Better Together Pt. 1

For the next 3 weeks in youth groups we're discussing the church. We started our series in the most logical place to do so: examining the first church in Acts 2.

The picture of the first church that's painted in Acts 2:42-47 is truly something to behold. It's hard to imagine any Christian can read that description and not desire to be a part of something like that. In some ways it's similar to most churches today and in some ways it's quite different. But what struck me has nothing to do with either the similarities or the differences.

I've read this passage numerous times before and a question popped into my head for the very first time: Where did this church come from?

This church comes into existence literally days after Jesus ascended into heaven. But the ground work for the church goes back farther.

Jesus lived on earth for somewhere around 30 years. However, his public ministry took place for 3 years. During those 3 years he had 12 disciples who spent the majority of their time with Jesus. When you hear the word disciple, think apprentice. And I'm not talking about Donald Trump here. I'm talking about a person who watches and imitates somebody so that they can learn their ways/craft/profession in order to someday either branch out on their own or perhaps even take over for the master.

This is what the disciples were doing for 3 years. Jesus spent that time teaching them how to take over for him once he finished his work on earth and ascended back into heaven. 11 of those 12 disciples got it. It might not have been the smoothest process, but as the pages of our Bible flip from the gospels to Acts, we see a force of believers powered by the Holy Spirit that is unstoppable.

As the disciples take over for Jesus and in turn train new disciples, the vehicle they use to accomplish this is (drum roll, please) the church! It wasn't as if Jesus went into heaven and suddenly the disciples sought out a church to join. They continued carrying on the ministry of Jesus and what resulted was the church.

Read that again. The disciples continued carrying on the ministry of Jesus and what resulted was the church. The church didn't exist to provide some sort of measuring tool for God to reference when deciding our eternal fate. The church exists when we continue to carry out the work of Jesus today.

Read the description of the church in Acts 2:42-47 again and tell me if that doesn't sound exactly like what Jesus was doing while he was on earth.

The church isn't a building. It's not a pastor. It's not even an institution. It's the result of people seeking to continue on as an apprentice of the Son of God. Anything else claiming to be a church just simply isn't.