The Church and Old Time Religion
Acts 1:1-9 (NASB77)
1 The first account I composed, Theophilus, about all that Jesus began to do and teach,
2 until the day when He was taken up, after He had by the Holy Spirit given orders to the apostles whom He had chosen.
3 To these He also presented Himself alive, after His suffering, by many convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days, and speaking of the things concerning the kingdom of God.
4 And gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what the Father had promised, “Which,” He said, “you heard of from Me;
5 for John baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.”
6 And so when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, “Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?”
7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority;
8 but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”
9 And after He had said these things, He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.
My beloved church we have been looking at the characteristics of a healthy church, today we will move into a look at the biblical operations of a healthy Church. That is found in the book of Acts and much of Bro. Paul’s letters to the churches.
Now, the reason that I want to call it “That Old-Time Religion” is that we need to take a look back, that we might really face the future. And, it’s very important that we do this today, because it is the old-time religion that needs to be the new-time religion.
If the N.T church is to have the power and might to change not only the world, but first individual lives we have to build the Church God’s way not man’s way. The problem the N.T has always had is we think we know better than God, and we want to shorten our pathway to growth and do things our way. (The basics of a healthy church has always been built on the Bible, not human innovation.)
Really, it is the story of a small group of everyday folks, uncultured people with meager resources, very little money, no prestige, no colleges, no seminaries, no radio or television, no printing presses, and no magnificent buildings—a small little group of people who went out to tell the story of a publicly executed Jew. (A movement where the leader has been killed on the cross of a thief, only in Christ can this be successful.)
They did so much with so little. We the church today often do so little with so much.
We need to get hold of the fact that Luke refers to Jesus in each of the opening eleven verses. This is a fitting opening, for Luke is preparing us to see how Jesus’s ministry continues through His body on earth the N.T. church.
In the book of Luke the word of God shows us all that Jesus did, in the book of Acts we will look at all our Lord is doing through you and me as the N.T. Church.
Now, Church Jesus is still alive and active today, right now. He just has a different body. You say, “Where is the body of Jesus?” Sitting in this sanctuary “Where is the presence of Jesus?” In us. You see, He doesn’t want us to do anything for Him today. When will we ever learn this—that He wants to do something through us? The Bible says, “Christ in you [is] the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27). Jesus Christ is alive, and He lives in us, we can’t do anything for Him, He desires to do the kingdom work through Us.
Now comes our Scripture in Galatians 2:20 (NASB77) 20 “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me.
Please do not skip past the importance of availability. The church today needs to understand that it does no good to have ability if you do make sure you are available. Bringing the world to Christ is not your responsibility—it is your response to His ability. You see, we have a mission impossible. How are we going to fulfill that mission
Now, Jesus had made a promise. In the Gospel of Luke 24:49 (NASB77) 49 “And behold, I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you; but you are to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” Now, Jesus said, “Don’t go out and try to do anything until you have the power from the Lord. Now, Church not only is it foolish, but you are doomed to fail. —it is a huge mistake and even a sin to try to do God’s work without God’s power. Now, you can receive the promise of the Father, and the promise of the Father is spiritual power through the Holy Spirit to get your life’s work done.
I don’t know whether you’ll be so honored or not, but I know this friend, that the word martyr and the word witness are linked together, and you don’t have to die physically in order to die to your pride. You don’t have to die physically to die to your ambition. You don’t have to die physically to die to your ego, and to say, “Lord Jesus, I want to be obedient to You. I want to be a witness. And, I want to start in my Jerusalem.” It doesn’t end in Jerusalem, but it starts in my Jerusalem.
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