WHO THEN SHOULD LEAVE?
A PARABLE OF THE CHRISTIAN FAMILY

Some years back Joe and Mary Christian scraped and saved and finally got enough money to fulfill their dream and make a down payment on a dairy farm.  By hard work and sacrifice they made a success of their investment, the farm prospered. The were able to build a lovely home, with barn and outbuildings on their property and their dairy herd grew. God truly blessed their labors.

Joe and Mary were blest with four sons and a daughter. When they grew up, the kids went off to college and studied agriculture and business.  Upon graduation they came home to help Joe run the farm.  But while at school they picked up some new ideas about farming.  They saw no future in dairy farming.  They preferred a diversified approach.  They wanted to plant some of the land in corn, some in soy beans and raise pigs and chickens instead of dairy cattle. When they could not convince Joe of the need to change to their program, they grew restless and fretful. They became critical of their father’s efforts and predicted he would soon go out of business.  The situation became intolerable. Since the young folks had married and had children, they now numbered 15 to the two parents. They turned their attention to Mary and persuaded her that they were right and that Joe was just being stubborn. After a while the situation grew ugly and the children told their dad that they were going to farm the way they learn in school and if he did not like it he could leave.  The question is who should leave and go else where? Poor Joe, who by sacrifice and hard work bought and developed the farm, or the children who had not put a penny into the operation?  I think I know what you would say.  Well, consider the following scenario:

If a congregation was established, its property purchased and meeting house built and paid for by members of the Church of Christ who firmly believed:

• That Christ established and recognizes only one church (Matt. 16:18-19);

• That in the church, worshipful praise should be offered with voices alone, with no instrument other than the heart (Eph. 5:19);

• That the Lord’s Supper is a sacred memorial of the death of Christ and not part of a fellowship meal with meat and vegetables (I Cor. 11:20-22);

• That women are forbidden by God to fill public leadership roles in the church, specifically that they are forbidden to teach and have authority over the men (I Tim. 2:11-12);
  ·That the Bible is the infallible inerrant will of God (Ps.19:7) and that it is a divinely given pattern for us follow (Heb. 8:5; II Tim. 1:13);

• That God saves sinners by grace through faith when their faith leads them to obey Christ; in particular in baptism for the remission of sins (Acts 2:38).
  If that congregation has worshipped and served God according to these standards for years then a new preacher, new elders, and/or younger members decide that they wish to introduce serious changes into the faith, worship, practice of that congregation that conflict with their past beliefs and practices, what shall the older members do?  The two approaches are certainly incompatible. There is no way the two can worship together in peace and harmony unless those who hold to the original standards go contrary to their consciences. Amos said it well, “Can two walk together except they have agreed?” (Amos 3:3).  A separation is bound to occur. The question is who should be the ones to leave and go elsewhere

• Honesty says that those who built and paid for the facility should not be expected to leave!

• Those who hold to the faith of the founders and past leaders of that congregation should not be expected to surrender their property.

• Even if the majority have been seduced into the camp of the change agents, they have no right to the property that was built and paid for by brethren who obviously did not share their new found faith.

• The interlopers need to leave. If they want to worship like their neighbors in the Christian Churches, they should go there. If they want to be an independent Community Church they should start their own.  They have no right to wrest away the property of those whose faith they have rejected.

Honest people would do this. But it seems when people abandon the doctrine of Christ they prefer to take someone else’s meeting place rather than go and build their own.  This is yet another reason why such should be rejected (Tit. 3:10-11).