Unit One: A Few Covenant Essentials 

Lesson Five: The Church

A person can drive around southeastern South Dakota and find all sorts of church buildings of all different shapes and sizes. Some are big, some are small. Some are modern, and some are very, very old.

But the church that we know today began many years ago in one place, with one congregation. Not a large group at first. And not very influential. But as you can see, the church grew!

The first church gathered in Jerusalem, just after the first Easter Sunday. The second chapter of the book of Acts describes how Peter and the other disciples preached, and a whole crowd of people believed in Jesus and received a new life.

We talked about new life a couple of weeks ago. Remember: the whole idea of church is new life. 

After the revival, these first believers had a new life, but they didn’t have a church. Not at first. So they started one. You can read Acts 2 and find out what this early church did when it came together.

I’ll give you part of the story:

They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 

Acts 2:42    

Let’s hear that again, but this time I’ll paraphrase it, or put it in my own words.

The members of the church sat and listened to the apostles teach, and they spent time together as a group. They shared meals together, remembering what Jesus told them the last time he ate supper with the disciples. And they prayed. 

Acts 2:42   (paraphrased)    

Notice that the church was teaching. The people listened to the apostles. These apostles were once called the disciples, and when the church began they were the teachers. They taught about what God had to say to the church, and they told people about Jesus.

And the church prayed. We do that today, both in quiet moments all alone or together as a group. Prayer is simply talking to God. Of course, it isn’t simple. But it is. It’s incredibly simple. But it’s hard.

There are two other things mentioned in this verse in Acts. The church didn’t just go off and ignore each other. They ate together and helped each other. They sat around and talked, and they had fun together.

And as far as eating together, they probably met for two very different types of meals. One was like a potluck dinner, where everyone brought food and shared. But the other was what we call Communion.

We’ll talk more about communion later, but before we skip over it, let’s understand that the church recognized communion as worship. They shared the bread and the cup, like we do today, and they remembered the words and actions of Jesus.

This one church expanded like crazy, and soon there were churches all over the Mediterranean. Christians went here and there, and as they went they preached Christ to anyone who would listen.

Many of the little books in the New Testament were letters written to these churches. For example, here is the greeting of the first letter to the Thessalonians:

Paul, Silas and Timothy, to the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace and peace to you. 

First Thessalonians 1:1    

Paul was writing to a church, along with his friends Silas and Timothy. He reminded them that their new life came from God and from Jesus. Paul wanted these people to receive grace and peace.

By the way, grace is something like mercy, and peace—well, what do you think peace is?

Let’s look at another verse:

Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, to Philemon our dear friend and fellow worker, to Apphia our sister, to Archippus our fellow soldier and to the church that meets in your home: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 

Philemon 1:1-3    

Here’s another letter. This one also mentions grace and peace. This is a common greeting. You find similar verses in many of the other letters.

But notice something about this letter. Who is it written to? List the names, even if they don’t sound like real names.

 Let’s focus in on Philemon. He’s a person, and the book takes on his name. Paul writes to him and to his friends, because Philemon has a church meeting in his house.

Remember this: when the church began, there were no church buildings. Just houses or meeting rooms or borrowed places. Or caves. Whatever.

And I’m not kidding. Sometimes they met in caves.

The place was never important. When the God talks about a church, he means the people. Not the building. The people are the church. They are Christians who have come together to worship, to learn, to serve, and to encourage each other.

Just ask Philemon. Church is not a building.

The church is the people.

Just one more thing. The church wasn’t just an accident. It was the plan. And it still is. You can do a lot of things by yourself. You can worship and pray and study. But the church has something that you don’t. Check this out.

Think up new ways to encourage other Christians to love God and do good things. Don't stay by yourself, but come to church so you can encourage one another. Time is short! 

Hebrews 10:24-25   (paraphrased)    

What does the church have that you don’t? It has other Christians. They need you, and you need them.

Speaking of people and stuff like that, here’s an extra credit question in three parts. Or maybe it’s three questions in one part each.

Read Acts 2:40-41 in your Bible. When the church began in Jerusalem, about how many people joined?

If another church has 100 people, how many times bigger was the Jerusalem church than the church with 100 people?

If a standard restaurant table holds four people, and you tried to have lunch with everyone in the Jerusalem church, how many lunches would you have to schedule, providing you used only one restaurant table per lunch and your table was always full? If you used your napkin to figure out the answer, bring it to class Sunday.

Did you get it all figured out? Okay, it’s just math. But it’s people math. So it’s church math.

Because the church is people.

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