Acts 2:37- 47                                                    4th Sunday of Easter

 Have you ever heard the story about the day you were born or the day your family adopted you? Today’s scripture tells us what happened on the day you – the Church was born. Yes, “I am the church and you are the church.” Usually we wait until Pentecost, the 50th day after Easter (four weeks from now) to celebrate the birthday of the Church. We remember how on that day the Holy Spirit descended on a little band of Christ’s followers, after his death and resurrection. Then Peter stood up and preached the first sermon of the early church.

 Let me tell you a little about that sermon. Peter rises to interpret this powerful experience the people had had. Odd experiences, powerful experiences, positive or negative, do need interpretation. The other day, when Catherine came home from the first day back at school after spring break, she was disturbed because a classmate of hers had died in a car accident over spring break, and Catherine felt uncomfortable that this powerfully negative experience was not adequately processed on the first day. The school needed to address it publically.

 The other night in conversation with friends from Peace I heard the story of someone attending a church where people starting speaking in tongues and nobody interpreted or explained what was going on and she left before it was over, completely weirded out by the experience. Experiences need interpretation.

 Peter and friends have just experienced something powerful and he stands up to interpret, to help them process what is happening. They asked “What does this experience mean?” Peter quotes scripture (Hebrew scriptures, what we know as the Old Testament. Remember the NT was not yet written). He helps his friends understand what is happening in their lives by offering them interpretation of scripture. (Take that as a lesson on how to be a good friend. Help people understand their life experiences with scripture.)

 So from the beginning of the church, from our birth, we have been a group of people who experience the presence of the Holy Spirit and need that to be interpreted with Words of Scripture. I firmly believe that all of us everywhere are experiencing the presence of the Holy Spirit. We have “Wow” moments. We have “Aha” moments. We have “God help me” moments, everybody inside and outside the church has them, and those moments need interpretation so we know “What does it mean?”

 Now the part we are reading today is the people’s response to Peter’s sermon,
Peter’s interpretation of the “Wow” experience of the Holy Spirit. It is not enough for there to be experience of God in the Holy Spirit and interpretation of that experience – Scripture and proclamation. There also needs to be a response from the people.

 Listen for their response and for the picture of the church we get in that response: Hear the word of the Lord. ^NRS Acts 2:37 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and to the other apostles, "Brothers, what should we do?" ³⁸ Peter said to them, "Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ so that your sins may be forgiven; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. ³⁹ For the promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to him."  ⁴⁰ And he testified with many other arguments and exhorted them, saying, "Save yourselves from this corrupt generation." ⁴¹ So those who welcomed his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand persons were added. ⁴² They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. ⁴³ Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. ⁴⁴ All who believed were together and had all things in common; ⁴⁵ they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need.
⁴⁶ Day by day, as they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread at home and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, ⁴⁷ praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.

 Shortly after my arrival as organizing pastor two and a half years ago, the Leadership Team, which then was about half of the congregation, studied and prayed together over this passage and others and arrived at four core values for this new church. Inspiring Worship, Lively Learning, Authentic Relationships, and Compassionate Outreach. We believed and still do that if we focused our attention on these four aspects of our life together, that the Spirit would be with us and we would grow in number and in generosity of spirit.

 Inspiring Worship. Let’s talk about what inspiring worship means. The word inspire has origins with the word meaning Spirit or breath. So inspire means to breathe in or to get spirited or enthused. The related word enthusiasm has the Greek word for God in its origins. Acts 2 teaches us that inspiring worship means having experiences of the Holy Spirit that are grounded in interpretation of scripture and the breaking of bread, prayers and singing God’s praise with glad hearts, and sharing what we have. There you have the heart of worship – Word & Sacraments of Baptism and Communion, Prayers, Singing, Offering. Whatever else worship is, it should be that. You can talk about the style of worship – traditional or contemporary, but with content, you need to talk about Word & Sacrament, Prayers, Singing, and Offering.

 Authentic Relationships. It is clear in this passage that this group of early Christians was devoted to one another. They spent time together, they ate together, they shared their possessions and goods in a communal spirit. They had the best interests, the goodwill of all the people in mind. Authentic relationships take time to develop. When we spend time together, we learn how to care for one another. Studies show that in order to maintain meaningful church involvement, people need at least four significant relationships. Peace is giving you opportunities to build those. If it’s not happening for you, come to me and let’s figure out together how it can. But for now, I want you to find one person, who is not your spouse or closest friend at Peace, exchange phone numbers and call each other once this week. Call, find out what’s happening in that person’s life, offer to pray for him or her. Build relationships. Build them inside the church. Build them outside the church.

 Lively Learning – Acts speaks of the devotion to the Apostles’ teaching, we have the question to Peter and the apostles – what should we do. Our worship is an opportunity to learn, but there are some areas of learning that cannot happen in one hour of worship. So there’s the second hour, and there are opportunities to gather during the week for prayer, Bible study, and ministry, which involve learning. Followers of Christ are always learning. We are not content with what we already know. We are not so proud as to assume we know everything or that truth cannot come from outside our Christian circle. We do not close our minds to the truths learned in all arenas of life, but we are guided by the truths of God, which we glean from our interpretation of
God’s Word as we worship and serve together. We believe that learning best happens in the company of other believers.

 Compassionate Outreach is the final of our four core values and the values that I think describe the early church. Outreach means thinking beyond ourselves. Doing for others. It means evangelism – sharing good news. It means mission – doing good deeds. Both – healthy churches are engaged in both telling good news and living good news. Compassion is a great word, meaning to suffer with. Compassion is what God in Christ has for us, and it is the mark of a Christian. Christians can never laugh or scorn or ignore the suffering. Christians suffer with. If we give money to help the suffering, then we give enough to make ourselves hurt a little. If we serve, then we serve with a desire to experience the pain of others. That’s why when North Americans take mission trips, the best outcome is not usually what is done for those to whom the mission was carried out, but the change that takes place in the hearts of those who went on the mission. I understand that after the visit to Mission Beth-El, some of the Peace children said to their parents, “Wow. We have a lot.” If we do not go out to suffer with others, then we get too comfortable and begin to pre-judge those who are suffering.

 My friends, I am convinced that the more we center our lives on these core values of Christian faith, the deeper we will grow in the love of Christ, the more meaningful our lives will be, and the more contagious our faith will be for those whom God is calling to join us. People are searching, longing, hoping for some kind of relational bond that matters. Sadly many are seeking it through entertainment, recreational activities, through the acquisition of material things, through the sex, drugs, and alcohol and the drama of relationships not grounded in this kind of love. Some are seeking it in churches that provide powerful experiences that touch the emotions but do not take the next steps of interpretation and faithful response. There is a better way, and that way involves these four core values of worship, learning, relationships, and outreach. Let us devote ourselves to living the Christian life together. And day by day the Lord will add to our number people who are with us being saved.