Non-Offensive Christianity

If someone was to ask you or me what constitutes Christian character what would we say?  Off the top of our head, we would most likely say love for God and our fellowman and faith in the Lord Jesus.  As we thought about it more intently we would add things like the fruit of the spirit, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control." (Gal. 5:22-23 NKJV)  We might recall Peter's admonition to add to our faith virtue and godliness in 2 Peter 1.  No doubt we would add humility (1 Peter 5:5), mercy and meekness (Col. 3:12), thankfulness (Col. 3:15), and truthfulness (Eph. 4:25) to our list and our list would still not be all-inclusive of the good things to be found in Christian character at its best.

It is hard to look back over this list and see anything that should offend anyone.  It is certainly not the Christian's desire to offend.  The word of God teaches the Christian to "pursue peace with all men" (Heb. 12:14 NKJV), "to speak evil of no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men" (Titus 3:2 NKJV), and "as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men" (Rom. 12:18 NKJV).  How is it then when it is the Christian's desire to be non-offensive to others and he/she has good character that the Christian ends up offending so many? 

The answer lies in what the Christian believes.  The very fact the Christian believes what he or she believes is offensive to many.  To whom you might ask?  To those who believe otherwise— to the atheist, to the progressive, to the secularist, to the communist, to the Islamist, to those who will not believe and obey the gospel and live faithfully.  The very fact one is a Christian condemns them.  They know they are living lives that are contrary to the gospel, that the gospel condemns their life choices.  They feel Christianity is judging them. 

For example, if the Christian believes it is sinful to live a life of a fornicator who is likely to be offended by that belief?  To ask is to answer—the fornicator, to those who see sex as a sort of human right married or not.  If the Christian was to speak against living together outside of marriage how many friends do you think he or she would make in the world we live in today here in America?  Not many.  If he speaks up it is said he is making himself a judge and causing trouble.  He is considered harsh and intolerant (as though God would tolerate the sin).  He is unloving.

If the Christian considers drunkenness to be sinful who is likely to be offended by that belief if not the one who drinks to drunkenness?  You can go right down the list of what the Bible calls sins, name them one by one, ask the same kind of question, and get the same kind of answer.  Christian beliefs themselves are offensive to many--to a great, great many--no matter what subject you end up talking about.  It is not so much what the Christian does that is so offensive but what he believes.  Jesus said we would be judged by the word of God (John 12:48) and God's word does offend many by limiting their freedom to sin without rebuke.  The word rebukes them.  If you believe the word then that is a rebuke to them and that is offensive.  You offend them because of what you believe about the word, namely, that it is the truth. 

Jesus said on one occasion, "The world…hates Me because I testify of it that its works are evil." (John 7:7 NKJV)  Do you think the sinner wants to hear or be told that his works (his sins) are evil?  The minute the Christian speaks up against a sin he puts himself in company with Jesus and the world will hate him too just like it hated Jesus.  The men and women of the world want not only the silence of the Christian but even more than that, they want the Christian's approval.  They basically desire the Christian give up his faith, deny the word of God, and join them, at least in heart.

Jesus said on one occasion to those who sought to kill him, "You seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you." (John 8:37 NKJV)  When God's word has no place in a man then given the right circumstances and provocations, as the man sees them, there is no limits to the depths of sin that it can lead a man to.  The word of God places boundaries upon men, boundaries that do not satisfy those of a worldly bent, but boundaries that keep men from the evil which men are capable of doing when at their worst.  The Christian respects God's fences (boundaries) but the man of the world whose desires are for the world rips the fences to pieces.

The world thus often puts the Christian in a spot that if he had his choice he would rather not be in.  No one who has had any upbringing about him wants to be offensive to others.  We all desire the friendship of others and their affection, we want friends, not enemies, and let us be honest even if a person is worldly it does not mean they are unlikeable.  Many have very winning personalities.  They are often not bad people measured by the standards of the everyday world but the problem is the Christian can have only one standard and that standard is not the standard of everyday worldly life.

Paul gave us all words of wisdom when he said, "For we dare not class ourselves or compare ourselves with those who commend themselves. But they, measuring themselves by themselves, and comparing themselves among themselves, are not wise." (2 Cor. 10:12 NKJV)  Christ is the only acceptable standard a Christian can have.  The goal and the desire is not to be the best of the average everyday person but to be Christ-like.  Our desire is to be saved and in order to be saved we must live like Christ and not like the average of men.  We must seek to please God, not man.  "If I still pleased men, I would not be a servant of Christ." (Gal. 1:10 NKJV)  The command of God is, "Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord." (2 Cor. 6:17 NKJV) 

The condemnation of one group of believers in Christ lay at this very point.  "Nevertheless even among the rulers many believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God." (John 12:42-42 NKJV)  Thus we come to the fork in the road where we must make a decision.  What will it be?  Will we go with God and his word or will we go with the majority of men?  Will we offend God or will we offend man for that is what it comes down to?

