You have made it to the third part of this blog series. To start off I’d encourage you to read Acts 2:42-47 again or for the first time perhaps. In review, that passage gives us a picture of the original Christian church founded in Jerusalem. We’ve already covered two of the four core components of the church as shown in this passage in the last blog, so now I want to move onto the next two with some bonus material as well.
- They lived generously together (vs.44-45)
The phrase they “had all things in common”, isn’t referring to them having similar interests. Remember these were an incredibly diverse people who -for the vast majority- most likely had nothing in common with their fellow church-members other than a shared faith in Jesus. What that phrase means is that none of them considered their possessions as their own. They each held what they had with an open-hand, sharing it with the rest of their brothers and sisters in Christ as needs arose. Now, as a capitalist nation, I know how for many of us, something rises up in us and hisses at the faintest hint of socialism. Please understand this isn’t some first century socialist institution with a Christian twist. This was the collective of Christ-followers who were living out their faith by applying God’s truth to how they managed and used their possessions. Today, most people who attend church are often hesitant or at times even opposed to the idea of tithing or giving financially to the church. We are typically a very stingy people due to the economic and cultural climate we find ourselves in today. But generosity is a crucial mark of a healthy Christian and a healthy church. If we are stingy or greedy, it shows that we either love money more than God (Matthew 6:24), or that we live according to the lie that what we have, we own, instead of recognizing that its all a gift God has given us to use for His glory and the good of others.
- They were a people of gladness and praise (vs.46-47)
Notice how the passage mentions they had glad hearts, and praised God. These are not some minor adjectives; these are significant characteristics of their church culture. They counted their blessings, down to every meal, acknowledging how God had graciously provided for them. Not complaining about what they didn’t get, but being thankful for what they had been given. Beyond that they had a trend of worship. They praised God, acknowledging the goodness and worth of who He is and what He had done regularly and frequently. These two expressions were core to who they were as a people. So, a good way to measure the health of a church or even an individual Christian is by checking how gladness and praise are integrated in our church culture or individual lifestyle.
In conclusion I want to point out the results of these things. When all these powerful facets of the church are combined and driven by the work of the Holy Spirit (which makes all of these things possible), amazing things happen. Two main occurrences are mentioned in verse forty-seven.
1) They had “favor with all the people”.
The surrounding society didn’t understand, and probably were at least somewhat opposed to what the church stood for. And yet, as the early church lived this way together, all the people around them couldn’t help but acknowledge that they were doing something good, something favorable. Today if we live the way that Christ has called us to live, although we are in a society of increasing hostility towards Biblical Christianity, everyone will have to recognize that something good is happening. That may mean that some acknowledge the “positive impact” the church is having on peoples lives. Or maybe its society recognizing the good that churches are doing for the communities around them. I can’t say exactly, but I think we have to start living this way first and then we’ll find out, if we haven’t already.
2) “The Lord added to their number day by day, those who were being saved.”
A healthy church grows, but notice how the church is growing. It’s not growing by what I like to call church-transferring, which is when those who at least profess to be Christians switch from one local church to the next, usually for unbiblical reasons. We often times in the American Church today consider those influxes of transferred church-goers as growth, but it’s not. If the Church is the entire population of Christ followers, than it does not grow unless new people are coming to faith. Therefore, the local church does not truly grow unless its numerical growth is in correlation with the number of people getting saved by grace through faith in Christ. One of the things that I think is really an epidemic in the American-Church today is that local churches are competing with each other over those who are already saved. If we can just have bigger, better, trendier, newer stuff, than we will “grow”, mostly by luring people from other neighboring churches to join ours. According to what I see in the Bible, we only grow as churches when new people are becoming part of our redeemed people.
I just want to emphasize that it’s THE LORD who adds to our number as He wills. Our job is to faithfully proclaim the Gospel, and live out the Gospel as a church, which we’ve seen portrayed in several ways by the early church in this passage. For some churches, that may mean hundreds, even thousands come to faith in a relatively short time. Praise God for that. For others it may not, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that the church isn’t doing what it’s supposed to do. Every soul saved is a miraculous work. To see someone come to faith in Christ is to witness a spiritual resurrection. We need to always check and pursue excellence in what we’re preaching and how we’re living as a church, but we have to trust God with the results. Only He can change lives and only He can work in and through us to produce healthy churches. We plow the fields, plant the seeds, and water them by His power, guidance and grace, but only God makes the harvest of healthy Christians and churches grow.
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