They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. Acts 2:42-47
At our Thursday meeting, we talked about a theme significant at South right now. That would be COMMUNITY. I looked at that word thousands of times, but never saw it as the two words it is.
COMMUNE
To converse or talk together, usually with profound intensity and intimacy; interchange of thoughts or feelings.
UNITY
The state of being one; oneness. A whole or totality as combining all its parts into one.
And then,
COMMUNITY
a social, religious, occupational, or other group sharing common characteristics or interests and perceived or perceiving itself as distinct in some respect from the larger society within which it exists.
The first thing I noticed about the Acts 2 passage I led with, is that there are no names anywhere in this passage. It isn’t about Bob or Wilma. It is about community. The pronoun used over and over in the passage is “they”. There is no hierarchy of importance. No mention of pastors or elders. These are just Christians. And I don’t intend to minimize anything with the word “just”. These people had everything in common. They shared families, possessions, even homes, and one other thing: Divine Hope!! Note how the passage ends: “And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” (Acts 2:47b).
That is the power of community. But it is something we must work at. If not, we can swiftly end up here like them, only a short time after the passage from Acts 2 we led with:
In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Hellenistic Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food. Acts 6:1
All things in common: Not so much!! Community had become Discommunity! Which leads me here.
But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body.
The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 1 Corinthians 12:18-25
That there should be no division.
Watching the Olympics, I was titillated every time I heard mention of medals as they relate to my native country, the USA. But I cringed every time I heard the title “The United States of America”, because it reminded me of the fact that my nation could hardly be more disunited*. These are hateful times. People pointing at each other, hatefully shouting at one another, desiring that the “bad guys” need to be more like they themselves are: The “good guys”. Alex more than once has pointed out that unity is not uniformity. Paul has done the same in the passage above. We need to model our interactions with others as that very first gathering of saints did. Not as those who followed. The famous anthem declares, “They will know we are Christians by our Love”. Unity for us means loving and accepting each other regardless of our political affiliation, our nation of origin, or our affluence or lack thereof.
* Disunited: for people to disagree so much that they can no longer work together effectively.
The world needs desperately to see God’s community unified, despite our differences. God intentionally made us different. Jesus and His love trumps everything else.
by Bruce Hanson
Note. To access scripture links that don’t appear in the email version, read the differently formatted web version in your browser.
