Title: The Making of a Compelling Christian Community (The Good Ole Days… Today)
Text: Acts: 2:42-47; 4:32-37
Thesis: The first to become followers of Christ give us insight into the essential elements for forming a compelling Christian community.
Series: The Marks of a Healthy Missional Church
Congregational Vitality: Pursuing Christ and pursuing Christ’s priorities in the world.
• Healthy: Pursuing Christ
• Missional: Pursuing Christ’s priorities in the world.
Introduction
This text could easily be thought of as the way it was in “the good ole days.” When we think and talk like that we get all nostalgic and sentimental about the way it was and if only it were today as it was then… life would be sooooo much better.
There is always much to be learned from the past. Henry Ford rolled out the Model T Ford in 1908. It was a marvel that revolutionized transportation and the American industry. The Model T was mass produced, inexpensive ($815) and workers received high wages. The Model T engine produced an amazing 20 horsepower and a top speed of 45 miles per hour. Today the 2013 Mustang Shelby GT 500 has a 5.8 liter engine that track tests at 200 miles per hour and produces 650 horsepower and runs around $60,000 off the showroom floor.
Now if you were to take me outside and offer me the choice of either a 1908 Ford Model T or a 2013 Shelby GT 500 as my car for everyday use for around town, trips to the mountains, over-the-road to see the kids in St. Paul or Chicago… I am going to have to go with the 2013 Shelby GT 500.
As wonderful as the Model T was and as fun as it is to see them in automobile museums and puttering along in parades… the Model T was a wonderful prototype.
Remember Acts is an historical account of how it was in those early days of the life and ministry of the Church. It happened in the context of “new.” It had never been done before. It also happened in the context of a time and a culture. It is something of an early prototype. It was undeveloped… in fact it has the feel of being developed on the fly.
However, like the earliest automobiles and the latest automobiles share some basics… and the earliest and contemporary Christians share some basics.
The way they did it may not look like we do it, but at the heart of who they were and who we must be, if we are to be a Compelling Community, is heartfelt devotion.
I. They were devoted people.
All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals, including the Lord’s Supper, and to prayer. Acts 2:42
When it says they “devoted themselves” it means they were steadfast or single minded in purpose or desire. They wanted it and they were going after it, so to speak.
In 2008 Sanya Richards-Ross competed in the 400 Meter in Beijing. She started the race strong and built a substantial lead before locking up on the home stretch. She finished third for the Bronze. This year she competed and won the gold medal in the 400 Meter in London with a time of 49.55 seconds. Four years, Sanya Richards-Ross waited. Four years she waited with the hunger pangs of unfinished business and the sense of an uncompleted mission. When they introduced her before the 400 meters in London, she blew a kiss to the camera, went out and got the gold medal she had worked tirelessly for since Beijing.
Just as Sanya Richards-Ross was devoted to her pursuit of Olympic Gold… those early Christians modeled devotion to Christ and the process of becoming Christian. They were intentional and disciplined about the process of becoming devoted followers of Jesus Christ.
The first thing they were devoted to was the teaching of the apostles.
A. Teaching
All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals, including the Lord’s Supper, and to prayer. Acts 2:42
We sometimes refer to the two “great” things Jesus taught his followers:
The first is the great commandment: On one occasion an expert in religious law asked Jesus “which” of the commandments in the law of Moses was most important and Jesus replied, “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: Love your neighbor as yourself.” Matthew 22:38-39
The second is called the great commission: Following the resurrection of Jesus Christ instructed Mary Magdalene and the other Mary (the women who had come to the tomb to anoint his body) to tell his disciples to meet him on a mountain in Galilee. When they arrived Jesus met them and gave them what we call the great commission: “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you.” Matthew 28:18-20
So it was that on the Day of Pentecost, following the signs and wonders that accompanied the coming of the Holy Spirit, Peter preached a “King George” sermon that resulted in 3,000 people becoming followers, i.e., new disciples of Jesus Christ.
Imagine the wave of panic that must have passed over the disciples when all those people responded and expressed a desire to become followers of Christ. What would you do with 3,000 new believers?
Neo-Natal Care is the care of a new born baby for approximately the first month after the baby’s birth. I’ve been around farms and livestock for much of my life so I am pretty comfortable with being in a calving barn or a farrowing house and all that is entailed in the neonatal care of a cow or a pig. I know what it takes for a newborn calf or pig to survive and thrive. But when it comes to newborn babies all I can really tell is that they either need a nap or a new diaper or a bottle. Mostly I assume they need a bottle.
The apostles taught them the Word of God and the teaching of Christ…. The one thing new Christians need to survive and thrive is the Word of God. The Bible says, “As newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation. Cry out for this nourishment, now that you have had a taste of the Lord’s kindness.” I Peter 2:2-3
Today, teaching means getting and keeping followers of Christ into the Bible. One of the things, if not the most important thing, a Compelling Community of Christians does is provide venues and facilitate teaching the Word of God.
