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.
Hi "J," There's so much I could say about this, being in agreement with you. It's this separation of the people that has caused me to step back and away from the church building full of people. After 7 yrs of faithful attendance 3x a week, I felt lonely as ever and unaccepted and so I left one service never to return. None of them ever called or wrote or visited to see if I was ok. Not one. It was as if I had never existed. I still believe in church attendance, even though religion has gotten in the way of love. It's a new day and a new path for me. To God be the Glory for every step.
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