Scripture Acts 2:42-47
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. All who believed were as one and held all things in common. They sold their possessions and property and distributed the proceeds to all, as any had need. Daily they continued with the same purpose in the temple; they broke bread at home and ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart. They praised God and had the gratitude of all the people. And day by day the Holy One added to their number those who were being saved.
Scripture 1 Corinthians 12:4-13
Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are diversities of ministries, but the same Sovereign. And there are diversities of works, but it is the same God who works all of them in everyone. To each person is given the manifestation of the Spirit for mutual good. To one woman or man through the Spirit is given a word of wisdom, and to another a word of knowledge according to the same Spirit: To another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to yet another working miracles, to another prophecy, to yet another discernment of spirits, to another families of tongues, to another the translation of tongues. All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses. For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in the one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.
Sermon
The two passages we have before us today give us a fascinating glimpse into the early church. Acts chapter 2 focuses on the very earliest snapshot of people following the “Way” of Jesus. The first part describes Pentecost itself—the wind, the fire, the disciples suddenly becoming fluent in all the languages of the known world! The middle portion, the longest portion, is a sermon of Peter. It begins with Peter explaining what is happening with beautiful words of the prophet Joel:
‘In the last days it will be, God declares,
that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh,
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
and your young men shall see visions,
and your old men shall dream dreams. Acts 2:17
Peter goes on to connect the writings of the Old Testament to Jesus, and then to tell Jesus’s story—his teaching, his miraculous deeds, his crucifixion and his resurrection. So impassioned is his sermon that, by the end, he has managed to convert the vast majority of those listening—according to the passage, 3,000 people were baptized that day!
The chapter ends with our passage. Those people who were converted are now living the lives Jesus preached. They are learning everything they can about Jesus from the apostles and from living together in community. They are learning to pray. They are breaking bread together—both sharing the Lord’s supper and their regular meals.
This is what the early Christian house churches looked like. Followers of Jesus gathered in the homes of the faithful, going from house to house. The apostles were performing the same kinds of signs as Jesus—healing, casting out demons, and raising people from the dead—and the new members witnessed these things with awe.
Jesus’s lessons on the perils of wealth and the need to care for the poorest among them were lived out to the last detail. Followers of the Way sold their possessions and shared their money and resources communally. No one was left out, all were cared for, everyone’s needs were satisfied. And they lived in gladness and gratitude, with simplicity of heart. Because Jesus had not put a limitation on who they should love and care for, their generosity reached beyond their own community, and into their neighborhoods. People looked upon them and saw that they were living out their faith exquisitely. And day by day, their numbers grew. They lived together in peace and joy.
They were living out what Paul later described as “the body of Christ.” Today’s theme is about how we, the church, love one another in community, about how we love the neighbors with whom we are comfortable.
Jesus said, when asked what was the greatest commandment, “Hear O Israel, the Lord, your God, is One. You shall love the Lord with your whole heart, and soul, and mind, and strength. And, he said, the second is like it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
In this glimpse of the earliest, post-Pentecost house-churches, we see people who have learned and are continuing to learn how to live out both these commandments. They are loving God with their heart and soul, mind and strength, by studying, and praying, and breaking bread together. And they are loving their neighbors by caring for them, from each according to their ability to each according to their need.
And, it is also true that loving God and loving neighbor blend and blur a bit here. When we love our neighbor, who is made in God’s image, we are loving God. Of course we are. And when we love God, we learn quickly that we can’t love God, whom we cannot see, if we don’t love our neighbor, whom we can see. And these early followers of the Way are doing both. And, so are we.
I love that this idyllic, almost inconceivable story of the earliest believers is paired with a story of a church a few years on that is anything but peaceful and joyful. In his extensive travels, the apostle Paul founded house-churches, including the church in Corinth. He stayed in touch with the Corinthians and learned that things were not going terribly well. From what looks like a perfect community of followers of Jesus’s Way we now come to people who argued about everything from who baptized them, to why Paul wasn’t visiting them enough, to who among them were living lives of questionable morality (this is about a member who moved in with his step-mother). There are members who were suing one another, conflicts over whether or not it was ok to eat meat that was sacrificed to idols, even conflicts over the question of whether people should get married or not. This was a congregation in turmoil. And one of the hottest button issues, believe it or not, was spiritual gifts.
Our passage from first Corinthians hints at the problem. It appears there was conflict over who had the best spiritual gifts. Apparently, those who were speaking in tongues believed that to be the best of all the spiritual gifts. Paul is having none of that. His case is simple: There is one Spirit. There are many gifts of the Spirit. These gifts are given to you by the Spirit; they are given to you to share in community, and every gift is important. Every gift is needed!
So, Paul points out, the gift of wisdom is a gift of the Spirit. Also, the gift of knowledge. Different gift, same Spirit. Also, the gifts of faith, and healing, and working miracles, and prophecy, and discernment of spirits, and tongues, and the translation of tongues. Many gifts. One Spirit.
The best gift of the Spirit is the one you have been given, because it is the one God has entrusted to you, to use for the good of all. I have no doubt the gifts of the Spirit are all present in our congregation. Today they likely include gifts of generosity, technical knowledge, and music, and problem-solving, and peace-making, and financial acuity. And, yes, gifts of wisdom, and knowledge, and more. These gifts are given to us for the very purpose of our lives in community—this community, the community of Union Presbyterian Church. None of these gifts is superior to any other.
I invite you to ponder what your particular gift of the Spirit is. Or gifts! If you don’t feel that you have one, it might be good to talk to someone you trust about it. It’s not unusual for others to see gifts in us that we don’t initially recognize in ourselves. After my son was born, I went back to Boston College for a Master’s Degree in Pastoral Ministry—I was initially thinking of using that degree to study at the Jung Institute, but I soon realized I felt called to ministry. I imagined I would be a chaplain, something within reach for me as a then-Roman Catholic woman. While in school I participated in weekly Sunday worship by leading music along with a wonderful pianist. One day a chaplain—a woman—asked whether I would like to preach one Sunday.
The idea of preaching had never occurred to me. It was unimaginable. Didn’t fit the life I had. But, I had noticed that women did stand in the pulpit occasionally in that setting. So, I said yes. I went to the library, and took out a few books, and studied the passage. And, on a Sunday in Lent, I preached. And I loved it. Even as I typed these words into this sermon, the joy of that first experience flooded over me. But I had to have someone else push me, ever so gently, to understand that this might, in fact, be a part of my calling. It might be a spiritual gift.
You are permitted to claim what you believe you have been given. I admit, it can feel awkward to say, I believe I have the gift of… you fill in the blank. In a very real sense, it’s not about you. It’s about what you bring to the whole, this little corner of the Body of Christ in which we are all dwelling together.
Loving one another, loving our comfortable neighbors as we love ourselves, includes the generous act of sharing our unique gifts with one another. We love one another by sharing our gifts. Our gifts of organization, or brain-storming (or heart-storming), or creativity, or peace-making, or energy, or intelligence, or imagination, or love. We all have gifts—usually multiple gifts—that we can share with one another and with the neighbors outside these walls. And when we discover those gifts, and share them, we may experience a flood of joy, or satisfaction, or completion as we realize, yes. This is what I am here to do.
Tell me. What are you here to do? How are you loving your comfortable neighbors today? Thanks be to God for the Holy Spirit, who has endowed each of us with gifts that we all need. Thanks be to God. Amen.