I want to thank each and every one of you for
being here tonight. All honor, glory, and praise
goes to God through His Son and our Savior Jesus
Christ. He's the reason why we're here. He's
the reason why we sing. He's the reason why we
pray. He's the reason why this week we are studying
God's Word and considering what it has to teach
us about our theme, our topic of restoring New
Testament Christianity. You know we've covered
a lot of ground already in this series over the
last week. We've talked about a lot of things
pertaining to restoring New Testament Christianity
and going back to the Bible to find our faith,
to find our doctrine, to find our practice so
that we can simply be the one in the same church
that Jesus built. I'll mention to you before
we get started in our lesson tonight that if
you're interested in getting the notes from The
topics that we've talked about thus far in this
series, those notes, those handouts are right
up here on the front view. After the service,
feel free to take a copy of the notes and the
outlines for lessons one through seven in this
series. Tonight, we're gonna do lesson number
eight in the series. Tonight, we're gonna talk
about restoring God's plan for undivided teaching
assemblies in the church. I realize that some
of you will be back at your home congregations
tomorrow, and if you're interested in having
the notes for Lessons 9 and 10, those are provided
here on the pew as well. Feel free to grab those.
So if you desire, you can have a complete set
of the notes for this series. The church here
at North Warren, as I mentioned last night, does
not use any kind of Sunday school or church Bible
class system for teaching. And you know when
people in the Church of Christ hear that they
think a lot of different things. You may be hearing
that tonight and you may be thinking well that
sure sounds different. I never knew there were
congregations that didn't have Sunday school
or church Bible classes. You might be hearing
that and to you that might sound like a strange
idea. Maybe you're sitting there tonight and
you're saying well it's just the craziest idea
you've ever heard of in all your life. Why not
have Sunday school? Why not have church Bible
classes? You know a person might be prompted
to think or ask, you know, don't y 'all think
it's important to teach the Bible? And I think
that's a fair question and I want to answer that
question up front really clearly for you. Yes,
we do feel strongly and we believe strongly that
the church should teach the Bible. And we've
been trying to do that to the best of our ability
all week through this gospel meeting. A person
might wonder, well, don't y 'all think it's important
for children to learn the Bible? It's a good
question and let me answer that. Yes, we believe
strongly that children should be taught and they
do need to learn the Bible. And I've been thankful
over the course of this week for how many young
people, how many children we've had in our assemblies.
And they've done a good job participating, singing,
praying, listening. They're up here taking notes.
They're learning the Word of God with us tonight
and we're very thankful for that. You know, a
person might ask the question, well, don't you
all think it's important for women to have an
opportunity to teach the Bible? Because, you
know, in a lot of churches, the church Bible
classes is the sole opportunity for a woman to
teach, to make comments, or ask questions in
Bible classes. And the answer to that question
is this. Yes, we believe that women can, and
we believe women should be teaching the Bible.
Okay, then if we think it's important to teach
the Bible if we think it's important children
learn the Bible and if we think it's important
that women have an opportunity to teach the Bible
as well Then why doesn't the church here at North
Warren have Sunday school? Why don't they have
any kind of church Bible class program? It all
goes back to this fact and I and I hope through
our study tonight I can help you see this I can
help you understand it We feel like there's a
proper time and there's a proper place for all
this important teaching that we've just talked
about. Teaching children, women having opportunity
to teach. We feel like there's a proper time
and a proper place for all of it. We believe
and we are convicted that God has a plan for
teaching the church. He has a plan and he has
revealed that plan to us Of course in the New
Testament and we've been going to the New Testament
and looking at it as a pattern as a blueprint
for Everything we've talked about this morning
or this week and we're gonna do so again tonight
We're gonna go to God's pattern his New Testament
to see what the plan is for teaching the church
And we know, and I think we all agree, when God
gives us a plan, we shouldn't add anything to
that plan, we shouldn't take anything away from
that plan, and we shouldn't try to substitute
our own plan for God's plan. And we believe,
we are convicted and convinced by our study of
the Scriptures, that God's plan for teaching
the church, it involves undivided teaching assemblies.
Undivided teaching assemblies. thrown out that
term undivided teaching assemblies. It's probably
important that I define exactly what I'm talking
about so there's no confusion. When I say undivided
teaching assemblies I'm talking about men women
and children of all ages coming together into
one place I'm talking about men standing up and
teaching the Word of God. I'm talking about women
sitting and learning in silence. I'm talking
about everybody sitting, listening, and learning
the Word of God together. Okay, and the best
example I could give you of an undivided teaching
assembly would be the very setting and assembly
we are in right here tonight. All right, we are
all called together into one place men women
and children young and old. We're all sitting
We're all listening men are taking turn leading
in the service It's my turn to teach and y 'all
are being a great audience You're sitting reverently
and listening carefully and we're all listening
and learning the Word of God together That's
what I mean when I talk about undivided teaching
assemblies We believe God's plan does not involve
teaching the church with a Sunday school or a
church Bible class system of teaching or a divided
system of Bible classes. We believe God's plan
and pattern is for undivided teaching assemblies
and not this. Now, before we dive off into the
lesson and start looking in the Scriptures, I
want to stop for just a moment and I want to
share a few words and a few thoughts with you
up front. And I just want to be open with you.
I want to be real with you. I am well aware of
the fact that this issue has caused division
in churches of Christ for many, many, many years,
going back over a hundred years. This issue of
whether or not we should have Sunday school or
church Bible classes has caused a division in
the church. That is not lost on me. And I think
that division is something that is very unfortunate.
I think this division is something that we would
have to all admit the Lord is not pleased with.
The Lord doesn't want division in His church.
He wants unity. All right, now I have very strong,
passionate convictions about this issue. And
I'm going to share those convictions with you
tonight. And I'm going to do so with passion
in my heart. I'm going to get excited. I might
raise my voice. But if I do that, please know
it's for no other reason other than I'm passionate
about what I believe the Bible teaches about
this. Let me just be completely open and honest
with you. There's a part of me as I stand up
here tonight that's very excited to share this
information with you. But you know to be honest
there's also a part of me that is hesitant because
I know there's people in this audience tonight
That have attended churches of Christ and congregations
that use Sunday school and church Bible classes
there may be people in the audience tonight that
that's all they've ever known their whole life
and they're just hearing for the first time that
there's churches of Christ that don't have Bible
classes and I always want to be very careful
and very sensitive and very thoughtful. I don't
want to offend anyone. We're not eager to offend
people when we teach and preach on these things.
That's not our goal. That's not our purpose.
I believe that we should not be afraid to discuss
controversial issues like this. I think it would
actually be better if we could find a way within
ourselves to humbly, patiently, and lovingly
talk about some of the issues that have divided
us. Because here's my conviction and here's my
belief, and you may not feel the same way I do.
