Elements of Communion

Acts 2:42-47,

Do you know anybody that meets together every day? I don’t mean families and people that live in the same house. I mean individuals who make it a regular part of every day to go hang out with other people that want the same thing. They want a sense of camaraderie and fellowship, of caring about each other and mutual support and friendship. Can you think of an example? I have one in mind.

While I was in Maine, across the street from the church there was a little convenience store. They served coffee too. And every morning, especially in the good weather, but well into colder weather since they had good coats, this same group of guys would stand there in the front of the store, drinking their coffee and talking, just hanging out together early, before they had to head off to their different jobs.

One of those guys was a member of my church, so I was able to ask him one day about why they do that. He talked about how he just felt as if he couldn’t have a good day if he didn’t start with that meeting time. Somehow it just fed his soul to hang out with a bunch of friends and have a good laugh or share concerns and talk about work before they actually went to work. One of his jokes about it was how they solved all the world’s problems whenever they discussed politics. Trouble was, nobody who could do anything about it cared what they thought.

Whenever I read this passage in Acts chapter 2:42-47, I think about those guys as a picture of what was going on in Jerusalem during the days after Pentecost. It was not a religious thing. It was a human thing. Pentecost created a bunch of people who needed relationships with each other because their new faith separated them from the Jews around them. They were bonded together by their shared relationship with The Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The people at the coffee shop were not bonded together by Jesus, just the basic human need for relationship. I sometimes wonder how differently their days might have gone if they had shared Jesus as the early believers did!

The text we’re looking at today is often given this heading: The Fellowship of Believers. But I have called my message “The Elements of Communion” to convey a different insight. We in the Church often think of the “elements” of communion as the bread and wine, or juice, we share during our celebration of the Lord’s Supper, or Communion. Those things are mentioned in this passage. But there are several other things mentioned that I believe give us a fuller picture of what is really meant by the Communion of the Saints.

In the Apostle’s creed, that statement of faith we will recite together later as we remember Jesus in the Lord’s Supper, one of the things we say we believe in is “The Communion of the Saints.” I do not believe that is just about observing the Lord’s Supper together. I believe the “Communion of the saints” is saying the same thing as the “fellowship of the believers.” So, I want to explore today, the elements of that communion.

I want to read through the text again and use a number system to highlight all the things they were devoted to, and what happened among them because of that.

They devoted themselves:

1.     to the apostles’ teaching and

2.     to fellowship with each other,

3.     to the breaking of bread and

4.     to prayer.

As a result,

A.    Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles.

B.    All the believers were together and had everything in common.

C.    They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need.

D.    Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts.

E.    They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people.

And as a result of that, “the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.”

The main point I want to draw from all this is the daily fellowship and its public nature. My friends in Maine met at the local coffee shop. They were a visible presence in that little town. The new believers met every day together in the temple courts. That’s a public demonstration of their new life in Christ. They were a visible presence in the temple.

What have we got today that might compare with that? On the positive side, the men’s fellowship breakfast group is a lot like the guys at the coffee shop. And those guys are breaking bread together too. But we meet inside. We also have our food pantry outreach going and at least one of us is visiting from car to car, as we’re able, to ask people how we can pray for them. That makes it evangelistic. In addition, our summer concerts are certainly public gatherings and there we do preach the gospel, at least through the music. But is that enough to make us visible to others who would get curious and find out what we’re up to? Have those efforts been working to help us make new disciples and add to our number daily?

Now, in our wider culture today something else is going on that I noticed. Protests are public demonstrations of outrage about injustice. That’s important. A worthy cause can gather many people together from various backgrounds to stand together as one and say things like, “We are mad about this particular injustice and we are speaking out to get it corrected.” These events make the news!

But what I’d like to see is the Church, all of the believers from various denominational backgrounds gathered together regularly to proclaim the gospel. Not protest, but proclaim, and announce, not something we’re mad about, but that we are glad for God’s love and forgiveness of all who turn to Him in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. I’d like to see those events make the news.

