Tuesday
The
book of Acts is tells the story of the early church. It chronicles the
actions of the first Christians and the spread of the Gospel in the
days immediately following Jesus’ resurrection and ascension into
heaven. It is an incredibly interesting and exciting story. Listen to
how Luke (the author of Acts) describes life in the early church.
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone
was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by
the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in
common. – Acts 2:42-44
In his book, The Rise of Christianity,
sociologist and historian Rodney Stark examines how Christianity, a
small and insignificant Jewish sect in the first century, could have
grown so rapidly, endured so long, and had such an incredible impact on
the world. He writes, “the explosive growth of the Christianity in its
earliest days can only be understood as a function of community.”
Community has become something of a buzz word in the church over the
last 10-15 years or so. The Greek word for this idea is ‘koinonia’, it
means “commonness”, or having in common. It is the same word translated
fellowship in the passage quoted earlier. The New Testament authors
took this word and gave it new meaning and new significance.
The
ironic truth is that the earliest Christians really did not have all
that much in common. They came from many different cultures and racial
groups, some were converted Jews and others were Greek speaking
Gentiles. They came from different social and economic backgrounds,
some were wealthy, but many were poor or lower class.
My
roommate for my first semester as a freshman in college was a guy named
Matt. Matt and I were just about as different as night and day. Matt
was from a small rural town – I was from the suburbs. Matt played the
cello - I played football. Matt went to a small private Christian high
school – I went to a large public school. Matt was a valedictorian - I
was an average student. Matt wore shirts with collars – I occasionally
wore shirts with sleeves. I wasn’t very kind to Matt that first
semester, and I am sure that he was more than a little irritated with
having me for a roommate. Sadly, it would take nearly all four years of
college for me to realize what a truly great guy Matt really was. I
was too focused on the surface level differences that separated us to
see that we shared something amazing in common. When I think back on
that time in my life, it is clear to me that I was far too immature in
my faith to realize that what Matt and I shared in Christ far outweighed
any of our differences on the surface.
The
Christian community should overcome and transcend the social, racial
and cultural barriers that often divide us. Liberal/Conservative,
Old/Young, Blue Collar/White Collar, Rich/Poor,
Black/White/Brown/Yellow, all of these distinctions fade away when
compared to the joy of knowing Jesus. Here is a question I would like
you to consider – Do you have people in your life that you love and you
know they love you, but you also know that if it weren’t for Jesus
Christ, you probably would not even know them or like them?
When
the book of Acts tells us that the early Christians had “everything in
common”, it is not saying that they were all exactly alike or clones of
each other. It means that they had everything that really and truly
mattered in common, because they had Christ in common! It was the love
of Christ that bound them together in such a remarkable community. What
they had in common was Jesus!
Jeff Frazier
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