Lessons From Pentecost

Speaker: William Woodson
Date: May 7, 2000, Sunday Morning Bible Class (During a Gospel Meeting May 7 Through 10, 2000, by the Northeast church of Christ, Albuquerque, New Mexico)
Main Scripture References:Acts 2:1-4 and other verses in the chapter; Joel 2:28-32.
Theme: The New Testament Church (Matthew 16:18: And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.)

Introduction of Brother William Woodson by Brother John Phillis:] This is a day that we’ve been looking forward to for some time now, the day that we’re beginning our Gospel Meeting with Brother William Woodson. Brother Woodson is here with us; he arrived here in Albuquerque Wednesday afternoon. He and Normand Belt went off to Pegosa Springs, Colorado, for two days of “glorious fishing.” When they returned they said that it was wonderful fishing, but the catching didn’t amount to much; but Brother Woodson had a wonderful time, and he is here with us to hold this Gospel Meeting for us. We’ve been thinking about this and praying about this for a number of weeks now, and it is going to begin today.

In this hour, Brother Woodson will begin with a presentation for us, and the theme for this series of sermons that he’s presenting to us during this meeting has to do with “The New Testament Church.” I won’t give Brother Woodson a long introduction at this point; we’ll do that during the worship hour. Let me just simply say that Brother Woodson is a faithful preacher of the Gospel and has been for some fifty years now. He is very much enjoying his retirement; he finally has gotten to take some time off where he is just able to do leisurely things like fish, and what not. But, to tell you how he’s spending his retirement, over the past two weeks he has held meetings in North Carolina, Pennsylvania, spoken on a lectureship program in Pennsylvania, and now he’s here in New Mexico holding a meeting for us. I think he goes back to Lawrenceburg later this week only to turn around and go somewhere else again. So, he is spending his retirement doing what he loves to do and what he’s very capable of doing, and that is, preaching the Gospel. So, we are very privileged and honored to have Brother William Woodson with us here for this series of meetings, and we’re very glad that he has come our way. So, at this time I give to you Brother William Woodson.

[Brother Woodson:] I’m glad to be here with all of you. I have been looking forward to being in your company since John and I talked about this some time back. I want to let you know that I appreciate the Uptown Northeast church here [this meeting was held before the Northeast congregation of the Lord’s people had a building; we were meeting in a large conference room at the Uptown Sheraton Hotel]. I think that I’m going to offer this idea as a motto for this church: “Keep your water handy.” I definitely have to do that. I am used to west Tennessee and east Tennessee and middle Tennessee. But the altitude and all connected with it leaves me kind of dry and thirsty. And so, if I drink from time to time here, I hope you understand. It’s my attempt to stay equal with you folk that are “acclimated.” So, I’m glad to be here and have a part with you in this Gospel Meeting.

John and I talked about matters that we would discuss in this particular session. We settled upon the theme of “The New Testament Church.” I’m glad to discuss that with you, and I hope that our studies will be helpful to you, not only today, but throughout the other sessions of our time together.

Let me begin by noting the old and familiar adage: “The more things change, the more they stay the same.” That’s so true in many, many parts of life. I think it is especially true among churches of Christ today. I spent a number of years in the study of the history of our people, particularly the old post-Civil War period until roughly World War I. In those years, there was a great deal of turmoil, a great deal of difficulty. One of the focal points of that discussion had to do with the church. What IS the church? How do we UNDERSTAND it? How do we KNOW it? What does it DO?

Well, as you probably know, there came, ultimately, a very serious division. The division became evident by the late 1890s, and the process of final division and disillusion took until roughly 1910, 1912. Well, in these twenty or so years, there was the disengaging of even families who went separate directions. There were churches that were divided. There were homes that were troubled by this. All through these years since, there has been the awareness that what once happened could happen again. That’s a sad reality. I wish it were not so, but it is. There are those who think today that we are facing a further division. I hope that is not true. In some towns and cities across the counter, there’s already an implicit division. And that is, individuals, congregations, know that something is preventing their full fellowship, association and working together. They’re not mad at each other so much as they’re marching on different routes. And sooner or later, that comes to a discussion of the church.

One of the interpreters of the history of the break in Tennessee, Kentucky, etc. in the 1880s and 90s was a man by the name of Alonzo Fortune. He was a preacher in what would now be called “The Disciples of Christ.” At that time, he was a preacher at the Central Christian Church in Lexington, Kentucky. He wrote a book in 1932 entitled The Disciples In Kentucky. In that book, he traced the progress of the cause in Kentucky from the 1801 period, in the aftermath of Barton W. Stone and Caneridge Meeting House, etc., until the time of the break. In one of his chapters, he discusses the thought of the church. And here is his statement about the two ideas of the church. Fortune wrote:

There were two different interpretations of the church, which inevitably came into conflict. There were those who believed the church should move on with the world and adapt the spirit of the New Testament to conditions that were ever changing. They held that, when not forbidden by the New Testament, they were free to adapt their program to changing needs.

On the other hand, there were those who believed the pattern of the church was fixed for all time, and the fact that certain things were not sanctioned was sufficient ground for rejecting them.

These men on both sides were equally honest, but they had a different approach to these issues that were raised.