There was great excitement in the air in Acts 2 when the church began. Those who were being saved were added to the Lord’s church just as we are today. As the church in the first century, it began to work for the Lord. Its members met with each other house to house. They continued in the apostle’s doctrine. They worshipped. They worked. They took care of one another. As the church began to grow, more and more congregations of the Lord’s church were being established from city to city. Elders were put into place in each congregation to shepherd the flock, and the Word of the Lord continued to spread.
As Christians living today, we are a part of that same church that began in Acts 2. When we are baptized for the remission of our sins (Acts 2:38), Christ adds us to His church (Acts 2:47). As part of the body, we serve God. We worship Him in spirit and in truth. We are obedient to His Word. We follow His Will. We come together on each Sunday to worship Him and to remember Christ and His sacrifice. We come together to lift each other up, encouraging and supporting one another, praying for one another. We come together to give unto the Lord from the depths of our hearts, to praise and honor God. We come together.
The Lord has set many commandments before us as His church, the things that we must do. While, yes, we should do those things because God has commanded us, we should also do them out of love (John 14:15). We should love to worship God. We should love to come together. Lifting up other people should bring joy to our hearts. The work of the Lord and spreading of the Gospel should not be something that we just feel obligated to do, but such ought to be something that we love and desire to do.
We should also know that as a child of God we are needed in the body. Our individual talents make us who we are; they make us special. Those things that set us apart as individuals make us unique and very much needed for the work of the Lord. When we do not come together, we are not only breaking God’s commands (Hebrews 10:24-25), but we are also not supporting our fellow brethren. We need to love God and each other so much that we want to be a part of His spiritual body.
As a church, we come together. We come together on Sundays to worship God and to lift each other up. We come together outside of worship to continue the work of the Lord. My hope is that we will all come together to do God’s will.
