“Then they that gladly received the word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them three thousand souls. 42. And they continued steadfastly in the apostle’s doctrine and fellowship and in breaking of bread and in prayers,”
Verse 42 gives us a pattern of the fellowship of the first Christians. It is a pattern that we still follow- or should follow today. Here is the pattern: First, they “continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine.” What was the “apostles’ doctrine” based upon? It was based upon Old Testament scriptures, particularly those scriptures that pointed to the coming of the Messiah. It was also based upon the teachings of Jesus that became what we call “the New Testament.” Today, we call this “Bible study.” At the heart of the fellowship of Christians is the study of God’s word. This is done today through what we call Sunday School (or small group if you prefer.) Whatever we call it, it is the study of the Bible. This is also done through the preaching of the word by the pastor. Second, they were in “fellowship.” We might refer to this as “having fellowship.” However we say it, it means that Christians were in Koinonia with each other. “Koinonia” is a Greek word which means “partnership.” Having fellowship did not mean that they just met, had snacks and had a good time. (This was part of it, for they did, “break bread” together.) But on a deeper level it meant that they were in partnership with each other as they studied the Bible, and as they reached out to the world. The church, God’s people, is in partnership with each other, not just to get together, but to reach out to the world. Third, as they met together in partnership with each other, they prayed together. We can refer to this as worship. At the center, the core, of church fellowship is prayer. We pray when we are alone, but we should also pray as we meet together. It is through prayer that we are able to demonstrate the power of God to the world. For example, in Acts 4 when the church discovered that the chief priests and elders had forbad them to preach in the name of Jesus, “they lifted up their voice to the Lord.” This is an example that we should follow in our fellowship. We need to lift up our voices to the Lord, and expect Him to do great things among us as He did in this early church. We should meet prayerfully on any occasion when we meet together. We should live prayerfully when we are not together. Here is our biblical pattern of church life: We should study the Bible together and individually. We should be in loving partnership with each other. We should worship and pray together and individually. To quote Jesus: we should “go and do likewise.” Bro. Joe
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"And let us consider one another to provoke to love and to good works: not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another; and so much the more as you see the day approaching."
Attending worship services at church at the appointed hours for your church is important, but it is not an end in itself, it is a means to an end. What do I mean? Just sitting on a pew in church on Sunday is not the fulfillment of the call to Christian service. It is important to be there, but why we are there is of more importance. If you are there to chalk up "brownie points" with God, you are going to be disappointed. The point is that going to church should make a difference in your life. When you are in church, you are singing, giving, listening and responding. All of this is supposed to help you to live a better Christian life and to be a better Christian servant. Hebrews 10:24-25 gives three good reasons why we should attend church. First, attending church should "provoke to love." Being together in fellowship with Christian friends should help us to love them more. I can't say that this is always the case. There can be as many unloving acts and words at church as there are in secular clubs. But that does not diminish the fact it is, after all, a church of the Lord Jesus Christ. The church is made up of human beings who are given to human foibles. But my experience in churches over the last fifty-five years has been to predominantly experience love. Of course, there have been negative moments, but overall the positive has outweighed the negative. At any rate, our aim should be to “provoke to love” no matter what the prevailing attitude of the church might be. Does attending church provoke you to love? Second, attending church should lead to "good works." In other words we should leave church ready to serve the Lord in the world. For example, we should be provoked to do works of love in the world. There is a saying that I have read in many church bulletins: "Enter to worship. Depart to serve." As familiar as that saying has become, it gives us one of the good reasons for assembling with fellow Christians. Third, we are told to "exhort each other." The word exhort means to encourage. Attending church should make us encouragers. It should make us encourage each other at church. It should make us encourage people with whom we work on a daily basis. People should be able to say, "Man, I can tell ‘Suzy’ went to church Sunday, because her attitude is really encouraging me today." Is this reality? It could be for some but not so for others. Fourth, attending church should make us look forward to Christ's coming, which is the "day" that is referred to here. Going to church is important as a means to an end. Be sure that attending church makes you a more loving person, a better servant of Jesus Christ, and encourager to other people and among those who look forward to Christ's coming. What are your reasons for attending church? What effect does it have on your life? What does it provoke you to do? It's at least worth thinking about. Bro. Joe “And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.”
