Christian community
Commentary
Here we see community formation in action. Discovering what it means to be a community which follows Christ is not entirely the same as discovering what it means to be an individual who follows Christ. As the faith community of followers of Christ formed it had to determine whether there was room for diversity or not. If two individuals profess Christ, one a Jew and the other a gentile, at a time when the faith community of the church is both Jewish and Christian, must the gentile first become a Jew in order to be a Christian?
Though debate about circumcision and food sacrificed to idols may seem to be of no more than antiquarian interest, the larger issue behind this is still vital to us today. How much room is there in our church for diversity of opinion, belief and practice? Can liberals and conservatives find a way to co-exist within the same church, without tearing that church apart? These are our issues of community formation --and they are not so different from those dealt with in the book of Acts.
The early Christian community struggled with questions of tradition and revelation, openness and faithfulness, freedom and discipline which are still active for our church. Our church is no longer the dominant force in American culture it once was. As our influence on the culture has waned, are we now in danger of letting the culture define what the church should be? In my own congregation we struggle to understand what it means to be a faithful Christian in suburbia today. Some churches have turned completely away from their traditional forms of worship, music and program in order to adapt better and increase their appeal in this suburban culture. Are these changes positive? Have they given up too much? Does anything go these days, as long as it keeps the church alive? If the church is indeed temporary and transient, and meant to help us journey through this life (as Revelation 21 implies), then should not the church change as the culture changes?
In Acts 15, the early church found a middle way. At first closed and exclusive, they became open to diversity in the Christian community. Yet it was an openness within limits. There are basics without which our community is not Christian. In John 14:23-29 Jesus gives us some of the basics essential to Christian community.
Rather than a list of fundamentals of belief, Jesus speaks of the fundamental necessity of love. A loving relationship with Jesus Christ is at the center of our life together. Doing what is right for love of God is basic to our faith. This relationship of love, and the peace which love engenders, define Christian community more than doctrine, structure or practice.
OUTLINE I
How far shall the door be opened?
Acts 15:1-2, 22-29
A. vv. 1-2. This incident follows immediately the completion of Paul's first missionary journey, which took him to Cyprus and through Asia Minor. Preaching Christ to the gentiles had brought great success to Paul and Barnabas, but they had also met considerable opposition and personal danger. Perhaps because their successes were not won without pain, their celebrations were all the greater as they reported that God "had opened a door of faith for the gentiles (14:27)." Just then, new arrivals from the church in Judea try to slam that door shut with the requirement that all believers must be circumcised, Jew and gentile alike. When "dissension and debate" fail to resolve the matter, it is taken to Jerusalem.
B. vv. 22-26. What were they debating? Not whether gentiles should be included in the church, but how they were to be included. Was the opening in the door wide or narrow? Is it enough only to believe in Christ the savior, or must new Christians become circumcised and follow all the Jewish laws? During the debate in vv. 3-21 James declared a decision saying, "we should not trouble those gentiles who are turning to God (15:19)." It should not be thought that this decision was made grudgingly, nor that the gentiles were unwelcome. Quite the contrary, Acts makes clear that news of gentile conversions brought "great joy" (15:3) to the Jerusalem church.
C. vv. 27-29. The decision reached by James was essentially a compromise between the narrowness of Pharisaic fundamentalism and a complete openness which would have been a rejection of their Jewish heritage. The door is open, but guarded. Circumcision is not required, but obedience of certain Levitical laws is. In fact, gentile converts were to be treated the same as "aliens who reside in the land (Leviticus 17-19)." The church does not yet stand alone, apart from the law. As Jesus said, "Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish, but to fulfill (Matthew 5:17)," a blending of new revelation from the Holy Spirit and a traditional understanding of the church in the Old Testament context welcomes gentiles into the church, but into a Jewish church where they are still to be treated as beloved strangers recognizing certain basic requirements of the law.