No matter how much you and I desire the salvation of all men we do not desire it any more than God does.  God is "not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance." (2 Peter 3:9 NKJV)  He "desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth." (1 Tim. 2:4 NKJV)  He loved the world (mankind) so much he gave his only begotten son that man might be saved (John 3:16).  Nevertheless, the Bible teaches "narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it." (Matt. 7:14 NKJV)

Now let me ask a question.  If God is so desirous of men being saved why is the gate to life so narrow and the way to life so difficult? (Matt. 7:14)  The gate is narrow and the way is difficult because man finds it hard to accept God's will, believe it, and obey it.  Put another way man finds it difficult to bring his will into subjection to God's will.  Anyone and everyone could be saved, God does not show partiality, but God is God and man is often and generally unwilling to accept salvation on God's terms.  It is offensive to man.

What does please man is the way that seems right to man.  But, what is the end of that way?  "There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death." (Prov. 14:12 NKJV)

Even among those the world calls Christians (whether they are or not God will judge based on his word) very, very few are willing to accept that a child of faith must repent and be baptized for the remission of sins despite Peter's exact words to that effect.  "Then Peter said to them, "Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." (Acts 2:38 NKJV)  He had to be mistaken, he could not have meant it, it is offensive, the very thought is offensive.  We want non-offensive Christianity.  Non-offensive Christianity demands disregard for the word of God.

With non-offensive Christianity we can have, I recently read, 34,000 Christian denominations (A Short History of Christianity, Stephen Tomkins, page 245).  With denominationalism everyone gets what they want, the church of their choice; all will be saved no matter what group they are with as long as they in the broadest sense of the term "believe" in Jesus, and thus no one is offended—non-offensive Christianity.  No one is offended because in the end denominationalism means doctrine does not matter.  You read it the way you want, I read it the way I want, we are both saved, it doesn't matter which one of us had the truth.

Denominationalism is a wide gate and a broad way.  If I am wrong and that is the narrow gate and difficult way (34,000 denominations) then tell me how many denominations we would have to have to have a broad way?  Would a hundred thousand do it or would it take more like a million?  When one can find the church of his choice, rather than God's choice, you have non-offensive Christianity.

There is no doubt that the tender heart that does not want to offend people is good in its attitude toward the feelings of others but the truth of life, all of life, is that man must make choices and in making choices he will inevitably offend.  There are gentle-hearted people who sincerely want to please everyone, not be offensive to any, and who want to stay out of all fights and disagreements and they are thus unwilling to take sides or take a stand.  They just want to be left alone and left out of any disagreements or unpleasantness but isn't that the desire of most of us?  We want peace, not strife.  We want less stress in our lives, not more.  But there is a problem.

Life just does not work that way.  We cannot stay on the sidelines forever.  In failing to choose sides we choose the side by default that is most likely to be wrong, the side of the majority.  If the broad way has most of the people in it (according to the Lord it does—Matt. 7:13-14) and that is the way of destruction then my choice by default is not going to work out well for me.  It is true enough in this life a majority position is the most popular and the least likely to cause you strife in the here and now but it is also the damning position on the Day of Judgment.  On that day you want to be a part of the minority, not the majority.

Paul, speaking by inspiration, says, "All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution." (2 Tim. 3:12 NKJV)  Who is this person who is suffering persecution?  Is it the non-offensive Christian?  No!  The truth is you cannot be a faithful Christian without offending many.  You will offend because you will take a side, the side offensive to the world and to much of Christendom.

God calls us to take sides and he gives us no middle ground.  It does not matter if we would prefer to not take a side for that is not given to us as an option.  We will either believe or we will disbelieve.  We will either repent of sin or we will not.  We will either be baptized for the remission of sins or we will not be baptized for the remission of sins.  We will either be obedient in life or we will be disobedient.  We will either battle Satan or we will not battle Satan.  God's choices are only twofold.  They are either/or.  Eve only had two choices, not a half dozen.  Yes, this may sound hard and harsh to some.  God is a demanding God but what are you going to do about it?  Are you strong enough to take on God and win?

"He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad." (Matt. 12:30 NKJV)   It is either/or, there is no other option given.  We must "contend earnestly for the faith." (Jude 3 NKJV)  We must "fight the good fight of faith." (1 Tim. 6:12 NKJV)  Why?  Because it is either/or.  God commanded it and we either will obey or we will disobey.  There is no third option given.  That is the life we live.  We can please the majority of men now by not taking sides, sitting on the sidelines, giving the world no opposition, but in doing so we have taken the default position which is the devil's majority position--the broad way. 

