The Church Of Jesus Christ: Its Growth

“THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST: ITS GROWTH”

I have previously stated concerning the church of Jesus Christ that the immersion in water of a believer in Jesus Christ, the church ordinance of believer baptism, accomplishes more than simply providing a public declaration of one’s new relationship with Jesus Christ by faith. It also accomplishes the important result of bringing the baptized believer into close association with other Christians in that church authorizing his baptism as a church member. When I made that statement, I did not have the luxury of time to verify what I then asserted. I would now like to deal with water baptism, the immersion of a believer by the authority of a church of Jesus Christ, as the means by which a convert to Christ becomes a church member. Before plunging into that consideration, allow me to rehearse quickly to you the basis Baptists have in scripture for insisting that all real Christians should be members of a New Testament type church of Jesus Christ. Already established is the scriptural basis for church membership and the three proofs showing the scriptural basis for church membership. In the order that they are found in the New Testament they are: First, Matthew 18.15-20, where the Lord Jesus Christ prescribes the steps an individual church member is to take to deal with someone who has seriously sinned against him and refuses to repent of the sin that was committed. This approach to dealing with another’s sin against you is not practically possible apart from both individuals having membership in the same church since churches are autonomous and exercise only internal congregational authority over their members. Next, there was the initially unsuccessful attempt by the Apostle Paul to join himself to the church in Jerusalem following his conversion to Christ, Acts 9.26. Third, there was the action taken by the church in Corinth in response to the directive issued by the Apostle Paul to exclude from membership the young man involved with his father’s wife, First Corinthians 5.5. Thus, it is clear that in order to address an individual’s sin within a congregation, Matthew 18.15-20, in order to join a congregation as the Apostle Paul did, Acts 9.26, and in order to exclude someone from a congregation’s membership for refusing to repent of a heinous sexual sin, First Corinthians 5.5, there is no contesting the fact that church membership exists in the New Testament. It is so undeniably interwoven into the fabric of the New Testament that Christians are shown to be active members of a church of Jesus Christ that a professing Christian who stands aloof from the discipling and disciplining ministry of a church has some serious explaining to do. One simply does not see Christians in the New Testament who are not members of a church.

Speaking of disciple making, consider the Great Commission to make disciples found in Matthew 28.18-20:

18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.

19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

This passage shows us what we are to do, what our goal in evangelism is to be; to make disciples of Jesus Christ. Notice also Ephesians 4.11-12, where we see how the Great Commission is fulfilled in the life of a believer who has been saved, baptized, and is a member of a church:

11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;

12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.

In Paul’s letter written to this church we see that Christ has given gifted men to perfect (or equip)[1] saints to do the work of the ministry so the body of Christ will be built up spiritually and numerically. The ministry of the gifted men for the benefit of the saints is exercised within the church congregation, to church members, with their ministry efforts outside the congregation understood to consist of efforts along with other church members to bring sinners to Christ and subsequently to the obedience of believer baptism and church membership.

With Christians in the New Testament being recognized as church members by all honest readers of the Bible, the question for us is precisely how does someone become a church member? Of course, one becomes a member of the Roman Catholic Church when one is christened as an infant. One becomes a member of the Greek Orthodox Church when one is immersed as an infant. The same is true for Protestant denominations such as Anglicans (who are Episcopalians), Lutherans, Presbyterians, Methodists, and various Reformed denominations. Some operation referred to as baptism is performed by these various groups on infants without their intelligent consent and cooperation. That noted, the Bible contrariwise clearly shows that not only is actual baptism immersion in water, but it is also the immersion in water of someone who is intelligently and persuasively confessing Christ as his personal Savior.[2]

Keep in mind that we are aware of Luke’s account of the Apostle Paul attempting to join the Jerusalem church and his attempt being initially thwarted owing to his past violence against Christians and their fear of him. Therefore, there is no denying that someone converted to Christ and baptized elsewhere can join a church in a different location as Paul was eventually able to do. However, is that the most common way in which a Christian becomes a church member? Let us keep Acts 2.47 in mind as we consider this question:

“And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.”

This statement should settle the question that it is the Lord who adds to the church. Our concern at this point is precisely how, or should I say by what means, does the Lord accomplish this adding to His church?

