A congregation that belongs to God should be a context for healing and growing. By "context," a geographical place should not be in our thoughts. Nor should a building be in our minds. When we think of a "congregation," we should think of a people, of men and women who put their faith in a Jesus Christ and God his Father.
Congregations of disciples or Christians in the New Testament were not focused on a geographical place or a building. That was a unique characteristic of the first congregations. These people were not tied to a geographical setting (such as Mount Zion) or to a building (such as a temple). They were a community of people who appreciated God's gift of Jesus Christ. Their trust of what God did for them in Jesus caused them to belong to each other. They acted in their treatment of each other with God's values. They were His people, so they treated all who were His people with affection and respect. That proved to be a huge challenge!
Read Acts 2:44-47. Those who believed in Jesus and responded to him in repentance and baptism were together and shared. Even when it required selling possessions to care for those of the community of believers in need, they sold possessions. They ate their meals together and were genuinely happy.
Read Acts 4:32-37. The congregation (multitude) of believers was of one heart and soul. They took care of each other, even those in need. They did so to the extent that there were no needy in the community of believers. Acts 5:1-10 demonstrated that it was a serious matter to try to exploit the Jerusalem congregation's good will by being selfish and deceiving.
Did they face problems? Surely! Acts 6:1-7 gives the details of a congregational problem. However, they resolved their problems like disciples who loved each other. The reality of their problems did not affect the effectiveness of their community of faith.
Did they need to grow and mature as disciples? Certainly! To this point, all converts were either Jewish or proselytes (gentile converts to Judaism--see Acts 2:10). Though the community of faith was large, it was all Jewish or converts to Judaism.
The real stress on this community of believers in Jesus Christ did not come until faith in Christ spread beyond the Jewish/proselyte community. Though the resurrected Jesus and God's Spirit made it evident that the good news of Jesus was international in Acts 10:34, 35, it is quite evident that the Jewish congregation did not understand what that meant in Acts 15:6-21.
In Rome, Jewish Christians had their ways of determining purity and spiritual cleanliness, and gentile Christians had a different way of determining spiritual purity and cleanliness. Paul said for them to leave each other alone (Romans 14:1-12) and be ready to explain their reasons for their actions to God after their death (Romans 14:12, 22).
Growth toward maturity and continued growth after maturity will always be a part of being God's person. Consider Peter in Acts 10:9-23. It took a divine vision that occurred three times, a reassurance from the Holy Spirit (Acts 10:19, 20), and confirmation from the gentile messengers who looked for Peter (Acts 10:22), before he was convinced he should go to the gentile Cornelius. Even though Peter was an apostle, even with all those signs, Peter told Cornelius and the group Cornelius assembled that he did not know why he was there. Listen to Acts 10:28, 29: "And he said to them, 'You yourselves know how unlawful it is for a man who is a Jew to associate with a foreigner or to visit him; and yet God has shown me that I should not call any man unholy or unclean. That is why I came without even raising any objection when I was sent for. So I ask for what reason you have sent for me.'"
Peter did not grow into an understanding of why the Lord sent him until Acts 10:34, 35: "Opening his mouth, Peter said: 'I most certainly understand now that God is not one to show partiality, but in every nation the man who fears Him and does what is right is welcome to Him.'"
Did Peter the apostle grow? Surely! Did he understand something he previously opposed? Certainly! Did his new understanding cause him to act in ways others would misunderstand? Absolutely! Even for an apostle, there was continued growth and maturing. If such growth and maturing did not occur, God's will would not be done.
A perspective worthy of consideration is this: most of the epistles (the bulk of the New Testament) were written to encourage specific Christians in specific locales to grow. Consider the fruit of the Spirit and their context in Galatians 5:16-24. 2 Peter 1:5-11 told those Christians that the values mentioned must exist and increase if they were to be fruitful "in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ" (v. 8). Ephesians 2:19-22; 4:14,15; 2 Thessalonians 1:3; and 2 Peter 3:17,18 urge growth. 1 Peter 2:2 urges them to develop as newborn babes who long for the pure milk of the word.
Conversion to Christ accepts the responsibility to grow in Christ.
For Thought and Discussion
Link to Teacher's Guide
Lesson 5