OUTLINE II
A vision of hope
Revelation 21:10, 22-27
A. v. 10. This hope-filled look at the new Jerusalem follows immediately after another vision, that of the last judgment (20:11-15), where all are judged "according to their works." It is a vision which only those whose names are "written in the book of life" shall see. Yet more than a simple ethic of reward and punishment is at work here. The presence of the new Jerusalem is a declaration that God is renewing all of creation. This Jerusalem is indeed a holy city, a description which, though much used, has never really applied to the earthly Jerusalem which persecuted the prophets and crucified Jesus.
B. vv. 22-23. There is no temple (we could just as well read "church") in the new Jerusalem, because it is no longer necessary. Temples and churches are, at their best, way-stations for people on a journey toward God. Waystations function appropriately when they give us support and nourishment, yet keep us slightly uncomfortable to encourage us to keep moving on. Way-stations do us a disservice when they let us become so comfortable and settled that we forget we are pilgrims seeking in our lives the presence of the glory of God.
C. vv. 24-27. It might also be that there is no church in the new Jerusalem because in the church we have never achieved more than a pale reflection of the unity and peace of this radiant vision of the Holy City. How much more amazing this radiant image must have been to men and women who lived in times when only the faintest of artificial illumination stood against the powerful darkness of night! Even today, though, the new Jerusalem stands in contrast to the cities of our lives: glorious light, rather than narrow dark streets; gates always open, not closed and locked against the night; a mingling of all the nations, not the possession of one particular people; a place where night is unknown. This is a vision to sustain those who journey through dark times --to keep them moving on. Those whose names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life will be those who have not forgotten that every moment of life is a journey toward God.
OUTLINE III
Be doers of the word
John 14:23-29
A. vv. 23-24a. Those who love Jesus will keep his word --"keep," not "hear," "listen to," or "believe" alone. The response of love they are asked to give is an active, not a passive response. It is with the doers of the word that God and Jesus will dwell. And the reverse is true also. No matter how fine and eloquent and reverent a person's words, if that person does not also live the word of God, God is not present.
B. vv. 24b-26. Jesus wants us to know that he does not speak for himself, but for God. We know this because he tells us, and we also know this by the witness of the Holy Spirit, whom Jesus titles the Advocate. The word used here has none of the sense of "comforter" (as it has at times been translated). Rather, this Advocate is one who speaks on behalf of another, as in a court of law, and speaks with authority and power. The Spirit will bring enlightenment, but also confirmation of everything Jesus has said.
Though debate about circumcision and food sacrificed to idols may seem to be of no more than antiquarian interest, the larger issue behind this is still vital to us today. How much room is there in our church for diversity of opinion, belief and practice? Can liberals and conservatives find a way to co-exist within the same church, without tearing that church apart? These are our issues of community formation --and they are not so different from those dealt with in the book of Acts.
The early Christian community struggled with questions of tradition and revelation, openness and faithfulness, freedom and discipline which are still active for our church. Our church is no longer the dominant force in American culture it once was. As our influence on the culture has waned, are we now in danger of letting the culture define what the church should be? In my own congregation we struggle to understand what it means to be a faithful Christian in suburbia today. Some churches have turned completely away from their traditional forms of worship, music and program in order to adapt better and increase their appeal in this suburban culture. Are these changes positive? Have they given up too much? Does anything go these days, as long as it keeps the church alive? If the church is indeed temporary and transient, and meant to help us journey through this life (as Revelation 21 implies), then should not the church change as the culture changes?
In Acts 15, the early church found a middle way. At first closed and exclusive, they became open to diversity in the Christian community. Yet it was an openness within limits. There are basics without which our community is not Christian. In John 14:23-29 Jesus gives us some of the basics essential to Christian community.
Rather than a list of fundamentals of belief, Jesus speaks of the fundamental necessity of love. A loving relationship with Jesus Christ is at the center of our life together. Doing what is right for love of God is basic to our faith. This relationship of love, and the peace which love engenders, define Christian community more than doctrine, structure or practice.
OUTLINE I
How far shall the door be opened?
