Few subjects are of such deep significance in the proper functioning of a New Testament church as that of the manner in which it keeps the ordinances committed to its administration. Of primary importance is the fidelity with which one adheres, in reverence

    "Shouldest thou help the ungodly, and love them that hate the Lord? therefore is wrath upon thee from the Lord", (2 Chron. 19:2b).
    As the most important presidential and congressional elections held since the end of World War II draw near, many Christians have sincere questions as to whom they should support. There are doubts about the future, cynicism about the character of candidates, questions about qualifications, and emphasis on the economy. What principles are pertinent? How can the child of God discern the Father's will in voting?
    In our text, we have a clue into the heart of God regarding this matter. Jehoshaphat, the good king of Judah, was returning from a battle in which he had joined forces with the abetted Ahab, the wicked and rebellious king of Israel. As he arrived in his home region, he noticed a familiar figure on the road ahead. Jehu, a prophet of God, stood before him with a rebuke from the Lord. His question of the king was simple and direct: Should you help the ungodly? Should you love them who hate the

and awe, to the divine pattern set forth in the Holy Scriptures. Whenever God has established an order for acceptable worship and service, He will accept no deviation, no substitution, no revision. Men worship according to God's order, or they worship "demons" instead of God -- whatever spiritual exhilaration, or "intrinsic spirit of unity" they may profess to feel.
    Let it be clearly understood that no individual, family, community, society, civilization, nation or New Testament church can ignore God's blueprint for action and expect His blessings now, or His acceptance and commendation in the day of judgment. Thus, it is essential that we exercise great care, and absolute honesty before God, in the way we carry out our spiritual responsibilities.

    From eternity past, God purposed to establish on earth a kingdom wherein righteousness would reign supreme. In the Garden of Eden He made Adam king -- giving him not only the command, but also the authority to "subdue ... and have dominion over the earth", (Gen. 1:28). This kingship would be his as he walked in fellowship with God. He received direction from God and was

expected to render faithful obedience to God's will as expressed in the word He had spoken. But Adam sinned - disqualifying himself from participation in such a blessed economy -- forfeiting to "the serpent" the power and rulership over the earth.
    In unfathomable love and marvelous grace, God immediately undertook the redemption and regeneration of mankind and of all that was lost; all that came under the curse resulting from the Fall. In the perfecting of His plan, God ultimately called to Himself a special "peculiar people" as a witnessing agency through which the message of His love, His grace and His holy purpose might be manifested to men of all nations.



    Because Israel, brought into covenant fellowship with Jehovah at Mt. Sinai, refused to walk according to His order; the time came when He would no longer use the nation as His witnessing agency. This people were not fit to bear His message! Apart from "a remnant according to the election of grace" (Rom. 11:5), they were cut off from the relationship of covenant fellowship with God. When Jesus came, He established a new order which He called "my church", (Matt. 16: 18).

    The basic purpose of the New Testament church, established by Jesus Christ and left here to do business until He returns, is to call out from among the Gentiles "a people for His possession"; for His name and kingdom, (Acts 15:14; I Pet. 2:9-10; Matt. 28:18-20). The Lord's church is to declare, by its message, and to interpret, through its ordinances, the message of SALVATION for a lost world -- the "Gospel of the Kingdom", (Matt. 24:14). It is of vital importance that this message come through clear and plain, and that the ordinances be observed according to God's order!
    In the words of the late Buell Kazee:
    The ordinances of a New Testament church are designed "to make the gospel plain, to keep the gospel pure, to keep the church pure, and to keep the gospel personal". Baptism guards the door of entrance to the church; blocking the entrance of all who have not first died to sin and entered into the experience of a new life, through repentance toward God and faith in Jesus Christ. The Lord's Supper, properly observed, requires the perpetual, spiritual discipline of the body and of every member of that body -- pointing to the back door all who refuse to judge themselves, so as to cast off all that is contrary to holiness, (I Cor. 5:11, 5). A scriptural church is united in both the experience of salvation and in the interpretation of that experience. Through the ordinances a church requires her members to give a proper interpretation of their Christian experience and profession by living consistent lives.