We might say we did not ask to get put in this position.  No, we did not ask to be put in this position but God saw fit to place us here.  We are his creation.  Are we going to fight against God or put on the armor he has given us and go to battle (see Eph. 6:11-17)?

My parents did not ask for the poverty of the Great Depression and then WW II but that is where they found themselves.  The wise man takes a look around to see where he is at and the best course to pursue rather than moan, groan, and complain about where he finds himself.  God will give us rest and peace in due time in a place where there is no strife or battle but that is then and this is now.  Those who are overly meek and quiet need to put on the Lord's battle armor and go to war for the time being so they can have peace in a later time, the hereafter.  It is an either/or choice, you either do it or you don't.  Your future depends on your decision.  Do not delude yourself into thinking there is such a thing as not taking sides and setting on the sidelines for that is Satan's default position.  That is Satan's side.

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Can One Be Just A Christian Without Being In A Denomination

Many years ago I asked a lady this very question--can one be just a Christian in Christ’s church without being in a denomination?  Her answer was that while that was once possible it is not possible today.  I have never understood that kind of thinking.  To her the church that is Christ’s could not exist today, in the modern era, alone by itself, outside of denominationalism.  That is a position that raises all kinds of difficulties.

In the early years of Christianity, the gospel message when believed and obeyed made Christians and Christians only that were added by God to the church, Christ’s church.  “And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.” (Acts 2:47 NKJV)  If the pure gospel message of the New Testament will not do that today then when, where, and how did it lose its power to do so?   Why must I today be in a denomination when all I want to be in is the Lord’s church?

But it is said that the gospel still saves just like it did in the first century, still puts you in the Lord’s church, but then after obeying it you must join a denomination.  Why?  They didn’t in the first century.  Oh, it is said you join one for edification, fellowship, and joint evangelistic and benevolent efforts.   So, is it being said that the first-century church lacked these things?  Is it being said you cannot be in that church today for it does not exist as a stand-alone institution today?  If it doesn’t when did it die out as a stand-alone institution? 

Does the gospel message now when believed and obeyed add you both to the church Jesus built and to a denomination simultaneously?  If so, when did that begin?  If so where can I read about it in the Bible?  If so which denomination does it add me to in addition to the Lord’s church?  If so why is that needed now but was not needed for hundreds of years after the first century had come and gone?  If so when did the gospel lose its power to make me just a Christian, no more, no less? 

When did Jesus and the gospel begin to need help in the saving business?  When did his church alone cease to be the body of the saved?  “He is the Savior of the body.” (Eph. 5:23 NKJV)  The body is his spiritual body, his church, “He is the head of the body, the church.” (Col. 1:18 NKJV)  The Lord adds us to the church when we believe and obey the gospel (Acts 2:47).  Paul says of Christians, “You are the body of Christ, and members individually.” (1 Cor. 12:27 NKJV)

But it is now said that that is not enough--if the lady was correct.  Now to be saved you must also be a member of a denomination (the assumption being that all Christians are).  So, you must be both in the Lord’s church and a denomination to be saved, is that right?  It is if the church Christ built is not sufficient by itself.  But, most denominationalists would say it is not essential to be a member of their particular denomination to be saved, others will do.  Then please tell me of what earthly or heavenly good that denomination serves other than to be a divider of men, one group of believers divided against another group of believers?  If it is not essential to the salvation of men get rid of the thing that causes all the strife and division.

The truth is the church Jesus built does still exist on this earth today without the help of any denomination.  The gospel has not lost its power.  The church of Christ can exist anywhere in the world today when men and women are willing to forget just about everything they have been taught in denominationalism and just take the Bible alone as their guide.  If the church Jesus built does not exist as an operating entity upon earth today in your locality, wherever that be, as it did in the first century in the Middle East, there is only one reason for it in lands where the Bible is readily available--men love their denominations and would rather have them and their creeds and councils and governing bodies than just the simple New Testament church and its worship regulated by the word of God alone.

Let us be honest.  If we take the New Testament, the word of God alone, as our guide a lot of things will have to be given up.  One does not read in his New Testament of, as examples, sprinkling of infants, christenings, sprinkling of anyone at any age and calling it baptism (baptism is immersion), baptism for any purpose other than the remission of sins (Acts 2:38, 22:16), instruments of music being used in New Testament worship, dramas being performed, group musical performances, and a host of other things that have today become commonplace in denominational practices and worship services.  Are those things right?  You cannot read about them in your New Testament which raises the question of does one need a New Testament as a guide.

