Monday
If
you drive down Main Street in almost any town in America, you will pass
by at least two or three churches, often many more than that. Have you
ever stopped to wonder, where did all of these churches come from? Why
are they all here? What distinguishes all of these churches from each
other? Where did this whole “church thing” start anyway?
If
someone you didn’t know asked you to describe your church, what would
you say? Would you begin by describing the building? Would you talk
about the style of music in the worship services? Would you describe
the various ministries and programs of your church? Maybe you would
talk about its’ history and denominational background? Perhaps you
would mention the preaching and theological convictions of your church?
I know churchgoers who like to describe their church by telling people what they are not like. They are not
like those liberal churches, or they are not like the stuffy, uptight,
conservative churches. We are often far too focused on our
differences. Many people today are hopping from church to church
looking for the perfect one. The truth is that there are no perfect
churches because there are no perfect people. In fact, if you ever did
find the perfect church, you probably should not go there because you
would screw it up! The church in which Christ dwells is not some ideal,
universal, invisible group of people who behave as we think they
should. No, the church is the local gathering of God’s people with all
its cranks and hypocrites, sinners and saints.
Listen to the way the early church is described in Acts chapter 2…
They
devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to
the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and
many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the
believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their
possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he 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 favor of all the people. And the Lord added to
their number daily those who were being saved. – Acts 2:42-47
These
verses describe the birth of the Christian church. Jesus has risen and
appeared to His followers on several occasions, and He has ascended
into heaven. There are only about 120 Christians in the entire world at
this time. Who could have possibly predicted that this insignificant
little band of believers would grow to shake the foundations of the
Roman Empire and change the course of history?
Most
of us don’t think about these kinds of things when get up on a Sunday
morning and head off to church. We don’t stop to consider the fact that
we are a part of something that is truly remarkable in human history.
When we gather together as the Body of Christ, we are continuing in a
tradition that traces its roots back to this very passage, and beyond.
When Jesus Christ was crucified and then rose from the grave, He not
only accomplished our eternal salvation, but He set in motion a ripple
effect of transformed lives throughout the course of human history. It
is a ripple effect that continues still today! Those of us who are
followers of Jesus Christ and part of His church today, are direct
descendants of this remarkable ripple effect. We trace our spiritual
heritage back to the singular event in human history that started it all
– the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Jeff Frazier
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