That's okay. But I believe if you obeyed the
same gospel I did, I believe you are my brother
and you are my sister in Christ. God put you
in the same family He put me into. whether we
agree or disagree on this topic or any number
of things we've talked about this week if we
obeyed the same gospel we are heirs of the same
inheritance we are members of the same family
citizens of the same kingdom we have the same
hope we have the same Savior and I don't know
how you feel about that but I feel like it's
my obligation and my duty to always do my best
my very best to love and respect my brethren
Even when we might disagree on issues like this,
I think that's important. And I'm gonna try to
present this material in such a way that shows
that love and that respect, but at the same time,
shows the passion and conviction that we have
on this subject. And so, again, part of me is
excited, part of me is hesitant. Part of us...
is eager to embrace everyone, all of our brothers
and sisters, who are a part of the Lord's family
with us. On one hand, we're very eager to embrace
everyone in the body of Christ, but on the other
hand, honestly, we are also very hesitant to
embrace and condone what we believe from our
perspective to be unscriptural practices. And
I'm just being honest and real with you. This
is where I'm at. This is how I feel. This is
how I see these things. I'm going to ask one
thing from you. I'm being real honest. I'm being
real and raw with you. I'm going to ask you to
do one thing for me. Before you tune me out and
say this hillbilly from Arkansas don't know what
he's talking about. Would you please give this
a fair and honest consideration? Before you dismiss
what we're teaching tonight as strange, odd as
mean divisive crazy whatever you might think
about this before you do that would you please
just just hear us out just listen just give us
a fair and honest consideration and listen to
these things with an open heart and open mind
I'm gonna I'm gonna trust tonight that you're
gonna do that so I'm gonna thank you ahead of
time for having an open heart and an open mind
to receive the things that we're gonna talk about
tonight Now before we dive off into the scriptures
it might help all of us to go back and review
some of the different ways that we approach the
scripture. It's hard for some people to understand
how we could arrive at such a conviction and
such a practice like this and often times people
have a hard time wrapping their mind around it
because they don't understand our approach to
scripture. We believe the New Testament provides
us with a pattern on how to be the church that
Jesus built, and we are trying our very best.
Despite our weaknesses, our shortcomings, and
our failures, we're trying our very best to carefully
follow the New Testament pattern so that we can
be careful to avoid all the different man -made
doctrines and traditions we see in religion today.
Here's another way we approach Scripture. We
learn a lot of lessons from the Old Testament.
There are stories in the Old Testament that teach
us the importance of obedience to God's plan,
obedience to His patterns. Obedience is imperative,
you know, even in the things that might seem
like the finer details to us. God still wants
our obedience even in the finer details. And
I don't have time to preach a sermon about these
stories, but I'm just offering these to remind
you. We read in Leviticus 10 .1 -2 about two
brothers, Nadam and Abihu, who offered strange
fire before the Lord. These were religious men
doing religious things, but because they weren't
following the word of God, they suffered the
worst of consequences. They died. We read about
Moses. God told Moses in Numbers chapter 20 to
speak to the rock, and it would give forth water.
Instead, Moses struck the rock. And because of
his disobedience to what God told him to do,
he didn't go into the promised land of Canaan.
In 1 Chronicles 13 we read of a man named Uzzah
who in the days of King David was very unwise
in the way that he handled he reached up and
touched the ark of a covenant in a way that wasn't
authorized by God. And because David and the
men of Israel weren't paying attention to the
details of God's word, they weren't following
his plan and pattern for moving the ark, Uzzah
was careless and he lost his life. We also read
of proud King Uzziah in 2 Chronicles chapter
26 who went into the temple of the Lord to burn
incense. The problem was he wasn't a priest,
he wasn't of the tribe of Levi. And God struck
him with leprosy and he was a leper till the
day he died because he didn't pay attention to
the finer details of God's law. He rebelled and
he disobeyed God's plan for offering incense
in the temple. Stories like these remind us how
important it is. that we pay close attention
to the Word of God and render obedience at every
level, even things that we might consider minor
or consider to be finer details. First thing
we're going to do tonight as we've done all week
is we're going to start by looking at the original
pattern as it's revealed in the Word of God concerning
God's plan for teaching the church. We're going
to talk about how the original pattern or plan
for teaching the church consisted of undivided
teaching assemblies. And to establish that, we're
going to go to 1 Corinthians chapter 14. And
I'm going to do a brief survey of this chapter.
It has so much to teach us about the way we should
be conducting our teaching in the assemblies
of the church. Church at Corinth had a lot of
issues. in their assemblies. In 1 Corinthians
14, 1 to 3, Paul exposes the fact that they all
desired spiritual gifts, but it was not for the
right reasons. They all had selfish motivations
for wanting these spiritual gifts that God had
given them by way of the Holy Spirit. Paul explains
to them in 1 Corinthians 14, verse 4 to 5, that
those spiritual gifts were given to edify the
church. But these Corinthians were using these
gifts to build themselves up. They thought it
was really neat. It was really cool to have the
gift of tongues, to speak a language that you'd
never studied before or spoken before. That made
them feel real important and real special and
they loved to showcase that gift in the assembly
of the church. Not giving any consideration as
to whether or not it was helpful to the church,
teaching the church anything or building them
up. Paul tries to help them see that. in verses
4 and 5. In verses 6 to 19, Paul tries to explain
and reason with them. He tells them, you know,
speaking those foreign languages, speaking in
tongues without interpretation might be edifying
for the speaker. It might make the speakers feel
important or special, but he reasons with them
to help them see it was not building up the church.
Would this lesson mean anything to you if I preached
it in Vietnamese? I don't understand a word of
Vietnamese. If I was speaking in Vietnamese right
now, that would be a miracle for sure. If I could
preach this lesson in Vietnamese, it wouldn't
profit you anything, right? Because you couldn't
understand a single thing I was saying. And that's
what Paul was trying to help the Corinthians
understand. You might feel good to have the gift
of tongues and be able to use it, but you need
to think less about yourself and more about building
up the church with these gifts. In verse 20,
you know, talks to him really straight. He gets
serious with him and he tells him, you know what,
you need to stop being childish. You need to
stop being spiritually immature and you need
to grow up in your faith and understanding about
how to properly use these spiritual gifts. And
then in verse 21 to 22, he starts to explain
the proper use of some of those gifts. He tells
them that the proper use of the gift of tongues
was to convince unbelievers that these men were
speaking on behalf of God. And he goes on to
say the proper use of the gift of prophecy, prophesying
was for edifying or building up the believers.
Speaking in an unknown language was good to convince
unbelievers that they should listen to you. Speaking
in a known language, prophesying for the congregation
was good for teaching them, instructing them,
and building them up. And then when we get to
verse 23, Paul talks about the abuse of those
spiritual gifts. and how if they continued to
abuse the spiritual gifts of tongues and prophecy,
it was going to discourage those who came in
and visited their assemblies. In verse 24 and
25, he explains that the proper use of the gifts
would convict and convince those who came in
and visited the assemblies. When he gets to verse
26, verse 26 through 32, Paul explains that every
brother can speak and can participate. And in
Corinth, all the brethren had a desire to speak
and participate in the assembly. But he explains
and tries to show them that by not taking turns
and by everyone speaking at the same time and
men speaking over one another, it had led to
a lot of confusion and a lot of chaos in their
assembly. Verses 33 to 35, Paul points out that
women were also creating disruption in their
assemblies by speaking out publicly and asking
questions there in the assembly. And that's a
very short summary of 1 Corinthians chapter 14.
We're going to dive deeper and read some of these
scriptures, but I want to set the stage for you
and help you understand that the church at Corinth
had a lot of problems in their assemblies. And
Paul wrote 1 Corinthians chapter 14. It's a chapter
of correction. He wrote the chapter to correct
all the error, all the disorder, all the chaos
and confusion that they had because of the way
they were doing things in the teaching part of
their assembly. Next thing that we'll look at
this tonight is how Paul corrects the error that
they had at Corinth. Here's the first thing Paul
tells them to do. He says the whole church needs
to come together into one place for edification.
It's the first thing he tells them, 1 Corinthians
14 verse 23. He says, if therefore the whole
church become together into one place and all
speak with tongues, foreign languages, and there
come in those that are unlearned or unbelievers,
will they not say that you're mad? Won't they
say that you're crazy? If all your men get up
and speak foreign languages they don't understand,
they're going to come in and they're going to
think you all are crazy. But I want you to notice
here the arrangement that Paul envisions. as
he lays these things out for the Corinthians.
What arrangement was Paul speaking of here in
verse 23 concerning when the church came together
for teaching? It was what I'm going to call a
togetherness arrangement. A togetherness arrangement.
Paul said the whole church become together into
one place. That is how the first century church,
the New Testament church came together for edification.
