An Acts 2 church?

I wonder if a believer baptized on the day of Pentacost with 2999 others would recognize us as the same church he experienced.  Would he look for the people of Antioch called Christians and would he see us as them? 

When I read my Bible and see the church of the first century, I wonder how we got here.  Where did they meet?  How did they treat one another?  How did the rest of the world recognize them?  Are we even close? Or are we one of the 7 churches talked to in Revelations or worse?

When Jesus gathered His disciples, he taught them, and then sent them to preach the Word.  We give awards to our kids for bringing a friend to church.  But shouldn’t we be bringing the church to our friends?

In the first century, there weren’t big buildings, big programs, high paid preachers, choirs, padded pews, 20 minute sermons, or even a checklist for salvation.  They believed, they were baptized, and the Holy Spirit dwelt in them. 

There were people who met in homes mostly on the first day of the week but on others as well.  They sold their belongings and helped the poor, widowed, and motherless among them.  They faced persecution that scattered them but became stronger amidst loss of life, homes, belongings, careers, and stability. 

Being a 1^st century Christian wasn’t about showing up on Sunday in your best clothes.  It wasn’t about attendance, contribution, and cute felt boards.  They didn’t have children’s church or youth group or separation---they were ONE.

They were disciples making disciples.  Stepping in faith and led by the Holy Spirit. Not one went hungry.  They had elders and deacons they respected to administer and do the work among the believers.  Everywhere Peter, Paul, Timothy, Luke, John and many others went, they preached.  They taught.  They loved people and got in the messiness of life with them and showed them Jesus.

When our sons and daughters tell us they want to be missionaries, preachers, or ministers, we tell them to have a back up plan.  When they want to go and serve and feed others, we tell them, get your education and career first.  We say mission work can only happen when the gospel is taught and neglect to feed, clothe, house, medicate, and provide basic needs for those who cannot do it for themselves. 

We send our kids away from us to day care, to school and to play their sports and we scatter to our jobs and ‘me time’.  The end result is an hour or two of interaction with our kids if we are lucky in a day.  That is if we can put down our screens (phone screen, computer screen, tablet screen, television screen). In the first century children walked and worked and lived beside their parents.  God wasn’t something they were taught in Bible class—He was shared everyday in every action between parents and children.  The most basic teaching of Judaism—the Shema in Duet. chapter 6 explains how a God believer orders his life.

Our traditions divide us.  We are so stuck in how we worship on Sunday when less than 10% of the New Testament is even about the Sunday worship!  It is about living life in the Spirit, making disciples, teaching, serving, faith, hope, and most of all LOVE!  How can we love when we spend all of our time defending our traditions to other Jesus followers that don’t follow just like you?  How can we love when we argue constantly about who we can call brother or sister?  How can we love when we don’t spend enough time with people to really know them?  How can we love when we are not willing to get involved in the messiness of sinful lives that need to see Gods redeeming grace?

Jesus told the rich young ruler that all he lacked was to give up all his belongings and follow Him.  And he walked away.  Are our ears numb to the hard teachings of Jesus?  Can we live the words of Jesus on the Sermon on the Mount?  Or are we skipping through the pages of our Bible, finding the words that work for us and pretending the rest don’t exist?

Being a Christian is not about GOING to church!  It is about BEING the church.  Christianity is action.  It is doing.  It is about sacrifice.  It is the ultimate in selflessness.  It is not procrastinating to do tomorrow what can be done today. 

A 2000 year long game of ‘telephone’---do we resemble at all what Jesus started?  I am not sure a man baptized on the day of Pentecost would recognize many of the churches today as the one he was added to that day.

I write all of this as a reminder to myself—I need to refocus, reprioritize, reorganize, and really look at Jesus.  The church He died for.  The church He loved.  The church I want to be.  I realize any work I do will not save me.  But to show Him to the world, I think I need to look more like Him.  And so does the church.