What should we look for in a church, is the right question. And, being the right question, it deserves a right answer. To go to the “court of public opinion”, will produce such a variety of opinions, so as to make a right answer obscure. But to get the right answer, we must not look to man, but rather seek unto God.
The rightness of a church is not found in that which man approves of, but in that which God is the author of. In almost every case, what pleases men will be the opposite of that which is right with God. For example, Jesus Christ is the Founder, Builder, and Head of the New Testament Church, yet the Jesus Christ of the Bible…“He is despised and rejected of men.” Isaiah 53:3
The concern of a New Testament Church is not with pleasing man, but in being approved of by God: “For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.” Galatians 1:10
The ministry of the New Testament Church is not to entice people through attractions, but is to preach the Word: “And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.” 1 Corinthians 2:1-5
The mainstay of the New Testament Church is sound doctrine, not self-gratification: “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears” SO, “Preach the Word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.” 2 Timothy 4:3,2
The beauty of a New Testament Church is seen in her spiritual and moral purity, according to the standards of God’s Word: “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.” Ephesians 5:25-27
“Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! For so did their fathers to the false prophets.” Luke 6:26
SHARING