The whole church came together in one place.
And tonight, I'm gonna refer back to that over
and over again, and I'm gonna refer to that as
the togetherness arrangement. That is the authorized
arrangement for teaching the church. When the
church comes together for teaching, this is what
the scripture authorizes the whole church to
become together into one place. The next thing
Paul does by way of correction is he tells them,
look. Your men who speak in the assembly need
to take turns. They need to teach one at a time.
Remember, they were all speaking at the same
time, talking over one another, creating confusion.
He said, you need to speak and teach one at a
time so everyone in the audience can sit, listen,
learn, and be comforted all together. The whole
church become together into one place. We see
that in verse 31 of 1 Corinthians 14. Paul tells
him, for ye may all prophesy. He tells the teaching
brethren, you can all get up and speak, you can
all prophesy, but he says do it one by one, one
at a time. He says that all may learn and all
may be comforted. Paul says the speakers, the
teachers need to speak one at a time so everyone
can sit, everyone can listen, everyone can learn
together because the whole church has come together
into one place for this teaching. Okay, the men
need to speak and teach one at a time to the
congregation assembled together there in that
togetherness arrangement Now I want to I want
you to stop and notice something here If we think
about the situation here at Corinth in the chaos
and the confusion that was in their assembly
This was actually a perfect opportunity for God
to give us a divided into classes arrangement
for teaching. And let me explain what I mean
by that. In 1st Corinthians 14 verse 26, Paul
says, How is it then, brethren, every one of
you hath the psalm, hath the doctrine, hath the
tongue, hath the revelation, hath an interpretation?
He said, you brethren all have something you
want to say, you want to interject, you want
to participate in some way in the assembly. And
that wasn't a problem. That wasn't a problem.
It was just the way that they were going about
participating. They were all speaking over one
another and that was not edifying. That's why
he says at the end of the verse, let all things
be done unto edifying. Picture this, the church
was coming together and all these teachers, all
these men at Corinth had something to say or
contribute but because they were all speaking
at the same time it just created chaos and confusion.
This was a perfect opportunity. For God to say,
look, here's the solution to the chaos. Just
divide the church up into different classes and
let each man who has something to say teach his
own class. For example, we could have the psalm
class. We could have the tongue class, the interpretation
class, the doctrine class, the revelation class,
any number of classes. All these men wanted to
contribute in these ways. The Lord could have
very easily said, just divide the church up into
classes, put a teacher in every class, let those
men teach their classes, and that would have
eliminated the chaos. That would have removed
all the confusion. This was the perfect opportunity
for God to give us a divided into classes arrangement
for teaching, but what I want you to notice is
that is not the solution that God gave in 1 Corinthians
chapter 14. The solution, God did not tell them
to divide the church up into different classes.
The solution was this. He told them the church
needs to stay together, whole church become together
into one place, togetherness arrangement. He
said, you men need to speak one at a time instead
of everybody speaking at the same time. First
Corinthians 14 verse 31. And he said, if you'll
do that, all can listen, all can learn, and all
can be comforted together in that common assembly.
This was God's solution to the chaos and the
confusion in their assemblies God had the perfect
opportunity to tell the church to divide into
classes. He didn't tell us to do that He said
we need to stay together and men need to speak
one at a time He said you need to do the teaching
just like it's being conducted here tonight Everyone
together men speaking one at a time so we can
all listen and learn together Now we continue
to look at Paul's correction of the Corinthian
errors. He had some correction for the sisters
in the congregation. He wrote to them in verses
34 and 35 that the women need to keep silent
in the assembly, that they weren't permitted
to speak out or ask questions. First Corinthians
14, 34 to 35 says, let your women keep silence
in the churches, for it is not permitted unto
them to speak. But they are commanded to be under
obedience, as also saith the law. And if they
will learn anything, let them ask their husbands
at home, for it's a shame for women to speak
in the church. We understand from scriptures
like this that men and women have different roles
and responsibilities in the church. And it's
that way in the home as well. Husbands, wives,
mothers, fathers have different responsibilities
in the home. Doesn't make the father any better
than the mother or the wife any better than her
husband. God just gave us different roles and
responsibilities in the home. And when husband
and wife know their role and work together, it's
a beautiful thing. It's the same way in the church.
Men and women have different roles and responsibilities.
It doesn't mean men are any better than women,
not at all. It just means God gave them different
roles. And a man's role is to be a leader and
a speaker, a teacher in the assemblies of the
church. A woman's role is to listen and learn
in silence. And that's the difference in the
two roles. Now something else I want to show
you by way of Paul's correction here. These corrective
measures that were mandated by Paul, these things
that he told the church there that they needed
to put into practice to correct all these errors,
these measures were not optional suggestions.
These things he told the church to do were the
commandments of the Lord. I want to show you
that in 1 Corinthians 14 verse 37. Paul said,
if any man think himself to be a prophet or spiritual,
let him acknowledge that the things that I write
unto you are the commandments of the Lord. He
just told him, you need to speak one at a time.
You need to take turns. Women need to be silent
in the assembly. If they have questions, ask
away from the assembly. He just laid out all
the measures that they needed to take to fix
the chaos and confusion. And he said, these are
not optional suggestions. These are the commandments
of the Lord. And you know what, if the Corinthians
would only accept that correction, they could
restore peace where there was confusion. They
could restore decency where there was chaos.
They could restore order and the assembly could
end up being something that was edifying instead
of being a big mess, something that was not edifying.
He explains that to him in verses 33 and verse
40. He says, for God is not the author of confusion
but of peace. as in all the churches of the saints.
And he said, let all things be done decently
and in order. You see, God can restore peace
where man has created confusion. He'll do that
in the assemblies of the church. He'll do that
really in every aspect of our life, if we'll
let him. By following his will and obeying his
word, we can have peace where we once had confusion.
As we continue to look at the original New Testament
pattern for teaching the church, I want us to
take a few moments to see from the Scriptures
that the Bible gives us two different settings
for Bible teaching. I want us to understand what
these two different settings are. Two settings
for Bible teaching as revealed in the Scripture
are going to be what I'm going to call the individual
setting and the congregational setting. Let's
talk about the individual setting and the congregational
setting for just a moment. Do we find these settings
taught in Scripture? Absolutely. And it's very
important that we can go to Scripture to find
and to describe these settings using scriptural
terms and scriptural language. Let's see what
the Bible says and let's look at Scriptures which
contrast these two settings for teaching. The
first one is Acts 20 verse 20. In Acts 20 verse
20, Paul says, he's talking to the Ephesian elders.
He talks about how he kept back nothing that
was profitable unto them, but had taught them
both publicly and from house to house. Paul tells
the Ephesian elders that he taught them in two
different settings. He said, I've taught you
publicly. That's the congregational setting,
and he says, I've taught you from house to house.
That's the individual setting. We're just using
the language of the Bible to describe these two
settings. Another place these two settings are
contrasted is 1 Corinthians 14 verse 34 to 35.
We just read that passage where Paul said, let
your women keep silence in the churches. In the
churches, there's that public congregational
setting. He said, if they have questions let
them ask their husbands at home in verse 35.
At home, there's the contrast with that private
house to house individual setting. So we have
in the churches and at home. Acts chapter 5 verse
42, Acts 5 42 talks about the apostles there
and their work in the church at Jerusalem. It
says, and daily in the temple and in every house
they cease not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.
The apostles were teaching in Jerusalem and it
says they were teaching daily where? In the temple.
That's that congregational public setting. And
it says in every house. That's that individual
at home private setting. The apostles were teaching
in the temple publicly and in every house privately.
