Do You Know The Way?

Do You Know “The Way”?
I am once again going to have to ask you to stretch or move out of your current comfort zone. The Lord has been talking to me quite a bit about the church and what that word really means. Even though we should know that the church means people, our bodies and not a building I don’t think we remember that most of the time. We invite people to church then take them to a building or we tell people who are struggling they need to go to church and give them the name and address of the one we attend or one close by them. Acts 7:48 says The Most High does not live in houses made by men. “What kind of house will you build for me” says the Lord. Good question, could we possibly build a house that was suitable for God? If the address you give as your church is not where you’re standing than perhaps you may need to remind yourself of where God says the church is.
I read a book called Living Water about a missionary in China. He was put in jail on many occasions and sometimes beat beyond recognition to his family. His story is horrifying and the treatment he and fellow Chinese missionaries endured is heart breaking. After his release from one of his prison sentences he met some missionaries sent from the United States. They wanted to know what church he belonged to and what credentials he had to be a missionary. He had no idea what they were talking about. For him your “credentials” were how many times you lived through a jail sentence. The Western missionaries basically let him know that because of his lack of education from seminary school he was not “qualified” to be called a missionary. Later when he met some recent Chinese converts to Christianity and spoke to them about the Lord they too asked the question, what church do you go to? When he replied he did not attend a building he served God where ever he was the new converts didn’t seem much interested in talking to him because they didn’t know the name or teaching of his church.
How did that happen? How many times have you and I asked someone what church they go to then get a preconceived idea of them based on their answer? This was eye opening to me.
I was reading in Acts and Saul is persecuting the church, looking for people who believed in Jesus to kill them. These groups of people were known as The Way. In Acts 4 it says all the believers were one in heart and mind. No one said they owned possessions they shared everything they had. The people were never needy because people would sell land or houses and would distribute the money to anyone who had a need. The bible says they would meet together in their homes and break bread (take communion) and eat together. They had sincere hearts and praised God and enjoyed each others company. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. People were coming to a relationship daily with the Lord in the homes of Christians not in a building somewhere with a denomination name and mission statement. Perhaps if we went back to meeting in homes we could take the money we use on buildings to help each other out so no one would have a need. Wouldn’t that attract people to Jesus if His children were taking care of each other without the burden falling on just a few people? We could read the bible together and allow the Holy Spirit to speak to each one of us directly and discuss what He is telling us as a group. Just a thought.
Back to our story of Saul, he is looking for believers to kill and the bible says in Acts 8:3 But Saul, began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off men and women and put them in prison. He didn’t find believers in a building he found them house to house.
In Acts chapter 9 you read the famous story of Saul on his way to Damascus. He is on his way to find more of “The Way” to take back to Jerusalem and put in prison. On his journey a light comes from Heaven and a voice asks Saul “why are you persecuting me.” Saul says “who are you?” And the voice replies “I am Jesus.” Jesus then tells Saul to get up and go into the city and he would be told what to do next. Saul is blind for three days and does not eat anything. I’m sure Jesus got his full attention. Perhaps the Lord took his sight to let Saul recognize his blindness towards The Way.
The Lord also gave a man named Ananias a vision about Saul, whose name would later be changed to Paul. Jesus tells Ananias to go to a guy named Judas’ house and he will find Saul there, but the real interesting part is He tells Ananias he lives on Straight Street. I don’t remember the Lord ever giving an address before. Straight Street, hmmm perhaps this is a play on words, maybe Ananias had to be set straight about Saul and Saul had to be set straight about the believers and perhaps we have to be set straight about the church.
I would not be surprised if in the days ahead we begin to see churches closing down. Maybe persecution of the church for this generation will be just that, church buildings closing down. This however should not affect the “church” at all if we understand that each believer is the church. I won’t be surprised if more and more believers start meeting in homes, having communion and eating together. Having sincere hearts when we ask each other how we’re doing and then helping each other any way we can. Maybe God is going to do a new old thing and bring “The Way” back to the way it was supposed to be, personal, and each person using his gifts daily to bring more into the kingdom of Heaven. I’m not sure what the days ahead will bring I just know my church address in where ever I am at the time. We need to be Jesus where ever we are because He is The Only Way!
1 Corinthians3:16 don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?
Ephesians 1:22 and God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.
Ephesians 2:23 and in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.
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