CHAPTER 3
The visible presence and character of Jesus were quickly dispelling the image of a distant, secretive God. Love, compassion, supernatural power, discernment, knowledge and never losing a debate became common and expected by the disciples. Not only was it the job of Jesus to build His church, but He was to reveal the Father's character through Himself. Philip said,
Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us. Jesus answered; don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, show us the Father? Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing His work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. I tell you the truth; anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it (John 14:8-14).
At the time, what Jesus said was difficult for
them to believe. Namely, that the Father
was in Jesus, and that they would do even greater things than these and that
anything they asked in Jesus’ name would be granted. The Father's pleasure in His Son is recorded
in the following scripture, where Jesus answered,
I am the Way and the Truth and the Life.
No one comes to the Father except through Me. If you really knew Me, you would know my
Father as well. From now on, you do know
Him and have seen Him,
(John 14:6-7).
This fact had to be settled in their hearts and
minds, or Jesus would have been nothing more than an exciting friend or another
rabbi, rather than being God with authority to build His Church. Let us look at five essential building
blocks Jesus used to build His church.
l.
Keep It Small
Small groups are a fundamental principle of
design in the Lord’s pattern for His people.
Why? Because it works! Jesus chose only twelve men out of all
Israel to be His disciples. Spending quality time with His disciples
was imperative if their characters were to be influenced and changed by Him and
if they were to be prepared for the warfare ahead of them. They were neither trained in theology nor
would they have received our vote for the most-likely-to-become apostles. Yet they became strong and anointed apostles,
a mighty example to all the converts of the early church. Proof again that what you are, when you start
to follow Christ, is not what you will be at the end of your earthly
journey! This small group of men was
the first church of the New Testament.
This was the normal size of the early church, which met in homes for the
first three hundred years of its history.
It is so unfortunate that the modern church missed this fact that the
church should consist of small home churches.
Jesus was the first apostle, as Paul acknowledged
in Hebrews 3:1. As the religious leaders
became hostile toward Him because of His teachings, He left Jerusalem on the
first New Testament missionary journey to the cities around the Sea of
Galilee. Every moment became a classroom
of learning for the disciples, as He touched life and spoke to them in
parables.
In the Old
Testament the Lord chose to limit the tribes of Israel to twelve. In the New Testament He chose to limit His
disciples to twelve. There were others
who wanted to join with Him and the disciples, but Jesus refused their offers
and told them to return to their villages and share what they had seen. Intimacy in relationships can only come in
small groups. Jesus knew that trying to
disciple too many at one time intimately was impossible. That principle served the apostles. Truly,
Jesus can be called the Lord of the
small church. His design church spread the Gospel to
all the known nations of the earth in just one hundred years after His
resurrection! Our modern day evangelists
will tell you that only 3% of those that come forward in the filled stadiums,
continue to serve the Lord.
2.
Servant Leadership
Jesus began to wean His disciples away from the
priestly caste system of leadership found in the Old Testament. Let us look first at a part of His teaching
to the religious leaders on the seven woes:
But you are not to be called Rabbi, for you have only one Master and you are all
brothers. And do not call anyone on
earth father, for you have one Father, and he is in heaven. Nor are you to be called teacher, for you
have one Teacher, the Christ. The greatest among you will be your servant. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled,
and whoever humbles himself will be exalted (Matthew 23:8-12 emphasis added).
If you think and meditate on this scripture very
long you realize how much we have erred in the modern church by exalting
pastors. Jesus forbids His soon-to-be
apostles to be called rabbi (reverend), father (elder) or teacher
(pastor). We are all to be humble
brothers under only one Master, the Christ.
What Jesus is saying here is that if we allow ourselves to be exalted,
then servanthood is diminished or canceled out altogether. Many of us know of churches where the pastor
fell into sin and the church suffered.
