The Biblical Church Part III

I see Acts 2:42-47 defining the biblical church.

Acts 2:42 explains its focus. Verses 43-46 offer an example of the fellowship. And verse 47 shows the results, “the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.”

I think Acts 2:42-47 is Christ’s instruction for all churches, but let’s consider it in terms of the Internet. My first insight of the day is the word “daily” in verse 47. Christ’s church is not just a Sunday thing. It’s a take up your cross “daily” thing.

Waking up each morning is a kind of resurrection, a fresh start. Believers enjoy God’s grace and forgiveness. That’s all part of the “fresh start.” The Internet is ideal for that, a great place for encouragement, fresh starts, and a daily check in.

Acts 2:42 focuses the church’s activities. The focus is teaching, fellowship, and prayer, all tempered by the Lord’s Supper. (Because “they broke bread in their homes and ate together” is mentioned later, I think this verse 42 reference concerns the Lord’s Supper. When you consider Paul’s explanation in I Corinthians 11:23-32, the Lord’s Supper plays an important role in a believer’s relationship with Christ, remembering Christ’s sacrifice and measuring the state of one’s walk.)

All three activities are clearly Internet friendly. So, while the Internet is not a physically face-to-face environment, it’s clearly a mind-to-mind environment; and that’s a spiritual thing. Thoughts are spirit. While having a “church supper” would be tough to do on the Internet (I’ll bring the chocolate cake), fellowshipping together is a snap. I’ll bet that’s why the Lord invented chat rooms. (I wonder how you do that on a blog?)

The challenge of the Internet church, to me, is exciting. It’s also sobering. I’m just one guy fortified by my biases and suffering from my weaknesses. As I present myself as a teacher, I’m also accepting the awesome responsibility of getting it right, not just the facts alone but the loving balance of guiding folks in applying those facts. (And I know so little and struggle so much.)

In the parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30) I originally related to the man who hid his talents. That way, I reasoned, I would not risk loosing the Lord’s currency; but, of course, in reading the parable more closely, burying the talents is the worse thing one can do. So, after 40 years of trying to figure out why God made the world this way and not some other and trying to understand my silly little place in it, I’m getting after it with this blog and the website to come.

But you’re part of it, too, because Christianity is not a spectator sport. The biblical church is a team ministering together, each participant buttressing the other (Ephesians 4:1-16; Romans 12:1-8; I Corinthians 12 & 13; I Peter 2:4-12). I’m trying to find a church in Denver willing to let me run with this ball. The biblical church looks good to me on paper, but the proof is in the pudding. Maybe the pudding for me is the Internet. After all, the fields there are ripe for harvest, too.

Questions to come: What did they teach in that first church? What kind of a person were they trying to urge into being? What are we to learn from Acts 2:43-46? Isn’t that Christian Communism? (That’s what I thought for years.) And why did God choose to reveal himself in a book that he knew so many people would misconstrue? (If God wants sound doctrine, will only the A-students be saved?)

There’s lots of engaging stuff to come, some challenging stuff, too. (Lots of learning for me, as well.) Your reactions and insights are critical because we’re all in this together.