You might be looking at the title above and saying, "What is the crazy preacher up to now? That doesn't make sense! What does he mean?" Glad you asked!
In our series on the early Church (Acts 2 stuff), I have tried to look at that Church in the light of today, asking the question, "How were they different?" Here are my observations.
1. In Scripture, I don't see a Church that was trying to be popular. P.T. Barnum once said, "Without promotion, something terrible happens ... nothing!" That seems to be the mantra of some of our congregations that want flash, charisma, loudness and other ways to entertain us. Luke 6:26 says, "Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you, for that is how your ancestors treated false prophets." Jesus is reminding us His message isn't going to be popular with any of what we call our "perspectives." Liberal or conservative political-correctness isn't our goal or our mission. Our call is to "follow." If you read Acts you will see a Church that is 'good' but not 'popular,' especially with the high-ranking religious and political leaders of that day.
2. The early Church, and I have misstated this before, wasn't "anti-culture" as much as it was non-culture. This is an important distinction, because we (the Church) too often become immersed in the rhetoric of being against so many things. There are truly things we SHOULD oppose. Micah 6:8 says, "practice justice." We often take this to mean yelling to the world about what we are against. The meaning is deeper that that. This passage means to oppose those things that harm and destroy God's people. In the 70's I was a municipal planner, and we had the bright idea to bring an enclave of people to live in government housing in the suburbs. The idea was to remove the folks from substandard housing, build new housing and place them in middle-income America, thus raising them out of crime, poverty and all the social ills we saw in the inner-city. It was a typical governmental solution that we thought was brilliant! It was not brilliant, not beneficial and not just. We removed the people from all of the infrastructure they needed to get groceries, have social interaction and have some sense of community. All the negatives moved along with the people ... crime, poverty, social ills (with new ones to boot!). The idea was a great failure, but it taught me (and this is why we keep history HONEST and never rewrite it) that we must look at things from a lens that reflects God's view of what is just, right and good ... we are FOR that, not against the world.
3. The early Church was FOR a lot of good things. It was a) FOR salvation, and Peter's sermon in Acts 2, in which he says, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins," b) FOR healing, as Acts 3 begins with Peter's healing of a lame man, c) FOR emulating Jesus, Acts 4 finds Peter and John (in trouble for healing and preaching) before the Sanhedrin, astonishing the Jewish leaders because "they took note that these men had been with Jesus," d) FOR being the Church, Acts witnesses of many cases where the Church is focused on ministry issues (never the divisive politics of their day), and FOR people ... have you read anything in Acts where the Church was not open (and expanding that openness to gentiles) to just folks, anyone wanting to find Christ and enter into His grace, healing, service and love?
There is a telling verse in Acts 2 that needs to be repeated right here in Abbeville, Alabama. It says, "they (the people) were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other Apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?" It is a great question, but they asked the Apostles ... not self-professed charismatic speakers ... not high-ranking church officials ... not peers immersed in their political perspectives ... not the government. There are lots of people asking this question to all the wrong people ... and the answers make them angry, nasty, loud, and just plain obnoxious. The Acts Church was known for goodness and the fruit of the Spirit. That attitude and personality isn't anti-culture, it's just non-culture. Yes, we will look different. Yes, we will be persecuted, and chastised by even our friends. But maybe we should try it! Randy
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