The story of God reached a climax with the resurrection, but it certainly isn’t winding down. In fact, it is only continuing to open to a wider drama. Jesus made many appearances over the 40 days after his resurrection before he finally ascended to heaven.
After his ascension, the disciple spent 10 days waiting and wondering what to do next when the day of Pentecost came. The day of Pentecost was a celebration of God giving the Torah on Mount Sinai. And it also happened to be the day that the church began. Read Acts 2 to learn how the church began.
In light of Acts 2, here’s some questions for us to wrestle through together this week:
-In Acts 2, almost 3000 people became followers of Jesus in one day. How come we don’t see that kind of thing happening today?
-What is the role of the Spirit in the beginning of the church? What should the role of the Spirit be in the church today?
-What exactly is the church supposed to be? What is the role of the church in the world?
-Read the description of life in the early church in Acts 2:42-47. What do you find attractive about that description? What do you think that might look like today?
April 17th, 2006 at 4:42 pm
The Church is not a building,
the church is not a steeple,
The church is not a resting place,
the church is the people….
I am the church, you are the church,
we are the church together…
All who follow Jesus,
all around the world;
yes we’re the church together!!
If you grew up in the church, you know the song. Somehow we know the words, but we have not been too good at hearing what they are saying. I believe the first church worked at being the body of Christ and where they met was secondary. The church was a living organism, in which people lived, moved and breathed… struggled, argued, kissed and made up. And were more like Jesus as a result. North American culture has lost this along the way. However, I feel like there may be a change in the wind. Maybe we are becoming so sick of sterile individuality, that we are crying out for community and opening up as a result?? I sense that people are desiring community more and more in the past couple of years. In an age of reality TV… I think people want a real church as well. I think the “show” is slowly being found out to be… an empty caloried donut. When I think deep down, people really want a steak. I think if we want to be “the church”, we need to just “be” who God has created us to be, and love one another, instead of running the other way at every drop of the hat. I think Acts shows us, basically, that’s how we started out…
April 19th, 2006 at 11:00 pm
I guess Cyndee responded so well that all those questions have been put to rest for us.
Even if that’s not the case, let me offer some more that we wrestled with in our home group last night: What does it mean to live as one who is led by the Spirit?
How have you experienced the leading of the Holy Spirit in your life?
April 22nd, 2006 at 9:06 pm
Great insight, Cyndee. I think you got it exactly right - people are starting to want something “real” out of church. The thing that caught my eye about the passage in Acts 2 on the new believers is that verse 41 was cut off from verse 42. They really go together. 3,000 came to know Christ and then began to meet together. I think being a part of a close fellowship like that is a necessary part of being a follower of Christ. As a result of their sincere fellowship, more people came to know Christ. It is such a great example of what the church should be like today. I think Pathways is heading down that path… Hey, is that where you got the name?
I want to apologize and ask forgiveness of all of you because I have not been a consistent part of the Pathways fellowship for several months. Consistency is key, and I think each of us can learn more about what it means to follow Jesus from one another. Although my time in Seattle has been short, I am sorry that I have not been able to share this with most of you.
John, the first thing I thought of when you asked the question about why 3,000 people at a time don’t come to know Christ today is Billy Graham. His ministry is the only exception to your question I can think of. I think that our society does not place as much importance on religion. All these people were in one place because of the Jewish holiday, right?