The church that the Lord Jesus Christ built in the 1^st century is the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy, Isaiah 2:2-3, and was the eternal plan of God from the beginning, Ephesians 3:10. The church is one of three divine institutions revealed in Scripture: marriage, government, and the church. The church that Jesus built is not to be corrupted by outside influences. It is the responsibility of New Testament Christians to maintain the purity of the church.

We do this by maintaining the purity of the Word of God. To do this, children of God must learn, grow, and teach God’s Word. Whether the New Testament church is pure or not is based upon its faithfulness to the Word of God. If I do not know God’s Word how could I know what is or is not required? Therefore I must be a diligent student and “grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ”, 2 Peter 3:18. As I learn and grow spiritually I am to teach others the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Hebrews 5:12-14 teaches “For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.” All Christians are babes in Christ at the beginning of their Christians walk. It is not a sin to be a babe in Christ, however it is condemned to remain one. One must mature spiritually to defend against those who would corrupt the Gospel and thereby corrupt the church.

We must maintain the purity of the Gospel plan of salvation. The Gospel is God’s power to save, Romans 1:16. To corrupt the Gospel is to ruin its saving power. A perverted Gospel has no power to save and is not God’s power. Clearly the Bible teaches that one (1) Must Believe – John 8:24; (2) Repent of Sin – Luke 13:3; (3) Confess The Name of Jesus Christ – Matthew 10:32; (4) Be Baptized For The Remission of Sins – Mark 16:16; and (5) Be faithful Unto Death – Revelation 2:10. To add to or take from God’s scheme of redemption is to destroy its saving power.

We must also maintain the purity of worship that God has commanded. Many today will have events they call worship which are more like a rock concert or a theatre production. There will be handclapping, hyper-emotionalism, instrumental music, ad infinitum ad nauseam. The problems come when those in the Lord’s church wish to be like “the nation around them” and begin to include such unauthorized acts into their worship assembly. Faithful children of God will maintain the purity and simplicity of worship authorized in the New Testament: Acapella Singing – Ephesians 5:19, Praying – 1 Timothy 2:1-2, Lord’s Supper – Acts 20:7, Preaching – Acts 20:7, and Giving – 1 Corinthians 16:1-2.

And finally we must maintain the purity of the New Testament church by staying in the fight. It is incredibly sad when one hears that a Christian or even a congregation gives in and the purity of the local congregation is corrupted by denominationalism, worldliness, etc. If we are to maintain the purity of the church for which our Lord Jesus Christ died and gave His precious blood we must stay in the fight. 2 Timothy 2:4 teaches, “No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.” The Christian soldier must let nothing interfere in his duty to the “Captain of our salvation”, Hebrews 2:10. This battle is to the death. The purity of the New Testament church is too important.

-Jerry Sturgill

“Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.” – Proverbs 4:23

In today’s world, people are very concerned about what they eat. We worry about carcinogens, GMOs, preservatives, synthetic trans fats, artificial sweeteners, MSG, gluten and other ingredients to which we could be allergic. The list goes on and on. Just as what you eat can have a tremendous effect on your quality of life, what you are ingesting spiritually is a huge factor in your eternal wellbeing. What is more important than what goes into our stomachs is what comes out of our souls. Jesus said to Peter, “Do not ye yet understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught? But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: These are the things which defile a man” (Mt. 15:17-20).

The devil has done a good job of sprinkling spiritual toxins into the components that make up our current culture. Just as Israel was to get the leaven out of their houses in Exodus 12:15, we must get corruption out of our lives. 1 Corinthians 5:7-8 commands, “Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.” Just before this, Paul asked, “Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?” (1 Cor. 5:6; cf. Gal. 5:9). Even a little bit of a spiritual toxin is too much. Christians are sometimes naïve to the spiritual dangers they are exposed to on a daily basis. A little bit of lust, greed, pride, jealousy, or anger all have the potential to grow. The devil throws fiery darts of all of these trying to get any of them to catch and grow out of control (Eph. 6:16). As Christians who have escaped the harmful pollutants of the world, we must be on guard that we do not turn back to them (2 Pet. 2:20). We must keep our pure diet of God’s word (1 Pet. 2:2).

While any diet is not convenient, it is worth it. Jesus tells us to get serious about sin, guarding our hearts, even when it is not convenient. In Matthew 5:20-26, our Lord shows that murder is the outgrowth of anger. Jesus said anger in the heart for the wrong cause is sin. Jesus grew angry (Mk. 3:5), but it was for a just cause and he did not allow it to cause Him to sin (Eph. 4:26). Just because the Bible condemns murder it does not sanction the anger in the heart that leads to violent acts. In Matthew 5:27-30, the Lord addressed the issue of adultery. Jesus said lust in the heart is sin (Mt. 5:28). Man is made to be visually attracted to his wife (Prov. 5:15-23), and fulfilling that attraction is pure (Heb. 13:4), but lusting after another woman is sin (Job 31:1; Prov. 6:25). Just because the Bible condemns the outward act of fornication (1 Thess. 4:3), it does not sanction a man to lust in his heart (Mt. 5:28). A man must pluck out his eye and cut off his hand, not in physical mutilation, but in drastic spiritual measures, so that his soul is not lost (Mt. 5:29-30). Some members of the church will argue that the Bible condemns getting drunk (Gal. 5:21), but allows moderate social drinking. While much more could be said to refute this teaching, let the present line of argument suffice. Just because the Bible condemns drunkenness (Eph. 5:18), it does not sanction the first drink that would lead to drunkenness (Prov. 23:31). Sin starts small but grows. When the devil is on our doorstep, let’s keep the door closed rather than opening it just a crack.

Are you keeping your heart pure, or are there little ingredients that are poisoning it?

-Mark Day