Text: I Corinthians 1:10-13
Proposition: How can I tell if I belong to a denomination?
Introduction
Many people ask what denomination do you belong too? I hate that question because most of the time they don’t realized what they are asking. I don’t know if they will understand I don’t belong to a denomination. They assume all people who go to church belong to a denomination. Being a denomination goes against what God intended for his church.
In John 17 he prayed that they would all be one. John 17:21 and 22 Jesus didn’t want what we have today with hundreds of different churches.
What does denomination mean?
Denomination
DENOMINATION, n.
1. The act of naming.
2. A name or appellation; a vocal sound, customarily used to express a thing or a quality, in discourse; as, all man fall under the denomination of sinners; actions fall under the denomination of good or bad.
3. A class, society or collection of individuals, called by the same name; as a denomination of Christians.
The word denominate is from Latin de, from and nomen, to name.
People are asking from what name are you.
In a fraction the denominator is the number on the bottom. It tells how many parts the whole has been divided into. If I have a pie divided into four pieces in the fraction ¼ the number four tells me the pie has been divided into four pieces. This is what man has done to the church. He has taken the whole thing and divided it up into hundreds of pieces. Christ’s body is not to be divided. It is to stay whole. To denominate is sin. Paul made this clear to the Corinthians.
I. Who is the founder and owner?
A. Jesus is to be the founder of the church.
1. Matthew 16:16-18, Jesus promised to build his church, not some other man’s church.
2. I Corinthians 3:10-11
3. Acts 20:28, he purchased it with his blood.
B. Men found churches. Sometimes they didn’t want to, but their followers made them their founder.
1. If Martin Luther is the founder you are in a denomination. Luther didn’t want to found a church. Here is what he said, MARTIN LUTHER said, “I pray you leave my name alone, and do not call yourselves Lutherans but Christians. Who is Luther? My doctrine is not mine. I have not bee crucified for anyone. Paul would not let any call themselves after Paul, nor of Peter but of Christ. How then does it befit me, a miserable bag of dust and ashes, to give my name to the children of God: Cease my dear friends, to cling to these party names and distinctions: away with all; and let us call ourselves only Christians after him from whom our doctrine comes.” (Stork, The Life of Luther, p. 289)
2. If the your church is built on Peter you are a denomination. The church is built on Christ not Peter, like Catholicism would have us believe.
3. JOHN WESLEY, founder of the Methodist Church in the preface of his NEW TESTAMENT WITH NOTES, (1754, p. 5), wrote: “Would to God that all the party names and unscriptural phrases and forms, which have divided the Christian world were forgotten, and that we might all agree to sit down together as humble loving disciples at the feet of our common Master, to hear His words and imbibe His spirit and to transform His life into our own.”
4. If Alexander Campbell is the founder you belong to a denomination.
5. Joseph Smith founder of the Mormon Church.
II. When was it founded?
A. The day of Pentecost in 33 AD
1. Luke 24:47
2. Acts 2:1-8 and 38-47, this is when the church began not 1054 Orthodox, not 1530 Lutheran or 1536 Presbyterian.
III. Where did it begin?
1. Jerusalem
2. Luke 24:47
3. Not North America, Not Germany, France, or Switzerland. The Lord’s church began in Jerusalem.
IV. Who adds saved men to it?
A. The Lords adds to it.
1. Acts 2:47
2. We are not voted in or required to pay dues. The Lord adds us.
3. When we are baptized we are added to the Lord’s church.
4. Our salvation or entrance into the church does not depend on man. Some want to prevent people from entering the church. They say if you are not baptized by a person with certain qualifications your baptism is not valid. If my entrance into the kingdom depends on the qualifications of some man everyone is in trouble. NO one is qualified except Jesus Christ.
5. Here is an example. Thomas Campbell was a Presbyterian preacher in Scotland. He was well educated and respected by his colleagues. He came to the United States. He served the Lord’s Supper to some people who were Presbyterian, but not of the same branch he was. A young man told the higher authorities what he had done and he was censured for it. Thomas for years had begun to see that many Presbyterian practices had no Biblical foundation. One was sprinkling infants. He didn’t separate for several years, but the time finally came when he felt he had no other choice. His son Alexander Campbell by this time had grown up, married and had his first child. He decided he needed to know what to do about baptizing his child. He was also a preacher and a bible scholar. He read every book he could find in favor of infant baptism. He read not against it. Then he searched the New Testament to find out what the Bible said about it. He could find nothing. He talked with his father his father agreed with him. In his search in the scriptures he understood he had never been immersed. His father had immersed 3 people a short time before, but he had never been immersed himself. Alexander’s sister also wanted to be baptized. The only one they knew of who would immerse them was a Baptist minister, Matthias Luce. Alexander told Mr. Luce he wanted to be baptized according to the New Testament pattern. At that time Baptists required the candidate for baptism to give a testimony of a religious experience. Alexander said this was nowhere in the bible and wanted Mr. Luce to Baptize him upon the statement that he believed that Jesus Christ was the Son of the Living God. Mr. Luce agreed to the terms even though he knew it might cause him trouble with other Baptists. Thomas Campbell also made up his mind to be immersed. That day Alexander and his wife, Thomas and his wife, Thomas’s daughter and Mr. and Mrs. James Hanen were baptized according to the New Testament practice.
6. If I am baptized by a Baptist preacher in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of my sin, would I be added to the Lord’s Church or the Baptist Church?
7. John 4:1-2, Jesus didn’t baptize people he let his disciples do it. If salvation depended on who did the baptizing Jesus would be the one to do it.
8. Matthew 3:13-15, Jesus was baptized by John. John knew he wasn’t qualified to baptize Jesus. Jesus convinced John it was proper for him to be baptized.
9. I Corinthians 1:13-17, Paul let other people do the baptizing. He preached the gospel.
V. Where is the headquarters?
A. The quarters of the head. Where does the head live.
1. Ephesians 1:20 and 21. Our headquarters are in heaven.
2. If the headquarters of the church are here on earth we belong to a denomination.
3. Our headquarters are not in Rome or Salt Lake City, Utah.
4. Ephesians 1:22, Jesus is the only head of the Church.
5. A while ago someone called and wanted to talk to the head of the church. I said, “Jesus Christ is the head of the church.” She said, “I know, I want to talk to whoever is in charge of the finances.”
VI. What is its only book of authority?
A. The Bible is to be our only book of authority, not the writings of Alexander Campbell, Barton W. Stone, J. W. McGarvey, Martin Luther, John Calvin or anyone else. The bible is our only creed. We don’t have a catechism.
B. II Timothy 3:16 and 17.
Conclusion
The only name we should be from is the name of Christ. We are Christians, Acts 11:28, 26:28 and I Peter 4:16. We are not to be called by other names.
The founder of the Church is Jesus Christ. It started in 33 AD in Jerusalem. He adds us to the church. The churches headquarters are in heaven with Jesus as the head, and the bible as its only book of authority.
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