Basically, a church isn't a building or a place or an event; the church is the people gathered to fellowship. That kind of tied in to the lesson we had at Sunday School this morning.
Why don't I just start at the beginning of the service?
At Sunday School (which the Youth Group has before the service), we read Acts 2:42-47.
"42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved."
42: They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer
- The believers would meet and devote themselves to learning the teachings of the apostles, very much like a church service today.
- They would also devote themselves to fellowship. The definition of fellowship that was given by my Youth minister was when people gather together for one common purpose. In this case, the common purpose was love for Jesus Christ and a desire to learn His ways. Everyone would gather and come together in love for one another and for Jesus.
- They would gather for the breaking of bread, which could mean communion, or it could simply mean having a meal together. The believers would use the time for fellowship and just making friends. (This would be the part after church, when you and other members of your church have decided to go out to Pei Wei or CiCi's for lunch.)
- And, of course, they could gather for prayer. I don't know about you, but I feel amazing when I am sincerely praying to my Lord. Sometimes I feel the need to meet with my God in private, and just pour out my heart to Him. Other times, when I am in a group of believers, and we pray, I feel... liberated, some how. I feel more free to express myself in groups of believers. (Don't get me wrong, I know that when I am conversing with the Lord, that I am free to say anything that I feel)
- The apostles and believers were a community - they lived together, in - here comes that magic word - fellowship.
- Now when it says that they had everything in common, it doesn't mean that they agreed on every single subject. Rather, they shared everything. They knew that material wealth was God's anyway, and so they shared it with anyone with the need.
- They did this every day. Every day of the week, they met and worshiped and gave and learned. So, they had Sunday every day.
I just think that that is SO neat, that they gathered everyday for praise, fellowship, and worship. In the early church, people would meet the needs of everyone in the community, even if it meant selling off all of their own things to meet the needs of a brother. They would pray and worship and learn together. And people saw the way that the church lived and they wanted that, so "the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved."
That was what I learned in Sunday School. This is what I learned during the service:
We as believers are the Church. The Church isn't the building that we meet in, nor is church an event. The Church is the body of believers, who happen to meet in a building on Sunday. "The Bible never defines the Church as a place; it always defines Church as people." - John Horne
We read 1 Corinthians 12:1-25
14-17: (14)For the body is not one member, but many. (15) If the foot shall say, Because I am not that hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? (16) And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? (17) If the whole body [were] an eye, where [were] the hearing? If the whole [were] hearing, where [were] the smelling?
- We are "different yet essential in the Body of Christ."
- It's almost like the different members of the Body are jealous of each other. The eye is discontented because it is not an ear; teh foot is discontented because it is not a hand... But you need your feet just as much as you need your hands, and you need your eyes just as much as you need your ears, if your body is to function properly.
- God has a master plan for you. He has given certain people certain gifts, and He expects us to use those gifts for His glory.
- We are dependent on one another in the Body of Christ.
- This part reminds me of the song "Lean on Me" - the concept is similar.
As followers of God, our task, the Great Commission, is to "know Christ and to make Him known." You can do that by becoming an active member in the church. As Christians, we need the fellowship and spiritual cleansing/feeding that comes from surrounding ourselves with fellow believers. This helps us to become closer to Christ. When people see us living the way the early church that Peter was talking about in Acts 2, they want to have something like that. That will help to make Christ known (that doesn't mean that you shouldn't go out into the world and spread the Gospel; you most definitely should, but we will get into that later.)
