The Church (Page 2)
We took a break from John’s Gospel and began to look at the Church in the book of Acts. We wanted to find out what the early Church was like, and how we can grow and conform into what Jesus has established His Church to be. Our prayer throughout this series was that Antioch would reflect God’s design for His Church.
The End Result: Evangelism
It is interesting to note that Jesus’ commands for evangelism and missions come at the end of His ministry. Also of note is that the end result of the church’s continuance in doctrine, fellowship, breaking of bread, prayer, hospitality, sharing possessions, praise of God, unity, etc. was that people were saved on a daily basis. Added to this is the fact that commands to evangelize are very scarce in the New Testament. What are we to make of this? The…
The Reality of Prayer
The early church continued steadfastly in prayer. Prayer was such a vital part of the church that the apostles appointed deacons to care for the widows so that they might give themselves to prayer. Why was prayer such a huge part of the early church? The answer is throughout all of Jesus’ teachings, but we will focus on John 15. All life and power belongs to Jesus We are the branches, Jesus is the vine. Separated from Jesus we are…
Making Disciples Who Make Disciples
Jesus commanded His disciples to go and make disciples of all nations and teach them to observe everything that He had commanded. The command is to make disciples We live in a day where we judge the success of churches by baptisms, buildings, bodies, and bucks. Unfortunately this means that Jesus’ command is neglected. Jesus wanted the disciples to be disciple makers. He desired for each believer to mature in their faith until they could make disciples of others. This…
The Lord’s Supper
After doctrine and fellowship the early church was marked by “breaking of bread” (observing the Lord’s Supper.) This seems odd to us, but if you study Acts 2 and 1 Corinthians 11 you will find that the early church held a far different view of the Lord’s Supper than we do today. The Lord’s Supper was prominent When describing the church the third thing mentioned is the Lord’s Supper. If you were to describe a church today how far down…
The Church is a Family
As we look at the Church in Acts 2 and following, we see a very tight-knit community. They are marked by: Constant fellowship The Church was constantly together. They were daily in each other’s homes. They were constantly gathering for worship and fellowship. They were a distinct community. Sharing of possessions The Christians freely shared their possessions. This was done without any compulsion. It is clear from Acts 5:4 that this sharing of needs was completely voluntary. They gave to…
Every Believer is to be a Theologian
In Acts 2 we read that there was a dramatic change that took place in each believer. Remember that these were all Jews who knew the Old Testament Law very well. Upon being converted to Christianity they came to realize that they had missed the whole point of the Law, Jesus Christ. This resulted in a continued hunger for the Word of God among the believers. They continued in the Apostle’s doctrine. From this we learn that: Every believer is…
The Lord’s Day Gathering
Paul addresses many problems with the Corinthian church throughout 1 Corinthians. In chapter 14 he addresses their aberration from what was normative in New Testament churches particularly in the area of tongues. Although this passage mainly deals with speaking in tongues, we can find the normative pattern of worship that the early church observed during their Lord’s Day gatherings. The gathering was primarily of believers Paul clearly expected the gathering to be primarily of believers. He did acknowledge that there…
Church Music
The early church praised Jesus constantly. As we continue our study of the church we now come to the question of what music is acceptable in the worship of God. Music is to be an overflow of the heart There is a pagan concept of music that we see in Amos and Daniel. It is the idea of music being something external that hopefully will change and effect the heart. It is an outside in approach. This is the approach…
The Church Exists to Worship Jesus
Jesus is of surpassing worth Paul here states that he is willing to give up everything for Christ. He is willing to do this because Christ is of surpassing worth or value. Paul sees that Jesus is of infinite worth and that everything else pales in comparison to Christ. This is the essence of worship. The word “worship” in English means to assign supreme value or worth to an object. Paul has come to see that Jesus is of supreme…
What is the Church?
Over the next few months we are going to be taking a break from John’s Gospel and begin to look at the Church in the book of Acts. Our key concern will be what the early Church was, and how we can conform to what Jesus has established His Church to be. Our first question is, “What is the Church?” The Greek word for church is “ekklesia” Jesus chose a Greek word that had no religious connotations whatsoever. The same…
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