What Does It Mean?

by

Pastor B.J. Knefley

In the Book of Acts, Luke shares that Peter spoke to the crowd and 3000 were added to the Church that day. Have you ever taken the time to think about what that meant? Have you ever considered that in one moment their lives were headed in one direction and in the next they were going in a different one? Have you noticed that their concern for others suddenly shifted to where they were now sharing everything with each other? What happened and what does it mean? The simple answer to that question is that Jesus happened.

When we think of the church of that day and compare it to what we see today, they are not the same. The church then was organic. It was natural and spontaneous. It was authentic and genuine in every way. There was no order of service or hierarchy to follow. No traditions to follow or structure to maintain. It was simply people doing life together. How simple is that? How refreshing? What has happened?

If you were to read the first few chapters of the Book of Revelation, you would read seven letters to churches. I don’t know about you, but I don’t think I’d want to be the lead pastor of any of those churches. Somehow, we have gone from organic to structure and form, rules and expectations, spontaneity has given way to programs. In the true sense, are we even the Church today? Have we opted out of the authentic for a form of godliness while dismissing the very God who calls us to godliness?

When I go back to chapter two of Acts, I see that people were dramatically changed. They were going in one direction and then they weren’t. They were following one thing and then they turned. They woke up that morning celebrating Pentecost and ended their day praising Jesus. All of this after hearing Peter speak about Jesus and their hearts were changed. Those hearts eventually changed the world and everything in it. I don’t know about you, but I want that kind of change, that kind of organic community of believers and not the mundane of what we have today. Think about it.