Readings: Acts 2:42-47 | 1 Peter 2:19-25 | John 10:1-10
Text: Acts 2:42-47
“42And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 43And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. 44And all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.”
(Acts 2:42–47)
The Church is a curious thing. There are many things to which she is similar, but each of these similarities can’t be followed to the same end.
The Church is a community. After Pentecost, the people responded by devoting themselves to the “apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.” At this point, we need to check our modern perception from almost 2,000 years of history. The Church had not become an establishment in the earthly sense. They had no organizational structure. Neither charter nor constitution. They were unrecognizable to the world except for where they gathered together or met each other in passing. Although 3,000 souls had been added (Acts 2:41), it was such a minority that it had no presence to boast of.
Yet its continuance is not a matter of following certain people or rules. A brief history lesson will suffice as an example. After Muhammad died, his followers quickly divided into who was the “rightly-guided” caliph. This is the beginning of the division between Sunni and Shi’ite Muslims. Which is the more correct community? Questions of who has proper authority do not benefit the Church, because she belongs to Jesus. The Lord Himself settles any human disputes about preference by saying,
“The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those in authority over them are called benefactors. But not so with you. Rather, let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves. For who is the greater, one who reclines at table or one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at table? But I am among you as the one who serves.” (Luke 22:25-27)
This is Jesus’ Church, not any man’s pet project, and that is why she has persevered through so many centuries. Yes, the Church is a community—a group that has things in common. The thing which the Church has in common is the gifts of God given through Jesus Christ. These are Baptism (mentioned by Peter, Acts 2:38-39), the apostles’ teaching (think: Apostles’ Creed), and the breaking of the bread (which is Luke’s way of speaking of the Lord’s Supper, Luke 24:30-35). These are the things which keep Jesus’ Church in true, divinely-appointed community.
Another feature is that the Church is united. It would be easy to say that this refers to communal living, but that misses the point. Yes, at that time, they “had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.” It’s not the unity of a group of people with a common purse. To be very honest, that did not last long. In the biblical narrative, it lasts until about Acts 6, before there are fights about what is equitable and who is shown favor.
The true unity of the Church is not found in a common purse or homogenized worship practice. The unity of the Church comes from having one Christ, as St. Paul writes in Ephesians 4:
“4There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— 5one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” (Ephesians 4:4–6)
There will be times where unity is forced the other way. The world sees anything claiming the title ‘Church’ as a “religious organization,” without any regard to incompatible beliefs. There have also been times when Christians have caught the unity bug and desired to combine forces, without their unity coming from “the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.” The results in these cases are not the hoped-for unity, but an ignorance of how important doctrine is to the follower of the Lord Jesus, who never missed an opportunity to teach the crowds.
The Church is also universal, transcending time and place. In Acts, Christ’s Church began in Jerusalem, but did not stay there. The Lord of the Church said, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, 47 and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these things.” (Luke 24:46-48) She is not meant to stay in just one place, but wherever people hearken to repentance and forgiveness of sins in His Name, there is the Church. Through the centuries, across miles and oceans, there is one holy, catholic and apostolic Church.
This is more than we can see, however. We confess, “I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy Christian Church, etc.” because by sight, what we see is different sects, territorialism, and false teaching attracting the biggest crowds. But Martin Luther wrote this reminder in the Large Catechism:
I believe that there is upon earth a little holy group and congregation of pure saints, under one head, even Christ [Ephesians 1:22]. This group is called together by the Holy Spirit in one faith, one mind, and understanding, with many different gifts, yet agreeing in love, without sects or schisms [Ephesians 4:5–8, 11]. I am also a part and member of this same group, a sharer and joint owner of all the goods it possesses [Romans 8:17]. I am brought to it and incorporated into it by the Holy Spirit through having heard and continuing to hear God’s Word [Galatians 3:1–2], which is the beginning of entering it.
(Large Catechism, Creed, Article III 52)
The Church is as the Lord describes her in John 10. We are defined by the Shepherd and overseer of our souls, Jesus Christ. It is defined by His active work among His flock. Not as the Mormons who have a “prophet and revelator,” but as His voice is heard among His own. Where His voice is heard in faith, there is His Church. That looks very diverse, and yet it is united. It is a community, but not merely a social charity. It spans many languages and locales, but what is the same is a Gospel preached and stewarded in the same life-giving truth. The Church is peculiar in her language, and yet ultimately is comprised of beloved people “from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages” (Revelation 7:9).
In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.
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