It is not uncommon to hear someone blame someone else for their sinful behavior. A child blames the parents for way they were raised. An employee blames the company for the way they were treated. The same thing can be heard by a child of God wanting to blame the church for the way they were treated. What does God’s word say about this? Can others be made to sin?

Consider Jesus’ sermon on the mount. “But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea,” (Matt. 18:6). At first glance, one might get the impression that the parent, company or even a church should be blamed when they cause others to do wrong. However, a close examination will indicate that this is not what the Lord meant at all.

When you read the first five verses of Matthew 18, you will see that our Lord was talking about His children that are faithful. He then proceeded to talk about causing His children to sin. This means that the child is right to fault the parents if they taught the wrong things. Or a company that encouraged corruption. Or a church that taught its members to transgress the commands of God.

This is a narrow teaching though. In these scenarios, sinful behavior was being actively encouraged. If the behavior is not being taught or enforced, the individual is clearly still accountable. Let’s focus more specifically with a local church for the rest of this article.

If a member of the church felt like one member was running the show or that they were not getting enough attention, are they right to leave the church and start attending a religious group in error? Of course not. If the church they were attending encouraged them to leave and follow a church that was erring, then the words of Jesus would apply. These are different scenarios though, and it is vital to see this.

Here is an illustration: A man comes home from work and tells his wife their marriage is over. She begins to cry and asks why? He says that he found out that a guy at work does not love her and much as he does. The wife is confused. Why are you leaving me just because someone else does not love me as much?

The behavior in the illustration is irrational, but people use similar logic to justify leaving the Lord and faithful churches all the time. They say that people “here’ do not love the Lord like they do, so they are leaving. If they leave and start attending a place that practices error, they have left the Lord. Casting blame to justify sinful behavior does not excuse it in the eyes of the Lord.

There are things we can say with certainty. We are to be members of the church that belongs to Christ and is the pillar and ground of truth (I Tim. 3:15). Thus, you will not find faithful churches encouraging the members to sin by drinking alcohol (I Pet. 4:3), promoting the social gospel (I Cor. 11:22) or teaching that church funds can be used for anything they want (I Tim. 5:16). The list goes on and on.

The next time you hear anyone blaming the church for their sinful behavior, be quick to inform them that the church NEVER causes someone to sin unless that church promotes sin! In all my years of preaching and talking with Christians who have fallen away, I have never witnessed anyone doing sinful things that the church actually encouraged them to do! I have heard various accusations and been told that the person in sin was okay spiritually, but these claims do not fit with the word of God. Let’s make sure we never put words in the mouth of our Lord.

Chuck  

Every possible answer to the question in this title is secondary to the fact that we have FAITH. You need it to become a Christian, and you cannot remain faithful without it (Heb. 11:6). The confidence we have in our hope of heaven is based upon faith, and this faith is developed by feeding on the word of God (Rom. 10:17).

Here is an interesting question – what things should not be used to justify your love of being a Christian? For example, who would say they love being a Christian because of the hardships they face? Saints know that they became children of God to be able to face and endure problems that arise, not so all problems would immediately go away (Phil. 4:13). This is why we pray, worship, love, forgive, weep and rejoice. Our faith is to be living (I Pet. 1:3). This means our faith should be active because a faith without demonstration is a dead faith (James 2:26).

Those who walk by faith have a firm foundation. Because their foundation is sure and steadfast, they find a peace that passes all understanding (Phil. 4:4-7). This enables one to resist the fiery darts of the wicked one (Eph. 6:16). Victory is the only way we will get to spend eternity with all the faithful at the end of time. This brings up an important point – Christians are not alone! Christians find joy in striving with others to walk by faith and not by sight (II Cor. 5:7).

Now we understand completely why God’s people are eager to assemble for Bible study whenever the opportunity arises. Because faith is the key to true joy for the Christian, having their faith increased magnifies all the things that they love about being part of God’s family. Those who lack faith find it very difficult to come up with good reasons why they love being a Christian. Weakening a Christian’s faith results in a weaker Christian. Removing their faith destroys the Christian.

Like disciples asked of Jesus, let’s all make sure we see the importance of doing everything we can to increase our faith (Luke 17:5). Our salvation depends upon it.

Chuck

Before we answer the question given in the title, let’s first qualify some things. Reason being, everyone has been given free-will. Thus, we can choose to do whatever we want. The question at hand is more of, do I have to be a member of the church of Christ to be pleasing to the Father? Let’s see what the Bible has to say.

What pleases the Lord?

It is vital that we understand that pleasing the Lord is not based upon what pleases us. So often you find religious people doing things for the God that He did not approve of. Consider what Cain did. In Hebrews 11:4, we are told that Abel offered a more excellent sacrifice than Cain. Did you notice it said that Cain offered a sacrifice? And, he offered it to God. This pleased Cain but it didn’t please the Lord. Reason being, the Hebrew writer clearly stated that it is impossible to please God without faith (Heb. 11:6). The faith we are to have comes from the word of God (Rom. 10:17). All of this simply means, the Father tells us what is pleasing to Him, so we don’t have to guess.

What is the church of Christ?

It would be silly to answer the original question if someone doesn’t even know what the church of Christ is. Just like the previous point where people are guilty of assuming what God wants, people are guilty of thinking they know what the church of Christ is, when they don’t .We are not talking about a denominational church. Are there denominational churches of Christ? Yes. But that’s not what we are dealing with. From a Biblical standpoint, what is the church of Christ? To begin with, it isn’t to be a man-made religious organization. Jesus promised to build His spiritual body, the church, which He did (Matt. 16:18; Acts 20:28; Eph. 1:22-23). Those who obey the gospel are the Lord’s special people that have been called out of darkness (I Pet. 2:9; Col. 1:13). So what we are talking about is a people that belong to Christ which He rules over since He is the head of the church having all authority (Col. 1:18; Matt. 28:18).

