Devoted to the Propagation and Defense of New Testament Christianity
VOLUME 20
June 13, 1968
NUMBER 7, PAGE 5c-6a

Which Appeals To You?

Dale Smelser

To gain your membership, too many churches appeal to you principally on a material basis; a nice building with modern conveniences for comfort such as air conditioning, a dynamic, or maybe just congenial, preacher, impressive pageantry, or an active program of teas, symposiums and banquets. Or perhaps your membership is sought through an offer to entertain you with choirs, quartets, and ensembles. This latter confuses what is purportedly the house of the Lord with the theater. As one example among many, one church recently featured a marimba solo.

Isn't this all beneath the dignity of the gospel? God's power unto salvation (Romans 1:16)? No matter how aesthetic an allurement might be, it is inferior to the promise of salvation from sin and the promise of eternal life. If you have that to offer, what else is of any significance? And if the gospel alone is not what made members, the gospel alone will not keep them. But where are we authorized to offer more, and what profit is a nice building full of worldly minded, unconverted, though cordial and amicable, well-entertained people, who go through religious ceremonies unknown to the word of our Lord, which, therefore have nothing to do with worshipping him?

Now we have a nice building that is sufficiently comfortable, except when the furnace acts up, though we think we have that fixed. Yet, there are nicer buildings in town. We have a nice nursery where a mother may take her child to give it what ever attention it needs without missing what is going on, though the speaking system is presently out of order. Our singing is commendable in that it comes personally from hearts intent on praising God, though it certainly falls short of being professional, and once, briefly, we even had one side of the auditorium singing in one key and the other side in a different key, but I don't believe that made it any less acceptable to God. And the preacher here tries to be congenial, even if he does sound a little serious and intense when he has to deal with today's indifference, and the sins that Jesus died to save us from.

But besides all this, or maybe in spite of all this, why do we feel we are important enough to exist distinctively and separately from other religious groups. Simply because we were dissatisfied with human traditions, forms, and organizations that have no semblance in the scriptures inspired of God, wherein he has revealed how we are to serve him. We thus sought the ancient order of things as established by Christ. We believe we have found and achieved that ancient order in the maturity it reached by the completion of God's revelation.

If this congregation is, as it claims to be, a church of Christ, it is that because it is a body of saved people (Acts 2:47; Eph. 5:25-27). They are saved because they obeyed Christ (Heb. 5:9), and continue to do so. Our faith is not diluted and changed by human religious laws and observances. Our only plea is the message of the gospel, God's power unto salvation (Rom. 1:16). We believe we have arrived at the "one faith" (Eph. 4:5). Having no formulated creed, if we have missed some point of truth, we may easily comply, that our aim be not spoiled.

Such concepts set us religiously apart, and if we are correct, fellowship with us is not only desirable, but imperative. Others may offer pageantry, entertainment, or prestige. We offer the hope of eternal life and all that is truly good in this one. If what we claim truly exists, shouldn't you look into it?

P.O. Box 95, Zion, Illinois 60099