“The Church as Community”

            Happy New Year!!  I return with my sermon blog, after a long Advent-Christmas-Vacation hiatus.

            I’ve decided to begin this new year with a short, four-sermon series examining the Book of Acts (Henceforth, “Act”).  I have entitled this series, “Re-Claiming the Essentials of the Early Church, A Study of Acts.”  Acts provides a history, describing the birth and development of the early Christian Church.  I intend to use this series to try and identify the essential characteristics of that early Church, and I will assert that the four characteristics which we discover should also be integral to the life of the contemporary Church.  We will examine the following four themes:

January 5 – “The Church as Community”

Acts 2: 43-47

January 12 – “The Church Serves Those in Need”

Acts 6: 1-7; 7:54-60

January 19 – “The Church Welcomes Everyone”

Acts 8:26-38

January 26 – “The Church Learns & Adapts”

Acts 15 (Selections)

            This Sunday, January 5th, we start with the beginnings of the Church, just after the disciples and early followers received the Holy Spirit and the Apostle Peter preached the first Christian sermon (See Acts 1 & 2.)  At that point, the early Christian Church settled into a pattern of life in Jerusalem.  They formed a close community of faith, initially led by the original disciples—excluding Judas, who betrayed him.  Here’s how Luke, the author of the Book of Acts, describes this new faith community and their practices:

“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.” (Acts 2:42-47)

The model of community depicted at the end of Acts 2 is one defined by five core characteristics:

1.      They took care of one another.  Luke writes that they “had all things in common…and [would] distribute…to all, as any had need.”  Please note that the early church was not a model of communism.  Communism includes the common ownership of the means of production.  Luke does not say that the first Christians earned their income through shared “means of production.” 

  Instead, his words focus more on how the first Christians took care of one another’s physical  needs, such as having sufficient food, clothing, and shelter.  Biblical scholar John Wall points out that Luke seems to have the Hebrew “Jubilee Year” in mind as he writes this passage.  A “Jubilee Year” occurred every 50th year, when the agricultural land is given a “rest” and property—which had been sold or taken as compensation for debts—was returned to its original owners.  Wall writes, “According to this biblical pattern, the redistribution of proceeds from sold property reflects the social character of God’s kingdom, where all share equally in the good gifts of God.”[1]

However, it seems implicitly clear that the first Christians cared for one another’s other dimensions as well.  Indeed, they cared for each other spiritually, emotionally, and socially.  In other words, they  were fully focused on caring for each other’s complete wellbeing.

2.      They sought to worship God and grow spiritually, together.  Luke records that the first Christians “spent much time together in the temple.”  For the Jewish community, the temple was their place to worship, but it was also a place to engage in study of the Tanakh (scriptures) and other sacred texts.  So, the first Christians spent much time worshipping God and seeking to grow in their understanding of faith through the study of Hebrew scriptures and the teachings of the Apostles.

3.      They shared friendship and fellowship with one another. Luke observes that the first Christians shared common meals and fellowship in each other’s homes, savoring this time together with great joy and gratitude.  In his Commentary on Acts, Albert C. Winn observes that these fellowship meals probably included a worshipful component, a forerunner of the Sacrament of Holy Communion: 

“We cannot escape the impression that these common meals included sacramental fellowship with Jesus himself.  They looked backward to the table fellowship they had had with him in the flesh.  They sense his presence even now in the Spirit in their midst.  And they looked forward to the feast in the Kingdom which he had promised (Luke 22:16).[2] 

4.      They helped non-Christians and shared the good news about Christ.  I’m inferring that they helped even those who were not Christians because they earned the goodwill of those around them.  They also shared the story—the Good News—of Jesus Christ, resulting in more and more persons deciding to join their faith community and become Christians.

5.      They were joyful.  Luke describes the early fellowship meals as occasions where the first Church share food “with glad and generous hearts.”  Building on this description, William Barclay observes, “It was a happy Church ...  Gladness was there.  A gloomy Christian is a contradiction in terms.  The joy of the Christian is not necessarily a boisterous thing; but deep in the heart of the Christian [person] there is the joy that no [person takes] from us.”[3]

As we begin this series on the essential characteristics, I will suggest that this example of the first Christians in Jerusalem provides a model of the type of churches we are called to become in the twenty-first century.  That is, one of the essential characteristics of the church, then and now, is that God calls the church to be a community of the faithful.

If you live in the Lincoln, Nebraska area and do not have a place of worship, then I invite you to begin this new year by joining us at Christ United Methodist Church this Sunday, as we begin our reclamation of the essentials of the early Church, through a study of Acts. 

Christ UMC is located at 4530 “A” Street.  We have three worship services on Sunday mornings at 8:30, 9:45, and 11:00.  The 8:30 and 11:00 services feature a traditional worship format and the services are held in our Sanctuary.  “The Gathering” at 9:45 is held in our Family Life Center (gym), and it is more informal and interactive.   

Come, join us.  Everyone is welcome and accepted because God loves us all.

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[1] John Wall, “Commentary on the Book of Acts” in the New Interpreter’s Bible,  vol. 10, (Nashville, Abingdon Press, 2002), CD-ROM Edition.

[2] Albert C. Winn, The Acts of the Apostles in “The Layman’s Bible Commentary,” edited by Balmer H. Kelly, vol. 20 (Atlanta:  John Knox Press, 1962), 42.  However, John Wall disagrees in his, “Commentary on the Book of Acts” in the New Interpreter’s Bible,  vol. 10, (Nashville, Abingdon Press, 2002), CD-ROM Edition.

[3] William Barclay, The Acts of the Apostles in “The Daily Study Bible Series,” edited by William Barclay (Philadelphia:  The Westminster Press, 1955) 26-27.