Acts Who Church?
Several years ago I asked some pretty honest questions to a group of students regarding the status of church in America. First, “Does the church in America do its job? Why? Why not?”
“I don’t think the church does its job. I really think instead of saving people and caring for the people they shut out homosexuals and people who dress weird and stuff like that. I feel as if for the most part the church is just like a habit and the people who are running the church are doing it out of habit and for a job not so much for each person out there.”
“If I was the boss of it I'd fire it because it does a very poor job, seems to lack self-motivation, personal skills, and often ignores the boss's instructions or suggestions, and fails to be able to work with co-workers.”
HAVE YOU FALLEN OVER YET?
Cynicism and hopelessness emerges as a result… Often, I sigh, roll my eyes and wonder if it is ever going to get any better. But I have not lost hope in the church! I only believe that a strong reformation needs to occur. I believe revival needs to break loose. I believe the church needs to reclaim its place of power, but not in the ways in which the world takes hold of authority and power. I believe the church needs to become more concerned about relationships over programs. Like many of these youth, church staff needs to see their role as a privileged calling rather than a job. I concur with the statement regarding the “Lost Sheep.” Lost sheep are everywhere, even in the midst of our own Sunday morning services. So, rather than staying pessimistic and gaining the movement toward a cynical heart, I urge you to plead with me on behalf of the holy people of God. Plead for God’s will and new transformation to take place today.
Spiritual formation writer, John Indermak, said, “The God who seeks our transformation may speak through fresh sources and unexpected places if we have become too comfortable in the routine of our spirituality.”[i]
“Focus on the people being unified!”
“Become small so people don’t slip between the cracks. You need to know each others’ business… feeding hungry, clothing naked … if you are just too concerned with a big youth program, then your misusing your resources…Have no boundaries on blessing others, giving extravagant gifts to all who are in need… don’t just give ‘em the scraps…”
“Be out in the community … and making ourselves known to the lost!”
“The ideal church would be a bunch of peeps with all kinds of different interests hanging out together. They would accept everyone for who they are and not by what they look like, what friends they have, or what they have done wrong in the past.”
“It would care for (and actually do something about) the poor and oppressed (monetary, emotionally, mentally, spiritually), the widows and the orphans. The world would be amazed at our love for each other, and our love for God. It would step out in obedient faith where ever the Spirit leads.”
“Outpouring of the Holy Spirit.”
“The church would most definitely have to step out of its comfort zone.”
BUT, I LIKE COMFORT!
“This is hard to say … for everyone to have an open heart an open mind just to become openly honest with what they’re going through.”
VULNERABLE CHURCH PEOPLE…?
BRILLIANT!
It sounds like these youth were more in tuned to the powerful scriptures rooted in Acts 2 than many biblical scholars and teachers who have preached from this text throughout the centuries. Many of these youth could not tell you where their felt and spoken truths came from, but God burdened their hearts to know that something wasn’t right within the local church in America. I believe God gave them a conviction prophesied to the community in an effort to get back to the basics, so to speak.
Whenever we hear a sermon on the basics of a faithful community, many Christians do one of two things. We either anxiously jump on board with wild passion for about a week or we say, “It will never happen. Acts 5 (the human frailty of Ananias and Sapphira) is the reality of the church. This “ideal” of an Acts 2 church will never exist!” To this first anxious Christian I would shout, “Hallelujah! But, keep reading through Acts 5 so that your passion is based on a reality that is still spirit led… only different from what you expected.” To the second bitter cynic I would say, “Yes, Acts 5 is the reality of the church. But, where is your effort? Where is your Christ - centered passion? Why would I want to follow your “movement” of doubt and pessimism?”
When we hear this message on a Sunday morning, we get goose bumps again. We feel the sudden urge to climb a mountain. We become inspired anew. But, as soon as the novelty of “kingdom living” turns sour due to a church conflict of some kind, we become unpleasant, bitter and more indignant and cynical once again.
