How Often they Meet?
Christianity is a lifestyle. Christianity calls for us to be committed to our relationship with God, our love to one another and in making disciples through the preaching of the Gospel and the teachings of God’s Word. If we are not growing in these three areas; what are we doing?
Can we say that we love God and don’t have a personal relationship with Him? Can we say that we love God, but our fellowship is absent of God’s people?[1] Can we say that we love God and completely disobey Him in our responsibility to the Great Commissions of making disciples of all nations?[2] If we are not active in these three areas, whatever we are doing is simply not working. Acts 5:42 tells us regarding the church, “…every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching that the Christ is Jesus.” In the temple they did evangelistic work and, at home, according to Acts 2:42, they were,
- Devoted to the apostles’ teachings.
- Devoted to fellowship.
- Devoted to breaking bread together and,
- Devoted to praying together.
This was a daily thing; this was a part of their lives; their responsibility; not a place they went to. They were a part of this family; their gifts were welcomed and needed; everybody had an opportunity to be properly discipled and used by God for his glory and for the service of his people. Again, it was never a One-Man-Show. This is the only way to make disciples; it was not just a disciple class; it was folks not only teaching God’s Word, but also leading by example. Paul tells us in First Corinthians 11:1 “Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.” (NIV)
Some leaders can only be seen in church and church related activities; you never see them outside of the building; so, what is there to imitate? The way they sing? The way they preach?
At the center of what you do in a building is a service, a manmade and controlled formula. But when we are truly a family we come together, we talk, we shared stories, we ask questions, we see each other in different situations and, how we react to those situations. See, in the church building you can imitate somebody’s gifts, but when we share our lives, we get to imitate characters.
That was the example of Christ; He did not open a university and sat the disciples in a classroom and gave them degrees at the end of three years; He did not buy a building and taught on Wednesday nights and preached on Sundays… Jesus literally shared his life. Why are we doing it differently? Why are we expecting God to move doing things our way? Is Christ not our example?
To be continued…
[1] First John 1:7
[2] Matthew 28:18-20
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