Acts 15:1-2, 22-29
A. vv. 1-2. This incident follows immediately the completion of Paul's first missionary journey, which took him to Cyprus and through Asia Minor. Preaching Christ to the gentiles had brought great success to Paul and Barnabas, but they had also met considerable opposition and personal danger. Perhaps because their successes were not won without pain, their celebrations were all the greater as they reported that God "had opened a door of faith for the gentiles (14:27)." Just then, new arrivals from the church in Judea try to slam that door shut with the requirement that all believers must be circumcised, Jew and gentile alike. When "dissension and debate" fail to resolve the matter, it is taken to Jerusalem.
B. vv. 22-26. What were they debating? Not whether gentiles should be included in the church, but how they were to be included. Was the opening in the door wide or narrow? Is it enough only to believe in Christ the savior, or must new Christians become circumcised and follow all the Jewish laws? During the debate in vv. 3-21 James declared a decision saying, "we should not trouble those gentiles who are turning to God (15:19)." It should not be thought that this decision was made grudgingly, nor that the gentiles were unwelcome. Quite the contrary, Acts makes clear that news of gentile conversions brought "great joy" (15:3) to the Jerusalem church.
C. vv. 27-29. The decision reached by James was essentially a compromise between the narrowness of Pharisaic fundamentalism and a complete openness which would have been a rejection of their Jewish heritage. The door is open, but guarded. Circumcision is not required, but obedience of certain Levitical laws is. In fact, gentile converts were to be treated the same as "aliens who reside in the land (Leviticus 17-19)." The church does not yet stand alone, apart from the law. As Jesus said, "Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish, but to fulfill (Matthew 5:17)," a blending of new revelation from the Holy Spirit and a traditional understanding of the church in the Old Testament context welcomes gentiles into the church, but into a Jewish church where they are still to be treated as beloved strangers recognizing certain basic requirements of the law.
OUTLINE II
A vision of hope
Revelation 21:10, 22-27
A. v. 10. This hope-filled look at the new Jerusalem follows immediately after another vision, that of the last judgment (20:11-15), where all are judged "according to their works." It is a vision which only those whose names are "written in the book of life" shall see. Yet more than a simple ethic of reward and punishment is at work here. The presence of the new Jerusalem is a declaration that God is renewing all of creation. This Jerusalem is indeed a holy city, a description which, though much used, has never really applied to the earthly Jerusalem which persecuted the prophets and crucified Jesus.
B. vv. 22-23. There is no temple (we could just as well read "church") in the new Jerusalem, because it is no longer necessary. Temples and churches are, at their best, way-stations for people on a journey toward God. Waystations function appropriately when they give us support and nourishment, yet keep us slightly uncomfortable to encourage us to keep moving on. Way-stations do us a disservice when they let us become so comfortable and settled that we forget we are pilgrims seeking in our lives the presence of the glory of God.
C. vv. 24-27. It might also be that there is no church in the new Jerusalem because in the church we have never achieved more than a pale reflection of the unity and peace of this radiant vision of the Holy City. How much more amazing this radiant image must have been to men and women who lived in times when only the faintest of artificial illumination stood against the powerful darkness of night! Even today, though, the new Jerusalem stands in contrast to the cities of our lives: glorious light, rather than narrow dark streets; gates always open, not closed and locked against the night; a mingling of all the nations, not the possession of one particular people; a place where night is unknown. This is a vision to sustain those who journey through dark times --to keep them moving on. Those whose names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life will be those who have not forgotten that every moment of life is a journey toward God.
OUTLINE III
Be doers of the word
John 14:23-29
A. vv. 23-24a. Those who love Jesus will keep his word --"keep," not "hear," "listen to," or "believe" alone. The response of love they are asked to give is an active, not a passive response. It is with the doers of the word that God and Jesus will dwell. And the reverse is true also. No matter how fine and eloquent and reverent a person's words, if that person does not also live the word of God, God is not present.
B. vv. 24b-26. Jesus wants us to know that he does not speak for himself, but for God. We know this because he tells us, and we also know this by the witness of the Holy Spirit, whom Jesus titles the Advocate. The word used here has none of the sense of "comforter" (as it has at times been translated). Rather, this Advocate is one who speaks on behalf of another, as in a court of law, and speaks with authority and power. The Spirit will bring enlightenment, but also confirmation of everything Jesus has said.
