Restoring New Testament Christianity

The Restoration Movement, also known as the Stone-Campbell Movement, is one of the more recent Christian movements that sought to restore NT Christianity. It began during the turn of the 19th century and continued for almost 100 years (1790-1870). The goal was to restore “the church” and see to the “unification” of all Christians in a single body patterned after the church of the New Testament.

The Restoration Movement developed from several independent efforts to return to apostolic Christianity, but two groups, which independently developed similar approaches to the Christian faith, were particularly important. The first, led by Barton Stone, began at Cane Ridge, Kentucky and called themselves simply "Christians". The second began in western Pennsylvania and Virginia and was led by Thomas Campbell and his son, Alexander Campbell; they used the name "Disciples of Christ". Both groups sought to restore the whole Christian church on the pattern set forth in the New Testament, and both believed that creeds kept Christianity divided.

In 1801, the Cane Ridge Revival in Kentucky planted the seed for a movement in the Ohio valley region to disassociate from denominationalism. In 1803, Stone and others withdrew from the Kentucky Presbytery and formed the Springfield Presbytery. The defining event of the Stone movement was the publication of Last Will and Testament of The Springfield Presbytery, at Cane Ridge, in 1804 (a historical site you can still visit today). The Last Will is a brief document in which Stone and five others announced their withdrawal from Presbyterianism and their intention to be solely part of the body of Christ. The writers appealed for the unity of all who follow Jesus, suggested the value of congregational self-governance, and lifted the Bible as the source for understanding the will of God.

The Restoration Movement since divided into multiple separate groups. There are three main branches in the US: the Churches of Christ, the Christian churches (Churches of Christ), and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ).

Obviously, the Restoration Movement didn’t ultimately unify all self-proclaimed Christians nor did it completely restore N.T. Christianity; however, there were a number of positives that came out of the effort. The concept of restoring 1st century Christianity- both from the standpoint of our formal worship that occurs as a congregation and individual living, through an emphasis on God’s word as our only standard, is incredibly important. While this particular time period in church history has become known as the Restoration Movement, let’s be clear that this wasn’t the first such period of religious restoration (Luther, Wesley, Oxford University, etc) nor has it been or should it be the last! God’s word is clear that restoration MUST be a continuous process, both collectively and individually. God tells us through Paul in 2 Corinthians 13:5 to “test ourselves to see if we are in the faith; examine ourselves!” With this framing in mind, we are going to embark on a series exploring why religious restoration is so frequently needed; but also why it requires some level of caution.

David, Josiah, Ezra, Nehemiah, Malachi, along with virtually every other righteous prophet and good King of Judah, attempted to restore faithfulness among God’s people in the OT. In the NT, John the Baptist initiated an attempt to restore the people’s hearts to the Lord in preparation for the coming Messiah. Of course, Jesus was the ultimate restorer, calling people to a new way of living at a time when Pharisaical law keeping was more heavily emphasized than righteous living.

This begs the question…why is religious restoration needed so frequently? Well, we understand entropy- the process of degradation; a trend to disorder. The principle of degradation says that everything degrades over time and falls into decay (unless effort is made to prevent such). We have all seen firsthand how quickly this can happen- with a home, car, or any other material object.

We can also look back in history and see how quickly it happened in the realm of religious matters, whether it was the period of the Judges, following Israel’s entrance into the promised land; the period of the kings of Judah/Israel; or the post-exile period for the Jews where even after 70+ years of captivity in a foreign land, upon returning home the people quickly slipped into religious decay. As for the church, look no further than the church at Ephesus which Paul spent around 3 years with (Acts 19) and appeared to be thriving up until his death; however, within 30 years thereafter, we are told in Revelation 2:4 they had left their first love.

The scary part is that we can’t always see the drifting or degradation taking place even though it might eventually be obvious in retrospect. This was clearly an issue in Malachi’s day (post-exile) when in Malachi 1:6,7 we read that the priests were asking God, “how have we despised Your name” and “how have we defiled You?” All the while, they continuously dishonored God with their defiled sacrifices (v. 7,8), by profaning His name (v. 12), and with their evil behavior (v. 13,14). For all these reasons, continuous examination and restoration are critical for us as Christians. That said, we can be easily tricked into thinking we are restoring NT Christianity when in reality, we have missed the point altogether. As such, we will look at some Biblical guardrails for restoration next week.

