We're in this together
Reading - Acts 2 38-47 (The Message)
38-39Peter said, "Change your life. Turn to God and be baptized, each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, so your sins are forgiven. Receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is targeted to you and your children, but also to all who are far away—whomever, in fact, our Master God invites." 40He went on in this vein for a long time, urging them over and over, "Get out while you can; get out of this sick and stupid culture!" 41-42That day about three thousand took him at his word, were baptized and were signed up. They committed themselves to the teaching of the apostles, the life together, the common meal, and the prayers. 43-45Everyone around was in awe—all those wonders and signs done through the apostles! And all the believers lived in a wonderful harmony, holding everything in common. They sold whatever they owned and pooled their resources so that each person's need was met. 46-47They followed a daily discipline of worship in the Temple followed by meals at home, every meal a celebration, exuberant and joyful, as they praised God. People in general liked what they saw. Every day their number grew as God added those who were saved.
God’s promise, as Peter says, is for all who are far off..not just ourselves and our children. Receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit through faith in Christ Jesus is open to every one of us. But what’s next for each of us while we are here, given Peter’s advice to "Get out while you can; get out of this sick and stupid culture!" which has permeated every aspect of our lives, inside and outside the church. There were four commitments that the new converts in Jerusalem signed up to in v42.
1. The teaching of the apostles
2. The life together
3. The common meal
4. The prayers
This is just after 3000 people took Peter at his word. They signed up for what sounds like a daunting set of commitments to say the least, especially from a people whose culture was built around obeying complex customs and commandments. However, these are the commitments outlined. Are these commitments that we could sign up to as a fellowship? If not, what would it take to enable us to do so?
1. The teaching of the apostles
The believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching. How do we approach the teaching which is received at Crossroads? Being devoted doesn’t mean you have to agree with it. Perhaps we should commit ourselves to engaging with the teaching at Crossroads, taking it seriously. I’m not talking about taking copious notes and memorizing them and taking home the CD as well. But regarding the teaching as an integral part of, yes a Sunday, but also our journey as a fellowship. Perhaps devoting ourselves to the teaching means not simply relying on two sermons once a week for our spiritual guidance, but looking for ways to supplement, expand and question what is being taught. There is real value in teaching and learning from each other corporately. We see some of this in action round the Lord's table.How can we further devote ourselves to the teaching here at Crossroads?
2. The Life together
More and more, we are being conditioned by society to be alone. You maybe used to do your shopping down the high street in several different shops, going in and out of each place you’d meet different people, some of which you would get to know. In more recent times we’ve been forced to do our shopping in one place, under one roof. Still.. you would meet other people, bump into family and friends, maybe get to know some of the supermarket staff. Now, with a click of a button, you can cut all that interaction out and conveniently have your shopping delivered to your home. Its convenient and very understandable. It also saves companies money, as do the automated tills of every major supermarket. Human interaction costs. I would argue that’s because it has value. Man was not meant to be alone. To commit ourselves to the life together is probably one of the things the church talks about most, perhaps even talks it up as one of it's defining features, using that word "community".The formation of a community of goods was one of the first acts of Pentecost.
Getting saved is easy: becoming a community is difficult.
Community is one of those strange things which will evade you if you aim directly at it. Instead, community is a by-product of commitment and struggle. The believers here didn't set out to share possessions as a chief goal..it was a need that they responded to. Community comes when we step forward to right some wrong, to heal some hurt, to give some service. Are there small acts of community we can try to achieve on a regular basis?Of course, one such expression of the life together is the third point...
3. The common meal
(V46..followed by meals at home, every meal a celebration, exuberant and joyful, as they praised God.) In Middle eastern culture to share a meal with someone in your home was the ultimate sign of friendship. And there's something real about it...people see you as you are (or should be) in your own surroundings...even your table manners. Therefore it is quite an intimate thing.
Jesus welcomed table fellowship with beggars, prostitutes, tax collectors and others thought of as social outcasts or religiously inferior. Jesus loved sinners. He knew who the hated were. He welcomed people to share a meal with him not just when they had a bad reputation, but even when that reputation was well-deserved. We are told that the religious leaders were outraged, in part, because they believed these dinners gave God a bad name.
Jesus once spoke to an expert in the Jewish law and told him that the most important commandment in the Law is "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind."The second most important commandment is "Love others as much as you love yourself." (Matthew 22:37-39) In his essay on "Healing Through Meal-Sharing", Brennan Manning says that Jesus is telling us "the only norm for a good and faithful disciple is that he be a professional lover of God and people."
We are all invited to God's banquet table to eat with the friend of sinners, Jesus Christ.
Who are excluding from our banquet table at Crossroads? Who else should we be extending an invitation to?
4. The Prayers
So we come to the prayers, the community’s common language. Prayer is both implicit and explicit in these passages. In later chapters when Peter and John are released from prison and return from the community to report “they raised their voices together and prayed” (4v24).
The frequency and persistence of the language of prayer in this community is evident, but it is also not obtrusive. We are not being urged to pray, or being given examples of prayer. This is simply the way the community uses the language. It is not regarded as being unusual or contrived. Quite the opposite, prayer is the natural, unselfconscious language of the community. This is more than showing your face at a prayer meeting.
Are there steps we can take to make prayer the natural, unselfconscious language of our community here?
CONCLUSION
These steps all seem daunting, and unattractive to a world that seems to want to do its own thing. Yet as Luke says in v47, people liked what they saw. How did their numbers grow? Perhaps it was more to do with witnessing these disciplines in action rather than any signs or wonders...this is perhaps speculation on my part. Could it be that people will always eventually have enough of the stifling nature of self-slavery and fear. Superficiality, especially attention spans, seems to a particular curse for our generation – the doctrine of instant satisfaction. In the midst of mass society people yearn to identify with something larger than themselves, something that will redeem their lives from insignificance.
We then, can offer something different and appealing, as we try to live out a daily discipline of worship.
Thanks
Jonny Currie