And then the fourth example I'll give you from
scripture, which helps us see these two settings
very clearly, is in Acts 18 26 when Aquila and
Priscilla, a Christian couple, corrected a gospel
preacher, Apollos. You know, they went into the
synagogue and heard Apollos preaching Christ,
but he was preaching John's baptism. He had the
wrong doctrine of baptism. You know, they found
it necessary to correct Apollos, to give him
a better understanding of the doctrine of baptism.
In Acts 18 26, Bible says that they took him
unto them Priscilla and Aquila took him unto
them. They were in the synagogue setting, but
they took him unto them in the private setting,
the individual setting, and expounded unto him
the way of God more perfectly. So in Acts 18
26, again we see both settings for teaching.
We see that public setting. Apollos was there
in the synagogue teaching publicly, but when
it came time to correct him, Priscilla and Aquila
took him aside. They took him into that private
individual setting. to expound unto Him the way
of God more perfectly. So these are the two settings
as they're given to us and revealed to us in
Scripture. And we're using the language of Scripture
to understand and to characterize these two settings.
I want to talk about each one of them briefly
for just a moment. Let's dive in deeper and look
at the congregational setting. Here's some of
the defining characteristics of teaching that
happens in the congregational setting. Teaching
that happens in the congregational setting, the
general public is going to be invited to come
and be a part of that teaching. Teaching that
happens in the congregational setting is going
to be facilitated by the church and its leadership.
The church is going to provide a time, a place,
whatever resources might be necessary to facilitate
that teaching. A teaching that happens in the
congregational setting is going to be organized
by the leaders of the congregation. They're going
to pick a teacher. They may even pick a set of
topics and ask the man to teach on those topics,
but all of that's going to be organized by the
leaders of the congregation. And then the teaching
that happens in this congregational setting is
also going to be overseen by the leaders of the
church. If there's any error that's taught, of
course the leaders of the church are going to
hear that and they're going to need to correct
that teaching. Okay, the best example I could
give you of teaching in the congregational setting
is the teaching that's going on right here right
now. We're having a gospel meeting this week
and we publicized it all over town. We put the
posters up and the flyers up and we've invited
the public to come and to hear the Word of God
this week. The congregation here, its leadership
has facilitated this gospel meeting. They have
facilitated this assembly. They provided the
means by which we can come together and be a
part of this teaching. They have organized the
gospel meeting this week. They have organized
this assembly. They've asked me to speak. And
they are overseeing what I'm teaching. If I teach
something wrong, leaders of this congregation,
it's their responsibility to correct me. So these
are some of the defining characteristics that
help us understand teaching that is done in the
congregational setting. Now why is it important
that we know that we're being taught in a congregational
setting? When we're being taught in a congregational
setting the role of women is very important The
New Testament teaches in the public assemblies
of the church in this congregational setting
as we saw from 1st Corinthians 14 34 to 35 Then
in the public assemblies of the church women
may not teach anybody Women may not teach anybody
and they may not ask questions because as the
verse says they must keep silence Let your women
keep silence in the churches. It's not permitted
under them to speak He goes on to say in 35,
it's a shame for women to speak in the assemblies
of the church. When the churches come together
for this teaching in this congregational setting,
this is the role of women. Women can't speak,
can't teach, can't ask questions, they must keep
silence. It's important for us to know that that's
the role of women when we come together in this
setting for teaching. Well, let's shift gears
also in contrast this to the individual setting.
What are some of the defining characteristics
of teaching that happens in the individual setting?
Teaching that happens in the individual setting,
generally the public is not going to be invited
to that teaching. It's teaching that happens
in more private places, more private settings,
if you will. Teaching in the individual setting
is going to be facilitated by individuals. If
me and Brother Mark, just by using him by way
of example, last night Brother Mark said, hey,
I sure would like to get together and talk about
the Scriptures. So this morning I said, come
on over to Mark's house. So Mark came over this
morning, we talked for an hour and a half about
the Scriptures. That's something we facilitated
and we set up as individuals. And the teaching
that was conducted in that setting was in the
individual setting. Teaching that happens in
the individual setting, is going to be organized
by individuals, facilitated by individuals, and
it's not necessarily going to be overseen by
the leaders of the church. Mark didn't have to
ask the elders permission to study the Bible
with me, neither did I need to ask their permission
to study the Bible with him. You know, we all
ought to be willing and eager to study the Bible
with one another, to teach and admonish one another,
encourage one another. private studies, home
Bible studies, house to house studies. We need
to use the teaching that's afforded to us in
the individual setting and I hope by looking
at the defining characteristics of each on the
screen you can see the difference. We're not
in the individual setting tonight. You know last
week brother Mark and Robin invited a lot of
us over to their house after our assemblies to
sit on the back porch and study. And you know,
when Brother Mark organized that and facilitated
that as an individual and invited us, you know,
we met over at Brother Mark's porch late into
the night and we enjoyed teaching in this individual
setting. The role of women for teaching in the
individual setting is different than the role
of women for teaching in the congregational setting.
In the individual setting, I believe that a woman
can teach anybody. I believe a woman can teach
a child. I believe a woman can teach another
woman. I believe a woman can even teach a man
in the individual setting. And I'll give you
a book chapter and verse for that in just a moment.
I believe in the individual setting. I believe
women can ask questions. In fact, First Corinthians
1435 says that's where she does need to ask questions.
Not in the assembly, but at home or away from
the assembly. In the individual setting, I don't
believe women have to keep silence. The scripture
that tells them to keep silent, 1 Corinthians
14, 34 to 35, tells them to do so in the assemblies
of the church when we're receiving teaching in
the congregational setting. I hope it's easy
for us to see that there are two different roles
for women depending on which setting we are in.
That's why it's important for us to know the
difference between teaching in the congregational
setting and teaching in the individual setting.
Let me show you why I believe women can teach
women, women can teach children, women can even
teach men away from the assemblies of the church
in private house -to -house studies. Titus 2
verse 3 to 5 commands that older Christian women
teach younger Christian women. This is very important.
Titus 2 verse 3, the aged women, it says likewise
that they be teachers of good things. Christian
women, aged Christian women need to be teachers
of good things. That they may teach the younger
women to be sober, to love their husbands, to
love their children, to be discreet, chaste,
keepers at home, good, obedient to their own
husbands. That the Word of God be not blasphemed.
This is very, very clear. There's a time and
a place for older Christian women to teach younger
Christian women. But where is the time and when
is the place for that teaching to happen? Does
that... teaching need to happen tonight, right
here in the public assembly of the church? Do
we need to have a gospel meeting to do that teaching
where we invite the public to come? No, this
teaching needs to happen away from the assemblies
of the church. The perfect place for this teaching
to happen is in the private house -to -house
individual setting, not in the congregational
setting, not in the public assemblies of the
church. And I told you, I believe a Christian
woman can teach a man as long as she does it
away from the assembly. I believe there's an
approved apostolic example of that in Acts 18
26. Remember, this is about Aquila and Priscilla,
a Christian husband and wife. What did they do
in Acts 18 26? The Bible says he, that's Apollos,
began to speak boldly in the synagogue, whom
when Aquila and Priscilla, a husband and his
wife, had heard, they took him unto them. Who
took him unto them? Bible says they. Who is they?
They is Aquila and Priscilla, a husband and a
wife, a man and a woman. They took Apollos unto
them. They took him aside in private. And what
did they do? They expounded unto him the way
of God more perfectly. Who expounded unto Apollos
the way of God more perfectly? Who taught him?
Well, they did. The same people that took him
unto them. The same people that took him aside.
And who was they? They was Aquila and Priscilla,
a man and a woman. Let me tell you how I think
this would apply today. Listen, if a sister in
the church hears me or any man teach something,
it is an error. It is not biblical and not scriptural.
