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(Matthew 18:19,20)
Section 4 - Lesson 23
Restoring The Early Church:
God’s Design For His Church
The Early Church, A Tribal Culture
Man’s Design: Programs And
Institutionalism
Recap: God’s Design For Growth In
Christlikeness
Restoring The Early Church
God’s Design For His Church
“[Jesus] must remain in heaven until
the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised
long ago through his holy prophets” (Acts 3:21).
The diagram to the right represents a
model of the early Church relational
priorities. Take a moment to
examine the diagram and the priorities it implies. Note that
your most important relationship is in the center; the
importance of relationships decreases as you go out from the
center.
This diagram came about by divine
revelation during the course of our research on the early
Church while we were in
The process which is embodied in the
diagram begins with the intimate relationships connoted in the center three boxes:
• Everything in the life of a
follower of Jesus flows from the quality of their covenant relationship with the Father.
• This covenant relationship is
evidenced in the loving obedience to God’s Word through His indwelling
Spirit and the Christ-like character development that takes
place within their home.
• The previous two relationships are
supported by the communal righteousness and relational
load-bearing of the extended
spiritual family as they
fellowship in one another’s homes.
The inner three dimensions will be our
focus in the lessons to follow. As these three inner
relational priorities function according to God’s design,
they provide the foundation for all other relationships.
As these relationships expand outward to
the congregational level, a greater degree of administrative and
organizational structure may be needed to coordinate the impact that
believers in the Restoration will have in their neighborhoods,
communities and beyond.
At the same time, such organizational
structure, if needed, should enhance and encourage intimacy with our
Father and Jesus, with family relationships and with those in
the extended spiritual family of the home fellowship.
The outer two congregational levels may
fall into the trap of promoting activity that can detract from the
inner three priority relationships. Busyness or compensation
for individuals who are irresponsible in their personal lives
leads people away from their central three relational
responsibilities. Then they’re lulled into practicing religion in
a public arena rather than walking in spiritual relationship.
You can parallel the relational
progression referred to in the diagram with your own growth and
development as a human being. Following your birth you began to
become increasingly more aware of your connection to ever
larger groups of people. Initially you were conscious of your
mother, then your family and your extended family. Then your
neighborhood, town and world at large started to play a larger
part in your life.
When you embrace the Covenant our Father
offers you in Jesus, the same relational extension reflects His
biblical de-sign. He intends that you grow in loving intimacy
with Him and His Son Jesus through the working of His Spirit
within you.
Remember, the word covenant can mean
“to live in union with”. Living in union with your Lord is
totally different than dependence on religious practice. To live in union depends on the quality of intimate relationship you have with
God. The reality of your covenant union depends on the presence
of the indwelling Holy Spirit. Neither religious form nor religious practice
can bring about this union.
As you live in union with our Father
through the Spirit of Christ within you, He sanctifies you, setting you apart for His purposes. In the process, He develops within you the
fruit of “love, joy, peace,
patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and
self-control” (Galatians
5:22,23).
The first fruit listed is love, out of which
all the others are made possible. Not only can you experience
the sacrificial love which has come to you through Jesus, but
you’re able to impart that love to others, beginning in
your own home. It’s among your spouse and children (or
those with whom you live) that the depth of your relationship
with God is first experienced by others. If that relationship is counterfeit, they’ll be
the first to recognize it!
In support of the relationships within
your home are the relationships with whom you share fellowship
in homes. These are the Intimate
Few, your
extended spiritual family to whom you commit yourself in true,
biblical fellowship.
As you’ll see in a later lesson, the home fellowship was the critical facet of
the earliest Church that was most severely affected by
Hellenist intrusion. The
introduction of clergy and pagan temples on which Christians
came to rely dissolved the interconnectedness which had so strengthened earlier
followers of Jesus.
Intergenerational nurturing took place through the extended spiritual
family that gathered in one another’s homes. The Hebraic
home fellowship encouraged the brothers and sisters in their
union with Jesus to bear fruit for the Kingdom so that the
Father would be praised.
So much of Christendom today is made up of
individuals and families who are connected only at the congregational level. They experience a disconnect in their lives between
their religious practices under the steeple and their own
personal lifestyle the rest of the week. This life
fragmentation is a result of Hellenism and Romanism. Remember,
Constantine built pagan temples for the Christians so
they’d have “holy places” in which to gather just like the heathen had.
