The Church is a Community

Text: Acts 2:42-47

Focus: The Community of Faith

Function: To help people see the interdependence we have on one another.

Form: GOK

Intro:

A few years ago, right after the last presidential election, someone asked me this question: “Pastor, does the Bible support socialism?” “Prove it to me if it does.”

That question isn't much different than the question, does the Bible support capitalism? Prove it to me if it does.

The Bible supports neither, or it supports both. Why use the Bible to beat up another person's perspective?

But I am not preaching socio/political views this morning. The Church is called to be a community and we are going to see just how far the early Church and the Holy Spirit took this concept.

But, this is one of the more controversial passages in the bible. Because, in this passage, we read that the initial reaction to the good news was that the believers, the very first church ever, took their faith so seriously, they understood so much what had just happened, that Jesus gave up everything to give His life for us, that the only proper response themselves was to give up everything as well.

To one man, Jesus said “you must be born again.” We preach that doctrine of salvation that when a person accepts Jesus as Lord and Savior, the Holy Spirit fills them and makes everything new. We preach that if there is no fruit of transformation, then something is wrong.

You all remember the fruits of the Holy Spirit? Love, Joy, Peace, gentleness, Kindness, patience.... All of that is the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

To another man, Jesus said: “Sell everything you have, give it to the poor, then you will have treasure in heaven and then come and follow me.”

The “born again” statement is one we preach, it seems easier to follow, as long as God doesn't meddle too much, especially with forgiveness, or our most precious commodity, our time.

One author points out that it seems odd how we seem to ignore that other command.

Right now, I am not trying to step on your toes, but we need to think about the meaning of what this all says.

I am not going to get into the politics of it. But this first Church did became a commune. It was completely voluntary. Most, if not all of you, know the events in Acts 5, about how one couple wanted the privilege of joining the commune, but they just were not yet sure if they were ready to make the sacrifice. So, they sold their property, kept some of the money for themselves, gave the rest to the Church and lied that they had given the Church the entire amount.

They were struck dead. That is the only case of someone being struck dead in church. But Peter made it clear, they were not struck dead because they didn't give all their money, Peter tells them they didn't have to. They were struck dead because they lied to Church, and by lying to the Church, they lied to God. They were lying about their commitment to the community.

Their problem was either a lack of faith, or a lack of commitment.

They wanted the privileges of membership, but they weren't willing to be complete partners. When it cost them something, they backed out.

And, the fairness of that seems to come into question.

If it indeed was a commune, then obviously, some people gave more and lived with less, while some people gave less and lived with more.

So, this couple wanted the privilege of living at that level without that sacrifice.

Again, it isn't socialism, because the entire system was voluntary. Now, the OT law has mandatory giving to the poor, by law that is not a choice of charity, but full and legal binding effects for citizenship.

But again, it isn't socialism because there is a very strong component of hard work, luck and fair business practices incorporated into the whole legal system of economics in the OT law.

So, this message has nothing to do with politics. It has to do with community.

There were 12 apostles, you know that. James and John were 2 of those twelve. It appears that they were from a wealthier family. Their mother thought that they were special. What mother doesn't?

She went to Jesus and asked Him to make her two sons more important than the other 10. When the other ten found out about it, they were clearly angry.

Jesus quickly rebuked all 12 (the 10 who were upset and the two who were singled out.)

Jesus said to them, the world's system has power structures among people that gives more privileges to some and less to others. And those who are in power make sure that those who are not are aware of their lower status. But not among Christians, the greatest among you is your servant, not your master. (Mark 35-45).

This born again thing kicked in, all of them repented of their pride, humbled themselves and they choose community over themselves.

And here they are six months or so later and there are no grudges, no bitterness, no long memories, no chance to get even. The whole church was growing and prospering because people were willing to give up their own pride and ambition to live in community.

In 1971, there was a nationwide revival. It was called the “Love Revival.” I remember it, although I was just a kid in junior high.

This man came to share what was happening at Asbury Seminary just South of Lexington, Ky.

This man came for one night to give a report, but ended up staying for two weeks. It was amazing. Just like the two apostles on the way to Emmaus, we had this strong feeling like our hearts were on fire.

But it was called the love revival because the feeling, the work of the Holy Spirit was forgiveness and community breaking out at every church.

And it was just like Jesus said it would be when he spoke of the yeast spreading in a hidden way, cell to cell inside a loaf of bread as it rises.

It seems that all that it took for this revival to happen in a local church was for someone who had already experienced it to come and share. And the Holy Spirit was working so strongly, that people started giving up age old feuds, unforgiveness and petty bitterness.

But how did it all start? A pastor in Anderson, Indiana took offense with another pastor who was a professor at Asbury Seminary.

The Holy Spirit convicted one of those two men about unconditional forgiveness. He choose to obey and a miracle happened. The other fellow forgave as well. It seems as if the Holy Spirit was not going to be free to work unless people were willing to forgive just as freely as they had been forgiven.

Now back to our text and this concept that they were sharing everything, and the story of Acts 5 about this couple who lied to the Church and the way they were struck dead.

Throughout the history of the Church, there have been people who have lied in order to improve their own standing in the eyes of others. Why didn't God strike all the rest of them dead?

Scholars ask that question and there is an Old Testament reference. Right at the beginning of the Old Covenant, when the Israelites finally entered the promised land, they were given amazing victories in battle. They would go into battles and at the end, not a single soldier would be missing even though they were in hand to hand combat.

Until they came to this little village. It seems that just one person had decided to keep just a little bit of the spoil from Jericho. They sent a small group to this little village and were quickly defeated. Then they sent the entire army against a few and thousands died. They asked God why all of a sudden they were losing.

Right at the beginning of both covenants, both Testaments, God took His punishment to an extreme.

Theologians argue over why this is true. But I submit that it isn't a demonstration of God's wrath, it is a demonstration of God's mercy.

He is reminding us that we are far from perfect beings who are constantly being forgiven.

God's grace and forgiveness are without measure. They are conditioned on one thing, our own willingness to forgive.

Every time there is a conflict, it is based on personal pride, bitterness and unforgiveness.

Annanias and Sapphira, the couple who fell down dead because of their lack of commitment demonstrated their own ambition by hanging on to some of the money, which they had the right to do, but they lied about it.

So, what does it mean to live in community? We stick it out. We pay the price. We sacrifice our pride and forgive each other.

It is worth it. We prove who Jesus is by the way we get to love and by the way were are loved.

Here is the beauty of the Family of God. We are accepted and received just as we are.

And, I have to get personal here, for just a moment. Last Sunday was incredible to Kathy and I.

We have this committee that strives to do something every month that is out of the box. We were discussing one thing, and then another and we asked ourselves, what if we just let people be lead by the Holy Spirit and share what they believed the text means to them?

Well, we weren't sure it would work.

Then we had another idea about demonstrating the text we were going to use today, the text about calling deacons in order to let the pastor focus on the ministry, but it seemed as if that was just pushing things a little to far.

But last Sunday, you did it. You worked it out. You allowed the Holy Spirit to lead you.

And, you demonstrated physically to Kathy and I last week. As soon as the service was over, Kathy, like a light switch came on, stopped having pain. It was almost as if God was behind it.

And then, the visits, the phone calls, the support and the love just started pouring in.

Too often, a pastor feels like they are here, but last week, we were together. Thank you.