While thus far in this series we have highlighted the continual need for restoration, there are some guardrails we need to pay attention to when it comes to spiritual renovation. First, we need to ensure we are measuring against the right standard. If we’re measuring ourselves against a previous generation and how they operated, we have the wrong standard- unless it’s the 1st century Christians we read about in the N.T. How things used to work or be done is not our measuring rod; the Bible is. On the other side, it’s just as dangerous to measure ourselves by what is trending in society or contemporary. Acts 17 illustrates well both sides of this coin. At the beginning of Acts 17, we find the Jews in Thessalonica longing for the ways of old (keeping Jewish traditions). Then at the end of the chapter you have the Athenians longing for any novel idea or new way of thinking. In the middle, you have the Bereans searching for the truth. It’s not what’s old nor what’s new, but what’s true that should be our standard.

Another caution when it comes to restoration is failing to see our own need for personal repentance. It’s much easier to see where other’s might be degrading versus seeing it in ourselves. How often do we look at someone else’s home thinking it could use some restorative work while failing to address the deficiencies in our own home. 2 Corinthians 13:5 says, “test and…examine yourselves,” not examine others.

We also must be cautious that in restorative work, we don’t go to extremes. We can be prone to either going too far (start fixing things that aren’t broken) or not going far enough where the restoration fizzles out before it’s completed. The Pharisees are an example of the former where in their attempts to restore and drive spirituality among the Jewish people, they created additional rules and laws that went beyond what God required. Additionally, they became so focused on their rules that they lost sight of God and what He really desired along the way. Restorationists of today can easily become the hypocrites of tomorrow unless you continuously and honestly return to God’s word and keep the focus on Him. On the other hand, many of Judah’s kings (for example Asa in 1 Kings 15:11-14) are an example of not taking restoration far enough. Good kings like Asa and Joash would often implement a number of reforms to drive out evil and idol worship from the land but would not complete the restoration process by getting rid of the high places wherein these idols were worshipped. As a result, the people would go right back to idolatry at those high places within a short period of time.

Related, another temptation can be to limit the restoration to what can be seen on the outside while failing to address the “bones”- the inside. The Pharisees were also guilty of this as Jesus called them white washed tombs (Matthew 23:27-28). They kept the outside scrubbed and polished with an appearance of holiness but inwardly were full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. Polishing the external (i.e. adjusting traditional practices; incremental modifications to assembling/worship; attending and participating in public worship) does not equate to real restoration of the spirit of Christianity. With these guardrails in mind, we will turn our attention to what Biblical restoration looks like.

In Matthew 9:10-13 as Jesus is dining with many tax collectors and sinners, the Pharisees are questioning His judgment in eating with these people. Jesus responds by telling the Pharisees that there’s a really important part of the Scriptures they don’t understand. He tells them, “go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” This is an alarming statement. The Pharisees spent much of their lives studying the Law and were experts in the Scriptures. And we all know what an important component sacrifices were of the Old Law. In fact, much of the Torah was devoted to instructions around how to offer these sacrifices as this was a critical part of their worship of God. So what is Jesus saying?

Jesus is emphasizing that some things are more important than sacrifices, and if you don’t understand, and more importantly practice these bigger principles, then your sacrifices are worthless to God. That He tells the Pharisees to go and learn what this means emphasizes the importance of this teaching, one that these highly religious people had missed, and as a result, their judgement and way of living was distorted. Jesus quotes this exact same passage, originally from Hosea 6:6, in Matthew 12:1-8 in the context of the Sabbath law. In Matthew 23, He teaches the same principle again as He highlights all the relatively minor priorities of the Pharisees in contrast to the weightier matters of the Law such as justice and righteousness. And in Matthew 22:34-40 Jesus emphasizes once again to the religious leaders what matters most: loving God and loving people.

It’s clear that Jesus came teaching, much like Isaiah (1:10-17), Amos (5:22-25), and Micah (6:6-8) before Him, a need to restore the inside- the heart. It was not the nuances of worship that Jesus (or the prophets) were most concerned with, but one’s character and way of living. God wasn’t taking issue with the Israelites in Isaiah, Amos, or Micah because they missed a detail of how to offer the sacrifice, rather that they weren’t doing good, being just, and taking care of the vulnerable and weak.

Similarly, Jesus wasn’t condemning the religious leaders of His day because they weren’t praying or worshipping enough, rather that amid all the rules they were trying to bind, they had lost track of what it was all really about. This is by no means to suggest that God didn’t care about worship. He went into great detail in the Old Law on how to worship for a reason- it mattered, and He expected obedience. But if we don’t get matters like righteous living, mercy, justice, doing good, loving God and loving people right, the logistics of worship aren’t going to matter. Rather than just focusing on their worship, God wanted them to focus on their hearts- Godly living. We will further examine some practical applications of this next week.