I believe they have every right to bring that
to our attention and to correct us in the same
way that Priscilla corrected Apollos in Acts
18 26. Now the only thing I'll ask is that you
do that like they did privately away from the
assembly of the church. After the service of
the church, if you think I've taught error or
there's something that's amiss in my teaching,
I believe a Christian woman has every right to
correct me and I'll try to receive all the correction
that's offered. But I think this verse authorizes
our sisters. When it's appropriate and necessary,
they can teach us. If we need to be taught, they
have authority from God to teach us. They just
need to do that in the individual private setting.
Now that we've thoroughly established God's original
plan and pattern for teaching the church, and
we've seen how that pattern involves undivided
teaching assemblies of the church, we're going
to move on and we're going to look... at how
error slowly crept into the church and changed
God's plan and changed God's pattern down through
the course of church history. God's plan and
God's pattern for teaching really did not change
at all for about 1 ,750 years. For about 1 ,750
years the church was taught exactly in the way
that we have seen revealed in Scripture tonight.
But in the last part of the 1700s, last part
of the 18th century, we see the Sunday School
movement is born in England. This is Robert Rakes.
Robert Rakes was an Englishman and in 1780, Robert
Rakes established a secular school for poor working
-class children in Gloucester, England. That
school met in a private home It met on Sundays
because Sunday was the only day that the children
didn't have to go to the factories and work This
was the early parts of the Industrial Revolution
There were no child labor laws. It's very sad
and unfortunate, but children is as old as six
years old We're working 16 hour days six days
a week in the harshest Working conditions in
factories across England and Europe And this
was very detrimental to their physical health,
very detrimental to their emotional and mental
health. On Sundays, these children, the day they
had off, they were running around town being
destructive, being violent, drinking alcohol,
causing fights, destroying property. And Robert
Rake saw what was happening with these children
in his community. And he said, these children
need something better. They need an education.
And so he opened a home. to bring these children
in and to teach them on Sundays. He taught them
basic reading, he taught them writing, and in
connection with that he also taught them basic
Bible lessons. Because of that Robert Rakes is
given attribution as being the founder of the
modern day Sunday School movement. By 1783 Robert
Rakes idea of Sunday School was being publicized.
He was publicizing it throughout all of England
and it didn't take long By 1785, a Sunday school
society formed in England because of the growing
popularity of the Sunday school all across the
country. By 1788, just eight years after it was
established, there was an estimated 300 ,000
students in England who were enrolled in Sunday
schools, which were originally secular schools
in private homes just for the purpose of teaching
basic reading, writing, and Bible lessons. So
as we continue to go forward in history, here's
what happened with this new Sunday School movement.
It wasn't that long, about 20 years later, denominational
churches saw the success and the popularity of
the Sunday School and they began to adopt it
within their own denominational churches. By
1800 many churches in England and even some in
the US were embracing Robert Rake's very popular
and idea of this Sunday School model. And so
what we see these denominational churches doing
is they're adopting a secular form of education
to teach the beliefs and the tenets of their
respective faiths. So they are taking a secular
program for teaching and bringing it into the
church and adopting it and adapting it and making
it their own in the denominational churches in
the early 1800s. Here's the testimony of history.
The testimony of history is that churches of
Christ initially were very strongly opposed to
the introduction of the Sunday School into churches
of Christ. I want to quote a few things from
Brother Bill Bonowski. This is Brother Bill Bonowski.
Brother Bill Bonowski was a very popular Church
of Christ preacher in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s.
I don't want to misrepresent Brother Bill Bonowski.
He looks kind of like a Catholic priest because
he's got that robe on. But Brother Bill Bonowski
was an educator. I believe he was the president
of Pepperdine University. I think in the 70s
he ended up the president of Oklahoma University,
OU at Norman. He was a very popular, a very widely
known teacher and preacher in churches of Christ.
And he was a writer. He wrote a lot about education.
That was his passion. And he wrote about the
evolution of education in churches of Christ.
He wrote a lot about the history of that. And
in one of his books, Mirror of a Movement, brother
Bill Banowski wrote this. He says churches of
Christ were very slow to organize Sunday school
in their local congregations. And they were slow
to do it because of the close ties between the
Sunday School movement and denominationalism.
And because of those close ties between Sunday
School and denominationalism, the disciples assumed
an early posture of belligerent opposition. The
churches of Christ in the early 1800s, initially
assumed an early posture of belligerent opposition
to this idea of bringing the Sunday School into
churches of Christ. However, over the last half
of the 19th century, from 1850 to 1900, slowly,
But ever so surely many many churches of Christ
slowly adopted and adapted a form of the Sunday
school again, brother Bill Banowski writing in
20th century Christian in 1967 and he said this
he said churches of Christ borrowed from denominational
neighbors the Sunday school idea when it was
Hale and Hardy Now I want to say something to
my knowledge Brother Bill Bonowski was associated
with Churches of Christ that had Sunday school
and church Bible classes Okay, so so me and brother
bill bonowski. We we probably wouldn't agree
on this issue, and that's okay But at the same
time I appreciate brother bill bonowski. You
know why? Because he's giving us an honest explanation
as to how churches of Christ come to have Sunday
school and church Bible classes. He's being honest
about how they came into the church. And I want
you to notice what he says. He says churches
of Christ borrowed from denominational neighbors
the idea of Sunday school. Okay? They borrowed
it from denominational neighbors. Now, with all
due respect, is that really where we want to
borrow? our doctrines and our practices and our
faith from our denominational neighbors. Is that
really our goal? Is that really our mission?
Just to be like all the other churches in town
and we see them doing something and it seems
successful, we'll do the same thing they do.
I don't believe that's at the heart of any of
the congregations at the Church of Christ. I
believe churches of Christ want to Restore and
be the one in the same church that Jesus built.
But you know what? Here's the honest truth and
Brother Bill Banowski helps us to understand
this. The churches of Christ did not borrow the
Sunday School idea from the New Testament. Churches
of Christ did not borrow the Sunday School idea
from Jesus. They did not borrow that idea from
the Apostles. Brother Bill Banowski is right
that they borrowed that idea from denominational
churches in the mid to late 19th century. He
goes on to say in Mirror of a Movement, by 1850,
however, Sunday schools had gained a strong foothold
among the more progressive congregations, he
says, and the conservatives also slowly followed
suit. By 1900, a great majority of the congregations
had made provisions for at least a crude system
of Sunday morning Bible study. Now, I'm just
going through and trying to lay out the history,
okay? I appreciate... the history of this. I
appreciate men like Brother Bill Banowski giving
us an accurate and fair representation of the
history. And according to Brother Bill, and I
think he's right, he's accurate. This is how
Sunday school in churches of Christ came to be
so popular and so common in churches of Christ
even today. However, I do want you to be aware
of this as we finish up our talk about the history
of this practice. While many congregations slowly
adopted and adapted the Sunday school there was
a small minority of congregations that never
did and It was due to doubts about the lack of
scriptural authority Due to doubts about the
lack of scriptural authority for the Sunday school
some congregations of the church never adopted
it They never adopted a formal church Bible class
system of teaching My best estimation is about
ten percent. One out of every ten churches of
Christ in this country would fall into this category.
A lot of those congregations are in rural Texas.
There's many in Arkansas and Oklahoma, but they're
spread out all over the country. They're here
in Tennessee. They're in Alabama. They're in
Georgia. They're all over the country. A small
minority of congregations never adopted and to
this day do not use Sunday school or church Bible
classes as part of their practice. Let's talk
about our modern practice in churches today.
Sunday school and Bible classes has gained wide
approval in denominational churches today. It
goes without saying most denominational churches
have some modernized form of Sunday school and
some of them have had it now for over 200 years.
