Getting Back to Where It Started

In my daily Bible reading, I've come to the most exciting book of the Bible: Luke's second letter to Theophilus, the book of Acts.

Why is this the most exciting book you may ask. This is the book that tells us the earliest beginnings of Christianity. We see Jesus' remaining disciples along with a former pharisee (Paul) lead this rag-tag group of Christ followers through the growing pains of a thriving movement all the while dealing with persecution from the religious leaders of the day as well as the occupying force of Rome. Oh, and the miracles that occur throughout this book.....I love it!!

Then there is part of me that gets a little bit sad as I read through the book. We see the church in action. They don't always get it right, but the reality is, these are people that spent 3.5 years following Jesus carrying out His instructions. If anyone that has ever lived should know how to do church it is this group. Why does this make me sad? Because when I look at the Acts church and the 'American' or 'Western' church, I see two very different entities.

There are many glaring differences but two of them really strike me. The first is their passion for Jesus. These men unashamedly proclaimed Jesus anywhere they went and didn't care what the consequences would be. For most of them, the consequence was death. Fast forward 2,000 years to the Western church and we see many Christians silent at the thought of offending someone. In 2,000 years have we really gone from laying down your life for Jesus to being quiet so as not to offend someone?

The second is in our handling of those in need. Before I go on, let me first say that while I am making a generalization here, I understand that there are many churches who do a wonderful job taking care of the poor, the orphans, and the widows. Today churches are able to track who they give help to and use technology to network that information with other churches in the area to determine if they should give help. Yes, I know that there are scam artists out there and we are to be good stewards, but part of me really wrestles with that. I find it ironic that many politically conservative Christians cry out about the dangers of government entitlement programs, but then they don't support the church enough to allow the church to take care of the poor. Something doesn't seem to add up.

Maybe it all comes back around to this passion for Jesus that we should have. If we have a passion for Jesus, then shouldn't these things take care of themselves? When our love for Jesus totally consumes us the way it consumed the leaders of the Acts church, we will truly be a transformed people and we will see God do incredible things.

I don't want that 'Old Time Religion' but I wouldn't mind a good dose the the Acts Church.