FIFTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST July 7 & 8, 2001
St. Mark’s
Evangelical Lutheran Church – Watertown, WI
WE NEED ONE
ANOTHER ACTS 2:42-47
People are isolating themselves from others. Have you noticed how many groups and organizations have trouble getting people together to meet and to carry out projects? Many of the service organizations in communities are losing members. Many churches are declining in members and in attendance. What is the problem? The problem for many today is time. We look at most families and both husband and wife are working more than eight hours a day, if they have a job. The most important and valuable commodity for most people today is time. Ask anyone who is retired and they will also tell you, that they are often more busy today than when they were working. They have so little time for all the things they had wanted to do once they retired.
The
decisions that you and I have to make today come to the use of our time. How are we going to spend our time? In the Word of God before us today we have an
account of how the early Christians right after Pentecost, the birth of the New
Testament church, used their time. These
people had the same amount of time that we have in the twenty-first century –
24 hours a day and 168 hours a week.
What did they consider important in the use of their time? As we consider the Evangelist Luke’s account
of life in the early church, there is a message that rings out loudly and clearly
– WE NEED ONE ANOTHER. As we examine the lives of the early
believers we note I) The Purpose For
Needing Others and we also note II)
The Wonderful Benefits That Are Received.
“The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone.” (Genesis 2:18a) These are the words that God spoke shortly before he created Eve and brought her to Adam and established the basic unit of our society, the family. This was also the first church. Adam and Eve needed each other. God created us as social beings to interact with one another. At the birthday of the New Testament Christian church, those first believers realized the importance of each other. In fact, Luke tells us that “Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts.” (v. 46a) There were over 3,000 believers at that time, about the size of our congregation. They got together every day? For what purpose? Luke records. “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” (v. 42) Those early believers knew how important it was A) to spend time in God’s Word, B) to spend time with fellow believers, C) to celebrate the Lord’s Supper, and D) to pray
What does God’s Word say about that? What do I believe? As Christians our beliefs are not based on how we feel about something, but rather on what God says. Now how do you know what God says? The only way you can know that is through listening to God speak to you. Where does God speak to you? He speaks to all of us through His Word. The early believers daily busied themselves in listening to the Apostles’ teachings. Remember, Jesus had told his followers, “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” (Matthew 28:19-20) The disciples did exactly what Jesus had told them. On Pentecost they baptized about 3,000 people. They then proceeded to teach these people all that they had learned from Jesus. At this time the New Testament had not been written. These men recounted for the people that Jesus of Nazareth was the promised Messiah of Israel. They used the Old Testament and showed the people that all that had been written about the coming Savior had been fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth. He was the Savior of the world. To give authority to their teaching, God performed miracles and wonders through these men. As Luke tells us, “Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles.” (v. 43) Peter, John and the others were able to heal the sick and perform many other miracles that authenticated their teaching.
The early Christians spent time together daily in God’s Word. They realized the importance of fueling themselves with the one thing needful for this life. Can’t you do that by yourself? You certainly can and should. But it is also important to take the time to gather with fellow believers for worship, Bible study, prayer and praise. When you take one coal or log away from a burning fire, it will soon die out. But leave that coal or log together with the others and it continues to burn brightly. We need each other for mutual growth and encouragement.
The early believers also spent time in fellowship. They got to know one another and they helped each other when someone was in need. As Luke writes, “All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need.” (Vv. 44-45) These people put into practice what Jesus had taught, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Mark 12:30-31) When someone was in need the other believers stepped forward and helped in whatever way they could. Later Luke writes, “There were no needy persons among them.” (Acts 4:34) This is one of the things that drew other people to Christianity. It was the way those early believers loved each other. Can that be said of the Christian church today? Sad to say, often the church today is seen as a bunch of people fighting and bickering over something or complaining that they don’t have enough money; rather than a loving fellowship gathering around God’s Word and reaching out to help those in need. We have much to learn and follow from the practices of the early church.