As noted in our prior article, God emphasized relationships and character first and foremost. To be made in the image of God and be children of God means we embody the character of God (treating others right) and love God above all else. There are certainly other commands, and they are not to be overlooked. However, if we miss these weightier principles, then we’ve missed the whole point of being a Christian. Since Jesus placed greater weight on certain principles (see Matthew 22:34-40), it should cause us to examine what we emphasize most- in our teaching, conversations, and most importantly our daily living.

Let’s consider our spiritual priorities- both as individual Christians and as churches of Christ? How many of us have had the experience where we’re discussing the Lord with someone and the discussion enters into where we go to church. When we tell them, the Church of Christ, the first comment is, “oh yeah, you are the one’s who don’t use instruments.” If it’s anything like my own experience, then I would guess frequently. Why is the first response not, “oh yeah, your churches are the most loving, compassionate, faithful, righteous groups of people I’ve ever encountered?” What is the ‘brand’ of the Lord’s church?

We, like the religious leaders of Jesus’ day (Matthew 9:10-13), need to ensure we emphasize the things the Lord emphasized in their appropriate proportion. At times, we have placed such a priority on the organization of the church and on acts of worship; on the church treasury; on the use of instruments- that we are now known in most of our communities for how we use our money and that we don’t use instruments. These matters are not inconsequential- every one of God’s commands matters and we should discuss such because God does. However, when it comes to the order and emphasis that we put on these items compared to the weightier matters of loving God, loving people, caring for the weak and vulnerable, practicing righteousness and justice (Matthew 12, 22, 23), do we sometimes lose track of what God really cares about and distort His priorities?

In contrast to the Old Law (specifically the Torah), the NT places limited focus on the nuances of worship. Noting two topics that have become the calling card for the church of Christ- use of the church treasury and singing in worship, there is no section of NT Scripture devoted SPECIFICALLY to either of these topics. Sure, singing is mentioned on a couple of occasions IN OTHER CONTEXTS, and given there is no discussion of using instruments to worship God in the NT, it’s appropriate to conclude that God desires for us to sing and engage in non-instrumental worship. Same with how we use the Lord’s money. Certainly money is referenced plenty in the NT, but the appropriate and inappropriate use of the church treasury is never specifically addressed IN THAT CONTEXT alone.

The point is not to rehash these issues (which we have all studied and understood to the best of our ability), but to call us to re-examine the focus and emphasis we might put on these matters. While important, are those the defining measures of Christ’s church? Let’s restore NT Christianity by putting the emphasis where God does. Certainly, how we worship and use the Lord’s money matters, but how much more does love, grace, justice, and righteousness. May we emphasize what the Lord emphasizes, define ourselves and our churches in the ways Jesus wanted us to be defined, and in so doing, truly be the church that is known by what we do versus what we don’t do.

Thus far in this series of articles, we have focused on the need for continual restoration and noted that first and foremost, that starts with restoring our hearts and actions to align with Christianity. Over the next couple weeks, we will examine some key areas where reformation is often most needed. First, let us consider whether we are truly citizens of a heavenly kingdom.

Jesus tells us in Matthew 6:24 that one cannot serve God and the things of this world. Yet, the popular belief and practice of many is that we can grasp this hope of a heavenly kingdom while still immersing ourselves in all of this world we can. Many of us live our lives no differently than conservative, non-Christians except for the fact that we attend church each week. We watch the same entertainment, our conversations are the same, and we are frequently just as involved in the commercial and materialistic pursuits of this worlds as everyone else.

The Scottish preacher and writer Henry Drummond said, “it is the man who tries to make the best of both worlds who makes nothing of either; and he who seeks to serve two masters misses the benediction of both.” This world and the next are enemies and at odds; we cannot therefore be friends of both. Jesus said in John 15:18,19, “If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.” Which world are we living for?

The early church is a good example for us here. A preserved 2nd century letter to someone named Diognetus describes Christians to the Romans as follows: “they dwell in their own countries simply as sojourners…they are in the flesh, but they don’t live after the flesh. They pass their days on earth but are citizens of heaven. They obey the prescribed laws, and at the same time they surpass the laws by their lives. They love all men but are persecuted by all. They are unknown and condemned. They are poor, yet they make many rich. They possess few things; yet, they abound in all. They are dishonored but in their very dishonor are glorified.” And here is how the Romans described Christians: “you abstain from respectable pleasures. You do not attend sporting events. You have no interest in public amusements. You reject the public banquets and abhor the sacred games.”