Think about it:
If you want the powerful foundations of
the earliest Church to become your way of life, don’t lose sight of their
relational priorities: first with our Father and Jesus through
His Spirit, then within your Home, and then with your extended
spiritual family as you Fellowship in Homes.
Your relationship with our Father and
Jesus as represented in the center of the diagram requires no
organizational structure! It’s out of the Father’s
love that Jesus has been revealed to you: “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him, and I will raise him up at the last day” (John 6:44).
This relationship is intensely personal as
your spirit yields to His Spirit. No institutional involvement
will bring about within you a response to your need for Jesus.
That comes only by the regenerative work of God through the
Holy Spirit.
Neither structure nor organization are
necessary in one-on-one relationships within your family or in
your loadbearing relationships with a few others. Even the
extended spiritual family of home fellowships are affiliated
through relationships of elders in the faith community and/or through the
evangelist or church planter who cultivated the groups. The
Kingdom advanced because of the personal devotion to Jesus that
was stimulated and spurred on by the relational connectedness of
families bonded together through the Spirit.
When organization is kept to a minimum,
you’re far more likely to seek the Spirit and depend on
His presence at work in each other. Fewer distractions of
activity and programs arise to cause you as extended spiritual
family to take your focus off serving God and His purposes.
Remember this: Jesus loves each person individually and personally. He died
for each one so that each could walk in relationship with Him. You
may have been drawn to Him for forgiveness to escape the
punishment your sin deserves, and for the cleansing that
enables you to have fellowship with God. But as a follower of
Christ you also enter into a process. You become a disciple, a lifelong
practice of being transformed into His image.
Jesus designed discipleship not as a program
conducted by leaders of a congregation, but as an extension of
your growing relationship with Him. He desires every believer
to be in a relationship with other
believers to enjoy true
fellowship as they’re discipled and as they themselves
disciple others.
You may be brand new to the Kingdom, but
as long as you have one hand in the Master’s hand, you
can reach back with the other to guide someone even newer along
the path you’ve walked!
Our Lord still sees His Church as the ekklesia, “the
called-out ones.” His people are the Church, even the gathering of two or three in His Name.
Wherever God’s people are throughout the week, there is
His Church, permeating society and connecting with the very
people He wants His children to lead into His Kingdom.
The “called-out ones” who
already have an ongoing relationship with each other are eager
to gather for fellowship, communion and building up one another
as they share testimony and exercise the gifts He’s given
them. This level of relationship,
referred to in the diagram as the “intimate few” or
“home fellowship”, represents a seven-day-a-week
commitment to each other as family.
This depth of care and concern signifies
far more than just scheduled meetings together. It’s a mutual commitment to
uphold righteousness in your daily life and to bear one
another’s burdens.
The early followers of Jesus met in each
others’ homes as well as gathered in the temple courts
for instruction. The temple courts represented the
congregational assembly of the home fellowships. These people
were relational, unified by their love for God and their commitment
to each other as His people.
What is your personal view of the
Restoration Diagram? What part of its relational priorities are
lacking in your own life? Why are they missing?
Restoring The Early Church
The Early Church, A Tribal Culture
“In the morning, present yourselves
tribe by tribe. The tribe that the LORD takes shall come
forward clan by clan; the clan that the LORD takes shall come
forward family by family; and the family that the LORD takes
shall come forward man by man” (Joshua 7:14).
Many are hindered from understanding the
earliest Church because all they’ve experienced is
organizational, institutional Romanized Christendom. The Roman indoctrination of
hierarchy with intermediaries is so deeply-rooted that
it’s often difficult to separate the errant use of the
word “church” as a building from its intended meaning. We followers of Jesus are
“THE church”.
As we’ve written previously, our
research revealed that the faith practices you see in the Newer
Testament were already being practiced by the Hebraic Stream of
Jews. All they were awaiting was the prophesied Messiah, and
the empowerment of the Holy Spirit.
The Hebraic believers of the earliest
Church embodied relationship-based priorities that parallel the
progression illustrated in our diagram. Their understanding of
relationship was tribal in nature rather than organizational.
Tribal connection is based on relational
priorities. The nation of Israel as described in the Bible was
summed up by the relational progression of its parts:
1. An individual belonged to a family;
2. The family was part of a clan;
3. The clan identified with a tribe.
4. Finally, the twelve tribes who were
ruled by their elders (and later, a king) made up the nation of Israel.