Before we dive into the flipside of this text and the finite, human nature found in Acts 5 that turns many away from the church, I’d like to make some key observations and crucial comments regarding the Acts 2 scriptures. The first piece of the puzzle worth mentioning is the reality of Pentecost, which occurs in the written narrative prior to this reading. Without going into a thorough interpretative effort concerning Pentecost, we must be reminded that the Holy Spirit moved the early disciples to spread the message of Good News about the salvation offered through the person of Jesus Christ (Acts 2:1-13 describes the revolutionary movement that brought significant change to the earliest followers of the Way of Jesus). 3,000 God fearing individuals were converted to the Way of Jesus following the spiritual outpouring during Pentecost.
Following Pentecost, Luke uses the word “devotion” to describe the following endeavors of this early community. According to theologian Ajith Fernando, ““Devoting” (Greek: proskartereo) is the same word as is used in connection with the persistent devotion of the disciples to prayer in 1:14 (Acts - translated “constantly” there).”[ii] We live in a world that lacks devotion and commitment. The only endeavor we “constantly” devote ourselves to in America is success, power, relevance, Facebook and Starbucks coffee.
Devotion
“They devoted themselves to the…” Acts 2:42a
Teaching…
We need disciples who are not solely devoted to an intellectual ascent, but ones who crave to understand the deeper meanings of knowledge as an act of “being” that moves toward a “kingdom on earth” mentality. Head knowledge doesn’t necessarily equate to effective Christianity. We need more teachers who are in tuned with the entire message of the Gospel message rather than teachers who exercise their faith similar to a classroom setting. Jesus walked, talked, and lived a message of salvation. Salvation is not knowledge of an atonement theory traced through an understanding of Leviticus 16 and Hebrews 7 and 10. Salvation is seen at every turn of Jesus’ life through his tabernacle teachings, engagements with notorious sinners, Sermon on the Mount and parables which all included life lessons in the midst of miraculous healings and acts of great compassion. We need to get in touch with the entire life of Jesus, his Jewish roots, the ongoing message of the early church, and our progressive efforts in the contemporary word as we stay true to the character of God.
Doug Pagitt, founding pastor of Solomon’s Porch, speaks about a cognitive understanding of the gospel in relation to the church versus a full understanding when he writes, “The educational approach provides assurances of effectiveness through tests, catechisms, and statements of faith, which measure whether people who have been “properly” formed. When we move beyond belief-based faith to life-lived, holistic faith, the only true test is lives lived over time.”[iii] I strongly echo this comment. Let’s move beyond memorizing creeds and verses as a checklist for Christendom (They serve a purpose, so I'm not saying don't memorize!), and begin to dive into the vibrant life teachings of Christ. Pagitt continues, “Perhaps we have been propagating a limited message, reducing biblical authors to sound bytes that cut the gospel into so many pieces that we are left with little more than statements of what we believe rather than the broader story of how we are to enter into God’s story through a life lived in faith.”[iv] This is so true! Thanks to Facebook, it's ever so present! We have a lot of Sunday morning Christians who know the right doctrinal answers, but not that many day-to-day Christians who have the message pierced upon their every move.
What does it mean to be devoted to the apostles’ teachings? If we could get churches to a place of understanding the full teachings within scripture rather than “sound bytes”, God’s kingdom might begin to seep into our world. The Bible is a story book with the message of God’s love for humankind in every page. The Gospel of John and the characteristically laughed at teachings in Leviticus are both powerfully connecting pieces of the full gospel message (But, we must be careful not to become idolaters in our studious worship of the Bible.)! My wife was asked the humorous yet classic question by a coworker, “What are the important parts of the Bible?” This person wanted a “Cliff’s Notes” version of the scriptures. I understand that it takes a while to gain an appreciation for the entire letter, but we must be very careful in our replies to these types of questions. We must move beyond bumper sticker, feel good Christianity
In his letter to the Colossians, Paul instructed the believers, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word of deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him” (3:16-17). What stands out to me is the phrase, “dwell in you richly…” God yearns for his people to meditate on his law, decrees, and story of full redemption. The practice of Lectio Divina became a very normal practice in my spiritual devotions years ago. This is an ancient practice in which one allows the words of God to “dwell in you richly” through repetition, silence, wrestling questions, and mystery. Every time I meditate upon a passage of scripture, God grants me new insight into his direction for my life. Also, I spend a lot of time reading commentaries in order to understand the historical context of each book written in the scriptures. It seems to me that with a better cultural understanding (Thinking Eastern!) of the words written in the Bible (knowing some Greek & Hebrew is good too!), we might have a clearer grasp with applying its truth in our setting today. There are numerous theological approaches learned such as inductive, deductive, integrative, systematic and narrative theologies that are effective in our journey through the Bible. But, rather than getting caught up in a particular method, the first part of effective devotion is in one’s appreciation for a holy God who has given us a glimpse of his character through the ancient text.