So this is something that's very common, never
questioned, never think twice about it in many
denominational churches today. This is also a
practice that has come to be accepted in most,
but as I said, not all of churches of Christ
today. And if I understand the practice correctly,
I want to describe the practice fairly and correctly
so we can have a good understanding of it. Concerning
the Sunday School or Church Bible classes in
Churches of Christ, Most congregations who have
this practice are going to call the church to
gather together at a given time. For example,
this congregation of the church comes together
at 9 .45 in the morning on Sunday, and that congregation
is going to be divided into classes by age, by
gender, by marital status, by spiritual maturity,
by any number of criteria. Church is going to
come together and they're going to be divided
into different classes. And then women are oftentimes
going to be encouraged to teach, to speak, to
comment, or to ask questions in those classes.
But at 11 o 'clock, at the same congregation,
at the same place, the same people are going
to come back together oftentimes in the same
auditorium to be taught by the same preacher
who taught them at 945. They're going to have
another service, but this time the women are
not going to be permitted to speak, teach, make
comments, or ask questions. Okay, so that is
the practice. And I want to go back and I want
to consider that practice in light of what we
saw concerning the two settings given in the
Bible for teaching. We saw the two scriptural
settings for teaching was the individual setting
and the congregational setting. But this practice
that we've just introduced actually brings in
a third setting. Okay, a third setting. I'm going
to call it the church Bible class setting. You
know, we went to Scripture and we let Scripture
define and describe the teaching in the individual
setting and the teaching in the congregational
setting. But if we're going to be fair and honest,
we're going to have to conclude that we don't
find any Scripture in the New Testament that
speaks about this church Bible class setting
for teaching. We can't find a book chapter and
verse. that tells us about it, that teaches us
about it, that describes it, that provides its
defining characteristics. We just don't find
those scriptures. Those scriptures to our knowledge
are not there in the New Testament. Here are
the defining characteristics of church Bible
classes as I understand them and as they're commonly
practiced. The general public is invited and
welcome to come to the church Bible classes.
Those classes are facilitated by the church and
its leadership. They're going to be organized
by the leaders of the church and the church is
going to oversee the teaching that happens in
the church Bible classes. Classes are going to
be advertised out front on the church sign and
the church bulletin on the church website. And
the public is going to be encouraged to come
and participate in these classes that are facilitated,
overseen, and arranged by the church and its
leadership. So when we look at these defining
characteristics for Bible classes, it looks a
whole lot like the defining characteristics for
teaching that happens in the congregational setting,
teaching that happens like we have now in the
public assemblies of the church. They shared
the same defining characteristics. And for that
reason we would expect the role of women in these
classes to be just the same as the role of women
in the assemblies of the church. We would expect
that women aren't teaching, they're not asking
questions, they're not making comments because
the Bible says they need to be silent in the
congregational setting. That's the role of women
we would expect but in practice that is not the
role of women in church Bible classes. In church
Bible classes the role of women that's put into
practice is the role of women for the individual
setting, for the private house -to -house setting.
So we call the church to gather together for
teaching that's facilitated, organized, overseen.
It's an extension, a program, a function of the
church, but we don't follow the role of women
for teaching when the church comes together.
Instead, in the classes women can teach, women
can ask questions, women don't have to keep silent.
The role of women isn't followed. It isn't honored
or observed. And for that reason, we must conclude
that this church Bible class setting, this third
setting, for which we had no scriptural authority,
it's a man -made setting. It's a hybrid setting
for teaching. It's a hybrid in that it's really
trying to be both settings, isn't it? On one
hand, it's partly congregational public assembly
of the church, and on the other hand, it's trying
to be private house -to -house Bible study. It's
organized and facilitated as a public church
assembly, but then when it's implemented and
put into practice It's conducted like a private
home Bible study. It's a hybrid. It's trying
to be both public and private at the same time
It's trying to be congregational and individual
at the same time and for that reason We look
at this and for us from our perspective. We see
this as inconsistent We see this as inconsistent.
We also see that it creates confusion And we're
also very concerned about the questionable lack
of scriptural authority for this practice and
for teaching in this setting. Now, like I said,
I don't mind to discuss this issue that divides
us with my brethren. I've talked to many of my
brethren on the other side of this issue. And
one of the things that they commonly bring up,
and I'm going to bring it forth tonight so we
can honestly consider it, is the idea that church
Bible classes in Sunday school are not really
public assemblies of the church. I hear that
a lot. I hear you don't understand, Brother James,
these classes are not assemblies of the church.
It's just people getting together to study the
Bible. That's all it is. That's all it is. It's
just people getting together to study the Bible.
It has nothing to do with the church whatsoever.
Well, the first thing we would notice is that
it's right there on the sign out front of the
church, advertised and marketed as an assembly
and a service of the church. The 945 Sunday School
is going to happen at this congregation wherever
it is. These church Bible classes are arranged,
they're operated, they're facilitated, they're
funded by, they're overseen by the church and
they're advertised as such. It's hard for us
to see those classes as anything but. programs
and extensions and functions of the church, not
just people who got together and decided to study
the Bible, separate and apart from anything belonging
to the church. Here's an example of an old pamphlet,
and these pamphlets are common in times gone
by, even common today. This is a Church of Christ
in Arkansas. This is its weekly bulletin. It
has a list of its scheduled assemblies on the
front. This church assembles Sunday for Bible
classes at 10 a .m. Morning worship is at 1045,
evening worship Sunday at 6, and then Wednesday
night Bible study at 7. Notice this is these
Bible classes are listed under the heading schedule
of assemblies. These are assemblies of the church
and they're advertised as such. So it's hard
to say that these classes don't have anything
to do with the church when they're listed and
labeled as assemblies of the church. This is
an example from a church website back in northwest
Arkansas. The Church of Christ, West Side Church
of Christ says we meet weekly for Sunday Bible
class, 9 a .m. Sunday morning worship, 10 a .m.
Evening worship, 5 p .m. Wednesday Bible study,
7 p .m. That Sunday Bible class at 9 a .m., what
is that? That's the church calling the members
together for teaching, facilitating that teaching,
organizing that teaching, overseeing that teaching.
It's a work, it's a program, it's a function
of that church. So it's hard for us to see those
as anything but public assemblies of the church.
It's hard for us to see them as just private
Bible studies that people are doing. I want to
mention something else to you that we're seeing
more and more of today. And I believe the introduction
of the Sunday School and the church Bible classes
as it's progressed onward to the present day
has opened the door wide open, blown the door
wide open for what you might be hearing about.
It's called gender inclusive ministry. It's a
hot topic in churches of Christ right now. There's
a lot of controversy about this. A lot of disagreement.
Gender -inclusive ministry. It's the idea that
we need to be giving women the privilege to speak,
teach, lead songs, be at the head of the table,
be elders, be deacons, be evangelists, be preachers,
that we need to give women every right and privilege
in the church that we give to men. That's what
gender -inclusive ministry is all about. And
let me tell you what happened, brethren. A group
of sisters in the church got together and they
started reasoning and they started thinking and
they said, you know what, if we can teach Bible
classes at the church at 945 in the morning on
Sunday, why can't we stand up and teach at 11
o 'clock in the auditorium? That's the question
they put before their elders and that's the question
they put before the professors down at the Church
of Christ colleges and the universities. And
unfortunately, the leaders of the church didn't
have a good answer for that. Some of the professors
at the college church universities didn't have
a good answer for that. And because of that,
they began to compromise the Word of God. And
they, many congregations of the Church of Christ
in the last 10 years, an alarming number of congregations
have went on to say, OK, you're right. We give
you privilege at 945 in the classes. We need
to start giving you privilege at 10 o 'clock
in the in the worship. And many congregations
have went on to ordain women preachers, women
elders, women song -leaners, women deacons. And
I believe a lot of this will go back to the introduction
of allowing women to speak, teach, comment, ask
questions in Bible classes which are public assemblies
of the church. The introduction of Sunday school
into the churches has also given rise to modern
-day youth ministry. And look, I don't want to
be overly harsh of critical of people who are
involved in modern -day youth ministry. Okay,
I know people have a heart and a desire to help
young people, and that's a good heart, that's
a good desire, and young people do need help.
