Acts 2: 38 to 47 Fulfilling Fellowship

Transcription

1 Acts 2: 38 to 47 Fulfilling Fellowship (T/H-m: 16 July 17) Edinburgh in the mid-eighties was the known as the AIDS capital of Europe, mainly because of drug users sharing needles. Edinburgh s newly built AIDS hospice which I visited on housing business. I visited a man who died a couple of days after, and he told me that: The hardest thing about having AIDS is asking for help, but this hospice is nice for that sort of thing. AIDS victims were treated as lepers and there was a great deal of fear that AIDS could be infection so having a place where this man could seek help described his deepest needs. I hope the church is a place where people can seek and receive help without judgement. I hope the church is a place where the man with AIDS could come and feel affirmed. And I hope we have the God given discernment to recognise when people are needing of help. The Holy Spirit promised us the gift of discernment or counsel, and the only true counsel for Christian s is from God. We pray and read God s Word in fellowship with God s people, for it was God s design that we belong to His body, the church. It s very difficult to maintain faith in isolation for Christianity is communal. The description of the church from Acts demonstrates how fully the early Christians lives were intertwined. Those early Christians worshipped together, ate meals together and even shared their possessions and income with all who had need, which is an idyllic picture! The history of the church after this is littered with well-intentioned but failed attempts of Christians trying to live in such communities, and sadly the church soon lost its emphasis on community as individualism took over. But this model of communal living with Christ at the centre of our lives must surely be the ideal. The early church was a small but growing community who lived through difficult times. They had to rely heavily on each other for guidance and support. They were young in the faith; learning what it means to be the Body of Christ. 1.

2 Why did the early church live this communal idealised life? Let me give a brief background to life for those first Christians that we encounter in Acts. Luke wrote Acts as a sequel to his Gospel account of Jesus life. He had written about Jesus life and then he wrote about the life of the early church. Luke wrote his gospel and Acts around 70 to 75AD which is historically significant. Christ was crucified around 35AD and following the crucifixion, the early Christians were persecuted by the Jewish and Roman authorities. In 54AD, Nero became the Roman Emperor and he vigorously started the persecution of Christians. It was Nero who instigated the sport of throwing Christians to the lions in the amphitheatres throughout the Roman empire. It was Nero who had Peter and Paul martyred for their faith. The early church lived through turbulent and dangerous times. The early church formed a close community because it gave them support and protection from persecution, but the church described in Acts 2 is based on more than self-preservation. In v42, Luke outlines the Four marks of the church: They spent their time in Learning from the apostles, taking part in the fellowship, and sharing in the fellowship meals and the prayers. This young church focussed on learning, fellowship, sharing and praying together. These four activities belong together and the early church recognised that if the church was going to be distinctive and be representative of Jesus Christ, then these four marks had to be obvious. These four activities of learning, fellowship, sharing and praying together, are the basis of the life of the church. Let s look at each one of these activities: Learning and Teaching: The early church gathered around the Apostles teaching. They didn t have the Bible to guide them for the canon which is the 66 books contained in the Bible, was not agreed upon until 393AD; over 300 years after the birth of the church! However, the early church had the accounts of the witnesses who were Jesus disciples, and they formed the written accounts of Christ as found in the Bible. 2.

