January “Lessons from the Past”

Acts ch 2 v 43     A look at the early church

They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

What sorts of church have we experienced or heard about.  What sort of church do we want to belong to, can we be it? …… Well in many ways the answer is simple because the sort of church we belong to will reflect the sort of people we are, so it is largely up to us.  Of course the leadership can set the tone as well and church is sometimes intimidating and threatening, but mostly those days are gone and we live in societies and communities that are more independent of thought and less easily controlled.  There is a danger here that the baby goes out with the bath water so care needs to be taken to protect values and integrity.  The words that stand out in the passage are “believers” and “together” there was awe and wonders and generosity. They shared bread and met daily and their numbers increased and people were saved!

But we need to look deeper than that and understand that we are members and stewards of the Church of Jesus and we need to reflect who He was and is.  When someone visits it is this  sense of depth and love and security described in Act 2 that will encourage them to come back; not the quality of the coffee or the music, though those things are important. Can they experience something beyond the window dressing, do we bring them into the presence of Jesus, and if not why not! …………..what a responsibility, but with God’s help we can be that church.