The Early Church: Back to our Roots

To get a completely fair and unbiased view about the church, let’s take a look at its history; starting at the very beginning with the Book of Acts.  It all starts in Chapter 2.  We see the Apostles gathered together at the temple in worship when suddenly, the Holy Spirit comes and fills them!  I find it interesting that in the Old Testament when we see the Holy Spirit work, we see that it “comes upon” never that it “fills within”.  For the first time in history, we see the Spirit of God coming to dwell within men.  This is the beginning spark of a blazing fire.  Upon being filled with the Spirit of God, the Apostles begin to speak to each other in other languages so that all in the temple could hear and understand them! (Acts 2:4)

And yet here, at the very beginnings of the church, we see opposition.  In verse 13, it reads “Some, however, made fun of them and said, ‘They have had too much wine.’”  Really?  A group of uneducated guys get up in the middle of the worship service and start speaking to each other in multiple languages and you call them drunk?  “For the wisdom of this world is foolishness in God's sight” (1 Corinthians 3:19). 

Anyway, following this, we know that Peter gets up to speak before the crowd who, is at this point, a little freaked out.  He quotes the prophet Joel and then proceeds to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  When his audience heard this, “they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other Apostles, ‘Brothers, what shall we do?’”  Peter instructed them to repent and trust in Jesus as their Lord and Savior.  Peter promised them that upon their confession, they too, would receive the Holy Spirit.  We learn that about 3,000 people trusted in Jesus and were filled with the Holy Spirit that day.  (Acts 2:41)

So this is the beginnings of the church.  What happens from there?  They had no buildings, no organized doctrine other than the very words of Jesus, and were not respected, or even acknowledged by their society!  We know from the end of Acts 2 that the believers banded together, becoming their own private community and selling their possessions and sharing with among another.  They were in the truest sense, a family.

When I think of my “church family”, I think of a group of people I see once or twice a week and put on my “church face” to and not really share any of my problems.  They might know what passage of the Bible I’m reading that week, but I keep them out of my private life, my private sins, and my deepest fears.  All too often, the church never sees more than a mask.  And people wear masks well.  How do we cut through those lies and deceptions?  Well the early church literally lived among each other.  They experienced life together.  They were a family in a deeper way than even their blood families. It was not unheard of then, just as it is common now, for only one member of a family to become saved and join the Body of Christ.  This spiritual salvation and change in lifestyle could easily isolate someone from their blood family, whose priorities have yet to change.  So in many ways, the church was the only real family some of these people had.  And the body of believers took that responsibility seriously.

Throughout the Book of Acts, we see the community of believers growing, experiencing opposition, and yet still growing.  Something that made them unique that I don’t see in church today is this particular verse: “All the believers were one in heart and mind.  No one claimed that any of his possessions were his own, but they shared everything they had.” (Acts 4:32)

What if we did church like that?  The unity and fellowship the church shared during this time period is what accelerated its growth in the spirit as well as numbers.  Early on, we see a committed community of people who were passionately opposed to the society they dwelled in.  They were not just a part of, they WERE a radical movement that was in conflict with their Jewish and Gentile neighbors. 

I’ll stop here.  I want to devote a whole separate post to the church being a radical movement.

Intro: What is Church?

What do you think of when you hear about “the church”?  Whether that be your local church or the Body of Christ as a whole?  Honestly, being raised in a family and environment where church was okay, if not normal, I do not get a tingly excited feeling when I think about the church.  In fact, I think back on my Southern Baptist understanding and association with “church” and I get a bunch of well dressed and well-behaved people sitting up straight in pews or very uncomfortable chairs listening to an older and wiser man preach from a pulpit that is usually twice his size.

When I think of the church doing stuff, I think of potlucks, a game of flag football in the park, mission trips, or doing yard work in a neighborhood as a youth group.  And when I consider what the church is within society, I see it as part of the community.  A place of peace and grace where with open doors inviting people in to meet Jesus and change their lives so they can fit in with the rest of the well-dressed and well-behaved people.  And I’d like to think that is a fairly accurate and okay view of the church.

I have felt a great sense of unrest recently about my views and associations with the church, its people, and its purpose recently.  I hate and reject the notion that church is for the elder and the civilized and that a wild young man with dreams of swords, kingdoms, and an epic adventure is out of place on Sunday mornings. And yet, when I look around at my generation whose life is consumed by Call of Duty video games, dating, and being popular, I can see why so many find the idea of Sunday School to be unappealing. 

I have struggled with this.  Does church have to stop being “church” or do the teens have to grow up and extend their priorities?  I have attended churches with dead or even nonexistent youth groups and I have attended churches with youth groups huge in number, and yet small in spiritual growth.  Of course, there are always exceptions to the rule.  I hope to one day witness a group of people my age who, as the majority in a group, are working fervently and passionately for God within and outside the church.

But what is it that is lacking in this situation?  Is it the church refusing to cater to a new generation or is it a new generation feeling that church is old, irrelevant, and dry?  Perhaps it is both.

I am coming to a revelation about what the church used to be, is meant to be, and what it sometimes is in America.  As a young adult, I am greatly familiar with the interests, dreams, and desires, of teenagers, especially guys.  And I have a great desire to see young people my age and younger to truly be excited about church.  But truthfully, if all the people my age see in church is a Sunday Morning service where they have to dress nice, behave, and sit still…and then the occasional community project on the weekends, they will miss the point of church. 

In this short series, I will be posting my passions in life as a young man, and how I see the church, and more specifically, Christ, bringing that out in me.  I see church as a way maker, not an obstacle to achieving my great dreams and purposes in life.  I know that most people my age do not share this view though.  In fact, my generation is hostile against church, religion, the very idea of God.  And until people my age see church as something beyond boring or just tolerable, I fear greatly for the future generations and the heritage Christians will leave behind.

So again, what is the church?  I look forward to exploring this concept in my next post.