Fourth Sunday of Easter

Richard Davenport April 30, 2023 - Fourth Sunday of Easter Acts 2:42-47 Acts 2 shows us the church in its infancy. It's a wonder to behold. St. Peter preaches his message on Pentecost and thousands hear and are baptized. Jesus already had a good sized following, but now people from all over the Empire are hearing the message too. They'll take what they heard back with them. Soon, with the help of people like Paul, Titus, and others, churches will start springing up in many major cities around the Empire. It's an exciting time. The Gospel message will encounter a lot of resistance, but the priests and Pharisees couldn't stop the Gospel message and the various atheists, heretics, and even Caesar himself won't be able to keep the message of Christ's death and resurrection from making it all across the Empire. In many of these places, the changes come quickly. These are people who were slaves to sin, slaves to false gods and empty religions, slaves to their own fear of death, slaves to having to live up to the righteous demands of the Law. For the Jews especially, this was the answer to thousands of years of prayer. They had been waiting for this ever since God promised Abraham that one of his descendants would be the savior. So now they are free. Free from the Law that condemns those who fail to live up to God's requirement of perfection, free from eternal death, free from worrying they'd been forgotten and abandoned. Their lives are changed forever. They want to know more. They want to know all about Jesus and what he did. They want to know all of the events of his life. They want to know what comes next. They are spending time in worship and living as Christian brothers and sisters, caring for each other as a family ought. They are thankful for all that they have received. It's kind of an idyllic picture. People truly caring for each other, making sure no one goes without. But what do we do with this information? Is this a call for socialism, or even communism? It certainly sounds like that's the basis of what's going on here. Depending on what part of the country you live in, those words are either very good or very bad. Still, this definitely sounds like a call for living in that kind of society. They had everything in common and distributed it to anyone who was in need. This certainly seems to be how Christians who are truly living in the light of the resurrection ought to operate. No personal property, just dump it all in the same pot. Those who need can take. God supports every person there through the communal work of the group. What's not to love? Well, we first remember there are some pretty important differences between what's going on here and what's typically touted in politics and media. The government isn't forcing any of this to happen. No one is coming in and taking peoples' things and redistributing them as it chooses. Here, each person makes their own choice to be a part of it or not. Everyone here in Acts is doing things voluntarily, offering what is theirs for the needs of the group. Alright, so what they're doing isn't really what's being bandied about in political discussions these days. But there's another part to this, a burning question in the minds of many churches around the country these days. It's that verse at the end that's of particular interest. "And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved." Wow, I mean just imagine what that would be like. Even if it weren't every day, or even every week. Maybe it's just every month, you'd have another person or two coming to faith, finding salvation in Christ. That would be amazing. All of those people coming alive again in Christ. All of those people knowing their sins are forgiven and they too are set free. How great it would be to be a part of that kind of thing. Churches across the country, around the world, are looking for those answers. Certainly here in the western world, the Christian church isn't doing so well. This isn't how things are supposed to work. It doesn't make much sense. People can come and hear the message that they are forgiven, that they have eternal life, but they just don't seem to want it. Maybe it's because we're doing something wrong. Look around, it's not like people are people are rolling in here by the dozens. We need to figure out what the problem is and fix it. We need to get serious about bringing people in so the church can grow like it's supposed to. Maybe this communal living thing is what we need to do. Whether it's appealing or not, it sounds like it worked for them and it's something we'll just have to live with. Throw everything in the pot and give to everyone as they have need. It might be a little uncomfortable, but if it does the job, that's the goal, right? Think of how many people will be saved if we just do what they did. It might work, but then we're back to the whole "communism" thing. Even if we were really ok with that here, the folks around us probably aren't going to be very excited about it. So, even if we were to pursue that, there would be an awful lot of obstacles to overcome in order to convince people this is the place to be. That still makes it worth it, but maybe there are other options. After all, that's still the goal, right? A big, thriving church is the sign that God's message is getting out to the world and that we're a part of it, that you, as individuals, are doing the work of God. There are lots of churches around here that seem to be thriving. They must be doing something right. Maybe it's their music or worship style. Maybe it's the teachings they emphasize. Maybe we can make some little adjustments here or there and more people will be interested in checking what we're all about. Maybe we'll get more people curious about this gospel message. If that starts working, then that probably means we're on the right track. If that's the case, the sky's the limit! This passage, and others like it, are often used in this kind of thinking. Maybe if we do this or we do that, people will flock to our church and be saved. We'll put God back on the map and Christianity will be popular again. We'll make the church, this church, what it was always meant to be. We just need to find the right hook, the right thing to bring people in. That's what we see here in Acts. That's what we should be doing. Looking around at all of the other churches that seem to be booming, those with fellowship halls and gyms that our whole church could fit in, it makes you wonder what we're doing wrong. What's so bad about what we do here that we don't attract the same kind of attention? Someone has to be doing the right thing. It just doesn't seem to be us. There are various passages used to think about this sort of thing. There are a lot of ideas people have about how to make the church more attractive, how to make the gospel more appealing, how to better be the perfect model of the church. But, it never really works. It never accomplishes its goal. Oh, some churches do manage to get quite large, but in order to make the gospel more palatable, they end up cutting out much of what makes it so important. They alter it to make it more acceptable to the culture around us. The problem all along isn't the gospel, or even so much the church. The problem is us. We get the notion in our heads that we can take something of God's and make it better. We think we can figure out something God has intentionally not explained to us. Instead of trusting in him and letting him be the judge of what is pleasing to him, we take it upon ourselves to determine what he should approve of and bless. Faith, what determines who will put their trust in God after hearing the gospel? There should be some kind of formula to follow, some foolproof system that will make it all work out. But there isn't. It doesn't work like that and never has. Maybe people will be curious about a church that decides to start living communally, but there's no guarantee. We are called to live according to God's commands and to love others as he has loved us. Living according to our sinful desires can drive people away, but just because we live like good Christian people doesn't mean others will come flocking to us. The gifts of God have always been something of a mystery. The church throughout history has called God's gifts of faith and mercy, as we see them in his forgiveness and in the sacraments, the sacred mysteries. He doesn't explain their workings. He simply tells us they are there and they are for us. We, in our pride and hubris, want everything to be revealed, we want everything to be known. We want to be able to understand. We want to be able to show off how well we understand God's will and can put it into action. We want to be the beacon that brings everyone to Christ. God's sacred mysteries show our limitations. They show that we are not God. We are not omniscient. We are his humble representatives here, who are always striving to escape our limitations and show the world how much better we are than everyone else. The greatest mystery, is that anyone would love us at all, that anyone would listen to us boasting of our accomplishments, or listen to us as we cut away God's gifts in order to make them more appealing, shaving off everything meaningful in order to present a picture of God that people will accept. The mystery is that, in spite of all of this, God still loves us enough to die for us. He still forgives us when our attempts to usurp his authority. The mystery of the Word made flesh. God becoming man. God sacrificing himself for his people. Innocent dying for the guilty. God's power made manifest in humility. We look to Christ, who humbled himself and through his humility brought salvation to the world. He doesn't give us the perfect program to bring salvation to the world. Instead he tells us to forgive as we have been forgiven. He tells us to live our lives in humble service, just as he did for us. When we share the gospel, when we serve others, we do so humbly, knowing that the end result isn't up to us. We lovingly, prayerfully, put everything into the hands of our Lord and ask him to call those lost sheep to him, to add them to his flock that they may be saved. We give thanks, that our Savior has revealed himself to us, that he has opened our ears to listen to the good news of his forgiveness, and that he has driven out our selfish pride, so that we would humbly seek that forgiveness and find life.