We're not denying that young people need help.
Well, let me tell you something. All of this
has evolved modern -day youth ministry and in
some places, not everywhere, but in some places,
far too many places, modern -day youth ministry
has severely undermined God's plan for parents
to take responsibility for teaching their children
at home. We don't need to lose sight of that
fact that God gave the responsibility to parents
to teach their children and to do that teaching
at home. And ye fathers, provoke not your children
to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and
admonition of the Lord." Parents, not the church,
are given the primary responsibility of raising
and teaching their children. Now the church will
help you do that. Bring your children to church.
Set them right there beside you and they'll listen
and they'll learn like our children are doing
tonight. So this is not to say the church can't
be involved, but the primary responsibility belongs
to the parents. But if we were to be honest we
would have to confess that this is the situation
in too many families in too many places a lot
of fathers If they were honest, they'd say this
you know what I hadn't read my Bible in years
and shame on them But because they hadn't read
their Bible in years They say it's just a lot
more easier and convenient for me to take my
kids down to Sunday school Take them to youth
group take them to Bible class and let the professionals
teach my kids Because I'm just not qualified
to do it. I'm gonna leave it to the professionals
We've also developed this idea that parents,
grandparents aren't qualified to teach their
kids. It has to be someone who's a professional
down at the church. Listen, if you're a parent
or a grandparent, you are qualified to teach
your kids. And if you feel inadequate, you feel
like you don't have what it takes to teach your
kids, please let us come alongside you and help
you and equip you and encourage you so that you
can teach your children like God asks you to
do. We got to get away from this idea that that
parents can't teach their kids, that only qualified
professionals with college degrees can teach
kids in modern -day youth ministry. Kids' church
is something that has become very appealing in
many denominational churches today. I don't know
if churches of Christ have kids' church. Maybe
some do. I don't know. But I know in a lot of
denominations, kids church is very, very appealing.
It's a place where parents can drop off their
kids on Sunday morning. They have their own separate
service for the kids. The parents can go in,
sit down, not be disturbed by their children.
You know, your children sometimes doing the assemblies
of church, sometimes they make noise. Sometimes
they're a little bit disruptive. Sometimes they're
a little bit unruly. You know how I know that?
I've raised four kids in the church. I've been
there. Listen, I've been in the trenches. I've
been right there with you. If you're raising
kids in the church, I've been there. Let me give
you a little bit of encouragement. There's no
better place for your kids to be. And right there
sitting beside you listening and learning. It
might take one, two, or three years for them
to learn to be quiet and sit still. But if you'll
be disciplined and you'll be consistent and you'll
stick with it and don't give up and go to some
church that has kids church and just pawn them
off on somebody else, if you'll stick to it,
guess what'll happen? Your kids will be doing
what these kids are doing down here. Sitting,
listening, learning, taking notes. They'll get
there. Don't get discouraged. Let me tell you,
your kids are gonna make noise. It don't bother
us one bit. Your kids are ten times louder to
you than they are to me. I remember my kids used
to make the smallest sound. It was like roaring
in my ears. No one else heard it. But I heard
it and it just made me all kinds of uncomfortable.
We don't hear your kids. like you do and they're
not a disruption to us like you might think they
are. No better place for our kids to be than
right here with us listening and learning from
the Word of God. What Kids Church has unfortunately
done is it has created deep generational divides
between the youth and the older people of the
church because all too often the youth are separated
and excluded from the greater work and worship
of the church. They're always pushed to the side.
They're always pushed to the side and that might
seem like a good thing and it might seem like
convenient until they turn 19 years old. And
then guess what? Can't go to kids church anymore
when you're 19 years old. You gotta go to real
church. You gotta go to big church. And when
they come out of kids church and see big church
doesn't look like kids church, a lot of kids
leave the church at 19. They didn't manage to
make any connection, any real and lasting meaningful
connection with the older generation in the church
because they were so often excluded and removed
and pushed to the side. Let's not let that happen
to us. Titus 2, 3 to 5. Bible tells the aged
women to teach the younger women, you know the
only way to do that is for the aged women to
be a good example to the younger women. And we
do that by spending time with one another and
setting the right example. So older generation
and younger generation need to spend time together,
need to worship together, need to study together,
and not be separated into different classes or
different groups in the church. Everything in
the world wants to divide us. Everything in the
world wants to divide men from women, rich from
poor, parents from their kids. Everything in
the world is seeking to divide us and the church
should be the one place where we should come
that we aren't going to be divided. We're going
to be together. Now I will make mention of this
before I move on and wrap up my lesson tonight
and I know I'm talking long and I appreciate
your patience with me. There have been a few
religious organizations recently that have reconsidered.
The whole idea of Sunday school, Bible classes,
modern -day youth ministry. In recent years some
denominational churches, community churches have
shifted away from what they call age -segregated
ministry. And they have left behind Sunday school
and modern -day youth ministry. They've left
that behind to embrace what they call, these
are their terms, family -integrated worship and
family -based youth ministry. And that's what
we do here at North Warren. Family integrated
worship. We're all together worshiping God. Family
-based youth ministry. Instead of separating
children from their parents, come alongside the
parents to equip and encourage them to shape
the faith of their children. That is definitely
a more scriptural model. And you know, what some
of these churches are waking up to is the fact
that this system... of separation and division
does not always bring forth good fruit. Some
churches are leaving it behind to embrace a more
biblical model, to embrace the model we have
here at North Warren. I'm not trying to promote
or sell books or documentaries, and we don't
even get our authority from books or documentaries,
but there have been several books and documentaries
produced in the last few years where people from
different parts of Christianity are starting
to wake up to this and starting to change their
practices. and get more in line with the Word
of God. The last thing I want to talk about tonight
is how do we restore God's plan for teaching?
How do we get back to God's original plan and
pattern for undivided teaching assemblies in
the church? We've got to return to teaching the
church only in authorized ways. You know, the
New Testament is our only authority in faith
and doctrine and in practice. We need to follow
carefully that which is authorized in the scriptures.
If you were here the other night, we talked about
the type of music God wants in the church and
how authority is so very important in establishing
and understanding what kind of music God wants.
Concerning the music of the church, we find no
New Testament command, no example. There's scripture
inferring or implying that God wants instrumental
music in the church. We conclude that there's
no scriptural authority for instrumental music.
We studied history and found that instrumental
music was added in the seventh century by men.
And God specifies the type of music He wants
in the church. He tells us He wants the singing
of music, which excludes the playing of music.
Colossians 3 .16. The Word tells us that God
wants us to make melody in our hearts. That excludes
making melody in a guitar. Ephesians chapter
5 .19. This is our analysis of instrumental music
when we approach it. by looking for scriptural
authority for the practice. And I'm here to tell
you tonight when we do the same analysis for
a different practice, the practice of teaching
the church in church Bible classes, likewise
we have no New Testament command example or inference
for that. Therefore we conclude there's no scriptural
authority for it. We've seen through our study
of history it was added by men in the 18th century.
And you know, God has specified how to do the
teaching. He's given us pattern and a plan for
how to do this. God wants a togetherness arrangement
when we come together for teaching, not a divided
into classes arrangement. 1 Corinthians 14 23.
He wants men to be the teachers in the church,
not women teachers in church Bible classes. 1
Corinthians 14 verse 34 to 35. When we look at
the authority for the practice, we come to the
same conclusions about church Bible classes as
we do instruments of music. We don't use church
Bible classes for the exact same reasons we don't
use instrumental music. We just simply don't
find scriptural authority for the practice. The
church survived for nearly 1800 years without
Sunday school or church Bible classes. How did
they ever manage to survive? They had two settings
for teaching and they used them. They had the
congregational setting for teaching, they had
the individual house to house setting for teaching.