The apostle Peter makes the statement, “Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good” (1 Peter 2:2-3). I have been a part of church life long enough to see a long line of believers of Jesus the Christ who don’t want to read the Bible. Many people think it is a job for pastors and lay leaders, but I firmly believe it is a privileged necessity for all God’s children. We live in an exceptionally literate society blessed with more Christian resources than ever before. Yet, our devotion to reading God’s scriptures is neglected in many churches in America. This should sadden us. I believe this is a reflection of the things we crave. And, what we crave… we WORSHIP! Reading the Bible for a few minutes a day isn't discipleship. It's curiosity! I see a society that craves chocolate & television over finding God through scripture. This is very scary. Followers of Christ must be a people who crave God so much that we don’t ask about “Cliff’s Notes” to the Bible, but we actively pursue the whole story of salvation founded in the greatest love letter of all time.
Fellowship…
What about fellowship in the local church setting? This seems to be the easiest part of church programming at first glance. Yet, many church programming events neglect to see the full picture of fellowship. We need disciples of Jesus who are not only devoted to pizza gatherings and water parks, but ones who intensely pursue koinonia (Greek = fellowship), denoting intimacy, commonality, oneness and vulnerability. Please, hear me out. I think it is crucial that the church meets people where they are at, and I think we should have ongoing moments to kick back, so to speak. We need to play! But, koinonia is a unique sharing of life involving the whole person. We do not live in koinonia/fellowship simply through going to a movie, eating ice cream, or having a church potluck on the fourth of July. It is through these events that we connect on the surface. Youth groups have “ice breakers” for a reason. I love 'em and hate 'em. I see their place, though. However, what happens when we have “fellowship” outings yet never dig beneath the surface. The answer… a shallow social club! I might as well go to Chucky Cheese or 6 Flags over Jesus!
Many years ago when I was pastoring a youth ministry in San Antonio we held a movie night at our church to reach those “seeking” church community. A young middle school girl asked a startling question at the end of the night, “Do you guys do anything deep like study the Bible?” I jumped at the question as an opportunity to invite her to our Wednesday night program where she was given the opportunity to witness a bunch of young people singing praise songs and studying scriptures through small group fellowship. It didn’t hit me until later that we not only need effective programs for deep fellowship such as small groups, but we also need to be active in our efforts to become a community of intimate koinonia in all settings. Often I find myself committing the unfortunate crime of treating “social” events with spiritual neglect. I’m just as guilty as the next guy. What might happen if we begin to open up in vulnerable passion and love at a movie night? At a pub? What if we moved past the shallow social club into something that would bring testimony to the life teachings and saving grace of Jesus at a trip to the local zoo…?
Breaking of Bread…
What does it mean to be devoted to the breaking of bread? We need disciples who are not only devoted to monthly, quarterly or weekly sacraments of holy communion, but ones who are devoted to remembering the life, death, resurrection and ascension of our Lord every time we eat a meal together. Some scholars might argue that the “breaking of bread” portion of this Acts passage varies from verse 42 and 46. Regardless of this possible distinction, the main point redirects us to the concept of devotion. Are we devoted in our meal time and/or our times when we gather for the sacrament of Holy Communion/Eucharist? If we take communion at our local church but do not devote our lives to the people in which we dip the bread and drink of the cup, we have no business “breaking bread” in “church.” On the flip side, if we call ourselves followers of Jesus or Christians, our meal times at home and at restaurants need to reflect the same reverence and holiness as our Sunday morning liturgical services. So, whether you dunk an Oreo in a glass of milk, dip your chip in some holy, hot salsa, do it for the glory of God and the devotion you crave for the fellowship of all believers.
