“Churches are dying today because they are not doing anything the world should look at and say, ‘There is evidence that God is real and glorious.’” — John Piper
This week, I’m beginning a brief series of posts on biblical community, a series that asks a very simple but vital question: What does it look like, biblically, to be the church?
We’re not talking about how to polish our programs or sharpen our marketing, but what is the very essence of the church. The church is not a building, nor a location, nor a program, nor an hour on Sunday morning, it’s a people. A redeemed people. A Spirit-filled, blood-bought, grace-shaped community that Jesus has purchased with His own blood. He has made us alive together by His Spirit and joined us into one body.
So then, what should our life together at Vista Grande Baptist Church actually look like? What should characterize our fellowship, our worship, and our witness as God’s people?
First, because it is easy, far too easy, to forget who we are and why we exist as a local church. In the debris of the “church growth” era of the late 20th century, many churches have drifted, becoming aimless, in-grown, or even indistinguishable from the world. In some cases, churches have measured “success” by attendance or aesthetics, rather than by faithfulness and fruit.
And so, from time to time, it is good for us to pause, open the Scriptures, and remind ourselves of the biblical model for church life. What does the Bible say about how we are to “do church”? What does real, Spirit-filled community look like?
Second, in our individualistic culture, we need to deepen our conviction about the essential, God-ordained nature of biblical community, real fellowship, genuine soul care, and the “one anothers” of the New Testament. Did you realize there are about fifty of those “one another” commands? They are not catchy slogans. They are commands, given by God Himself, for how His people are to live together.
Commands like: love one another, bear one another’s burdens, forgive one another, encourage one another, serve one another, and pray for one another. These aren’t optional extras, they are the rhythms of the Christian life lived together in the local church.
The first place to start is to ask the question: is there a model or ‘blueprint’ that the Bible gives for how the church should look? Yes, there is.
Acts 2:42–47 gives us one of the clearest snapshots of what life together in the early church looked like. Pentecost (Acts 2:1–41) had just taken place, the Spirit fell, Peter preached, and 3,000 people were saved. It was a once-for-all, history-shaping event.
But right after that incredible, supernatural moment, Luke “slows the camera down,” and shows us what the everyday life of the Spirit-filled community looked like. It’s as if the Holy Spirit is saying: This is what church looks like when I am at work.
This passage is not just history, it’s a Spirit-given template for what the church in every generation should be. And Luke answers three key questions about this new community:
It didn’t begin with a program, a marketing plan, or a clever strategy. It began when the gospel was preached—and the Spirit of God gave life.
“Those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls” (Acts 2:41).
The gospel creates the church, the Spirit gathers people into a visible, living body, and baptism marks their public union with Christ and their belonging to His people (Acts 2:38, 41).
The church, then, is not defined by style, structure, or preference, it is defined by the gospel. It is made up of repentant, believing, baptized disciples of Jesus Christ.
“They devoted themselves…” (v. 42).
Not casual interest. Not occasional attendance. Not flippant commitment. Devotion. These believers were steadfast—and Luke shows us four key things they were devoted to:
(a) The Apostles’ Teaching (v. 42a)
A Spirit-filled church is always a Word-filled church. The risen Christ, by His Spirit, authorized the apostles to record His truth, and their teaching became the foundation of the New Testament.
To be “Spirit-led” is to be “Scripture-shaped.” The church gathers around the Word because God still speaks there. We must be a people who center everything we do around the Word, it alone gives life, builds faith, and nourishes the soul.
(b) The Fellowship (v. 42b)
The word koinonia means sharing or participation. True biblical fellowship is not coffee and small talk, it is the shared life of believers united in Christ, it is a partnership together in the gospel (Phil. 1:5).
It shows up in tangible generosity (vv. 44–45), shared time, shared homes, and shared sorrows and joys. “If you’re hurting—it’s our problem.” The Spirit knits hearts together so deeply that the needs of one become the concern of all.
(c) The Breaking of Bread (v. 42c)
This refers to ordinary meals (see v. 46). They ate in one another’s homes “with glad and generous hearts.” Ordinary tables became sacred spaces, places of laughter, confession, prayer, and encouragement.
In our fast-paced, isolated world, this kind of open-handed hospitality is revolutionary. It’s how friendships deepen and discipleship happens.
(d) The Prayers (v. 42d)
They prayed together, dependently, earnestly, regularly. A prayerless church is a powerless church. Prayer is how we confess our dependence on God and align our hearts with His will.
And the result? Joy, generosity, awe, unity, favor with all the people, and most importantly, “the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved” (vv. 43, 47).
Jesus prayed in John 17 that His people “may all be one…so that the world may believe.” Our unity is meant to be a visible, living testimony that the gospel is true. He expresses earlier in John 13:35, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Paul writes in Ephesians 3:10 that it is through the church that God displays His “manifold wisdom” to the heavenly realms. In other words, the church is God’s living showcase of grace. The Spirit-filled community is a living illustration, on earth and before heaven, of the glory, wisdom, and beauty of Christ. The church is to be a testimony to the watching world that the gospel is true and changes lives!
Be centered on the Word.
Come each Sunday ready to hear and apply God’s Word in community. Bring your Bible. Expect God to speak. Listen with a heart ready to obey. It is the Word of God that gives life, builds up the church, and shows us what life together in this community of faith is to look like.
Open your table.
Invite someone into your home this month. Share a meal. Ask spiritual questions. Talk about the things of the Lord. Pray together and for our church. Maybe it’s someone new, or someone who’s hurting—show hospitality, and watch God work through it.
Practice the “one anothers.”
Sit down with your Bible this week and look for them, they’re everywhere! Encourage. Forgive. Bear burdens. Admonish. Meet together. Welcome one another. Stir up love and good works. Speak the truth in love. Don’t wait for a program to do this, you can start right now.
Commit to community.
Join a Sunday School class or small group. Our Sunday School ministry is one of the greatest way our church practices community together. Our Men’s Groups are a great opportunity for men to build real, intentional relationships with other men for spiritual growth and accountability. Gather regularly with others for prayer, fellowship, and the Word. This is how we move from being a crowd who attends church together to being a real community—from spectators to participants.
Beloved, Acts 2 is not a nostalgic ideal, it is the normal Christian life lived in the power of the Holy Spirit. Let’s ask God to make Vista Grande Baptist Church a people created by the gospel, shaped by the Word, sustained by prayer, and marked by love, so that our city might see and say, “God is real and He is glorious!”
And may the Lord continue to add to our number day by day those who are being saved.
