A Healthy Body of Christ

Half the job of a good church member is showing up! You can’t build relationships if you aren’t meeting with God’s people.

The church met both at the “temple” and “house to house.” One gathering was large, and one was small. The believers had to have a large space to meet in since three thousand people can’t fit into someone’s home. The temple area provided them a place for a large, formal, corporate gathering while their homes were wonderful places for more informal, intimate gatherings. Many Christians today emphasize one but not the other. The early church, though, devoted themselves to meeting in both.

The early church’s gatherings contained a wonderful spirit of praise that was both joyful and reverent. Luke mentions “awe” (v. 43) and “joyful . . . hearts” (v. 46). Both are linked to vibrant praise. There are times to rejoice with gladness, perhaps with lots of instrumentation and celebratory worship; there are also times to be still before the Lord in meditation, silence, and contemplation.

Some people find it difficult to praise God when things aren’t working out according to plan. But I like to remind them gently that while life may be hard at the moment, they should imagine how much harder life would be without the Savior. How terrible it would be if this life was all there is! As people redeemed by Jesus, we should praise God constantly—not merely when we feel like it.

Pray for your local church that a spirit of awe and gladness would replace any boredom or gloom. Pray for God to renew a heart of praise in his people.

Not everyone loved the early church. Just read the next few chapters to see what I mean. But some people were impacted greatly as they observed the believers’ way of life. What attracted outsiders? Surely the Christ-exalting praise and the Christlike love of the early church influenced others. In John 13 Jesus told his disciples that love for one another would get people’s attention (John 13:34-35). We have an example of this reality at work in Acts 2.

The Christians sacrificially cared for one another and also cared for outsiders. A few years after Acts was written, a man named Aristides commented on the reasons for the spread of Christianity. He wrote the following to Emperor Hadrian in AD 125:

If one or other of them have bondmen and bondwomen or children, through love towards them they persuade them to become Christians, and when they have done so, they call them brethren without distinction. They do not worship strange gods, and they go their way in all modesty and cheer-fulness. Falsehood is not found among them; and they love one another, and from widows they do not turn away their esteem; and they deliver the orphan from him who treats him harshly. And he, who has, gives to him who has not, without boasting. And when they see a stranger, they take him in to their homes and rejoice over him as a very brother; for they do not call them brethren after the flesh, but brethren after the spirit and in God. And whenever one of their poor passes from the world, each one of them according to his ability gives heed to him and carefully sees to his burial. And if they hear that one of their number is imprisoned or afflicted on account of the name of their Messiah, all of them anxiously minister to his necessity, and if it is possible to redeem him they set him free. And if there is among them any that is poor and needy, and if they have no spare food, they fast two or three days in order to supply to the needy their lack of food. (The Apology of Aristides,XV)

Another ancient document describing the compelling nature of Christianity comes from the mid-300s. Emperor Julian angrily tried to stop the spread of Christianity. He said that a reason for its growth was due to Christians’ “charity to the poor”: “The impious Galileans not only feed their own poor but ours as well,” he complained, “welcoming them to their agape; they attract them, as children are attracted, with cakes” (Epistle to Pagan High Priests).

What amazing descriptions of the King’s people! Our broken world needs compassion, and the watching world needs to see Christians demonstrating it. In turn, many will be attracted to the faith.

How were people added to the number of believers? Ultimately, the Lord added them. He alone converts people. But the Lord uses means, and that means in Acts was faithful evangelism on the part of the people. People were converted daily because believers were evangelizing daily.

A healthy church will have a burden for outsiders. They will boldly and compassionately proclaim the gospel to their friends and neighbors and coworkers. The early church enthusiastically communicated the gospel within their own networks, and the Lord worked mightily through their steady witness.

We could group these ten marks of a healthy church into four categories: (1) biblical nourishment, (2) loving fellowship, (3) vibrant worship, and (4) word and deed outreach. Each expresses the various relationships we have as Christians: our relationship with God (categories 1 and 3), our relationships with one another (category 2), and our relationship to the world (category 4).

