:+: Tiffinity & Beyond :+:

Be The Church

At encounter today, we learnt about being The Church!

Our pastor challenged us to look back at the early churches described in Acts 2

44All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. 46Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

How aweseome! That makes me feel a bit uneasy. Looking at the way I act in church - can't help but feel a bit ... guilty?!?! Never did I sell my possessions and goods to give to the needy. Can't say that I have everything in common with the rest of the cell. Fair enough, I guess "things have changed". But still, I must constantly remind myself to Be The Church that God wants us to be.

Being a Christian can be a very "counter cultural" thing. The way we do things might not be "right" in the eyes of the world. Sometimes we get caught up in the norms that we forget about what it really means to Be The Church. Here are three trends in the society that can be a barrier to us:

1) ISOLATION:

We have all those fantastic technology, like Blog, Msn, Icq, Email... but somehow people seem to be more lonely. We don't even talk to our neighbours! How ironic. (Tiff, get off msn..) Even at church, you can be in a crowd but you feel so lonely. But look at the early churches!! All the believers were together! that just reminds me to watch out for those who are lonely at church/cell...

2) Individualism:

The society encourages people to care only for themselves. "the most important person in the world is yourself" It shouldn't be that way. Often, we're encouraged to be tolerant of others - even if it means tolerating sins and untruthfulness. SHOULD NOT! If something is wrong, we can't just let it be! wat's most important is the big fella above! What does HE think?

3)Consumerism

The society is full on promoting consumerism. What happened to the other end of the spectrum - Contribute? We should not hold onto possessions too strongly. Share it! Stop being the spectator but be a participant! be a contributor!! I'm not at church only to consume but to CONTRIBUTE, to SERVE GOD! Aiya... too often, i have the wrong mentality. >_<

I love this bit: John 13:34-35! If we love one another, people will flock to the church. Love is the best witness! 34"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

posted by Unknown @ 9:56 AM