What a Fellowship! Acts 2:40-47 Rev. Michael D. Halley May 31, 2015 Suffolk Christian Church Suffolk, Virginia First Sunday After Pentecost ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Acts 2:40-47 New International Version With many other words he [Peter] warned them; and he pleaded with them, Save yourselves from this corrupt generation. Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day. 1 They devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. The Word of the Lord: Thanks be to God! 2 Last week I met a man who gave me a piece of paper upon which he had 3 written the name of a book he wanted to share with me. The book was published in 1897 and has been digitalized and is available online. Later, as I 1
read over the book, I discovered a remarkable passage about the early church, about which we have just read in our Scripture lesson. Listen to what this author wrote: Page 2 When Jesus rose from the dead the whole Church of Christ could 4 assemble in one upper chamber. At the time of his ascension it numbered one hundred and twenty. Of all the ages of history it was the 5 age of universal corruption. Outside of Judea, idolatry reigned supreme. Gods and goddesses, representing every phase of vice, were openly worshiped in magnificent temples and at costly shrines. All power was in the hands of a magnificent and heartless imperialism. The masses were sunk in hopeless degradation, without means, without learning, without protection, and sixty millions of them in the Roman Empire alone were slaves. Aged parents were suffered to die of starvation, children were exposed and murdered. Men fought each other as gladiators in the amphitheaters and died by thousands for the amusement of the cruel populace. Every precept of the moral law was violated almost without conscience and without hindrance. The early disciples had no wealth, no social position, no prestige, no Government aid, no help from established institutions. They were in themselves a despised and feeble folk, without influence, without skill, without education, without a New Testament, or even the Old Testament in the hands of the people, without a Christian literature, or a single Christian house of worship. Pomp, power, custom and public sentiment were all against them. They were reproached, reviled, persecuted, and subjected to exile and death. But those early Christians had the help of an indwelling, sanctifying Saviour and the anointing of the Holy Ghost, and with that equipment they faced a hostile world and all the malignant powers of darkness, and conquered. Within seventy years, according to the smallest estimate, there were half a million followers of Jesus, and some authorities affirm that there were a quarter of a million in the province of Babylon [Rome] 6 alone. In other words, with Holy Spirit power upon them, they increased more than four thousand fold in threescore years.
Page 3 Remarkable! What a fellowship that must have been! This brief description of the early life of the church, provided by Luke in this second chapter of Acts, gives us a good snapshot of what life in the early church was all about. They had no blueprint of how a church should be organized, they had no church consultants to help them out, and there was not a single book on the market on the subject of church. Yet, they did it. Under the leadership and power of the Holy Spirit, they formed and nurtured and practiced a fellowship that has endured. 7 Listen again to this description of the early church : The believers spent their time listening to the teaching of the apostles. They had to learn about this new faith, and they eagerly did so. They ate together and prayed together. Together is the important word here. You cannot have a fellowship if the people do not come together. This is my main argument against those who say they can be a Christian without the church. Even if you can, why would you? Fellowship, being together, is what we are all about. All the believers stayed together and shared everything. They sold their land and the things they owned. Then they divided the money and gave it to those who needed it. Remarkable, isn t it? Nobody went hungry. Nobody went without proper clothing. Nobody faced bankruptcy. Impractical, you say? Couldn t do that today, you think? Some believe this is an early version of Communism. Communalism is how I would describe it. That early church was a generous and gracious church. Strangers felt at home. Outsiders were taken in. We need to be that kind of church. 8 Well, this noteworthy level of sharing did not endure over the history of the church, but maybe it should have.
