Hace or No Hace?
“The new converts didn’t merely add Christianity to their already busy lives, but devoted themselves to their Christian experience.” – Conrad Gempf
“The early Christians acknowledge that Jesus owns both them and their property; they sell of property to meet needs as they arise and open their homes as meeting places for fellow Christians. These actions do not reflect an ascetic ideal, as in some Greek and Jewish sects, but instead the practice of radically valuing people over possessions.” – Craig S. Keener
“In Acts we never see a community turned so inward that taking the message to those outside and engaging with those outside is forgotten or ignored.” – Darrell L. Bock
“Everything about the Gospels and Acts tells us that God’s people are to take the initiative to show community and serve those around them. Much in Western culture drives us to an individualism that undercuts this development of community. We are taught to have things our way and that being able to have our individual needs catered to is how to measure the success of an organization. In our culture, our individual needs and rights come before any needs of the group. The biblical picture is not of what someone receives from the church, although one does receive a great deal, but of what one gives and how one contributes to it.” - Darrell L. Bock
One of the critical matters in our transition moments is determining what we are devoted to and what we are not. Devotion to the habits of Acts 2:42 is not easy. It requires a lot of commitment to see those habits become rhythms of life. We have to say no to the alluring idea that following Jesus can be an add on to our lives. That our commitment to Him need only show up on Sundays (well the ones where we can make it to church), is an idea that is alien to the Christian faith. Ours is a faith of doing. Not because doing makes us a follower; but because following is doing. Devotion to Jesus involves implementing the priorities of Jesus in our lives, everyday. Not in some intellectual way but in the most practical ways, following Jesus should show forth in us all the time. This will require a radical rearrangement of our lives around the priorities of Jesus. His goals must become our goals. His commands our eager desire to fulfill. But, to implement this in life will require more than you and Jesus. It will require a community of people who are close enough to you to impact your life. Life-on-life impact becomes the key ingredient that is so often missing. We need others to follow Jesus well. This is a group project. And that is where a second alluring idea must be overcome if we are to follow Jesus. Namely this, that I cannot be about my needs and rights more than the needs of the group. We have a deep individualism that is so ingrained in us that group work seems unnecessary and unhelpful. “Jesus and you” is the primary context for devotion in the church at this moment. If we seek to make disciples who make disciples though, this must change. Not that individual devotions are an evil but, our faith is group work. That’s how God intended it. That’s how following Jesus is to happen. In community. In a family of faith. Around a table in a home. If we fail to understand or implement this part of our followership of Jesus, we are not serving Jesus fully. My hope is that we can be a part of shifting the focus away from the individual and their needs and rights and focus on ‘one another’. Connection to a community of Jesus followers has to go beyond a Sunday gathering. It must be worked out in our lives. For if I connect with others, we can spur one another on to love and good deeds. I can be prayed for and helped. More vitally, I can pray for and help someone else. One of the quotes I ran across this week in studying on verses 44-45, from Craig Kenner (see above) about Charity sticks out to me as broader than its own context. In particular, three words hit me “…radically valuing people…”. Here’s the reality, our lives have to reflect that ethos, radically valuing people. Valuing them enough to make relationship with them a part of our everyday priorities. If we follow Jesus like that, who’s to say what God might do in and through us?