Communion, in my opinion, needs to be done in community! I always encourage people to never go alone to the table. Even if you come alone, we need people ready to break that bread, face to face. The next time your local church has a time of Holy Communion, spend some time praying for each person who takes of the cup and bread. Look into their eyes. See the bruised and beaten Savior in their soul. The next time you and your Christian friends go out to eat, don’t simply say a quick prayer over the meal. Take some time to remember that every time you eat with one another, Christ is present in your midst. This is a powerful message that will change every meal, breakfast, lunch and dinner!
Prayer…
We need to be disciples who are not only devoted to routinely sharing prayer requests after a Bible Study, but ones who are consistently lifting one another up through intercessory love in the course of our workday. How many times have you told someone, “I’ll be praying for you and your family.” and forgotten that particular person until a week later at Bible study/small group? I hate feeling guilty, but I honestly hate myself when this occurs. I only wish I could say, “No, I won’t be praying for you. I might think about you as I drive past your neighborhood. But, in all honestly this prayer request will slip my mind until we see one another again.”
For me, this is all about relationships. Typically, I will pray for people where a deep relationship is present. But, the majority of people … I actually forget! There's my confession for the day. Maybe we shouldn’t tell everyone and their dog we will pray for them. Most human beings don’t live in a monastery. Most Americans don’t have the privilege of having a two hour quiet time, and moments of stillness throughout the day. I once asked my beloved pastor from seminary, Dean Wertz, how I might pray for everyone in my ministry and life. He gave me some very good, practical suggestions such as writing your loved ones down along with people with intense needs. He spends time praying for different people every day because the list is so exhausting. This technique – along with other methods – has proved helpful in my years of ministry. Also, I am much more open to simply praying for people on the spot when they say they have a prayer request. But, for the most part the best way for me to pray for people in the course of the day is to abide in the spirit of God. In my devotion to God, I simply ask, “Please, place people and events in my life needing your prayer and affectionate touch.” This exercise will often lead me to call, text, email or invite that person for coffee as well. Prayer is aligned with relationships. Prayer is movement...
I have practiced many methods of prayer (Lectio Divina, Centering Prayer, Ignatius Examen, Jesus Prayer, ACTS, Lord’s Prayer, etc.). I enjoy these practices at times. Other times, I want to pull out my hair in boredom or frustration. Sometimes, I treat God like a magic eight ball. Other times, these methods are a reflection of the place of my beating heart. Not that a formula for prayer is necessarily a bad thing – or a posture to sit and reflect, which can be very productive at times – but, why do we have to reduce conversation with God to a method? Why do we think our words need to sound poetic, filled with large theological verbiage to be heard by God? Why is praying difficult? Maybe it is about us! Why do we make it difficult?
Prayer begins with our awareness and understanding of God. Much like any relationship, prayer is an attempt to connect. It is based and rooted in something real and substantial. Prayer is fulfilling yet demanding, freeing yet costly, messy yet pure, comfortable yet uncomfortable, and strange yet lovely. Essentially, prayer is about love.
Spiritual guru Richard Foster wrote, “To be an effective pray-er, you must be an effective lover.”[v]
Spend time in silent reflection; ask yourself these questions with complete honesty. “Are you passionately in love with God?” “Who is God to you?" "How does this affect your prayer life and your acts of intercession with other people in need?"
When you think of prayer, do you think about the act of praying or the One being prayed to? Praying is not the point of prayer. God is the point of prayer. The main problem occurs when we make our prayers the focus, and forget about the One who we are praying to. This happens a lot with relationships between people in general. The conversation or the “point” of the conversation becomes the major focus, and you can easily lose sight of the person you are talking to during any given conversation.
