Mind the Gap
Everywhere you go on the London Underground there are warning signs to Mind the Gap. To my embarrassment at first I had no idea what those signs meant. Eventually someone explained it’s the gap between the train and platform.
There’s a gap between the Book of Acts and our experience and it matters.
Not everybody agrees. Some say the book of Acts is not a guide for us today. They believe Acts is descriptive not prescriptive. It tells the story of the early church, but not necessarily what we have to do today. In Acts 1, Judas’ replacement was chosen by casting lots. Nobody does that today. So we can’t blindly follow the book of Acts. We need to contextualise.
But isn’t that the case with rest of the Bible? When Jesus spat on the ground, made some mud and applied it to a man’s eyes he wasn’t showing us for all time how to heal the blind. If Acts is only descriptive and not prescriptive, so are the Gospels, maybe even the Epistles. When was the last time you required women to wear head coverings in church?
Acts like the rest of the Bible has to be understood and rightly applied. So when people say, “We’re not going to blindly follow the book of Acts.” I agree. Then I ask them to help me make two lists. What’s no longer prescribed in the book of Acts and what we still need to do today. Here’s a start.
Typically no longer relevant:
Casting lots for leaders.
Missionaries only traveling by road or ship.
Communication to the churches written on animal hides carried by messengers on foot.
Still relevant today:
Desperate corporate prayer and passionate worship.
The power and presence of the Holy Spirit to bear witness to Jesus throughout the world.
The sharing of lives and possessions in communities of disciples.
The widespread proclamation of the gospel resulting in new disciples and churches in major cities spreading into the regions.
Faithful endurance under persecution.
Local churches and mobile missionary bands in partnership.
You get the idea.
Maybe our reluctance to apply the book of Acts is because our settled existence would be threatened. There’s a gap but we don’t want to see it. We want to keep on doing what we’re doing. We’re satisfied with the results we’re getting. We don’t mind.
If we don’t grant the book of Acts its rightful authority we’ll fall back one of two things: (1) Our long-held traditions of church life and mission practice, or (2) We’ll be at the mercy of the latest missional fads.
If there’s a gap between Acts and our cherished traditions or our missional practices, shouldn’t we be asking why?