The day of Pentecost in Acts 2 is actually the launching of Christ’s church. Jesus told His disciples to wait in Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit came, and this is what happened in Jerusalem on that particular celebration of Pentecost. Pentecost literally means “fifty days,” which means fifty days after Passover and was also called the “Feast of Weeks.” It was a celebration of the gathering of the grain harvest, and came to be a celebration of the giving of the law to Moses. (The Revel Bible Dictionary) It took on new meaning because of Jesus. It is important to see what occurred in this launching of Christ’s church. The first thing to note is that it happened as Jesus told His disciples it would happen. He told them that the Holy Spirit would come upon them and that they would be witnesses of Him in “Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the uttermost part of the earth.” (Acts 1:8) This event was indeed the fulfilling of Jesus’ word to His disciples about the Holy Spirit coming upon them – as well as in them. It was fitting that the witness of the disciples under the power of the Holy Spirit took place in Jerusalem, since that is where Jesus told them that they would begin their witness. This was an example of witnessing under the power of the Holy Spirit. It was amazing that people from all over the world heard the gospel in their own language. The second thing to note is that they were “all with one accord in one place.” This means that there was no disagreement among them as to their purpose. Since that church, like ours, was made up of human beings, there were eventually disagreements and differences that needed to be worked out, but it was important for them to be of one accord on the matter of being witnesses of Jesus. We can disagree about a lot of things, and we probably will, but we cannot disagree that the main purpose of the church today is the same purpose of the church on the day of Pentecost, and that was to be witnesses for Jesus to the lost world. We should certainly be of one accord on that matter. The third thing to note is that it was the Holy Spirit who made the gospel clear to the people who received the witness. Let’s look at Acts 2:6-9 as an example of what I mean: “Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language. 7. And they were all amazed and marveled, saying to one another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galileans? 8. And how hear we every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?” The marvelous thing here is that it was the Holy Spirit who communicated the truth of the gospel about Jesus Christ to people from all over the world. Whatever else you make of this event, it is obvious that what took place was a miracle of hearing. Notice that the people did not say “they are speaking in our own language.” What they said was that they heard the men speaking in their own language. Only the Holy Spirit can cause such a miracle. In your own witness, you might not think that you are doing a good job of sharing the gospel, but the Holy Spirit can communicate it through you no matter how you might stumble. The bottom line of this launching of Christ’s church on the day of Pentecost is that the disciples, not just the apostles but all of the believers at that time, went in one accord to witness under the power of the Holy Spirit and at the end of the day, after Peter’s sermon in Acts 2:14-41, three thousand people were saved. We need to catch the spirit of Pentecost in Acts 2. Don’t you agree? Bro. Joe “Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which (Jesus) has purchased with His own blood.”
I have been thinking a lot about the church today. What I am sharing here is not an exposition of the text, but a mention of the declaration of the church. (When I write “the church” I do not mean that there is only one entity called “church,” but that all Christians together make up Christ’s Church.) But I am writing from the standpoint that each local entity of the church is important in the ongoing business of the church. Let me stop here and share with you what I have been thinking about Christ’s Church. “Church” is not just a concept of man, but the idea of God. Acts 20:28 tells us that Jesus bought His church with “His own blood.” The idea of Christians being together in worship, fellowship, evangelism and missions is written about throughout the New Testament. Most of Paul’s letters are written to local churches, and even those to individuals deal with churches in one way or the other. The Book of Revelation is written to seven local churches. Do not write off the importance of the local church in the work of God. A man once asked me if I thought he could be a Christian and not be part of a local church. I told him that I guess he could but why would he want to? Surely, if something is important to God, it should be important to us. Church should be seen by us as an agent of accountability. If I am involved in something by myself, I can make of it what I want. It is easy for us to forgive our own sins, no matter how bad they look when other people do the same thing. The fact that we are in this together gives us a natural accountability to one another. I don’t mean that we in the church should snoop on one another, and sit in judgment on one another, but that we have each other to remind us when we get off of the path. Church