Acts 2:42-47
New International
Version (NIV)
42 They devoted themselves
to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to
prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with
awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were
together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and
possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 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, 47 praising God and
enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily
those who were being saved.
I
love this passage! It was the first Mega
Church and they did things very differently than is being done today. They met together in the temple everyday not
just on Sunday, and on top of that, they had a potluck! Wow, that is amazing. But wait, there is more, they sold their
possessions to help each other out. How
many of us want to go to church everyday just to see our friends, let alone
sell our things so they can have something?
That sounds a little radical doesn’t it?
But, that is what they did.
Today
if someone feels led to go on a mission trip, they have to sell all of their
belongings and go out and earn support to do so. I could imagine that in those days, there
would have not been any “raising of money” they would have just gathered the
money and the person would have been on the ship with Paul (after his
conversion that is). Then Paul would
have taught him the trade of tent making and they would have earned their
keep. Just a little side note, my
daughter is working on creating a new vision of missions and you can read more
about it at http://www.amityinternational.net. This is a great way to connect with those believers
who have been called to the mission field and do “church” the way that it was
intended.
If
we want to add to our numbers daily we need to be sharing the Gospel
daily! Is meeting together for one or
two hours on Sunday morning enough to sustain us and build us up? In many ways I believe our church today needs
to resemble the church of yesterday. We
have become very lax in how we go about church life. Just last night I was dragging my feet as I
headed out the door to church. Once I
got there I was refreshed and ready to tell others of Christ love but the
journey to the church was rough. If we
made it part of our daily gathering, what an adjustment, what a joy, and what a
treat that would be, especially as we added to the numbers! I think sometimes people feel like the church
doesn’t care about them, when in actuality they are trying to see what they can
get out of church rather than what they can contribute to the church.
I
could go on and on with this subject matter.
I know that it was because of the support of our church family when I
was growing up, the consistency in attending church, and the love we felt from
our church family that got our family through the most difficult situation that
any family could ever face. I am a true
believer in the unity of the church towards their church family and the need to
always be there for each other. We need
to rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep. We need to feed the hungry and love the
unlovable. We need to be more like
Christ and less like us.
As
you seek Him today, seek out others who need encouragement this day and begin
doing church the way it was intended to be.
Seeking
Him with all my heart,
Sheila
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