In the Bible, Dr. Luke notes that the gathering of folks who follow Jesus (aka, the church) enjoy the goodwill of all the people. In another place he records that all the people have a high regard for the church.
They had a great reputation. Perhaps that’s why they grow from a handful of people to several thousands in just a few months.
Imagine that. Everyone holding the church in high regard and with goodwill. The result is rapid growth.
If only that were the case today. Yes, some people on the outside respect the church, but society as a whole, holds a much different view. They hate us and criticize us.
They call us hypocrites and view us as filled with hate and always arguing. In large part, they’re right.
What happened? What went wrong over the past two thousand years? Here are four ideas to consider:
They Take Care of Their Own
The early church shares what they have with one another, and no one has any needs. (Notice the focus is on meeting needs, not fulfilling wants.)
They Don’t Ask For Money
The early church isn’t constantly asking for money and doesn’t take weekly offerings. The few times they do take a collection, it is to give away to those outside their community.
The Holy Spirit plays a leading role. He is prominent, in the book of Acts, leading the church and empowering its members.
We Need to Great Reputation
Today, the church does a poor job of caring for its own, is always taking offerings, forgets to help others, and relies on its own abilities instead of God.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
What if Jesus Never Intended His Followers to Form a Church as we Know it Today?
I looked at where the Bible talks about the kingdom of God and where it talks about church. What I learned is shocking. Jesus teaches about the kingdom of God, not church.
These are New Testament Considerations
Both the church and the kingdom of God (along with the kingdom of Heaven) are New Testament concepts. None of these terms occur in the Old Testament. Since Jesus comes to fulfill the Law (Matthew 5:17), the kingdom of God must be one way he intends to do so.
Jesus Teaches about the Kingdom of God, not Church
Jesus talks much about the kingdom of God (Heaven) and little about the church: fifty-four times versus three. Clearly Jesus focuses his teaching on the kingdom of God. If the kingdom of God is so important to Jesus, it should be important to us as well.
A Change Occurs in Acts
A transition of emphasis happens in the book of Acts, with twenty-one mentions of church and only six mentions of the kingdom of God. Early on Jesus’s followers shift their focus from the kingdom of God to the church.
This is logical because a church is a tangible result while the kingdom of God is a more ethereal concept. But just because this is a logical shift, that doesn’t make it right.
Jesus’s Followers Focus on Church
The rest of the New Testament (Romans through Revelation) emphasizes church over the kingdom of God: ninety times versus eight.
Even though the early followers of Jesus favor the practice of church over the concept of the kingdom of God, the fact remains that their practice of church then is far different from ours today.
Today’s church should push aside her traditions and practices to replace them with what Jesus teaches about the kingdom of God. It will change everything.
(Here’s the background:
The word church occurs 114 times in the Bible, all in the New Testament. Of the four accounts of Jesus, church only occurs in Matthew and then just three times. Acts, the book about the early church, mentions church twenty-one times.
The word church occurs in the majority of the rest of the New Testament books (fifteen of them).
Instead of church, Jesus talks about the kingdom of God. The phrase, kingdom of God, occurs sixty-eight times in the Bible, again, all in the New Testament.
The majority of occurrences are in the four biographies of Jesus, accounting for fifty-four of its sixty-eight appearances. Acts mentions the kingdom of God six times, with only eight occurrences popping up in the rest of the New Testament.
Matthew generally writes using the kingdom of Heaven instead of the kingdom of God. He uses kingdom of Heaven thirty-one times and is the only writer in the Bible to use this phrase.
By comparing parallel passages in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, we see the same account with the only difference being that Matthew writes kingdom of Heaven whereas Mark and Luke use kingdom of God.
Clearly Matthew, the only biblical writer to use kingdom of Heaven, equates it to kingdom of God. Additionally Matthew uses the kingdom of God five times.
Read more about this in Peter’s thought-provoking book, Jesus’s Broken Church, available in e-book, audiobook, paperback, and hardcover.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
After God finishes with his amazing creation he takes time on the seventh day to rest. He declares the day holy. Later in the Old Testament, God reminds his people to keep the Sabbath holy and to not work.
How should this inform our worship of our creator?