Who is a member of the church of Christ? 

Just like the previous point, again, man thinks he can control who becomes a member or not. The truth is, man has no say in the matter. No one, not a group of people can vote in, or add anyone to the church of Christ. Why? The church does not belong to the church, it belongs to Christ, it is His. I realize this is foreign to many people. Since the thousands of man-made religious organizations establish their own doctrines, it therefore puts them in control of who they will accept into the church. What everyone needs to know, is that Jesus adds all those who obey the gospel to His church (Acts 2:41-47). Obviously, since Christ promised and built it, it only makes sense that He decides who He will add to it. And those are the saved!

If not a member of the church of Christ, what other choices are there?

I can’t imagine anyone who wants to be saved, and be added to the church that is Christ’s, asking the question: Do I have to be a member of the church of Christ? Every saint in the first century was a member of Christ’s church (Rom. 16:16). Now we see the answer is crystal clear. If someone wants to please the Lord, be part of the spiritual family, Christ’s church, then YES, one must be a member of the church of Christ. No, not some religious sect that uses the Biblical name, but those who became Christians, having the Savior add then automatically to His spiritual family – the church of Christ.

Chuck

The first article is a perfect example of Christians conforming to the way the world perceives the church to be (Rom. 12:1-2). If you were to ask the average person on the street what a church should be, they would state that the church should be provide for the physical, emotional and material needs of the community. Many people believe that, in sum, this is what it means to provide for people “spiritually”.

This is why some churches provide daycare services, language-classes, blood drives and facilities for groups like Weight Watcher and the Boy Scouts. The list goes on and on. It is no longer surprising when churches of our Lord do the same things under the disguise of “good works.”

This is not a slam against anyone who wants to do good works. Opening daycares, organizing get-togethers for fun and games and volunteering in the community are all good and need to be done. The question is, why do those things only if people know you are a member of a certain church?

Jesus dealt with this kind of behavior in Matthew 23. I am not suggesting people are guilty of being just like the Pharisees Jesus was rebuking. I am suggesting that we can be guilty of doing the things those religious people were doing that the Lord had to rebuke. In verse 5, Christ said of those individuals, “But all their works they do to be seen by men.”  Drawing attention to self is not the goal.

What kind of message would I be sending to people in the community if I wore a T-shirt saying, “I belong to Debbie” (my wife)? Do I have to tell people that? Can I not act accordingly so that people know I belong to someone else? Religious groups are simply conforming to what they know people want. This is turn will draw people in and gain the large numbers.

Jesus’ earthly life had a purpose. He did not change that purpose to satisfy those who wanted other things from Him (John 6:26-27).

Chuck

There is an ongoing movement in churches of Christ to engage in all kinds of unlawful activities by putting it under the umbrella of “good works.” This is nothing new, nor is it unique. Most religious sects are also expanding their definition of “good works”. The influence is so strong that Christians look around and start to think, “Since everyone is doing it, it must be okay.”

This manner of thinking is shown in Israel’s desire to be led by a king rather than by God directly (I Sam. 8:5-6). Desiring to follow what is popular on the earth often results in forsaking the creator. What is wrong with expanding the mission of the church though? The church was founded by Christ (Matt. 16:18) for a specific purpose – to serve as the pillar and ground for God’s truth (1 Tim. 3:15). If we expand the mission of the church, we disregard Christ’s purpose for it.

Many local congregations follow the Biblical pattern of only governing themselves and having Christ as their head (Col. 1:18, Eph. 1:22-23). Still, a local church can be guilty of over-stepping its bounds by engaging in activities beyond what God has sanctioned. For example, the apostle Paul told Timothy to preach that Christians should take care of their own family members rather than burdening the church with that work (I Tim. 5:16). Even though helping needy people is a good work, there are still Biblical limitations on what the church should do. Having established that there are Biblical limitations on what a church should do, let us examine some other ways churches can go beyond their Christ-sanctioned purpose:

Raising our children

Some churches want to have a hand in child rearing, so they provide camps, parties, “trunk or treat” events, gyms and playgrounds.  However, parents are responsible for raising their children, not the church (Eph. 6:3; Titus 2:4). These activities have no direct spiritual application, so why should churches engage in them?

Providing meals

The brethren at Corinth were rebuked for mixing what they could do on an individual level with what the church can do collectively by trying to make feasts a spiritual event (I Cor. 11:22). They were told that they should eat at home as feasting is not a church work!  Until people can see that there is a difference between what the church can do collectively and was can be done individually, we will continue to see more and more local churches taking on unnecessary responsibility at the expense of their Christ-given purpose.

Loving our spouses

Husbands do not love their wives as a “church work”. But that is what happens when a church organizes a date night for couples and supplies babysitters. Husbands can and do handle these things without the oversight of any church!

It is tempting to look at these examples and ask what is the harm? Instead, God’s children should ask if God has authorized these activities. The purpose of the church is specific and spiritual, so it makes logical sense that its authorized activities will also be specific and spiritually grounded. Many people would refuse to go to a church that is doing something obviously sinful. Let us not ignore God’s purposes for the church though. The church is Christ’s (Acts 20:28), and no one has the right to presume to think for the Lord.

Chuck