The second and third things they were devoted to were fellowship and sharing.
B. Fellowship and Sharing
All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals, including the Lord’s Supper, and to prayer. Acts 2:42
You may have heard pastors or teachers use the word “koinonia” to describe the fellowship that characterized those early followers of Christ. In its rawest sense it simply means to share in common but when nuanced it means to partake together or partner in or communicate with or live in community.
In verses 44-46 we get a glimpse into just how extensive their sense of community was. They were community people. “And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had… they sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need. They worshipped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper and shared their meals with great joy and generosity. “Acts 2:44-46
The scene set in Acts 2 is that of a bunch of people who seemed to genuinely enjoy and care for each other.
I enjoy western films and one scene that stands out in my memory is the meeting of Wyatt Earp and Doc Holiday. Doc Holiday is sitting at a gaming table shuffling cards and Wyatt sits across the table from him. Doc Holiday asked Wyatt, “Do you have many friends?” Wyatt answered, “No.” And Doc said, “Neither do I.”
This week I read a story about a pastor traveling with a Brazilian seminary student. Along the way the pastor asked the student if he would like to stop for a cup of coffee. The student said, “I would be honored.” So he swung into a Starbucks, went through the drive thru. Once on their way the student was very quiet and when pressed about his silence he said, “I thought you were asking me to be your friend. I thought we were going to sit together and share life.”
Living in fellowship is basically, sharing life… all of life.
The question today is, are we a fellowshipping community of Christians? We may not do it like they did it then but:
1. Do we meet together for worship and instruction?
2. Do we gather together to commemorate and celebrate the Lord’s Supper?
3. Do we gather together informally sharing meals together with glad and generous hearts? (They were hospitality people.)
4. Do we share of our resources with those who are in need?
What we observe in that early community of Christians stands in stark contrast to the philosophy of Ayn Rand, who has been getting a lot of press lately. She is known for her belief in what she called Rational Egoism which translates Rational Self-Interest which she described as “The Virtue of Selfishness.”
Ayn Rand came to America from Russia in 1926. She was among the bourgeois who fell into disfavor following the Russian Revolution. While largely ignoring much of the controversy surrounding her atheism and radical philosophies, many are drawn to her “advocacy of unfettered capitalism and her celebration of the individual.” Her “anti-government argument rested on the opposition between ‘producers’ who create wealth and ‘moochers’ who feed off them.” (Jennifer Burns, Ayn Rand Wouldn’t Approve of Paul Ryan, New York Times, August 14, 2012)
I was genuinely blessed this week when I read the story in the Denver Post that the Archbishop had reopened and rededicated Seton House as the new Christ in the City staff headquarters and residence for twelve lay missionaries, ages 19-28, from all over the country who have moved here to serve Denver’s poor and vulnerable. The article stated, “The mission of Christ in the city is communion – to encounter Christ ourselves and to bring Christ to others who are poor and homeless.” Christian compassion, caring and sharing seems to stand in stark contrast to “the virtue of selfishness.” (Electra Draper, Archbishop Samuel J. Aquila reopens Denvers’s historic Seton House, the Denver Post, 8/18/20)
Does that not sound a lot like: Pursuing Christ and pursuing Christ’s priorities in the world?
The fourth thing those first followers of Christ were devoted to was prayer.
D. Prayer
All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals, including the Lord’s Supper, and to prayer. Acts 2:42
Some commentators stress that what we read as “prayer” were actually “prayers.” They cite Acts 3:1 where we read that Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time for prayer or to take part in the 3 o’clock prayer service. In other words those first Christians, who were largely Jewish in heritage, continued to observe the hours for set prayer at the Temple.
The set hours for prayer are not unique to what we observe in the Islamic faith. The Jewish faith had set hours for prayer and many in our own Christian tradition practice fixed hour prayer… we may observe morning prayer between 6 and 9 a.m., midday prayer between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., evening or vespers prayers between 5 and 8 p.m., and compline prayers before going to bed. Fixed hour prayer may be practiced in community or in private.
Observing set hour prayer is a bit more involved than practicing a daily devotion but it does serve to guide a person in beginning the day with God, then brings us back from the distractions of the day at midday and in the evening and then guides a person in ending the day with God.
Jesus took exception to public prayers that played out as pompous displays of self-righteousness and taught his disciples to practice private prayers. He often went off alone to pray during times of solitude. When his disciples asked him to teach them to pray he gave them the model we still use today in our public worship services.
But in that early Christian community they also practiced corporate prayer… they prayed together. When the Roman King discovered that he could curry considerable favor with the Jewish people by persecuting Christians he had the Apostle James killed and arrested and imprisoned Peter. On the eve of the day he was to stand trial Peter was miraculously released from prison and made his way to the home of Mary… where the bible says, “there were many gathered for prayer.” Acts 12:12
My point is simply this… in that early community of Christians they practiced the spiritual discipline of prayer. They prayed in private, they prayed at church (so to speak) and they prayed together for their shared needs and concerns.