Yea, a day off. In the early church the first day of the week becomes their special day, and many Christians today apply the Old Testament commands for Sabbath rest and holiness to Sunday.
As we rest on God’s holy day and worship him, what’s God doing?
Our Worship
I always assumed God was resting along with us, sitting back and receiving our worship.
I imagined him being recharged by our adoration of him, even to the point that the more engaging our worship, the more energized he would become.
That just as we needed to take a break, I thought he did, too. He, along with us, would take one day out of seven for a mini re-creation. Then we would both be ready for Monday.
Although that is an imaginative idea, none of it is supported by the Bible.
Jesus, after he heals a man on the Sabbath, is confronted by his detractors. Jesus tells them plainly that just as his Father God is always at work, so too he is always working.
God’s Work
There’s no mention of Jesus and his Father resting on Sunday, basking in the glory that results from our worship. No, as we rest and worship, God is working. And I’m okay with that.
If God were to rest, just for a day, what would become of us? I need him every day, so I’m glad he doesn’t take a break, even though that is exactly what he tell us to do.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
The Bible Should Inform Our Actions, Not Justify Our Habits
Christianity has its traditions and religious practices. We often persist in them with unexamined acceptance. And if we do question our behaviors, we can often find a verse in the Bible to justify them. But that doesn’t make them right.
The Lens of Scripture
We need to interpret the Bible through the lens of Scripture and not from the perspective of our own practices. The Bible is the starting point, not the ending.
When we begin with what we do today and work backwards, looking to the Bible for support, we will usually find it, but we may be in error.
Consider the following.
Church Attendance
The Bible says to not give up meeting together (Hebrews 10:25). Most people interpret this as a command to go to church. That’s not what the verse says. This command is a call to Christian community.
The point of this verse is that we shouldn’t attempt to live our faith in isolation.
Communion
Another area is our practice of communion. We even read the Bible when we partake. This makes us wrongly conclude that our celebration of communion is biblical. It’s not.
The context of communion is at home with family, not as part of a church service. We’re doing communion wrong.
Sermon
Why do we have a sermon every Sunday at church? Because it’s in the Bible, right? Yet biblical preaching is to those outside the church.
You’ve heard the phrase, “preaching to the choir,” which is understood as the futility of telling people the things they already know. Yet preaching to the choir is effectively what we do at most churches every Sunday. P
reaching is for people outside the church.
Worship Music
Why does a significant portion of our Sunday service include music? While singing to God is prevalent throughout the Bible, it’s interesting to note that nowhere in the New Testament is the use of musical instruments mentioned.
Does this mean our singing to God should be a capella? It’s worth considering.
And the idea of having a worship leader is also an anathema to the biblical narrative. When we gather together we should all be prepared to share and to participate, which might include leading the group in a song.
Sunday School
The justification for Sunday School—aside from tradition and “that’s the way we’ve always done it”—often comes from the Old Testament verses to train up a child (Proverbs 22:6) and teach your children (Deuteronomy 11:19 and Deuteronomy 6:6-8).
But who’s to do this training? The parents. Delegating this critical job to the church is lazy parenting.
Though there is some basis for the Sunday offering, we’ve co-opted it into something it wasn’t meant to be. Paul’s instruction to take up a collection each week was for the express purpose of giving money to those in need (1 Corinthians 16:1-2).
How much of a church’s weekly offering goes to that?
Church Buildings
Though the Old Testament had their Temple and the Jewish people added synagogues, the New Testament followers of Jesus met in homes and sought to connect with others in public spaces.
The idea of building churches didn’t occur until a few centuries later. Church facilities cost a lot of money and take a lot of time, distracting us from what is more important.
Paid Staff
The concept of professional, paid clergy also didn’t occur until a couple centuries after the early church started. Peter tells us that we are all priests (1 Peter 2:5, 9), and Paul tells us that we should minister to each other (1 Corinthians 14:26).
When we pay staff to do what we’re supposed to be doing ourselves, we’re subjugating our responsibility and acting with laziness. Paul set a great example, often paying his own way on his missionary journeys. Today’s ministers should consider this. Seriously.