is a means of sharing our lives in Jesus with other people. I spent several months when I had to attend the “great church of television.” To be sure, I heard some good sermons, but what was missing was the shared experience with God’s people. Mary and I can have fellowship, but it’s just not the same as being with all of the other people. When I have gone through difficult times, it has been good to be part of a church. Other Christians have been there to pray for me, visit me and to encourage me. It is through the church that a lot of ministry has taken place in the lives of people that would not have been done without the group of Christians called “church.” Being part of a church is not always easy. After all, the church is comprised of human beings with different personalities, different likes and dislikes and different opinions. This didn’t start with your church. Most of the New Testament, after the gospels, deals with problems in churches. At no time did Paul demean the importance of church, even when he was dealing with problems in particular churches. He dealt with the problems because the church was important to him, and the problems needed solving. Paul did not give up on the idea of church, but he toiled to make churches better. Do not give up on church. If you absolutely cannot get along in your present church, go to another. But I warn you, after awhile there will be problems there too – just saying. Just think of the church as being important enough to Jesus that He shed His blood for it. If the church is important to Jesus, it should be important to us as well. I haven’t really delved deeply into the importance of the church, but I hope that what I have shared here will help you as you consider your part in the church that you attend. Bro. Joe All of us like to think that we are good church members, but sometimes we aren’t as good as we think we are. A sobering question is what would happen if you left your church? Would you be missed because of the attitude that you had and the quality of work that you did? This is a real question and should be taken seriously. Maybe we should ask ourselves what kind of church members we are. Let me share some things with you that fifty three years of working with churches as pastor and as a Director of Missions has told me about good church members. Space does not allow me to list all of the qualities of a good church member, but what I mention should suffice.
I think that a good church member is faithful in attendance. Understand this, attendance is not the be all and end all of church membership, but it is important. It is amazing to me that a church today is doing well if it has 200 members if 100 people are in attendance on a given Sunday. I know that there are times that even a good church member can’t attend, but he or she will be normally be faithful in attendance. I do not mean that a good church member is just a warm body at church, but is one that uses his or her spiritual gifts to serve in the church. A good church member is not just faithful in attendance, but faithful in service as well. A good church member will seek to win others to Christ and get them into the church. I think that a good church member has a good attitude about his or her fellow church members. The New Testament teaches us that Christians are to be loving people, and we should certainly love our fellow church members. There might be people in church that are hard to love, but that does not excuse us from loving them. The Savior who built His church built it on love for people. The Bible tells us to bear with one another. This does not mean that we are to grit our teeth and say, “at least I’m not going to kill him or her.” It means that we should swallow our pride and love all of the people with whom we serve. I think that love is a missing ingredient in a lot of churches, and it is difficult for a church to prosper when love is missing. Lack of love is a great cause of divisions and splits in churches. A loving person is not a divisive person. A good church member will certainly love and support his or her pastor, and will seek to make his service at their church happy service. Any criticism of the pastor should be good for him and for the church, not destructive and mean-spirited. I think that a good church member can be depended on to be a good steward of what God has given him or her. I’m not going to preach a tithing sermon here, but I do believe that a good church member can be depended to maintain the finances of a church. The Bible is not afraid to tell us that we are to be givers. We are to first give ourselves to the Lord, and we are to give ourselves in service in the Lord’s church. When we learn to give of ourselves, we will have no problem giving to enable the church to do the job that it was called to do. We will be cheerful givers and Paul told us that “God loves a cheerful giver.” This means that God loves it when people give cheerfully. It does not mean that He does not love non-givers, but he blesses cheerful givers. There are many other things that I could write about good church members, but in my experience what I have written here is important. Based on these points, are you a good church member? Bro. Joe “Only let your conduct be as it becomes the gospel of Christ, that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind, striving together for the faith of the gospel."
