The Establishment of the Church of Christ #2

A. Last week we learned that the Church is the “called out” of God. They were called out from the
Old Covenant made with Israel into a New Covenant that includes all men, both Jew and
Gentile. The “church” of Jesus Christ, is a unique entity. 2 Thess. 2:14 tells us it is that body
of baptized believers who have been called through the gospel into a special relationship with
God through Jesus Christ the Son of God.
In Eph. 2:19; 1 Tim. 3:15; 1 Pet. 4:17, the church is called “the house of God.” The house of God is the place where God and His family live. The church was not an afterthought. The church was in the mind of God before the foundation of the world, Eph. 1:4. Paul tells us the manifold wisdom of God is made known “through the church,” according to the “eternal purpose.” It was literally, the plan of the ages which was realized in the mission of Christ, Eph. 3:10?11.
It’s coming was prophesied, foretold in the Old Testament in Isa. 2:2-4; Dan. 2:44; Joel 2:28-32. All those prophecies were fulfilled with flawless precision. In Acts 2:14-24, in the city of Jerusalem, the apostle Peter, on the first Pentecost after the death, burial, resurrection and ascension of Christ, announced, the the Jewish people, the actual beginning of the New Testament Kingdom of Jesus Christ.
(A) Later, the apostle Paul tole the elders at Ephesus, stated in Acts 20:28, “The church
had been purchased with the blood of Jesus.”
The establishment of the church was a Divine event — It had a dramatic beginning point. Prior to the spring of A.D. 30, the church of Jesus Christ did not exist. It exploded into existence on a single day of earth’s history. And was so Divinely inspired and empowered it spread like wild fire all over the world. And still to this very day brings to a lost world the only hope of salvation and resurrection from the grave. Acts 4:12; Jno. 14:6, still proclaims Christianity as the only way to heaven and the grace of God.
(a) Christianity, the religion of Jesus, was so strikingly different from Judaism it
aroused the hostility of most Jews for the first four decades of its existence –
until the Jewish state fell to the Romans in A.D. 70.
Despite Satan’s forces of evil the church came out of nowhere, and very soon it was “everywhere.” From it’s founding in A.D. 33 until A.D. 62, when the apostle Paul wrote in Col 1:23, “...The gospel which you heard, was preached to every creature under heaven...” From A.D. 33 to 62 is
only 29 short years. We’ve been talking about it longer than that.
On the day of Pentecost, the community of Jewish believers consisted of 3,000 persons, Acts 2:41. Shortly thereafter in Acts 4:4, that number grew to an additional 5,000 adult men and thousands of women.
Simon Kistemaker, in his book “Exposition Of The Acts Of The Apostles” estimates that by the time Stephen was killed in Acts 7:60, the number of Christians in Jerusalem numbered no fewer than 20,000 souls. That was more than one third of the city’s population which was estimated, to be 55,000 by the Jewish historian, Joachim Jeremias, in his book, “Jerusalem In The Time of Jesus.”
Remember, the Jews were strict monotheists. Believed in only one deity. In Jno. 5:18; 8:58; 10:30, Jesus made the claim of being deity. What persuaded the Hebrew mind to acknowledge Jesus as God? Nothing less than the fact that they knew Jesus was resurrected from the grave. That’s a brief history of the supernatural establishment of the New Testament Church.

(2) The only way you can explain the beginning of the church is by divine orchestration and it’s phenomenal growth which was kept unified under the guidance of the inspired apostles who taught only one doctrine. There was doctrinal unity. No sectarian discord reflecting divergent theologies cluttered the early landscape of the Christian movement.
(1) Acts 2:42, records, “They continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and
fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.” Vs. 44, says, “all that
believed were together.” The term “together” does not refer to a specific location.
It means they were “together” in sentiment, doctrine and belief.
(1) Acts 4:32, says, “The multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul.” Why can’t people see that the Lord desires, requires that there be religious unity in the church?
(2) Men have made numerous departures from the faith. You can read about them in Acts 20:28?30; 2 Thess. 2:1ff; 1 Tim. 4:1ff; 2 Tim. 4:1ff. The world of sectarian denominationalism has become a horrible, shocking reality.
(2) There is a glaring contrast between today’s current state of religious confusion, and the church that was ushered into this world on the Day of Pentecost 2,000 years ago.
(1) Today, the world’s greatest need is to return to the original pattern established by Jesus and the Holy Spirit through the Gospel preached by the Apostles. We need to heed the call God sent the prophet Jeremiah to preach to Israel when they abandoned God’s established order. Jer. 6:16, “Thus says the LORD: "Stand in the ways and see, And ask for the old paths, where the good way is, And walk in it; then you will find rest for your souls.”
(2) Do you know why the deplorable state of divided Christianity exists today? Because men today say the same thing the people said then, “But they said, 'We will not walk in it.”
(3) Turn to the old path which is God’s path and you will find salvation unto your soul.
(4) Acts 20:32.

Spur - 01/19/2003 am