Read the Bible
Prior posts have touched on these subjects in greater detail. They might be worth considering as you contemplate the above items. We persist in these practices out of habit and under the assumption that the Bible commands us to do so.
We conclude this because we read the Bible wearing blinders, focusing our attention on our practices and seeking to find them supported in the Bible.
It’s time we reexamine everything we do through the lens of Scripture and make needed changes. And if we do, it will be a game-changer.
Read more about this in Peter’s thought-provoking book, Jesus’s Broken Church, available in e-book, audiobook, paperback, and hardcover.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
Paul is the most prolific writer in the New Testament. Who is second? That would be Dr. Luke.
Luke wrote an account of Jesus’s life (called “The Gospel According to Luke,” or simply “Luke”). He also chronicled the activities of the early church (called “The Acts of the Apostles” or just “Acts”).
He researched and wrote these two books for a man name Theophilus, so that Theophilus could know for sure what he had been taught. These books help us today, so that we can also know for sure.
These two accounts encompass over 25 percent of the New Testament and give us valuable historical information about Jesus and his followers, providing a powerful and compelling two-book combination.
Luke was a doctor and the only non-Jewish writer in the New Testament. As such, his words are that of an outsider and may more readily connect with those on the “outside.”
Luke wrote with simple, yet compelling language. As a trained professional, He was a keen observer and provides many details and facts that are not included in the other three historical accounts of Jesus.
The book of Acts looks at Jesus’s followers and their efforts to continue on without him. They wait in Jerusalem for the Holy Spirit, who Jesus promised to send to them for guidance, direction, and counsel.
Many people look to Acts for a model for how the church should function.
Noteworthy in Acts is the frequent mention Holy Spirit. With about 100 references, Acts provides a close and personal insight into the function and mystery of the Holy Spirit.
Both our monthly Bible reading plan and the New Testament reading plan kick off the year with the books of Luke and Acts. Regardless of your Bible reading intentions for the year, I hope you are off to a good start—and if not, why not start today?
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
Peter writes to caution the early church about false teachers, leaders who misguide, doing more harm to the church of Jesus than good. We need to watch out for them.
Here are some of the characteristics of a preacher gone bad.
False Teachers
Scoff at what they don’t understand
Act instinctively (like unreasoning animals)
Indulge in evil pleasures
Are a disgrace to the church
Commit adultery with their eyes
Lure others into their own insatiable desire for sin
Are greedy, cursed, useless
Brag or boast about themselves
Have twisted sexual desires
Promise freedom, while being enslaved to sin and corruption
I’ve known preachers like this. I’ve heard their sermons.
Does his close mindedness disgrace Jesus and his church?
Is he greedy? That is, are his pleas for money insatiable?
Does he promote himself and his ministry?
Does he promise his followers freedom and then enslave them in rules?
False teachers are not someone we disagree with. Differences in opinion are fine. False teachers have identifiable traits, and I fear our church today has many more false teachers than we realize.
Watch out for them. Don’t follow them. Leave their influence at the first indication of these signs.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
Get the Bible Reading Tip Sheet: “10 Tips to Turn Bible Reading from Drudgery to Delight.” Enter your info and receive the free Bible Reading Tip Sheet and be added to Peter’s email list.
With our journey of visiting fifty-two churches over, I can reflect more on the complete experience. Today, I’ll add to my thoughts about Church #21.
Of all the 52 churches we visited, this one deviated the most from current church practices. It was a unique church service and a memorable one too.
They used a shofar to start the service. It was loud, awe-inspiring, and a worshipful opening to our time together.
The teaching included interaction, so that true dialogue could take place between the minister and those of us gathered. This allowed for discussion, as well as being able to ask questions.
At the conclusion of the message, we spent time truly worshiping in God’s presence. And afterward we enjoyed extended community.
We had a most memorable time there. God was present. We worshiped him in Spirit and in truth. And we connected with each other after the service.
I suspect this version of church is more in line with what the early church practiced when they met together, spurring each other on and encouraging one another (see Hebrews 10:24-25).
This faith community had a unique church service, which is sad, because it should be the norm at every church, every Sunday.