In Philippians 1:27 Paul encouraged the Philippian Church to live a life “worthy of the gospel.” He approached this theme from the standpoint of their relationship as ecclesia – gathering of God’s people – church, not just their individual behavior. Of course it is reasonable to assume that the church’s relationship depends upon the individual behavior of its members. As the representatives of Jesus in this world a church is to conduct itself so that the gospel will be promoted instead of shamed. How can we do this? We can "stand fast in one spirit.” This means that we are to take a stand for what is right and do it together – in one spirit. We can take a stand on every moral issue, but if we do not do it in one spirit, we will get nowhere with our witness. Each of us needs to ask ourselves if we are thinking in one spirit with fellow members of the churches of which we are members. Why would we deem some issues important and disagree about everything else? For example, why would we take a strong stand on a moral issue and then get into a feud over what color to paint the fellowship hall. No kidding! Churches have split over such issues as this. I heard of one church that split over whether to have metal offering plates or wooden ones. These decisions are made my individuals who divide into parties and commence to feud. The problem is that the wider community hears the feud so loudly that our stand on the greater issue is muted. Each of us needs to make up our minds that we are going to stand together on the large and small things in one spirit. We can be of “one mind.” Does this mean that we will walk in lockstep and never disagree about anything? As long as there is more than one person involved there will be disagreements of some kind. I have discovered that if there is never disagreement in a church some powerful person is calling all of the shots. Disagreements are inevitable in all human affairs, including the church. We just need to learn to disagree like Christians. What, then, does Paul mean by being of “one mind”? In Philippians 2:5 Paul wrote: “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus…” The“one mind” is the mind of Christ. We are to be guided by the mind of Christ and to make our decisions based on what He wants. This is not always easy, but it is always necessary if we are to act like Christians in making decisions. In the verses following verse 5, Paul related how Jesus humbled Himself and did what He came to earth to do, i.e., die on the cross. If each of us is thinking like Christ, humbly, we will learn to disagree like Christians, and pray ourselves to “one mind.” Each of us will do and say what needs to be done to make it so. Before we “speak our minds” in churches, we need to ask ourselves if we are thinking with the mind of Christ. We need to ask, “Would what I am about to say promote the gospel and enhance the welfare of the church?" We can “stand together for the faith of the gospel.” In one spirit and in one mind we are to strive to promote Christ and His gospel, and not our own opinions. Getting our way at any cost does not promote striving for“the faith of the gospel.” What is your church striving together for? What is the purpose and aim of your church? Is it about the “faith of the gospel” and growth of the kingdom of God? Think seriously about these things and for your part let your conduct be worthy of the gospel. Bro. Joe “And I say unto thee, that thou art Simon Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”
A lot of people have given up on the church. There are many reasons why this is so, and some of them might be valid if the church was just a human institution. We need to take another look at “church” and see why it is important. In the text above Jesus asked His disciples who they thought He was. Peter answered, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus told Peter that the heavenly Father gave him the answer. Then he made this great declaration concerning His church:“Upon this rock I will build my church.” This verse gives us the answer to “what is the church?” It is Christ’s church! He said “I will build my church.” Christ’s church is not a building, it is not a club, it is not merely an organization. Christ’s church is a living body – an organism made up of the people of God. We are in the habit of referring to the church we attend as “our church.” That is understandable in a way, but if it is indeed ours, it is not what Christ intended it to be. The church does not belong to us, it belongs to Jesus. Jesus gave His life for His church: “Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to feed the church of God, whichHe has purchased with His own blood.” In Acts 2, on the Day of Pentecost, Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to His church. He has promised to never leave or forsake His church. It is the only institution, if that is the right word, that Jesus is using to fulfill His kingdom’s work. There are a lot of good organizations doing good work in this world, but they cannot take the place of Christ’s church. Remember Jesus said, “I will build MY church.” Christ’s church is comprised of imperfect human beings. Jesus said, “Thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my church.” Jesus was referring to Peter’s profession of faith. Christ’s church is built upon the faith of imperfect people like Peter and like you and me. When I was a young pastor, I wanted to find the perfect church, where I would be a perfect fit. But the Lord convinced me that if I found the perfect church I could not join it, because if I joined it, it would not be perfect anymore. As imperfect as we are, we are His church. As already written, Christ’s church is built upon our faith. It is also built upon our service, our dedication, our prayers, our willingness to witness and to be the arms, legs and mouths of Jesus. The churches to which we belong will be as effective as we allow the Holy Spirit to use us to make it. The church is not ours, but it is comprised of us. (I know, bad grammar.) Thank God, it is not us alone. Jesus is present with us and His Spirit urges us on, but He calls us to His work and if we don’t get it done, it will either not get done, or He will use someone else to get it done. Jesus said:“and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it (His church).” Make no mistake, local churches do die, because they become clubs where people meet with their friends, not organisms, where the people of God are in fellowship (partnership) with each other. But the church as the “body of Christ” cannot be destroyed. If Christ’s church could be killed, the devil would have killed it a long time ago. The church cannot be destroyed because it belongs to Jesus Christ, who defeated death, hell and the grave to establish it. Whatever church you are in, it is Christ’s church. Keep this in mind as you conduct His church’s business. Bro. Joe In yesterday's blog I laid out some of the problems of church, and some of the problems of membership in a church. These are real problems and it is not in my power to erase them, but there are two sides to this coin. While there are problems in the church because, as I wrote yesterday, the church is made up of people, they are for the most part people who have been redeemed, changed by the Lord. Over the years I have had sweet fellowship with a lot of these people. There were people in my former churches who blessed my life and made me a better pastor for it. There were people in my former churches who were critical of me in order to help me. I might have been late in realizing that, but it was true nonetheless. They were acting out of love, not out of hatefulness or arrogance. All of these saints served to make me a better pastor and a better human being. Of course, there were the other people that I wrote about yesterday, but they couldn't erase the gentleness and caring of those who were serving the Lord.
