Come Together

No Perfect Church

Looking through the New Testament, there is no a description of what a church service is supposed to be. There are a few snippets here and there…but no description that says when you gather you sing this many songs and pray for this long and then the preacher preaches for this long and then you pray again for this long and then you can go home…nor does the Bible hold up a particular church or model as better than the other.

The Roman church had a problem with elitism, the Jewish believers thought they were more important than the others

The Galatian church had a problem with legalism

The Corinthian church had a problem with unity and abuse of Spiritual Gifts

The Philippian church was under persecution

The Colossian church had a problem with legalism

The Thessolonican church was immature and needed discipleship

All of the churches that we see in the New Testament had some sort of issue.

However, there are somethings that are universal in every church body:

Acts 2:42–47 ESV

And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

This is just a reporting of what they did in that moment in time…but there are some principles that we can get from this account:

Devoted to the Apostles teaching (this would be the preaching of the Word today)

Devoted to THE breaking of the Bread

This is not talking about fellowship, it is talking about the Lord’s Supper, the Eucharist, Communion whatever name we call it

Devoted to THE prayers - They would stop at certain times of the day and pray. Many would go to the Temple or synagogue and others would just stop where they were and pray