An elder (zaken) of a family who showed excellent character and
good qualities of leadership could become a clan elder.
Excellent clan elders would represent the clan at the tribal
level. And the best of the tribal elders led the nation.
You’ll remember from Lesson 10, Elders,
Our Father’s Representatives, that an elder is an older man of wisdom who has
passed through the five stages of male development and is now
prepared to represent our Father in caring for His children
with compassion. This is a far cry from the Hellenized version
of an “elder”: a young educated Phallic (zakar) or
worldly-successful Warrior (gibbor) leading God’s people.
We’ll discuss this more in a later
lesson, but let’s anchor a key point about those who lead
our Father’s children. As you go through your Bible
you’ll notice how often God used the elders to lead the people.
Moses wasn’t sent back from his burning bush encounter
with God to the Israelites at large, but to the elders who were
the leaders of the people: “Go, assemble the elders of Israel and say to them...” (Exodus 3:16).
When the burden of leading the people from
Egypt to Israel became too much for the prophet, God called for
elders to share the responsibility:
The LORD said to Moses: “Bring me seventy of Israel’s elders who are known
to you as leaders and officials among the people. Have them come to the Tent of Meeting, that
they may stand there with you. I will come down and speak with
you there, and I will take of the
Spirit that is on you and put the Spirit on them. They will help you carry the burden of the
people so that you will not have to carry it alone (Numbers 11:16,17).
Did you notice that to represent the
Father in leading His children requires the anointing of the Holy Spirit? Walking in reliance on the Spirit safeguards a man
from leaning on his own rationalization. The character
qualities Paul lists for an elder in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1
weren’t developed in a vacuum! These had been esteemed
and passed along for generations.
That elders in the Newer Testament were
key in leading our Father’s children is evident in the
council gathering in Jerusalem. When the problem regarding
circumcision and Torah observance was presented to the faith
community at large, the leaders met privately to investigate
and discuss the matter:
On arrival in Jerusalem, [Paul, Barnabas
and others] were welcomed by the Messianic community, including
the emissaries and the elders; and they reported what God had done through
them... The emissaries and the
elders met to look into this matter (Acts 15:4,6,CJB).
The need for elder leadership was as
important for each faith community as it was for the Israelites
during the Exodus. Paul instructs his evangelist protege,
Titus, “The reason I left you
in Crete was that you might straighten out what was left
unfinished and appoint elders in every town, as I directed you” (Titus 1:5). These older men of wisdom
would be spiritual resources to help the followers of Jesus
apply biblical truth to their everyday life situations.
The tribal family relationships and
authority format enabled the entire nation of Israel to
function in unity. This relational pattern was vital,
particularly when it came time to fight their enemies. To be
victorious they needed to respond “as
one man” when the war
trumpet sounded.
Relational priorities bound the nation of
Israel together in a network of belonging: individuals to
families, families to clans, and clans to tribes.
When David was established as king over
Israel, he designated fortified cities to be built all over
Israel. Each city was led by zakens, or respected elders. Each city possessed a
unique identity and experienced a certain measure of autonomy
in governing itself. Each was expected, however, to respond for
the good of the whole nation in time of war.
Our King Jesus, the Head of His Church,
relies on the same pattern of authority and relational
priorities within His Body so that His Kingdom on earth can
expand.
[See our book, Pastoring By Elders, and God’s Instruments For War: Discover-ing and Coordinating Spiritual Gifts As
Weapons of Warfare, for the
importance of relational priorities in spiritual warfare.]
The Hebraic Restoration our Father is
revealing today is best explained through tribal relationships.
When you as an individual repent and wholeheartedly trust in
Jesus, you become our Father’s child. His Spirit indwells
you. Hopefully, those in your home will observe changes in your
life. They may also choose to trust Jesus. (Maybe they’ve
been praying for you to join them in trusting Jesus!)
Believers on pilgrimage need spiritual
intimacy with others who come alongside them as extended spiritual family. In a home fellowship you can support each
other’s trust in Jesus through answered prayer and
“one-anothering” (e.g., serve one another, admonish
one another). Pockets of fellowship families may gather to form
a congregation, which may then join other congregations of
fellowships throughout the city to cooperate in endeavors to
impact unbelievers at large.
The intimate, supportive relationships in
your home and home fellowships are an effective mechanism to
permeate your neighborhood, the businesses with which you
interact, and the cultural and social sectors of your city.