I. ITS INSTITUTION, (Matt. 26:26-30; Mk. 14:22-26; comp. I Cor. 11:23-26).
    At the close of His earthly ministry, and on the very night of His betrayal, Jesus fulfilled the deep yearning (Lk. 22:15) of His heart, to observe the Passover with His disciples, before His sufferings. [Lest someone begin to question the propriety of this action, and thus, set himself up as a judge of

His Lord, it is important to remember that from the ministry of John the Baptist, until the completion of the church epistles, was a period of transition from the Judaistic order to the New Order that would fully be revealed through the apostles divinely appointed to carry on His work].
    Using the same elements that Israel had employed in observing the Passover [unleavened bread and the fruit of the vine], Jesus instituted the ordinance by the observance of which His church is [symbolically] to "show forth His death" until He comes again. Then, following the institution of the Supper, He girded Himself with a towel and washed His disciples feet, saying: "Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so Jam. If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you AN EXAMPLE, that ye should do as I have done to you", (John 13: 13-15).
    This act of Jesus was a symbolic gesture; His concern for them went far deeper than the matter of showing a common hospitality (Lk. 7:44), or of cleansing each other from the contamination of literal dust. He was teaching them the responsibility they were to assume in a loving watchfulness for the spiritual purity of each other, and for the purity and integrity of His body which, in a very real sense, THEY WERE!
    This is a responsibility still inherent in church membership (Gal. 6:1-2; Heb. 12:13; James 5:19-20); the true meaning of "washing each other's feet" and vitally related to a proper observation of the Lord's Supper. Yet, how shamefully seldom do most church members make the slightest move toward preventive discipline by demonstrating such loving concern for the purity of a brother and of the body of which both are members! Thus, the essentiality of prayer: though, in spirit, His disciples were willing to identify themselves with their Lord and to walk in the way of

His commandments; He knew the weakness of THEIR flesh, (Matt. 26:41; Mk. 14:38). It is only as members walk in godliness that they may effectively "wash each other's feet".

III. ITS NATURE: FELLOWSHIP & WORSHIP.

    Though church members must be in fellowship with each other, in order to a scriptural observation of the Lord's Supper, the essence of First Corinthians 10:16 is that the "communion" "fellowship" or "sharing all things common" IMPLIES our being in such harmony with the Lord Jesus ["eating His flesh and drinking His blood"] as automatically harmonizes fellow-body-members in a local assembly with each other. It is not possible to be in fellowship with the Lord while despising a brother.
    Participation in the Lord's Supper is not designed so much as an opportunity to demonstrate our fellowship with one another, as to arouse anew within our own hearts the consciousness and humble acknowledgement that it was by OUR SINS that His body was broken -- so that we keep the Feast fa term obviously borrowed from the Passover, and stressing the relationship of this ordinance to it] "with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth", (I Cor. 5:8). Here we enter anew into the conscious experience of dying with the Lord Jesus (Gal, 2:20; 6:14; 2 Cor. 4:7-11): a dying to self and selfishness; to the flesh with all its lusts; to sin and sinning; and to the world with its allurements -- all designed to distract us from a life of true commitment, in loving and loyal service, to our Great Redeemer!

  Worship of the Lamb, for sinners slain! Even the heavenly hosts do this! (Rev. 5:9-13) Worship of the Father, Who provided the Lamb, and of the

Holy Spirit, through whose power the sacrifice has been made efficacious to our own spiritual cleansing and new life "in the Son"!
    When the body of Christ, in any local community, comes together in an ordered, orderly and common sharing of the Lord's Supper, they reach the very zenith of spiritual worship! Standing, in awe and wonder, in the conscious presence of the once-slain, but now risen and triumphant, "Lamb of God"; our hearts are melded together in a mutuality of loving wonder, adoration, worship, thanksgiving and praise for His marvelous grace - so undeserved! yet, so rich, so full and so FREE!

"Worthy of riches, honor and blessing;
Worthy of wisdom, glory and power;
Worthy of heav'n and earth's adoration;
Worthy art Thou! Worthy art Thou!"

