Introduction:
I got this outline from Brother Ed Bousman who has gone on to be with the Lord.
Let’s restore the New Testament Church. Perhaps a better way to put it would be, let us restore the people to the church of the New Testament. The New Testament Church has been here since the Day of Pentecost, when the gospel of the death, burial, and resurrection of jesus was first proclaimed, and 3,000 people were baptized.
A question often asked is, “Which one of the New Testament Churches do we want to restore?” How about the one at Sardis, it was dead? How about the one at Laodicea, it was lukewarm? How about the one at Ephesus, it had left its first love? How about the churches in Galatia, they were legalistic? How about the one at Corinth, it was full of division? Which one of the New Testament Churches should we restore?
It is hard to see the entire Church from looking at one of the New Testament congregations, but if we take a look at several of them, it will give us an idea of what a New Testament church should look and act like.
Let’s not think we have arrived. There are a lot of things left to be restored.
Thesis: Let’s look at several of the NT churches and see what we need to restore from them.
For instances:
Let’s restore the name that was familiar to the church at Rome.
If we would go to Rome in the first century and inquired for the location of any denomination, either Protestant or Catholic, the Christians would have been confused. They would not know what we were talking about.
If we had said the church, they would be familiar with that. That is all that was needed in the NT times. It is unfortunate that today we have to add more to it than that.
Now if we would have said the Church of Christ that would have been a very familiar name to the Romans, because Paul had written to the Roman church and said in Romans 16:16: All the churches of Christ send greetings.
Now to be fair there are other names that are biblical. Church of God is mentioned in several places of the NT. Some go by Christian church, this is a Biblical description of the individual people of the church as talked about in Acts 11:26- first called Christians. Any name found in Scripture is a scriptural name. Restoration slogan: Call Bible things by Bible names.
Many denominational names cause division because they are not in the Bible.
I know of a church that is called the church of the firstborn- Hebrews 12:23. This would take some explaining. Is this just for the firstborn’s? No, this is talking about Jesus Christ. Why not make it easier and just call it the church of Christ?
Let’s restore the Lord’s Supper of the Church at Troas
Acts 20:7 tells us that this church met together on the first day of the week to break bread. Paul stayed at Troas for 7 days. He waited for Sunday so that he could meet with the church.
Jesus arose from the dead on Sunday. He made many of His appearances after the resurrection on Sunday. The first gospel sermon was preached on Sunday. The first converts were immersed on Sunday. The disciples at Troas gathered together on Sunday for the purpose of the Lord’s Supper.
Let’s restore the baptism of the Colossian church
Colossians 2:12: having been buried with him in baptism and raised with him through your faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead.
Die to the old life and rise to the new life. Immersion.
On these first 3 for the most part we have done a lot of work. However, there are a lot of things left to be restored than just these 3.
Let’s restore the preaching of the church at Thessalonica
In Acts 17 we are told how Paul started the Church at Thessalonica. Vs. 2-3: As his custom was, Paul went into the synagogue, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that the Christ had to suffer and rise from the dead. “This Jesus I am proclaiming to you is the Christ, ” he said.
1 Thessalonians 1:5: our gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction.
Preaching is not that important today.
Let’s restore the Bible study of the church at Berea
Acts 17:11: Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.
Many of us have several Bibles in our homes, and never read them.
Let’s restore the giving of the Macedonian church
2 Corinthians 8:2: Out of the most severe trial, their overflowing joy and their extreme poverty welled up in rich generosity.
We all know people who are living beyond their means. But here were some people who were not living beyond their means; they were giving beyond their means.
How? 2 Corinthians 8:5: And they did not do as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then to us in keeping with God’s will.
Paul told the Corinthians to learn from their example. It is interesting how much Jesus spoke about money and how little we hear about it today.
Many do not even give a tithe whereas in the early church they were selling houses and lands
Let’s restore the faithfulness of the Jerusalem church
Acts 2:42: They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
They did not have any of the NT at that time, reliant upon the apostles, but still they were in services at every possible opportunity. Acts 2:46: Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts.
When a person accepts Christ he automatically commits himself to faithful attendance.
Let’s restore the eldership of the churches of Crete
Titus 1:5: The reason I left you in Crete was that you might straighten out what was left unfinished and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you.
Elders are to be overseers and shepherds for the congregation. This whole thing revolves around power and authority. People don’t like this, but sometimes elders make matter worse.
Elders are men primarily interested in the spiritual well being of the congregation. They are men who are accountable for people’s souls. Now, they don’t have control over people’s eternal destiny, but there is a measure of responsibility for it.
Years ago, I heard about a congregation where the Christians elected their Elders by popular vote. As often happens, the church had elected a man who really wasn’t qualified. In fact, the only reason he wanted the job was for the prestige he felt he’d get from being in that position, and for the ability to control what went on in the church. The preacher realized that if this situation was allowed to stand the church would eventually end up with some serious problems. But he also realized that if he simply stripped the man of his Eldership there could be some serious consequences. So, wisely, he asked another preacher to come in and teach the Elders about their responsibilities. This 2nd preacher knew what the situation was, and so as made his presentation, he patiently drove home the consequences of taking Eldership lightly. He explained to the Eldership - included the man who’d taken the job for the wrong reasons - that being an Elder was a very critical responsibility, and that on the day of judgment God would hold each of them personally responsible for every person whose soul was lost because they had shirked their duties. He summed up his presentation by quoting Ezekiel 33:8 “When I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked man, you will surely die,’ and you do not speak out to dissuade him from his ways, that wicked man will die for his sin, and I will hold you accountable for his blood.” At that point, the new Elder jumped to his feet and said: “Wait a minute! Nobody told me about this when I signed up to be an Elder! I don’t want this job! I quit!” And he resigned that very night.
Let’s restore the evangelism of the church at Antioch
This church was the first to willingly send evangelists to foreign soil. Acts 13:2-3: While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off.
After the martyrdom of Stephen in Acts 8:4: Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went.
We have too much of a “clergy” system which we deny. Baptized my boys this past week on Tuesday afternoon without any "clergy" present.
Acts 2:47: And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
