#24 Question: Where are the Directions, anyway?

  During the days before Christmas, frantic parents often spend time putting together toys for Christmas morning. Occasionally, a busy parent will open a box and proceed immediately to assemble the toy without looking at the instructions. Sometimes that works. Most of the time it does not. In that case the question, “Where are the directions?” is asked.

We need directions in many areas of life, especially when our do-it-yourself approach has made a mess.

This same question can be asked by sincere religious seekers concerning the church and Christianity. Where are the directions for forming a church and how to worship? And how did the New Testament church come into existence? Suppose we want to find or form a New Testament church, where are the directions? How do we know for certain?

The Apostle Paul provided Timothy with a partial answer to this question, 1 Timothy 3:14-15:

“I hope to come to you soon, but I am writing these things to you so that, if I delay, you may know how one ought to behave in the household of God, which is the church of the living God…”

What the Apostle is saying is ‘My writings are directions as to how to behave in the church.’ Paul wrote much of the New Testament. His books serve as a guide book or directions   on how to build and worship as the church established by Jesus.

But how did all this happen physically? How did the ‘church of the living God’ come into being in a world dominated by idol worship and Jews who partially followed Moses’ Law?

The Jewish hierarchy had opposed Jesus and convinced Pilate to crucify Him. After Jesus was resurrected, He spent 40 day appearing and speaking to various ones about the ‘kingdom of God.’ Just before He ascended back to heaven in Acts 1, He instructed the apostles to remain in Jerusalem, and told them they would be baptized with the Holy Spirit.  

This baptism occurred in Acts 2 with such a loud noise it attracted a large audience.

Peter, speaking with the power of the Holy Spirit, told the audience that God had made Jesus both Lord and Christ. That means Jesus was the Messiah foretold by the prophets. Then they were told they should repent of their sins and be baptized. This resulted in a large number—3000—of converts who devoted themselves to listening to the Apostles’ preaching and fellowship. Probably they assembled in one of the courts of the temple, Acts 2:42:

“And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.”

This was the first congregation. Soon they were actively proclaiming that Jesus was the Messiah and converting others to this belief. Later, a significant persecution arose and scattered this first congregation. The members went everywhere establishing churches.

What was the character of these congregations? They were not Jewish. They were Christians.

Although in Jerusalem, they had assembled initially in part of the temple, congregations in other cities found other places to worship. These newly formed congregations were governed by elders. After Paul preached to these congregations, he appointed elders Acts 14:23:

“And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed.”

Every church had elders to guide them. These were groups of people committed to worshipping God as directed by the Holy Spirit. They were taught how to live and worship by sermons from the inspired apostles. They sang, prayed, and gave of their means to cover necessary expenses. Each Sunday they participated in a special religious memorial—named the Lord’s Supper—of the death, burial, and resurrection of the Messiah.

Churches today following this pattern can be called New Testament churches. They have followed the directions in the New Testament as to how a church should do to be pleasing to God in these modern times.

Often these congregations use the name ‘Church of Christ.’ If none can be found where you live, you can start a congregation by following the above scriptures as to how to be saved, how to worship and the remainder of the New Testament as to how to conduct oneself as a baptized believer.

The answer to the question posed in the title is that the directions are found in the New Testament.

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