Another very important part of the early believers’ lives was the celebration of the Lord’s Supper. Here it is called, “the breaking of bread:” (v. 42c) Whether they celebrated the Lord’s Supper daily, we aren’t sure. But we are told that they got together daily in the temple courts and that “the broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts.” (v. 46) These people took seriously Jesus’ words “continue to do this in remembrance of me.” They also remembered his promise, “Take and eat; this is my body given for you. Take and drink. This is my blood shed for you for the forgiveness of your sins.” (Matthew 26:26-28) They realized the importance of receiving their Savior’s body and blood for the forgiveness of their sins and the strengthening of their faith. Do we value the Lord’s Supper that highly? As a congregation we always offer the sacrament at every service because we know how important it is and we realize the great strength and help that God gives us in it. Do you personally see its importance and value in your own life?
The final activity that Luke mentions is prayer. He says they gathered daily “to pray”. (v. 42d) Good relationships are built on good two-way communication. God speaks to us in His Word and Sacrament. We respond and talk to God in prayer. It is important that we talk daily with our Lord. You know what happens when you stop communicating with someone, your relationship cools and finally ends. The more you talk and share with someone, the stronger your relationship becomes. Our Lord commands us, “Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me.” (Psalm 50:15) James writes, “Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? He should sing songs of praise.” (James 5:13) Joining with other Christians in prayer reminds us of the importance and benefit that we have in communicating with our Lord and Savior.
Why gather together with fellow Christians? Luke sets before us some compelling reasons to set aside time weekly to do this. Luke reminds us of the importance of using our time for getting together with one another. Here we hear and consider God’s Word, which is absolute truth. Here we are able to get to know each other and help those who may be in need. Here we can receive the Lord’s Supper regularly for our own personal strength. Here we can pray together for others.
But one important question, “What’s in it for me? What benefit will I derive by allotting some of my valuable time to gather with other Christians? There are personal benefits and God uses our activities to attract other people to Jesus.
We have all heard, “you get out of something what you put into it.” God does bless our gatherings. Personally as you and I get into God’s Word, you grow spiritually. We are able to focus on the positives rather than the negatives. If you have been watching our economy and the employment reports, you may have noticed that our economy is in a tailspin. You may have already lost your job or your job is not so secure. You may have seen your retirement accounts shrink dramatically with the losses in the stock market. What good does it do to come to church and be with other Christians? Here we are reminded that we don’t have to worry because our Savior Jesus is still in control. Here we are able to connect with other believers and share with one another and encourage each other. Here we can cast all our burdens on the Lord and be assured that God will care for us.
Daily we are bombarded with all the negative news and problems of this world. When we gather with fellow Christians, we receive a different perspective. Here we hear the good news. God loves us. Jesus Christ lived, died and rose for us. Jesus cares about each of us personally and works all things for good in our lives. As Luke writes about the early Christians, “they praised God and enjoyed the favor of all the people.” (v. 47a) When we gather together we are able to encourage each other and to comfort and help one another.
There is another important benefit that comes from gathering with fellow followers of Jesus Christ. Luke writes, “And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” (v. 47b) God uses us to reach out and attract other people to come and hear, to learn of Jesus Christ their Savior and be saved. God’s will is that all be saved and come to knowledge of the truth. People can’t hear unless someone tells them. People won’t come unless they are invited and brought. God uses you and me to do just that. When you find a satisfied customer of a product, they will tell you how great and wonderful he product is and you will be tempted to try it. The same is true with the Christian faith. We are satisfied customers. We are enjoying the benefits of forgiveness and eternal life. We have come to know what is really important and what lasts. We are learning to get our priorities straight and to put our lives in order. That’s what the early Christians were doing and the Lord continued to add more and more people to their fellowship.
It is a struggle for each of us in how we manage our valuable commodity of time. Fellow Christians, see the importance of putting God and his Word first in your life and recognize the benefits for you personally and for others who still don’t know Jesus Christ.
Amen.