Guts

Acts 2:42-47: "All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer. A deep sense of awe came over them all, and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders. And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need. They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity—all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved."

There's a phrase in this passage that really bothers me. It bothers me to the point that I had to get out of bed (which is very comfortable, by the way) just to write about it. The phrase is: "They worshiped together at the Temple each day." This is an amazing testimony of the courage that can come from the Holy Spirit when you follow God without inhibitions. If you look back to the Gospels, where are the apostles and other believers right after Jesus' crucifixion? They are hiding. They are terrified of being found by the Jewish militants, the ones that killed their leader, and so they stay in this room with all the doors locked, waiting for something to happen. Then, Jesus appears out of nowhere, and gives them all a great speech about how they should not be afraid, and then he breathes on them and says, '“Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you.” Then he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone’s sins, they are forgiven. If you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.” (John 20:21-23)' So, they've seen their Savior, realized that death has no power, and are all charged up with the Holy Spirit to go out and testify about great things and take on the world, right? Look at the next couple verses. Thomas isn't there, so he doesn't believe the story the other apostles tell him. Then, around eight days later as the text says, they're all back together in the LOCKED ROOM. Jesus appears AGAIN, proves he's back, and then they all go out and start taking on the world. Wait, I take it back. They go fishing (John 21), returning back to the things that are comfortable and familiar to them, and also to the things that are removed from the city of Jerusalem and all the turmoil that is probably still going on in the religious community. Then, you skip ahead to Acts 2, where the apostles are joined by more believers, where they're meeting in, you guessed it, a LOCKED ROOM. Then, this amazing thing happens. There's this wind, and these tongues of fire, and everyone rushes out and starts proclaiming the truth in languages they don't even naturally speak. There's this awesome unity that comes from all of them testifying together, and they start living in this Utopian harmony most of us don't even know how to imagine. It's a foreign picture that is not usually seen in Christianity today, especially in America. All these believers then start meeting in the Temple every day. This happens to be the same Temple that housed the Jewish leaders that put Jesus to death. It's the veritable 'Lion's Den.' This is where the new believers begin meeting. The doors are unlocked, the windows are open, and everyone is worshiping in harmony in the middle of the most dangerous place a follower of Christ could be. This is such a huge deal to me, I can't believe I've never noticed this in the story before. How many of us, (and I'm talking about myself even more than any of those that might be reading) live in our "safe rooms" on a constant basis. We go to our church, go to our small groups even, talk about God there, and that's it. At work, we try to keep a professional image and might stretch to the point of having an inspirational mug on our desk, but that's the extent of our testimony. In life, we stick to our comfort zones, and never even think about maybe, possibly, stepping into those places where we are scared the most and yet we could do the most good. I'm not saying we should all go start hanging out in biker bars, unless you feel the need to be there, but there has to be that one place where you KNOW you could be a little more outspoken, and maybe help just one more person. It's a practice in being passionate in the most uncomfortable and nerve-wracking of situations. It's a concept that I know I could work on, and am praying to see what God moves me to do, and where he thinks I should go. It's something that I believe every Christian should be praying for, in a hope that with our unashamed testimony, "each day the Lord [can add] to [our] fellowship those who [are] being saved. (Acts 2:47)"