Daily Thoughts from Acts: Be the Church! (Acts 2:42-47)

And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.  (Acts 2:42-47 ESV)

This first congregation provides us a template for what the church should look like:

1) True to the Apostolic teaching:  When we depart from what the apostles taught we have lost the truth about Jesus and have begun to develop our own Jesus, in our own image, and have lost the way of salvation.

2) Devoted to one another:  The fellowship we have in Jesus with other believers is lived out in caring for one another so that no one has need.

3)  Observing the sacred symbols:  These baptized believers acknowledged their absolute incapacity to save themselves by submitting to baptism and showed their continued need, as must we, of Jesus’ provision for our salvation as acted out in the Lord’s Supper.

4)  Devoted to prayer:  We continually acknowledge our dependence on God and our intimacy with Him through prayer and expect and see Him do things we could not do.

5)  Recipients of God’s wonder working power:  We should be seeing God’s power at work among us, answering prayer, casting out demons, doing miracles, as we trust Him and follow the example of Jesus’ faith.

6)  Models of holiness:  Our integrity and character should be obvious to all so that any persecution comes not because we deserve it but because the world hates Jesus.

7)  Multiplication:  New converts should be coming to Christ because of our witness to His life and salvation through our preaching and our exemplary lives.

No church is going to perfectly exemplify this, though it must be our aspiration.  Your congregation will lack in some or all of these areas.  But until you give up the gospel as taught by the apostles you will remain a congregation of the true Lord, Jesus, and must take your instructions from him.  If you feel Jesus has been put outside your church you must hear him knocking at the door for entrance, invite him in and be the one whose openness to him might save your congregation (Revelation 3:20).

We are a fragile community with many enemies, and one in particular who never ceases to accuse us before the throne of God night and day (Revelation 12:10).  But we are also the one hope of the world and, despite our many failures, can be that place where the kingdom is lived out and modeled for the world to see what their eyes have failed to see in life without Christ.  Be the church!