The Marks of the One True Church

May 3, 2020 Acts 2:42-47 The Marks of the One True Church 4th Sunday of Easter Year A Children’s Sermon Object: A tray, a knife, a fork, a spoon, an empty plate, an empty bowl, a napkin, a piece of bread on a plate, a bowl of watery soup with a few pieces of vegetables in it, One Great Hour of Sharing coin boxes, a large box decorated with brochures telling about the One Great Hour of Sharing. Lesson: We can give money to help hungry children have food. Here’s a tray on which I’ve put a knife, a fork, a spoon, an empty plate, an empty bowl, and a napkin. Can you all see the knife, the fork, the spoon, the plate, the bowl, and the napkin? Now let’s pretend that you’re hungry and that you may have, on that empty plate or in the empty bowl, any kind of food you wish for. What foods would you wish for? (Let them answer.) A hamburger? french fries? hot dogs? macaroni and cheese? cookies? ice cream? pudding? Now pretend that you’ve just eaten all that food you wished for and that your stomach is very full. Does that feel good? Now I want you to pretend again that you’re hungry. You’re very hungry and all you’re going to have to eat all day today is this piece of bread and this bowl of watery soup with no meat and only a few pieces of vegetables in it. That’s all the food some children have to eat and their stomachs never feel full, as ours do every day. How do you think you could help children who don’t have very much to eat, so they would have more to eat? (Discuss the question.) Give them money? invite them to your house for dinner? One way you can help is to put some of your money in one of these One Great Hour of Sharing boxes. Maybe you don’t have much money, but even a little money can help poor children have more food. Most of you were given one of these little coin boxes during Sunday school. If you didn’t receive one of these, I want to give you one. They are called One Great Hour of Sharing boxes. You take them home with you and put money in the slot on the top of the box. Then next Sunday please bring them with you when you come to church and I’ll have this big box up here into which you can put your little money boxes. CSS Publishing Co., Inc., God's Love Is For You, by Shirley Jennings Opening Prayer (Psalm 23, John 10) Shepherding God, bring us into your fold. Lead us beside still waters and restore our souls. Help us see the way we should go, the way we should live. Help us hear your voice calling our name. Enliven this time of worship, that we may find true life as we join with others: praising your name, celebrating your great goodness, and sharing your love for all people. Amen. Gathering Words (John 10) Hey, you sheep. Yes, you over there. Can’t you hear the shepherd calling— calling you to come and join with the others? There’s life and love and care and direction here just waiting for you to hear and see. So come on in through the gate. He’s been waiting for you. Welcoming Welcome to our worship. We are still community. This week encourage stop by and do yard work. Many projects to do while social distancing. Next week is Mother’s Day. Stay at home order extended. Bishop sent letter encouraging us to continue to be safe. Not to do inperson activities. In the Bishop’s words – we will be doing this for a while longer. And we will have to talk about what it means to gather. Meet as Church council to talk about what recovery looks like this week via zoom. Stewardship Moment Invitation to Generosity Our theme for today is community. Not just any community, but a community that is healing, that loving and that has the power to transform present conditions – that community is the church. That community is you and me, and our ability to listen to God and to respond – with our prayers, our gifts, our talents. Our theme for today is the marks of the church – God’s vessel to answer prayer. Encourage to give to ministry of the church. Can give in many ways even though we are not together. Offertory Prayer Consoling and Guiding God, we bring our offerings and our very lives to your altar this morning. Many of us come feeling like we are in the midst of a storm, with disagreement and discord buffeting us from all directions. Help us to hear your voice in the midst of this, your call to serve, and your encouragement to endure for the work of the kingdom. Lead us to the light and hope of this Easter season, so we can joyfully and faithfully serve you in the world! In the name of Jesus, our rock and redeemer, we pray. Amen. (I Peter 2:19-25) Scripture Acts 2:42-47 Common English Bible (CEB) Community of believers 42 The believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to the community, to their shared meals, and to their prayers. 43 A sense of awe came over everyone. God performed many wonders and signs through the apostles. 44 All the believers were united and shared everything. 45 They would sell pieces of property and possessions and distribute the proceeds to everyone who needed them. 46 Every day, they met together in the temple and ate in their homes. They shared food with gladness and simplicity. 