Acts 2:40-47; 13:1-3, The Mission of the Church (Intro 2)

 There is another reason this study has value.  Every local church will look a little different than any other church because they exist in a different town or state or country; and each has a different mix of spiritual gifts.  Yet, every local church has the same Head who has given direction in Scripture.  What this means is that, first, the Church needs to know the will of the Head, His will revealed in Scripture.  What the Head expects of every local church must be known and accounted for.  This includes the major issue of the purpose of the Church, the reason it exists; it also would include objectives that must be pursued for the Church to live up to its purpose.  With these in hand, each local church will then need to know to live out their purpose day to day.  And they will need to carry out the various objectives.  This will require the daily leading of the Holy Spirit in the lives of the members.  No ”canned” program will fit every church.  Leadership must know how to hear from the Lord daily.  Thus we have:

Purpose (major truths that tie us to God’s eternal plan)

Objectives (major statements as to how God desires we fulfill His plan) 

Goals (Spirit-led ways we can fulfill those objectives in our situation)

Today’s reading provides some simple illustrations of this.  Acts 2 involves the Church at Jerusalem; Acts 13 concerns the Church at Syrian Antioch.  Both churches were led by “Elders,” men of godly character and wisdom.  Both churches were involved in preaching and teaching the word of God.  Both were praying churches.  These are things we see in these brief passages; and they reflect the revealed will of the Head of the Church. 

The Jerusalem Church was deeply involved in a “financial-care” program because of the needs of many in the body.  The widows, especially, were cared for (Acts 6) because this was the Jewish way of caring for widows.  It is possible the Antioch Church also had such a program; it seems that this was common in NT churches.  On the other hand, the Antioch Church was specially led by Christ to send out Paul and Barnabas in a gospel ministry to Gentiles.  Being a church that was initially made up of Gentiles, this makes sense.  It is not that the Church at Jerusalem ignored the Gentiles.  They actually played a pivotal roll in the spread of the Gospel.  First, Peter was a part of that church, and he was the one who first preached the gospel to Cornelius, the Roman Centurion.  Second, the Church at Jerusalem hosted the council of Acts 15 where the Jew-Gentile issue was settled. 

In the letters to the churches of Rev. 2-3 you also see this illustrated.  All seven churches were subject to Christ; and they were lights in their part of the world.  But the message to each varies according to their need and to the situation, the city where they lived and the unique obstacles they faced.  The common word to each fits us as well: He who has ears, let him hear what the Spirit says to the Churches.