Sermons
The Undenominational Church
The Undenominational Church
Introduction: There is a movement in our society to move away from the old established denominations to more of non-denominational type of churches. And you would hope that the reason for this movement is to become more like the undenominational church we read about in the Bible. And if that be the case, they need to make sure their efforts conform to the pattern of that undenominational church that we read about in the New Testament. Our purpose in this lesson is to look at the New Testament and determine exactly what it was like to be a member of the Lord’s church in the first century. Was it an undenominational church? If so, then what must we do today to make sure we are a part of that same undenominational church that the early Christians were a part of?
I. In the Bible the Word “Church” is Used in at Least Two Different Senses.
A. The Universal Sense
1. All of God’s people.
2. The church is not a building.
3. The church of the Lord is not some institution separate from the people.
4. The Lord’s church is people. What people? -- saved people Acts 2:47
B. The Local Sense
1. A group of saved people who happen to live at the same time and in the same place. They have
agreed to worship and work together under the oversight of elders, or bishops, or pastors,
served by their deacons, doing things that God has given local churches to do.
2. 1 Cor. 1:2; 1 Thess. 1:1; Rev. 1:11
3. The Cape County church is a group of Christians who all live at the same time (2024) in
reasonable distance of one another. We have agreed to worship and work together. We do not
have bishops and deacons at this, but that is something we should be working toward. We are
striving to do what God wants us to do.
II. Suppose You Lived in the First Century and You Became Conscience of Your Sins and You
Wanted to be Right with God? What Would You Do?
A. Let us look in the New Testament to see what they did.
B. Peter preached Jesus to the Jews. Acts 2:36-41, 47 The Jews came to realize that Jesus is Lord
and Christ, and that they were sinners, and they wanted to know what to do. Peter told them
what to do, repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Those who obeyed were
saved and they were added to the church by the Lord.
1. If you had lived in Jerusalem in this day and wanted to be saved, you would have done the
same thing.
C. Paul comes to the city of Philippi. Acts. 16:13-15 Lydia heard the gospel, believed it and
obeyed it. Her household also heard the gospel and obeyed it. When she and her household
believed and were baptized, they were saved and were added to this universal church, just like the
Jews had done in Jerusalem.
D. In this same city. Acts 16:26-34 The Philippian jailor and his household heard the word,
believed and were baptized. Looks like they did the same things that the Jews in Jerusalem did,
and Lydia and her household did. They were saved and added to the Lord’s church.
1. Later we learn there was a local church in Philippi. Phil. 1:1
a. This was a letter written to the church in Philippi. It is possible that Lydia and her
household, and the jailor and his household were members of this church to whom Paul
is writing.
b. Here were saints in Philippi with their bishops and deacons. Sounds like what we
described as a local church earlier.
2. Here are people (Lydia and the jailor and their households) hearing the gospel, obeying it,
becoming saved, added by the Lord to the universal church, and then forming a local
church in that place. If you lived in Philippi in that day and wanted to be saved, this is
exactly what you would have done.
E. Acts 8:35-39 Here is an Ethiopian eunuch, the treasurer under Candace the queen of the Ethiopians riding in his chariot. He has been to Jerusalem to worship and is returning home.
We read of Philip joining him in his chariot and preaching Jesus to him. (read vs. 36-39)
1. It sounds like the eunuch did the same thing that the Jews did, and that Lydia and her household
did, and the same thing that the Philippian jailor and his household did. He heard the gospel,
was brought to faith in Jesus as the Christ the Son of God, and was baptized. Having obeyed
he is saved, and the Lord added him to the church.
2. Now at this point he is not a part of any local church, is he? As far as we know he has never
seen a local church of the Lord.
a. There are those who believe that those who are saved must find a local church to
authorize them to be baptized. In order for them to be baptized a vote has to be taken
by the local church before they can be baptized.
What local church authorized the eunuch’s baptism?
You will never read anything like this occurring in the New Testament. In the New
Testament people were baptized to be saved, being saved they are added to the church by
the Lord, and then they form a local church, or join a local church that has already been
formed.
3. Knowing what we know about the responsibilities of Christians, we would expect the
eunuch, when he arrived home, along with other Christians, to form a local church in
Ethiopia.
