A Counterculture Community
Acts 4:32-35
This year, we’re focusing on growing into mature disciples of Jesus Christ. Key to being mature is the lives we lead. As we begin this new series, we’re going to learn what it means to live a countercultural lifestyle as found in the Book of Acts. Whenever God wants to do a new thing, it usually begins with a movement which results in a radical, countercultural communities of faith. Throughout history, God has birthed new movements and countercultural communities of faith which literally end up changing the landscape of humanity.
When Israel was in bondage in Egypt and God came to their rescue, they started a 40 year journey to mold and shape the Israelites into the people he needed them to become to be His chosen people, a light unto the nations. And over 2000 years ago when the religious leaders were more concerned about religion than a personal relationship with God, God sent his only begotten son to start a radical comunity to lift up the downtrodden, free the oppressed and heal the broken. When the disciples gathered in the Upper Room after Jesus’ death in fear of their lives, the resurrected Jesus appeared to them and at the end of 40 days, they were filled with the Holy Spirit and the power of God and began a brand new radical movement which changed the course of history. This movement caused them to release an undignified, undomesticated faith which literally made them the hands and feet of Jesus on earth. A countercultural community is a people who are tired of living the predictable but who expect to encounter the miraculous. These are the people who are tired of living the same old life. They long for Jesus to set them on fire for God. Do we have anybody here today like that?
The early church was just such a radical movement which consisted of people who were on fire for Jesus, even in the face of persecution and imprisonment. In this movement, you could literally lose your life but because of this passionate lifestyle, they were willing to die for what they believed in. The current state of the traditional church has gotten so dignified, so domesticated and so safe that it has lost its fire, its passion and its way. God wants to do a new thing in the body of Christ. We are now more concerned with building great churches and ministries than tenacious, mature disciples. We have become a community which thrives on being in control rather than a radical movement of God giving up control to the one who controls everything. The early community was not a group of people bound by walls and traditions but driven by mission and rising the wave of the movement of the Holy Spirit as it leads. So what does a countercultural community look like?
First, it is committed to one another. In order to become this countercultural community, there has to be a lifestyle of commitment among us. Acts 4:32 says, “All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had.” To be a countercultural community, there has to be a commitment to stand against the individualism of our culture, the “I can do it on my one” mentality and instead be a family which is unified and committed to one another. That only comes through a common faith, a love and mission in Jesus Christ.
That extend beyond the Hellos and talking about the weather or what you did this weekend to being concerned about the physical and spiritual well being of all those in the body of Christ. In the early church, there were no written rules or bylaws but there was an unspoken value that nothing they possessed was their own. They saw themselves not as owners but as stewards of everything they had for the express purpose of meeting the needs of others and advancing the mission of Jesus Christ. Everything they had was for the betterment of those in this countercultural community and the mission of the church. They realized they couldn’t possess what they didn’t own.
In the United States today, one measure of success is how much stuff you have gained. But in a countercultural community, greatness is measured by how much you give away. God wants radical followers who are willing to stand against the greed and individualism of this world and truly become the visible hands and feet of Jesus here on earth. The early church didn’t have to be reminded of this because this was at the very heart of who they were and why they gathered every week. You see, if you had food on your shelves or money in the bank, it was understood that you were to give some away to help and bless someone else. It was the norm in the early church to make sure that no one was without.
Dean Merrill tells of a man who lost his job and took work as a cement carrier simply to put bread on the table. He was suddenly plunged into a drastically different world; instead of going to an office each day, he was hauling loads of concrete block up to the fifth level of a construction site. Gone was the piped-in music in the corridors; now he had to endure blaring boom boxes. Profanity shot through the air, especially from the foreman, whose primary tactic was intimidation and degradation. He had made mistakes, having never worked construction before, and as a result been the butt of more than one joke which were retold constantly thereafter. Near the end of the third week, he felt he could take no more. ‘I’ll work till lunch,’ he told himself, ‘and then that’s it. I’m going home.’ Shortly before noon, the foreman came around with paychecks. As he handed the man his envelope, he made his first civil comment to him in three weeks. ‘Hey, there’s a woman working in the front office who knows you. Says she takes care of your kids sometimes.’ ‘Who?’ He named the woman, who sometimes helped in the nursery of the church where the man and his family worshiped. The foreman then went on with his rounds. When the man opened his envelope, he found, along with his check, a few extra dollars and a handwritten note from her: ‘When one part of the body of Christ suffers, we all suffer with it. Just wanted you to know that I’m praying for you these days.’ He stared at the note, astonished at God’s timing. He hadn’t even known the woman worked for this company. Here at his lowest hour, she had given him the courage to go on.”
Second, a countercultural community not only cultivates commitment but crazy courage. Verse 33 says, “With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all.” A countercultural community not only develops commitment but leads to a lifestyle of crazy courage. Though they thought they were the next to be crucified, after having been filled with the Holy Spirit, Peter and the disciples went out into the streets of Jerusalem and proclaimed the Good News of Jesus Christ and 3000 came to faith that day. Peter and John then healed a man just outside the Temple in front of the religious officials and the Sanhedrin then seized them and jailed them. They were freed and warned not to speak of Jesus again. But “after they prayed….they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the word of God boldly.” They were arrested again and the Sadducees tried to put them to death but one rabbi stepped up and spoke on their behalf. His speech persuaded the Sadducees. They called the apostles in, had them flogged and then ordered them not to speak in the name of Jesus. Listen to Acts 5:42, “Yet day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ.” This is crazy courage and it seemed the more danger there was, the more filled the Holy Spirit the disciples were and the more they preached the Good News.