IV. ITS DESIGN: "to show forth the Lord's death" until he comes.
    Is such a thing possible through a mere, legalistic partaking of elements designed to symbolize His death near two thousand years ago? Does it not require of its participants such a perpetual dying to self, sin and the world as will constantly demonstrate "the dying of the Lord Jesus" before eternity bound sinners? And, Why is such emphasis placed on "discerning the Lord's body"?
    Unless, in partaking of the Lord's Supper, there be in the hearts of the participants a deep consciousness that we are [symbolically] "eating the flesh and drinking the blood" of the Lamb of God, by which our spiritual lives are sustained from day to day; we eat and drink "unworthily", or "in an unworthy manner", (I Cor. 11:27-29; comp. John 6:32-35, 48-58). This spiritual partaking of Christ should be an everyday experience; the symbolic partaking an infrequent one: "as oft

as" ye do it. Nor must we forget that those properly assembled to obey the command of the Lord (Lk. 22:19; comp. I Cor. 11:26), in any local community, constitute "the Lord's body"; unconfessed sin within the body will break its fellowship and dishonor its Head. 0, the marvelous wonder that God would regard such sinners as members of His Dear Son! and that the Son should regard us as precious, beloved and vital "members of His body"! What holy awe; what deep respect; what joyful submission we ought to manifest toward "the body" and toward each other! Nor should we ever forget that our attitude toward "the body", or toward a fellow-body-member, is actually our attitude toward the Christ, its Living Head! (Matt. 25:40, 45; Acts 9:4). Any sin of a body-member is another thrust into His side, (Jn. 19:34). However, the flow of "blood and water" symbolize the forgiveness and cleansing that is still available for those who, with broken and contrite hearts, come before Him in confession and repentance, (I Jn. 1:7; 5:6, 8; comp. Zech. 12:10; John 19:35-37).

Through the life and harmonious functioning of a local, New Testament church may be manifested, to any local community, the clearest exhibition of the incarnate Christ that is possible on earth today. There is a very true sense in which the church "IS CHRIST" -- still living, moving, working and pleading among men, (I Cor. 12:12; Eph. 1:22-23).
Such a witness is NOT POSSIBLE through a denomination. It is not possible through an invisible assembly that never assembles and, thus, can never be observed. Nor is it possible through the philosophical, illusionary fantasy of a united Christendom, or "essence ". It is possible ONLY through a local, New Testament church [body of Christ] which demonstrates "the dying of the Lord Jesus" in such renunciation of self and

selfishness as is willing, in unfeigned love, to lay down our lives for each other and for a perishing world! (Rom. 12:10;Jn. 13:34-35; comp. Gal. 3:3).
    However much one may attempt to spiritualize, fantasize or idealize the body concept, as set forth in Paul's epistles; there can be no actual body-function, or body-influence, except as its members are "fitly joined together"! This requires both a specific, geographical location and a visible, recognizable manifestation. Apart from the actual workings of a local, New Testament church, there is NO POSSIBLE WAY that these conditions may be realized - however much sophistry, mysticism, wishful thinking of outright chicanery one may employ in an effort to make it appear to be so! Between such philosophical posturing and reality there is an impassable chasm!

V. ITS PRE-REQUISITES AND PROPER PARTICIPANTS.
    God has not left His people in ignorance as to the proper order for this ordinance. To indulge in childish god-playing ["I think it should be THIS way!], when the Head of the church, through spirit-inspired men, has displayed His pattern-in-operation, is to be dangerously presumptuous! Otherwise, why the multiplication of such phrases as: "no not to eat"; "the cup of devils" [demons], "table of devils"; "eateth and drinketh damnation to himself"; "no right to eat" [Heb. 1.10]; "weak and sickly among you ... many sleep", [I Cor. 11:30]; "examine himself"; "judge ourselves" [I Cor. 11:31]; etc.? Thus, I submit the following pre-requisites, which the Scriptures appear to require for a proper observance of the Supper.

    1. First, one must have been saved, regenerated, or born from above.
    No lost person can have any true fellowship with Jesus Christ, but is under the "wrath of God", (John 3:3, 36). Anyone who has died to sin,

and risen to the experience of a new life, may [through continuance in the obedience of faith] walk in the newness of a living, active and vigorous fellowship with the risen Christ, (Rom. 6:5-7).

    2. Scriptural baptism is essential before one may properly appear at the Lord's Table.
    This is a position commonly held by most denominations of professing Christians. However, Missionary Baptists disagree with many others as to what constitutes Scriptural baptism -- regarding its method, design and subjects. Nothing short of total immersion will adequately picture a death, burial and resurrection. Its design is to declare our identification with Christ in His death, and pledge to Him our loving and loyal service -- as we are raised from the watery grave to walk in the power of His risen life. Only a person who knows that he has been saved, and who is ready to yield himself to the total lordship of Jesus Christ, is a fit subject for baptism.
    Furthermore, we reject, as true baptism, anything that has not been administered by the authority of a sister church adhering to the principles of God's word, as held by true New Testament [Baptist] churches from the days of the apostles.