Some churches ceased to be. What
right do we have to elevate men so high that this would happen? If a person in the pew fell into sin it would
not destroy the church. If the church is built on one man it needs
to fail. When a pastor or anyone
else falls, the next step is repentance and restoration as outlined in
Galations 6:1. Christ is our King, our High
Priest, and only He should be so exhalted.
The
request of the mother of Zebedee's sons, James and John, gave Jesus another
opportunity to teach on the new order of things; namely, the servanthood of
leadership.
Jesus called them together and said, "You
know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high
officials exercise authority over them.
Not so with you. Instead, whoever
wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be
first must be your slave--just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but
to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many" (Matthew 20:25-28).
In the present setting of the traditional church, with the clergy-laity split, it is nearly impossible for the clergy not to lord it over the laity. Order must be maintained in large settings. So in a nice way the church leadership hopes everyone will be quiet and sit in the pew, pay tithes and keep the status quo. This teaching on servanthood by Jesus was learned so well by the apostles that Peter, in speaking to elders, reinforced it.
To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow
elder, a witness of Christ's sufferings and one who also will share in the
glory to be revealed: Be shepherds of God's flock that is under your care,
serving as overseers--not because you must, but because you are willing, as God
wants you to be; not greedy for money, but eager to serve; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to
the flock. And when the Chief Shepherd
appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away (1 Peter 5:1-4 emphasis added).
These verses claim that the flock is God's and
the Chief Shepherd is Christ. The elder
is the shepherd. Every Christian has a measure
of a pastor’s heart. Seminary training,
superb speaking skills and administrative talent do not make a pastor. An elder encourages people to follow Jesus
and is to care for people, period. His
leadership makes sure you are being discipled.
He can sense if something is wrong.
He knows where the sheep are and he is a great caretaker of the
flock. He serves the body and his pay is
honor. If he exhalts himself he will
eventually be humbled.
The elder's job description is to shepherd the Lord's flock, meaning, watch for the wolves and anything other than the apostle’s doctrine and tradition. Other than that, serve and stay out of the way, as the Lord uses the whole flock to speak and edify one another. A shepherd doesn't spend all his time feeding his sheep. He leads them to pasture and they feed themselves!
3.
Bonding
The best example of bonding comes from a mother's
relationship with her baby. It starts
when the baby is growing for nine months in her womb. The pain and joy of birth, and then the
nursing and feeding continue to develop the bond between child and mother. Yet there is an even greater example of
bonding, and it exists between God and mankind.
He created and prepared a world for us to enjoy before we were
created. He created us from the dust,
yet in His own image that He might have an intimate and everlasting
relationship with us. He left us with
the Bible full of direction to enjoy life to its fullest. We are even given the option to choose to
follow Him. His love for us was proven
when He gave His life freely on Calvary, that we might be forgiven for sins
that would have condemned us to eternity without God.
Through His apostles, we inherited a church structure
divinely designed to withstand the evils of Satan while growing and multiplying
even underground if necessary. Christ’s
love for us is still being played out by His return to heaven after His
resurrection to build a place for us to enjoy for the rest of eternity. All of this was done so that a proper bonding
and relationship could take place between the Creator and the created.
The evolution of the church these past seventeen hundred years has, in fact, diminished our personal bonding with the Lord. We now bond to a pastor, priest or rabbi. They have become the ones who nurse or feed us instead of God directly. Our attachment to them becomes so great that many congregations have split over them. In some cases half a congregation will follow a pastor in trouble and not even care about the flock they leave behind. The Bible tells us that He is a jealous God. Do you think for one minute that the Lord is happy about a pastor or a pope interfering with or diminishing the relationship He designed to exist between Himself and each believer? Calvary was a costly design, with a great investment on His part. We will never know what it really cost Him at Calvary until we are in heaven and can fully comprehend all He left in order to come to the earth for our redemption.
