Idealized Nation

Is community ideal or real, imaginary or actual, a utopia of the mind or a pattern for how the church should be? Where can Christians look today to see believers living the same way they did in the First Church in Acts 2 and 4? They may have a concept of this, but does the concept have any reality to it? Most refer to that chapter in biblical history as an unattainable ideal. The thought that this is the way the church is supposed to be has probably never entered the minds of most people.

It is also easy to read about the Holy Nation in 1 Peter 2:9 and think of it merely as an ideal. In this sense, an ideal is a concept with no reality attached to it, or one that exists in the imagination only (i.e. a mental image). Therefore, this Holy Nation is reduced to nothing more than a spiritual concept. But this is not the Word of God. In reality, that Holy Nation has a vibrant social life. It is disturbing that this life, so well documented in Acts 2 and 4, is today disregarded and even disqualified.

However, in 1 Thessalonians 2:14, Paul praised the church in Thessalonica as one that closely followed the true pattern that had been established by the apostles in Jerusalem and all the churches of Judea. That pattern was community, and it brought persecution. To Paul, it was more than just a spiritual ideal: it was the pattern for how the church was to be established in every place. This pattern cannot be imitated without the same Holy Spirit who formed it in the beginning. The Scriptures give no other model for the Body of Christ to be expressed to the world than it was in the first century.

No Resemblance to the Original Pattern

Why do you suppose there is no resemblance to this archetype1 in the churches of today? There was only one designer of the original pattern — He was both architect and builder.2 Have others been building without following the blueprints?3 If so, then the structure that has been built is of another design and from another designer and will not stand. Indeed it cannot stand.4

The church, both today and for the past 1900 years, has not resembled that first pattern set forth in the Book of Acts. Yet continual excuses and debates are made as to why. This pattern however, explicitly describes what life in the Body of Christ was like — life that came by the direction of the Holy Spirit. There is no other pattern described in the New Testament for the church’s foundation. In addition to the vivid description of this life in Acts 2 and 4, the evidence of its existence is found throughout the Epistles,5 supporting that this was the only true apostolic foundation upon which the church could be established.6 It was the first and only authentic pattern for how the Church was to be.

So where is this pattern today? If it cannot be located, then where is the Church? The first communities were called “the Way.”7 Therefore, the church of today can be no other way than the way it was when it was the Way.

False Security

There is a sense of false security in considering this first pattern of the church as visionary, idealistic, or obsolete. If it is not real, then there is no accountability for not living that way. However, if it is real, and indeed all true believers are to live this way, then a sobering question must be asked: have they ever truly heard the gospel? Christians who merely dwell in their theological comfort zone of daily devotionals and weekly church services are not willing to ask this. It brings into question whether or not someone is indeed saved. If they had heard the same gospel would it not have resulted in bringing about the same dramatic witness we read about in Acts 2 and 4? What standard are we to judge by? Is it by the Word of God or something else? Being saved from our sins includes coming out of the world where sin reigned in us. This is what it means to be born again.8 We start life over when we are baptized into a new social and spiritual life through the community where Christ reigns.

That is why Peter on the Day of Pentecost said, “Come out of this evil and perverse generation.”9 Those who believed and received his word responded accordingly. They literally came out of the life they lived in the world. If necessary they forsook friends and family. They moved into the community where this new social order was being formed. They were like pioneers, establishing a new society and a whole new culture on earth where Christ reigned as their Lord. The one who follows Jesus is not capable of living outside the intimate fellowship of the Body of Christ. It is impossible for a disciple to grow in spiritual health outside the context of community, just as a viable10 seed is not able to live outside fertile soil. The church has to be that fertile soil for every disciple, and it takes a community to do this.

Perhaps, this should be obvious, yet some say that community was the early church’s first mistake. But how could this be a mistake when abundant grace was upon them all and everyone’s needs were met?11 Oh, that such a mistake might be made again!