47 They praised God and demonstrated God’s goodness to everyone. The Lord added daily to the community those who were being saved. Common English Bible (CEB) Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible Sermon Someone once asked what they must do the join the church. The answer – first you have to be baptized. Next you have to make sure that you have a covered dish. After all isn’t that the most important thing for us as Christians – a potluck? We love to gather and to share a meal. We have potlucks at all times of the year, for any occasion big or small. You probably didn’t know that potlucks were mandated in the bible. It is right here in our scripture for today. They gathered together broke bread and shared everything. That sounds like a potluck to me. The one thing that this scripture is teaching us, is the key element of a potluck is not a covered dish, it is not the food at all – it is the sense of community. It is gathering together and talking and fellowshipping that really matter. No one does community better than the church. What institution on earth is better equipped to build community then the Church? The Church is not a place to see different things but a place to see things differently. As Paul said to the Romans, “Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead fix your attention on God and you will be changed from the inside out.” The absolute genius of the early Church was the ability of 120 believers to take 3000 converts and form them into a community of faith—a community so unique that they had to coin a word for it. The called it koinonia. The numbers themselves are staggering. Acts 2:42-47 is a summary of how they did it. William Gates Sr., Bill Gates father and head of the Gates Foundation reported at Annual Conference that they were pledging another $5 million to Nothing But Nets. And then he said. "Almost 300 years ago, your founder, John Wesley, explained the moral implications of what is now fashionably called globalization. Wesley's statement 'I look on the whole world as my parish' describes our mutual responsibility." He said, "You are 12 million people armed with the conviction that all the world is your parish. That makes you the most powerful weapon there is against malaria." You and I are a part of that United Methodist presence that is saving lives and Transforming the world. So, during this time of isolation I thought that it was important for us to think about the power of community. We have had to redefine community during this time, but it is still here, still at work. This is the 4th Sunday of the Easter season. Usually on this Sunday we focus on scriptures about Jesus being the good shepherd. As a matter of fact, all of other the scriptures of the lectionary, focus on Jesus as the good shepherd. One of the gifts of the Easter season is instead of looking at the Hebrew Bible, we look at the book of Acts – the story of how the church got started. It is a very inspirational story. In these days when many people are convinced that the church is dying, and that Christianity is an outdated religion and that no one is interested in coming to church – it is important to look at the book of Acts. Acts chapter 2 is the vision of what the church should be in every age. Peter is giving a sermon telling how Jesus was resurrected, how people wanted to hear the story and that lives were changed in hearing the story of Jesus Christ. Peter says that over 3000 people joined in one day. Now Scholars do agree, that Peter may have overstated a little bit. They agree that this is a model of what the church should be, so the details may not be factual truth. The value of looking at Acts chapter 2 is that it encouraged us to think about who we should be in this day and age, and what we should be doing. Today we are looking at the very end of that sermon. In this scripture Peter points out the marks of the church. The church is a community of people who hunger for learning, who have a sense of fellowship based on unity, that break bread together, that look for the wonders and miracles of God, that praise God together, that are willing to give of their goods and prayers, and finally a community always willing to go forward and to grow. – these are the things that we should be striving to do every Sunday. One important mark of the church is the breaking of bread. When the scripture speaks of breaking of the bread, the definition is closer to a potluck – a community meal where everything is intentionally shared and everyone gets a part. But the breaking of the bread also refers to the symbolic meal that we celebrate together communion. This is the first Sunday of the month – where we traditionally have communion. And traditionally for United Methodist, communion is open to all who believe in Christ as their savior. But the Bishop and church scholars do not recommend communion during this time where are not gathered as community. We wont have an official communion this month, and we will just have to see what happens in the month of June. Communion is considered a sacrament, one of two places where we experience the grace of God. But it is also a ritualized meal where the elements have to be blessed, and we are gathering in that magic word of the day – community. In addition to the potluck being at the core of who we are as the church. I also want to point out two other important makes that Peter spells out for us. First, Peter says that the Christian community was in awe of God and all that God did. When we see the things that God has done in our