Are you devoted to prayer?

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. -Acts 2:42

Now for the final point of our Acts verse which reveals what the priorities of that first generation church was, Prayer. It’s not something I’ve spoken of much; thus far. In fact, I didn’t even include it in the four purposes of church. 

Worship, Education, Outreach, Fellowship

Well why is that you may ask. I did not include it as a separate point, for it is a concept that can be applied to all four other points. This detail seems to indicate that prayer needs to take part in every aspect of our spiritual live. It’s no wonder so much has been written on the subject. Of course, you could read every word of it, and it wouldn’t mean a thing if you didn’t actually apply the practice as intended. The question is do you? The answer might be revealed in how you treat prayer. Is Prayer something you avoid or embrace? Do you pray routinely, or only when you need something? Do you pray privately, or only with others as prompted by them? If you do pray privately, is it for just yourself, or others as well? If you do pray for others, is it for their benefit, or are you just wanting people to do as you wish? Does corporate prayer make you apprehensive for fear of being evaluated harshly just because you’re not as eloquent as the next person? Do you like to go on and on to show off that you can be  rather flowery with your prayer? The answers to these questions can speak volumes as to where your heart is at, and ultimately how spiritually healthy you are. 

Baptized by fire

Our attitudes towards Apostles' teaching

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. -Acts 2:42

I used this verse recently in a post on fellowship. However, all these points deserve a long hard look because these were the things of top priority to that first generation church. Why should now be any different?  For now, let’s look at the first mentioned. “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching.” As I already have gone into great detail earlier, this is an element of church that has taken a big hit recently. Many are struggling to keep Sunday schools and small groups afloat due to a lack of interest. Which begs the question, why is the church of today so apathetic towards learning more about their own beliefs? I’m sure the reasons are many and diverse, but consider this idea. 

Many generations ago the church was defined by quiet and reflective worship and ritual. A time when Biblical literacy was far greater than it is now. It makes sense, for the simple fact that church was skewed toward people on the introvert side of the scale, people who naturally gravitated to thought and learning. However, this obviously did not bode well for those who naturally favored the extrovert side of the scale. Many extroverts left the church out of pure boredom, while the more devoted said; wait a second, this dispassionate style of worship is not Biblically sound; and it was true. Evangelical and Charismatic movements helped to foster a more extrovert style of worship. Granted, the Church should not be skewed either way and it’s good to bring a little happiness and passion in the spirit back to the church. However, the pendulum might have swung too far in the opposite extreme in many cases. This new extrovert style church seems more interested in having an experience or emotional high than obtaining understanding. As we have already determined, this was not what the original church was like at all.  As Jesus said to pilate in John 18:37 “I have come to testify to the truth.” So it’s obvious why the newfound church was dedicated to what the apostles learned from Jesus. Without a good theological standard of truth to hold our experiences up to, how are we to assure that said experiences are good and righteous rather than unrighteous and sinful? Clearly there is a lot that these diverse groups of people could teach one another in a true body of Christ sort of way. However, that will not happen if we defy Biblical diversity in favor of trying to force others to think, feel, and express themselves as we do for the sake of hollow unity.  

Extroverts VS Introverts

The 4 purposes of church - Conclusion

Worship, Education, Outreach, Fellowship

We have officially concluded the purposes of church thread I have been on for some time. For all those who have found themselves reading this I hope you have expanded your knowledge of what all these things really are. I say this because far too many of us we treat religion like sports. We offer our devotion to a team according to geography or whoever happens to be on top when we discover it. Even as recently as the fifties, Christianity was so common it was ubiquitous in America. It was easy back then, but now that it is less easy many are not showing true devotion by stepping up when we need them. It is no wonder that generation has failed to inspire subsequent generations. It is no wonder many church people really don’t understand why the church really exists, and why we don’t live out the purposes of church in a truly scriptural way. We base what we know more off of what we observe people doing, and we are observing people who learned from mere observation themselves rather than educate themselves. There in lies the problem of having been a too common of belief system. People start to equate it with “normal”  where in reality, Christianity teaches us to defy our normal sinful, selfish, and self-destructive tendencies. This has only led to a very weak, uninformed, and powerless church that plays it safe rather than live by faith. This is precisely why I started this blog, to combat the misconceptions that arise from of passivity in spirituality. I will continue to do what I can in order to carry on this mission.

No Comparison 

Purpose of church 4 - Fellowship part 2

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. -Acts 2:42

This verse offers a glimpse of what that first generation church was like. Four simple things the first believers devoted themselves to. What I want to draw your attention to first is the third thing mentioned, the breaking of bread. You may think that this is a communion reference, but that is not strictly true. Granted it ties into the last supper as the communion does, but what you may not realize is that such practices did not begin with Jesus. This was a common practice that the Hebrews of the time routinely practiced at fellowship meals. Jesus just ensured that the practice was carried on by the church. So as you can see, the practice of the day was inherently tied to the second thing mentioned in the verse. So half of what the that first generation church was dedicated to was fellowship. The very thing many in the current church want to deem irrelevant. One of the ways we have done this is by ritualization of communion to the point that there is no fellowship in it at all. Yet, we wonder why the church can’t seem to get along with itself. If we can’t work together than we can’t commit to the ultimate mission of God’s kingdom. So how by any stretch of the imagination can we call fellowship irrelevant?

Let us break bread together

Purpose of church 4 - fellowship

Now we are ready for the last purpose of church, fellowship. It’s been said that church is not a social club. A statement which may not be strictly true. While it should be more than just fellowship. However, that does not mean it isn’t that at all. Let us not forget that there was a fellowship offering outlined in the old testament as part of worship. So who are we to dismiss the idea outright? There is much overlap of these purposes of church, and in many cases they are even dependent upon each other. That is rather obvious with fellowship. For we can’t help and educate one another in acts of Christian nurture as well to strangers. The theologian John Wesley called this social holiness, for he believed that true holiness could only be achieved through the help and strength of Christian community. So many of the stories of successful discipleship that I’ve come across involve a personal story or testimony in themselves. Let’s face it, true fellowship involves a bit of vulnerability. If we can’t bear each others burdens in order to build each other up in the knowledge of God, then our church will be less effective in our outreach due to a simple lack of maturity. So as you can see, a church can start to falter rather quickly when we dismiss this seemingly simple concept of fellowship.

Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ.  - Galatians 6:2 NIV

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