Being Apostolic In The Modern World 14

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Maintained In Truth

Apostolics  have great expectations for the Church. As Apostolics
our faith, life, and ministry, are patterned after the Apostles 
in the book of Acts. Signs, wonders, and miracles were common place in
Acts.  Anointed preaching resulted in multitudes being baptized in
Jesus' name and receiving the baptism in the Holy Spirit.  Social and
religious barriers were broken  down as the Gospel reaches Jews,
Gentiles, and Samaritans.  Secular authorities were powerless to thwart
the progress of the Gospel.  Through the efforts of the apostles the
Gospel was proclaimed in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to the uttermost
parts of
the earth.   This triumphal portrait of the Church  is the pattern
Apostolics desire to follow.

The reality of the present day Apostolic Church, however, sometimes
fail to meet these expectations.  Anointed messages are proclaimed with
little or no results.  Pastors struggle for years with small
congregations in large cities.  Large numbers of Apostolics have
forsaken their faith and embraced a new understanding of the Gospel.
Brethren once committed to unity to advance the Apostolic faith now
separate over minor doctrinal differences.  Influential denominations,
organizations, and magazines refer to  the Apostolic faith as heresy and
consider the Apostolic movement cultic.   As a result Apostolics face
enormous pressure to abandon their faith and embrace doctrines more
acceptable to "mainstream" Christianity.  How is the Church Maintained
in Truth in the midst of this reality?

Many Apostolics believe that the Church will be Maintained in Truth
by a reaffirmation of traditional Apostolic doctrines.  This affirmation
is twofold.  First, the doctrines are said to be the explicit teachings
of the founders of the Apostolic movement.  Second, the doctrines are
said to be the explicit teaching of Holy Scripture.  A hierarchical
system of denominational and organizational officials is given the task
of formulating these essential Apostolic doctrines and of monitoring the
Apostolic faith.  Their interpretations of the Apostolic faith are
considered authoritative, if not infallible, and are not to be
questioned.  Through their effort heretics within the Church will be
exposed, enemies of the Church defeated, and the Church Maintained in
Truth.    Is this the pattern of the  Apostolic Church  of the New
Testament?

The Apostolic Church of the New Testament was not unlike the present
day Apostolic Church.  A realistic reading of the book of Acts reveals a
Church experiencing failure, hypocrisy, backsliding, persecution,
heresy, and schism, in the midst of a successful ministry.  However,
they were not Maintained in Truth by authoritative doctrinal traditions,
or a hierarchical system of church officials.  They were Maintained in
Truth by the power of the Holy Spirit because of their faith in Jesus
Christ.

The Apostolic Church experienced the presence and power of the risen
Lord on the day of Pentecost.  They knew that Jesus was the definitive
revelation of God to man.  Jesus was the Way, the Truth, the Life.  They
knew that no other revelation would surpass Him.  They knew that a new
age had dawned, an age where God's Spirit would be poured out upon all
men.   They knew that whosoever called upon His Name would be saved.
They knew that Jesus would constitute His Church and that the gates of
hell will not prevail against it. By faith, they grasped His promises.
There will always be the proclamation of the Gospel and the response of
faith.  There will always be a Church!

Maintaining the Church in Truth is not a manner of being able to
trace Church doctrines from past to present.  It is not about being able
to give the most rational and coherent accounting of faith.  It is not
about having an ecclesiastical hierarchy to present, interpret, and
defend the faith.  It is also not a manner of being a member of a
particular denomination.

The Church is Maintained in Truth as it responds in faith to the
calling of God, believes his Word, and engages in His ministry.  Being
Maintained in Truth  is a way of life, a way of living in faith,  faith
which embraces the promises of God contained in Holy Scripture.

The problem is that in a rationalistic, scientific, and
technological age we want empirical proof that the Church is being
Maintained in Truth.  We look for consensus in doctrine, uniformity of
appearance, evangelistic results,  denominational affiliation,  and
intellectual victories over our opponents.  We try to demonstrate and
prove our orthodoxy by rationalistic arguments  from the pages of Holy
Scripture.  We adopt an a modern enlightenment definition of truth.
Truth is a series of correct statements or propositions demonstrated by
our observations and reasoning to be true.

