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Florida College Articles #1 Thru #5
1. The Family Argument 2. The Publishing Company Argument 3. The Service Organization Argument 4. The Meeting At My House Argument 5. The School of Tyrannus & Synagogue Argument |
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THE "FAMILY" ARGUMENT
By Bob W. Lovelace
When men practice something first and seek to establish authority for their practice afterwards, when challenged , they often use the scriptures in such a way that it is evident that they do not have authority for what they practice. We've seen this repeatedly over the years as some have offered "the family argument" in order to bolster their willingness to build human organizations for worship and evangelism.
God planned the local church so that it is completely sufficient to accomplish all God authorizes Christians to do as an organization, with no need or authority for them to build "human" religious organizations. Efforts of men (Christians) to plan and activate some other "human" organization to do the same things God authorized the church to do are very presumptuous. God's ways are not man's ways, nor His thoughts man's thoughts (Isa. 55:8-9). The local church is God's organization for Christians to work through in particular locales: Acts 14:23; Phil.1:1. Through the local church they can accomplish the work God gave them to do both in the area contiguous to their local work and abroad.
No church's work is limited strictly to the community contiguous to it. The elder's oversight can include the support of preaching of the Gospel elsewhere wherever they have opportunity (Philippians 1:5; 4:15-16). The church at Philippi is known for its work abroad in the support of the Gospel. It had a "universal" work in the sense that it could support the preaching of the Gospel anywhere in the world where the opportunity |