Shade Tree Wisdom 7/7/08

What a pleasant morning. Hardly anyone out, and the ones I meet nod and are eager to get on with their day. So here I am, thinking of the Early Church as we read its history in the Book of Acts.

Reading Acts is stirring and profoundly disturbing. Because we are seeing the young church, as vulnerable as a new born babe, for the first time. This Church has no money, no power, no influence in the ordinary sense. Yet it sets out joyfully and courageously to win the world for God through Christ.

Acts gives us a picture of the beginnings. Young, unspoiled, obedient. The only plan they have is the one Jesus had given them, “Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature”.

We see with some amazement what happened then. They simply went and did it. This Church had not yet grown fat and complacent, over-organized and short of breath because of its prosperity. It had no treasure, no deep pockets, and what they had, they shared “even beyond their ability”.

One cannot read this book without becoming convinced Someone was here at work beyond human help. It was the Holy Spirit. It is a matter of sober historical fact that this small group of ordinary people so moved the world that their enemies said, with tears of rage and frustration, that these men “have turned the world upside down” (17,6).

If we read this Book and suggest the Church follow its example, we are told the world today is different, with problems they never even dreamed of. Then we don’t know history, for that world was just as complicated, and may even have had more ‘drek’ to deal with than ours today. [Look at the list Paul gives in Romans chapter l.]

And when Peter , when dealing with the Gentile Cornelius, blurts out “Of a truth, I perceive that God is no respecter of persons.” Acts 10,34, that was a revolutionary statement for a Jew to make.

So the early Church simply did what God urged them to do, they loved one another, they helped one another, to share the Gospel, for the Bible said when they were driven elsewhere, "they went everywhere telling the good news”.

It was a news they simply had to share. Like the news you and I share at the birth of a child, or some wonderful event. We “can’t keep it to ourselves”. That’s the way the early Church went about their task, and that is the sort of feeling the Book of Acts raises in our hearts today.
GPD 7/7/08