The Spiritual Community

Introduction

In this season of Pentecost, we have been in a short series on Acts, looking at this birth of the church when the Spirit was poured out on the first of Jesus’ followers. This passage is so fitting to end our series on, because it gives us a beautiful picture of the Spirit’s work in and among a group of people who love Jesus and seek to follow him together. Our dependence on the Spirit for life with Christ is more than an idea; the Spirit actually touches down into our lives, changing the way we think, feel, and act, and relate to each other.

Two questions I’d like us to answer in our time together. First, How do we know the Spirit is at work in us? This passage gives us several indicators we can look to for the Spirit’s work in us both individually and as a community. Second, How can we live like this? Or to say it another way, Why don’t we? I want us to see how our modern culture conditions us for greed and exploitation, and how the Spirit offers us the resources we need to live dynamic, generous, other-focused lives.

My hope for our time is we will grow deeper together into the love of Jesus and the power of the Spirit.

How do we know the Spirit is at work?

Acts 2 is one of the best examples we have of a Spirit-filled people. The details are specific enough for us to use this text as a kind of barometer for our own spiritual vitality; if the Spirit is at work in us as a people, then something like this passage ought to be happening in us. The details are also general enough for every church in every generation to come and glean from this text for our given context.

So how do we know the Spirit is at work in us? There are at least three ways we see here.

First, the Spirit draws us into deeper relationships with those whom we have significant difference. As you read over this passage you get a sense that you couldn’t have kept these people apart from each other no matter how hard you might’ve tried. The picture we see is of a people who were drawn to each other like magnets; they were generous and filled with joy, they were together every day, selling what they could to care for each other. No matter what came their way, they just wanted to be together.

Verse 44 uses the language of “all things in common.” What does that mean?

Well, it doesn’t mean they had no differences. Perhaps the most prominent manifestation of sin and conflict in the New Testament are the prejudices of people who are being drawn together in Christ. You don’t have to go very far in the New Testament to see this - Acts 6, we see that a particular group of people are being neglected in the Church. In Galatians we read about Peter’s prejudice, and the prejudice of James’ disciples, which were front and center.

So it’s not that they had no differences, it’s not that they had no conflict. We certainly are not meant to apply this and say that we should minimize our gender, class, or racial differences; nor should we ignore them as if they don’t matter. They absolutely do. They’re a part of who are are.

What this passage IS showing us is that when people are drawn together by the Spirit, their bond in Christ is so deep that it could be said that they have all things in common. Why? Because we have Jesus, who is Lord, Creator, and Savior over all things. Paul said in Colossians that Jesus is reconciling all things, including us, to himself. And so if Jesus is Lord over all things, and we have Jesus in common, then in real and spiritual way, it could be said that we have ALL THINGS in common.

Let’s apply this for a minute. This is a little bit of a test. How big is your Jesus? You’ll know by how you respond to the following: If you are a straight down the party ticket democrat who loves Jesus, you have more in common with a MAGA Republican who loves Jesus than you do with someone who voted just like you but doesn’t know Jesus. If you’re a teenager who loves Jesus, you have more in common with the retired person who loves Jesus sitting two rows behind you than you do any of your friends who don’t know Jesus. If you’ve lived in Indy for years and you know Jesus, you have more in common with a refugee living near Lafayette Road who loves Jesus than you do with any of your lifelong friends here who don’t know Jesus.

Now, do you believe that? You might say, “I don’t know, that sounds like you’re minimizing difference.” Not at all; in fact, having Christ in common is the basis for being able to genuinely see and respect each other for our differences rather than resorting to animosity or division. Maybe you think, “I just don’t think this can be true.” I want to challenge you and say that your Jesus might be too small. You might object, “This just hasn’t been my experience in the church.” Yeah, I know. But that doesn’t make it untrue.

We are a people who live not by experience but by faith; and by faith we grasp on not to what is seen but what is unseen, and what is unseen is that Christ has and is reconciling all things to himself, including us, and together we now belong to him.

Are you drawing closer to other people, other Christians, with whom you have massive differences? That’s the first indicator of the Spirit at work.

Second, we see here the Spirit also changes how we relate to our stuff. Look at verse 45.

Now, one of the unfortunate things that often happens with Bible passages like this is that we want to make sense of it with very human ideas. So one of the questions people bring to a text like this is something like, “Is this socialism?” Or, “Is this biblical grounds for socialism rather than capitalism?” Now I don’t really want to get into all of that; I will say, it’s very sad that we try to justify our ideas with Scripture rather than allowing Scripture to challenge our ideas.

For that matter, whatever economic system we favor most should not concern us. Instead, we should be much more concerned, as one commentator says, on the God who dares impose on us his divine love. Such love will not play fair with us. As soon as we think something belongs to us or our people, God will demand we sell it, give it away, or offer it up for sake of our neighbor in order to create the bonds of a shared Spiritual life.

So this is another place for us to examine our hearts. Where do you look for significance, for meaning, for purpose, that Jesus might actually be asking you to give up for the sake of your neighbor? It might be financial, but for most of us it is likely our time as much as anything else. What do you need to say No to, what do you need to let go of, to grow deeper into the Spirit-filled love that Jesus promises? Do you see the Spirit helping you let go to make more space for others? That’s an indication of Spiritual vitality.

