
“And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.”
