Church Storage 8
ADD TO THE BOTTOM
01/04/2012
Let The Church Be
The Church
And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship,
and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.
Acts 2:42
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This phrase coined by Dr. John Mackay (President, Princeton Seminary 1936-1959) many years ago is no less true today. We, the church, are to be a "peculiar people" with an equally peculiar mission. Of course, the first thing we’d have to decide before this declaration of Dr. Mackay could be made operational is to answer what the "church" is supposed to be. Should we be so bold as to ask such a question, we need be prepared for an avalanche of varied and contradictory responses because, today, there is no agreement. Yet, right there in the Book of Acts, is an answer to what it was. Just after Peter’s "sermon" on the day of Pentecost, this is recorded,
43. And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles. 44. And all that believed were together, and had all things common; 45. And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need. 46 And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, 47 Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.
There is no softening of the statement that "fear came upon every soul." The Greek
phobos which is translated as "fear" in the KJV means exactly that; fear, dread terror. The "church" found in the Book of Acts deals with fearful, dreadful, terrible things; God, Hell and Heaven. They must not be treated lightly because the doing so has eternal consequences. Lesson #1; the church must not treat the matter of God and eternal life casually.If, however, we are able to overcome our aversion to the idea of fear being a part of our peculiarity, and consider the lessons in the rest of this passage from Acts, there are other valuable lessons. Well, no sooner than we have set aside one controversy, we’re into another. Verses 44 and 45 get us into the midst of another. Because there we are told the saints sold everything they owned to help those among them in need. So antagonistic are we against anything that so blatantly smacks of communism that we miss the full implications of these verses? That is found in the first few words of verse 44 "and all that believed were together." You see, Scripturally, the church is first and foremost a community of believers who know and love one another. How is it possible for us to overlook the simple fact that the church is a family; the family of God? We are brothers and sisters in Christ. Now I ask you, what brother worthy of the name, seeing one of his own siblings in need of help would refuse to render whatever aid was required? That’s the "church" being the "church" in its rendering of mutual aid in times of need. Today, we wander all over the place handing out this and that to total strangers while ignoring the needs and hurting of our own family. It is doubtful God respects such "charity" any more than the recipients do. Especially when they know what the motivation is for such charity - evangelism.
But let’s move on. The next verse gives us another Biblical feature of the church, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread. Together, they took communion (
see Gill) every single day. Perhaps this is a bit impractical in today’s "nuclear church" simply because our lives are so fragmented that we aren’t together every day. Nonetheless, the principle is established that as often as we are together we should partake of the elements to publicly profess to each other that the Lord died for us. (Jamieson-Fausset-Brown) In 1Cor. 11:25, Paul writes, After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped , saying , This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye , as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. Is there further justification required for celebrating the Lord’s Supper at every church service? What better way to clearly state that He is the Lord of our church?The next step in the church being the church is found in verses
46 and 47. Remember, those days, "church" was held in the saints’ homes. In the stylized Sunday services of today, which are more characteristic of a theological classroom than the Biblical church, we forget one of the major features of the "church." Gladness and singleness of heart," praise and worship, were a central part of their coming together.The First Century Bible Church today would be small enough (30 or 40 at most) for every member to know one another and to care about each other like the brothers and sisters we are supposed to be. Ideally, we would live in close proximity to one another. Our coming together would be filled with worship (
Proskuneo), praise (Doxa) and celebrating the Lord’s Supper. (see Luke 22:19-20) A caveat, the FCBC would have no paid professional staff. Instead, it would rely upon volunteers using their gifts of the Spirit as they are supposed to be used for; enrichment of the church. (1Cor 12:4-7) You see, we either trust in the Lord or we don’t. We either believe in the gifts of the Spirit or we don’t. The FCBC would stop the schizophrenic hierocracy so prevalent in today’s "churches." Since "we," the church, would know our needs there would be no offerings or fundraising. Instead, as needs arose, we would spontaneously provide the resources. That’s being a peculiar people.And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter,
and upon this rock I will build my church;
and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