I think the cheesiest programs on cable television have to do with weddings or wedding gowns. There is Girl Meets Gown, Brides of Beverly Hills, Bridezilla, My Big Redneck Wedding, Celebrity Weddings and Mother of the Bride… a recent airing of the Mike and Molly Show captured Molly being fitted for her wedding gown only to discover that it would not zip… the remaining portion of the show centered around how she, having refused to let the seamstress let the dress out a tad, was going to lose six pounds so the dress would fit.
Having officiated a few weddings over the last 42 years I have seen several wedding gowns. I never cease to be amazed by the beauty and elegance of some wedding gowns and the absolute absence of class in others in which they seem to go overboard in accentuating the all too obvious in ill-fitting or poorly designed gowns.
Having said that, this is my point, though there are many similarities in bridal gowns, every bride wears her own unique dress. Now, having said that, my point is, “The bride of Christ, i.e., the church, wears many dresses.”
Faith communities certainly share many similarities but every church wears a different dress, so to speak. That means the church today does not wear the same dress the early church in Acts 2 wore. That means the church on 64th and Sheridan does not wear the same dress as the church on 69th and Sheridan. That means house churches, mainline denomination churches, independent churches, charismatic churches, emergent churches, free churches, mega churches, ethnic churches, store front churches and whatever kind of church you may imagine may live out Acts 2 uniquely.
The question today is simply, is prayer practiced in the public life of our church and in the private lives of those who are part of our community?
As they lived out their lives in that initial prototype community something amazing happened around them because they were a compelling community.
II. They were compelling people.
All the while praising God and enjoying the good will of the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved. Acts 2:46-47
How did they do it? Times have changed but they seemed to have done pretty well without laser shows, gimmicks, give-aways, eye-popping and ear drum shattering entertainment or homilies designed for the itching ear.
The text does not say how it was that all those people came to be added to that community of Christians. It only says, “The Lord added to their number those who were being saved.” We could speculate:
1. Perhaps they were attracted by the daily preaching and teaching of the apostles.
2. Perhaps they were attracted by the miraculous… the signs and wonders performed by the apostles.
3. Perhaps they were attracted by the changed lives of those who had become new Christians.
4. Perhaps they were attracted by the love they saw in lives of the Christians.
5. Perhaps it one of those right time and right places things.
6. Perhaps it was simply a God-thing.
But this we do know this about the Christian community in Acts 2:
A. They enjoyed the good will of their neighbors. In other words, their neighbors liked what they saw and…
B. Their neighbors became followers of Christ.
They were healthy spiritually and they were missional.
There was a certain intimacy evident in their church community. They were drawn together in a common faith. They studied and learned together. They gathered for worship. They enjoyed hanging with each other… they had potlucks and backyard BBQs and love feasts following communion. And they talked to God and listened to God in their prayers.
But it is also apparent that there was nothing exclusive about them. They were an inclusive community… anyone and everyone was welcome. People came and people were received into their community of faith.
Conclusion:
I am an avid reader of the daily comic Zits. Zits is written by Jerry Scott and illustrated by Jim Borgman and is built around the Duncan family… the Dad is Walt, the mother is Connie and the 16 year old son is Jeremy. Jeremy’s best friend is Hector and his on again off again girlfriend is Sara. The strip is about how parents relate to their teens and how teens relate to their parents and how teens relate to each other… mostly it seems to be about Jeremy who seems to be absolutely oblivious to the debris he leaves in the wake of his daily life.
If you’ve raised a teenager you know something of life in the Duncan household. But imagine for me this scenario…
Connie has worked hard to prepare a delicious meatloaf dinner for Walt and Jeremy. The dinner is ready and Connie asks Walt to call Jeremy for dinner. Walt finds Jeremy sprawled all over the couch… the TV is playing. He has ear buds in from his i-Pod. His homework is in a pile next to the couch and he seems to be reading a book.
A can of soda and remnants of a pizza are on the end table.
Walt says, “Jeremy, dinner’s ready.”
Jeremy is unresponsive.
Again, “Jeremy, dinner’s ready. Your mother has prepared meatloaf… come on, let’s eat.”
Jeremy doesn’t budge but he says, “I’m not going to eat. I don’t really like Mom’s meatloaf.”
Walt moves to the sofa, takes the remote and turns off the TV. He then removes the ear buds and lifts the book from Jeremy’s hands and says, “Jeremy, dinner is not about the meatloaf, it’s about family.”
Jeremy asks, “Can Hector come?”
And Walt says, “Sure.”
Perhaps for those of us who may be a bit ambivalent about the importance of being a compelling Christian community… it’s not so much about the meatloaf as it is about being family with each other and for the Hectors in our world.