Would we be criticized by the world for being totally absorbed in the interests of a heavenly kingdom and ignoring the things this world has to offer? In John 17:13-19 Jesus prayer was not that we be taken out of this world, but that we are not of this world. Let us restore our focus to that of the heavenly kingdom and may God help us to continue to loosen our grip on the things of this world.

As we continue to examine areas where we may need continual restoration, let us consider God’s emphasis on loving people and doing good. We stressed in an earlier article in this series that religion is not defined but what we don’t do as much as it is by what we do. God makes this clear in James 1:26,27 when in His definition of religion, He puts seeing to the needs of orphans and widows on an equal plane with keeping ourselves unstained by the world.

In the Bible we see that being engaged in doing good- in other words, loving, caring for, and serving those in need- has been a critical role of God’s people forever (see Deuteronomy 15:7-11; Jeremiah 22:16 among others). This is exactly what Jesus mission was as described in Luke 4:18: healing the sick, comforting the distressed, associating with the poor and outcasts of this world. He later tells us that our eternal fate is dependent on the extent to which we imitate Him in this (Matthew 25:31-46). The importance of this to Jesus is highlighted by the fact that in His last messages to His disciples prior to His death (John 13-17), He emphasizes love in some form over 25 times including John 13:34,35 where He says the world will be able to tell that we are His disciples by the degree to which we love one another.

As people all around us are suffering from disease, poverty, depression, addictions, broken families, and as they are struggling to find answers to these difficulties, where is the church- followers of Christ? Hopefully, we are not standing by observing from our comfortable seat, maybe even saddened by what we see, but rather pouring ourselves out in a life of service, offering hope to a disturbed world, and presenting Jesus as a real alternative to the present state. Church, we must continue to break out of the walls that often hold us to make a real difference in the world by manifesting the love of Jesus through good deeds of service and kindness.

Paul Harvey once said, “Instead of being fishers of men, Christians today have become keepers of the aquarium.” Let that not be true of us. While extending our hearts to God in worship is obviously important, so is extending our hand to others in service. Hebrews 13:15,16 says, “Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name. And do not neglect doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.” 1 John 3:18 says, “…let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth.” People don’t always need another sermon on love; sometimes they just need to see love in action, see Jesus living in us.

So, let’s evaluate ourselves. What kind of religion are we practicing? Does it extend beyond the walls of this building? Does it go beyond collective and individual worship? Hopefully, our religion manifests itself by loving as Jesus loved and doing good as we continually walk in the Light of our Lord and Savior.

In wrapping up this series of articles on “Restoring New Testament Christianity,” another hallmark of the New Testament church was the fellowship they practiced and community atmosphere they created. I’m struck every time I read about this with the early church in Acts.

In Acts 2:44 we read, “and all those who had believed were together and had all things in common;” in v. 46-47a we read, “Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people.” In Acts 4:32 we see, “And the congregation of those who believed were of one heart and soul; and not one of them claimed that anything belonged to him was his own, but all things were common property to them.” In v. 34-35 of the same chapter, “For there was not a needy person among them, for all who were owners of land or houses would sell them and bring the proceeds of the sales…and they would be distributed to each as any had need.”

The early church recognized that they were part of something much larger than themselves. Their sense of brotherhood/sisterhood was real both as local churches and as a larger body of believers across the world. We see them not only intimately involved in each other’s lives- within the local church- as in the examples above for the church in Jerusalem; but also, the early Christians were very involved in and supportive of the work of other congregations as evidenced by what we read in the valedictions of Paul’s letters and the sharing amongst churches when needs arose (1 Corinthians 16:1-4).

Unfortunately, our society has become very individualistic. Close-knit neighborhoods are a rarity anymore. Individuals are consumed by their own lives, activities, and routine. People avoid any form of dependence on others and are even more hesitant to share what they have worked hard for.

What’s even more unfortunate is that this has seemingly influenced the church. We are too busy to prioritize local Gospel meetings or Bible studies and support our brethren in the surrounding area. Hospitality (commanded by God- 1 Peter 4:8-10) is a lost art, a far cry from when the early church was sharing meals together daily. We are reticent to engage and fellowship with our brethren any time it’s not convenient or beyond the formal assembly times- largely due to filling up our lives with all sorts of other “priorities.” Our prayers have become largely self/family focused rather than kingdom and brethren focused. The recent pandemic has only escalated the distance we place between ourselves and others.

May this not be true of us. The Christianity we read about in the Bible was a beautiful community of believers prioritizing time together and sharing generously with each other. Let us consider our ways and our priorities. May we continually seek to restore Christianity to that which is presented by God in the New Testament and emphasize and practice those things that God commands and emphasizes.