Seriously? You Hear The Strangest Things About The Church Of Christ!
In a world where people generally claim to believe that they shouldn’t rush to judgment about anything or anyone – and especially not at least until they have all of the obtainable facts in hand – what a contradiction they have been known to sometimes practice when it comes to the churches of Christ! One reason is because several decades ago in the mid-20th century, churches of Christ were the fastest growing religious group in America. When denominational preachers were being defeated wholesale in biblical debate, and denominational churches were being decimated by biblical conversions to Christ as a result, those most ill-affected eventually stuck us with a tag, the effects of which we are still dealing with today…
You’ve probably either heard it said, or perhaps even had it spat in your face when discussing with someone the fact that you are a member of the church of Christ, that, “Oh yeah, you’re the bunch that thinks you’re the only ones going to heaven!” This charge is sometimes made by well-intentioned denominational religious people, who then summarily dismiss any further positive discussion of the church of Christ folks and their biblical positions, based on what they themselves have instantly and inadvertently ‘judged,’ to be the inappropriate ‘judgmentalism’ on the part of those same church of Christ folks!
But in reality, when discussed more deeply, most denominational folks – and even the general (non-atheist) populace at large – will eventually come to understand and be forced to admit that their own thinking isn’t all that far off from what the church of Christ folks actually believe – if we handle it right. But how do we do that? How do we handle the charge that we “think we’re the only ones going to heaven,” when hurled venomously at us by those who have judged us to be too judgmental? By those who have themselves, excluded us from any serious spiritual consideration because they believe us to be too exclusive?
Now, we can’t point out the hypocrisy of their position as that would surely shut down further opportunity for productive conversation. And certainly we can’t deny the Lord and His word (Mk. 8:38) which shows us that His church is simply all the sinners He has saved by His blood (Acts 20:28; 2:38-47), and that subsequently, the ‘saved of Christ’s’ are ‘the church of Christ.’ Those two terms are indeed synonymous. But at the same time, how do we feed that spiritual “meat” to those who haven’t even been born again into the family (Jn. 3:3-5) so as not to even be able to handle spiritual “milk” yet (I Ptr. 2:1-3)? Answer: We must be, as Jesus put it, as “wise as serpents and harmless as doves” (Matt. 10:16). For the sake of illustration, please consider for a moment, the following fictitious – although accurate to reality – conversation, as it could occur in “Anytown, U.S.A.,” on any given day, between your average “Joe” on the street, and “Chuck” who is a member of the church of Christ:
“Hey Joe, how’s it going,” Chuck said, as he saw one of the guys he recognized from work walking out of the corner store. They had spoken briefly before, while standing in line at the office cafeteria but that was about it.
“It’s going okay I guess,” Joe responded in a friendly manner, not knowing too much about Chuck at all, except that he seemed to be a genuinely friendly ‘nice guy.’ “Hey,” Joe added, “I really wanted to let you know how nice it was to see someone praying over their meal like I noticed you doing yesterday in the cafeteria. You don’t see that much anymore.”
“No, I guess you don’t. But God is the center of my life and I believe all good things come from Him and so I always strive to say ‘Thank You,’ like our preacher said we should in Sunday School class last week,” Chuck said.
“Oh yeah? You go to church,” Joe questioned. Chuck nodded. “What church do you go to,” Joe followed up quickly but a bit tentatively. He and his family had been hoping to find some sincerely bible-believing and practicing place to worship, and one that took God’s word very seriously since their moving into town some months ago. But they had been exercising caution and not hurrying it because they were sick and tired of the “spiritual entertainment spiral” and were more interested in really learning and exploring what the bible actually said and meant rather than just simply being entertained anymore.
“We attend worship with the church of Christ over on Delaware,” Chuck responded without hesitation.
Oh no, not them, Joe thought. And before he could bite his tongue and catch himself, he had blurted out a thought implanted in his head since childhood by his extremely religious older brother: “That’s the bunch that believes they’re the only ones going to heaven, right?”
Chuck, completely unruffled and unsurprised by this not unanticipated response, simply said, “Actually, we probably don’t believe too awfully different on that than you yourself actually do Joe.”
Somewhat surprised, suddenly challenged, and more than just a little bit taken aback himself by Chuck’s totally unexpected and unruffled response, Joe simply stuttered, “How so?” And as Chuck calmly and quietly responded, it would probably be an understatement to say that he had Joe’s complete and undivided attention!
“Well, do you believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that only He can save you just like He said in John 14:6,” Chuck asked. Joe nodded. “Well, so do we,” Chuck said.
“Do you believe that only those saved by, of, and through the sacrifice of Christ Himself will be in heaven,” Chuck continued. Joe nodded in agreement once again. “So do we,” Chuck said.
“And do you believe that in order to go to heaven, one must receive the gift of eternal life by accepting God’s grace and Christ’s sacrificial gift on Their terms,” Chuck asked, now intently looking Joe straight in the eye. Once again, Joe nodded in complete agreement. He had spent enough time reading His bible to know that one must have faith enough in what God said, to submit themselves to God’s will and accept His gift of grace in order to be saved. It made no sense to him at all that it all just happened arbitrarily.
“Hmmm,” Chuck sighed after a momentary silence, “Imagine that; that’s exactly what we believe too! So, let me see if I’ve got this straight… You believe that the only way a person can be truly saved, is by God’s grace, through their faith, which involves believing what God said enough to submit to His terms and conditions for accepting His grace, according to His word? Does that about sum it up” Chuck asked. “Because if so, then you believe the same way as we do,” Chuck said.
“…Yes,” Joe replied somewhat hesitantly, now quite intrigued by what he had just learned in this little encounter.
“Do you know what God’s word actually states those terms and conditions are,” Chuck asked. “Because those are obviously vital to know – believing what you just said you do and all.”
“All I have to do is believe,” Joe stated quickly and not a little bit uncomfortably. After all, even though he had never been completely convinced of the “faith only saves” position, he had heard it preached many times from many pulpits.
“Tell you what,” Chuck continued; “James, chapter two would probably add a little bit of insight into that answer. It says in verse 19 that ‘even the demons believe – and shudder.’ It goes on to say, in the only passage in the entire New Testament where the phrase ‘faith only’ is found, that justification is ‘not by faith only,’ in verse 24. But please don’t take my word for it – go home and check it out for yourself in God’s word and see what you find. You do believe the bible is the truth of God I assume?”
Joe stuttered a quick “Yes, of course I do,” while his mind whirled about and sought to process this new information which he had never known before. And all of the sudden it hit him as to just how little of the Bible (for a semi-regular church-goer) that he actually did know, and just how vital it was to his spiritual well-being to know so much more…
As if able to read his newly-confused thoughts, Chuck invited Joe to come and join them for Bible study this coming Sunday with the church of Christ. “We don’t do entertainment,” Chuck quickly added. “It’s all about ‘book, chapter, and verse.’ You’re always welcome and we always learn something new from the word of God. Love to have you; you can sit with my family. Might we see you there on Sunday Joe?”