My Journey of Faith

I spent many years in the world of Christian denominationalism. For the most part, I was an active and committed Baptist, but I also participated in many activities sponsored by a local United Methodist Church. My affiliation to the Baptist church was on account of my family while my affiliation to the United Methodist church was on account of my best friend. I went to both Baptist and Methodist church camps, participated in recreational sports for both denominations nearly every year, and was extremely active in both youth groups. One year, I played the role of Jesus in an Easter skit in the Baptist church. At other times, I volunteered with my Methodist friends at the Kentucky State Fair, the Circus, and even a Billy Graham event in Louisville on one occasion. Of course, I visited other denominations and supported them just as I supported the Baptists and Methodists.

For those many years, I defined Christianity in terms of simple “faith” in Jesus Christ – nothing more and nothing less. It didn’t matter where you went to church, or how you worshiped, or even what you believed, so long as you identified yourself as a Christian and exalted Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. Not once did I question denominationalism itself. Never did it occur to me that any denomination might be wrong—at least not so wrong that they were outside of God’s fellowship. I was sincere. I was happy. I thought I was on the right path. In fact, I even considered going to a Baptist seminary at one time, and a Methodist college another time. As far as I knew, I would always be an active member of the denominational culture. After all, isn’t that what it means to be a Christian? Don’t Christianity and denominationalism go hand-in-hand? Who would say otherwise?

But then my paradigm began to change, slowly but surely, once I moved from Louisville to Lexington, Kentucky. My roommate was a member of the University Heights Church of Christ, and since I had already decided that I would get involved with a church in Lexington (instead of the party-life on campus), I was not only willing, but eager to go to church with him. I had never heard of the “Church of Christ,” but assumed that it would be just another denomination. I expected that there would be some differences, but that didn’t matter so long as these were God-loving, Christ-serving people. And they were!

I distinctly remember the first few times that I worshiped with the Church of Christ in Lexington. The only major difference that caught my attention at first was the lack of instrumental music in worship. No piano. No guitar. Just hundreds of people blending their voices together in praise of God. It was odd, but at the same time, it was beautiful, and I quickly concluded that if these people wanted to worship God without instruments, they had that right. They did observe the Lord’s Supper every week, but again, that was by no means a deal-killer; it didn’t bother me at all. And although I’m sure certain things stood out to me in the sermons and Bible classes, the messages were delivered with conviction and with the support of scripture. Besides, it was not unusual for me to worship and fellowship with Christians that did things a little differently—that is the essence of denominationalism. You know, “unity in diversity.”

At first, I merely noticed some of these differences, but over time, as I began to study with some of the members of the Church of Christ in Lexington, I came to understand the concept of New Testament Christianity and how far removed denominationalism was from the biblical pattern. Outwardly, as I studied and talked with my roommate, and with my new girlfriend and her family, I was, for the most part, calm though skeptical. Inwardly, though, I was becoming more and more distressed.

The kind folks at the University Heights Church of Christ advocated a return to simple New Testament Christianity. Of course, I was familiar with the New Testament as was I familiar with the concept of Christianity, but what I came to realize is that the Christianity that existed in the first century, that the New Testament articulates and exemplifies, is not the Christianity that we see represented by modern-day denominationalism. Allow me to clarify what I mean…

The Judaism of Jesus’ day was a lot like modern-day Christianity: divided. Just as we today have different denominations—Catholic, Lutheran, Baptist, Methodist, and Pentecostal, just to name a few—the Jewish religion back then consisted of many different sects. There were the Pharisees, Sadducees, Essenes, Samaritans, Zadokites, Herodians, and even the Zealots. Did the Law of Moses command the establishment of any of these groups? Do you ever read about the Pharisees in the book of Deuteronomy, or the Sadducees in Exodus? Of course not. Instead, all of these Jewish sects arose over the course of history, especially during the 400 years that transpired between the close of the Old Testament and the beginning of the life of Christ.

When Jesus was being raised in Nazareth, which of the Jewish denominations did He and his family join or support? The answer is “none of the above.” Jesus didn’t embrace the denominational system of His day. In fact, He denounced it.

“Then His disciples came and said to Him, ‘Do you not know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?’ But He answered and said, ‘Every plant which My heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. Let them alone. They are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch” (Matthew 15:12-14).

The Pharisees were a plant that God had not planted. Therefore, not only would the Pharisees be uprooted, those who followed the Pharisees would also share the same fate. I think it’s obvious that Jesus wouldn’t have limited this to the Pharisees, but would have applied this principle to ALL of the unauthorized Jewish sects. If the Jews wanted to be right with God, they had to be content to follow the Law of Moses only and to be faithful Hebrews according to God’s standard.

So Jesus didn’t respond to denominationalism by saying, “Join the sect of your choice.” He responded by condemning the division that is inherent in denominationalism and urging folks to get back to God’s system.

It is no surprise, then, that as Jesus prepared the apostles for the new covenant, He spoke, not of churches, but of THE church.

“And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. And I will give to you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven” (Matthew 16:18-19).

Jesus didn’t say, “On this rock I will build My churches,” or, “On these rocks, I will build My church,” or, “On these rocks I will build My churches.” He spoke of the establishment of ONE church—His church. And it was Jesus’ prayer that the members of this church would be perfectly united.

“I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me” (John 17:20-21).

Jesus prayed that all believers be one.

Denominational people take this to mean that we ought to set aside our differences and work toward “unity in diversity.” It is believed that we can maintain our denominational system, and join the church of our choice, and believe what we want to believe, and worship how we want to worship—just be nice about it. For many, this is a very reasonable mindset that will yield the kind of unity Jesus prayed for in John 17.

