“And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation.” Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need. So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.” (Acts 2:40–47, NKJV)
The early church was not the formalized and formatted organism that as time went on it became; in the beginning it was a very organic and “real” collection of believers who met at various places for the purpose of worshipping God.
Interestingly the “public” worship of the Lord took place at the gates of the temple and involved the preaching of the Gospel of Christ where many people flocked to sincerely worship a God they did not really know; in essence casting a Gospel net into a place where they were likely to catch the most fish – a tactic which was daily rewarded (according to v.47) with a daily “catch” of new believers; that doesn’t at all look like “church” as we know it today.
Today we expect the “fish” to come to us instead.
But what are people drawn to today? In many churches it is the small group, the discipleship group and Bible studies at various people’s homes that seem to attract the lost. In those settings they can see the church without her make-up; they see believers interacting, laughing, sharing, crying, praying and learning together – they see the church as it was meant to be.
In the early church discipleship wasn’t mandated and didn’t have to be “sold” to people. Note Luke’s description of the church in [v.42]:
“And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.”
Believers were hungry for the teaching of the Apostles – they wanted to hear about their experiences with Jesus, about His miracles – they hungered to know what the Lord said and taught. I believe that in sharing these things the apostles could not help but to also share the character and nature of the Lord with the believers – the Apostles taught about a loving and gentle Savior and suffering Servant who gave up His life for the sake of the lost.
Before we paint too rosy a picture we must remember that the people who formed this new community of faith were still flesh and blood. They had things to overcome in their lives; even as they were coming to Christ they were being awakened by His Spirit to things in their lives that faith in Him would require them to “crucify” from their lives. If I could contemporize that community – some of them would be housewives whose husbands also spent the day away from them at their jobs or perhaps they were professional women of industry themselves; some of those men might be businessmen or blue collar workers; some might be truck drivers or salesmen; some might be soldiers spending months at a time away from all that they knew and loved.
The bottom line is this: While each and every member of the community of faith (whether of the early church or our churches today) shares a set of core values, beliefs and experiences, each of us also has to figure out how to deal with bumps in the road specific to our individual duties or stations in life as the Word of God instructs.
What do we need when were apart from the community of faith doing that which we do day in and day out to provide for our families and to live our lives? What do we need when we are tempted to lash out in anger or shrink back in fear? What do we need when we cry out in frustration and despair? We need the Word of God and the help of His Spirit – most often that help takes the form of another believer walking with us – encouraging us, challenging us, exhorting us, praying with us; telling us that things we don’t necessarily want to hear but no less need to hear; someone to whom we can be accountable.
The Bible says in [prov. 27:17]:
“As iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend.”
This is a powerful aphorism or maxim identifying the great benefit and value of having someone to walk beside us on our journey of faith and identifies one of the most personal settings for discipleship in the Bible.
Consider the first part of this analogy – how does iron sharpen iron?
I thought at first about the tools of a blacksmith – fire, hammer and anvil. For me the fire represents the trials and various situations of life; the hammer is our brother or sister in Christ which God the Father intends to use in the process of impacting our lives and the anvil is the Word of God – His expectations, commands and expressed will. In our day to day life sometimes we are superheated by a situation – we are tempted to act or express an attitude that is contrary to God’s plan and our friend sees us or hears us and comes along side. God brings a passage to our friends mind and he begins to challenge our attitude with the word of God – he or she “speaks the truth to us in love;” as God tries to shape us into what He’d have us be or do in that situation.
Another way to see this is the way a knife used to be sharpened to carve the Thanksgiving Turkey (before the advent of electric knives): by file and blade. “It used to be common to see the host at a table sharpening the carving knife by drawing each side of the cutting edge against a hardened steel rod with fine ridges – iron sharpening iron. Sometimes it isn’t a temptation to evil or some other stress in your life but simply a misunderstanding of a particular Biblical principal that has you ‘mis-stepping’ in your Christian walk of faith. In such a situation, the “file”aka your spiritual companion might challenge you from their own understanding of the principal in question and in a sense sharpen your understanding through conversation and even criticism with regard to the subject.
I personally enjoy talking about the Lord and His Word – I enjoy studying it with others and listening to other preachers and speakers share their understanding of a passage; often I learn something or have my understanding of something enhanced. Sometimes it is just refreshing to know that I’m not alone in my understanding of certain biblical text, principal or doctrine and sometimes I reject the teaching out of hand as errant. In any case it is always good to be able to discuss – not debate but discuss the Word of God. I don’t get much of that these days but when I do I enjoy it.
In my own life as a Christian, over the years, I have grown but let me tell you where I grew most. it wasn’t in the preaching service, it was in the Sunday school, the discipleship and in the seminary classes where we could talk it out. I’m sure you’ll discover the same if you’ll allow yourself to be involved in the opportunities which many churches (not all but many) offer for such growth.
Max Lucado reminds his readers in a book titled “On the Anvil” what one translation of [2 Tim. 2:21 ] says; there we read, that God intends for each of us to be
“An instrument for noble purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.”
Lucado added the following thought:
“Ah to be your instrument O God, like Paul to the Gentiles, like Philip to the eunuch, like Jesus to the world, to be your instrument. To be like a scalpel in the gentle hands of a surgeon, healing and mending. To be like the plow in the weathered hands of the farmer, sowing and tending. To be like a scythe in the sweeping hands of the reaper, gathering and using. To be an instrument for noble purposes. To be honed and tuned, in sync with your will, to be sensitive to your touch. This my God is my prayer, draw me from the fire, form me on your anvil, shape me with your hands, let me be your tool..”
To be discipled in the larger setting of the church, the intimacy of a mentoring relationships or in a small group of believers all have one goal and purpose – so that each of us would become a useful tool in the Master’s hands.
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