And I want to tell you brethren something, it's
not enough for us stand up and teach what we're
against. If not, we're not going to be about
putting into practice what we are for. Okay,
we can say we're against Sunday school and Bible
classes all day long, but I don't know that does
us any good if we don't go out and take advantage
of both types of teaching. Teaching in the church
is important, yes, but we need to be working
and be active and going house to house and sharing
the Word of God in that private individual setting.
It's not just what we're against, it's what we
need to be for and we need to be for both. settings
of teaching. We need to be making the most of
both settings when we teach the Word of God.
We believe we can do all the teaching that God
requires of us by doing it in these two settings
that God has clearly authorized. To restore the
New Testament pattern for teaching, we're going
to have to return to a togetherness arrangement
for teaching. That's the authorized arrangement
in 1 Corinthians 14, 23. The whole church become
together into one place. We're going to have
to get back to teaching to the church in that
arrangement. We do not see authority in the Bible
for a divided into classes arrangement. We don't
find a scripture for that. We believe all of
God's people can sit, listen and learn together.
The law is not our authority, but even in the
days of Moses under the law, all the God's people
came together every seven years at the Feast
of Tabernacles in Deuteronomy 31 10 to 13. God
told them to gather the people together, the
men, the women, the children, the strangers,
the foreigners within their gates, that they
may hear and that they may learn and fear the
Lord their God and observe to do all the words
of that law that their children look at this.
told them every seven years for the whole nation
to come together and read the law and this was
primarily for their children, their children
which have not known anything that they may hear
and learn to fear the Lord your God. You know
a lot of people today would tell us that men
women and children can't learn together. Men
women and children can learn together they've
been doing it for thousands of years they did
it every seven years under the old covenant law
they all came together and they taught the Word
of God. And they all learn together. We don't
have to divide men, women, and children into
different classes for them to learn the Word
of God. Some people have suggested, well, this
togetherness arrangement, this whole church come
together into one place in the binding part of
the New Testament pattern. It's not an important
detail. Some have suggested the togetherness
arrangement is not a binding part of the pattern.
I believe... The togetherness arrangement is
a binding part of the New Testament pattern.
I also believe the togetherness arrangement is
binding for when we come together and have the
Lord's Supper. When we come together and have
the Lord's Supper, we believe the whole church
needs to become together into one place. Would
we ever have the Lord's Supper when we divided
the church up into classes? Would we ever divide
the church up into classes and eat the Lord's
Supper in the classes? I don't know of any church
of Christ that has ever done that, would do that,
or will ever do that. You know why we wouldn't
eat the Lord's Supper in the classes? Because
1 Corinthians 11 .20 says when we eat the Lord's
Supper we need to come together therefore into
one place. We need to come together therefore
into one place to eat the Lord's Supper. And
that's what we do, that's what we all do, and
I'm glad for that. But here's the point, if the
togetherness arrangement is required for communion
in 1 Corinthians chapter 11, Why is the same
togetherness arrangement not required for teaching
from 1 Corinthians 14? It's the very same language.
It tells us to come together and be together
in one place for communion. It tells us to come
together and be together in one place for teaching
the church. And the last thing we need to do
to restore the New Testament pattern for teaching,
we need to return to the proper role of women
in and outside of the assembly. I want to tell
you something, we are thankful. for godly Christian
women. And I've said it once, I'm gonna say it
again and I'm gonna keep on saying it. Men, it's
God's will for men to be the leaders and the
teachers in the church. But I'm gonna tell you
something, holy women are the backbone of the
church. I've seen it in so many different places.
Holy women doing their work behind the scenes,
their faithfulness, their commitment, their devotion
to the Lord and His church. In many places they
are the backbone of the church. Let me tell you
something about the women of the church. They
make up 50 % of the army of God. 50%. Are we
going to sideline 50 % of the army of God? I
hope we never do. I hope we encourage, equip,
and enable our women to be doing their work because
they play an important work. in the Lord's kingdom.
It's just that there's a proper time and a proper
place for women to speak and teach the Bible.
That's all this has been about tonight. When
is the proper time and where is the proper place
for that to happen? We need to learn to lead
and guide our sisters in Christ into a proper
understanding of their role and their responsibilities
in the church. And I want to tell you all something.
I love my Christian sisters too much not to tell
them this. I want to be plain. I want you to
understand this. It is sinful. It is sinful for
women to speak, teach, make comments, and ask
questions in the assembly of the church. Sin
is committed when women speak, comment, ask questions,
and teach in the assemblies of the church. I
know that because the Bible tells us. We need
to understand this. This is serious. The Bible
tells us let your women keep silence in the churches.
They're not permitted to speak. It says it's
a shame for women to speak in the church. And
then in verse 37 it says these are the commandments
of the Lord. What happens when we violate and
transgress and break the commandments of the
Lord? We commit sin. We commit sin. Now I take
no pleasure or satisfaction in telling you that,
but it's my obligation. to teach you and to tell
you that when we violate, when we transgress
1 Corinthians 14, we're committing sin. We're
breaking the commandments of the Lord. Now as
I wrap up tonight, I want to say a few things
to close. We don't want to be misunderstood.
I hope and pray that we're not misunderstood
in what we've taught tonight. We are not questioning
anybody's sincerity. We are certainly not questioning
anyone's love for the Lord. You know, we've talked
this week about how error comes into the church
and what we've seen over and over again that
a lot of times error comes into the church when
people have the best of intentions. I believe
people probably had the best of intentions when
they brought in Sunday school and church Bible
classes to churches of Christ. The best of intentions.
Teach people the Bible. There is no greater intention.
Right? When we're not questioning people's intentions,
we're not questioning their sincerity, we're
not questioning how much people love the Lord.
This is just a question of what does the Bible
teach? What has God authorized concerning teaching
the church? We are also not trying to promote
division. We're not teaching these things to
sow seeds of division, to create strife, to create
conflict. We have a heart and a mind to seek
for peace and unity. I don't know that we'll
ever achieve peace and unity if we aren't able
to talk about and teach and listen to one another
concerning some of these controversial doctrines
that divide us. We do not want to promote division.
We need to be seeking for peace and unity. Here's
something else. We don't want to be misunderstood.
We aren't saying tonight that people can't or
people... have never learned anything from Sunday
school or Bible classes. You could be sitting
here tonight saying, Brother James, everything
I learned about God, I learned in a Bible class.
You could be sitting here tonight say, Brother
James, I teach a Bible class. I teach Sunday
school every Sunday. We're not claiming or trying
to make the case that people can't or people
haven't ever learned anything in church Bible
classes. All we're trying to say and show from
the scriptures tonight is that those church Bible
classes are not authorized. They're not a part
of God's authorized plan for teaching the church.
Okay, can people learn? Can people be taught
in those classes? Yes. You know an ox cart will
also move the ark of a covenant and in 1st Chronicles
13 the ox cart did move the ark of the covenant
for a while. It's just that it wasn't a part
of God's plan for moving the ark. In like manner
we don't believe that that this system of teaching
is a part of God's plan. We believe undivided
teaching assemblies are what God authorizes and
we're encouraging everyone to stick to following
God's plan concerning the teaching that we do
in the church. Thank you for your careful attention
tonight to these things. I appreciate you coming
and listening. I'm sharing these things with
you from a humble heart. I hope you receive them
with a humble heart. Again, these may be new
ideas, new concepts to you. You may have never
heard anything like this before. If so, if you've
got questions, I'm more than happy to answer
any questions you might have after the service.
We can have a discussion about it. I'd really
appreciate your attention tonight.