The Church is supposed to be the household of God, we're a family with mutual love for each other. The Church is an assembly, all have been invited, and all are welcomed in. The Church is to be a pillar that displays the truth for all to see. The Church is to be a support that holds up the truth, that doesn't compromise no matter what. That is the Biblical instruction of The Church that we read about in 1 Timothy 3.14-15. That is what we're supposed to be, but how do we get there?
The Bible tells us what we're supposed to be, but the Bible doesn't just tell us to do something and then makes us figure out how. But Bible tells us what to do to be who we are called to be.
Acts 2.42, "They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer."
The word devote in the original text is the word "proskarterountes" which is directly translated as "continuing steadfastly". For Biblical Greek you have what is called a lexical form of the word. It's basically the word you would look up in the dictionary. For proskarterountes, the lexical form is proskartereo (long o). that word is defined "to persist in adherence to a thing; to be intently engaged in, attend constantly to." It literally means to be strong in doing something. To be extremely intentional about seeking after something. And it gives us four things to be that way with.
To the Apostle's teaching. In the context of this verse, 3,000 people have just joined the church. They heard Peter's sermon on the day of Pentecost, and they were pierced to the heart. They are told to repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus. Now they need to be taught. Then they only had the Old Testament, that was their Scripture, their Bible. They needed to Apostle's teaching to see how the life and ministry of Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament law and prophecy. Today, Biblical literacy is at an all time low. People don't know the Bible like they used to, so we need to teach it. How can we display the truth if we don't know it? How can we support the truth if we aren't grounded in it? Biblical teaching is central to the Church. We can't be who we are called to be without it.
To Fellowship. We are made for relationships. God said in the beginning, "It is not good for the man to be alone" (Genesis 2.18). We see that God is a relational God, who exists in community, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness"
(Genesis 1.26). We are created for fellowship, we need fellowship. Look at movies like "Cast Away" and "I Am Legend" you have a man who is alone, one draws a face on a volley ball and talks with it, the other dresses and names mannequins that he talks to. We need fellowship. So the church is to be a place of fellowship. We're the family of God, we're an assembly that all have been invited to. Let's live like it.
To the Breaking of Bread. This one goes hand in hand with fellowship. Today we have this as communion, back then it was a full meal. Breaking of bread helps with fellowship, because everyone needs to eat. My fiancee and I have a house we would one day like to build, guess which room is the biggest. The kitchen. We want our home to be a place where people are welcome, where people come to fellowship. That's how the church should be. the physical building should be a place where all are welcomed no matter what they look like or where they have been. But The Church, the people, should be people who gladly welcome others into fellowship with them. Not everyone has a kitchen to fill with people, buy you can go to coffee with someone.
The Breaking of Bread aids in fellowship, it helps us become closer as a family. Btu it also helps us with the other things Paul tells Timothy. As I said today this is communion. As we share in the Lord's supper we celebrate His death and Resurrection. It's an act of worship that we do together. My Worship professor back in college said, "Communion is the sacrament of entire sanctification." When we take communion, we invite Christ to fill us with His power. We take on the responsibility of displaying and supporting the truth. That's why it's such a big deal.
To Prayer. The early church would to this both individually and corporately, both on their own and as a group. They lived in a world where they could be killed for their faith, some of us still do. They knew that they couldn't face life on their own strength. Sometimes we think we can, especially in America, but we're no different then they were. When problems came up they were able to meet them, because they had already met with Him. We need to be the same way. We must be devoted to prayer.
If we live in a constant state of conversation with God both individually and corporately, imagine what the Church would be like. If we prayed together imagine how close of a family we would be. If we prayed imagine how our assembly would grow. If we prayed imagine how God would let us display truth. If we prayed imagine how firm our foundation of truth would be.
We must be a learning Church that teaches the Bible. We must be a Church that is full of fellowship were all are welcomed. We must be a church the breaks bread together, both meals and communion, all it will do is strengthen us. And above all, we must be a church that prays.
My Worship professor, as part of the final, assigned us the task of structuring a church around these four things. Know I understand why. If we do these things, then we will be the Biblical Church God desires. The family of God, the assembly, the pillar and support of the truth.
Peace be with you
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