ABSURDLY SIMPLE

Acts 2:42-47
42 They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. 46 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, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

Jesus had left implicit instructions to the few remaining faithful: TAKE MY MESSAGE TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH. It seemed foolhardy and adventurous but naively optimistic, a doomed effort. Jesus planned for His followers to make disciples from every nation and tribe, bringing with them a new community, a new humanity.

A rag-tag band of disciples. An entire world. And a message about a Galilean carpenter who wasn't even sticking around.

Impossible!

So, where would they begin? Such a task would require strategic planning and precise maneuvering, but the activity of the disciples in those first days after Jesus' departure offers few examples of cunning leadership. We see few techniques to follow or leadership principles to reproduce. In fact, we don't see much of anything. They waited. Just waited.

And God began to stir. And people began to respond. And thousands at a time began to turn to the Messiah.

The reading of Acts reveals how the early church, in the throes of a revolution and faced with an impossible calling, did nothing remarkable, little that could be called innovative. In fact, one might say it was absurdly simple.

They gathered to hear God's revelation. They committed their lives to each other in relationship and care. They prayed and shared meals around the Lord's Table. And God moved and the world was changed.

Do we hunger for such a reality? Our mission is no smaller than the early church's, no less risky. Yet we often cave in. We surrender to comfortable paychecks and safe but distant friendships. We've lost sight that we are a community of ragged pilgrims. We don't share our lives and pray together. We don't truly live together. We don't love.

And the world isn't changed. --Winn Collier

DESTINATION POINTS

* What do I admire about the early church?
* How can I begin to live out the winsome ways of the Christians we read about in Acts 2?

LINKS:
Knowing God Through Acts
http://www.discoveryseries.org/sb215

bottom line: The world is changed when we choose Jesus.

soul journey