Imagine if there were a way we could go back in time to the 1st century and be given an opportunity to speak to those people about life in the 21st century. How much of what we take for granted on a daily basis would they be able to comprehend? Imagine trying to explain television, radio, the internet, flying, light bulbs, and a myriad of other things. One can only imagine how utterly confused they would be. It would take a great deal of education and explanation before they could even grasp many of the concepts, let alone understand how these things work.
Now, as foreign as these 21st-century concepts would be to 1st-century people, explaining 1st-century concepts to 21st-century people can be just as foreign and difficult. This is certainly true concerning the 1st-century church.
Very few people today have any understanding of the church that Jesus built in the 1st century. All they have ever known is 21st-century religion. What they know of the church is denominationalism, division, doctrinal discord, and shopping for a church that best meets their desires. For some, the church is merely a one-stop fitness center, coffee shop, daycare, weekly concert venue, and a place where they can hear brief, politically correct, motivational speeches.
However, this bears little resemblance to the church that Jesus built. While we have made great advancements in science and technology since the 1st century, it is time to go back to the 1st century and learn about the church that Jesus built. The good news is that this can be done without a “time machine.” We can simply open our Bibles for the answers we seek.
I am convinced there is a great need for preachers to introduce 21st-century people to the 1st-century church. Dust off some of those old sermons about “the Head of the Church,” “the Mission of the Church,” “the Organization of the Church,” “the Worship of the Church,” and “the Rule of Conduct in the Church” and introduce people to these biblical concepts of which many 21st century people know little.
by Steve Higginbotham