THAT JERUSALEM CHURCH

The Jerusalem Church in the Book of Acts   12.9.2015

    Imagine a church which meets in rented facilities, where people come an hour or two early just to get a seat.  A church which had 3,120 members for the first service held.  A church where the service is translated simultaneously into several languages for the racially mixed congregation. A church filled with Holy Joy and Christian Love.  A church where the members meet in small groups from house to house, and then assemble together for a joyous time of worship and praise.  A church baptizing thousands.  It can’t be scriptural, you say?  But it was the Jerusalem church.  The Jerusalem church was filled with God-the-Holy-Spirit, guided by the apostles and prophets, united in the amazing new life found in Christ Jesus!

    The open door created by Pentecost, and the Jerusalem Church stand as milestones in God's Great Plan for our human race.  Jerusalem had the first "local church," and was the first mega-church.  When Jesus died and rose again, the whole Jewish nation was gathered in to the Jerusalem area for Passover. With the power of His Resurrection, and the outpouring of The Holy Spirit, God's great saving work began among the Jews at Jerusalem on that Pentecost.  Peter said: "This is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: 'And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God: That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh; ...And it shall come to pass that whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.'" [NKJV]

    God made His Plan for we humans long before the Creation (Ephesians 1:4).  The astonishing events of Pentecost were rooted in FAITH which reached back to Abraham and God's Promise to him. But also, to before Time and Creation.  Jesus said God would save the world by using the Jews (John 4:22).  James quoted Amos (Acts 15) to show that God seriously intended to save the Gentiles - the rest of mankind - who were included in God's call to salvation.  David's tabernacle would be rebuilt by the Gentiles coming to God.  In Christ the "wall of hatred" between Jew and Gentile was broken down and destroyed.  ALL who believe are united as One Body in Christ Jesus.  An alternate version of 1 Corinthians 12:13 states: "God's Spirit is inside each of us, and all around us as well.  So it doesn't matter that some of us are Jews and others are Gentiles and that some are slaves and others are free.  Together we are one body." [CEV footnote]

    [* The Jerusalem church was not an American church.  God had prepared the pattern of worship in the synagogue.  They sang [chanted] the Psalms.  They never saw a KJV Bible - which came 17 centuries later.  They read the Scriptures in Hebrew and Greek.  They were an extreme mixture of cultures.  But they were One in Jesus Christ!]

    1. They met every day in the temple.

    “So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.”  Acts 2:46-47 (NKJV)

  They assembled together every day as a Christian congregation of the Family of God.  They lifted one voice in praise and devotion (compare Acts 4:24).

  2. They were a mixed group speaking at least 15 languages (Acts 2:8-11).  Yet they all heard in their own language.  Perhaps those speaking were led by the Spirit to speak in these other languages.  Or perhaps the Spirit translated for each hearer so they could hear in words of the language spoken at home.  The Lord spoke Hebrew to Saul of Tarsus to impress him deeply with the message that Jesus is Lord (Acts 26:14).

    3. They were filled with holy joy and Christian love (Acts 2:47).  Compare 1 Thessalonians 1:5-6.  “For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance, as you know what kind of men we were among you for your sake.  And you became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit, so that you became examples to all in Macedonia and Achaia who believe.”

    4. They met from house to house in small groups (Acts 2:46).  They were so excited over this new covenant which suddenly had been made known to them!  They just had to share with each other in praising God, praying to Him, and searching the Scriptures to confirm this great hope!  [fellowship = koinonia = close companionship.]  They continued this (Acts 5:42). 

    5. 3000 were baptized that first Sunday (Pentecost).  Then there were 5000 men (Acts 4:4).  Then multitudes of both men and women (Acts 5:14).  Many of the Jewish priests converted to Christ (Acts 6:7).  They continued to meet as one group in the Temple.  They probably numbered 100,000 people when persecution struck and scattered them (Acts 8:1-4).

    6. They turned the city of Jerusalem upside down by preaching Christ Jesus - Crucified, Risen, Coming Again.  They preached in Jesus the resurrection from the dead (Acts 4:1-2).  They spoke with power to the Jewish priests and leaders (Acts 4:8-12,33).  They spoke with holy boldness (Acts 5:29-32). 

    7. They solved their unity problem by appointing men to serve the congregation (Acts 6:1-6).  Some were Jews (speaking Hebrew-Aramaic), and some were Grecian (Jews from Greek speaking areas, speaking a variety of languages).  Note the Hebrew widows were already being taken care of.  It was the Grecian (Hellenist) widows who were being neglected.  The one church at Jerusalem contained all these diverse elements who were one in Christ (compare Gal. 3:26-29).

    8. They went everywhere preaching the Gospel.  “Therefore those who were scattered went everywhere preaching the word. Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria and preached Christ to them.  And the multitudes with one accord heeded the things spoken by Philip, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did.  For unclean spirits, crying with a loud voice, came out of many who were possessed; and many who were paralyzed and lame were healed.  And there was great joy in that city.”  Acts 8:4-8 (NKJV)

    The Apostles and first leaders of the Christian Movement were Jews.  Every city of any size had a Jewish population and synagogue.  Jews already believed in Jehovah God and the Old Testament Scriptures.  The general use of the Koine Greek Language and the Septuagint Old Testament in Greek helped open the Bible to the world population.  Jews knew the prophecies about Jesus and they could see God's Great Plan at work in Jesus - His Doing & Dying & Rising Again.  Synagogues also attracted numbers of interested Gentiles, and these readily converted to Jesus Christ. 

    Not what is the church, but who is the church.  “For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body--whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free--and have all been made to drink into one Spirit.  For in fact the body is not one member but many.”  1 Cor 12:13-14 (NKJV)

    But would there be One Body?  Jews had been exclusivist for centuries.  There was a "middle wall of partition" between them.  Paul's arrest and transport to Rome and his execution there had important effects.  He witnessed to Christ and the Gospel at each stage of travel - to kings, judges, civil servants and a host of curious hangers-on who doubtless were intrigued by the message of God's Act In Christ.  The Christian Community rallied around Paul, and concern for him helped weld the Church into a Unity.  Christians - both Jews and Gentiles - shared a great concern for Paul The Apostle.  The execution of both Paul and Peter at Rome, plus the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, brought about the final melding.  But in our day, the Jews need to be grafted back in (Romans 11).