Acts 2:42-47 "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."
We say we want to follow the example of the first century church and model ourselves as nearly as possible after the ancient order of things. Well, this passage is literally the first description of the first church ever. They are described in two ways: they were devoted to the apostles' teaching and they were devoted to fellowship. They gathered daily in the temple to learn from the apostles and they took care of each other's needs. Day by day they were in each other's homes, eating together. These were people who were active in each other's lives. They knew each other and depended on each other. They were a family. These were not people who just nodded at each other with a "Hi, how are you?" once a week.
How well do you know your spiritual family? When I preached this sermon, I asked some specific questions about certain members to illustrate the point.
1) How do you pronounce Lou's last name? Where is he from?
2) Why did Morris and Margret have Mickey Mouse ears on their car? In what field is Margret a certified expert?
3) What is Josh's job? Where does he do it?
4) Did you know that Greg is soon to move? Where is he going?
Obviously my questions don't mean anything to most of you readers, but you can understand the concept, especially if you try to think of similar questions regarding your own congregation. Do we even know each other? How can we operate as a family if we don't?
There is an elephant in the room that needs to be addressed: the Social Gospel. So many religious organizations recruit new members based on all the social opportunities that the "church" provides. There are sports leagues for the kids, young women's groups, older women's groups, new fathers' groups, regular parties in the fellowship hall, plays, dances, lock-ins and so on and so forth all paid for by the church -- for which we have no Biblical authority -- and all given as the reason for church attendance. The reason we should be attending church is not for the social opportunities, but to worship our God and to serve Him as He directs, but in divorcing ourselves from the Social Gospel the churches of Christ have nearly gone too far in the other direction and denied any social component in the church. Again I ask, how can we be a family together if we don't know each other?
I submit that we cannot complete our God-given roles if we aren't spending time together. For example, James 5:16 "Confess therefore your sins one to another and pray for one another that you may be healed." To do that takes trust and a closeness one doesn't get in a few minutes of chatting in the parking lot each week. To confess your sins is to leave yourself open and vulnerable and is rarely done to people one doesn't trust. Alcoholics Anonymous achieves this through anonymity. No one knows anyone else there so there can't be any blowback, but in the church we all know each other. So if I am going to confess my failings and weaknesses to a brother, I need to know him and be able to trust that he isn't going to gossip or use my confession later as some sort of weapon.
Or how about Romans 12:15 "Rejoice with them that rejoice, weep with them that weep." When something really good happens, you want to share the good news with others, right? You call all your buddies and celebrate together. When was the last time a church member other than immediate physical family was among the first three calls you made? Why not? Because we celebrate with buddies and I barely know those people I worship with. The same is even more true when mourning is the topic. Again, crying makes you vulnerable and is only done among those trusted, not those mere acquaintances at church, right?
And how am I supposed to "provoke one another to love and good works" (Heb. 10:24) if I don't in what areas you need to be exhorted or what type of exhortation works best with you? After all, each of us responds to exhortations differently depending on the situation. To know that, we have to know each other.
I could go on, but this seems sufficient to illustrate the point: again and again we cannot perform our God-given duties for our spiritual families if we barely know them. This is not the Social Gospel, but yes, the Gospel does call us to be social. We need to be in each others' homes. We need to meet for lunch. We need to be active in each other's lives.
We will either learn to love each other and our congregations will become spiritual families, or our churches will fail and fall apart. It is that simple.
John 13:35 "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another."
Lucas Ward