At the beginning of the year I started thinking about how the first church did church, and how differently I and most others who’ve gone before me have done church. So, in January I asked the Holy Spirit to take away the grid I unconsciously use when reading the Bible and I began re-reading the New Testament Gospels. I discovered two specifics about the first church.
First, Jesus never told his disciples to gather in a building, sing worship songs, listen to teaching and wait for people to come to their doorsteps. They did gather together, sing hymns and listen to teaching, but that was a prelude to the next thing Jesus taught them to do.
We reason that if we have great worship music and tremendous teaching, people who don’t know God will just mysteriously show up, too. While great music and effective preaching may or may not draw a bigger crowd, most of the people who turn up already know Christ. Most times they come because they think the way we do church is better than the way the last church they attended does church. Therefore, churches just trade Christians and the church that’s having the biggest draw at the time makes it appear as if the Kingdom is advancing, when in fact Christians are just repositioning themselves. It’s not that this is wrong, but it’s not what the Bible reflects. At least, not the way I read it.
The second thing that struck me was Jesus’ calculated command to “Go.”
“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the
name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them
to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you
always, to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20)
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you,
And you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and
Samaria, and to the end of the earth" (Acts 1:8)
Gathering together with other believers is important. Meeting together is the means by which we stir up one another to love and good works (Hebrews 10:24-25). But meeting together is no more the grand purpose of the church than a football team’s huddle is to the game. Like the football team, the purpose is to eventually break the huddle and move forward into enemy territory! God’s church will never be complete, and dare I say we may even become dysfunctional, if all we do is come together and try to make our huddle the best huddle in town. But for the most part, this is what we’ve done—and it’s wrong—it’s dead wrong!
Jesus said, “Go…make disciples of all nations…be my witnesses in Jerusalem [i.e., your home town] and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” The word that pierces my heart is “Go.” Jesus was deliberate and intentional. Convenience was not a consideration. “Go” challenges my personality, my schedule, and my comfort. And for me it’s very uncomfortable.
There are people in my town who know nothing of the love of God. Why? Because I, like many others, have stayed in our huddle. Now, you must know that I love my huddle! My huddle has wonderful people, great worship music and some of the best leaders in the region. I think we have one of the most unique huddles in our city. You can’t come into my huddle without being blessed! But there’s a problem with this. It’s incomplete if we don’t break the huddle. People don’t pay a hundred dollars a ticket to see a pro football team huddle. In football a team gets penalized if they stay in their huddle too long! If all they do is huddle the game’s not being played. They came to see the team move into enemy territory and score!
A few months ago it dawned on me that I had barely spoken to my next door neighbor who now lives alone since his mother died. Never married, he stays home alone all day. The only regular visit he ever received was the ambulance driver that came regularly to pick up his mother and take her to the hospital. Since she died, he had no visitors. Is he aware of how much God loves him? Does he ever talk to God? Had he ever attended a church service? I didn’t know.
Imagine, a church has paid my airfare for me to fly to their city to preach, but I wouldn’t cross the street and go to my neighbor whom I didn’t know and befriend him. After re-reading Jesus’ words in the Bible I was convicted that we had to find ways to serve people outside our circle with a heavenly purpose in mind. The only thing it will cost is convenience and obedience, and maybe a walk across the street, which, by the way, I did.
So what did I learn from re-reading the Gospels?
I suppose that most churches, including mine, has worked to become the best and biggest huddle in town, while Jesus awaits us breaking our huddle to go to people who need to know that there is a God and He loves them unconditionally. Jesus added, “Start in Jerusalem [your hometown].”
When the Lord looks down on my city I don’t think He sees the size of my huddle or the quality of the plays our huddle calls. He sees His Church, His Kingdom people, and He’s waiting for us to break from our routine, walk across the street and serve someone who has yet to hear that God loves them…just like they are.
Comments