FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH of TEHUACANA, TEXAS
Jesus noted that His true worshipers will worship in spirit and in truth (John 4:23-24).
Worship is a lifestyle response to God. Worship includes daily loving God according to His teachings found in Scripture as well as with heart and emotions focused on Him.
The word “worship” includes the idea of giving reverence. Many times in the Bible, believers bow down, pray, sing, and offer other acts of reverence as acts of worship. Though worship is more than a song or any particular act, worship can be expressed to God in many ways, including words, actions, the arts, and in service.
True worship will lead to actions that reflect a heart changed by God.
Discipleship is all about the Kingdom Life of God being lived out by those who have trusted in Jesus as Savior and chosen to follow Him as Lord of their lives.
A “disciple” is a kind of student. A disciple is someone who is learning from Jesus how to live the life God intends.
A transformed life is simply one that is Christ-like.
In the Bible transformation means “change or renewal from a life that no longer conforms to the ways of the world to one that pleases God” (Romans 12:2).
Transformation involves those who were once far from God being “drawn near” to Him through the blood of Christ (Ephesians 2:13).
The transformed life mirrors the attitude of the apostle Paul: “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).
It’s through His blood we are saved by grace, and it’s through His Spirit that we are transformed into new beings.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. ~2 Corinthians 5:17
There are many verses in the Bible that bring definition to what following Jesus truly looks like. However, one sums it up quite well:
“And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.’” Mark 8:34-35 (ESV)
Following Jesus is to forget one’s self and interests. This completely goes against your flesh’s desire, too. Because your flesh will tell you to put self first; to seek out your own interests. But Jesus beckons us to a different way of life. He calls us to a life that puts aside self to seek God and serve others (Matthew 22:36-40).
To truly follow Christ means He has become everything to us. Everyone follows something: friends, popular culture, family, selfish desires, or God. We can only follow one thing at a time (Matthew 6:24). God states we are to have no other gods before Him (Exodus 20:3; Deuteronomy 5:7; Mark 12:30). To truly follow Christ means we do not follow anything else.
Can the traditional model of church meetings be found in the pages of Scripture?
The traditional church service today strongly resembles a show business performance. In both we find ushers, programs, music, costumes, lighting, a chorus, a stage, a script, an audience, and a master of ceremonies. Is this description found in the New Testament?
The New Testament Church was NEVER meant to be a spectator event.
To remain spectators while the “clergy” conduct the “show” cannot be found in the pages of the New Testament, but is instead a serious aberration from the model revealed in the word of God.
The New Testament describes the body of Christ as meeting in a manner in which every believer has the potential of contributing to the building up of the congregation in some significant way.
Christ never focused on the crowd while on earth. Yes, he
did miracles and attracted a crowd, but he never concentrated
on them as part of his long-term strategy.
An exclusive personal
relationship with God is foreign to New Testament Christianity.
God chose the
Church to make disciples. Christ’s precious bride is God’s
instrument to help believers grow in their sanctification. We are
saved by Jesus but then molded through community in his
Church to become Christ’s disciples.
Is there a particular or specific set of principles and practices set forth in the New Testament? If not, then anything could do. But if so, then following the New Testament pattern is incumbent upon us today.
Our authority and standard must always be the Word of God itself, and not the work of men, no matter how great and noble the intention.
The New Testament Church is a Called Gathering of devoted followers of Jesus Christ, who together live out Kingdom of God values: Being discipled and making disciples.
The culture of the New Testament Church is evidenced by the Biblical marks of:
- Being lead by the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:1-5)
- Worshiping Jesus (John 20:28)
- Submitting to the teaching of Jesus (Matthew 28:20)
- Encouraging one another in mutual fellowship (1 Thes. 5:11; Hebrews 10:24, 25; Galatians 6:2; 1 Peter 3:8; Romans 1:12; 1 John 1:1-10)
- Ministering to one another and caring for one another through acts of loving service (Galatians 6:2; James 5:16; Romans 15:7; Colossians 3;13; and many more)
- Praying together (Acts 2:42; Phil. 4:6)
- Believer’s Baptism (Acts 16:29-34; 8:35-37)
- Eating together – Communion (Matthew 26:26-28; Acts 2:42, 46; 1 Cor. 10:16, 17; 11:23-29)
- Sharing the Good News of Salvation (the gospel) with those outside the Kingdom of God (Matthew 28:18-20; Luke 24:45-49; Romans 10:14)
- Expecting Jesus to come back any day now (Acts 1:11; Titus 2:13; Revelation 19:11-16)
The New Testament exhorts us to care for one another, serve one another, admonish one another, bear with one another, submit to one another, encourage one another, pray for one another. All of these and the many other “one anothers” in the text are simply more specific ways to “love one another.”
When we love one another, we benefit both others and ourselves. We experience community. In that fellowship, we experience God’s love more fully.
“I like to hear what men say. I learn from others. But when it comes to salvation, eternal life, judgment, the return of Jesus, and things pertaining to the church, the only thing that matters is what Jesus teaches us in the New Testament.”
Bill Wright, Jr. – Pastor