The Bible presents a very different conception of Truth.  Truth,
Hebrew emet, Greek aletheia, means fidelity, permanence, reliability.
In the Bible it refers to the absolute reliability and faithfulness of
God in keeping His promises toward His people.  Truth was not a series
of propositional statements demonstrated by observation and reasoning to
be true.  God was true because of  His faithfulness.  Jesus is
proclaimed to be the Truth because He is faithful in bringing to His
people all of the blessings of the new covenant.  For Apostolics, Truth
should have a very human face, the face of Jesus.  Because Jesus is
faithful there is the perpetual promise that the Church will be
Maintained in Truth.  He who is the Truth will Maintain the Truth!  In
the midst of doubts and divisions, persecution and heresies, backsliding
and compromising, Jesus will Maintain His Church in Truth!

It is from the perspective of faith that the Church sees concrete
evidence that it is Maintained in Truth.  The Church  Maintained in
Truth  proclaims Jesus Christ to be the Truth.  Doctrines and beliefs
formulated as guidelines for fellowship are secondary to the One who is
the Way, the Truth, and the Life.  Conversion is not a manner of an
intellectual assent to Church dogmas but a real experience of the risen
savior.

The Church Maintained in Truth evidences its faith in Christ by a
life of discipleship.  The Church seeks to be conformed to the image of
Christ.  The Church continues the ministry of Jesus upon the earth
proclaiming the present reign of God, the reality of salvation, and
ministering to the poor and needy.  The Church Maintained in Truth has
adopted the ethics of the Sermon on the Mount as its own ethic.

The Church Maintained in Truth follows the guidance of the Holy
Spirit.  The Holy Spirit is not some nebulous and mysterious force but
the Spirit of Jesus Christ present within the Church.  This is the
Spirit which continues the New Testament ministry of our Lord by
empowering believers to witness and bringing forth signs, wonders, and
miracles.  The Spirit also reproves the Church and teaches of
righteousness and unrighteousness.  The Spirit brings forth fruits in
the Church, love, peace, hope, and kindness.

The Spirit of God cannot be controlled by ecclesiastical dogmas,
religious traditions, or the expectations of man.  The Spirit is free to
guide the Church in whatsoever direction He desires.  The Spirit
responds to faith and trust not to coercion.  The Spirit is ever willing
to lead the Church into all Truth.  The Church Maintained in Truth
possesses a willingness to follow the guidance of the Spirit.

Finally, the Church Maintained in Truth is true to its Vision.  This
Vision, this self understanding,  is found outside of denominational
hierarchies, official theology, and recognized ministries.  It is found
in the faith of the precious saints of God who attend church, pay their
tithes, worship the Lord, witness to their faith, and give themselves
for Christian service.  They do all of this without a complete
understanding of the doctrine of God, without knowing all of the
arguments that support Acts 2:38 as the New Birth, and without
comprehending all of the reasons for holiness standards.  They endure
Church divisions, denominational infighting, the quest for power and
prestige by pastors, and the assaults on Apostolic beliefs.  They are
tolerant when others are intolerant.  They are loving when others are
unloving.  They fellowship when others separate.  They continue to live
for God when the Church is at its worst.  Because they do they can hear
the voice of God and follow the guidance of the Spirit.  They can call
the Church to repentance and prepare the Church for renewal.  They know
He who is the Truth and are convinced by faith of the reality of their
experience and of their Lord.  Together, these saints give us the
Apostolic Vision. A Vision of the continuing ministry of Jesus upon this
earth.  A Vision of countless souls receiving the baptism in the Holy
Spirit and being baptized in Jesus name.  A Vision of a Holy People
separated unto God.  A Vision of the Church Maintained in Truth by Jesus
Christ until He returns.