The universal church is made up of all the saved. The local church is made up of Christians in specific places. While the universal and local churches are different in nature, they are composed of the same people, that is, Christians. For a while, the church at Jerusalem was both the univer-sal church, where all the saved were found, and a local church made up of saints in Jerusalem and overseen by elders (Acts 15:4). Eventually, the gospel was spread abroad, and other local churches were formed. Jesus told the apostles that this would happen.

Acts 1:8 (ESV)
⁸ But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my wit-nesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”

We see this starting to come to fruition in Acts 8 when Saul persecuted the church. He was going to the homes of suspected Christians and dragging them off to prison, both men and women (Acts 8:3). As a result, the church was scattered. The saints that were being persecuted did not quit because of this affliction, but instead, they went everywhere preaching the word (Acts 8:4), and local churches began to be established in places other than Jerusalem (Acts 8:5-12).

Getting back to the church at Jerusalem, it was an ideal church from the beginning. In Acts 2 we see several characteristics of this first local church that we would do well to emulate. Notice verse 42.

Acts 2:42 (ESV)
⁴² And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

This local church was ideal because it was devoted. The word devoted means to be “constantly diligent or to adhere closely” (Strong). One of the things the saints at Jerusalem adhered to closely was the apostles’ teaching. This church was scriptural.

We cannot be an ideal church without adhering closely to the apostles’ teaching. In the first cen-tury, the church was receiving that teaching in a piece-meal fashion. Today, we have the com-plete Word of God. The apostles’ teaching consisted of the teaching found in our New Testa-ment, and we must abide in that teaching.

2 John 1:9 (ESV)
⁹ Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.

We can see by John’s words that it is impossible to be an ideal church without abiding in the teaching of Christ. If a local church fails to do so, it will lose its fellowship with God. We must all be sure that the local church of which we are members is scriptural in its work, worship, and or-ganization. If the church has elders, they must be qualified (1 Timothy 3:1-7). The worship must be according to the Word of God, and not doctrines of men (Matthew 15:8-9). The work must be the same as it was in the first century, consisting of benevolence, evangelism, and edification, not fun and frolic. Our local churches must have scripture for everything that it does (Colossians 3:17); only then is it a scriptural church, and scriptural churches are ideal in the eyes of God.

As you wind down for the night, think about these things.