Believers, What do they look like?

The first church in Jerusalem (Acts 2:42-47) concentrated on three issues: Teaching, Fellowship, and Prayer. That appears to be the biblical place to start for anyone establishing a Christian church. One question that comes to mind is what did that first church teach? The answer comes in looking at what they were trying to accomplish.

Their first assignment is the Great Commission first given to the apostles: “All authority on heaven and on earth has been given to me [Christ]. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I will be with you always, to the very end of the age.”

That instruction endowed each apostle, individually, into Christian ministry. Each had a role to play. I’ve concluded that, by the same token, the Great Commission also endows each believer with the same responsibility for carrying the gospel message and teaching believers “to obey everything” Christ commanded.

With that individual perspective in mind, consider this promise from Christ: “For where two or three come together in my name, there I am with them” (Matthew 18:20). That confirms that Christ himself is committed to even the smallest of relationships between people, intimate person-to-person ministries.

And then consider this remark from Peter: “But you [all Christians] are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light” (I Peter 2:9). Together with the Great Commission, this “royal priesthood” remark suggests that God has endowed each believer with priestly responsibilities. Again, we’re seeing a one-on-one, person-to-person calling.

And then consider this from Paul: “We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us” (II Corinthians 5:20a) and “For we are the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life” (II Corinthians 2:15-16). Again, believers as individuals are in view.

From this it’s reasonable to conclude that one-on-one ministry lies at the core of Christ’s Great Commission. Christ intends each individual believer to minister to others, as an ambassador for him Christ and as fragrance, an example to be followed (Note: Philippians 3:17-4:1; II Thessalonians 3:6-10 key verse 7a; I Timothy 1:15-17; Titus 2:7-8; I Peter 2:21). I see all this as meaning the task of carrying the gospel is not the solely for those specially called to it. It is fundamental to every believer and the central part of their personal ministry.

Paul also advises new believers to remain in their present place in life (I Corinthians 7:17-24). This suggests that a new believer’s personal ministry is to those within the immediate sphere of influence within which he finds himself as a new Christian.

Thus, a fundamental goal in the educational program of the first church was to teach people to teach people, to teach people to duplicate their Christian faith. That suggests that all believers (1) need to understand the basics of their faith, (2) They need to be applying that faith to their own lives, and (3) they need to be comfortable sharing their faith with others.

Christ had already established the pattern. He taught the apostles and sent them out to teach others (Matthew 10:5-20). Following the ascension and Pentecost, the apostles presumably taught others, a group of some 120 (Acts 1:15b); and we can, in Paul’s ministry, see how that pattern spread to the extent that ultimately Christianity “overturned” the Roman world—one believer at a time.

So, what does this ministering believer look like?

I see him as operating in Position, Process, and Purpose.

Position (Justification)
Position concerns one’s legal rights before God. Initially, he’s saved or unsaved.

When a believer is saved, he has acknowledged the New Covenant and played his part in aligning himself with it. God promised to do things for the believer and the believer promised to do things for God.

One’s formal Christian walk begins with salvation which itself begins at the moment of belief (Note: Ephesians 1:13-14; II Corinthians 1:21-22).

Prior to salvation, it’s as if the individual was wearing a sweatshirt with the inscription “Property of Satan.” Following the moment of belief, God changed the inscription to “Property of God.” The biblical term for this is justification. A believer is an heir with Christ (Galatians 4:1-7) and a temple of God, a place in which God lives through his Holy Spirit (I Corinthians 3:16-17).

Process (Sanctification)
The New Testament also treats salvation as the process of “being saved” (I Corinthians 1:18; II Corinthians 2:15-16; I Peter 1:9; II Peter 1:10-11; Philippians 2:12-13). It marks the journey from thinking and behaving like the world to thinking and behaving like Christ.

Paul describes the process as a transformation. “Therefore, I urge you brothers, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—which is your spiritual worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will” (Romans 12:1-2).

This process is a partnership between the believer and God’s Holy Spirit (Note: I Corinthians 1:18-2:16). The believer devotes himself to Scripture and the Holy Spirit reveals God’s will through the sense of it. As the believer acts under Christ’s lordship, he or she sees the difference that living in Christ makes in their life. Through that experience, the believer “tests and approves” that God’s way of doing things produces better results than man’s way of doing things (God’s plan for our success).

Purpose
Purpose concerns one reason for our existence. Believers are ambassadors and fragrance. As ambassadors they carry God’s message to the folks within their spheres of influence. As fragrance they illustrate the truths of God through how they live. (One’s fragrance is often more potent than the facts they carry as ambassadors.)

As ambassadors and fragrance they are among the priesthood of believers.

Believers are also living stones (I Peter 2:4-5). I believe this relates to the special callings and gifts God has placed on his kids (Note: Romans 12:1-8; Ephesians 4:1-16; I Corinthians 12 & 13). As a believer becomes attentive to his callings and gifts, he or she also begins to understand their purpose in life. Something is a calling or gift when (1) you love doing it, (2) you do it well, and (3) when others recognize that you do it well.

Every good church is filled with priests but God has also blessed each priest with unique burdens, callings, and gifts. Each church is different because of the nature of these callings and gifts, and yet each church is the same concerning its priestly message.

Thus, I have concluded that the key teaching role of the church is to duplicate believers, to encourage each participant (1) to understand the message, (2) to apply it to their lives, and (3) to comfortably share it with others. Based on the New Testament message, that appears to have been the focus of the first church and I believe that’s what Christ wants for our focus today.

The Biblical Church, Part II

Acts 2:42-47 presents the model church. It is unique among Christian churches. Indeed, it was one of a kind.

First of all, the Acts 2:42-47 church is the first church ever. But its “firstness” is less important for us than the acts of the folks who guided it.

This was the only time in the New Testament in which all 12 apostles ministered as a team. That team was important because Christ had just taught them what he wanted for his church (Luke 24:45-49. Note: Acts 1:1-11). That suggests that what they did in Jerusalem is Christ’s model for us today, in our case, The Internet Church. In addition, Christ ordained Peter to be the apostles’ leader (John 21:15-20). That suggests that Peter’s philosophy for the church is important for us to consider as we organize our church. What was his philosophy?

We find it in I Peter 2:4-12. He focuses there on two issues: the “living stones” and the “priesthood of believers.” Both are essential building blocks for Christ’s church and our Internet Church as well.

Judging from the rest of the New Testament, I have concluded that the “living stones” remark concerns gifted people serving in the areas of their giftedness. Paul fleshes this out in Ephesians 4:1-16, Romans 12:1-8, and I Corinthians 12 & 13. In other words, God has graced each believer with a variety of spiritual gifts (graces) that he wants them to use in improving their own lives and in ministering to the Christian body to which they belong (the church). That is one way in which Christ shapes each church. He shapes it through the gifts he has given its people. That means no two churches will necessarily be the same.

But each church will be similar because of the doctrine it proclaims. The “priesthood of believers” remark concerns the fact that each believer has a personal ministry, not one that comes from God’s unique grace to each believer, but one that comes from sharing the gospel of Christ. The Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20) applies not just to the church but to each believer individually. Each believer has a mandate from God to spread the gospel message and to minister to those within his or her spheres of influence (Note: I Corinthians 7:24). Each believer is an ambassador from God (II Corinthians 5:16-21) and a living illustration of God’s plan for man (II Corinthians 2:14-17).

So that becomes our initial model. That’s what I bring to this endeavor. But your contribution is vital. Your insights need to be examined and considered. I only know what I know, and I don’t know it all. But together we can build a great church.