What happens when you don’t have anything to say? What happens when you don’t feel His presence and go through periods when you don’t want to pray? Does prayer work? Does God really listen? Does it really even matter if he knows what I’m going to ask anyway? Does God change his mind? If not, what about all those conversations with Moses? How come some people can pray so easily, but I have a difficult time saying one word? What can I expect from prayer? What the heck does it mean to pray without ceasing? Does this mean I’m always supposed to be praying? How is that possible?
Where do I start? How do you discern the will of God, hearing his voice and the difference between his voice, your voice, and other voices that are screaming in 1,000 other directions? These are great questions, and I’m sure there will be another 1,000 questions that follow. It’s okay to ask. Just know that God can handle it! Go to the loving Father…
We worship a God who desires to give us mercy. He desires to give us life, and this gives me hope! He desires to draw near to us as sinners, restore us, and connect with our heart again. Prayer is essentially about love. And, in this love relationship we are striving to find the heartbeat of God.
Just Devotion!
Too many churches are busy balancing a purposeful life driven by five principles that they become compartmentalized into a program mentality rather than being driven through devotion into the heart of Jesus. It’s nice to teach people about our purposes. But, we must not become so concerned about balancing these purposes that we lose focus on the main goal. DEVOTION! When we become devoted to God, these purposes happen in a more organic posture. Manufacturing greeting techniques and evangelistic strategies lose their zeal because we become a people driven by God, not programs.
A community of Awe!
“Everyone was filled with awe…” Acts 2:43a
What would it take for you to walk away from a gathering of Christians with your jaw to the ground saying, “That was AWESOME!”? When humanity senses that God is at work in a community of believers, there is nothing quite so compelling. Sally Morgenthaler’s popular book, Worship Evangelism, talks about this concept of allowing one’s heart of authentic and passionate worship act as the “tool” of evangelistic effort and revival rather than manufacturing a sleek program rooted in entertainment purposes.[vi] The Solomon’s Porch community in Minneapolis is rooted in a genuine, missionaly minded mode to worship. Pagitt, states, “Our practices are genuine expressions of our collective community, not marketing tricks.”[vii]
The early church was “filled with awe” not simply because of the miraculous happenings. The early church was in a state of awe because of the commonality of joyous celebration due to living life together. What would the world begin to say about the church if we saw our possessions as an extension of the hand of God in cooperation with loving acts of generosity with our friends and community in need? What if I bought a house not only with the interest of Lauren and myself, but with the interest of our church family? We have done this before, and it's incredibly life giving on many levels. This means I should be open to people who need a place to crash at any given time. Currently, I'm on the other end of that blessing at the Adamson's house in Madison, NJ. This gives a new meaning to the phrase, “Mi casa es tu casa!” This means I should utilize my dining room table and backyard grill for my neighbors. What if I saw the next door neighbor’s yard as an extension of my yard because ultimately it is God’s grass? Lines don’t matter anymore because the neighborhood becomes one big yard. What if I bought my next car as an extension of grace that might help with carpooling and environmental measures (because I will purchase with the next generation in mind rather than my own selfish taste…)? What if I bought groceries with farmers in Mexico on the forefront of my mind? What if I bought my own bags to the grocery store out of a concern for our planet, God’s green earth? What if I consume less so that I may give more? A church family that sees itself as the means to an end within the kingdom of God rather than another consumer in a tainted market of advertisement and corporate greed will become more compassionate toward the poor and needy. Giving to the poor is not about donating ones extra five bucks on a Sunday morning, nor is it about throwing a couple of dollars at the man on the street corner. Giving to the poor is being connected to God through a life of continual sacrifice, love and affectionate, qualitative time. If we saw ourselves as a people who were not only doing a good deed for the poor, but a people who were connected to all of humanity through the fingertips of God we could possibly begin to change the world. The heartbeat of God found in Deuteronomy 15:4 (“there should be no poor among you”) was a principle taken very seriously within the early church. This is still the hope for our creation and church family today and tomorrow.
