Text: Acts 2.42
They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship,
to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
We’ve been looking at the Book of Acts lately. It is a powerful and inspiring Book. The
account of the New Testament church being born, rising from obscurity to shake the
Roman Empire, from frightened, confused, and often contentious followers of Christ to
become the very people who laid the first bricks of “the church,” grabs our attention and says to us, “This is how God did it! This is how Jesus built His church!”
So many times, however, the church of Acts looks so much different than the church
does today. And because of these differences, we are challenged to ask, “How much
should the church of today look like that church, the church of Acts?”
We so often hear, “Oh, we could just get back to the early church,” as if we’ve lost or are
missing something. I always feel compelled to respond to that with the question, “what
exactly are we doing wrong? What are we missing?”
The usual answers are that there is so much disunity, so little charity, so much effort put
into structure and form that we are somehow irrevocably lost from the early days of
Jesus’ Church.
In some ways, I share that sentiment. There certainly is a lot of investment in facilities,
programs, and, sad to say, promotion. But none of these things are inherently bad or at
odds with the church and its mission. Our priorities in these areas may be off but things
like buildings are important. If the church may be likened to a body, a comparison Jesus actually made, then one could compare our buildings and facilities, programs, and promotions to the skeleton.
No thinking person sees a skeleton and says, seriously, “That’s Joe.” The skeleton was
Joe’s skeleton. It’s not the essence of his person. Still, it was really important. The inner person that was and is Joe really needed it, at least for a season.
So much of what we speak of as “church” is that skeletal stuff, important, but not us, not
the real us. The real us is the community we share, the time, emotions, efforts, and dreams we share about seeing His kingdom established in us and in those we care for. The real us is the “us” caring for the lost, helping those in need of help, sharing the wonderful, life-changing news about Jesus.
And that hasn’t changed, at least not for all of us. As long as our hearts long for sound Biblical truth, for time spend in real fellowship with other pilgrims on this journey, for investment in the lives of others, for genuine worship of our God and Savior, and for
sincere, honest prayer, we are the church of Acts 2.42.
They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to
fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
So we can choose, each and every day, to be just like the early church, and the church
of every generation after that. Our outward appearance may be different, but we are
still His Body and will, to the best or our abilities and with the guidance of His Spirit,
offer Him to the World and to One Another.
May God bless you as you seek to follow Him.
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