Churches of Christ -- Sermons; Sermons, American -- 20th century
Concerning Christian living the Bible says, “For the grace of God that
bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that denying
ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously and
godly in this present world” (Titus 2:11-12). “Pure religion and
undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and
widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the
world” (Jas. 1:27). “The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O
Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: and thou shalt love the Lord thy
God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind,
and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second
is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is
none other commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:29-31). And then in
Matthew 7:12, we have what is called the Golden Rule, “Whatsoever ye
would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them.”
These are general commandments governing Christian behavior, and the
church which teaches and impresses these Bible lessons upon its members
is right that far, but the church which fails to condemn worldliness and
ungodly living lacks that much being right. It may be ever so sound on
doctrine and worship, but if it fails to properly admonish its members
and hold up before them the divine standard of Christian conduct and
insist that they follow it, it lacks that much being right.
Friends, here’s (speaker points to board) what the Bible teaches on
Christian behavior. The church which teaches this is right on that point
because the Bible is right and this is what the Bible says.
VI
The Name
We come now to the name. You know, there are a lot of churches right
here in Nashville tonight which simply cannot find their names in the
Bible. They could look from now till the end of the world and they
couldn’t find the names they wear in the Bible to save their lives!
That, to me, is an astonishing fact. It looks as if anybody ought to
know that the Bible cannot guide you into a church which isn’t even
mentioned in the Bible. A road map cannot direct you to a town which is
not shown on the map. A Tennessee road map cannot show you how to find a
town in Texas, and so the Bible cannot guide you to a church which isn’t
even found in the Bible. That’s a very simple test which you might apply
in your search for the right church.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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