THE EARLY CHURCH LOVE

Peter's Sermon; the Coming of the Holy Spirit

The kind of love that existed among christians of the early church was one that is very  different from the kind of love that exists among christians of today.

The kind of love that existed among them was amazing and beautiful.

This was probably because of the experiences that they had with Jesus.

They saw how he walked on earth, how he went around doing good, how he suffered, how he was crucified, how he died and how he resurrected.

They saw him going up into heaven.

It was all real to them.

Another thing that was real to them was the fear of being killed too, for believing in Jesus Christ and even preaching the gospel. 

Everything was real to them.

It was not like mere stories to them as it is to us now.

They saw it all happen.

They were in the story.

They felt the fear.

They saw the killings.

They were in hiding.

They felt the need for the promise of the Holy Spirit to be fulfilled in that moment of their lives.

And when the Holy Spirit finally came, they knew the worth of the gospel that they preached.

They knew how many lives were lost for the cause of the gospel.

They knew the true worth of the gospel.

They felt the fresh power of the Holy Spirit among them and working in them.

Their faith was real and mattered more than their own very lives.

And the love that they shared among one another was heavenly.

The gospel was their life.

They lived for it, willingly suffered for it, enjoyed suffering for it because they knew the reward for suffering with Christ Jesus.

They exercised more of what I would call 'spiritual parenthood' among themselves.

What does spiritual parenthood mean?

Spiritual parenthood means the act of giving birth to spiritual sons and daughters or sharing a sisterhood/brotherhood with another person because the person just believed and accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and personal savior.

It becomes fatherhood when the person is converted into the Christian faith by an older man who believes in Jesus Christ and is spiritually mature.

It is sisterhood when it happens between two or more women who are about the same age in which one or more of them is converted into the Christian faith by the other woman/women who is/are already (a) believer(s).

It is brotherhood when it happens between two or more men who are about the same age in which one or more of them is converted into the Christian faith by the other man/men who is/are already (a) believer(s).

One thing noticeable about the love among the early christians is that they ached for one another.

They loved one another so fervently and so passionately in surprisingly, a non-sexual way.

People of this age can only relate to passion as a strong sexual urge or desire..

People of this age can only relate to love, even between same sexes as meaning sensuality and having carnal knowledge of the other person.

However, in the early church, people 's minds were not yet as warped as it is today.

There was pure passion among brethren.

Such intense love and longing for one another.

They were one another 's hearts.

One person's sorrow was also his neighbor 's sorrow.

The other person's joy was also her fellow 's joy.

They lived so communally and interconnectedly.

The major virtue among them was love and faith.

They believed in one another, encouraged one another, looked out for one another, encouraged the weak ones, comforted the sorrowful and shared their resources together.

They were not individualistic.

Neither did they have the mind-your-business attitude of today's christians.

They really cared for one another and knew how to reach out to those who could not speak out.

How gentle.

How encouraging.

Do we have that now?

No, we don't.

Everyone wants to be loved, everyone needs somebody to believe in him or her , everyone wants to be understood, everyone wants to be helped up on their feet but most of us are too afraid to admit it.

We are afraid of being rejected, of being hurt, of being made to look stupid or dumb.

So, we shut out those who even try to reach out and withdraw into our shells.

Somehow, deep inside of us, we want to know Jesus.

We want to get to know Him.

We want to participate in church activities and serve Him with all our resources.

God knows this.

He can see the fire in our hearts and in our eyes but the problem is the church people of today.

They don't love.

They judge.

They condemn.

They don't look at unbelievers as God looks at them or see them the way God sees them.

God looks at all His children with love.

With so much love and a desire to take whoever it is to a better place, to a better life..but this is not the case with the so called christians of today.

They don't look at you through the eyes of God.

They look at you with disgust, scorn and disdain (very few of them are not like this).

They imagine the worse things about you and for you.

This attitude is not encouraging at all.

It makes people who want to come close to God withdraw.

It makes you feel like you're the worse sinner.

That you're so broken , you can't be fixed.

That you're so messed up, you can't be cleaned.

And God's children are scared away from His love, mercy and kindness.

This is not right.

Love is most important.

Love encourages and enlivens.

It makes you believe that you can be better, that God loves you and He will accept you.

That He will take you in and change your life forever because that is the truth.

Don't worry about what people think of you.

Don't worry about what they say about you.

You belong to Jesus and He loves you.

Don't look at them.

Don't listen to them.

Look at God because He is the one who wants to see your face.

He loves you, more than you can ever imagine.

He is far from what you have ever heard about Him.

Far better than anything you've ever been told.

And as for the kind of love that existed in the early church, it still exists today.

It's just that , that love has been outnumbered by the coldness and wickedness of the people of today's world but that love still exists.

It exists in my heart for you.

It exists in the heart of every true Christian in the world for you.

Every now and then,we say a prayer or two for you because we know how hard it is to find God and stay with Him.

It has to do with a lot of chasing.

You have to keep running after Him until He is assured that you mean to be with Him this time.

You'll find God , just like I have found Him and I'm still finding Him because He is God.

His facets are inexhaustible.

His attributes are infinite.

It's a lifetime adventure and I'm happy to be part of it.

I see you through God's eyes, I know you are His child, that you badly want to be loved perfectly, to be accepted perfectly..

All true christians are like this too.

We love you immediately, most times unconsciously because our human hearts are daily giving way for the heart of Jesus to take over.

So, we love you with the love of Christ.

We understand because we've been there.

We 've been through the darkness, the pain, the confusion, the emptiness, the suffering, the setback , the feeling of being lost...

Like, you can't find yourself..

Like, you're trying to find yourself but you can't and it's as if you're drifting away , day by day.

You need someone to hear you.

You're screaming for help because you're dying slowly but the screaming is not on the outside of you.

It is on the inside of you.

We hear you ( because only us can see the real you on the inside , the real you behind the act and mask)

We won't judge you.

We will help you find God.

If you badly need to meet a Christian like this, just talk to God about it.

It may take months or even a year but surely, He will send one of us to you.

The person could be someone you already know.

A little girl.

A young man.

An old lady.

It doesn't matter what frame he or she comes in .

What matters is that the Holy Spirit is within that person and that person has the heart of Jesus and God' s eyes.

You want to talk? 

Reach out to me through the comment box and I'll share my contact information so that we can get started on finding God.

It is well with your soul, in Jesus'name, amen.