This is the crazy faith God wants us to have. 2 Timothy 1:7 says, “For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.” God is looking for courageous followers who are willing to risk everything by becoming untamed and undomesticated followers of Jesus. It’s not about leading safe lives but about being willing to die for the sake of the Gospel. It’s only when we die to ourselves that we gain new life in Christ. Standing firm in the faith has its dues. For some, as for the early Christians, it often demanded their very lives. For we Christians today in the US, the price may not be our lives, but it is certainly a price that is costly. It may mean ridicule, rejection and even persecution. God wants us to put ourselves in harm’s way for the sake of the Gospel, a place where the world stands ready to pierce us. With only the courage of the Holy Spirit, we are compelled by the love of Christ to defend and take a stand for the Word of God and the Good News.
Chuck Swindoll writes: “Chuck McIllhenny, pastor of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church in the Sunset District of San Francisco for over 20 years, has written a book titled, “When the Wicked Seize the City.” In it, he tells of his home being fire-bombed, and having to make his children’s bedroom like a bunker so his kids could survive as he stands actively for Christ. He is now ministering a great deal in the hospitals to those dying of AIDS, but standing firm for the truth, that the only hope beyond this life is a faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. One day, while reading the newspaper he saw an announcement of a city council meeting being held the next day to deal with an issue against homosexual rights. He thought, I can’t just sit here and let that pass. And so he went. The council was about to take a vote. The chairman said, ‘Is there anyone who has anything to say?’ No one moved. Then Chuck stood up and said, ‘I would like to say something.’ He walked to the platform, stated his name, and where he lived. ‘What would you like to say?’ He replied, ‘Well, I would like to say nothing for myself, but I would like to quote three individuals that I’ve respected for years.’ And he read to them from Moses in Leviticus, from one of the psalms by David, and from Paul in Romans He didn’t preach, didn’t scream, didn’t sermonize––just read the Book and then closed it. They said, ‘Wait. Before you sit down, who are those people––Moses and David and Paul?’ And someone said, ‘You’re reading from the Bible, aren’t you?’ ‘Yes, ‘I am.’ And one of the council members then said, ‘I vote no,’ and another and another. And it didn’t pass. Having taken his stand, he sat down. That is courage!
Third, a countercultural community should be rooted in a deep spirit of compassion. At the very heart of this countercultural community, God is forming is a spirit of compassion. The early church found that if this countercultural community was going to spread, it was going to do so house to house, family to family, person to person through compassion. Compassion is an infusion of empathy and empowerment together that seeks to make one whole. Jesus’ entire movement and ministry was centered on compassion. Everything Jesus did, he did it with compassion seeking to make that person whole and empowering them to live their lives for God. When Jesus was asked why he ate with tax collectors and hung out with sinners, Jesus responded, I didn’t come for you church folks. I came for the sick and those who were broken. His compassion was life transforming. Wherever Jesus went, he encountered the displaced and the disenfranchised and they would leave a different person. They would come to Jesus blind but they would leave with sight. They would come to Jesus hungry but they would leave having been fed. They would come to Jesus broken but they would leave having been made whole. Whenever they came to Jesus, they left him a different person because of his compassion. There is no such thing as a non-compassionate Christian. Everything Jesus did, he embodied compassion. Compassion is not about what you possess but what possesses you. A countercultural community doesn’t seek revenge because it recognizes the greatest weapon it has is love, not violence.
Rabbi Michael Weisser lived in Lincoln, Nebraska. And for more than 3 years, Larry Trapp, a self-proclaimed Nazi & Ku Klux Klansman, directed a torrent of hate-filled mailings and phone calls toward him. Trapp promoted white supremacy and anti-Semitism, declaring his apartment the KKK state headquarters and himself the grand dragon. His whole purpose in life seemed to be to spew out hate-ridden racial slurs and obscene remarks against Weisser and all those like him. At first, the Weissers were so afraid, they locked their doors and worried themselves almost sick over the safety of their family. But one day Rabbi Weisser found out that Trapp was a 42-year-old clinically blind, double amputee. And he became convinced that Trapp’s own physical helplessness was a source of the bitterness he expressed. So Rabbi Weisser decided to do the unexpected. He left a message on Trapp’s answering machine, telling him of another side of life…a life free of hatred and racism. Rabbi Weisser called at least 10 times and left messages before Larry Trapp finally picked up the phone and asked why Rabbie Weissner was harassing him. The Rabbi said that I’d like to help you. He offered him a ride to the grocery store or to the mall." Trapp was stunned. Disarmed by the kindness and courtesy, he started thinking. He later admitted, through tears, that he heard in the rabbi’s voice, "something I hadn’t experienced in years: love." Slowly the bitter man began to soften. One night he called the Weissers and said he wanted out, but didn’t know how. They grabbed a bucket of fried chicken and took him dinner. Before long they Larry Trapp gave them his swastika rings, hate tracts, & Klan robes and gave the Ku Klux Klan and dumped the rest of his propaganda in the trash. And then he said, "They showed me so much love that I couldn’t help but love them back," he finally confessed. That’s the power of love and compassion.
When was the last time you showed compassion to someone to make them whole and empower them to live for God? When was the last time you chose not to hang with the best and the brightest but instead sought out the last, the last and the lost? Jesus sought to build a countercultural community where the last will be first and the first will be last. We have the opportunity once again be a radical community in the kingdom. It is my prayer that when people come to Gretna UMC, they would leave as a different person because of the Gospel and the love and compassion they have received here.
