Acts: The Revolution of Faithنموونە

The Jesus Virus

“One night the Lord spoke to Paul in a vision: ‘Do not be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent. For I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you, because I have many people in this city.’” Acts 15:9-10

I was at a conference for church leaders, and the speaker started by asking a very interesting question—do you want your church to be an elephant or a virus? Now, I have to say, my first response was an elephant.

I mean, an elephant is huge and impressive. When it walks, it shakes the earth. I mean, no one wants to get in the way of a stampede of elephants. Not good. But it didn't take long to shift the answer to a virus. And this was way before the unleashing of the coronavirus.

A virus, as we well know, is way more potent than an elephant. It has no boundaries. It's no respecter of persons. An elephant can't shut down the world, but a virus can. Jesus intended the church to act more like a virus. Not a virus that makes us sick, but one that heals us. Not a virus that kills us, but one that gives us life.

Jesus said to the people, "I will destroy this temple made with human hands and in three days I will build another, not made with hands." He wasn't referring to physically raising the temple in Jerusalem. Rather, he was talking about the releasing of the presence of God from being quarantined in a building and into the lives of the followers.

A virus lives in the cells of a living host. Those of us who believe are that host. We are the new temple. Wherever we go, God goes with us. The presence of God was released from the temple in Jerusalem at the conclusion of the crucifixion of Jesus.

As Jesus gives his last breath, signaling the payment for sin has been made once for all, the thick veil in the temple is torn from the top to the bottom by God, and the presence of God is no longer locked up in the small room in the back of the temple.

Jesus designed his church to be more like a virus, the presence of God tabernacling in each one of us as a host so that wherever we go in Jesus' name. We take the transformative power of God with us. We gather in worship to attribute worth to the one true God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, who in turn infuses us with a holy identity as one who carries his name.

When we leave the building, no matter how magnificent the architecture, it ceases to be the church. The church leaves the building and takes the potency of God, wherever we go. The church must not be silent. We must trust God as we spread the love of Jesus. We must live lives that are contagious. We must be the Jesus virus.

I am part of a small group at church we call Acts 2 Communities, coming right out of the movement of the book of Acts, where they belonged and were growing together and were serving together. We have this single mom who's decided to foster and now adopt four children who are all siblings.

She was a bit overwhelmed and our little group, apart from the building, has just wrapped God's love around her. We discovered that the oldest girl was behind in her reading level. And we know, in our state, if you cannot read by the third grade, it is the greatest predictor of graduation and incarceration.

Two ladies in our group went over every day and helped her with reading. So, by the end of the school year, she not only caught up with her reading but passed most of her classmates. As a result, today not only is she going to graduate from high school, not only is she going to stay out of prison, but she has become a beautiful follower of Jesus.

Why? Because the virus of Jesus knows no boundaries. It entered into that home and ministered to that family and that little girl at her point of pain, and there's just no stopping that virus when it is filled with the love of Christ.

Prayer

Father, give me boldness to share Jesus and awareness of ways I can meet the needs of others.