You can find the video here: https://www.facebook.com/RichlandNaz/videos/693504814735225/
At this point in time what do you think about the church? What words would you use to describe the church? Put that in your comments today.
Acts 2:42-47 (NIV) They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who 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.
N. T. Wright writes: “Acts 2:42 is often regarded as laying down the ‘four marks of the church.’ The apostles’ teaching; the common life of those who believed; the breaking of bread; and the prayers. These four go together. You can’t separate them or leave one out, without damaging the whole thing.”
N. T Wright goes on to say that “…if we neglect biblical teaching, we are making it easier for us to be swept up into whatever our culture values. If we neglect fellowship, we’ll become isolated. If we neglect Communion, we’ll forget that Jesus’s death and resurrection are at the “center of everything.” If we forget prayer, we’re forgetting that “Christians are supposed to be heaven-and-earth people” (N. T. Wright, Acts for Everyone: Part 1 [Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2008], 44–45).
Can you see how maybe we have described or looked at the church in a way that needs to be refocused? Think about this for a moment, up until we had this COVID-19 I believe many of us looked at the church And said – it was a building. We said things like, “I’m going to church.” Now, we can’t do that – we aren’t going into a building.
But the reality is that the building was never the church. WE are the church. It’s us – we are the Bride of Christ, the Body of Christ, we are the church. So maybe we can take some lessons from those first members of the church. Let’s look at making some changes not go back to normal. Let’s be frank – can I be Frank, not really because I’m Dan (ba-dum-bump). I don’t want to go back to the old normal. I want the Body of Christ to learn some new things here. I want us to be the church and when we are able and it’s safe, continue to be the church and add back in, the corporate worship where we all get together and celebrate what God is doing in our midst.
So the disciples, not just the Apostles, all the disciples – who were the early Church members – they met daily, talked about the Apostles teaching, they remembered the Death and Resurrection of Christ, and they hung out - were involved in each other’s daily lives, and they prayed.
Hmmm, could it be that simple – yes it is that simple. This isn’t difficult because God does the work. This ties in to what I’ve talked about the last couple of day about being plugged in, or being a branch connected to the vine. This is what happens when we stay connected to Jesus Christ. We plug into His resurrection power through the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives and through our lives – then we become the Church helping each other where we need help.
So, if what words you used earlier in this live stream to describe the Church have changed, put another note into how you would describe the Church now.
It might sound like this: I see the church when I help my neighbor, or I see people helping their neighbors. I see the church when someone calls or sends me a card etc. Just maybe through this time we can remove the old way of thinking about the church. Through this time we can change how we think about what or who the Church is, and simply become the Church that God needs for us to become so that His Gospel will be spread.