There seem to be two ways by which the Lord adds members to His church:

First, SCRIPTURALLY BAPTIZED BELIEVERS JOIN CHURCHES

The Apostle Paul is the first example I find of a baptized believer joining a church. I previously called attention to this episode in Paul’s early Christian life, but it bears repeating. Acts chapter 9 records the efforts of the zealous Pharisee, Saul of Tarsus, traveling toward Damascus when he is intercepted by the appearance of the glorified Christ and is subsequently converted and baptized, Acts 9.18. Upon recovering from his physically demanding encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ the newly baptized convert to Christ began preaching in the synagogues in Damascus and stirring up the ire of the Jews, causing him to flee for his life to Jerusalem. Acts 9.26-30 shows us what happened in Jerusalem:

26 And when Saul was come to Jerusalem, he assayed to join[3] himself to the disciples: but they were all afraid of him, and believed not that he was a disciple.

27 But Barnabas took him, and brought him to the apostles, and declared unto them how he had seen the Lord in the way, and that he had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus.

28 And he was with them coming in and going out at Jerusalem.

29 And he spake boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus, and disputed against the Grecians: but they went about to slay him.

30 Which when the brethren knew, they brought him down to Caesarea, and sent him forth to Tarsus.

It is clear from this passage that the church in Jerusalem took the man who would become known as the Apostle Paul in (eventually) and then when the need arose dispatched him to his home town of Tarsus to protect his life.

Though there is evidence that the Jerusalem church was not the only church in existence at this time, but that Jewish Christians (such as in Damascus where Saul was baptized) had organized other churches of Jesus Christ, we are given a clearer picture of other congregations forming by the example provided by Luke in the city of Antioch in Acts chapter 11. Persecution scattered Jewish believers in Christ. We have reason to believe that some Jewish believers fled to cities and lived among Jewish people, bringing some of their fellows to Christ, such as took place in Damascus. However, other Jewish Christians fled to such cities as Antioch, which were far more cosmopolitan and in which Jewish people were far more likely to mingle with Gentiles. Of course, they also proclaimed the gospel to them, and many Gentiles in Antioch turned to the Lord, Acts 11.20-21. When the leaders of the church in Jerusalem heard about this moving of God they sent the much trusted Barnabas to Antioch, and many more Gentiles were then converted to Christ, Acts 11.22-24. However, Barnabas knew there was a man far more suited than he was for ministry among the Gentiles, and that was Saul, born and reared in Tarsus among Gentiles. So he went to Tarsus and fetched Saul to come and work with him in ministry in Antioch, Acts 11.25-26. It is important to notice that the Christians in Antioch are never explicitly referred to as a church until after both Barnabas and Saul partner to serve God there. The logical question is how was the church in Antioch constituted? The only reasonable answer is that those already saved and baptized in Jerusalem joined the Antioch church Barnabas and Saul organized in much the same way the Apostle Paul had joined the Jerusalem church.

Thus, while there is room in the New Testament for scripturally baptized believers in Jesus Christ joining churches, there are some very important considerations that must be seriously pondered: First, there is nothing in the New Testament that intimates, however slightly, that the Lord should be any less involved in adding someone to a church in our day as He was so described in Acts 2.47. Therefore, it makes no sense at all for someone to leave a church voluntarily following his addition to that church by the Lord Himself. This tragically common modern practice of someone deciding to join a church and then deciding to leave a church, apart from strong evidence in his life of God moving him to do so, is entirely unwarranted and has proven to be spiritually disastrous to so many who frivolously move from church to church. Next, we should take note that the reason the Apostle Paul left Damascus, where he was baptized and was presumably involved in a congregation, was persecution and threats against his life. The reason he departed Jerusalem’s church for his hometown of Tarsus was, again, threats against his life. The reason believers settled in Antioch was persecution that forced them out of Jerusalem for fear of their lives, Acts 8.1:

“And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria, except the apostles.”

Thus, the changing of one’s church membership is a matter of great seriousness, and should not be caused by things so trivial and inconsequential as job opportunities, promotions, transfers, or the pursuit of more favorable weather. Neither should churches be left, nor another joined in the same city for reasons of personality conflict, more attractive youth ministries,[4] or any other such thing. In a future sermon in this series I will present overwhelming evidence that when someone is a church member he is a member of a living spiritual body, and that both he and that congregation will suffer if any parting of ways is not orchestrated by God in His providence or by God in His calling of that individual to another place of service. It has been my observation that most people who are members of a good church have no awareness of what indications God would provide to someone as evidence He is moving them to another church, with most people who foolishly leave their church to go somewhere else doing so without any idea of whether there even is a good church of Jesus Christ anywhere near their new location. Why would God remove someone from their present church except to add them to another church, unless it is to help start another church? This is something most people never, ever consider. To restate: The New Testament shows that sometimes a saved and scripturally baptized believer who is in one church is providentially moved by the Lord and added to another congregation. However, the likelihood of that happening in the early days of Christianity was relatively small in comparison to the for the most part completely unjustifiable modern day church hopping phenomenon so sadly seen today.

