This was a new beginning. Here were 3000 people who had just become followers of Jesus. Here was a newborn community of believers. Everyone was on 100% brand-new, unexplored territory. It was new for the majority who had for the first time believed in Jesus, been baptised and added to the Church. It was actually new for the minority, the hundred or so who had been believers before teh day of pentecost, and even for the twelve who had followed Jesus for three years, because for the first time, they had experienced the reality of the holy Spirit at work inside their lives. They were learning to know Jesus in a new and deep way. The Church itself was a new thing. It was all new... Like 2011 is for us. Some of us have only recently started following Jesus. Others have been Christians for a long time, but things change and there are always new challenges: new gifts, new priorities, new experiences and promises lie ahead. How are we to enter this New Year?
Luke tells us that the first Church "devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers." The word "devoted" is a big idea... It is about being ready; about perseverance, about courage, about strength. The new Church was "devoted" to these four things that were part of their Christian experience, fundamental to the life together of their Church community... and these four things were...
The Apostles' Teaching
Apostolic teaching lived out!!! The teaching of the apostles (those sent out by Jesus and seen as guardians of the traditions about Jesus). Three things are worth remembering about the "Apostles' Teaching" as the first church heard it and as we need to hear it. Firstly, it was about Jesus. It was centered on a person not an idea. It's rooted in a story not a concept. Secondly it was about mission: it had an outward-directing force about it. And thirdly it was practical. "Teach them to observe al that I have commanded you" said Jesus in the great commission.
Listen: we are going to be nothing as a Church unless we can live by the Word of God. That means being taught; it means reading and studying it for ourselves as best we can. But most important it means putting it into practise.
The Fellowship
"Fellowship" is one of the most over-used and misused words in the strange language Christians use. We often think about fellowship in terms of having a cup of tea after the service... my first church had a huge Victorian barn of a building that had been altered a few years before I arrived there. It had a lounge that was affectionately and quaintly known as "the fellowship area" - basically, where we met after the service to have a cup of tea. Koinonia (the Greek word translated "Fellowship") is a bit more than that. The word literally means having something in common; sharing something. It comes from Koinonos, the word for a partner, which comes from koine the word for "Common" or "ordinary" which comes from syn the word for "with". Koinonia, fellowship, is about sharing, it implies partnership, it speaks of everyone being "ordinary", on the same level; it denotes a sense of "with-ness," togetherness.
What do we have in common? We have Jesus in common. He makes a huge difference. We are called to be inclusive, because we all have Jesus in common. Fellowship is not firstly about activities but about our inner life, worked out in practical terms in care for and service to each other. The first Christian community lived together: they shared their homes, their finances and their lives together. They couldn't get enough of time together with God's people. Now I know that it's possible to suffer from "fellowship-itis" where hanging around with other Christians is a great way of avoiding meeting people, being with family members and others - who don't know Jesus. And I don't want us to catch a dose of "fellowship-itis"! But I do want us to catch real fellowship. It's the inner life of the Church that makes a difference in the world. Not just being together at meetings but being genuine in our relationships with one another. You could say, "Withness comes before witness".
The Breaking of Bread
This worship was a lifestyle, and it was varied and broad. They went to the temple, where the priests would offer a sacrifice twice daily; they would be part of a congregation that would watch, and join in the prayers. They broke bread - to call to mind Jesus - in their own homes as part of the regular habit of sharing meals together. Do you see, worship wasn't just something they went to for an hour on a Sunday. It was part of the rhythm of life; it was part of their lifestyle. It wasn't just a "spectator sport"; they weren't just like the barmy army going to watch England prove that miracles still take place. They we open enough that they could worship in the temple; but they were members of the team, like at a youth camp or a or Sunday school outing when everyone plays crocker or rounders, and maybe there are forty on one team... I want to call us all to a lifestyle of worship. To be devoted - giving energy and time - to worship as a lifestyle.
The Prayers.
Here was a bunch of people in a brand new encounter with God, through Jesus, by the Spirit. How were they so see the Kingdom touch lives around them? How were they going to share this Good News and this Kingdom? How were they going to survive in a hostile environment? How was the life of this newly founded Church to be shaped and structured? These were people who needed to be talking to God and listening to him. It seems like there were regular times when the Church set itself to pray: and that when it did, the Christians put time and effort into being part of those prayer times.
Guys, I tell you, at the beginning of 2011, we face challenges. How do we share the Good news with our community? How do we show Jesus' love to Rosyth? How does a struggling Church reach a changing community with the unchanging gospel? If we think we can make it happen, with the same old ideas we've been using for decades, we're wrong. If we think we can make it happen with a few new ideas, we're wrong. If we think all we need is to be a bit more trendy, have better songs and more pictures on the data projector, we're wrong. Not that there is anything wrong with our history; not that there is anything wrong with new ideas, new songs, new technology. But we need God to come by his Spirit and if we want God to come by his Spirit we need to pray.
The outcome of this inner life of Applying God's word, caring for each other, worship and prayer was that "People in general liked what they saw. Every day their number grew as God added those who were saved." (verse 47, The Message). They had a good reputation and they were growing. So here we are: looking at a new year. We want to be a Church that is respected in our locality; we would love to be growing. The answer isn't in renewed efforts to do the same outreach stuff of to try new stuff. Mission isn't just shoving the message at people. Mission starts inside. So it is to these inner realities that I call us to be devoted: The Apostles' teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread, and prayer. © Gilmour Lilly January 2011
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