With Glad and Generous Hearts
Zephyr United Methodist Church
Early First United Methodist Church
April 17, 2005
Rev. Eddie Smart
Acts 2:42-47 (NRSV)
They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.
43Awe came upon everyone, because many wonders and signs were being done by the apostles. 44All who believed were together and had all things in common; 45they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46Day 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, 47praising God and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.
Wheel of Fortune is a favorite of mine. I started in the middle of that game show last night. Rather than three individuals competing against each other, they had three couples. At one end were two men, one tall the other short. They were enthusiastic! They would spin the wheel with all their might and yell, “Come on. Big money!” They would land on a segment of the wheel worth a lot of money and when they guessed a correct letter in the word puzzle, they went ballistic–jumping up and down, waving their arms, shouting.
As time was running out, Pat Sajak gave the wheel a final spin. He has had a lot of practice at spinning that wheel. He seems to be good at hitting that $5000 section. He did last night. They added another $1000 to make each letter worth $6000. Those two enthusiastic men were going crazy, jumping up and down, arms flying everywhere. At the other end were two women. They just stood there clapping. Like knots on a log–just clapping.
Well, those women guess a letter and there was one, therefore they scored $6000. The others had their turns. When it got back to those two “knots on a log,” they guessed a letter. This time there were three letters and their total became $24,000. They solved the puzzle, becoming the big winners of the night with a total of $42,300. These “Knots” fell off their log. They were clapping their hands, jumping up and down while hugging one another, and screaming like you wouldn’t believe.
Next they were able to solve the final puzzle, winning another $25,000. You had no trouble knowing they were big winners. They were jumping all over the stage and screaming in portion to their winnings. Family rushed out and everyone was celebrating–jumping, hugging, screaming, clapping, crying, shouting. They were acting like big winners because they were BIG winners.
We find in today’s scripture lesson another group of big winners. This
passage has been described by many as an ideal picture of worship in the
early church. Thomas Long, a teacher at the Candler School of Theology, in
a sermon he preached at Duke University Chapel some years ago referred to
this passage as the report of a church historian who sees things through rose
colored glasses. It is a picture of the church at its best. It is a picture of ideal
worship. It is a picture of the ideal church.
The people are DEVOTED to the apostles' teachings. They are devoted to fellowship, not just getting together but the kind of fellowship with one another that is transforming--the kind of fellowship that weaves our individual lives into a living tapestry. They are devoted to breaking bread together. They are devoted to prayer--the kind of prayer that leads to the Lord adding to their numbers daily.
Get the idea of the ideal? These people are not taking casually what they are taught. Fellowship is not something they do when they feel like it, but includes caring for one another. Breaking bread together is more important to them than satisfying a hunger. Prayer is something that is more than routine or occasional. They DEVOTED themselves. They gave themselves fully to the Lord. They gave themselves fully to each other.
These followers ate together with glad and generous hearts, praising God. Why would Luke describe these people as glad and generous? He is describing a fellowship of believers who eat together, pray together, worship together and learn together not out of a sense of obligation, habit or duty, but out of gratitude. These people came together because of Jesus. They shared a joy that comes with the assurance of living eternally with a Savior. They met a Savior. They were worshiping a Savior. They could sing “Victory in Jesus.”
This passage is a picture of worship in the early church. Evelyn
Underwood describes worship as “the response of the creature to the
eternal.”
Worship is a way we the created respond to God the creator for all
that God has done for us. In 1903, Pope Pius X gave to the Roman Catholic
church a meaning of worship that included “the glorification of God and the
sanctification of humanity.”
The Reverend Lucinda Holmes told me this
week that worship was to “glorify God and grow the worshiper.”
Lucy is
the Associate Pastor at the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection in
charge of worship. I attended a session lead by her.
In another session of that workshop, I heard from Juanita Ramus. Juanita and her husband, Rudy, are pastors of the St. John’s UMC in downtown Houston. When they went there, St. John’s was about to close its doors with about 20 people in worship. I think they said there are now 6,000 people worshiping in that church, but more important than that they are reaching out to thousands through their ministries to the homeless, drug addicts, and the marginalized. Don’t think they can do such gigantic mission projects because they are big and dynamic. They are big because they do meaningful, effective mission projects right where they are planted.
Well, Juanita told me that “worship happens when we experience the awareness of God.” Have we been worshiping in this place? Have we experienced the risen Christ? Has our experience of Christ resulted in worship that has lead us to respond in ways that make a difference in the lives of others. St. John’s UMC was given new life as a mission of the Windsor Village UMC in Houston, the largest UMC in the nation. Its pastor, Kirbyjon Caldwell, says “the church must take the sanctuary into the streets.” If worship is “response of the creature to the eternal,” then worship happens not only in the sanctuary, it happens in the streets through service to others.
Story of couple at Krogers
The people in the early church worshiped with glad and generous hearts. In the Psalms we are told:
let the righteous be joyful; (Psalm 68:3)
let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation!...
let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise! (Psalm 95:1-2 )
Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth; (Psalm 98:4)
With trumpets and the sound of the horn
make a joyful noise before the King, the Lord.(Psalm 98:6)
Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth. (Psalm 100:1)
On our way home this week, we saw a billboard in OKC. At the top in large print it read “Christians notify your face.” Below that in small print we read, “Let others see Jesus in you.
Folks, we are big winners. Much bigger than $67,300. We have Victory in Jesus! Eternal life is ours just by believing. God has done a great work in you! Does our face show it? Can we get excited in the sanctuary? Has worship in this sanctuary glorified God and caused the worshiper to grow? How are we doing at taking the sanctuary into the streets? Can others experience Jesus in us?