If you honestly open up the New Testament and “search for the ancient order of things,” as it relates to the organization of the church which Jesus said, “I will build” (Matt. 16:18), the church which he purchased with his own blood (Acts 20:28), the church over which Christ is the head (Eph. 1:22-23), and the church which wears the name of Christ, (Rom. 16:16), what kind of organization would you find?
Turning through the pages of the New Testament, would you read of a Pope? If so, what passage would you direct an honest “searcher” “for the ancient order of things?” Would you ever find one “pastor” in a local congregation? If so, what passage would you point an honest “searcher” “for the ancient order of things?” Would you ever read of an organization larger than local congregations? If so, what passage would you direct the “searcher” “for the ancient order of things?” Would you ever read in the New Testament of a state organization of churches? If so, what passage would take the “searcher” “for the ancient order of things?”
The New Testament knows nothing larger than the one universal church, called the “house of God which is the church of the living” (1 Tim. 3:15), but this “one body” (Eph, 4:4) is revealed only in local congregations. These local congregations, are never larger or smaller, than, one congregation overseen by her own elders (Acts 14:23). No congregation was ever overseen by another congregation, or by any number of congregations. Never in the New Testament did the elders of one congregation oversee another congregation. Thus, each congregation was autonomous! Totally unknown to the church of the New Testament was a district, state, or national organization! In the “ancient order of things,” it was one congregation, under Christ, overseen and led by her own elders, served by her own deacons (Phil. 1:1)!
The one universal church, serves under the headship of Christ, as he sits at the right hand of God in heaven! There is no earthly headquarters; you cannot write a letter to the headquarters of the “churches of Christ,” as no such place exist! If you can write a letter to the headquarters of the church to which you belong; friends, it is not the church of the New Testament! If the church, to which you belong, has an organization larger than the local church, it is not the church of the New Testament.
These thoughts all relate to the “search for the ancient order of things,” for as an honest “searcher,” one must also have an honest desire to locate “the ancient order of things!” This means the “searcher,” must love the truth; knowing that only the truth has the ability to make one free!
Friends, do you have the courage to honestly “search for the ancient order of things?” Are you honest enough to study the word of God which is able to save your soul (Acts 20:32)? Are you courageous enough to the throw off, all things not of “the ancient order of things?” If not, what kind of person are you?
— Frank R. Williams