Next, SCRIPTURALLY QUALIFIED BELIEVERS ARE BAPTIZED INTO CHURCHES

In Matthew 28.18-20 we find the version of the Great Commission of our Lord Jesus Christ that is most familiar to Christians and others who read the Bible:

18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.

19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

It is clear from a consideration of the passage that the command our Lord gave was to His disciples (the first group designated as them, verse 18, and then as ye, verse 19), not to those who were being evangelized, not to those who were being made disciples (who were designated by the word nations in verse 19, and by the word them in verses 19 and 20). Thus, it is not the hopeful convert who is directed to be baptized, but the apostles, and by extension the church, Christians in churches who are seeking to fulfill the Great Commission, who are directed to baptize them. Them who? Them who have recently become believers in Jesus Christ and who after their baptism will begin the process of being taught to observe all things whatsoever Christ has commanded. The Great Commission is predicated upon something of a line being drawn between them and us. We, which is to say members of a church of Jesus Christ, are to teach all nations (another way of referring to them), after which we are to baptize them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost (if they have become through the new birth qualified to be baptized), and then we are to begin teaching them. No command directed to them is found in this passage. The command found in this passage is directed to us, initially, the apostles and others who comprised the 120 member church when it was in Jerusalem before Pentecost, and, later on, people like us in other churches that resulted from the fruitful ministry of the church in Jerusalem.

Thus, the Great Commission envisions two different processes separated by an event. The first process engaged in during this disciple making the church of Jesus Christ is charged with is the process of going and by implication declaring the gospel so as to bring sinners to Christ. The final process engaged in during the disciple making the church of Jesus Christ is charged with is the process of teaching all things whatsoever Christ has commanded us. The first process, evangelizing the lost, takes time, typically far more time than many Christians realize. The final process, teaching all things whatsoever Christ has commanded, also takes time, a great deal of time, since it is a process that only concludes when the believer has passed from this world to the next.

Baptism, which is an event, is what separates the first process from the final process, the reaching of the lost with the gospel from the teaching and training of the Christian. Since teaching and training are so much more than simply imparting information, but involve actually equipping the believer to serve His Savior, I am persuaded and can establish in God’s Word that teaching and training Christians in fulfillment of the Great Commission, processes that are referred to throughout the New Testament, are properly accomplished within and by the Church of Jesus Christ. Apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastor-teachers are given to congregations by the Savior, and it is within those congregations that gifted men properly engage in the process of ministry to Christians who are members with them of churches.

This message, however, is not so much concerned with either the process of evangelism or the process of teaching and training, but with the event that separates the two, which is believer baptism. The difficulty for us in arriving at a clear understanding of believer baptism lies with the ways in which the word baptism in its various forms is used in the New Testament. Therefore, I propose to review those five ways in which the word baptism is used before zeroing in on the two that are most problematic and important to our right understanding of God’s Word as it speaks to the church of Jesus Christ:

First, our review of the various baptisms mentioned in the New Testament. John’s baptism is the immersion in water of proper baptismal candidates by John the Baptist and also by his disciples. In Matthew 3.1-8, we are provided not only a narrative related to John’s baptism but also, the qualifications he insisted upon for those he immersed in water:

1 In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea,

2 And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

3 For this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Esaias, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.

4 And the same John had his raiment of camel's hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his meat was locusts and wild honey.

5 Then went out to him Jerusalem, and all Judaea, and all the region round about Jordan,

6 And were baptized of him in Jordan, confessing their sins.

7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?

8 Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance.

What is commonly referred to as Christian baptism is the immersion in water of proper baptismal candidates by the authority of the church of Jesus Christ or a church’s designee.[5] My conviction is that John the Baptist’s baptism and Christian baptism in obedience to Christ are essentially the same though I will treat them as being different at this time. We see an example of Christian baptism with the Ethiopian eunuch in Acts 8.35-38:

35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus.

