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I tend to prefer to preach from the Common
Lectionary, which is a three-year schedule of suggested Scripture readings for
each Sunday developed by the World Council of Churches a couple of decades
ago. The readings for the Sunday after Easter
fascinate me. This particular Sunday we
read John 20:19-31 where we find the Disciples cowering behind closed doors fearing
for their lives. It also has us read
from the early chapters of the Book of Acts where we have those same Disciples fearlessly
preaching and teaching Jesus raised from the dead and the church growing from
household to household throughout Jerusalem by the thousands. And, all this happens in a matter of six
months.
One of the questions I ask is how did they do
that. The obvious answer is that they
really didn’t do anything but keep together in seclusion and pray. Then, for roughly forty days after Easter
morning Jesus just kept appearing to the Disciples. Easter evening he breathed the Holy Spirit
upon them giving them the one heart and soul that was the root of their unity,
their one heart and soul in him. From
then up until his Ascension he just continues to teach them about the Kingdom
of God. Then on the Day of Pentecost
while they were praying the Holy Spirit came upon them in power and they started
turning the world upside down with the Good News that Lord Jesus is risen
victorious of Sin and Death and his Kingdom is at hand. Come and live in him.
Instead of hiding in houses the Apostles started
teaching openly at the Temple in a place called Solomon’s Porch. Solomon’s porch was on the eastside of the
Temple complex and it is where Jesus sat and taught whenever he was in
Jerusalem. There was also a gate there through which the prophet Ezekiel had
prophesied centuries before that the Messiah would enter Jerusalem. The earliest Christians gathered there to
preach, teach, worship, and pray because they expected Jesus return at any
moment.
They also did a few miracles in Jesus’ Name that got
them in trouble. One in particular was a
man in his forties who was born lame whom everybody knew because he always sat
outside the main gate to the temple begging.
He couldn’t go into the temple because of his disability. Peter healed him in Jesus’ Name and he leapt
and jumped into the courtyards of the Temple causing quite a celebrative
commotion. The High Priest tells the
Apostles to stop doing Jesus’ things and Peter responds: “Whether it is right
in God’s sight to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge; for we
cannot keep from speaking about what we have seen and heard” (Acts 3:20). That takes guts.
They also had a very rich fellowship. They met together in their homes regularly
for meals, to worship, to study, and to pray.
One of the most notable things the Book of Acts has to say about the
early church was that they also held all things in common. They virtually eliminated poverty in their
midst.
From cowering to boldly going where only Jesus would
have you go…it’s like they got an extreme makeover. You folks remember those makeover shows that started
about fifteen years ago; people getting makeovers and becoming completely
different people and contractors taking run down houses and making them really cool. There was even one called “Pimp My Ride”
where some young guy’s loser mobile would disappear for a while and come back a
dream rod.
Well, I’m not a fan of the message those shows convey. They make it seem that real worth,
self-worth, is integrally tied to externals.
Churches get into this mode as well.
We think that if we don’t have the fancy, gimmicky programs that the
popular churches have, then we aren’t a real church. If we don’t have worship with sound effects
and pyrotechnics, then we’re a less-than-church and people won’t like us. The result, we suffer corporate low
self-esteem and so we try to gussy ourselves up – new paint, new signs, new
programs – only to find it doesn’t work.
Why? Well, in the church, the externals flow from the
internals. Basically, this means that we
have to draw near and listen to Jesus who is in our midst by the presence and
power of the Holy Spirit. As we do that
the Holy Spirit begins to work in us, transforming us, and when the time is
right things start to happen. If we do
not tend to Jesus in our midst, the internal, then the externals we come up
with are nothing more than a glossy travel brochure inviting people to an
all-inclusive at the city dump.
Well, back to that question of “How did they do
that?” What did they do back in the
early church to go from cowering to boldly proclaiming Christ and multiplying
in numbers. As I said, it isn’t that
they really did anything, but rather that Jesus did it in them by the presence
and power of the Holy Spirit. But, if
there is anything that we can do to make that happen, it is to create an
expectant environment. By that I mean
gathering together in small groups to eat together, pray together, and worship
and study together with the expectation of encountering Jesus in the presence and
power of the Holy Spirit. It is too often
the case that we let what we think a church is supposed to be and do stand in
the way of Jesus’ desire and plan for his church. When we do that it obviously quenches the
Spirit and church becomes simply navigating the same old ruts.
One remarkable discovery that I have made in my just
over 20 years of ministry, ministry focused in Congregational Redevelopment, is
how strangely difficult it is to get the people of a congregation to cease
doing some of the same old stuff that they have always done in the same old way
year after year and in turn get the them to begin to take the time to gather
together in smaller gatherings to eat together, pray together, and study and
worship together…and this is important…do it with the expectation of
encountering Jesus in their midst in the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. If we would just do that, you know what,
Jesus will show up or maybe it’s better to say we will start noticing that he has
been here all along, but we’ve been too distracted to see him and feel his
presence.
People don’t come to church because they are looking
for one more stress-causing thing to do in their lives. They come because they have a very real
reason for wanting to know that God is real.
We are those who know Jesus is risen. Jesus lives and the proof of that is the
change he has wrought in us. You’ve
heard that song, “Because he lives, I can face tomorrow…Life is worth the
living just because He lives.” Well,
yeah. Today. Tomorrow. The next day.
There are people whom Jesus will bring to church. The people Jesus brings to church are people
looking for hope and need to find at church a people who love them like Jesus
does. Jesus brings people to church
because he wants them to meet people who have hope because we know he lives. That faith, that hope, manifests in a very
love to share. The only life worth
living is his, the life he has to give to us.
He has put us here to be the proof of that. So friends, give time to him, time expecting
him to show up. He will. Amen.