Nor will one read in his New Testament anything about one man rule of a congregation by a single individual designated as a pastor (each New Testament congregation had multiple pastors), oversight of a congregation by a national church organization, church-sponsored ball teams, raising funds by business ventures, seminars for everything from weight loss to how to do your taxes, and the list could go on.  One must go outside the New Testament for those things. 

No, if you want the New Testament church that Christ built a lot of things will have to go by the wayside and you will end up with nothing much that is attractive to worldly men.  The worship service will not be like attending a rock concert or an entertainment event.  It will be very simple--singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, prayers, partaking of the Lord’s Supper on the first day of the week, the word of God will be preached, and a collection will be taken on the first day of the week to carry on the work of preaching the gospel and carrying for the needy.   

It is a hard transition from a denomination into the simple New Testament church that is led not by a single man or a national oversight organization but by a few select men who meet the biblical qualifications to be elders as found in 1 Tim. 3 and Titus 1.  These men have no authority to legislate for God.  Their role is simply that of overseers to ensure that the work is done that God has given the church to do.  These men will be chosen by the members of the congregation from among themselves.  No one person designated a pastor by the denominational world will run the affairs of the congregation nor will a national organization.

The name on the sign out front will not matter as long as it is a scriptural designation.  It could simply be called the church (for that is what it is), or the church of God, or the church of Christ, or any other scriptural designation.  The name is more descriptive than it is an actual name.

You will not be voted into the membership.  You cannot join this group of believers.  Why not?  Because God adds you when you obey the gospel.  As I heard one man say recently, he had it right but I had never thought about it that way, you cannot join the church because you are adopted into it and God is the one who does the adopting.

Critics say that in the very act of organizing such a group you immediately become just another denomination.  That goes along with the way they think for they do not want to leave denominationalism behind and thus insist one has to be a member of a denomination and cannot be just a Christian.  They thus proclaim the Lord’s church a denomination.  If they admit we can have just the New Testament church on earth today and worship in it they condemn themselves and they are not about to do that so all they can do is shout and shout over and over again “denomination.”  They will label you and truth be thrust to the wind.

But what they are really saying, if they would think it through, is that God’s word has lost its power to make just a Christian and lost its power to keep his church on earth today out in the open where it can be seen.  They are saying that the seed, “the seed is the word of God” (Luke 8:11 NKJV), produces a different crop today than what it did back in the first century.  Back then it produced just Christians, now you plant it and you get both a Christian and a denominationalist.  Strange seed this is that has undergone a transformation like no other seed in human history.

They are caught in a bind.  On the one hand, they do not want to say you must be in a denomination to be saved but then on the other hand they want to insist you must because to them it is impossible to reestablish the New Testament church today and just have it alone.  They want it both ways; they want to eat the cake and save it all at the same time.  Life doesn’t work that way.  They cannot have it both ways.  But, that is their problem, not mine.

I think most people who are serious about their religion see the great contradictions in denominationalism.  However, they either do not know what to do about it or else their love for it is such that they will not give it up.  I readily admit it is hard to start over but that is what must be done if we are going back to the church Jesus built.

Denominationalism will always have a greater appeal to man than the Lord’s church for it allows more freedom of expression and gives man more say so in what is done and how it is done.  Man has a desire for that.  It has always been that way long before the church ever came into existence.  Mankind wants to do things they want to do unhindered by God.

The concept of restoration of New Testament Christianity is a valid one and there are many churches of Christ in the land today still operating on the principle that it is possible to be just a Christian alone outside of denominationalism, just be a member of the church Jesus built, take the Bible and do what they did in the first century, that and that alone, and be just a Christian.  Unless God’s word has lost its power it is still possible to do that.

The church can be established in its New Testament purity in any area where men and women are willing to leave denominationalism and just take the Bible alone.  It is not necessary to call it the church of Christ although no man should be hesitant to call the local congregation by that Christ-honoring name.  Just give it a scriptural designation, organize it by what you read in your New Testament, accept members based on the way men were made members in the original church Christ built, worship as they worshipped, do the work they did, and leave all manmade inventions out of it.

To answer the question that was the title of this article, “Can One Be Just A Christian Without Being In A Denomination” the answer is yes if the desire is great enough to do so.  But, be assured, those who love their denomination will have none of it.  The Catholics are not the only ones who love their traditions.  As the Apostle Paul said, “For do I now persuade men, or God?  Or do I seek to please men?  For if I still pleased men, I would not be a servant of Christ.” Gal 1:10 NKJV)  We can please men (humankind) or we can please the God of men.  Pleasing men means denominationalism.  We ought to choose to please God.

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