The primary weapons of God’s
King-dom, as always, are: • empowerment of the Holy Spirit
• obedience to the Word • intercession •
prayer to tear down the enemy’s influence • the
personal testimony of followers of Jesus as they reflect
increasing Christ-likeness in speech and action.
Is the tribal understanding of the
earliest Church new to you? Yes or No? If yes, what do you
think about it?
How does it differ from your own religious
experience?
Restoring The Early Church
Man’s Design:
Programs and Institutionalism
“Woe to you, [leaders of
Nicolaitanism], you hypocrites!
You shut the kingdom of heaven in
men’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you
let those enter who are trying to” (Matthew 23:13).
Think of the intimacy and connectedness as
extended spiritual family that overflows Luke’s
description of these earliest followers of Jesus in the Book of
Acts! Every day they had contact with each other, joyfully
sharing together that which the Holy Spirit was opening up to
them. And with so many entering the Kingdom every day, how
needful those warm gatherings in one another’s homes were
to incorporate as family these newest brothers and sisters!
Every day they
continued to meet together in the temple courts [just as they
used to before proclaiming Jesus as the long-awaited Messiah].
They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts
[just as they always had as Jewish extended family], praising God and
enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved (Acts 2:46,47).
While we were living in Israel, our Jewish
friends who were followers of Jesus asked us a penetrating
question: “Why do you Christians in the United States
always need an activity like a Bible study in order to get together?
Can’t you get together just because you care about
each other?”
We were deeply convicted by their
observation. During the years we ministered at the retreat
center and traveled North America conducting seminars on the
Hebraic foundations, we’d often ask those in
institutional Christendom, “How often in the past year
have you invited others in your faith community into your own
home purely because you wanted to spend time with them?”
Only rarely did anyone raise their hand. It was sad to see how institutionalism dulled
intimacy.
The perception of “church” as
an institution or structure causes Christians to forego walking
in daily dependence on God’s power and guidance. The
institutional mentality also neutralizes the need our Lord
intended for each one to commit himself deeply to other people
in daily one-anothering as family. So few even see the need for
their spiritual well-being to make the time to do so.
Institutional Christendom is activity-based, not
relationship-based. The vast majority of people in the faith
community encounter each other only because of a scheduled
program—a service, Sunday school class, Bible study, or
activity segregated by age, gender or life stage.
Too often American Christians are like
eggs in a carton. Their shells rub against each other at
services and meetings, but their lives never become
“scrambled” in intimate relationship. Even the
“cartons”, the separate congregations, seldom mix.
To the detriment of countless well-meaning
people, the institutionalism that’s the hallmark of the
Hellenized, Romanized Christianity in the U.S. has relationally
crippled many followers of Christ. The scheduled activities
that put people in physical proximity dull their personal
volition to develop deep intimate relationships. It’s far
too easy to just show up at an event someone else is running
rather than walk in the relational responsibility that is our
Hebraic heritage!
Think about the influence that sche-duled
religious programs may have had on your own perception of what
following Jesus is all about. Has institutionalized religious
practice blunted your need for personal,
load-bearing interaction so
that it’s foreign to your way of life?
Think about it. You may have committed
yourself to a marriage but find it difficult to intimately care for the individual you
married. You may participate in a specific congregation and
even attend Sunday school or be part of a home group but find
it almost impossible to commit yourself to other individuals in deeply caring relationships.
Many Christians today find themselves
committed to the effects of believing in Jesus: being saved, having
their sins forgiven, or having their prayers answered. But so
few find
the needful peace and power of an ongoing
daily relationship with the
person of Jesus.
Often the people we’ve talked with
may set aside a few minutes for a little Bible reading each
day, but then rush out the door to tend to the matters of
“real life”. The constant
awareness of Jesus that Paul refers
to in “pray without
ceasing” (1
Thessalonians 5:17) lapses into neglect.
Generally speaking, if you become a
“Christian”, you’re told to deposit yourself
into a big, impersonal organization called the
“congregation”. Within the vastness of the
congregation you then try to find those who will care for you
individually as a person. It may seem to you that relationships
are a mile wide and an inch deep as people shake your hand in
welcome but then pass you by for someone else to greet.
The congregational leadership may
recommend contrived groups in order for you to be involved in
“church activities.” Your spiritual life then comes
under the control of the particular scheduled programs into
which you’re plugged.
