Visit to a Church

When you walk into the room in the center of the house, though it's unfamiliar, it's home. You glance around at all the faces seated in a circle, see their welcoming smiles, though present are wealthy and poor, dark skinned and light, men, women and children.

Everyone bows to pray. Requests are made on each other's behalf. "I pray for Justin's brother who is very ill, that he might be made well." "Please be with our dear sister Anna who is taking the gospel to a hostile land." "Be near to Jason, Aaron and Mary and others who are in prison this night for your name." "Give us unity to love one another as you intended."

Everyone starts to sing. The words seem proverbial, and you feel as though you might almost sing along. The spirit of the hymn speaks to the Spirit within.

The leader of the group reminds everyone of Paul's words in his epistle to the Romans. "Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law. The commandments... are summed up in this one rule: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. And do this, understanding the present time. The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed."
"Jesus is coming again," he looks up and smiles at everyone. "soon! We must love each other and look to Him until He returns!"

There are several "Amens." You can feel the Spirit moving within the group, knitting them together with invisible cords composed of the oneness that is found in Christ. You know the pull of the cord that connects you to each one of these strangers seated here.

"We must pull together our resources for our brother and sister, Timothy and Julia. They have come on hard times. We can't let their children beg bread in the streets."

"They can come to live with me." someone speaks quickly, nodding. "I will care for their needs."

"Thank you, Brother." the leader smiles. "And who will take food and our encouragement to James, who is imprisoned?"

"I will. My family and I will care for him." Another man who has been quiet to this point suddenly says quietly.

"Good." the leader nods his head. "He is not sure how much longer he will be in prison. There is a game this coming Lord's Day, and he feels he might be part of it."

Several women gasp. The children give their parents uncertain glances. The men work to contain their emotions.

"Talk to me, my people." the leader's voice turns very gentle, and tears fill his eyes. "Tell me what you are thinking."

"I suppose I just never thought it would happen." His wife leans against him and says slowly, painfully. "It always seemed like we lived in such a peaceful place. The atrocities that go on in other places didn't register as real until it started happening among us. First Ruth. Then Andrew. Even little Adam was taken to the arena. It could be any one of us next."

"We must be bold to face the things that will happen." someone else suddenly spoke. "We can't live for ourselves any longer. We were not given this life to be wealthy or have all the luxuries that everyone strives for. We were put in this place to be a light for Jesus, our Messiah."

Several murmur "Praise the Lord."

"It bothers me that we have so much discord in this fellowship." A woman spoke this time, very meekly and so soft she was barely audible. "Does it really matter whether some do this or that or go here or there? Does it really matter if we feel offense over something said to us? How can any of be important when our friends and family are giving their lives for their faith?"

"She's right." the leader agreed. "We have no business pursuing petty selfishness or personal gain. We must bolster our strength and trust in the Spirit to guide us in these troubled times, until he returns."

Suddenly the leader turns to you. "Tell me, friend, about how you found the Lord. And where do you come from?"

You search for the words to explain. "I come from a land that was founded on the freedom to believe in Jesus. I learned the Word from a child. I trusted Him as a child. My church is a large building with many members."

"You mean you worship in the open? And no one protests?" Shock registered all around. You start to agree, then something stops you. Recent headlines come to mind.

"Well, it used to be that way. But there are people who've been arrested lately for taking a stand for the Bible. Students that have been suspended for speaking the Word. In fact, the persecution seems most prominent in the school system."

"What kind of people attack children?" someone wonders aloud.

"You know, I was so busy going to potlucks and singing in the choir and working in Vacation Bible School, I haven't even really given it much thought. Somehow I'm able to put out of my mind the thousands of believers that are in jail for their involvement in churches, or giving their lives to the agendas of extremists in other countries."

"We've been doing that too." the leader sighed. "Until it began to happen here. It caught us off guard."

"There's something akin to disbelief in my spirit. I just can't see how anyone would want to fight against a Savior who never did anything except love and heal and forgive."

"If you've never known what it was like to be an unbeliever, it's hard to imagine." the leader nods. "I was an unbeliever. I hated Christians. I enjoyed watching them die in the arena. Who wants to hear that our lives are full of sin and we need the intervention of Jesus Christ to save us from hell?"

"How did you ever accept it?" you ask quietly.

"When Jesus opened my eyes, and I saw that the Christians were right. He is the only way. He is the way, and the truth, and the life!"

"Amen!" several say with emotion.

"Dear friend, where is this place of enlightenment you are from?"

"America."

Everyone shakes their head. No one has heard of your land.

"How did you come to be in Ephesus?" someone asks curiously.

"I have no idea," you almost laugh. It is on the tip of your tongue to tell them what century you are from, but something stops you. None of these people want to hear that Jesus will tarry another 20 centuries.

"You've all taught me something today." you say instead. "The church is the church. It has been since the moment Jesus established it, and the things that you've been instructed to do and the way you've been told to live together and love one another will still work the moment He returns. My people have lost sight of that. They've made up their own rules. And things are messed up. People are isolated, and stagnant in their growth. No one is ready for the persecution that will inevitably find us. We need to get back to the basics."

"Amen, friend. May you play a part in bringing your people back to the Word. May you be faithful in prayer, faithful in tribulation, hopeful in trial. May others look to you and see the Savior and have the courage to step out from the realm of comfort and tradition, and find true life waiting for them."

Everyone who is within reach has laid a hand on you. The leader prays with such conviction that you can actually sense the Spirit's power filling all the places that were empty. You know what you need to do.

It's time to build up the church. The true church, not the fancy building. It's time to prune away the things that don't matter, and get to the heart of what God is doing.

The storm is coming. But so is Jesus.