Identifying the church of Christ:
Characteristics of the Lord’s Body

Date: April 7, 1997-A.M.
Speaker: John Phillis
Main Scripture Reference: Acts 2:42-47

This morning I want to talk a little bit about how to identify the church of Christ. Most of us have had occasion to be out travelling, perhaps on vacation, on a business trip, something of that nature, and we have had to seek out the Lord’s church—the Lord’s body—a place to meet. That can be difficult sometimes.

A number of years ago, a man told me what, I think, is a very good formula to follow in identifying the true body of believers, and I’d like to share that with you. First of all, one must look for a meeting place that has the right sign out in front. It ought to say, “The church of Christ”. If it says something else—“God’s House of Love, Incorporated”, or something like that—why, you know that’s probably not the right place.

After we’ve identified the sign, we ought to go inside, and somewhere in the foyer of that building, there should be a tract rack with tracts in there. Then after we’ve identified that, it’s a good idea to crack the door of the auditorium and take a peek inside, and look and see if we can find a musical instrument —or instruments; and if we identify some instruments in there, why chances are we’re not in the right place.

But even after we’ve done these things, we still cannot be assured that we have identified the body of Christ. So, we need to take a step inside the auditorium and check the back of the pew and see what kind of a song book is in there. It ought to be songs of the church, sacred selections; and if it’s not one of those, then at least identify and see if it has shaped notes.

But even after doing all of those kinds of things, we still can’t be sure that we’re in the true church. One final test, this fellow told me, is to take a few steps down the aisle, turn around and look above the doors. And if there’s a clock on the wall, you’re in the church of Christ! [All of the above was said teasingly, and the congregation laughed.]

Well, that doesn’t work here [because we were meeting in a hotel convention room at the time and there was no clock over the door], but you’d be surprised. I’ve told that story in a number of places, and I guarantee you, without fail, there’s always a clock on the wall above the doors in the back of the auditorium.

Speaking of keeping track of the time, last week Tobey Pierce had to borrow Carol’s watch to keep up with the time while he was speaking. [Carol is Tobey’s wife.] I have a special time-keeping apparatus that I use. It was given to me a number of years ago. Let’s see, we’re in the month of March, aren’t we? [And John begins thumbing through a calendar, implying that you didn’t know how long his sermons would be—and the congregation laughed.] Seriously, I was given a calendar as a going-away gift when we were leaving a congregation where I did a fair share of the preaching. I thought that was cruel and unkind and a little bit mean spirited. I think the message, perhaps, there was that maybe I was a bit long-winded—maybe I talked too long. And somebody thought it was a rather clever idea to give me a calendar to keep track of my time because, they said, that was probably how I did keep track of my time.

But I’m here to tell you that I don’t necessarily like to be constrained limited to a 30-minute period of speaking. And maybe that’s where my reputation comes from. I’d rather take my inspiration from the apostle Paul, who, we know when he was at Troas, spoke until midnight! [Acts 20:6-7] What time do we have to be out of here?!? Of course, that worked for me for a long time until my son, when he was, oh I don’t know, maybe junior high or early high school years, pointed out to me one time, “Dad, Paul didn’t start preaching until 11:30 P.M.” So…that may or may not have been the case.

Seriously, I do want to talk about identifying the church—identifying characteristics of the Lord’s church. As we begin this new work together, I believe that we must do everything that we can do to be careful that this congregation of the Lord’s people will be now, and forever more, identified as the Lord’s body. And this is more than just having the proper sign in front of the building. It’s more than just conforming to some traditional values and practices. It’s more than just properly observing five items of worship. It’s more than how the church is organized and governed. Yes, it’s even more than baptism by immersion for the remission of sins.

These things are certainly important, even vital to the true body of Christ, but there’s more to be considered. Our goal, desire and objective needs to be that we pattern, or mirror, as closely as we possibly can, the teachings and practices of the church and those first century Christians as is recorded on the pages of the New Testament—God’s divinely inspired revealed Word to man.

Tobey Pierce read to us from Acts, the second chapter. All of us recognized that particular passage as being part of Peter’s first Gospel sermon. On the Day of Pentecost, Peter and the other apostles stood up in the midst of the multitude that was there and preached to them. And in his concluding remarks we see that the people who were there, many of them were convicted of their sins, asked what they needed to do to be saved, and there were about 3,000 souls who responded at that time—were baptized, were converted to Christ. That was the beginning of the church of Christ. That was the day that the church was founded, and it began.