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The Truth about Jesus and Ecclesiology
Jesus, the Door to Church Membership |
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By the Late O. O. Boggess Pastor, Hillside Church of God, Springfield, OH |
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A way to become a member of this church must be a way that would be accessible to all people. It must be a universal way. If authority were given to some human being to take members into the church, that person might not be accessible to all nations and people; but friends, I am glad that this church has a Universal Door and every man or woman, black, brown, white or any other color has access to it. Jesus said in John10:9, “I am the door, by my if any man enter in, he shall be saved.” Acts 2:47 declares, “The Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved”; and the Revised Version puts it, “Such as were being saved.”
And the Lord has continued to add everyone who has been saved since that time to His church. When a sinner, with a broken and contrite heart comes to Jesus, whether it be in America, China, Japan, India or any other place, and with godly sorrow asks for forgiveness and turns from the world of sin to serve the living God, accepts Jesus Christ as his Savior, then and there Jesus takes him in and makes him a full-fledged member of His church in good standing.
No denomination can have a universal door with man standing in the door of the church. He can add only some of the Christians to his sect. The church is all the family of God. No sect organization contains all of the family of God.
Let us examine briefly some of the leading sectarian movements . . . . Does the Methodist sect contain all of the Christians in the world? If one is fair, one will have to answer NO, as there are many saved Baptists. Does the Baptist sect contain all of the Christians? Again, we say NO, for there are many saved Methodists. Does the Roman Catholic Church contain all of the Christians? NO, for there are many saved Protestants. Do all of the Protestant churches together contain all of the saved? Again, we must answer NO, for there are many saved Catholics. Do both Catholic and Protestant contain all the family of God? NO, for there are some on earth and some in heaven who never joined a denomination. Thus we see that no sect can be the true church. Therefore the true universal church is not the Protestant denominations or the Roman Catholic or Greek Catholic churches, but it is the whole family of God who have entered through the Christ THE DOOR. It may be that they have never heard of the true family name, church of God, but they are members, nevertheless, because they are born into the family. 1 Cor. 12:18 tells us, “Now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him.”
At one time the disciples went out to preach under the direction of Christ. They returned rejoicing, saying that the devils were subject unto them. Jesus told them, “Rejoice not that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven” [Luke 11:20].
Friends, the class book of the true church is not some earthly record but is God’s divine record in heaven, and membership in the true church is not obtained by joining some man-made institution, but is obtained by coming into the body of Christ by spiritual induction. The Bible says, “For by one spirit we are all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one spirit” (1 Cor. 12:13).
Since Christ is the door of the true church, it contains none but the saved. I know of no denomination ready to admit that all of its members are true Christians—those “born again.” They all freely admit that many inside the denominational wall are not really saved. Not so with the true church of God. Every member is saved and every member has his name on the divine class book. He is a member of the family of God. As a member of the family of God, he does not need to join anything else.
When a child is born into a home is there a certain time when one says, “We must now have some kind of ceremony to take this child into the family and make it a member of our family”? No, we know that this is not done. The very fact that a child is born into a family makes it a member of that family. The very fact that one is a child of God makes him a member of God’s family, which the church. Joining different denominations and assuming different names has succeeded only in dividing the body of Christ.
It was Christ’s desire that we all be one. This can only be accomplished by separating ourselves from all denominational divisions and standing in the body of Christ only as the true church of God.
Church of God, Thou Spotless Virgin Frances R. Havergal, Daniel S. Warner (19th Century Holiness Reformers)
Church of God, thou spotless virgin, Church of Christ for whom He died, Thou hast known no human founder, Jesus bought thee for His bride. Sanctified by God the Father, Built by Jesus Christ, the Son, Tempered by the Holy Spirit, Like the Holy Three in One.
God Himself has set the members In His body all complete; Organized by Jesus only, O the union pure and sweet! Church of God, the angels marvel At the music of thy song; Earth and hell in terror tremble As thy army moves along.
God’s own holiness within thee, His own beauty on thy brow; Glorified in His own image, This thy wondrous portion now. In thee dwells the Triune fullness, Blessing all thy pilgrim days; All around thee His salvation, And before thee gates of praise.
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