A TIME FOR ACTS II
Have you ever watched a professional sporting event on television or in person? You see the players with incredible speed, accuracy, strength, and talent. Increadible and yet, this is not what makes them different from amateur players of the sport. What makes them different is before the game. What we see is the final accumulation of what the player has been working, striving, and practicing for years. Before there is ever action in front of the viewer, the player has been training. This can also be applied to the church. Before the church ages began, there was practice being done.
Christ had ascended into heaven and now the early church was reminded by two angels that the Messiah would return in such manner at the appointed time. The age we are currently in was just starting, the age of the Church had begun.
Yet, the very first act of the Church does not happen at Pentecost, but rather before. Here we see the gathering of believers together. Instead of huge miracles, they gathered together and prayed.
Acts 1:12-14 “12 Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey away. 13 When they had entered the city, they went up to the upper room where they were staying; that is, Peter and John and James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon the Zealot, and Judas the son of James. 14 These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer, along with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.” Instead of mighty speeches and increadible acts in front of massive numbers of people, the believers are gathered together separated from the outside world and are in prayer. Even though they could no longer visually see Jesus Christ, they had not lost their relationship and connection to Him. Like Jesus’s continuous exmaple on earth of constant communication with the Father, so to the Church would be in constant communication with the Son of God.
This in itself is an incredible act. The first action by the congregation of believers in the church age was not to feed the poor, was not to help the homeless, was not to preach the gospel; but to gather together separate from non-believers and pray. Breaking this down even further, we can see that the very first act of the Church was seperating themselves from the world and being relationship with the Lord. This actually is the basic distinction from a born again Christian and a non Christian. Both are sinners, Jesus died on the cross for both, both have salvation offered in Jesus’s resurrection; but only one has accepted it and has a relationship with the living God.
What this passage of scripture teaches us, is the greatest act a believer can first do is be in prayer with other believers separated from the world all with one mind. What does this one mind mean? The Greek word is “homothumadon” which is a compound word to describe a group together having a fierce passion at the same place and same time. What does this mean in context? This group knew that there was something coming as Jesus had promised in Acts 1:4-5 “4 Gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, “Which,” He said, “you heard of from Me; 5 for John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
The Church waited upon the Lord, prayed and waited for Him to make the first move. I can tell you from personal expirence that if you ever try to push God into your timeline or by your own effort, you will be disappointed. Look at Joshua in the battle of Ai in Joshua chapters 7 and 8.
While this is not a post on prayer, we should recognize its significance in our individual life and corporately as a church! Their first act was coming together and doing just that. Secondly, we should recognize the differences between us and the world, we have a heavenly relationship, a direct connection to God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Whereas the outside world does not. Our actions need to reflect this; our understanding needs to be wrapped around the foundation that we as believers, prior to any such action with the outside, need to be acting inside the church with one accord.
The very first act of the Church in the Bible is separating itself from the world to be in fellowship with one another and with God. I hope this sinks in, as we see the actions of the church interacting with the outside world. Remember, that all the actions of the church first start, even if not noticed by most, with prayer and fellowship in the Lord.
Hold until relieved, our Blessed Hope is coming,
Jl