6. CHURCH - people who share a TDT* culture.

* They Devoted Themselves

CHURCH, the ESSENTIALS  (6 of 7)

All these with one accord were devoting themselves to prayer, together with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers. (Acts 1:14)

 Have you ever noticed that Jesus hardly mentioned the word, ‘church’ during the three years he trained the disciples?  When you consider that the rest of the New Testament is totally about church, it raises a few eyebrows.  The gospels contain three references from just two incidents (Matthew 16 and 18). The rest of the New Testament contains a hundred direct uses of the word, but the subject is raised on almost every page. 

My question is, ‘Why did Jesus say so little about it?’ And my answer is:  because he was providing the raw materials and the Holy Spirit was going to construct the building. Previously we have seen at least four of those raw materials as they appear in the first chapter of Acts:  commitment to Jesus (discipleship), kingdom of God lifestyle, Holy Spirit power, and Great Commission vision.  Jesus deliberately worked among them to shape their experience, often in opposition to their traditional religious culture.  In the end the group was just 120 people, all from Galilee (cp. Acts 2:7). The number didn’t matter. What mattered was the level of collective commitment.  In other words, the quality of corporate discipleship.  The text from Acts 1:14 is very specific on this matter. The 120 were “TDT” followers of Jesus:  “they (all) devoted themselves to….  .”

There have always been outstanding individual disciples.  We know their names and read the stories written about them in books.  But the idea of a generation of believers living their life vicariously through a few heroes is a toxic abomination of our culture.  It is not kingdom of God. The majesty of the kingdom plan of God is not to produce some amazing individuals. It is to produce a new world order through a collective group of people who represent the vision and values of heaven here on the earth.  Christian leadership is not about the number of people you can gather in a crowd.  It should be measured by what can legitimately say using these words as the beginning of a sentence:  “They all devoted themselves to ………. “ (eg. Acts 1:14; 2:42).  It will immediately become apparent that this requires Holy Spirit power not human excellence. 

In the case of the believers who were left looking up into heaven it was just the same.  They saw the risen Messiah depart and were stunned.  The angels simply told them Jesus would come back but basically told them to get on with it:  i.e. being obedient to the command of Jesus to wait for the Spirit to come. 

After their three years of training, all Jesus told them to do was to wait for the Holy Spirit to come and fill them. The first words of Acts 2 make it very clear that, after ten days of united prayer (not to mention the election of a replacement apostle), they were all waiting together when the Day of Pentecost arrived.

The empowering presence of the Holy Spirit made the difference.   So, I am convinced that it was the presence and work of the Holy Spirit that produced the church. That church was built on everything Jesus had said and done for three years.

I think Jesus trained kingdom of God disciples and the Holy Spirit formed those disciples into a thing called church.

As I have said, although Jesus hardly ever talked about the church, after Pentecost almost every page talks about some or other aspect of church (the word is used 3 times in the gospels and more than 100 times in the rest of the New Testament).  If we scroll through the letters that make up the rest of the New Testament, the subject matter is largely to do with new life in Christ and about the mission. No matter how flawed the churches may be there was never a hint that God had a back-up plan. The mission was always going to happen through the church.

 Look at the first three words used in the Bible to describe the church: “they devoted themselves…..” (Acts 2:42).  This is the second time that word has been used by Luke to describe actions by people who followed Jesus.  The 120 who remained in the upper room in obedience to Jesus’ command

 Having heard the gospel preached by Peter, and felt the conviction of the Spirit, they repented, were baptised, and filled with the Spirit. In addition, they stayed around to listen to Peter warning them to step away from their former “corrupt generation.”(Acts 2:40). That’s how the first church was created. What follows next is breathtaking when compared to most of what Christian leaders experience today.

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favour of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. (Acts 2:42-47)

I’ve been involved in Christian leadership for more than fifty years but have never personally witnessed revival. If things like this were happening around me, I would definitely classify it as revival. Remember that these were people from every nation under heaven (Acts 2:5). They spoke different native languages and came from very different background cultures. Instead of being coaxed and cajoled, they showed up every time the apostles were giving some teaching. Instead of having their own preeminent priorities they loved to hang out together. They commonly shared the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, Communion. They were generous to the point where all needs were met. They showed up to the prayer meetings early and left late. Miracles happened, initially through the apostles. And they engaged with the wider community in such a way as to be loved by them. As a result, new people became followers of Jesus every day, not because they were invited to a meeting, but through the ministry of ordinary church members.

This didn’t happen because they were threatened. It didn’t come about after some years of Bible College training. More importantly, it was not something that focused on a single hero personality. Allow the text to tell you how many times the third person plural (i.e. ‘they’) or equivalent is used. I count at least fifteen. It is powerful because it is referring to the group, not a super-star individual everyone stands by and watches. Over the years we have excelled in allowing a few individuals to do the work. We go to their meetings, read their books, and tell their stories. It’s time we realised that it is not native to kingdom of God culture. Kingdom of God culture is a “they” culture. In fact, it is a “they devoted themselves” culture. It about because the Holy Spirit is “poured out on all flesh.” The powerful presence of the Spirit made them into an alternative community filled with the culture of the kingdom of heaven. The first generation of Jesus followers saw their discipleship multiplied among people who had never met Jesus through their experience of the Spirit rather than in the flesh.

Following Jesus is about ordinary people being clothed with power from the Holy Spirit and church is about a team of followers who create a community of heaven in some location because they multiply that experience because their very belonging is clothed with the same Holy Spirit power. When they came together, they experienced things that didn’t happen on their own. When they were not together, they wore that clothing as they engaged with the wider community in that location. Despite active opposition from parts of the community, the power of the Spirit broke down strongholds, set prisoners free and declared the time of the Lord’s favour. What Jesus had started, they continued.

NEXT:                 How does all of this relate to the life of a church operating anywhere in today’s complex and sometimes antagonistic culture?  Are we able to rediscover the main things and allow them to shape what we do and how we do it so that the things that matter to Jesus, matter to us?