The church described in Acts 2 is one which enjoyed one another. This kind of church creates awe. Fernando says it best, “When God’s people come together and enjoy fellowship, “praising God” is the natural result (v. 47a).”[viii]
I realize that some people are difficult to be around. I’m not naïve enough to think that we can all just get along and sing songs around a campfire. Sure, we all have our limits. But, what if we became a people who moved beyond tolerance into a posture of sacrificial love for all God’s children? The cool aspect about a church family is that it is supposed to be the one true place where different groups of people gather together to worship a holy God. Unfortunately, Sunday mornings are still the most segregated hour in America. Christianity is not a faith that can be solely practiced in one’s home on a Sunday morning. I hear many people (I have done this too!) who say, “I’ll just worship God at home because I can get more out of it there.” Maybe this is our problem. We are so focused about “getting” that we forget about those around us. Thus, we lose the ultimate picture, to bring salvation to the ends of the earth. This starts in our own local community. When we bring our love to the table of fellowship on a Sunday morning (or Saturday, Wednesday, etc.) we WILL get more out of our time together. When we come to serve, we will be served. However, we can’t come with tradesman attitude which thinks, “I give and I give so I EXPECT something in return.” What we get in return is the satisfaction of obedience toward our heavenly Father because we helped the “least of these” in their distress. We enter into fellowship with all of God’s creation. Christianity must be a faith practiced in community; a community that brings its heart, soul, strength and mind to the table of fellowship every time it gathers to meet. We should embody devoted togetherness beyond a catch phrase as Paul writes in Romans, “in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others” (Romans 12:5). Fernando comments, “So we get together not only because it is helpful, but also because we are a vital part of the body of Christ… The body of Christ is incomplete without us, and we are incomplete without the body of Christ.”[ix]
We must become a true family. Founding member of the Simple Way, Shane Claiborne, makes the statement, “The concept of multidimensional discipleship is essential as we consider how to retain a radical discipleship that is multiethnic, intergenerational, and includes singles and families… What an extraordinary thing it must have been to sit around a table with that eclectic mix of Zealot revolutionaries, Roman tax collectors, peasants, Samaritans, prostitutes, and fishermen, all conspiring to find a radical new way of life.” [x] This is the essential ingredient to awesome, and nobody can manufacture this type of family. Only devotion toward a living Savior can make this type of community possible.
What to do with Church Conflict and Politics?
Yes, we could bask in Acts 2 all day long. There is so much this text can teach us in our ongoing acts of discipline and devotion. But, the cynics are saying, “What about Acts 5? Isn’t this the inevitable posture and movement of the church?” Anytime we gather together with Samaritans and Jews, zealots and tax collectors punches will be thrown at some point. We could continue this rant talking about the mess within the church in Corinth and the conflict between Paul and Barnabas. We all have our stories of conflict. Our youth know a lot about their parents getting wrapped up in conflict. Often we hear, “Church politics… every church has them!” Some people love to get wrapped up in the drama. Also, sadly a lot of good people like to avoid it all together and turn a deaf ear.
Yes, church politics are inevitable. Yes, church conflict is inevitable. But, these are two very different dilemmas. Church conflict is good! Church politics can be good, but the way many of us use the phrase “politics” is engrossed in corruption and turmoil. We end up talking about greed, power, hoops and cruelty, etc. that drive an institution rather than the power of the Holy Spirit.
I love the Acts 5 narrative. I don’t completely understand it, nor do I enjoy confrontation; especially one that leads to death. But, I can respect the church in this first written, situational predicament. In this scene, Peter confronts a married couple – one at a time – about their gift offered to the church. These “church” people were confronted about the amount of their gift given to the early church. Their sin was one of lying, and not about holding back their income. Both Ananias and Sapphira dropped dead and were dragged out of the room because they lied to God and his church. Do I have issues with this scene? Yes, but I’m not going to try and make sense out of it. Also, it’s not my place to argue and complain about the sovereignty and judgment of an almighty God. I don’t really understand why this couple had to die. If this happened today we probably wouldn’t have very many mega churches. But, the narrative continues to say that the church had fear in God after this incident. I think we have a lot of Christians who don’t have a healthy, reverential fear in the Lord of Lords. Sometime I wonder if I know what it means to grasp knowledge and wisdom, which is rooted in the fear of the Lord. The Jewish people understood this type of fear in that they wouldn’t even mention the holy name of G-d! This argument isn’t a rant about “Jonathan Edwards – “Sinner in the Hands of an Angry God”” or becoming a hell, fire and brimstone preacher. This case of a hope filled church is simply about Peter being honest, obedient and righteous in his politics. This is about truth being spoken leading up to an unfortunate death rather than avoiding issues that could have led to a “successful” church movement booming in attendance due to falsity and tolerance, disrespect and a lack of integrity in the face of a holy God.