Virtually every church will be stronger in some areas of church life than others, but we shouldn’t neglect any of them. The church that God is renewing by his Spirit does them all with increasing faithfulness and vitality.

As you think about your local church, consider these four areas. Mentally test both yourself and your congregation, and pray for the Spirit to renew you and the church.

Do you understand the gospel? Are you sitting under the authority and teaching of the Word, regularly and humbly? Are other brothers and sisters admonishing you? Are you submitting to hard truth and repenting in light of it? Are you being renewed in the gospel daily? Are you teaching the Bible to others?

The early church clearly loved the Word of Christ and the Christ of the Word. We need the Word personally, and we need relationships centered on it. Dietrich Bonhoeffer talks about seasons when we as believers are in great need of brotherly admonishment:

The Christian needs another Christian who speaks God’s Word to him. He needs him again and again when he becomes uncertain and discouraged, for by himself he cannot help himself without belying the truth. . . . The Christ in his own heart is weaker than the Christ in the word of his brother; his own heart is uncertain, his brother’s is sure. (Life Together,23)

You may be in need right now, or you may need to be the brother or sister giving the Word to someone else. Whatever the case, act appropriately. We can’t live by bread alone. We need every word that comes from the mouth of God (Matt 4:4).

Do you have fellowship with God through Jesus? Are you working at building deep relationships with others in the church? Could it be that you love the idea of community more than the actual people in your church? Are you complaining about a lack of community rather than asserting yourself to serve and love others in your congregation? Do you show up to events and meetings faithfully? Do you arrive early enough to interact with people on Sunday, or are you a ninja, slipping in late and excusing yourself before the service ends? Are you involved in others’ lives throughout the week? Are you sensitive to the needs of your brothers and sisters? Are you grateful for them? Have you told them about what they mean to you?

“Devoted” implies work and accountability. Community involves two-way commitment. We have to work at it. It’s particularly difficult for those who live in a transient area or in places where people are spread out. Still, God can work mightily to make community happen. See the need for it in this passage and work to do life with others. If God has already blessed you with Christian brothers and sisters who care for one another, pause to thank the Father. To quote Bonhoeffer again, “The physical presence of other Christians is a source of incomparable joy and strength to the believer” (Life Together, 19).

Are you praising God with other brothers and sisters in large and small gatherings? How do you approach the Lord’s Table? Do you attend services repentantly and joyfully? Are you experiencing awe and joy in your Christian life? Are you praying with other brothers and sisters? Are you grateful for the privilege of gathering corporately?

Many Christ followers around the world lack the privilege of gathering regularly with a local body of believers because they’re serving in unreached places or live under threat of punishment should they gather in groups. All of them comment on how much they wish to gather with the saints to worship the King. When you gather in your local church body, remember what a great and holy privilege it is to hear the Word, to sing songs of praise, and to enjoy the Lord’s Supper in community.

Concerning word outreach, how are you doing at speaking the gospel to the unbelievers in your networks? Are you practicing “Philip evangelism,” going out into the neighborhood sharing the gospel as Philip did? Are you practicing “Andrew evangelism,” inviting people to come and experience a corporate worship service as Andrew did? If you truly love Christ, you will share him.

How are you doing at deed outreach? Are you involved in a ministry to the poor? Are you serving your brothers and sisters as they have need? Are you practicing gospel-driven generosity? Those who love Christ actively love others.

In my local church we challenged one another with our “555 Plan.” We each identified at least five unbelievers in five of our networks (familial, vocational, commercial, geographical, and recreational). We then committed to do one of five activities: to pray for them, to serve them, to give gospel-centered literature to them, to invite them, and to speak the gospel to them. As we continue to grow in our outreach within the city, we need the Lord to help us be ever more effective in our witness to outsiders as we declare the gospel clearly and display it compassionately.

The picture of the early church Acts gives is remarkably and refreshingly simple. These believers did the basics well. And perhaps within that truth is a clue as to where many modern church problems begin. It’s easy to get away from these primary activities. But as we, the body of Christ, return to this simple spiritual diet-and-exercise plan, we can partner with the Great Physician to see renewal in our local church bodies.