3 These oral accounts of Christ s life were passed on as the church met together. The stories of Jesus miracles and parables were told and shared with whole fellowship of the early church. Fellowship: Common to the life of the church was sharing fellowship. These Christians met together but their relationships were formed because of more than just preservation. They behaved as sisters and brothers and lived as families where all contributed to the common good. They contributed money to support the community and ensure all had food, and to support the mission work of the church. Each branch of the early church supported the mission work of Paul and the early apostles. This aspect of the early church is something that we still do today and each congregation makes contributions to The Church of Scotland and these contributions go to support ministries throughout our church. This allows every parish in Scotland to have a minister and the wealthier churches support the poorer churches to ensure that God s message is preached throughout our country. This is modelled on the example of the early church. Sharing: This doesn t just refer to the sharing of money, talents and goods, but the sharing of the bread and wine of the Last Supper; our Communion meal. The early church imitated Christ in the sharing of fellowship meals together. The Lord s Supper was part of the early church s practice and it s central to life in Christ. Jesus commanded us to re-enact his Last Meal in remembrance of Him, and by coming together to eat symbolically or His body and blood, we are symbolically renewed and confirmed as His people. The Presbyterian Church only has two sacraments, Communion and Baptism, and this reinforces the high importance the Apostles placed on sharing the Lord s Supper together. The fourth mark of the early church is Prayer for the early church had a vibrant prayer life. Prayer is the mystery which God gives and invites us to participate in. 3.

4 God has blessed us with a mighty tool in the power of prayer for prayer changes lives. The early Christians recognised the importance of prayer and again, not just for selfpreservation. They prayed for the good news about Jesus to be proclaimed and for others to be open to life in Jesus Christ. They were bold and open about prayer and lifted their hands up in supplication, not caring who saw them worshipping. Their attitude was the more people who saw witness the better! I wish we could recapture their fervour and enthusiasm for Christ. There was none of the now let us bow our heads, let us pray, kind of stuffy invitation that we make in church today when we invite communal prayer. The early church was alive for Christ and they didn t care who knew it! What we think of as modern and happy clappy is over two thousand years old. Sombre and stuffy tradition is modern, free and enthusiastic praise is not! I must admit there have been times when I ve not been comfortable with exuberant expression of worship and praying. I struggled with some expressions of the healing ministry, mainly because I didn t understand how people could be healed through prayer. But my real problem was pride. I rejected what my limited intellect could not understand. As if God was going to be limited by what I could or could not intelligently accept! I found freedom by discovering that I didn t have to understand because God was infinitely more powerful that my imagination. I learned not to discourage others from praying and worshipping as they felt God was leading them. If you re praying or worshipping and you feel led to express your worship in a certain way then that s between you and God. I happen to think we should be less restrained in our prayer. I pray that the Holy Spirit comes to free us up regarding the prayer life in Thornliebank, as well as the wider church. God can do amazing work through the power of prayer. 4.

5 Some claim that the early church was free in its worship because they didn t have liturgies or traditions, and that this free expression of prayer and worship was only valid for the church described in the book of Acts. I disagree with that view because the four marks of the early church was affirmed by The Nicene Creed which forms our Basis of Faith. The Nicene Creed was adopted by the church in 325AD and it s central to the Westminster Confession which is the basis of our faith. The practices of these early believers have been accepted as the benchmark of what worship in the Christian church should be. This was a community shaped by teaching, fellowship, sharing in the breaking of bread and prayer because they were following Christ s example. This was the basis of the model of church they adopted, there was no other model and it s into such a community that we have been baptized. The church alone holds Christ as its only authority and reference point. While we enjoy our liturgies and practices, let s consider the purity of the worship and prayer life of these early Christians. Our church today is the community into which we ve been baptized and among whom we are called to live and serve. Imperfect to be sure, but always accountable to our Lord Jesus Christ. We here in Thornliebank are a Christian community just like the early church described in Acts. We are to spend our time in learning from the apostles through the scripture. We are to take part in fellowship. We are to share in fellowship through the Lord s Supper. And we are to be people of prayer. As we think about our faith and how we serve Christ as His church in this place, let s remember what s important. Let us remember and acknowledge the four marks of the true church and act accordingly; for His sake. Amen. Let us pray: Gracious God, you love us so much you are willing to use us, 5.

6 imperfect as we are, self centred and selfish at times as we are, and yet you have chosen no other means of communicating, the good news of salvation and love in Christ than us. Let us see our opportunity, and then seize it with commitment, courage and joy that we may know why we celebrate life. In Jesus name, Amen (1751 words) 6.