    3. As with the observance of the Passover, there must be a "purging out of the old leaven" -- involving such discipline as is essential to maintain the purity and integrity of the body and the wholeness of its various members, (I Cor. 5:6-7).

    4. There must also be an honest self-examination on the part of each member before he participates in the ordinance, (I Cor. 11:28).
    Is there in his heart and life some known sin that he has not confessed and forsaken? It must be dealt with in all humility, honesty and repentance

before God.
    Is there in his heart a wrong attitude toward some fellow-body-member; or a consciousness that he has been a cause of offence or stumbling to another? It must be dealt with! (Matt. 5:23-24)
    Known sin, which one is not willing to acknowledge and repudiate, still separates a person from the fellowship of Jesus Christ and hinders true worship, (comp. Isa. 59:1-3).
    5. Several things suggest that the person coming to the Lord's table must be a member of the church observing the ordinance.

    At this point one must be careful lest he read too much into the Biblical concept of "breaking bread"; it does not necessarily refer to the Lord's Supper. Like "feeding the flock" (I Pet. 5:2), and providing what is needful and appropriate (2 Tim. 2:15); the term may [symbolically] suggest a mutuality of giving and receiving of the Word of life. Hence, the "coming together" at Troas, (Acts 20:7); the "from house to house" in Jerusalem (Acts 2:46); and the "burning hearts" of the disciples on the Emmaus Road, (Lk. 24:30-32).
    Any effort to make the supper a show of fellowship or unity, designed to "impact the world" [a task not committed to us by our Living Lord], by the act of partaking together in an artificial manner, totally ignores the declared purpose of looking to the death of Christ as the only means of bringing men into being ONE with Him.
    a. Being committed TO a local, New Testament church; [There was but one in existence at the time.] the Supper must be regarded as a CHURCH ORDINANCE! It is not a denominational ordinance. Nor does the ordinance belong to some "unified essence", "intrinsic spirit of unity" or mystical, invisible and elusive "aggregate church" -- a self-contradicting concept! Should one insist that it does, there rests upon him the responsibility of demonstrating how such a nonentity

may "show [forth] the Lord's death"! I will, much easier, demonstrate how it may properly be done, as the Lord commanded it, by a local assembly!
    b. The prophetic-historical nature of the ordinance restricts its observance to "one body". Only in this way may it serve toward preserving the purity and integrity of the body. To be worthy of continuing, a local assembly must observe the ordinance in such a way as to be true to its beginning [history] and its [prophesied] purpose.
    c. There NO clear, Biblical record of anyone observing the Supper who was not a member of the church where it was being observed; nor is there any Biblical concession specifically authorizing participation by anyone not a member of the observing "body". The expression "many members" (I Cor. 10:17; 12:12-14) always applies to the SAME BODY. In fact, except those members be "fitly joined together" there is no body, and certainly no functioning according to God's order. The principle, however, [many members, but one body] is a common, generic, or general one -- applying to the membership of a local, New Testament church in ANY community.
    d. Since disciplinary activity is essential to maintain the integrity of the body and the pure witness of the ordinance; since no church possesses the authority of discipline over any but its own members; participation in the Lord's Supper is obviously meant to be restricted to the membership of the administering church; all others are OUTSIDE! An orderly walk is required of those who would partake of the Lord's table; the "leaven of malice and wickedness" must be put away, abandoned and repudiated forever! (2 Cor. 5:11) Proper observation of the ordinance requires an orderly assembly, characterized by mutual love and respect for each other, and in such reverence as is appropriate for any sinner who stands in the presence of Divine Holiness! When a church

comes together without such an orderly approach, it CANNOT take the Lord's Supper! In pretending to do so, it simply corrupts and perverts the Supper, (2 Cor. 11:20-22) -- dishonoring the Lord!

    e. By participation in the ordinance, all PROFESS themselves TO BE: "one loaf" [or bread] and "one body" -- which, patently, IS NOT TRUE if even ONE PERSON, however saintly, who is not a functioning member of the administering church, participates WITH "the body"!

