Of the early church, Acts 2:47 says that they were “enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” Though they would experience persecution from religious leaders of their day who did not accept Jesus as the Messiah, the general populace seemed to view them favorably.
Lessons from the Early Church About Gaining Favor Without Compromising
A few verses earlier, Acts 2 states that “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching.” The message remained central. They obviously did not water down truth to appeal to unbelievers. Gaining favor did not mean doctrinal compromise.
Acts 2:42-47 describes their willingness to look out for each other in tangible ways, evidence of motives based on love. The world often uses how we treat each other as a litmus test which seemed to be the case for the early church. There was an authenticity and sincerity in what they did. Learn from the example of the early church.
Implications for Today’s Church About Gaining Favor without Compromise
We have the same message of Truth to extend to the world around us. Will people listen? Will people respond to us favorably even if they don’t agree with the message? Perhaps we need to look at ourselves through their eyes. Are we passing the litmus test? When people look at the Church today, what do they see? Is it something they would want? Let’s start by doing some soul-searching.
Look for the next post: Gaining Favor Without Compromising Truth – How?
Sounds like you’re holding up the early church as a perfect example. Didn’t they have problems too?
To be sure, the early church wasn’t perfect. But, they did tend to bring people into account. Remember the story of Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1-11)? The leaders confronted them about their deception but God was the one who brought the judgment. The harshness of that judgment, death, was probably to teach a strong lesson about the need for integrity among His people. The issue wasn’t that they did not give all of the proceeds of their sale but that they lied about it, trying to make it seem like they did. Also look at some of the Apostle Paul’s writings to churches who were compromising in some way — straying from the Truth or having integrity breaks. He spoke the truth to them in love (Eph. 4:15). And, he encouraged them to deal with the issues or situations themselves (i.e., Phil. 4:2-3), to not let matters get too far before dealing with them. He knew what was at stake if they did not quickly realign themselves with God and His ways.
We will never have a perfect church here on earth. The challenge for us is how quickly we pull back and realign with God. Will we confront compromised theology and living in our own lives and within the church and will we do it in such a way that we do not further ruin the testimony of Christ? The next post should help with how to do that.
Looking forward to next post.
Thanks for sharing. I think the church does have to learn not to compromise truth, at the reward of acceptance. Honestly, we won’t always be loved. (Matt 24:9) But it will be worth it in the end.
You are welcome, Grace. It’s important we note that the Early Church wasn’t devoted to gaining favor. According to Acts 2, it was a byproduct. We need to remember that gaining favor is not the objective. We need to live as light and salt in this world, sharing the love of Christ with others in truth. When we have the right goal, we will be better able to take the perspective you presented, that it will be worth it in the end regardless of what people feel about us. As you said, we won’t always be loved. There are many verses to that end. At the same time, we need to remember that having people hate us is not the goal either but rather living as light and salt in this world, sharing the love of Christ with others in truth.
Right on!!! I see Christians proud people hate them – they’re “suffering for Jesus.” Too often it’s not what they said that caused people to hate them but the way they said it and arrogant attitudes like “I’m better than you.”
Let’s always remember that Jesus came full of grace AND truth (Jn. 1:14, 17).