THE UNDISPUTED
INDISPENSABILITY
OF THE CHURCH
OF CHRIST
By CELERINO G. BACLAAN
NOT KNOWN TO MANY, either for lack of information or
without any information at all, in matters of worshipping the true God that is
worthy to Him and of attaining His promised salvation, the Church Of Christ
founded by Christ (Matt. 16:18; Luke 12:32; Acts 20:28, Lamsa Translation) is undisputedly indispensable. In fact, this Church was preached and
propagated by the apostles during their time (Rom. 16:16; Acts 2:47) and by
Brother Felix Y. Manalo at the time called by the Bible ends of the earth (Isa.
43:5-6; Matt. 24:33, 6-7, New King James
Version). Contrary to the very
popular “faith alone” belief, this extremely important biblical teaching has
been ignored or rejected by those who choose to believe what they personally
think as acceptable to the majority and what they consider convenient to them.
What they do not know though is that this “faith-alone” or “just-accept-Christ
as-your-personal-Savior” belief does not only oppose the great plan of God for
man’s salvation (Eph. 2:3-10) but also will cause him the ultimate, most
tragic, and disastrous end—destruction on Judgment Day of ungodly men or all
sinners (Prov. 11:31; I Cor. 6:9-10; II Pet. 3:7, 10) and eternal punishment in
the lake of fire (Rev. 21:8).
The Church Of Christ in these last days (John 10:16; Acts
20:28, Lamsa Translation; Rom. 9:24;
Isa. 43:5, Moffatt Translation) has
been committed to fulfill the commandment of Christ, the Savior, Himself:
“… ‘You are to go into all
the world and preach the Good News to everyone, everywhere. Those who believe and are baptized will be
saved. But those who refuse to believe
will be condemned.” (Mark
16:15-16, Living Bible)
This instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ which His
apostles followed aims to fulfill God’s will:
“For God so loved the world
that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not
perish but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16, New International Version)
God’s will expressed in Christ’s commandment to preach
the Good News to everyone, everywhere for man’s salvation has been the
inspiration behind the collective efforts of the Church Of Christ to realize
the objective of its worldwide Abundant Fruit Bearing campaign.
Man’s gravest problem
Even long before the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ, the
purpose of God in creating man was made known as clearly stated in the Old
Testament:
“Now all has been heard; here
is the conclusion of the matter: Fear
God and keep his commandment, for this is the whole [duty] of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment,
including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.” (Eccles. 12:13-14, Ibid.)
The wise King Solomon declared a very important truth
every person should understand and reflect on.
The king himself finally came to this realization when he found out the vanity
of everything man accomplishes in this world—knowledge, wealth, power, honor,
and fame (Chapters 2 and 3 of Ecclesiastes)—but he fails to fulfill God’s very
purpose why He created him, for when he dies he is accountable to God who will
judge him according what he has done.
Foremost among the commandments of God to man is to love
Him above all, that is, he should recognize Him as the only one true God (John
17:1, 3), worship and serve Him (Ps. 95:6-7; 100:2-3), obey His commandments (I
John 2:3), and live righteously (Eph. 4:23-24).
Those who refuse to accept God’s plan to save them through Jesus (II
Thess. 1:8, LB) and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus (II Thess. 1:8,
NIV) will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction (II Thess. 1:10, Today’s English Version) which is the second death, death in the lake
of fire (Rev. 20:14).
The only
solution to man’s
Gravest problem
No less than our Lord Jesus Christ whom the Almighty God
appointed as the Savior (Acts 5:31) explicitly commanded:
“I am the door; anyone who
comes into the fold though me will be safe. …” (John 10:9, Revised English Bible)
Anyone who wants to be saved then must enter the door
that is no other than our Lord Jesus Christ.
Those who followed this command are found in the fold or
flock which is the Church Of Christ redeemed by the blood of Christ (Acts
20:28, Lamsa Translation) and the
body whose head is Christ (Col. 1:18) to be saved by Him (Eph. 5:23) from the
wrath of God (Rom 5:9). Thus, people who
are outside the Church Of Christ will be judged (I Cor. 5:13, Revised Standard Version) or will be
burned (John 15:6), for they will be the ones to pay for their sins (John 8:24)
since they are not among those redeemed by Christ; and without the shedding of
blood there is no forgiveness (Heb. 9:22).
Dismissing any belief that disregards the undisputed
significance of the Church Of Christ to the rendition of acceptable worship of
God and man’s salvation, Christ emphasized the indispensability of His Church
which is God’s will—grace and plan for man’s salvation (Eph. 1:8-9)—as He
stated:
“Not everyone who calls me
‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the Kingdom of heaven, but only those who do what my
Father in heaven wants them to do. When
the Judgment Day comes, many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord! In your name we spoke God’s message, by your
name we drove out many demons and performed many miracles!’ Then I will say to them, ‘I never know you. Get away from me, you wicked people!” (Matt.
7:21-23, TEV) *
Copied from PASUGO GOD’S MESSAGE SPECIAL ISSUE 2014/Pages
72-73