    f. Since this is the Lord's Table (I Cor. 10:20-21), the prerogative of inviting others belongs to the Lord alone. Where, within the scope of the New Testament, does one find such a Divine invitation?

    g. Finally, I submit that a passion to invite the participation of visiting brothers or sisters may involve more of a sentimental yearning to share THEIR fellowship than to honor Him Whose dying the ordinance is designed to "show forth" until He comes again! This would surely be a shameful and presumptuous perversion of the ordinance. No one can honor the Christ while violating the order specifically commanded in His Word! -- Eugene L. Garner




    The editor is most grateful for the response he has received during the past two months expressing appreciation for his stand on the maintenance of genuine Christian principles on the part of both pastors and missionaries. This is not an easy job, and sometimes requires a stand that is not universally accepted. May God bless you!

WHO TO VOTE FOR ..... Continued

Lord? Because you have helped him who is in rebellion against God, you are under the wrath of God yourself!
    Do you still wonder why it is wrong for a Christian to vote for a candidate or a platform that insists on promoting homosexuality and abortion? I have on file a video tape of a review in which a gay/lesbian leader discusses the homosexual group's plans to legislate "civil rights" laws that forbid housing and employment discrimination against anyone on the basis of "sexual orientation". The interviewer probes the leader to define exactly what "sexual orientation" means. "That means any sexual orientation that is different from the typical monogamous heterosexual activity".
    The interviewer proceeded, "Does that mean sex with animals?"
    "That means any sexual orientation that is different from the typical monogamous heterosexual activity."
    "Does that mean men having sex with boys?"
    "That means any sexual orientation that is different from the typical monogamous heterosexual activity." he said a third time.
    The problem is that even Christians hear the lies told so many times, that they begin to sound like the truth. Words have no meaning. Murdering innocent babies becomes a woman's right to choose. Our country cares more about baby seals than humans. Reprobate men burning with lust for one another in sodomy becomes an alternate lifestyle. Licentiousness becomes personal liberty. Is it any wonder that our nation is heading toward hell?
    If we have both a pro-abortion Congress and a pro-abortion President, it will be because deluded Christians stupidly put them there. If laws are eventually passed that force even churches to hire homosexuals, the fault will be laid at the doorstep of believers who either failed to vote or failed to

vote conscientiously.
    Some people vote their pocketbook rather than their conscience. Apart from the question of who is really responsible for tough economic times, the choice is still clear. God won't bless our morals because we get our economy in order, but He may bless our economy if we repent morally and spiritually.
    I long and pray for the day when we have a better choice than the lesser of two evils. I pray for a day when we have a moral, fiscally sound, compassionate, and wise candidate that speaks to all of the problems that confront our nation. I pray for the day when both major parties and even independents speak with virtual unanimity on the moral issues that threaten our very existence.
    Until that day, the choice for the believer is clear. I will only vote for candidates at all levels who endorse the moral values that are revealed in Scripture. I will not be fooled by the fact that they

quote a few Bible verses or belong to certain denominations. I will only support those who openly endorse the right of all Americans born and unborn to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I will never cast my vote for a candidate who favors legal protection for the unnatural and abominable sin of sodomy.
America faces only three alternatives. We will either experience ruin, revival, or the return of Christ. Unless Jesus returns and delivers us from all of these troubles, we had better pray for national repentance. America stands on the brink of destruction or deliverance, but there will be no middle ground. If we help the ungodly in their rebellion against the Word of God, we stand to lose everything. May God guide us as we take a stand for what is right and demand moral excellence among our leaders. (Used by permission)

    "The Lord's Supper was not appointed to be so much a test of our love and confidence in each other, as of our obedience to Christ. As it is a sacred feast, and an ordinance of divine worship, mutual Christian affection among communicants at the same table is very becoming, and highly necessary but not more so than in any other branch of social worship. That sitting down with them at the Lord's table, however, should be considered as the criterion of our love to individuals, or to any Christian community, does not appear from the word of God. The supper of our Lord was intended to teach the most wonderful of all truths, and to exhibit the most glorious of all transactions. It is a memorial of God's love to us, and of Immanuel's death for us, in memory of whom it is received" The true test of mutual affection and confidence as Christians, is not found in a joint participation in the eucharist, but in sympathy with each other in affliction, in feeding the hungry", etc.