This may be the conventional wisdom of our day and age, but it’s wrong.

Notice how Jesus compares the unity of the disciples to the unity that exists between Him and the Father. In other words, the Godhead, or Trinity, if you will, is the model for Christian unity. Now, do you really think that Jesus and the Father have two different sets of beliefs and that they just “agree to disagree?” By no means! They have one mind and one purpose and are in perfect harmony with one another. Therefore, that is the unity that we must strive to have.

Furthermore, not only is the model of unity given in John 17:20-21, but the means of unity is given in verse 17: “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.” Believers are set apart from the world (sanctified) and united as one body based on adherence to a common standard, the word of God. The word of God (the Bible) is what reveals to us God’s will. By reading and understanding the scriptures (Ephesians 3:3-5), and by obeying the scriptures (James 1:21), our identity is lost in Christ and we develop sameness.

“All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

“Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel” (Philippians 1:27).

“…fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind” (Philippians 2:2).

“I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all” (Ephesians 4:1-6).

Every aspect of a Christian’s life is affected by the teachings of Christ. The way we think. The way we feel. The way we approach marriage and child-rearing. Our political viewpoints. Our approach to relationships. Our work-ethic. Then, of course, there is the responsibility that Christians have to worship, to go to church, to pray, to study and meditate upon God’s word, and so on and so forth. The point is this: biblically speaking, as Christians, we deny ourselves (Matthew 16:24-25) and pursue the will of God, which is revealed in the scriptures—and if each and every believer does this, we necessarily will become identical in our faith and obedience, for there is just one Lord and one faith—ONE standard: the truth!

So it shouldn’t shock us to discover that the churches of the first century were, for the most part, identical.

“For this reason I have sent Timothy to you, who is my beloved and faithful son in the Lord, who will remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach everywhere in every church” (1 Corinthians 4:17).

“Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I have given orders to the churches of Galatia, so you must do also…” (1 Corinthians 16:1).

“So when they had appointed elders in every church…” (Acts 14:23).

“For this reason I left you in Crete, that you should set in order the things that are lacking, and appoint elders in every city as I commanded you” (Titus 1:5).

“The churches of Christ greet you” (Romans 16:16).

Of course, many, many other verses could be cited to prove that the churches of the first century were given the same instructions and commands, but these few ought to suffice for now. Simply put, there were not different “types” of churches during the days of the apostles. If you went to church one Sunday in Corinth and then the following Sunday assembled with the church in Ephesus, you would have had the same basic experience. If you met the Christians in Antioch one week, and then the Christians in Lystra two weeks later, again, these Christians would have held to the same basic doctrines. The apostle Peter didn’t go around establishing Catholic churches, and Apollos, Baptist churches, and Paul, Presbyterian churches. As the above verses indicate, the churches of the first century had the same doctrines, the same type of organization, the same worship, the same designations, et cetera.

While the early churches were commanded to be unified, and while they were, for the most part, identical, it is also true that because the Christians then were imperfect creatures of free-will, problems and divisions did occasionally arise. In Corinth, for example, the disciples actually developed a denominational system within the Corinthian church. Notice how Paul reacted when He heard about this situation:

“Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. For it has been declared to me concerning you, my brethren, by those of Chloe’s household, that there are contentions among you. Now I say this, that each of you says, ‘I am of Paul,” or ‘I am of Apollos,’ or ‘I am of Cephas,’ or ‘I am of Christ.’ Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul?” (1 Corinthians 1:10-13)

Can’t you see how this denominational mindset of the Corinthians—which Paul condemned—is the very same denominational mindset that so many religious people today have? The only difference are the names of the denominations; today, we have Pentecostals, Lutherans, Episcopals, Southern Baptist, Free-Will Baptist, Missionary Baptist, and…well, you get the point. Paul didn’t applaud the Corinthians, he rebuked them; he begged them to stop being so divisive, and to be unified once more, and even called them “carnal” in 1 Corinthians 3:3.

So on one hand, you’ve got denominationalism—“modern Christianity,” as I call it. Jesus condemns human denominations in Matthew 15:12-15. Paul says that it’s carnal and antithetical to the oneness of Christ. It’s not at all authorized anywhere in the New Testament scriptures; in fact, in order for denominations to exist, there must be a splitting away from the scriptures.

On the other hand, there is New Testament Christianity. Jesus promised to set up one church, one body of believers united by a common standard—the word of God. New Testament Christianity takes the pattern of the scriptures seriously. We strive to teach just what the Bible says, to worship just as God instructs us to, to join a church that has only the Bible as its creed, to seek pure biblical organization, and privately, to pattern our thoughts, behaviors, and lifestyles according to the principles of the doctrine of Christ.

Yes, there are a lot of really good people in denominations. Yes, these folks are often sincere, devout, and morally-upstanding. Yes, many of these people read their Bibles and even believe that they are following the Bible. When they worship, they often lift up their hands in praise, and tears stream forth as they joyfully anticipate the final return of Jesus Christ. All I can say in response to such an emotional plea is exactly what Paul said of the Jews of the first century:

“Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge” (Romans 10:1-2).

And also the word of Christ in Matthew 7:21-23:

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.”

Perhaps you can see now why my paradigm shifted when I encountered the church of Christ in Lexington, Kentucky. They advocated New Testament Christianity, and while I mocked it at first and stubbornly held onto my denominational upbringing, I eventually realized that it was useless to fight against God. So in October of 2003, I turned away from denominationalism; I ended my affiliation with the Baptist and Methodist churches and wholeheartedly embraced the one and only old time religion: the religion of the New Testament.

[Click here to read the second article in this series.]