The deep lessons in life are truly simple ones. Share. Play nicely. Everyone helps with clean up. Don’t fight. Wait your turn. Don’t be greedy. There is enough for everyone. So why are these values becoming scare commodities within the body of Christ. Have we actually learned the basic lessons of faith, or do we just quote them back word for word?

How many of us at some point learned to quote Psalm 23 by heart? Does it really say that God will provide pasture, water, and protection for us in the same way a shepherd cares for the sheep? Does it really say that God will care for us in the presence of our enemies? Does it really say we need not fear evil? Why, then, do we not live as though these lessons were true?

We want the gospel to tell us that nothing will go wrong for the people of God. This is an attractive gospel misrepresentation. Many large churches have grown simply because they exude and preach a message of material success. Is that a true picture of the gospel? What about preaching about becoming selfish in our faith in Christ?  That is the true gospel! If we want to be selfish, let us be, by being faithful at all cost that we may enjoy the most heavenly of all rewards.

Jesus did not live selfishly. He lived purposefully. He did not come as shepherd to care for selfish interests, but to lay down his own interests on behalf of lost and struggling sheep. Jesus said he came to grant abundant life. That is not the same as selfish, greedy living. This life is in our best interest, but the problem is that selfish aims and greedy motives run counter to the aims and quality of this abundant living.

When Jesus speaks of being the shepherd and the sheepfold gate, he speaks of calling his sheep by name to follow him in action, character, and example. That is the true gospel!  Jesus came in part to show us a different quality of living. This is a living with purpose beyond ourselves and selfish issues. While it may have our ultimate best interests at heart, that is a distraction to the quality of this abundant living. In following the voice of Jesus into green pastures, we cannot divorce Jesus’ words and aims from the example of his own living. To do so is to misunderstand the fullness of the life to which we are called. To do so is to ignore true Christian living. Loving others is the base of gospel living.

Our Christian living should transcend beyond our individual needs. Our life should be involved in total devotion to apostolic teaching of God’s word, fellowship, sharing, joy and praise, and this will result in people who are outside the faith becoming attractive to our faith hence leading them to salvation.

Acts 2:46-47
They worshipped together at the temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and GENEROUSITY, all the while praising God and enjoying the GOODWILL OF ALL PEOPLE. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved. – (Amen)

They had heard the message of Jesus. They had received the gospel and were living an appropriate expression of Jesus’ message and example of living. They were trusting God to supply their needs as they met the needs of one another. Faith gave them assurance of God’s provision. Faith granted assurance that they could afford to faithfully care for others. God would meet their needs, so they were free to set all selfishness aside and love one another as God in Christ had loved them.

I will implore that we let our faith change the way we live. Let us set aside our selfishness in all ways. Our faith should not be about material possessions alone. Let us set aside our selfish pursuits and use of time as well. Let us gather together in recognition that in the bond of faith community there was something compelling about this new life in Christ. While it is true that there will always be personal issues that can claim our attention, let us focus more in living as a community of faith allowing ourselves to express the love of Christ in ways that living in selfish isolation cannot.

It is easier to be selfless when the larger body is an extension of family. It is simpler to live in love assurance of God’s care when as community of faith we share one another’s burdens. It is easier to be less self-absorbed when we make the time to participate in the life of the large body of faith. When Jesus speaks of sheep, he points to their coming together as a flock. It is only in shared fellowship that an individual’s needs are being fully met, for parts of those needs are communal. It is here that abundant living can be realized.

Why then, do we seek isolation, separation, and the narrowing of our community boundaries? Is it not because we fear the response and reaction of others? Our tendency is to distrust others for living under the same standards of selfishness that would direct our own steps. Is God’s provision and care sufficient to overcome concerns of rejection and mistreatment by others? Why don’t we allow our faith to remind us that God’s unlimited power and unending love is all that we need? As Christ suffered, trusting yet in God’s provision, so we are to lift our focus from selfish concerns to the purpose of living for God and others.

CONCLUSION

Let us emulate the life of the first community of believers in ACTS 2. They are the ones who actually accepted and followed through, not on the difficult topics of faith, but the simple ones. Loving one another.

Imagine this.

Acts 2:45
They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need.

We always quote that “Where 2 or 3 gather in my name, there shall I be”, but do we actually know the true meaning of this? I will say “Whenever we gather in LOVE, surely Christ will dwell among us”

That is what it is all about.

God bless