Third, we see a radical commitment to evangelism and care for the vulnerable. The church is growing. 3,000 people came to faith at Pentecost, and now we see multitudes more are being added each day. People were looking at what was happening among these Jesus people and it was enough for them to say, “I can’t explain everything that is happening here, but I want in.”

Rodney Starke, who was a historian of the early church, wrote a really great book called the Rise of Christianity. In it, he argued that Christianity became the dominant Western religion in just a few centuries through three primary means.

First, a commitment to gospel proclamation and conversion. In a pluralist religious environment, the early Christians never settled and accepted Jesus as one of many Gods. They asserted Jesus as THE God and King of Heaven and Earth, THE Savior and only hope for the world; even when they were met with hostility and persecution.

Second, their care for women. Historically, Christianity has been very good for women. Greco-Roman culture treated women like second-class citizens. They were extremely vulnerable. They were most likely to be left to die at birth if they were unwanted, were often married before puberty, husbands saw no moral issue with having affairs, and widows were left uncared for. In contrast, Christians forbid infanticide, adopted unwanted infants, were much more likely to forbid marriage until after the age of 18, and cared for widows in the hundreds.

Third, their care for the poor. The pagan religions had no concept of a god who cares for the affairs of people, nor any promise of meaningful everlasting life. Christianity taught that there is a God who cares about our lives, who cares about how we treat one another, and that it is possible to receive the gift of eternal life with him. And the earliest Christians tied themselves to the poor, the weak, the sick, and gave their lives to their care.

In sum, how did the early church grow? We see it here in Acts 2. A commitment to evangelism and care for the vulnerable. Many books have been written on the best ways to grow the church, but for my money you’re not going to find a better model than evangelism and care for the vulnerable.

Do you see that in your life? Are our vulnerable neighbors better off because we live next door? Because our community groups meet nearby? Do they hear about Jesus from us?

How do we know the Spirit is at work? Deeper bonds, even across our differences; sacrificial attitude toward our time and possessions, and a commitment to evangelism and the vulnerable.

How Can We Live Like This?

Or to ask it another way, Why don’t we?

I’m guessing that no matter what your religious beliefs are this morning, we’d all be in agreement that living in a society where this kind of living was normal would be pretty great. Where people cared about each other, where people were willing to sacrifice for each other, where the vulnerable are taken care of, where people glad and joyous with each other.

I think we’d also be in agreement that on the whole we live nothing like this today.

So, if we all would enjoy a more peaceful, joyous, compassionate society, why don’t we live in one? Can we, or why should we, actually live like this?

I want to look at this from two angles. First, from a very modern perspective, second from what would be a Christian perspective. Notice I didn’t say from non-Christian and Christian perspectives. By modern, I mean a certain temperament that influences each one of us, Christian or not.

When I say modern, I mean the fundamental belief that places self at the center; the self is the primary reference point which guides our life. We are able to choose meaning and purpose for ourselves; we are the arbitrators of morality and ethics for ourselves; I alone am a reference point for what is true.

Yuval Harari, who I’ve referenced before, is an atheist historian and author at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. I think he really captures the essence of the modern self when he says that the task of the modern person is to try and create meaning out of a meaningless world. What he means by that is that if there is nothing divine, nothing transcendent, nothing outside of humanity to which we can look for guidance, then it is all up to us. So, he says, that the modern self is plagued by more existential angst than any previous culture. We think we are smart enough to enjoy the full benefits of modern progress without having to pay this price of an inner crisis of purpose and meaning.

Here’s the crisis point for us this morning: At the end of the day, the modern self cannot give us the resources we need to live generous, sacrificial lives. Why? Because if the modern sensibility is correct, we live in a closed system. And if history has taught us anything it is that this closed system of humanity is ripe with greed, exploitation, and prejudice. So without anything or anyone outside of us, we are stuck in this system. With the self as reference point, there is nothing beyond us that causes a welling up in our hearts, nothing beyond ourselves that draws us upward above self interest, nothing outside of us to draw us toward our neighbor.

So even with our best intentions, we make choices and play a part in systems which advance greed and exploitation. We’re stuck. Let me give you just a few examples of what this look like.

Rather than being drawn to those with whom we have difference and conflict, We unite over shared fears and self interest instead. Christian Nationalism is a strong example of this. One of my colleagues at Fuller Seminary is a former Neo-Nazi who now has a ministry to Christian Nationalists. He’ll tell you that much of what is driving Christian Nationalism is a fear of erasure, a fear of being forgotten. So the answer to that fear is to latch on to a particular nationalistic and ethnic identity, even if it causes violence and oppression for others. But it’s not just Christian Nationalism that does this, couldn’t we say that much of our modern politics is driven by fear? Which is really what? A concern for the self, rather than a concern for our neighbor. See, if your reference point for life is yourself, then anything which might harm your self perception is a threat to be feared. So we unite around mutual fears rather than mutual love.

