Could going back be a step forward?

Some Christians say that the modern church should be just like the church described in the New Testament. Their focus is on the positives described, yet the church had its challenges then just as it does now.

For instance, right from the beginning, some taught that the OT law must be obeyed if a person was going to be saved. This false teaching is common today. Also, there were those who taught that Jesus did not come in the flesh because flesh is sinful so they dismissed His deity. Today, some ‘churches’ still deny the deity of Christ. Also, Paul wrote about spats between believers, not as serious perhaps, but it happened then just as it happens now. We are not perfect, at least on this side of heaven.

The second letter written by John is short. He seems to be writing to a congregation that meets in a woman’s home. After his greeting he writes:

I rejoiced greatly to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as we were commanded by the Father. (1 John 4)

Note that he says “some” of your children. In a ‘perfect’ church, would he be finding ‘all’ of them walking in the truth? We have similar burdens today with family split over matters of faith.

He also reminds his readers that we are to love one another by obedience: “For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist.” He adds, “Watch yourselves, so that you may not lose what we have worked for but may win a full reward.” (1 John 7-8)

Again, this is not perfection. They had be on guard against false teaching just as we must do in our modern world. John warns that part of this battle included how to deal with those who tried to infiltrate the Body of Christ by taking advantage of Christian hospitality. For this, I need to remember that the church met in their homes. They did not have church buildings like we do. Should today’s church go back to that model, would it pose some problems? I think so.

For instance, our church has several hundred members. We also have small groups that meet to study the Bible and pray during the week. If those small groups were our only gathering, we’d need many more of them, perhaps hundreds more. How would scattered groups serve one another and our community? How would we demonstrate our unity and keep one another accountable? How would the elders and overseers ensure that all needs were met? I can imagine the flurry of calls, texts and email as each house church tried to keep up with sound doctrine and with ministry to the needy and all the other activities done by today’s church.

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Lord, I am not in church leadership yet as I read this, I see how I need to do my part in spotting false teaching, or in noticing what needs to be done. We do our best ministry together and would suffer if we confined our size to “us four, no more, shut the door” as might happen if we met only in homes. Small groups are good for developing deeper relationships, yet worship would suffer (especially if us four all sing as badly as I do). Community service would also suffer if church were confined to as many people that fit into the average living room.

It seems that we must preserve major teaching and yet encourage each other to express our life in Christ in the culture and situation we are living. We need to be okay with church sizes, from a few to a few hundred, even a few thousand. We have our struggles yet a focus on glorifying You is more important than all of them.

Today’s thankful list . . .

- Jesus promised to build His church and He is doing that with the same amazing variety and diversity as He used when creating the world!

- No matter where we go, fellowship with other Christians is genuine and wonderful.

- As we worship, our difficulties and differences fade away.

- That God put His creativity into us.

- Finally developing enough self-discipline to start doing Pilates again.

- Finding out some of the possibilities of Painter 2019 and a Wacom tablet — as in drawing and tossing the mistakes without wasting paper!

Past or present — or just confused?

As my reading moves through the development of the church, I cannot help but compare that early ideal with the church of today. Attending many different variations and taking two years of church history has been educational but not always filled with happy discoveries. If ten people were asked about church and their opinion of it, the answers could vary from ‘the best thing in my life’ to a streak of cussing.

Both those first Christians and today’s believers are persecuted. Is it for the same reasons? Or has Christianity experienced changes that warrant some of today’s negative attitudes?

In the beginning, Christians were called members of the Way, likely based on Jesus’ words: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6) Then a believer called Barnabas teamed up with Saul (Paul) and worked together in Antioch until that church was thriving. It was here that believers were first called Christians. (Acts 11:26)

This name stuck. About then, some Jewish religious leaders believed in Jesus, but many began saying ‘NO WAY’ as they rejected faith in Jesus Christ as the only way of salvation. They clung to a belief system that they thought gave them opportunity to earn the favor of God by their own goodness. This is a major belief today yet an interesting thing happens with that belief — when those who hold it find out that their goodness is not giving them what they seek, they often move away from any religious beliefs.

The other options include saying God is dead or a myth, that sin is just a word, and there is no need for forgiveness, or salvation, and there is no afterlife. This nihilistic approach fails to satisfy the heart but some think it explains life and offers an way out of spiritual considerations.

However, the ‘organized church’ also has slid from salvation by faith into a philosophy of human reasoning with a first step of saying no to the idea that all have sinned and cannot please God by our own efforts. Instead of accepting Christ as the Way but not wanting to deny spirituality, sections of the ‘church’ stepped on a slippery slope where Christianity became a status, a thing to claim — going to church became a ‘respectable’ thing to do. In the Americas, believing in Jesus was much like saying “I believe in apple pie and the flag.” In other words, the condition of the heart does not matter because outward appearance is good enough. If people went to church, they seemed to be good people. Over many years, the church divided into people who genuinely follow Christ and those who just go. However, the Bible says:

But God’s firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: “The Lord knows those who are his and let everyone who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity.” (2 Timothy 2:19)

The standard of God has always been about sin that separates us from God. Sin is defined as running my own life instead of living as God directs.