The individual believer receives spiritual food directly from the Lord through meditation and prayer, reading the Bible and daily fellowship with Him. The Lord does not want anyone to interfere with the bonding that comes from His feeding us individually. The bonding He desires us to have with other believers comes from sharing what we receive from the Lord. A good example of this is found in Hebrews 10:24-25:
And let us consider how we may spur one another
on toward love and good deeds. Let us
not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another--and
all the more as you see the Day approaching (emphasis added).
It takes time and effort to pray, read the Bible
and meditate on the Lord, but it is only in this way that the Lord can speak to
us directly, so we can impart something to "spur
one another on" and to "encourage
one another." Many Christians
can't seem to have daily devotions without having someone's daily devotional in
front of them. What a shame when they
could hear directly from the Lord! The
small church is the perfect place to share what the Lord has given to you. Often it will meet someone else's need as
well as your own.
4.
Love One Another
The Israelites under the Law went from ritual
worship in the Old Testament to love in the New Testament as the basis of a new
relationship with God. Love is the
foundation of the gospel, and this gospel was expanded to include all of humanity,
not only Jews. During the last few hours
Jesus spent with His disciples, He issued a new commandment: A new command I give you: Love one
another. As I have loved you, so you
must love one another. By this all men
will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another (John 13: 34-35).
Hospitality is a natural gift, and it is
available to the Christian and non-Christian alike. There are various reasons to be
hospitable. Usually it is to impress
someone for some reason. Hospitality is one of the easiest ways to express the
gift love as Alexander Strauch explains in his book The Hospitality Commands.
The Christian teaching on love is unparalleled in the history of religion. One of the key factors that help explain the rapid expansion of early Christianity is the love displayed among the first Christians. Tertullian, a third-century writer and apologist, tells us that the pagans of his day had to acknowledge the extraordinary love of the Christians. The pagans were forced to say, "See how they love one another and how ready they are to die for each other.”
Hospitality, is the Lord's tool for expressing love. Imagine for a moment that you were one of the guests invited to attend an evening with Jesus at the home of Mary, Martha and Lazarus. Just think of the excitement of having a meal with Him and looking forward to what He had to say to everyone after gathering in the living room. Now hold on to that exciting picture for a moment. What you have just attended was a house church with Jesus in the midst of it. The Lord could not have picked a better place to start a church than in a home. The host of the home reflects a gift of serving that seems supernaturally inscribed. When the hosts are committed Christians, Christ has immediate access to others through their love.
There is nothing in this world like
self-sacrificing, genuine, Christian love to encourage, inspire, comfort, and
build up others. But how, in practical
down-to-earth terms, do we show more genuine Christian love and community? One clear answer is hospitality. The major New Testament exhortations to
practice hospitality all appear within the context of brotherly love:
·The Hebrews 13 passage starts with, "Let
love of the brethren continue." The writer immediately follows his
exhortation to brotherly love with the admonition to not neglect hospitality
(Hebrews 13: 1,2).
·Peter charges his readers to "keep fervent
in your love for one another." The
next thing he says is, "Be hospitable to one another without
complaint" (1 Peter 4: 8&9).
·Paul's exhortation to pursue hospitality is found
within the larger context of brotherly love and Christian relationships (Romans
12: 13).
·Gaius' hospitality to unknown, itinerant brethren
was reported to the church and described as "your love" (3 John 5-8).
I don't think most Christians today understand how essential hospitality is to fanning the flames of love and strengthening the Christian family. Hospitality brings out love in a uniquely personal and sacrificial way. Through the ministry of hospitality, we share our most prized possessions. We share our family, home, finances, food, privacy and time. Indeed, we share our very lives. So, hospitality is always costly. Through the ministry of hospitality, we provide friendship, acceptance, fellowship, refreshment, comfort and love in one of the richest and deepest ways possible for humans to understand. Unless we open the doors of our homes to one another, the reality of the local church as a close-knit family of loving brothers and sisters is only a theory. [i]
Does the modern church have a parking-lot
love? I'm afraid that might be the
case. When I lived in Pompano Beach,
Florida, I was an elder in a sixteen hundred member church. It was impossible for me to love sixteen
hundred people with any degree of affection. The relationship with other
Christians was one of social respect for belonging to the same large
family. I have belonged to a church of
fifty and that was still too many people for me to really love. Jesus knows our human limitations; that we
can only invest agape love into a small group of people.