My wife and I visited a different Christian Church every Sunday for a year. This is our story. Get your copy of 52 Churches today, available in ebook, paperback, hardcover, and audiobook.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
With our journey of visiting fifty-two churches over, I can reflect more on the complete experience. Today, I’ll add to my thoughts about Church #7.
Churches typically spend the majority of their money (at least half, often quite a bit more) on staff compensation but not this church. The pastor of this church is a bivocational minister.
That means he has a regular job during the week and serves the church as a volunteer. This means they can direct much more of their money to help others and reach out into the community.
I applaud this bivocational minister. It’s closer to how the early church functioned and follows the model of Paul in the Bible (Acts 20:34).
I wish more churches and church leaders would follow the example of this pastor, Paul, and what I read in the Bible.
My wife and I visited a different Christian Church every Sunday for a year. This is our story. Get your copy of 52 Churches today, available in ebook, paperback, hardcover, and audiobook.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
Over the years there have been times when I couldn’t go to church. I’m not talking about the Sundays I was ill or traveling. Instead, I’m referring to times when the church canceled its service.
These have included weather-related problems, power outages, no heat, and construction issues. Each of these instances affected only one Sunday, and the next week everything returned to normal.
However, I can now add another reason to this list of why churches may close: to stop the spread of a potentially deadly virus in the midst of a health pandemic.
When this occurs, we stay in our home for church. We have house church.
Here are some ideas to have church
at home.
Duplicate a Typical Service
We could plan for and provide the
elements of one of today’s church services in our home. This means having
someone lead worship, pray, and teach a lesson at our house church. If we
wanted, we could even take an offering.
This provides the opportunity for better interaction and greater participation. It also requires a great deal of preparation for those who will lead.
The more people who will gather in our home to experience this type of church, the more meaningful this can become. Doing this one time would be hard. It would be even more challenging to sustain it over many weeks.
Participate Online
As an alternative, we have many options online that can bring a church service into our home. These include podcasts of sermons, videos of services (either in part or in full), and live streaming.
From the comfort of our home we can listen to messages or watch services as they take place. This allows us to experience the main elements of a church service with little preparation or effort.
What we lack from this approach, however, is community. Aside from our small gathering of family or friends who sit in our living room to experience our house church, we have no opportunity to interact with others.
These online options do not include the ability to connect with other followers of Jesus.
Just Hang Out
To address the lack of community that will occur when we passively tap into online church services and resources, we have the option to get together with the goal of spending time with each other (see Hebrews 10:25).
Of course, if only the people in our house—who we’ve already been hanging out with all week—are present, we won’t gain much more in doing so on Sunday.
However, if we can invite friends or neighbors over, this could provide meaningful, spiritual community—if we pursue it with intention.
Follow Paul’s Advice on a House Church
Each of these three approaches have their strengths and weaknesses. However, Paul gives us some ideas of what we could do for house church in his letter to the Corinthians (1 Corinthians 14:26).
For now, don’t focus on Paul’s list but let’s look at the phrase that precedes it: “each of you.” This suggests an egalitarian house church, where everyone can participate, and everyone can take turns ministering to one another.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
Get the Bible Reading Tip Sheet: “10 Tips to Turn Bible Reading from Drudgery to Delight.” Enter your info and receive the free Bible Reading Tip Sheet and be added to Peter’s email list.
They had vastly different theologies about the same God and for that reason they didn’t get along too well, but they did manage to coexist within the same religious and societal context.
Most all of the original followers of Jesus (that is, early Christians) were Jewish. That implies some of them would have backgrounds as Pharisees and others, backgrounds as Sadducees.
They maintained much of their culture as they grew in their new faith.
Christianity
While some of their practices needed to be re-examined, they could sustain other aspects. Clearly, some retained their identity as Pharisees.
For them, becoming a Christian occurred within the context of Judaism. It was not so much a conversion, but a transformation.
In fact, there’s the implication that, for a time, some considered the early Christian movement, also called “The Way,” as another sect of Judaism.
What if the idea of a Pharisee Christian continued, comingling Jewish tradition with Jesus faith? For some it has and the results are Messianic congregations (Messianic Judaism). It’s certainly something to contemplate, connecting—or perhaps reconnecting—Judaism with Christianity.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront status quo religion and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
