And day by
day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they
received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having
favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those
who were being saved. (Acts 2:46-47)
We come to
the final verses of Luke’s description of the church at its very beginning. Here
we read that the early disciples worshiped together in the temple and shared
common meals. We also read here that the church was growing – a sign of health.
These
Jewish Christians did not abandon temple worship, but became even more devout.
They did not see any reason to discard their Jewish traditions because as far
as they were concerned, Christianity was the fulfillment of Judaism. Jesus had
stated himself that he came to fulfill the law, not to do away with it. With
this in mind, it seemed natural for the early Christians to continue to go to
the temple and worship even more than they had in the past.
These
earliest Christians were seeking to grow closer to God by whatever means were
available to them. Fairly quickly, they would no longer be welcome in the
temple, or in proper Jewish society, but for a brief time, they were taking
advantage of the opportunity to worship, and even make a few converts, as they
did not pass up a chance to talk about Jesus – something that did not win them
any favor with the Jewish authorities.
In addition
to daily worship, we read here that this group of disciples shared common meals
in their homes. They spent time together over meals. The church pot-luck is
nothing new. The early church used meals as an opportunity to build community.
Last, we
read that this early congregation was growing, daily. This testifies to one
simple fact: healthy congregations grow. The church is a living organism, and
in biology, organisms are either growing or decaying. The fact that the early
church was growing is a sign that it was healthy. We need to ask ourselves what
was leading to the growth.
If we look
back through the verses that we have been studying through this Lent, we see
some key points.
First, this
congregation was sure of what its identity. The leaders of this congregation
had known Jesus. They were witnesses to his ministry, death and resurrection.
There was no doubt in their minds that he was the Savior of the world. Led by
the Holy Spirit, they even performed the same miracles that Jesus himself had
performed.
Second,
they loved each other with the sacrificial love that Jesus had modeled for
them. They made sacrifices to provide for each other’s needs. They cared for
one-another, even becoming family for those who had lost their natural family
due to their new-found beliefs.
Third, they
worshiped together in both old and new ways. They came together to celebrate
the Eucharist and they continued to attend temple worship until that was no
longer an option.
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