POST SERIES
0: Church is (____HOPE____)
1: Church is (___DEVOTED___)
2: Church is (__BEDAZZLING__)
3: Church is (___PREPARED___)
4: Church is (_BARRIER-FREE_)
5: Church is (__GRACIOUS & HONEST__)
6: Church is (____GIVING____)
As Christians what is our devotion? What are we devoted to? What are our churches devoted to?
This is an important question, because it gets at how people are filling in the blank.
Last week we said the Church is the hope of the world, because Jesus is the hope of the world. And our basic mission is to make disciples—to influence people to give their life and lifestyle to Jesus.
So that’s the core of our identity. Disciple makers. But it doesn’t end there.
The early church was a devoted people. That’s how you would have filled in the blank back then. Church is a group of devoted people.
But devoted to what? Nowadays churches devoted to a whole lot of things: worship styles, buildings, political parities, rules—on and on. Not the early church.
Acts 2:41-47 not only tell us what they devoted themselves to. It also paints this vivid picture of how we should be filling in that blank as the Church of Jesus Christ, wherever it is located.
Along these same lines, I’ve often thought that we make church too complicated. Whenever I go back to Acts 2 and then look around at some churches today, I wonder why it is we worry so much about worship styles, bigger and better buildings, and to some extent get up in arms about the government. I don’t think it’s supposed to be that complicated. Seems like if we were about being witnesses and living what we preach than the rest would take care of itself. Maybe I’m being too idealistic.
Too complicated is right. Which was one of the points of my teaching series-to get at what is means to be the church. I know all of Acts isn’t prescriptive. But there’s sure a whole lot there to guide the church in filling in that blank!