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Could It Change?

July 04, 2006

Acts 2:42-47 "And they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. and the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved."

This is obviously a powerful time in the life of the early church. The question we must ask ourselves is, "is it possible for these things to happen in our modern day church?" and if it is in fact possible, then we should ask "are these things happening in our modern day churches?".

The world is in a constant state of change. Things change all the time. Time continues to press on as people and communities grow older and items and material things rust, break, and fade away. There is not much that simply stays the same, and everything that does is most of the time quickly forgotten. The church changes, people change, material things change, but God and his Word never changes. It stays the same and relevant for all generations.

While I am sure God knew that the church as a whole would change in its appearance, structure and ministries over time as the world around us changes, I also believe that God gave us his word and his directives to the church that remain the same and relevant in all times and generations. The one thing that doesn't change in the church is how God works and changes the lives of people and how His Word effects our lives and the way we live.

How is it that today's church can experience the transforming power of God as a church? I say the first step is experiencing the transforming power of God as individuals. It is the Christians who make up the church, the church of God is made of people and the state of the church is dependent on the personal, spiritual lives of the individuals. The early church was made up of Christians who were growing and experiencing the changing power of God, and new baby christians who were watching and learning from the more mature.

It is the spiritual state of the believers in the early church that has begun and carried on such a powerful time. The people devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and prayer, they ate together and had fellowship, and they shared all that they had. They gave their lives to this and God blessed it greatly by adding to their numbers daily. I can't remember the last time we had a baptism in our church so I cannot imagine what it would be like to see God adding to the numbers of the church daily. Obviously we are missing something.

In everything that happens there always has to be some groundwork laid. You can't build a house by grabbing some nails, a hammer and a couple boards, there has to be a foundation built first. In the same way we can't expect an instant revival to just break out in our church and in our community without first laying the groundwork. This groundwork is a renewal of Godliness in our spiritual lives. Developing a passion for God, his Word, and the lost.

Our personal spiritual discipline is important. We must spend significant, consistent time seeking God's direction through prayer, Bible study, meditation, and time alone with God. This is even more important for those working behind the scenes in a church. Many times pastors, leaders, teachers, and people do technical things all look at the church service from a different perspective... making it work. This makes personal alone time and worship time with God essential, since it is so hard to do in the middle of services. Our spiritual lives depend on our spiritual disciplines, it is the food that we need and when we neglect it we are starving ourselves and how do we expect God to do mighty things through people who are too busy just trying to live life. We cannot neglect our time with God.

Another important aspect that we must think about is God's mission for the church. We should constantly revisit why the church even exists and what it is called to do. It's not about us, its about God and his glory and worship. Have we so quickly forgotten what our purpose is? The early church in Acts was fulfilling their purpose. They shared with one another, helped one another, worshiped with one another, had fellowship and met together all the time to devote themselves to the teaching of the apostles and God's word and God added to their number daily! This is a sight that I think our church in today's age can't even imagine. We're lucky to add some to our numbers every month, much less daily!

Would it help if we sat down and actually conducted an HONEST self-assessment. One that is don't at both the individual level and the corporate one. We need to be honest with God and with ourselves about where we are and what are issues are. Denial is one of our greatest weaknesses. What do we need to do to get where we need to be? What would it take for the church numbers to be added to daily with those who are being saved? What would it take to fulfill the purpose of the church? I think it begins with our individual spiritual lives. Once we change as individuals the church would change alone with us. We need to be real.

The other issue is that we need to be accountable. Today we don't feel like stepping on toes, even if we are right. It seems that our teaching is dumbed down, our preaching is dumbed down, and even our discipline is dumbed down. We lack the strength, the bite, and the integrity that is so prominent in the Scripture because we are too afraid to put our necks on the line for what is true and right since it is considered offensive. If we dumb down the message then should we not expect a dumbed down, immature and confused congregation? We must be accountable to the scriptures and to one another. Don't be afraid to stand up for what is right and for what is the right thing for church members to do.

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