All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him (on the Messiah) the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:6)

The NT is all about Jesus who bore our sin that we might be turned back to God rather than go our own way. However, the OT and our own experience shows that this takes more that personal efforts to be ‘nice’ and follow all the ‘rules.’ We fall short because our own efforts will not remove our sin. We need a Savior and if we cannot admit that, we are stuck with those personal efforts.

One of those efforts might be church attendance . . . and if that is all it is, it doesn’t work. In a local church made up of genuine believers, a sinful soul may be accepted by loving people yet they will be praying for his salvation. On the other hand, if that person attends a ‘liberal’ church that has changed the Gospel to one of ‘do your best’ they might feel more freedom, yet their unsaved condition has not changed. Church does not fix sin either.

Another solution is to redefine sin, salvation and wave goodbye to church because ‘it doesn’t work for me and it is only a building full of hypocrites.’ Sadly both reasons can be true.

This Sunday, someone new to our church said he liked the simplicity of it. The Gospel is preached, questions are answered, and the Bible is used — it is not a place to be entertained but to hear the truth.

Jesus said “I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” (Matthew 16:18) He also talked about false teachers getting into His church. He knows who has stepped onto that slippery slope. He also knows who belongs to Him and promises to preserve His people and keep us from getting muddled.

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Jesus, You know the true and the twisted, the claims of righteousness based on ‘how good I am’ or outward appearance. All through the ages, even when they were dark, You were building Your church. One day, You will reign and Your people will shine like the stars. In the meantime, may we be faithful to You in this mess of religious confusion.

Transformed lives is still the norm!

In the beginning of the church, God displayed to the known world what happens to people who are forgiven and redeemed, saved from the bondage of sin. Acts is Luke’s eye-witness account. From it I know about that dramatic change wrought by God to those who believe in Jesus Christ and gave their lives to Him.

And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the 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. (Acts 2:42–47)

Is this the norm? Does this still happen? Some people say that the church today should be more like the early church with a greater demonstration of the power of God in their lives. If these verses describe what they mean, it would be wonderful, yet church history has brought issues that have changed things. I don’t offer those changes as excuses, only explanations.

In North America, life’s pressures have Christians busy with work, family and all sorts of activities that pull them away from Bible study, fellowship that includes eating together, and prayer. In many other parts of the world, these activities have stopped or gone underground because governments have made them illegal.

Signs and wonders have fallen into question. Many theologians teach that these served a purpose then but are no longer part of God’s plan. Many Christians think that miracles have ceased, and without them, awe for God’s power has also faded. Adding to this is the tendency of media to bypass stories that glorify God or draw favorable attention to God’s people. Living for Christ seldom gets any press.

Believers are still willing to share. The stories of their generosity also seldom hit the news. As one reporter told me, if it bleeds, it leads and good news does not bleed, usually. Besides that, government has taken over the role of caring for the needy. We now rely on unemployment insurance and a host of other resources. Christian people offer soup kitchens but so do others. We no longer rate high in helping one another or the poor, and even if we did, it would not reach the press.

Over the centuries, the Spirit of God has prompted revivals where the church experiences renewal and people are drawn from ignoring God to salvation. I’ve heard that in some revivals the change in Christians was so dramatic that when they walked down the street, the Spirit touched others on the other side of the street and brought them to their knees before God in repentance and faith.

Perhaps that is the desire in our hearts when we say we should be like the early church. We want to be effective in our witness so that when we share our stories and our lives with each other, the world sees it and people are drawn to the Lord Jesus. As I read the above passage, I see that it is not that simple. If we want to be like those first Christians, we must devote ourselves to being together, to Bible study and prayer, having all things in common, selling our stuff and using the money to meet needs. This is not a description of Sunday church attendance, but a day by day focus on the things of God.

There is no mention in Acts of those new Christians having hobbies or spare time. It does not say anything about their employment because it was not the most important thing, nor does it mention themselves or their children being enrolled in lessons, sports, or other activities. These people were glad to eat together and generous of heart, praising God and not interested in awards or rewards. Could modern-day believers in our culture actually live like that? Could the persecuted church in other parts of the world enjoy that kind of togetherness without fear of being arrested or worse?

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Jesus, I cannot answer my own questions. I know You can do whatever You want with us. The changes in the first century were instigated and sustained by the Holy Spirit. We are called to live for You in a totally different setting and challenged by many issues that did not exist at the time covered by Luke when he wrote Acts. As it has been said, every generation must work out its own theology and how to live it in the time in which we live. They had their challenges and so do we. All I can ask is that You enable me to obey Your will today in my world in ways that bring You glory.