lives, we are truly amazed. Nature demonstrates the beauty of God, and many times we can’t help but to say Wow! The definition of awe is to have a reverent respect mixed with a little bit of fear and wonder. God has done some amazing miracles in life. God does big things. But you know, I think that the greatest deeds of God are the little things in our lives, that are a part of our everyday life. When God heals us from an illness, when God changes the life of someone we care about, when God answers our prayers. It is those little things that we look at later and realize that only God could have done that and still chose to remain anonymous. One of the most amazing thing that God does is listen to us in prayer. And it is those answered prayers that truly transforms the world and its situations. Do you get it? There are some things God either cannot or will not do until people pray. The early church knew that — they were a praying church. But you know, while they knew it, they had to keep learning it. Do you know what I mean? We know something, we don’t question it consciously — but the reality of its truth isn’t pervasive. We forget, or we become doubtful, or we get lazy, or things go too well for us, and we become self-sufficient. Arthur Samuel Peak was a layman who gave us some of the most searching commentaries the Old and the New Testaments. Dr. Peak once received a letter from a young man who had been his student. It contained a compliment which came close to the highest that a Christian can ever know. The young man said, “I marked — especially at the prayer meetings at Western Street —— your magnificent faith in a loving father, and if you don’t mind my saying what is in my heart - I held on to you, Sir, while you held on to Jesus.” Sometimes it’s that way - all we have is the faith of another who believes, and who translates that faith into caring for us. If that’s the case with us, it is the case with others and so, it’s a two-way street, others may need to hold on to us. That’s the reason we must have a praying church, a reverent church, and a sharing church. My last point from this scripture is that the early church grew not because there was amazing graphics in worship, or because of the music, or even the charisma of the pastor. The church grew because it was a community that fully devoted itself to living out the marks of the church. The first lines of the scripture says that the believers devoted themselves to… B. Some folks devote themselves to their jobs or to making money. Some folks devote themselves to their family. Some folks devote themselves to living a life filled with stuff and doing. I'm not saying that jobs, family, and stuff are bad or evil. When put in their proper context of a life devoted to Christ, these things can enhance one's life. But it's the context in which they are pursued that makes the difference. Only Christ can give new life. Everything else falls short. Only Christ gives meaning and purpose. This passage challenges us and asks us: To what or whom are you devoted? Do others see the likeness of Christ in your actions? Are others invited to accept Christ through the witness of your life? Do you exemplify the Christian life with a "glad and generous heart?" To what or whom are you devoted? Now is the time for us to devote ourselves to prayer, reverence, giving and sharing – the marks of the true church. Here is just one actual example of what that faithfulness looks like. Some of you may have heard about this. It happened a few years ago at a high school football game between the Lions and the Tornadoes. The Lions belonged to a Christian school with supportive and involved parents, up-to-date equipment, and a 7-1 record. The Tornadoes were from a state juvenile correctional facility. Many of the players had convictions for drugs and assault. Many had been disowned by their families. Their equipment was old and worn. Their record was 0-8. Kris, the head coach of the Lions, decided that this game was an opportunity to show what the love of Jesus might look like. He sent letters and emails to Lion parents and fans asking for volunteers to cheer for the Tornadoes. In his mes¬sage, Kris said, “Imagine if you don’t have a home life; if everyone had given up on you. Now imagine what it would mean if hundreds of people believed in you and even cheered for you by name.” At game time, the Tornadoes took the field running through a 40-yard double line of screaming fans and cheerleaders yelling, “Go, Tornadoes!” During the game Tornado players heard hundreds of fans behind their team bench cheering for them by their first names. When both teams gathered on the fifty-yard line for the customary post-game prayer, one of the Tornadoes players asked to lead. Coach Kris still remembers it word for word: “Lord I don’t know how this happened and I don’t know how to say thank you. I would never have thought there were so many people in this world who cared about us.” As the Tornadoes got back on their bus, they were each handed a bag containing a fast food meal, a Bible, and a letter of encouragement from one of the Lion players. Before the bus left, the tornado coach hugged Coach Kris, thanked him and said, “You’ll never be able to know what your folks did for these kids tonight. Thank you.” But who won the game? Jesus of course. He has