Second, rather than giving ourselves away for our neighbor, we exploit them to prop up our own self image. Derek Thompson wrote a great piece for the Atlantic recently titled The Dangerous Rise of Front-Yard Politics. He’s referencing the prominence of all the yard signs we use today to signal which causes and beliefs we support. Now, the point of the article isn’t to be down on yard signs; that’s not the takeaway. His point was that for all of our signaling about who we support, who is welcome in our neighborhood, which causes matter to us, few of us actually change our lives and support policies which back up the signs we put in our yard. In other words, too often we are far more concerned about appearing virtuous than actually being virtuous. We’re willing to exploit the cause of our neighbor rather than care for our neighbor. With self at the center, my appearance to my neighbors matters more than how I care for them.

Rather than a care for the vulnerable We abuse the vulnerable for our own gain and pleasure. Christine Emba is a Catholic author and columnist for the Washington Post. Her work is focused on our culture’s attitude and views toward sex. One of the repeated points she makes in her work is that the loss of a firm sexual ethic, which Christianity gives to us, has actually made sex more dangerous, particularly for women. In a recent podcast episode, she says that without something external to point to and say, “This is how you ought to treat me,” many women now rightfully fear how they’ll be treated. When we cast off external sexual ethics for being repressive, she says, we actually lose the very thing which instructed us to treat others with dignity and respect.

So the natural self, the modern self, does not give us the resources to live the kind of life that even by our own confession we want to live. With the self at the center, we choose fear, violence, exploitation, and the greedy abuse of others instead.

How do you feel so far? Let’s turn this around and see how Christianity actually does give us the resources, the power, to live the kind, generous lives we desire. Two things: Duty and grace.

First, Duty. At the fall of mankind, when sin entered the world, at least three relationships were broken: Our relationship with God, our relationship to creation, and our relationship to each other. Now, in Christ, through his Spirit, all three are being restored. That third relationship with our neighbor is what we see in view here in Acts 2, particularly in verses 44-46. Christ restores our truest nature; while sacrificial love and duty toward my neighbor might be contrary to my fallen nature, it is not contrary to my divine image-bearing nature which is being restored. With new eyes we see our neighbor not as one who has to earn something from me, nor who has to prove that they are worth my care and attention. Simply by being a fellow image bearer my neighbor is worthy of all my care and affection. I am duty bound to them. Here is how the 16th Century theologian John Calvin articulated this idea, you have this quote in your bulletin:

Scripture helps in the best way when it teaches that we are not to consider that men merit of themselves but to look upon the image of God in all men, to which we owe all honor and love. Therefore, whatever man you meet who needs your aid, you have no reason to refuse to help him. Say, “He is a stranger”; but the Lord has given him a mark that ought to be familiar to you, by virtue of the fact that he forbids you to despise your own flesh. Say, “He is contemptible and worthless”; but the Lord shows him to be one to whom he has deigned to give the beauty of his image. Say that he does not deserve even your least effort for his sake; but the image of God, which recommends him to you, is worthy of your giving yourself and all your possessions… [We must not] consider men’s evil intention but look upon the image of God in them, which cancels and effaces their transgressions, and with its beauty and dignity allures us to love and embrace them…

So the Spirit restores our sense of duty to our neighbor, and second, by grace He opens our hearts to willingly give of ourselves to our neighbor.

Look at verse 42. At the root of everything we see here was the apostolic teaching. Peter’s sermon just a few verses prior is a great snapshot of the center of this teaching: Christ is King and Messiah. He gave his life for you because he loves you. Repent and be baptized. This gift is for anyone and everyone.

You see, as these early disciples had the gospel applied to their hearts and lives, as they grew deeper into the all-surpassing love that Christ had for them, their hearts opened more and more to love their neighbor. Jesus held on to nothing but gave everything away for our sake. The gospel will inevitably bring us to the conclusion that if Christ has been so exceedingly kind and generous to us, that he wouldn’t even spare his own life for our sake, how can we not go to the end of ourselves for our neighbor? See, when John told us that if Christ laid down his life for us then we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters, he was not just being sentimental.

Calvin recognized this in the rest of the quote you see in your bulletin. He said that the limits of our generosity toward neighbor can only be set according to the rule of love. What is he saying? The only limits for how we love our neighbor is the love we’ve received from Christ in the gospel.

Do you yet comprehend just how much Jesus loves you? The answer is no. None of us do. The answer for all of eternity, as we look upon him, and all that he gave up for us, will always be no, not yet. That’s the kind of love we need, that’s the power we need which comes from outside of us, to draw us upward and outward, to love our God and neighbor just as He always intended.

Do you want to save yourself from the despairing meaninglessness, fear, and exploitation of the modern self? Look to Jesus, who loves you and give himself for you. Do you want to grow in care, generosity, concern, love for your neighbor? Pray for the Spirit to show you much more of Jesus and open your heart even wider to him. Do you want to see a dynamic working of the Spirit here among our congregation? Then let us exhort one another toward a greater concern for the name of Jesus and care of the vulnerable.

These are the marks of the Spiritual Community, this is how the Lord has promised to work in us. And he always keeps his promises. Let’s pray.