Part 4: The Church and Worship
The organization of the New Testament Church is strong and durable, but it is simple. Civilizations and kingdoms have flourished and then vanished, yet the church remains. It has endured the centuries though persecution by fire and sword. Truly, as Jesus promised in Matthew, Chapter 16, Verse 18, "the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."
The head of the church described in the New Testament is Jesus Christ, God's Son. The Book of Colossians, Chapter 1, Verse 18 tells us:
And He is the head of the Body, the church; He is the beginning and the first born from among the dead, so that in everything He might have the supremacy.
The resurrected Christ will live forever and has never surrendered or relinquished His headship. The church described in the New Testament is a spiritual body and is not of this world. It has no earthly head.
When the church began shortly after Jesus' ascension, the apostles directed its worship and teaching. These men were chosen by Jesus and were given power to perform great signs and wonders. These proved to unbelievers that their messages were from God. Mark, Chapter 16, Verses 18--20 reads:
After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up into heaven and he sat at the right hand of God. Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it.
The apostles saw the resurrected Christ. They were to teach and make known Christ's will to all mankind. See 2 Corinthians chapter 5, Verse 20:
We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God.
The apostles have no successors and no one can add to, or take away from, what they did and wrote and remain pleasing to God. Study carefully Galatians Chapter 1, in part, Verses 7 and 8:
Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned!
Under the direction of the Holy Spirit the apostles organized the church into independent, local congregations. Each of these having a plurality of elders. Acts, Chapter 14, Verse 23, reads:
Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church and, with prayer and fasting, committed them to the Lord in whom they had put their trust.
The elders, also spoken of as "bishops" or "pastors" are the spiritual overseers of their local congregation and of it alone. See Ephesians, Chapter 4, Verse 11. They are the shepherds of the flock. The Apostle Peter was also an elder. Both Paul and Peter agree in their respective writings about the duties of the elders. Speaking to the elders of the church at Ephesus, Paul said in Acts, Chapter 20, Verses 27 & 28:
For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God. Guard yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God , which he bought with his own blood.
The elders, then, are the shepherds of the flock. They are subservient to our Lord but are responsible for the souls of the membership. Titus, Chapter 1, Verses 6 through 9 describes elder qualifications:
An elder must be blameless, the husband of but one wife, a man whose children believe and are not open to the charge of being wild and disobedient. Since an overseer is entrusted with God's work, he must be blameless--not overbearing, not quick-tempered, not given to drunkenness, not violent, not pursuing dishonest gain. Rather he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined. He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that he can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it.
In addition to the elders there are other offices within the local congregation: Deacons and evangelists.
Deacons do special jobs assigned by the elders. The word deacon means servant. Deacons, then, are servants of their local congregation. First Timothy, Chapter 3, Verses 8 through 13 specifies the qualifications of deacons. These are much like those of the elders. In a general sense, all the children of God in this world are servants. Deacons, however, are assigned particular tasks and are men of especially high qualification.
Evangelists, whose primary duty was to proclaim the Word of God, were an important part of the early church's organization. Thus, today's church also has evangelists whose duty is to preach the Word of God. An evangelist might also serve as an elder or a deacon. There is a tendency today to confuse the office of pastor with the office of evangelist, but this is unsupported by scripture.
The early church had no other offices than these: elder, deacon, evangelist and member. This organization was ordained by God through inspiration in the first century and is acceptable and sufficient today.