The Lord is to be glorified by the worship He receives in
His church. In Ephesians 3:21 we read, "To Him be glory
in the church by Christ Jesus." But how many churches
does the Lord have? Jesus says in Matthew 16:18, "Upon
this rock I will build My church." The word "My" shows
possession and that the church belongs to Jesus. How many churches
did He say He was going to build? He said, "I will build
My church". The word church is singular not plural. The
Lord only promised to build His one church.
In Ephesians 4:4-6 there are seven ones listed: "There
is one body, and one Spirit, even as you were called in one
hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one
God and Father of all who is above all, and through all, and
in you all." Just as there is only one God and only one
Lord we also see there is only one body. The Bible says there
is only one body; so what is this one body? In Ephesians 1:21-22
we find out what this one body is, "And He put all things
under His feet, and gave Him to be the head over all things
to the church, which is His body." Here we see that the
Bible says the church is the body. So if there is only one
body and the one body is the church, then there can only be
one church that belongs to the Lord.
In Colossians 1:18 in speaking of Christ, we read, "And
He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning,
the firstborn from the dead; that in all things He may have
the preeminence." Here again we see that the body (singular)
is the church (singular). Again the Bible tells us that the
Lord has only one church. We also see that in all things Christ
is to have the preeminence. For Christ to have the preeminence
in all things, we must follow Christ in all things and not
follow man. If we follow men in some things then Christ does
not have the preeminence in all things.
Since Christ only built His one church, we need to ask where
did all these other churches come from? The only answer is
they were built by men, so men could "attend the church
of their choice", and not God’s choice. We read
in Ephesians 5:23, "Christ is the head of the church,
and he is the savior of the body." Christ is only the
saviour of His one body, His one church. In the Lord’s
scheme of redemption, He has only planned to have one church.
He is going to only save His one church.
Since we have seen in the Bible that the one body is the one
church which the Lord built, and that Christ has only promised
to save His one body, His one church, then what is going to
happen to the hundreds of different kinds of other churches
we see in existence today? Again let us let God answer this
question. In Matthew 15:13 Jesus said, "Every plant, which
my heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted." What
will happen to all those churches that God did not plant? They
will be rooted up. This is what God has said He will do. This
is frightening. I want to make sure I am in the Lord’s
church, the only one He is going to save.
In Psalms 127:1 we read, "Except the Lord build the house,
they labor in vain that build it." This is a sad but serious
situation; one that concerns me greatly and causes me much
grief and sorrow to see honest people, who are honestly mistaken,
laboring in vain. This is a tragedy.
The one church that Christ purchased with His own blood belongs
to Him and the name it wears must honor Him. We read in Romans
16:16, "The churches of Christ greet you." This name
glorifies and honors Christ, the one who built it. Other names
honor and glorify John the Baptist, Martin Luther, the day
of Penticost, the apostles, Rome, Antioch, Nazareth, the Greeks,
the Russians, the methodical way of doing things, Christians,
the free will, being primitive, southern, missionary, general,
the seventh day, science, catholic which means universal, the
advent, and the list goes on and on. Even by their names they
do not claim to be Christ’s one church. Why can’t
we give the glory and honor to God and Christ where the honor
belongs?
Today we hear the sincere but mistaken plea to "attend
the church of your choice." Why not attend the church
of God’s choice, the only one that Jesus "purchased
with His own blood" (Acts 20:28). Christ did not shed
His blood to purchase any denomination.
Any church claiming to be the only church Jesus bought with
His own blood should be able to prove from the Bible they are
that church of the Bible. Can the church which you are a member
prove that it is the one and only church the Lord built? If
you can’t then you will be laboring in vain if you stay
in it. This may sound harsh. I say this with sincerity and
sadness, but it will really be harsh if you are lost in eternity.
We must wake up because this concerns the welfare of our souls
and where we will spend eternity. People too long have ignored
what the Lord has said in the Bible.