The Church in Acts: Part 1

Acts has been on my mind a lot lately, and in my prayers.  When I read Acts, I do not see the churches today that exist in America, or many first world countries.  I see something different, something that we are missing today in the contemporary Christendom.  And it makes me sad at all that we are missing out on.  So I began a study as I read Acts, recording how the early Church functioned.  So here is part one of what I found.

They were in one accord (and I don't mean the Honda joke)
In the very beginning of Acts, the followers of Jesus, doing as He commanded them, were waiting in one accord to receive the Holy Spirit. Because I love words and knowing exactly what was trying to be said, and since Acts says more than once about them being "in one accord," I decided to look up the definition of "accord," as a noun, since that is how it is used.

Dictionary.com says that it means "proper relationship or proportion; harmony" [ok, so the early church was in harmony], "consent or concurrence of opinions or wills; agreement" [they were in agreement with one another, because they were focused on Christ's commands], and "an international agreement; settlement of questions outstanding among nations" [these followers were not all of the same background or perhaps even nationality, and may not agree on a lot of things, but they were as one in Christ].

The Free Dictionary says it means "Agreement; harmony" [pretty self-explanatory], "A settlement or compromise between conflicting parties" [like I mentioned above], and "spontaneous or voluntary desire to take a certain action" [they were there together voluntarily, out of their love and devotion to Jesus Christ].

The early Church was very connected as brothers and sisters in Christ.  They renounced their old life and connections for their new family in Christ.  They "continued daily in one accord."  They fellowshipped together, prayed together, broke bread together, and had all things in common (aka, they shared everything).  They "ate together from house to house with gladness and singleness of heart, praising God."  They were of one heart and of one soul.  They were all with one accord.  They all wept together, as true family does. They would stay up til midnight fellowshipping and listening to Paul preach (Acts 20:7).  He reminded them that he had warned them night and day with tears.   If something was wrong, or sin had entered, they warned the rest night and day with tears.  With tears.  Because he loved them.



They received power and spread the News
They received power by the Holy Spirit to be witnesses unto the ends of the earth.  They were to go and spread the Good News, and that is why they were given power through not their own power, but that of the Spirit.  And so, they "ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ" (Acts 5:42).  They realized that God is not a respecter of persons, and so they preached to everyone.  And once they believed, they baptized them.

They continued in doctrine.  They took all that Jesus had taught them, and all that was recorded of God's word before, and they preached that.  No additions, no subtractions.  They continued in doctrine.  They knew the Word of God!  (I'd say they knew their Bible, but it wasn't really the Bible then.)  They knew the Word of God, and preached the Word of God (Acts 13:9-11).  They exhorted.  They spoke out against idolatry. They told people "the way of God more perfectly" (Acts 18:26).  So, people came and confessed their deeds and burned their bad things (Acts 19:18-19).

They made sure everyone had enough
They sold their possessions and gave to whoever had need.  They weren't concerned with stuff.  They knew that there were mansions being built in heaven for them!  They knew that worldly treasures would be destroyed by moths and dust, and that where their hearts were, their treasure was...so they made their treasure Jesus Christ and sold that which was not important and used it to do what is important: do as Jesus commanded.  He commanded us to love our neighbors as ourselves.  So, they sent relief to those who needed it, for example, in Acts 11:29.  They were very hospitable, and would simply travel to each others' houses and stay together.

They had a lifestyle of prayer, passion, and joy
They PRAYED!  Always, about everything.  They knew their lifeline was God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and they stayed in tune with all three through prayer and being filled with the Holy Spirit.  They were filled with joy and the Holy Spirit (Acts 13:52).  They brought joy wherever they went because of the joyful Presence that was within them.

They did church work...but maybe a twinge differently
The early church ordained elders and delivered decrees.  They appointed people to cover tasks they couldn't leave the ministry to go on their own.  Of course, they occasionally disputed, which sometimes cause them to split up into new traveling combinations.  (But, they didn't split into separate churches over things like buttons and drums.)  When Paul and the others traveled, they went all around strengthening the disciples (Acts 18:23).

They connected with the people
The early church connected with people.  They loved people the way they saw Jesus Christ love people.  When they would preach, they would often start out with their testimony.  What better way to show God's love than share what He has done in their lives?  There is no better way to share the gospel on such a personal, every-day-person level.  They used the intelligence and wisdom God gave them, as well as their background (and not only to connect with the people, but also for protection as they continued to share the gospel, such as Paul using the fact that he was a Roman).  If at all possible, they spoke the language that the people understood best (For example, in Acts 22:2).  Also, they worked.  In Acts 18:3 we can read that because Paul knew the craft of tent making, he stayed with the people there and worked with them.  They built relationships and connections with people just as Jesus Christ did.

And...
...they knew when those of their own heritage were just not going to listen.  (Acts18:6-7)  And they went elsewhere to spread the Good News, to those who would listen.




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