Keep good company.

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

Acts 2:42‭-‬47 NIV

This is an awe inspiring piece of scripture, a picture of what many people would strive to accomplish within the church. It would appear to be what the ideal church would look like, yet the early church was not perfect, they did have imperfect people with imperfect stuff, Paul and his fellow apostles had to address faulty beliefs, behaviors, heresy etc. 

To many in our modern world this seems an impossibility, how would this look like in the world of high walls, and individuality and privacy, in a world dominated by securing my and my families best interests etc. In the western world this would seem a fantastically high hope and demand. 

This is certainly cross cultural in the modern context, and would this only be possible in the context of a more social aware society similar to the early believers who were essentially Jewish and perhaps this way of life was practiced in any event? 

There is much to be drawn on and discussed, but I want to hone in on a very important aspect that I believe is crucial! 

That is this whole piece of scripture is talking about community. A church family in community. In particular the importance of the community around you, I found this quote from JC Ryle

"Nothing perhaps affects man's character more than the company he keeps"

I am fortunate to belong to a strong discipleship group who were actually going through the book of acts and this particular scripture, and I am eternally grateful to God to have these men in my life. Let me explain a bit more..

I have spoken extensively on my struggle with regard to my sexuality and addictive and compulsive issues. It seems that the issues are often seasonal and are either low impact or extremely high impact. 

For some reason I was triggered and tempted to engage with a sexual liason or porno. At the time I was in a place of feeling alone and had a deep desire for companionship. The problem was I was looking to find it in the wrong place, outside of Christ. I recognised the fact that I needed to take action to counter the strong pull in my heart, mind and body. 

I almost decided not to attend church and rather seek relief and comfort by allowing myself to seek this desire.

However I fortunately decided to attend church and was immediately convicted of my seeking for contentment and fulfilment outside of Christ. I repented and turned back to God, and fellowship but I felt like I needed more. 

I also recognised that I was still struggling with the thoughts. The enemy kept selling the idea that the rest of the world was doing this, and in today's world it was normal and acceptable. 

I definitely needed to get support and come under some accountability if I was going to have any real success in defeating this strong demonic attack. 

At times you are unable to stand until someone has your back, and you make yourself known to a group of trusted friends who will hold you accountable to your choices. 

I chose to stand for Jesus and sent a message calling for prayer, and help to win the battle over the temptations that I was facing to six of my close friends.

You see in effect I was asking the community to help me stay devoted to Christ and the teachings of the Kingdom. Firstly by chosing to attend church, and then by making myself accountable for my decisions to stand for righteousness etc. 

I am grateful that I had immediate responses from my circle of friends, some called, others advised via text that they were praying. Some even following up with me over the next few days to see if I was okay and still staying in line with my choices. 

This was a very intentional course of action, something of what I define as a relational purity plan, or an escape plan. If you are an addict of some sort it is advised that you create a similar plan, to identity your triggers, what and when do you need to do so that you can increase your chances of not acting out on the temptations.

I am convinced that we see fewer signs and wonders within the church because we lack the devotion to the prayer, fellowship, teachings and particularly to the community around us. 

I am also convinced though that I experienced a fantastic sign and wonder by the support of those friends within my discipleship group, they hold me accountable to live for Christ as do I them. We are truly in many respects our brothers keeper.

The quote below has deep meaning and truth, and as application for us in every circumstance, either we allow the bad apple to affect me towards ungodliness or towards Godliness. The company we keep most often sets the course of the trajectory of our lives, chose well my friend.




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