36 And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?

37 And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

38 And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him.

What is commonly referred to as the baptism of the Holy Spirit was predicted by John the Baptist, Matthew 3.11, and is seen on the Day of Pentecost, Acts 2.1-13. As I read both the prediction and a fulfillment, please take note of the fact that unlike the two previous baptisms, no one is left wet following the baptism of the Holy Ghost, since it is not a literal immersion in water but a figurative baptism:

Matthew 3.11: “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he [Jesus Christ] shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire.”

Now I read the record of a fulfillment of the Baptist’s prediction occurring 3½ years later:

Acts 2.1-13: 1 And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.

2 And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.

3 And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.

4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

5 And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven.

6 Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language.

7 And they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans?

8 And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?

9 Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia,

10 Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes,

11 Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God.

12 And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this?

13 Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine.

Fourth, there is what might be termed the baptism of Christ’s suffering, Matthew 20.20-23. Again you will notice that no reference is made in the passage to anything like literal baptism, to anything like an immersion in liquid. Instead, the word baptism was used by the Savior in a figurative sense to refer to an immersion in suffering:

20 Then came to him the mother of Zebedee’s children with her sons, worshipping him, and desiring a certain thing of him.

21 And he said unto her, What wilt thou? She saith unto him, Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, and the other on the left, in thy kingdom.

22 But Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? They say unto him, We are able.

23 And he saith unto them, Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with: but to sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father.

Finally, in First Corinthians 10.1-2, we have what is referred to as the baptism unto Moses, which clearly was not a literal immersion in water at all, but a figurative baptism describing the exodus of the nation of Israel with them following the Shekinah glory of God and crossing over dry shod between the parted waters of the Red Sea, which incidentally did not result in any Israelite getting wet:

1 Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea;

2 And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea

A case can be made for five baptisms found in the New Testament. Of the five, two are literal immersions in water, John’s baptism and Christian baptism in obedience to the Great Commission. The other three baptisms are other than literal. The baptism unto Moses had to do with the experiences of the children of Israel during their exodus. The baptism of Christ’s suffering has to with our Lord’s passion and the suffering of those who are Christ’s followers (but which is most definitely not a literal immersion in water). The baptism of the Holy Ghost predicted by John the Baptist with a fulfillment on the Day of Pentecost was not literal. No one was immersed in anything so as to get physically wet. For our purposes, I will set aside any further consideration of the baptism of John, the baptism of Christ’s sufferings, and the baptism unto Moses as not having any significant bearing on our present subject of interest, which is the church of Jesus Christ and how members are added to the church by means of believer baptism. This leaves for our consideration the literal immersion in water of the Christian that is mentioned in the Great Commission, which is to say the event that takes place between the two processes, evangelism of the lost and the teaching and training of the saved, as well as what is commonly referred to as the baptism of the Holy Spirit, or Spirit baptism.

Let us now take up our consideration of Spirit baptism, or what John the Baptist under inspiration of the Holy Spirit described in the following way in Matthew 3.11:

“he [Christ] shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire.”

Spirit baptism is immediately differentiated from Christian baptism in several ways that will be corroborated in the passages where the baptism of the Holy Spirit is recorded: First, with Christian baptism the medium is actual water, while the baptism of the Holy Spirit plainly features the medium (for lack of a more suitable word) of the Spirit of God. Second, with Christian baptism, one result is a person gets wet while with the baptism of the Holy Spirit no one gets wet. Third, with Christian baptism Christians do the baptizing, the immersing of a Christian in obedience to Christ’s command, while with the baptism of the Holy Spirit no obedience by Christian disciples is obviously featured that is the immediate means of Spirit baptism occurring.[6] That is, no believer obeys God and proceeds to baptize then anyone in the Holy Spirit. Fourth, Christian baptism is an act of simple obedience performed by one individual that is witnessed by other individuals, that immersion in water also attesting to the professed spiritual condition of the one being baptized, while the baptism of the Holy Spirit is according to John the Baptist a sign that authenticates (or verifies) the messiahship of Jesus Christ (“he [which is to say the Messiah] shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire”). Fifth, Christian baptism is performed by a believer on behalf of the congregation that is obeying the Great Commission, while the baptism of the Holy Spirit is said by John the Baptist to be performed by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Christian baptism focuses the bystander’s attention on the person being immersed, while the baptism of the Holy Spirit focuses the bystander’s attention on the Lord Jesus Christ, identifying Him by the sign of Spirit baptism as the Messiah of Israel.

We now look to the only four places in the New Testament that record such baptisms of the Holy Ghost; Acts 2, Acts 8, Acts 10, and Acts 19: