This lesson will address the next four articles in the Baptist Faith and Message.
The Church
A New Testament church of the Lord Jesus Christ is an autonomous local congregation of baptized believers, associated by covenant in the faith and fellowship of the gospel; observing the two ordinances of Christ, governed by His laws, exercising the gifts, rights, and privileges invested in them by His Word, and seeking to extend the gospel to the ends of the earth. Each congregation operates under the Lordship of Christ through democratic processes. In such a congregation each member is responsible and accountable to Christ as Lord. Its scriptural officers are pastors and deacons. While both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture.
The New Testament speaks also of the church as the Body of Christ which includes all of the redeemed of all the ages, believers from every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation.
There is really only one thing in this worth discussing that isn’t already discussed further within the BF&M – the officers of the church.
We established earlier that there are separate spiritual gifts for pastor, preaching, and evangelism. We defined them thus: 1) pastor – a person directly responsible for the spiritual well being of a flock of believers. 2) preaching – the gift to proclaim God’s word to a group of believers. 3) evangelism – the gift to proclaim God’s word in such a way as to bring people to Christ.
In today’s society, the pastor of the church must also bear the burden of being the principle preacher and evangelist for that group of believers. But since these are separate gifts, the Bible implies that they can exist separately within the body of Christ.
This being said, the Bible is clear that a man, not a woman, is to fill the role of pastor for a church and the role of deacons (1 Tim 3:1-15). However, the Bible does NOT say that a woman cannot preach or evangelize. 1 Tim 2:12 seems to suggest that women should not even be allowed to teach over a man. So what is the balance? We certainly allow women to teach in churches today, but isn’t preaching just a form of teaching from the pulpit? We allow women to evangelize in the classrooms, but what about before groups of people? Here I see a double standard. Certainly, the Bible is clear that a woman is not fit to take responsibility for a flock of believers, but we’ve grayed the line beyond that. I believer it is acceptable for a woman to both preach and evangelize. I also believe that 1 Tim 2:12 is referring to a cultural phenomenon that does not exist today.
Baptism and the Lord’s Supper
Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is an act of obedience symbolizing the believer’s faith in a crucified, buried, and risen Saviour, the believer’s death to sin, the burial of the old life, and the resurrection to walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus. It is a testimony to his faith in the final resurrection of the dead. Being a church ordinance, it is prerequisite to the privileges of church membership and to the Lord’s Supper.
The Lord’s Supper is a symbolic act of obedience whereby members of the church, through partaking of the bread and the fruit of the vine, memorialize the death of the Redeemer and anticipate His second coming.
Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are the two ordinance of the church spoken of in the section on The Church in the BF&M.
The controversy over baptism is two fold. First there is the “sprinkling vs. dunking” debate. This is a moot debate. Baptism is agreed upon by all that it is symbolic, and therefore it is not important what form it takes so long as it is done. Yes, the word Baptism is derived from a Greek word meaning “to submerge”. But again, does it really matter? It is symbolic only and is NOT a prerequisite for Salvation. It is, however, a prerequisite to becoming a member of the Southern Baptist Church. I think this is a good thing, because it prevents, to an extent, “pretenders” from joining the church. If you are to join the church, then you must demonstrate the seriousness of your conversion by following though with baptism.
The second controversy over baptism comes from the Catholic church, where infants are often baptized and “confirmed” as Christians. I believe that this is a mockery of what Christianity is, because these baby’s have never made a choice to follow Christ or a choice to display their belief through baptism. Christianity, MUST be chosen by each individual and can NOT be chosen for you by someone else.
The Lord’s Day
The first day of the week is the Lord’s Day. It is a Christian institution for regular observance. It commemorates the resurrection of Christ from the dead and should include exercises of worship and spiritual devotion, both public and private. Activities on the Lord’s Day should be commensurate with the Christian’s conscience under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
The first day of the week is the Lord’s Day. It is a Christian institution for regular observance. It commemorates the resurrection of Christ from the dead and should include exercises of worship and spiritual devotion, both public and private. Activities on the Lord’s Day should be commensurate with the Christian’s conscience under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
We have here Sunday worship vs. Saturday, the true Sabbath. In Old Testament Law, (Ex. 20:8-11) we are commanded to work six days and rest on the seventh. This seventh day is to be kept Holy. The seventh day of the week is Saturday, so why do we not keep this commandment? Tradition says that we worship on the first day of the week because Christ rose from the dead on that day. Some will say that the New Testament is clear about this, but I disagree. They point to verses like, Acts 20:7 and 1 Cor. 16:1-2, but all I see are instructions and examples of what to do on the first day, neither of which says anything about worshiping on that day. In Romans 14:5-10, Paul tells us that there is no day better than another and it doesn’t matter what day we worship on so long as we worship God. But I still see no clear scripture that excuses us from the commandment in Exodus.
The Kingdom
The Kingdom of God includes both His general sovereignty over the universe and His particular kingship over men who willfully acknowledge Him as King. Particularly the Kingdom is the realm of salvation into which men enter by trustful, childlike commitment to Jesus Christ. Christians ought to pray and to labor that the Kingdom may come and God’s will be done on earth. The full consummation of the Kingdom awaits the return of Jesus Christ and the end of this age.
Understanding the Kingdom of God is somewhat abstract. The Kingdom, as defined above, is the universe as an area of rule. This includes all physical creations. Next, we see it defined abstractly as the “realm of salvation”. This is a non-physical brotherhood or club, for lack of better terms, to which all who have received salvation belong – a “spiritual” Kingdom. The physical Kingdom is limited to God’s creations, but not souls of his created beings. The spiritual Kingdom is the Lordship over his Christians. For the Kingdom to come, as it is often prayed, both of these definitions must merge together and become one Kingdom both physically and spiritually. For this to happen, Christ must return and sin must be purged from the world.
The Church, Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, The Lord’s Day, The Kingdom
July 6, 2008 by Keven Newsome
The Church
A New Testament church of the Lord Jesus Christ is an autonomous local congregation of baptized believers, associated by covenant in the faith and fellowship of the gospel; observing the two ordinances of Christ, governed by His laws, exercising the gifts, rights, and privileges invested in them by His Word, and seeking to extend the gospel to the ends of the earth. Each congregation operates under the Lordship of Christ through democratic processes. In such a congregation each member is responsible and accountable to Christ as Lord. Its scriptural officers are pastors and deacons. While both men and women are gifted for service in the church, the office of pastor is limited to men as qualified by Scripture.
The New Testament speaks also of the church as the Body of Christ which includes all of the redeemed of all the ages, believers from every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation.
We established earlier that there are separate spiritual gifts for pastor, preaching, and evangelism. We defined them thus: 1) pastor – a person directly responsible for the spiritual well being of a flock of believers. 2) preaching – the gift to proclaim God’s word to a group of believers. 3) evangelism – the gift to proclaim God’s word in such a way as to bring people to Christ.
In today’s society, the pastor of the church must also bear the burden of being the principle preacher and evangelist for that group of believers. But since these are separate gifts, the Bible implies that they can exist separately within the body of Christ.
This being said, the Bible is clear that a man, not a woman, is to fill the role of pastor for a church and the role of deacons (1 Tim 3:1-15). However, the Bible does NOT say that a woman cannot preach or evangelize. 1 Tim 2:12 seems to suggest that women should not even be allowed to teach over a man. So what is the balance? We certainly allow women to teach in churches today, but isn’t preaching just a form of teaching from the pulpit? We allow women to evangelize in the classrooms, but what about before groups of people? Here I see a double standard. Certainly, the Bible is clear that a woman is not fit to take responsibility for a flock of believers, but we’ve grayed the line beyond that. I believer it is acceptable for a woman to both preach and evangelize. I also believe that 1 Tim 2:12 is referring to a cultural phenomenon that does not exist today.