F. We learn that there are two things we should do:
1. We must obey the gospel and the Lord adds us to the universal body of saved people.
2. We then, along with other saved people form a local church with the bishops and deacons.
That’s what they did in the first century, and that is what we would have done if we lived
in that time.
III. These Local Churches Were Formed According To The Teachings Of The Apostles.
A. The local churches were not formed in a way that the people wanted them to be formed.
1. They did not worship in any way that suited them.
2. They were not organized in any way that suited them.
3. Their work and mission was not a work that they devised on their own.
4. No, they were formed, were organized, worshiped and worked as they were guided by the
apostles. The apostles were led by the Holy Spirit. Read Acts 2:42; Matt. 28:19-20
B. The apostles left a pattern.
1. There was a pattern concerning how they were to worship, what their organization was, what
their mission was.
2. This pattern was the same in every church. 1 Cor. 4:17
a. They taught the same thing in every church.
b. Consequently, if you were in Philippi one Sunday and then in Thessalonica the next Sunday,
there would be a similarity in the worship. Why? They followed the same teaching.
3. If a church departed from that pattern, that was a serious matter. The apostles would lead the
way in correcting the error that was among them.
a. For example, if you were in Philippi one Sunday and then in Thessalonica the next you
probably would find their gathering on the Lord’s day similar. But if you visited Corinth
the next Sunday you might would find something different.
A) Some in the Corinthian church had turned the Lord’s Supper into a common meal and
there were factions among them, some meeting to partake of the Lord’s Supper and
leaving others out.
B) Paul writes them to correct this problem. 1 Cor. 11:17-34
C. If you lived in the first century and you obeyed the gospel, you would be saved and the Lord would
add you to His church. You would not be added to any denomination because there were not the
denominations in the first century as they are now. You would then form a local church along
with other saints with its bishops and deacons, patterned after the teaching of the apostles.
IV. Not Long After The First Century Things Begin To Change.
A. One of the biggest changes was in organization.
1. What begin to form in a gradual way was a hierarchy. It led to the development of the
organization of the Roman Catholic Church, with its universal bishop (the Pope) and under
him archbishops, diocesan bishops, and parish priests.
2. The church began with each local church having a plurality of coequal bishops. This is what we
read about in the New Testament. Gradually one bishop was exalted above others in the
church and there came to be a separation in the office of bishop and presbyter. Eventually the
bishop became THE bishop of that local church. Through these changes there was developed,
over hundreds of years the formation of the Pope, the universal bishop.
B. Other changes also occurred.
1. Sprinkling for baptism
2. Infant baptism
3. Extreme Unction
4. The sign of the cross
5. Religious celebration of holidays
6. Auricular Confession
7. Purgatory
Etc.
None of these are found in the Bible.
C. There then came the reformation movement in the 1500’s AD.
1. Martin Luther (1483-1546), Huldreich Zwingli (1484-1531); John Calvin (1509-1564),
John Knox, etc. These tried to reform the Catholic Church, but eventually had to break away
from the Catholic Church. Their followers rallied around their teachings and new
denominations were formed.
2. From others - John Smyth, John Wesley, etc. - beliefs and practices were taught.
These are credited for founding various denominations, because men rallied around the beliefs
and writing of these teachers. Creeds were written and denominations formed around them.
3. By the 1700’s there were many denominations that were formed.
V. Is The Lord Pleased With The Forming Of The Many Denominations? What Does He Want Us
To Do?
A. 1 Cor. 1:10-13
1. What you see from this passage are groups within a group – factions within a church. These
factions have different ideas and practices.
a. One faction was saying they are of Paul, and another saying they are of Apollos, and another
they are of Cephas.
2. Paul, the apostle comes along a nips it in the bud. “No, you must not do that. We are to be a
united people, speaking the same thing, being of the same mind and the same judgment.”
B. John 17:20-23
1. Jesus prays that those who believe in Him be one, even as He and the Father are one.
2. Jesus wants unity in His church. Jesus does not want division.
C. Here we are today in 2024. We are surrounded with denominationalism (division).
What should we do? What would God want us to do?
1. The Lord wants us to strive to follow the pattern that was established in the first century by His
Spirit guided apostles. He would want us to continue in the apostles teaching (Acts 2:42).
Does the presence of all these denominations around us keep us from doing what they did in
the first century?
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