Many congregations fabricate programs in
the futile hope of generating closer relationships. People are
partitioned into homogeneous groupings called “affinity groups”
such as couples’ clubs, youth groups, college and career
fellowships. Often there is little intergenerational contact.
Instead, the worldly approach of grouping by similar age or
stage or interest dominates. One congregation here in Colorado
Springs even advertises cell groups for those interested in dog
obedience!
The delusion that guides congregational
leaders who are interested in the body count of the “church growth movement” is that common
circumstances will encourage
interpersonal caring. In other words, if you were once an
alcoholic or have been divorced, you’ll find it easier to
care for another alcoholic or divorced person. This is a
programmatic pattern of “ministry” based on the
Hellenist model of a herd mentality.
In contrast, the Hebraic paradigm would
provide intergenerational relational opportunities for
mentoring by the older and wiser in a family sense of spiritual
kin. Followers of Jesus are nurtured through the intimacy and
loadbearing of frequent contact via phone or email or visits or
prayer with and for one another. Then they gather in each
others’ homes to share how the Spirit has been moving in
their lives, and minister to each other in the true sense of koinonia fellowship
as family. Most programmatic groups become unnecessary!
How often have you had other people from
your faith community in your home purely because you wanted to
spend time with them? If this hasn’t occurred, why not?
What has characterized your own
experiences in trying to “become family” with
others in the various faith communities of which you’ve
been part? What would have helped you find spiritual kin among
the masses?
Most Hellenized congregations no matter
what size are designed around crowd
control. Almost every facet,
including the seating and aisle arrangement, is designed for
orderliness in dealing with the group as a package. From a
pulpit, one individual among a few select others controls the
time and events which involve the majority. Even the religious
edifices are constructed and laid out to control blocks of
people.
Once you sit down in a pew or chair,
you’re under control of the performers who are following
a prescribed liturgy or preplanned presentation. Some may not
think their services are liturgical, but any time someone has
planned ahead what will occur in the service, you have, by
definition, liturgy. The extent of audience participation is
singing, listening, and putting money into the offering.
The scriptural pattern of gathering for
worship is outlined by the Apostle Paul. Note that each person is responsible as an interconnected part of the others to be prepared to participate in order to strengthen and encourage the others as
spiritual family!
Whenever you come together, let everyone be
ready with a psalm or a teaching or
a revelation, or ready to use his gift of tongues or give an interpretation;
but let everything be for
edification (1 Corinthians 14:26).
Today’s institutionalized approach
nullifies the need for either personal preparation or
interpersonal participation. Instead, the ritual of liturgy led by a sacerdotal [a
human intermediary between God and man] replaces God’s
scriptural plan with performance and spectatorship.
In much of man’s
design for the church, even their
identity as “worshipers” appears to have been lost.
“In [worship’s] place,” notes A.W. Tozer,
“has come that strange and foreign thing called the
‘program.’ This word has been borrowed from the stage and applied with sad wisdom to the type of public service which
now passes for worship among us....[Even] sound Bible
exposition may be carried on in such a way as to leave the
hearers devoid of any true spiritual nourishment whatever. For
it is not mere words that nourish the soul, but God Himself, and
unless and until the hearers find God in personal experience they
are not the better for having heard the truth”(emphasis
added).1
Another facet noted in earlier lessons
bears repeating. Institutional religion is dependent on creedal
or denominational allegiance in one form or another. Many
creeds and traditions incapacitate Christendom by focusing on
what divides them rather than on unity in our Lord Jesus.
The early Church councils that followed
the biblically Hebraic approach (see Acts 15) apperceived the
Word of God and fostered agreement as their responses lined up
with scriptural pattern.
Grievously, subsequent Hellenized/
Romanized councils even to the present day employ the win-lose methodology of the Greek philosophers: “If we think differently, then I must
be right and you are wrong. You change or I’m out of here!” Councils of
this sort rely on the revisionism that lines up with cultural standards
rather than apperception that establishes God’s Word for
life application.
Estrangement and separation have been the fruit of this way of
thinking for centuries. Often the central theme of church
history has been division, hatred and murder of Christians by
“Christians”, each side believing they are serving
God.
Revisit the doctrines of the early Church,
those matters derived from God’s Word and for which
believers were willing to die. Their doctrine is summed up in
their tenacity of obedient trust which counted it all joy to
live and willingly die for the cause of Christ:
They overcame [Satan] by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death (Revelation
12:11).