While I pointed out yesterday that I sometimes despaired for the church, I want to point out today why I have been glad to be a part of it. I have seen many people helped because of a local church's generosity. I have seen churches help people financially, and otherwise, who could care less about the church. This is what Jesus would do if He were here.. Sometimes there were naysayers in the church who did not want to help anybody, but that did not stop the loving action of God's people. I have seen individual church members help people who needed help with no hope of any return for their selfless acts. Christ's church is at its best when it is helping people in its membership and outside of its membership. There is another dimension to this positive side of the church, and that is that the presence of the church, not the buildings but the people, reminds people that there is a God, and that He does care. When we are being Christ's Church at it's best, we are telling people about the God who loved them so much that He gave His only begotten Son for their salvation. We are not only telling them about Jesus, but we are trying to do what Jesus would do if He were here in the flesh. Regardless of the problems that churches encounter, they are trying to get the word out to a lost world. Because of this, I do not want to think of a world without a Christian church in it. If you will look honestly at the history of our country, and of the world, you will see the influence of Christ's churches in hospitals, schools, orphanages, etc. This short blog by no means covers all of the positive aspects of the church, but I hope that it will help you to see that, with all of their problems, Christ's churches are here for His purpose and that the world is better off because of it. DO NOT GIVE UP ON WHAT CANNOT BE DESTROYED. Bro. Joe A lot of people have given up on going to church. We frequently hear people say things like, "I can serve the Lord just as well without the church." In a way this is understandable. I have been involved in church for fifty two years - twenty seven years as a pastor and 23 years as a Director of Missions in a Baptist association. I know that being involved in church can be a daunting experience at times. Why? Because there are all kinds of people in church, just like there are all kinds of people in the Lion's Club . People are people wherever you meet them - at church, at work or at play. Some people can be a real trial. (You just need to make sure that you are not one of them.) Some people live to make trouble wherever they are, and church is no exception. Of course, there are always the hypocrites, who say one thing on Sunday and do whatever they want to do on Monday-Saturday. Oh yes, after fifty two years of serving in Christ's church I can think of plenty of human reasons to leave it. If you think it is a trial for you as a member, try pastoring for a little while, then you will know what a trial it really is. Why then don't we just give up on the organized church? Well, the work of the church is bigger than we are. With all of its foibles and failures it is, after all, Christ's church. There has never been a perfect church. Just read the letters of Paul for a good example of what I'm writing about. Read First Corinthians. The church at Corinth reminds us of our own churches with divisions, preacher worship, immorality, etc. You name it, and it was in the Corinthian Church. Paul did not just throw up his hands and say, "I've had it with you people. I'm washing my hands of you and going home." What he did was to challenge them to do better. So, what can we do about the church dilemma? We can decide, first of all, that there is no perfect church, and it you found one and joined it, it would no longer be perfect. God convinced me years ago that I would never pastor angels, and, incidentally, that I would never be one myself. Second, we can ask ourselves that if everybody at church was like me would it be a better church? Has it ever occured to you that your attitude might be part of the problem? Do everything that you can to make your church a better church! Don't just go to church on Sunday, rather be the church everyday.
Jesus said that the "gates of hell" would never prevail against His Church. His church includes every "born again" believer of all Christian denominations. It also includes that body of believers to which you belong. Don't give up on what cannot be destroyed and do everything that you can to make it better. Bro. Joe |
AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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