Two or Three
Jerusalem (LOCALLY, HOME, COMMUNITY, CITY)
Circle of Influence – The Acts 1:8 Principle
With that said, let’s show a couple of examples of a two to five person church. Again, being that we’re a Davidical patterned music ministry we will start with King David.
“And it came to pass, when he [David] had made an end of speaking unto Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit [‘and the two shall become one’] with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. And Saul took him that day, and would let him go no more home to his father’s house. Then Jonathan and David made a covenant [Heb: ‘(in the sense of cutting); a compact (because made by passing between pieces of flesh):--confederacy, covenant, league’], because he loved him as his own soul [‘love neighbor as thyself’]. And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was upon him, and gave it to David, and his garments, even to his sword, and to his bow, and to his girdle [belt].” (1st Samuel 18:1-4).
In this church it was just two people: David and Jonathan! That’s it! They treated each other almost as if they were married! Because that’s what Fellowship, Unity, and Loyalty in the Body of Christ calls for. It’s a marriage!
“And David numbered the people that were with him, and set captains of thousands and captains of hundreds over them. And David sent forth a third part of the people under the hand of Joab, and a third part under the hand of Abishai the son of Zeruiah, Joab’s brother, and a third part under the hand of Ittai the Gittite. And the king said unto the people, I will surely go forth with you myself also.” (2nd Samuel 18:1-2).
Sometime after long after Jonathan’s death David had grown from being one man into the wilderness to 400 warriors to an army of thousands. But his personal church, team, or inner circle consisted of three folks, Abishai, Joab, and Ittai. I believe Joab and Abishai were David’s very own nephews. So David kept his team “all in the family.” Ittai was a Gittite. He wasn’t even a Jew. So as we will see in the next verses that as the ranks grew he was not included in the fellowship and leadership team being a foreigner.
“These be the names of the mighty men whom David had: The Tachmonite that sat in the seat, chief among the captains; the same was Adino the Eznite … And after him was Eleazar the son of Dodo the Ahohite, one of the THREE mighty men with David … And after him was Shammah the son of Agee the Hararite … And THREE of the thirty chief went down, and came to David in the harvest time unto the cave of Adullam: and the troop of the Philistines pitched in the valley of Rephaim. And David was then in an hold, and the garrison of the Philistines was then in Bethlehem. And David longed, and said, Oh that one would give me drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate! And the THREE mighty men brake through the host of the Philistines, and drew water out of the well of Bethlehem, that was by the gate, and took it, and brought it to David: nevertheless he would not drink thereof, but poured it out unto the LORD. And he said, Be it far from me, O LORD, that I should do this: is not this the blood of the men that went in jeopardy of their lives? therefore he would not drink it. These things did these THREE mighty men. And Abishai, the brother of Joab, the son of Zeruiah, WAS CHIEF AMONG THE THREE [that would make FIVE people: David, Abishai, Adino, Eleazar, and Shammah] … and had the name among three. Was he [Abishai] not most honorable of three? Therefore he was their [the three’s] captain: howbeit [however] he attained NOT unto the first three.” (2nd Samuel 23:8-10, 13-19).
In this small team of Five, Ittai is missing as I said before and Joab I think by now was killed for his disloyalty. Three new guys become the three and Abishai became their leader though not on the same status as these super three. The Message Bible makes the verse a little bit clearer by saying it as this:
“Abishai brother of Joab and son of Zeruiah was the head [leader] of the Thirty. He once got credit for killing three hundred with his spear, but he was never named in the same breath as the Three. He was the most respected of the Thirty and was their captain, but never got included among the Three.” (2nd Samuel 23:18-19, The Message).
I know many have the hopes of growing these super mega churches, but that is not how it really starts off. Just start with a small band of people and build a committed band of friends into a spiritual family.
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Jesus started with a small group. It started with one, then two, then four and so on.
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