Bless thou, the words of my lips and the meditations of our hearts that they be of profit to us and acceptable to thee, oh our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen
Today I want to talk to you about devotion - devotion to the teachings of the apostles, to the fellowship of the church, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer.
The first thing I want to tell you is this - that without devotion to these things our life as individuals - and our life as a church - cannot succeed.
It can't succeed because without devotion to those things God has given us, we end up adrift - we end up separated from our Lord - the shepherd of our souls, and swept away by the false teachings of our world. We loose the strength and the hope that we are supposed to have, and our joy, our health, and our strength, quickly dissipates. We become a people who are lifeless and unattractive and, unless we change our ways, unless, by the grace of God, we are once again found - we stumble and fall.
The father of all lies tries to tell us - that devotion, - that the dedication of ones time and energy to the teachings of the apostles, - and to the fellowship of the church, - and to the breaking of bread and to prayer, is not really all that important.
He tries to tell us that we can get by with an occasional prayer, and that it will not hurt all that much if we don't read and learn about the bible, and that a person doesn't really have to attend church or to take part in weekly communion, or to get involved in Christian groups to be a follower of Jesus the Christ.
This is a lie - and anyone who tells you otherwise is speaking to you with the voice of Satan.
The secret of every growing church, and the basis of every healthy spiritual life, is an overriding commitment to hearing the word of God and applying it to one's life.
It is a dedication to the health and prosperity - both spiritual and physical, of one's fellow believers, and the desire to invoke the presence of God within that community, and within one's own private prayer life.
I am sure many of you have seen the bumper sticker that says - the family that prays together, stays together -
We are the family of God - and unless we pray - together, - unless we study and seek the will of God in the word of God - together, - and unless we share good times and bad times - together, we will suffer the fate that comes upon those who stay apart, we will be alone; and ultimately we will loose our sense of direction; our sense of purpose; our faith.
And that is happening and has happened in churches throughout many parts of the world, especially in Europe and North America.
It is happening in those places where individual happiness is prized more than righteousness; where pursuing material success is held to be more important than spending time in community worship; where golf on Sunday or watching Football or taking the children to a ball game is deemed more important than building one's relationship with God; where watching the television or going shopping for the weekend is deemed to be more important than sharing with one's brothers and sisters the joys and the concerns that we have, and praying together and sharing together those things which have helped us in God's word.
I assume, that despite our parent's advice, that all of us have played with fire.
We have sat before a fire place or a camp fire, and watched the coals glowing red and hot. And all of us know - that if we take a single coal out of the centre of the fire and place it to one side - it soon turns dull grey, its bright heat becomes first lukewarm and then cold - while the rest of the fire continues to burn.
So it is with us.
Separate a person from the Christian community, take them away from the place in which the word is proclaimed, bread is broken, and prayers uttered, and soon the light of their faith grows dull, and the warmth within their souls begins to diminish.
Let no one lie to you!
You can't be a Christian, at least you can't be an effective Christian, a fully alive Christian, one who, as Jesus says in today's reading - has life and that abundantly, if you do not listen to the voice of the shepherd who calls you by name, or if you flee from the sheepfold that he would lead you to for your own safety.
How can you expect do what is right, how can you expect to experience the blessings of God, how can you hope to minister to one another the love of Christ and feel that love return to you 30, or 60 or 100 fold, if you do not turn to Christ and listen to his voice? If you do not enter the sheepfold with your brothers and sisters? If you do not pray together and work together and love each other with the love of Christ?
You can't! And the evidence of that is all around us. It is in the people we meet day by day who claim to believe in and love God - and yet have none of the signs of the abundant life that Christ promises to all who hear his voice and enter his sheepfold.
Devotion, Dedication, Commitment - this is the secret of success in all endeavours, and in all endeavours that devotion, that dedication, that commitment is focussed on specific things.
To experience life - and that abundantly - as Christ says we can, our focus must be on the teachings of the apostles, which are the teachings of our Lord, on the fellowship of the believers, on the breaking of bread - the invoking of Christ's presence in community, and on prayer.
The early church had this focus - and the results were tremendous.
As Luke tells us in today's reading:
"all who believed were together and had all things in common, they would sell their possessions and goods and distribute the proceeds to all, as any had need. Day by day, they spent much time together in the temple, they broke bread from house to house, and ate their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God, and having the goodwill of all the people. And day by day God added to their number those who were being saved."
Day by day, God added to their number.
From that first community - came the entire church - a church that survived the stoning of Stephen, the persecution of Paul, and the destruction of Jerusalem itself.
The early church survived and prospered, because the people within it committed themselves to one another and to the Lord who brought them together,
The early church grew and spread like a fire in dry grass because those who believed sought God' presence, and prayed for his will to be done in their midst, not just one day a week, but each and every day.
I wonder how many of us even pray each and every day, let alone seek out the fellowship of fellow believers and pray with them and eat with them on a regular and consistent basis?
I wonder how many of us read the scriptures each day? Or even think about what it is God has said in the past to us? Let alone seek to hear what it is he may be trying to say to us now - in the midst of our busy routines?
I am sure everyone here is familiar with the expression - "cool as a cucumber".
The expression "cool as a cucumber: refers to someone who is able to remain calm and collected in the heat of life's battles. The expression actually has its basis in scientific fact. A cucumber lying in the sun on a hot day is cooler on the inside than the outside. In fact the centre can be as much as ten degrees cooler that the outside. Even without a thermometer, the temperature can be easily detected by the touch.
But the difference in temperature between the inside and the outside can only exist as long as the cucumber is attached to the vine. Once the cucumber is severed, it loses its ability to "keep its cool."
Like the cucumber, we can only keep our cool in the midst of difficult circumstances, we can only thrive in the midst of an insane world, as long as we remain attached to the vine.
Our vine is the fellowship of fellow believers and its head - Jesus Christ. The sap which runs through it is the word of God and the power unleashed in listening to it and in breaking bread together and in praying together.
In the vine we have life.
Jesus said: "I am the vine, you are the branches. They who abide in me and I in them, bear much fruit, but apart from me you can do nothing."
Jesus also said - I am the gate for the sheep. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture.
God has prepared a fold for us, He has made ready a safe haven for us, and appointed a faithful shepherd over us.
To enjoy that haven, we need to listen to voice of our shepherd, and together, in the company of our fellow believers, follow him.
When we follow him - he will lead us by the still waters, and to the green pastures, and he will keep us safe as we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, his rod and his staff will comfort us.
And the opposite is also true.
When we fail to follow him, when we fail to listen to his voice and join ourselves with the rest of the flock the waters will not be stilled, we will experience terror in the valley of the shadow of death, and our cups will not overflow in the presence of our enemies.
We need, and all those who claim to believe in God need, to truly commit ourselves to our Lord and his teachings, and to one another as brothers and sisters in Him if we are to be as alive as was the church in Jerusalem after the day of Pentecost.
As we do this, as we pray and break bread together Christ our Lord will do the rest. He will make sure our souls are restored, He will set a table before us in the presence of our enemies and ensure that we dwell in the house of God forever,
He will do this, for he is the bread of life; and the good shepherd; the way and the door; the resurrection and the life, the one in whom God was pleased to fully dwell within, the one in whom God is even now fully revealed for those with eyes to see and ears to hear.
Praise be unto our God, and to our Lord Jesus Christ - now and forevermore AMEN
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