Baptism and the Lord’s Supper
Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is an act of obedience symbolizing the believer’s faith in a crucified, buried, and risen Saviour, the believer’s death to sin, the burial of the old life, and the resurrection to walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus. It is a testimony to his faith in the final resurrection of the dead. Being a church ordinance, it is prerequisite to the privileges of church membership and to the Lord’s Supper.
The Lord’s Supper is a symbolic act of obedience whereby members of the church, through partaking of the bread and the fruit of the vine, memorialize the death of the Redeemer and anticipate His second coming.
Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are the two ordinance of the church spoken of in the section on The Church in the BF&M.
The controversy over baptism is two fold. First there is the “sprinkling vs. dunking” debate. This is a moot debate. Baptism is agreed upon by all that it is symbolic, and therefore it is not important what form it takes so long as it is done. Yes, the word Baptism is derived from a Greek word meaning “to submerge”. But again, does it really matter? It is symbolic only and is NOT a prerequisite for Salvation. It is, however, a prerequisite to becoming a member of the Southern Baptist Church. I think this is a good thing, because it prevents, to an extent, “pretenders” from joining the church. If you are to join the church, then you must demonstrate the seriousness of your conversion by following though with baptism.
The second controversy over baptism comes from the Catholic church, where infants are often baptized and “confirmed” as Christians. I believe that this is a mockery of what Christianity is, because these baby’s have never made a choice to follow Christ or a choice to display their belief through baptism. Christianity, MUST be chosen by each individual and can NOT be chosen for you by someone else.
The Lord’s Day
The first day of the week is the Lord’s Day. It is a Christian institution for regular observance. It commemorates the resurrection of Christ from the dead and should include exercises of worship and spiritual devotion, both public and private. Activities on the Lord’s Day should be commensurate with the Christian’s conscience under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
The first day of the week is the Lord’s Day. It is a Christian institution for regular observance. It commemorates the resurrection of Christ from the dead and should include exercises of worship and spiritual devotion, both public and private. Activities on the Lord’s Day should be commensurate with the Christian’s conscience under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
We have here Sunday worship vs. Saturday, the true Sabbath. In Old Testament Law, (Ex. 20:8-11) we are commanded to work six days and rest on the seventh. This seventh day is to be kept Holy. The seventh day of the week is Saturday, so why do we not keep this commandment? Tradition says that we worship on the first day of the week because Christ rose from the dead on that day. Some will say that the New Testament is clear about this, but I disagree. They point to verses like, Acts 20:7 and 1 Cor. 16:1-2, but all I see are instructions and examples of what to do on the first day, neither of which says anything about worshiping on that day. In Romans 14:5-10, Paul tells us that there is no day better than another and it doesn’t matter what day we worship on so long as we worship God. But I still see no clear scripture that excuses us from the commandment in Exodus.
The Kingdom
The Kingdom of God includes both His general sovereignty over the universe and His particular kingship over men who willfully acknowledge Him as King. Particularly the Kingdom is the realm of salvation into which men enter by trustful, childlike commitment to Jesus Christ. Christians ought to pray and to labor that the Kingdom may come and God’s will be done on earth. The full consummation of the Kingdom awaits the return of Jesus Christ and the end of this age.
Understanding the Kingdom of God is somewhat abstract. The Kingdom, as defined above, is the universe as an area of rule. This includes all physical creations. Next, we see it defined abstractly as the “realm of salvation”. This is a non-physical brotherhood or club, for lack of better terms, to which all who have received salvation belong – a “spiritual” Kingdom. The physical Kingdom is limited to God’s creations, but not souls of his created beings. The spiritual Kingdom is the Lordship over his Christians. For the Kingdom to come, as it is often prayed, both of these definitions must merge together and become one Kingdom both physically and spiritually. For this to happen, Christ must return and sin must be purged from the world.
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