This kind of love is a learned discipline that comes from spending quality time together. Jesus' command, "as I have loved you, so you must love one another," is often difficult to accomplish coming from a traditional church background. We have enjoyed our privacy and our choice regarding the degree of intimacy we wanted in our Christian relationships. There must be a clear understanding by all the house church members that this type of love is an achievable goal. I don't believe this command can be obeyed without setting definite goals to achieve it. Meeting once a week in a structured setting is not enough. The House Church is the perfect environment for expressing love. I recall that once, after attending a traditional church service, the pastor said to me, "I love you, John," and I knew he was sincere. Being a relatively new pastor, he had not yet invited me to his home, shown me affection or contributed to me in a way that I could confirm in my heart and say, “Yes, I know you do love me.” You see, love is an action verb, supported by proof and evidence of its achievement. Love must be tested, whether it is for the Lord, family or friends. The Lord allows things to come into our lives that will test our love for Him. He obviously knows our degree of love for Him, so the test is for us to know where we stand in our love for Him.
This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid
down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees
his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children let us not love with words or
tongue but with actions and in truth (1 John 3:16-18).
5.
The Last Supper Was a House
Church-Meeting
It may be surprising to many, but the early
church took the example from the Lord's Last Supper and started their house
meetings with a common meal. Communion concluded
the meal, which was a pledge of allegiance to the New Covenant. In
its entirety, this meal was called the Lord's meal. The meal and communion were never separated
until buildings were constructed, well into the third century. The cost for
eliminating the main meal is incalculable.
The feel of being an intimate Christian family vanished with the meal.
During the meal, discussions revolved around
subjects such as personal problems, victories and divine appointments received
for sharing the gospel. They also talked
about their families, neighbors and friends that needed continued prayer.
Helping the poor Christians and preaching the gospel to unbelievers were also
topics of conversation. Information was
shared about the parts of the church that were suffering persecution, and in
what areas the apostles were working.
The elder would make sure everyone was involved in discipleship, similar
to the Lord’s example with His disciples.
The church was growing so fast that where the next house church would be
located was discussed. The evangelist
would share his schedule to preach in various parts of the town, so the church
could be there to support him.
Then came the part of the meal where the Lord's
death, burial and resurrection were celebrated.
The bread was made without yeast, broken in two and blessed. It was a whole loaf showing the unity and
oneness of the body. While eating they
would begin to remember the Lord and share about events they witnessed or were
passed down to them. There may have been
times when this took so long it became the whole meeting. The cup was an affirmation of the new
covenant, that the blood of Christ was sufficient once-and-for-all to forgive
sin. Paul comments in a most interesting
way on this new covenant: “By calling
this covenant "new," Jesus made the first one obsolete; and what is
obsolete and aging will soon disappear” (Hebrews 8:13).
When Christ came as high priest of the good
things that are already here, He went through the greater and more perfect
tabernacle that is not man-made, that is to say, not a part of this
creation. He did not enter by means of
the blood of goats and calves; but He entered the Most Holy Place once for all
by His own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of
a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that
they are outwardly clean. How much more,
then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself
unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so
that we may serve the living God! For
this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called
may receive the promised eternal inheritance--now that He has died as a ransom
to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant (Hebrews
9:11-15).
The elements themselves, who serves them or the traditions in which they are served, are not to become more important than the event itself. Many Christians feel uncomfortable to receive communion outside of their own church building. I remember a few years back in my traditional church days, a very famous Presbyterian minister visited our church and would not take communion with us because of the method we used. What a shame.
Remembering the victory of the empty tomb, and our Savior who prepares a place for us in heaven completed the Lord’s Supper. And afterward they sang a hymn and went out to face life in victory until they met again.