64-B
The House-Church Movement (5)
Sunday Services
By Steven F. Deaton
Introduction
A. The House-Church movement has a noble intent: get back to first-century Christianity.
1. Nadab & Abihu had a noble intent (Lev. 10:1, 2).
2. Saul had a noble intent (1 Sam. 15:15).
3. Uzzah (2 Sam. 6:6, 7).
B. Not only must our intent be right, but also our actions.
1. Good intentions not enough (Matt. 7:21-23).
2. Must obey the word (2 Thes. 1:7-9).
3. Walk by faith, not sight (2 Cor. 5:7).
C. The noble intentions of the HCM, have led them to reject that which is healthy and holy.
1. Sunday Dress.
2. Musical worship.
3. Contribution.
I. The House-Church Movement Denounces Sunday Dress
A. Church clothes “[reflect] the false division between the secular and the sacred.”
1. There is a division between secular & sacred
a. Social meal, religious supper (1 Cor. 11:20-34).
b. Women silent, women speaking (1 Cor. 14:34).
c. Women not leading, women leading (1 Tim. 2:11, 12; Acts 16:14, 15).
2. HCM striving to tear down the distinction between common & holy.
a. Worship on Sunday no different than fishing on Saturday.
b. Worship on Sunday same as work on Monday.
B. “Does He really expect His people to dress up for a beauty pageant on Sunday morning?”
1. No (slaves of first century, poor of all time).
2. Does not expect us to be grungy just to prove a point.
3. Does not expect us to have casual, I-don’t-care attitude either.
4. People wear nice clothing for different reasons.
a. Required by authority (company, organization, organizers).
b. Respect for occasion (wedding, awards ceremony, college graduation).
c. Worship: sincere, sober-minded attire is appropriate.
5. The Bible commands modest clothing (1 Tim. 2:9, 10).
a. Modest: “well-arranged, seemly, modest” (Thayer).
b. Apparel: “1. a lowering, letting down… 2. A garment let down, dress, attire” (Thayer).
c. Propriety: “sense of shame, modesty… reverence, Heb. xii. 28” (Thayer).
d. Moderation: “soundness of mind… self-control, sobriety” (Thayer).
6. There is no uniform, but that does not imply a license to be a slob.
64-B
C. “Dressing up for church violates the reality that the church is made up of real people with
messy problems;” “It fosters the illusion that we are somehow ‘good’ because we are
dressing up for God;” “…dressing up for church smacks against the primitive simplicity
that was the sustaining hallmark of the early church.”
1. Never under that illusion.
2. Should people dress according to their problems?
a. An immoral woman dress like a harlot?
b. Man with pornography problem not dress at all?
c. Man with eating problem wear spandex?
d. Woman with gossip problem come with duct tape on her mouth?
3. First century circumstances & culture differed from ours.
a. Live in houses with dirt floors?
b. Wear sandals all the time?
c. Men wear “dresses”?
d. Bathe couple times a month?
e. Get rid of automobiles, cell phones, artificial lights?
4. Dressing-down can be a tradition and mark of hypocrisy (Matt. 6:16-18).
II. The House-Church Movement Objects To Organized Musical Worship
A. “Leading up to the sermon, those who ‘lead worship’ select the songs… begin those songs
…decide how those songs are to be sung… when those songs are over.” “This is in stark
contrast to the first-century way. In the early church, worship and singing were in the
hands of all of God’s people.”
1. All sung, but not all led (Eph. 5:19; Col. 3:16).
2. Cannot all lead; chaos.
B. “Imagine: Every brother or sister free to lead songs under the headship of Jesus Christ—
even to write his or her own songs and bring them to the meeting for all to learn…
Someone starts a song and everyone joins in. Then someone else begins another song,
and so worship continues without long pauses and with no visible leader present.”
1. No women leaders (1 Cor. 14:34; 1 Tim. 2:11, 12).
2. Vie for time, get your song in.
3. What do visitors do?
III. The House-Church Movement Seeks To Diminish The Contribution
A. “When it comes to financial stewardship, we see the first-century saints giving cheerfully
according to their ability—not dutifully out of a command.”
1. Gave cheerfully (2 Cor. 9:6, 7).
2. Gave by command (1 Cor. 16:1, 2).
3. Not an option.
B. Clergy salary “has no New Testament merit…Elders (shepherds) in the first century were
not salaried.”
1. Preachers supported (1 Cor. 9:1-14).
2. Elders supported (1 Tim. 5:17, 18).
C. “Paying a pastor encourages him to be a man pleaser.”
1. OT priesthood supported by the people.
64-B
2. Paul supported by churches (Phil. 4:15-17; 2 Cor. 11:8).
D. Abuses of giving and the contribution do not make them unscriptural.
Conclusion
A. The noble intentions of the HCM, have led them to reject that which is healthy and holy.
1. Sunday Dress.
2. Musical worship.
3. Contribution.
B. The House-Church movement has a noble intent: get back to first-century Christianity.
1. Nadab & Abihu had a noble intent (Lev. 10:1, 2).
2. Saul had a noble intent (1 Sam. 15:15).
3. Uzzah (2 Sam. 6:6, 7).
C. Not only must our intent be right, but also our actions.
1. Good intentions not enough (Matt. 7:21-23).
2. Must obey the word (2 Thes. 1:7-9).
3. Walk by faith, not sight (2 Cor. 5:7).