Greetings brothers and sisters in Christ -
Let us celebrate Christ's church and the work He is accomplishing through her!
1)
The Prophecy of
Christ’s Church
Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ first
prophesied the establishment of the Christian church. This announcement
followed Peter’s revelation and declaration of who Christ was.
Jesus replied, “Blessed are
you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood,
but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my
church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I
will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth
will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in
heaven” (Matt. 16:17-19).
We learn three things from this portion of Scripture. Jesus will build
His church, and as its foundation, He will give authority to His apostles to
oversee and under shepherd His church. Then the
eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the
mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When
they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, “All
authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 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 am with you always, to
the very end of the age” (Matt. 28:16-20).
Knowing He was soon ascending to the Father, He spoke to them of the
coming guide and helper, the Holy Spirit. He left them these words of
confirmation and instruction.
He said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you:
Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the
Prophets and the Psalms.” Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. 46 He told them, “This is what is
written: The Messiah will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, 47 and repentance
for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in His name to all nations,
beginning at Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things. 49 I am going to send you what my Father has promised;
but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high” (Luke 24:44-49). It is through obedience to His
word, faith in His promise, and God’s sovereignty that Christ’s church was
born.
2) The Birth of Christ’s Church
Waiting
upon God in the upper room the following birth of the church took place.
When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in
one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of
a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were
sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of
fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to
speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them (Acts 2: 1-4). This was the
beginning of the church
of Christ. Ordained by
the breath of God in the form of the Holy Spirit, the apostles and all who
gathered in the upper room transformed into vessels for the kingdom. The Gospel
boldly proclaimed, brought immediate growth to the church.
3)
The Gospel Outreach
Peter replied, “Repent and be
baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of
your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your
children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.” With many other words he warned
them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.”
Those who accepted his
message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that
day (Acts 2:38-41).
4) The Characteristics of Christ’s Church
Obedience
to the word, the Commission of Christ, and compassion for the needs of others
brought service, unity, and continuity to the daily life of the church. Verses
42-47 give us insight to the way Christ’s church looks.
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to
fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 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. They sold property and possessions to give
to anyone who had need. 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, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were
being saved.
We have in these verses a glimpse of unity in both faith
and Spirit. Spiritual disciples were common exercises among all the brethren. After they prayed, the place where they were meeting was
shaken. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God
boldly (Acts 4:31).
All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one
claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything
they had. With great power the apostles
continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was
so powerfully at work in them all that there
were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or
houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to
anyone who had need.
Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called
Barnabas (which means “son of encouragement”), sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at
the apostles’ feet (Acts 4:32-37).
5) Church Growth
As needs developed the laborers of the
church increased. Addressing need was the source of growth and tools and
methods to handle that growth emerged. This is a different approach from
developing methods and tools to promote growth!
In those days when the number of
disciples was increasing, the Hellenistic Jews among them complained against
the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily
distribution of food. So the Twelve gathered
all the disciples together and said, “It would not be right for us to neglect
the ministry of the word of God in order to wait on tables. Brothers and sisters, choose seven men from among you who
are known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will turn this responsibility
over to them and will give our attention to
prayer and the ministry of the word” (Acts 6:1-4).
This proposal pleased the whole group. They chose Stephen, a
man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit; also Philip, Procorus, Nicanor,
Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas from Antioch,
a convert to Judaism. They
presented these men to the apostles, who prayed and laid their hands on them. So the word of God spread. The
number of disciples in Jerusalem
increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith (Acts 6:5-7).
As the Spirit moved through the clay the church grew. The
care extended to each other soon began to reach out to the surrounding area.
Missions and missionaries began to move out into the world.
6) Church Mission and Missionaries
a) Philip in Samaria
Outreach
ministry, like any form of ministry, is established by Christ and anointed by
the Holy Spirit. Directed and empowered to go is the only way the church will
move out in the commission. Often the church needs a nudge and sometimes the
majority of mission work comes at the heels of tragedy, persecution, or some
other life altering event. This was the case in Acts, chapter eight.
Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they
went. Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed
the Messiah there. When the crowds heard Philip
and saw the signs he performed, they all paid close attention to what he said (Acts 8:4-6). So as to keep the church visible
in this movement, Christ sends Peter and John to confirm and empower new
believers with the Holy Spirit.
When the apostles in
Jerusalem heard that Samaria
had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to Samaria. When
they arrived, they prayed for the new believers there that they might receive
the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit had
not yet come on any of them; they had simply been baptized in the name of the
Lord Jesus. Then Peter and John placed their
hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit (Acts 8:14-17).
The Holy Spirit continued to reveal Himself as the agent
for spiritual discernment when He instructed Philip with specific missionary
instructions.
b) Philip and the Ethiopian
Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Go south to the
road—the desert road—that goes down from Jerusalem
to Gaza.”
So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian
eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of the Kandake
(which means “queen of the Ethiopians”). This man had gone to Jerusalem to worship, and on his way home was sitting in his chariot reading the
Book of Isaiah the prophet. The Spirit told
Philip, “Go to that chariot and stay near it.” (Acts 8:26-29).
The term missionary quickly became plural, missionaries.
And the Gospel began spreading rapidly throughout the entire regions as
prophesied.
c) Ananias in Damascus
In Damascus
there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, “Ananias!”
“Yes, Lord,” he answered. But
the Lord said to Ananias, “Go! This man is my chosen
instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the
people of Israel.
Then Ananias went to the house and entered it.
Placing his hands on Saul, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared
to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see
again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.” Immediately,
something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again. He got up
and was baptized, and after taking some food,
he regained his strength (Acts 9:15-19).
The Gospel
was spreading and God’s elect were increasing in number.
Then the church throughout Judea, Galilee
and Samaria
enjoyed a time of peace and was strengthened. Living in the fear of the Lord
and encouraged by the Holy Spirit, it increased in numbers (Acts 9:31).
The Gospel message was not for Jews only. Peter soon
discovered that Christ’s salvation was for all who believed. He received
conformation of this through the presence of the Holy Spirit.
d) Peter & the Gentiles
Then Peter began to speak: “I now realize how true it is
that God does not show favoritism but
accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right. You know the message God sent to the people of Israel,
announcing the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all.
While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy
Spirit came on all who heard the message. The
circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of
the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on Gentiles. 46 For they heard them speaking in tongues
and praising God (Acts 10:34-46).
In the
following Scripture passages we see how the number of believers grows
exponentially. The Holy Spirit continued to move men in great numbers and the
church grew and grew.
e) The
Church in Antioch
Now those who had been scattered by the persecution that
broke out when Stephen was killed traveled as far as Phoenicia,
Cyprus and Antioch, spreading the word only among Jews.
Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene,
went to Antioch
and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord
Jesus. The Lord’s
hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the
Lord.
News of this reached the church in Jerusalem,
and they sent Barnabas to Antioch.
When he arrived and saw what the grace of God had
done, he was glad and encouraged them all to remain true to the Lord with all
their hearts. He
was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and a great number of people
were brought to the Lord.
Then Barnabas went to Tarsus
to look for Saul, and when he found him, he
brought him to Antioch.
So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the
church and taught great numbers of people (Acts 11:19-26).
The precept of practicing spiritual displines such as
prayer and fasting took on new dimensions of understanding as prophets and
teachers were called by upon by the Spirit to anoint and set apart chosen
servants for the work of missions. The verses in Acts 13, show how Christ uses
servants of the church to anoint His chosen.
Now in the church at Antioch
there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen
(who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch) and Saul. While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy
Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have
called them.”
So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed
their hands on them and sent them off (Acts
13:1-3).
Church growth and outreach were established in this order
and are still carried out in this way today in successful churches. What we
discover in these precepts of continual growth is a balance of a body that
loves the Lord, (prayer, fasting, studying the doctrine); loves Christ’s
church, (teaching, serving, caring for the bodies needs); and loves its
neighbor, (Gospel outreach).
This is the church that Christ is building and these New
Testament passages are the methods the Holy Spirit uses to bring about
spiritual growth.
