There’s an intriguing paragraph tucked in at the end of Acts 2. It gives a brief description of the first church in Jerusalem. I wish it were longer, but I suspect God kept it short because he didn’t want everyone to try to make an exact replica out of it. But the principles listed there are important.
It starts with this statement: “And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.”
Friendship is a highly underrated theological category. We spiritualize our relationships in church by calling each other brother and sister. We formalize our relationships in church by calling each other pastor, bishop, apostle and goodness knows what else.
But Jesus brought it right down to ground level: “I have called you my friends.” That’s why the Quakers called their movement the “Society of Friends.” Maybe they had a point.
Who doesn’t like the smell of bacon?
That thought took me to an interesting comment Paul made to the Corinthians. “We are the fragrance of Christ,” he said.
And that thought took me back forty years to a preaching visit a good friend of mine and I made to the Outer Hebrides islands off the west coast of Scotland, the site of the last known revival in the United Kingdom. We made a stop en route on the Isle Of Skye, and there we met with a godly Presbyterian minister, who related to us a remarkable story.
“Blessed is the one who remains steadfast under trial.” I don’t know about you, but James is one of those letters that never stops making me feel uncomfortable.
Trial is a very strong word, often translated tribulation. In the Bible it almost always refers to the troubles of this present age, not to a mysterious (and in my opinion imaginary) future event. In the midst of trial, James further tells us, we are to “count it all joy.” Somehow we are supposed to find peace in the midst of trouble. I don’t like it, but the truth is that’s usually where we grow. Why? Because that’s where we find God and dig ourselves deeper into him. The grace of God comes to us as we call upon him in our distress
