More Straws in the Wind

I have before me a copy of the church bulletin for Sunday, December 24, 2006 from GracePointe (A Church of Christ serving our Community). Inside there is a schedule for the Sunday morning worship assembly. The “Worship Leader” calls the congregation to worship and the first item on the agenda is either the reading of or the congregation quoting the “Nicene Creed”. Yes, you read that correctly. The Nicene Creed was written in A. D. 325. A controversy had been raging for many years regarding the nature of Jesus Christ. Some thought that Jesus was a created being like the angels while others taught that Jesus was eternal like His Father. The Nicene Creed was written to promote unity among believers and in no uncertain terms taught that Jesus was eternal in nature. A part of the creed is as follows: “We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God form true God, begotten, not made, of one Being with the Father. Through him all things were made.” The Nicene Creed also mentions the church in this fashion: “We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.” Now, there is to be no argument to be made about the preceding statement. The term “catholic” simply means universal and we often speak of the apostolic church of our Lord that began on the first Pentecost following the ascension of our Lord as recorded in Acts chapter two. I have read the Nicene Creed and find no real fault (except some references to the origin of the Holy Spirit) in its content; however, this is a man-made creed written in A. D. 325. It was not given by the Lord and neither was it inspired by the Holy Spirit! Yet, here you have a congregation using the creed in its worship assembly. I remember how brethren in years past would state that if a creed was less than the Bible it was too little and not to be used. If it contained more than the Bible it had gone too far. And if the creed contained the same as the Bible why have it at all.

The major emphasis in the worship assembly of this church was to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. This is manifested in the reading of the scriptures pertaining to His birth and the songs that were sung. One sister sang “O Holy Night!” as a solo. But notice this, immediately following the use of the Nicene Creed there was the “Lighting of Advent Candle” by the preacher. In the news section of the bulletin an announcement was given regarding a “Candlelight Service” to be held later on Sunday afternoon. You have the “lampstand” that was found in the tabernacle as found in Exodus 25 and other passages. Also a “candlestick” or “lampstand” is mentioned in Revelation 2:5. I can hear some of our brethren saying that the lighting of a candle in our worship is not a “salvation issue.” And, the Lord and His apostles never mentioned the use of candles in the worship so it was a non-issue and should not be one today. Furthermore some brethren would argue that nowhere does the Bible condemn the use of candles in the worship assembly. Others will state that if we don’t use the talent of some of our members to light the candles we are going to lose them. Have you heard this line of reasoning before, especially in regards to the use of instruments in our worship?

Brethren where are we going and when we get there where will we (the church) be? Are you shedding tears for the church of our Lord and the salvation of the souls of mankind? Like Paul we should have “a deep concern (anxiety) for all the churches” (2 Corinthians 11:28) because of the division that is presently occurring in our brotherhood.

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