We've lost momentum.

I can’t help but wonder what the book of Acts would look like if it were written today. Would we see disciples dropping everything and following Jesus? Would we see people so entralled with Christ and His message that they couldn’t wait to share it with those around them? Or would we see a whole lot of Christians doing just enough to be seen as a good person? Would we see unity or disunity? Sadly, I think we’d see more of the latter.

I’ve been reading the book of Acts lately, and it’s reiterated to me how over time the gospel has gotten convoluted and cluttered. When I look at what went on in the book of Acts and how the apostles and other believers lived, I wonder why we aren’t living the same way now. I know there are many wonderful, selfless men and women out there who have sacrificed a lot. But as a body, we’re disjointed and disfunctional. We’ve lost momentum.

Throughout the book of Acts, the believers encouraged each other and whenever someone had a need, they shared and gave to help one another. And the number of believers grew every day.

I encourage you to read the whole chapter or section where the following verses from Acts are found so you can fully understand the context.

“All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need.” 2:44-45

“Nevertheless, more and more men and women believed in the Lord and were added to their number.” 5:14

 “As Peter traveled about the country, he went to visit the Lord’s people who lived in Lydda. There he found a man named Aeneas, who was paralyzed and had been bedridden for eight years. 'Aeneas,' Peter said to him, 'Jesus Christ heals you. Get up and roll up your mat.' Immediately Aeneas got up. All those who lived in Lydda and Sharon saw him and turned to the Lord.” 9:32-35

 “But the word of God continued to spread and flourish.” 12:24

  “The word of the Lord spread through the whole region.” 13:49

 “Some time later Paul said to Barnabas, ‘Let us go back and visit the believers in all the towns where we preached the word of the Lord and see how they are doing.’” 15: 36 

“He went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.” 15:41

 “So the churches were strengthened in the faith and grew daily in numbers.” 16:5 

“After Paul and Silas came out of the prison, they went to Lydia’s house, where they met with the brothers and sisters and encouraged them. Then they left.” 16:40

 “Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. As a result, many of them believed, as did also a number of prominent Greek women and many Greek men.” 17:11-12 

Paul and the other apostles traveled all over strengthening and encouraging the believers and telling people about Jesus and what he did. They just didn’t stay within the four walls and pray for revival and to see miracles, but they took ahold of Christ and his command to go everywhere and preach the good news (Mark 16:15-18). When was the last time God did something beautiful for you and you kept it to yourself or you only told your Christian friends? When God shows his love to us, we shouldn't keep it to ourselves. It's meant to be shared.

Over and over we read how the number of believers grew, but today, our numbers seem to diminish more than they increase. Many tend to think of Christians as begging for their money or corrupt or greedy. As a waitress, I was stiffed many times by people who made it quite obvious they were Christians. It's shameful. Over time, we’ve given ourselves a bad name, and it doesn’t seem like as a whole we try to make it better.

In America, we’ve gotten especially comfortable. There are churches everywhere, and I think we often assume that everyone knows all about Jesus or we think it sounds cheesy to even mention how he loves us. But many don’t know what he's done, and what they do know may not even be the truth. We have countless different religions and we make fun of each other and laugh and we argue over theology and tradition and the style of worship. We argue over every little thing and it’s maddening.

A body works together. Think about all the things your body does for you that you don’t even think about. Our digestive systems digest without us asking or flipping a switch. We breathe and blink our eyes without thinking. Our blood pumps and our heart beats and our brain sends signals to whatever we want to move. And our body fights viruses and sickness all on it’s own. That doesn’t sound like the body of Christ as it is today.

In Acts, the disciples called their faith “The Way.” How simple is that? When Jesus came and died, he got rid of all the rules and traditions that were stifling and impossible to follow through. But we’ve brought some of them back whether through how we structure our services or what we expect at them. We can be like the Pharisees and Sadducees and argue continually with people who don't think exactly like us. It’s time to shed our rules and labels.

It’s time we fell in love with Jesus.

When we fall in love with Jesus, and I mean genuinely and truly, we'll want to live the way we should. We'll be bursting to share with everyone we know the amazing things we've seen God do. We'll long to encourage the other believers around us. Only by falling in love with Jesus will we function as we're meant to. 

I do believe God is working all over the world. I believe fantastic and beautiful things happen every day. But I also believe we could do much, much more if we stood together.

We’re a body; it’s time we start acting like one.

“As for us, we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.” 4:19

All scripture is from the NIV.