To make that happen, we’ve got to be devoted to the teaching of the apostles, that is the Word of God in our Bibles. We also have to welcome all who believe the same essentials to join us in celebrating, with joy, all that Jesus means to us. That would mean we are also devoted to fellowship with each other. I don’t know exactly how to make that a daily thing in our modern culture. But it’s a goal worth striving for and I think maybe the guys at the coffee shop point the way. We need to be individuals who make it a regular part of every day, or most days, to find a place to hang out, at least for a little while, with other people that want the same thing.

The Acts passage also mentions that the believers were devoted to the breaking of bread together. Does that mean celebrating the Lord’s supper every day? Maybe not. But it at least means that they ate together often and that they worshiped and frequently included remembering and celebrating the sacrament “we received from the Lord.” We know they worshiped because the text also says that they were devoted to prayer.

All of these things together are the elements of communion. The believers had all those together and it made a powerful display of loving community that drew other people in. And that is what our nation needs today. What we have today is protest marches, and even the peaceful ones are happening because people are mad about injustice. What I am wondering is, what would happen if there were Christian proclamation marches where we want to publicly proclaim what we have to be glad about. I’m saying, instead of protesting what we’re mad about, let’s get together and proclaim what we’re glad about!

That happens sometimes, on occasion. I’m thinking of the International Day of Prayer. That happens nationwide, but only once a year. Then there’s the call to all celebrations that have been happening in Cadillac, but again, only once a year. Now we all have our regular Sunday worship services finally being restored to us, after 9 weeks of missing one another. But even before Covid, what did regular Sunday worship do that caused anyone to be filled with awe and wonder? Besides, how many people do you know who refuse to attend church because they have had problems with “organized religion.”

I seriously wrestle with this question, have we been doing church less effectively than we could? What would have to change so that everyone who participates with us, or just sees from a distance, would be filled with awe? Could there be many wonders and signs?

I don’t know about that. But how much can all the believers be together and have everything in common? Can we do better at that? How much more generous might we be has any of us recently sold any property and possessions so that you could give to anyone who had need? And how could we possible meet together every day in any public place so that observers wonder what’s going on and feel drawn to us? Would they sense they are truly welcomed if they do draw near?

What would happen if we shared meals in each other’s homes more frequently, and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God? What might happen in our town if we could find better ways of bringing all the elements of true communion together again? Would that result in enjoying the favor of all the people? And would there be, could there be a further result, that the Lord could add to our number daily those who were being saved? Wouldn’t you love to be part of that?

What would we really have to do for God to work among us so powerfully? Just as the first believers didn’t really know what it would look like before it happened to them under the influence of the Holy Spirit among them. So, it is for us, difficult to predict, perhaps impossible to see ahead of time. But if we devote our lives to prayer and fellowship and the apostles teaching, that will open the way for the Holy Spirit to move powerfully among us again.

All the great revivals of our past history were very public and very spontaneous. They occurred when the Church, across all denominations, lamented it’s loss of voice and influence and admitted their complicity in causes and movements that that exploited minorities like slaves and Indians.

We are standing today at the brink of another moment in which we should be praying for God’s help to reunite us as believers, as Christians, who are filled with Holy Spirit and who love all people equally and generously. And God is not far from us! He longs to show up in the congregations that truly and correctly humble themselves before Him, in prayer, in faith that the gospel is still just as powerful today as it ever was, and that we ourselves have been the ones afraid to truly take up the cause of Christ because we have been so comfortable and profitable under the banner of the American Dream.

That is not politics per say. That is a prayerful cry out to God for His help, in His way, and we give Him permission to do with us whatever he wants so that He is glorified and the Church become effective in its mission once again. So, as we devote ourselves to all the elements of communion, may we be blessed once again to see God at work in our midst, adding to our number daily those who are being saved. Let us pray.

"Almighty God, in times of fear, grant us courage. When called upon to stand for the rights of others, grant us courage. When others call for our destruction, grant us courage. When the enemies of freedom lash out, bless us with your peace. When the darkness of hatred descends, bless us with your peace.

We thank You Lord for the service of Holy Communion by which we are always invited into Your presence. May we be refreshed and revived to recover all the elements of the communion of the saints, in new ways, at your direction. Oh Lord, strengthen us to do what we can to devote ourselves to your word and to each other, so that we let You do what You want to do with us. In Jesus’ name. amen.