And finally, Luke tells us The believers praised God and were respected by all the people. What a fellowship! Page 4 Respected by all the people, Luke says. Dr. William Barclay puts it this 9 way: It was a Church whose people others could not help liking. What a fellowship! I am sure that every Christian who reads this passage describing the early st church finds themselves comparing their own 21 century church fellowship. How do we compare with that? I am sure is the often-asked question. So, let s go ahead and ask it: How do we compare? What would happen to our witness here in Suffolk if we were more generous, more attentive to our Sunday gatherings, and more likeable? Not in-your-face, not a cold and hard look about us, but a warm and friendly people well-respected in our community? I think we would have to start putting folding chairs in the aisles to accommodate all the people who would want to come to a warm, inviting, loving fellowship of Christian believers. 10 Dr. J. Howard Olds was pastor of the very large Brentwood, Tennessee, United Methodist Church, and battled cancer until his death in June, 2008. In his last months of life, Dr. Olds preached a series of sermons on this whole matter of church life. He quoted Groucho Marx as having once said, I wouldn t want to be a part of any church that would have me as a member. Dr Olds said, I want to build a church where the Groucho Marx s of the world will be welcome. I want to build a church where love is the ethic, grace is the dynamic, and Christ is the center of all that we do. He went on to say, I want to build a sanctuary, a safe place for all God s children, a shelter in the time of storm, a place of stability through the ups and downs, and a place where hope reigns and faith flows. I want to build a family of faith that comforts the afflicted and afflicts the comfortable, that finds a
need and tries to fill it, a place where all God s children are knit together and strengthened to become the hands and feet of Christ in the world. I need the Church, he said. You need the Church. We need the Church together. We need to be here. 11 What a fellowship! Let s bring this home, shall we? Page 5 I am certain, unfortunately, that it is possible for a person to be here today who is here only as a spectator only. Such a person would be one who does not intend to let anything change their thinking or change their lifestyle or affect how they currently live their life. If this is you, and I pray it is not, then all I can do is faithfully proclaim God s word and leave the application up to the Holy Spirit. Others of you are like those who would attend a comedy performance by Gallagher. Remember him? He is the comedian who smashes watermelons on the stage. If you dare go to one of his performances you better cover yourself with a piece of plastic, because you can t be a non-committal observer of his act. I want church to be that way! I want everything we do together to splash on you and get you (and me!) completely soaked with the Gospel message. I don t want any of us to go away unchanged or unconcerned or untouched. And when we walk outside and our friends see us, I want them to say, I don t know what went on in that church today, but these people have a great fellowship! Let s do it, shall we? But it will not make sense if you don t know the Saviour, will it? So start there. Get to know Jesus and let him take control of your life.
Page 6 Let us pray: Dear God, like the early church folks, may we be the kind of fellowship that is warm and inviting and kind and loving and always looking to share what we have with others. We can do this only in the power and encouragement and inspiration of your Holy Spirit, as we pray this in the name of our Saviour Jesus. Amen. +==+==+==+==+==+==+ All Scripture references are from New International Version, NIV, copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc., unless otherwise indicated. +==+==+==+==+==+==+ Sunday Sermons from Suffolk Christian Church are intended for the private devotional use of members and friends of the church. Please do not print or publish. Thank you. Suggestions for sermon topics are always welcome! 1. An apostle is a person sent to accomplish a mission. The New Testament has taken a common Greek word from naval and commercial language and made it a technical term for a messenger Jesus sent on a mission and more specifically for the twelve whom Jesus selected to follow Him from His baptism onward. To them He gave the special commission to lead the church into worldwide mission. They functioned as leaders of the church in the early chapters of Acts mainly from a base in the church at Jerusalem. From Apostle, in Holman Bible Dictionary, edited by Trent C. Butler, www.studylight.org/dictionaries/hbd/view.cgi?n=385, 1991. 2. Mr. Daniel F. Smith, of Suffolk. 3. Holiness and Power for the Church and the Ministry, by Aaron Merritt Hills, originally published by M. W. Knapp, 1897. Digitized by Google, http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112112380453;view=1up;seq=7. This quoted passage
may be found in Part 1, Chapter 1. Rev. Hills (1848-1935) is identified in the book as a Minister and Evangelist in the Congregational Church, residing in Oberlin, Ohio. Page 7 4. Here is the account of Christ s ascension, in Acts 1:4-11: On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit. Then they gathered around him and asked him, Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel? He said to them: It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. After he said this, he was taken up [ascended] before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. Men of Galilee, they said, why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven. 5. Judea means Jewish and is the name of the province in Israel that includes the city of Jerusalem and the surrounding territory. 6. According to the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Babylon was used in the New Testament in two ways. One, to refer to the old Mesopotamian city (in modern Iraq) and the other, used in a symbolic way to refer to Rome. See http://biblehub.com/topical/b/babylon_in_the_new_testament.htm. 7. Acts 2:42-47, Easy-to-Read Version (ERV), copyright 2006 by World Bible Translation Center 8. Quoted from Characteristics of the Church, Part 2", by Maxie Dunnam, from Collected Sermons, found at www.sermons.com. He is Pastor Emeritus of Christ Church United Methodist in Memphis, TN, where he first preached this sermon. 9. Acts, Daily Study Bible, commentary on Acts 2:42-47, www.studylight.org/commentaries/dsb/view. 10. His website is Faith Breaks: Thoughts on Making it a Good Day, www.faithbreaks.org. 11. From Real Faith For Real People: Why Am I So Lonely?, based on Acts 2:42-47, preached by Dr. J. Howard Olds, Brentwood United Methodist Church, Brentwood, TN, September 23, 2007.