Conversely, Christendom from the time of
the Greek philosophers has been filled with “creedal traditions”
for which believers were willing to kill or despise others.
The demonic spirits of Greece and Rome which so influence
Christianity today have propagated intolerance, a weapon wielded by Satan to keep
Christians ineffective in reaching neighbors, co-workers and
cities for Christ.
From our Father’s vantage point, His
children are divided for the wrong reasons. Yes, the
unrepentant must be excluded from fellowship until they repent
(see Matthew 18:15-17; 1 Corin-thians 5:5; 1 Timothy 1:20). But the division in Christendom today
pits revisionists against revisionists, each insisting on its own pet emphasis or agenda.
As the Hebraic Restoration continues,
apperception of the timeless truths and intent of the Hebrew
Scriptures as they are interwoven into the Newer Testa-ment
will once again become the rule for applying God’s Word
among His people. Those with ears to hear will increasingly
pray to understand and follow the original
intent of the biblical writers and
the Hebraic roots that so influenced them. The result will be
ever-increasing unity and harmony by lovers of our Lord who
deeply yearn to see Him glorified.
During our years at the retreat center
(1983-1993), we witnessed the ineffectual, divisive fruit of revisionism and creedal institutionalism firsthand. Local congregations stubbornly
refused to unite in face of a spiritual threat that involved
the entire state.
In the late 1980’s television news
reported that two thousand satanists were moving into
Connecticut to “take the state for Satan.” As small
as it is, Connecticut for years was #1 in per capita income in
the nation. Initially, satanism entered companies and
businesses through the guise of “personal growth”
seminars that incorporated eastern mysticism and meditation.
For those who recognized and understood spiritual warfare, the
satanic underpinning was readily apparent.
The tireless efforts of a handful of
believers to warn other Christians and to mount an effectual
spiritual offensive proved futile. Few would set aside their
denominational differences to fight as a cohesive warfare unit
in the heavenly realms. We were reminded of the Jewish people
in “labor camps” during World War II who struggled
in vain to awaken others inside and outside the camp to its
real function as a prison of death.
As the satanic controls over these
companies grew, formerly pleasant work places became
oppressive. Several financially sound businesses ultimately
filed for bankruptcy. The Wall
Street Journal questioned the
insolvency of one particular well-known Connecticut company.
They focused on the disappearance of $11 million of company
assets at the hands of two “mysterious strangers”.
Since we had relationships with Christians
from many different congregations, we encouraged them to join
with other believers in their companies to intercede against
the demonic takeover. “Creedal” differences,
however, separated these individuals and kept them from
cooperating in prayer.
Not long after this satanic plan was put
into effect, the entire state entered a deep recession, with 4%
of its population moving away.
When you are with others with whom
you’re in fellowship, what precipitates your gathering?
Would you get together if it weren’t some scheduled event
or activity?
Is your faith community gathering liturgical, that is,
preplanned according to what will happen and who will
participate? Yes or No? If yes, describe it.
Restoring The Early Church
Recap: God’s Design
For Growth In Christ-likeness
“Then Jesus came to them and said,
‘All authority in heaven and on
earth
has been given to me.
Therefore go and make disciples
of all nations, baptizing them in the name
of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and
teaching them to obey
everything I have commanded you.
And surely I am with you always, to the
very end of the age’” (Matthew 28:18-20).
It’s our hope that the Hebraic
Restoration will expose the source of the
philosophically-constructed creedal division that now separates
followers of Jesus. As more people embrace the Hebraic
foundations, ever-increasing cooperation will shine among
Christians in neighborhoods, workplaces, and cities as they
work in concert together for the cause of Jesus Christ.
Do you want to take active part in seeing
the Kingdom of God expand? Being a “disciple maker”
is the responsibility of everyone who claims to be a follower of Jesus. The
pattern of the early Church made clear that no one should be a
bystander.
The Spirit’s work in and through you
may call for some big changes in your life! Philip the deacon
(see Acts 5) became Philip the evangelist (see Acts 8) who led
a revival in Samaria. Each and every individual, family and
home fellowship family are God’s best means of permeating
the godless society in which we live.
The relational
mobilization of God’s
people through personal contacts and relationships in your
neighborhood, workplace and community are powerful weapons of
spiritual awakening. Repre-senting Jesus to unbelievers
requires you as His follower to personally touch lives as He
did and put heart and hands to the Good News you share with
them.