It seems to me that the church of Acts 2 (one that was fully devoted) began to live out its mission in a real world within the narrative of Acts 5. Peter had a decision to make, confront or take the generous money and forget about the little lie. But, devotion is about a people fully connected. What’s worse: the death of Ananias and Sapphira or the spiritual death of a church before its beginnings? Believe me when I say that I do have a difficult time with the severity of this judgment. But I can't argue with the Father's judgment. Yet, the lesson I see is in the church leadership. What does it mean to be a church leader devoted to the apostle’s teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread and prayer? What does it mean for the people to be filled with awe? What does it mean to enjoy the favor of all the people? This only happens when we stay true to the sprit’s convictions, God’s holy decrees and come before one another in honest confession. I guess this gives a new meaning to “speaking the truth in love.”
The church in America is one which is notorious for building its structure with vast resources entrenched in a social mentality which captures comfort. It too often compartmentalizes life into countless pieces leading to the ministries within the worshiping body not knowing one another very well. We must stay connected to all of life. We must be devoted. We must learn how to get along with all people regardless of age, ethnicity, attire, personality, theology and hairstyles.
The Raw Truth
Years ago I left a church where I served for many years due to unfortunate church politics. I loved the people where I worked, but the decision had to be made in that season for reasons that are not important to bring up. Forgiveness and healing has won that battle, indeed! I only bring this up as a brief example. Looking back, I am still saddened because I believe people are not evil. I have always hoped for the best in all God’s creatures. But, it’s interesting to me how easily we can be led astray in fear, insecurity and a lack of trusting community. We all get scared. We all put up our walls of defense and fight light dogs backed into a corner. Yet, when devotion to intimate fellowship, the Lord’s teaching, the breaking of bread and intercessor prayer is seen in a church leadership team, problems are lovingly and truthfully worked out over time. That is the hope of the gospel...
I believe most churches believe in the ideals of Acts 2, but when Acts 5 comes knocking on the door most of us run the other way, pretend like nothing is going on, or fight like hell. My hope is that we will have more leaders emerge in the generations ahead that will lead in acts of courageous hope and love being filled by the power of the Holy Spirit. I prayerfully anticipate church staff to commune with steadfast love and for leaders to speak the truth in great love. My prayer is that we put away our swords (the tongue is the biggest one!), and move toward a gardening motif using plowshares to cultivate a crop for God’s kingdom.
Wrapping it up…
Don’t you want to ask this question again, “Does the church in America do its job?” Wouldn’t you love to deeply learn from our mistakes over the years and talk to these youth once more?
Let’s pray this prayer together as an act of devotion to God and one another…
“Grant us – the church – the discipline to move forward!
Grant us YOUR vision!
Grant us peace and acceptance to how things are, but grant us hope for a traveling posture of better-ness!
Grant us discernment!
Grant us community and healing!
Grant us your will in all our decisions!”
[i] Indermark, John, Turn Toward Promises: The Prophets and Spiritual Renewal (Nashville, TN: Upper Room), page 37.
[ii] Fernando, Ajith, The NIV Application Commentary: Acts (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan), page 119.
[iii] Pagitt, Doug, Reimagining Spiritual Formation: A Week in the Life of an Experimental Church (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2003) page 25.
[iv] Ibid., 30.
[v] Foster, Richard, Prayer: Finding The Hearts True Home (????????), page 3.
[vi] Morganthaler, Sally, Worship Evangelism
[vii] Pagitt, page 44.
[viii] Fernando, page 123
[ix] Ibid., 125-6
[x] Claiborne, Shane, The Irresistible Revolution (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2006), pages 138-9.
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