framed, changed, and challenged us to show the same compassion to others. What signs of wonder and encouragement are part of everyday life in your congregation? What generosity flows from your worship space into the world around you? How do you learn and teach the Jesus story? What does breaking bread from house to house look like for you? What about regular worship and prayer patterns? Where are the glad and generous hearts? Where is the goodwill of all the people outside the parish community? Let us pray….. Sending Day by day, God will lead us: to those pools of peace where we can care for our friends and strangers even from a safe disance. Day by day, Jesus will call us: to give ourselves in service, to anoint others with hope, to stay in the safe places for the good of all of God's people. Day by day, the Spirit shows us: the people we might be, the community we might become when once again we can gather. Additional Illustrations There was once a preacher who visited a certain man to urge him to come to church. They were standing and talking in front of a fireplace when the man said, "I do have faith and I do believe in God, but I don't think I need the church." Without saying a word, the preacher reached into the fireplace with a poker iron and pushed one ember off to the side. The two of them stood there for several minutes and watched the ember in silence. It burned brightly for a while, but then it began to fade. It grew more dim until finally, it went out. The solitary ember was gone, but the fire kept on blazing. Suddenly, the man understood the preacher's point. The religion of "God and me" is not enough. It may be popular, but it is not Biblical. Real Christianity remains what it has always been: a religion of "God and we." From The Meaning of Prayer by Harry Emerson Fosdick. One story will illustrate it, and with this I will close: Somewhere I read of a Seminary professor whose last years were spent in and out of hospitals, suffering from a debilitating, incurable disease. As he reflected on his ministry, he said that when he began, he thought of himself as the expert, standing upon the bank of the stream of life, shouting instructions to the swimmers down below. In the second stage of his ministry, if he saw someone going down for the third time, he would plunge into the water, get the person started in the right direction again, then return to the bank. He was the rescuer. But during his last years, he saw the human family as fellow strugglers in the water, their arms around each other, trying to reach the shore. Pentecost the Spirit came on the newborn church like a mighty wind. We don't quite know what to do with a Holy Gust, do we? But every once in a while God will gust; God will blow a mighty whirlwind through our lives, more powerful than a tornado, and when he does, things will never be the same. Abraham Lincoln appreciated humor in his life. It was a way of alleviating the burdens of life and eventually the weight of office and the strain and tragedy of the Civil War. He was also a man of prayer. He attended church regularly, though he was not a member, and he once said, "I have been driven to my knees many times by the overwhelming conviction I had nowhere else to go." In his second Inaugural Address he agonized over the war and the relationship of the two sides. He said, "Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other ... The prayers of both could not be answered. That of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes." The books of Lincoln's jokes could fill a library of their own, but it is said that Lincoln's favorite of the contemporary jokes about himself was the one with the two Quaker ladies comparing Lincoln and President of the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis. The first lady said, "I think Jefferson will succeed." The second Quaker said, "Why does thee think so?" The first said, "Because Jefferson is a praying man." The second said, "But Abraham is also a praying man." The first Quaker lady replied, "Yes, but the Lord will think Abraham is joking." obert Putnam, in his book, Bowling Alone, reports that over the last 25 years civic club memberships are down 58%, families eating dinner together have dropped from 50% to 34%, inviting friends over to your house dropped 45%. The more affluent we are the more isolated we tend to be. We have quickly become a generation of people who live cocooned lives tethered to our home entertainment systems, barricaded behind our electronic alarms, isolated from one another even in our own homes. One of the greatest mistakes I made in the early part of my ministry was assuming life to be a competitive “Lone Ranger” accomplishment rather than a cooperative fireside fellowship. I lived by the simple motto if you wanted something done right, do it yourself. It led to intense loneliness and great depression and near burn out. So I appeal to somebody here who is trying to make it on your own: A. That leads to the question: "Has Jesus made a difference in your life?" That's basically what it boils down to isn't it? Faith is about what Jesus has done in our lives. Living the faith is about what WE do in response to what Jesus has done in our lives. The early church, as described here in Acts, devoted themselves to God through Christ. To what have you devoted yourself?