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The Divine Design of the Church
Caleb J. Kirkpatrick
The wonderfully superior design of God's church to do the work for which he designed it is one of the most convincing proofs of the love of God and of the inspiration of the Bible. When the design of the church set forth in the Bible (its Bible organization, mission, and examples of work) is contrasted with ways men of the past and present have distorted and deformed it, the design in the Bible sparkles as a gem in comparison.
I am not now boasting of myself or my brethren, although I think most of my brethren are good people and most churches of Christ are good churches. They follow the divine design more closely than do others in several fundamental respects; but not one claims perfection. We make mistakes. We are still learning. We are still trying to put into practice the things that are being learned. Much time is properly used in reproving, exhorting, and teaching ourselves. So, we do not boast of ourselves, but we do claim perfection for God's design of the church in the New Testament.
Men have often wanted the church to do things God did not design it to do. They have tried to use it to direct the functions of civil government, and some have united it to government as a state church; but this is not God's design. Men have used churches for social clubs and political action parties. They have made them into institutions to endorse and support their way of life or their sociological theories.
Men have used churches to supply rituals by which they could have it ceremonially declared that they were righteous. These are all perversions of God's design. God's church has better purposes. God designed his church to teach, to save, and to build up people; to transform them into new creatures. It is not designed to be socially exclusive, but rather to save the sinner, to help the poor, the orphan, the sick, the lonely and discouraged; to train members to bear one another's burdens. It is the pillar and ground of the truth, God's missionary and evangelistic association, teaching organization, and benevolence agency. It glorifies God through helping men. There could be no greater or more worthwhile works than those assigned to the church in the Bible.
God's church according to the Bible is wonderfully designed to train men and women to become partakers of the divine nature. It is interested in people for their own good. It is not interested in them for reasons a store is interested in customers, or like a politician whose first interest is in getting elected. It may be compared to a school where the teachers do not work just for money but because they love the children. It is like a good doctor who gives his time freely to help people who need him.
There are opportunities in the church to gradually develop talents toward true leadership through service. (Matt. 20:25-28.) Abilities are developed and polished through experiences in Bible classes, serving at the Lord's table, publicly reading the Scriptures and leading prayers, working with people in greeting, visitation, benevolence, mission campaigns, fund raising, etc. Opportunities to serve are always available.
God's church trains its people in the ways of true leadership by a balanced combination of individual responsibility and personal liberty. (1 Pet. 5:3-5.) Each Christian shares responsibility but has liberty to work individually and in cooperation with others in accordance with his own personal preferences, talents, and opportunities. Compare this with denominations that use ordained and licensed clergy. In the Lord's church each Christian is "ordained" through the Great Commission, by examples in the Bible, and by the command to love neighbors. The field is the world. The seed is the word. Around the world congregations have been started by military men, teachers, doctors, builders, even by women. Preachers are trained in various ways: like Paul, or Timothy, or Apollos. The church might be called a team but the Bible uses a better and more intimate term, a body, with members functioning together for the good of all. (Eph. 4:16.) Every member is to be engaged in building up every member through speaking the truth in love, teaching, serving, exhorting, encouraging, and example.
The Bible design of Christ's church emphasizes the worth and dignity of each person along with and enhancing his responsibility. Christ's rules are broad enough for every good thing and narrow enough to point out every wrong thing yet, free Christians from man-made rules and traditions like Lent and the dietary and ecclesiastical rules of various denominations. Laws in Christ's church are not enforced as in denominations by men called bishops or priests or preachers. Christ's laws work through teaching, example, and persuasion. The Christian does not bow to men as ecclesiastical superiors. Through his own will and through respect for Christ and his fellowman he submits to his brothers and sisters for the good of all. He thus retains his self-respect while serving others. He is appreciated and respected in return.
While individual responsibility is stressed in Christ's church it is not a crushing responsibility because in every case it is shared, shared with brothers and sisters and with Christ. Elders cannot shift their responsibility to a higher human headquarters, but they can ask for help from other elders and members. There is no bureaucracy or red tape to bother them. They can act in the confidence that the laws of Christ cannot be overturned by men. Responsibility is helped by liberty and love, and protected by shared checks and balances. Someone should write a book about the divine design as compared to the designs of men. It could have many good chapters.