A critical reality exists if you truly
believe God’s Word to be living and powerful in the
Spirit’s hands: No matter how close you draw to Jesus and
to others in the faith, there will still be those you know and
love (and countless others you’ve never met) who will
enter a Christ-less eternity in hell because they haven’t
heard the Gospel.
If our Lord could become man and die on
the cross on behalf of every person, how intensely do you think
He demands that you live to fulfill His desire and purpose, the salvation of mankind?
Let’s all spur each other on to
loving obedience to carry out our Lord’s command to share
the Gospel. Think about the following truths as the Hebraic
early Church understood them:
• The Book of Genesis makes clear
that every human being is created in the image of God.
• Although sin ruptured our
relationship with a loving Father, He graciously provided the
means of reconciliation.
• Through the willingness of His own
Son, Jesus, to lead a sinless life
and to shed His blood for us, we
can have fellowship with our Father once again.
• Our loving response to His love is
to be burdened for humanity in the same way that He is.
A lyric from the 1970’s can pertain
to the restoration of the Church that’s now underway: “With one hand reach out to Jesus, with
the other bring a friend.”
If you hunger for that which our Father is
restoring, you can no longer identify yourself by a
denomination or a “church” building. The followers
of Jesus at the time of the apostles understood that all the congregations that met throughout a city were collectively
considered “the church”: “To the church of God in Corinth” (1 Corinthians 1:2); “To the church of God in Corinth, together with
all the saints throughout Achaia” (2 Corinthians 1:1); “Phoebe,
a servant of the church in Cenchrea” (Romans 16:1).
As believers empowered by the Holy Spirit
went about the daily business of life, they carried the message
of Christ to all they encountered. “In the first century
all church members were scattered abroad and the Church was the
mission; today, the Church stays home and the apostles are
scattered abroad to be missionaries...It was the method of
‘every-member evangelism’ that did the miracle in
apostolic days.”2
Are you in the habit of bearing witness to what
you have seen and heard as you go about your daily business?
Describe how you do this.
The process of expansion from one to
one-on-one to a few is always personal. Relational growth always begins from the center of
the diagram, with our Father and Jesus. Your fellowship must
first of all be with our Lord, then with others whom He
provides for mutual strengthening and encouragement. Every extension of commitment to other people as
you move toward the outer rings is based on a network of
personal relationships—someone caring for you as you
express care for them.
Your trust in Jesus will be strengthened
only as you abide in caring relationships and experience His
love that you already know by faith through connectedness with
others. As the fullness of God’s love grows in you,
you’re able to share the vitality of your faith with
those who have yet to encounter Jesus.
Through the intimacy of relationships in
your family and in your circle of load-bearers in your home
fellowship family, your awareness of the Holy Spirit’s
work in you grows. The Spirit continues to fill you to be
God’s vessel of blessing to others as you manifest His
gifts. In that way you’re able to truly appreciate the
power of belonging to a body in which everyone does his part.
Equipped and empowered, you can then fulfill His commission to
you and to all believers: to make disciples of all nations.
“‘For I know the plans I have
for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you
and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then
you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will
listen to you.
You will seek me and find me when you seek
me with all your heart.
I will be found by you,’ declares
the Lord, ‘and will bring you back from
captivity.
I will gather you from all the nations and
places where I have banished you,’ declares the Lord,
‘and will bring you back to the place from which I
carried you into exile’”
(Jeremiah 29:11-14).
Jeremiah’s prophecy reminds us of
the command our Lord gave us after our return from Israel in
March, 1994: “Free the captives.” God plans to prosper His people in their
pilgrimage toward increasing Christ-likeness and to display His
glory among them. This will happen when followers of Jesus have
the courage to forsake whatever hinders them and wholeheartedly
seek Him with a faith empowered by His Spirit and nourished by
His Word.
Through apperceiving God’s Word
(returning to the original intent of the biblical writers), the
Lessons which follow contain practical suggestions to acquire
the powerful, cooperative faith of the early Church—a spiritual family built
upon a Hebraic understanding of the Bible.
The priorities of our Father and Jesus,
marriage and family, and home fellowship family are essential
to His restoration. His people must seek the rhema of the Holy
Spirit as did the early Church for specific guidance and
direction to restore these relationships as a way of life
today.
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