Monday, October 7, 2019

The Church Today?



When the Church was born on that Pentecost Sunday and believers began to worship Jesus as their savior, there was no wavering. The early Christians didn’t straddle the line between the world and the Church. Their undivided devotion and worship of Jesus was immovable. When persecution came, they didn’t surrender and give in to the attacks, they persevered and stood strong, even while suffering physical abuse or being chased from the comforts of their homes. They left Jerusalem and took the gospel elsewhere as Phillip did in Samaria.


They had a strong commitment to Jesus and trusted in Him to see them through these trials. They were prayer warriors; they prayed all the time and it wasn’t just something they felt obligated to do as part of their faith. They prayed together, had Bible studies together and ate together. They didn’t cling to material possessions and actually donated property and other items as a means to support the Church. Their lives had truly changed and nothing could deter their love for Jesus and their worship of Him. They realized what it truly meant to be saved.


They had been freed from the requirements of a legal system which they could never completely obey. They fully understood who Jesus is, as the Messiah they had been waiting for.



They lived their lives completely and totally for Jesus. They didn’t dabble in the things of this world. Today, the Church has submerged itself in the agendas of this world such as politics and social justice as a form of gospel. William McDonald has this to say concerning this item.


Did they engage in politics or seek to remedy the social evils of the day? Their outlook was that all the ills and abuses in the world arise from man’s sinful nature. In order to remedy the evils, one must get at the cause.

Political and social reforms treat the symptoms without affecting the disease itself. Only the gospel can get at the heart of the matter, changing man’s evil nature. And so, they were not distracted by second best remedies. They preached the gospel in season, out of season. Everywhere the gospel went, the festering sores were eliminated or reduced.[1]



Can you imagine the Church conducting God’s business this way today? They knew they were in this world and never tried to distance themselves from it but they didn’t dabble with the things of this world. They were ready in an instant to reach the world with the gospel.

I think Christians today engage with the world, with worldly things. Please don’t misunderstand what I’m saying. We all have to go to work and we work with people who are not Christians. We should be friends with them, to an extent, but we don’t cross the line from our Christianity into their worldly activities. Don’t allow them to draw you into their worldly activities and sinful lifestyles. But we must continue to tell them about Jesus. You’re not being a prude and, your faith in Jesus and the Holy Spirit, should tell you those are not the type of activities you need to be involved in. They have to see Jesus in us and our life; otherwise, our words will have no effect.


Most Christians, serious God serving Christians, do not need to be told this but some are a little weaker in their faith and might be easier deceived. They need a mature Christian to come by their side and help them. A lot of Christians today don’t understand the distractions which the early Church might have faced. There are always distractions; ever since the serpent deceived Eve in the garden, there have been distractions.



So, the early Church was all about being committed to Jesus and spreading the gospel to the world. By the working of the Holy Spirit, they traveled many miles on foot and suffered physically to tell others about the gospel. They risked their lives and were ready to die for Jesus while they did His work. Can we say we see that in the Church today as a general attitude? No, not even close.



Today’s churches worry and squabble over which political candidate to support, get out to vote campaigns, supporting worldly social justice programs and every other type of worldly agenda you can think of. Instead of concentrating on sound Bible teaching and preaching and reaching the lost souls of this world, they concern themselves with entertaining and striving to make people feel good about themselves.

I could go on and on about the many false teachers and teachings in organizations which call themselves a church. But I simply want to draw a contrast between the early Church and their approach to their worship of Jesus and that of today. And, it’s not even close. The early Church understood the dangers of being a Christian. They understood the dangers of preaching the gospel. They didn’t hesitate to stand in a marketplace and share the gospel message with others. Just go back and read about the many times Paul was attacked and how he was beaten and left to die.

I know there are parts of the world today where all this is happening and persecution is very strong against Christians. When I say these things, I am not referring to them, they get it and they understand.

It’s to the Church in the U.S. that I say these things. Consider the practises of the early Church in their worship of Jesus. I’m not saying we need to sell everything we own and all live together; 
it’s our attitudes as Christians and our approach to Jesus which needs to be looked at. Can we live as the Christians in the early Church did? I think the Book of Acts is a great guideline for us to follow when it comes to doing Church and how to worship Jesus. We have to have Jesus first in our lives, ahead of everyone and everything else. If we compromise our faith and commitment to Jesus and fail to understand His commitment to us, we have lost sight of Him in our lives. 

Today, stop and look around at your life as a Christian. Do you go into church and come out like you were never there? Attending a church service is all about worshipping God, it is not a social event. Anyone attending a church with this intention needs to take a serious look at their walk with Jesus and the church they are attending. Let's make an attempt to compete with the early Church in the way they worshipped and understood Jesus. (Worshipping Jesus is not a competitive event; this is simply a phrase to drive home the point)

(This is an excerpt from the book, Walking Through The Book of Acts, Bill Petite, Amazon KDP Publishing)




[1] Believer’s Bible Commentary, William McDonald, p. 1666