Genesis 12:1-9  (NIV)

¹ The Lord had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.

² “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.  ³ I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.”

⁴ So Abram left, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him.  Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Harran.  ⁵ He took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, all the possessions they had accumulated and the people they had acquired in Harran, and they set out for the land of Canaan, and they arrived there.

⁶ Abram traveled through the land as far as the site of the great tree of Moreh at Shechem.  At that time the Canaanites were in the land.  ⁷ The Lord appeared to Abram and said, “To your offspring I will give this land.”  So he built an altar there to the Lord, who had appeared to him.

⁸ From there he went on toward the hills east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel on the west and Ai on the east.  There he built an altar to the Lord and called on the name of the Lord.  ⁹ Then Abram set out and continued toward the Negev.

The passage today is about the birth of the Church.  At Christmas we celebrate a new beginning, a new way of God to be with us, and now in Acts we look at the beginning of the Church.

In Greek the word ekklesia means literally “the called out ones”.

The Church, like a person, can be wonderful at times and quite difficult at other times because humans are involved.

At some point everyone has to respond to God’s call to come out of their previous life and into the Kingdom of God.

The Church is a hospital for the broken, it is to be a blessing to those in need, it is a place to use the gifts God has given us.

Acts 2:40-47 (NIV)

⁴⁰ With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.”  ⁴¹ Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.

⁴² They devoted themselves to the apostle’s teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.  ⁴³ Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles.  ⁴⁴ All the believers were together and had everything in common.  ⁴⁵ Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need.  ⁴⁶ Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts.  They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, ⁴⁷ praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people.  And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

The Church began in 33AD, to avoid capture of written material in scrolls, Christians invented books because they were small and better able to hide.

In less than 300 years Christianity took over the Roman empire.

Christianity displaced the philosophies and teachings about the universe, the worth of a person, God, and what is the point of life.

Christianity made more sense and the Christians acted in powerful ways; they shared food and not their beds; they cared for the sick, vulnerable, and the outcasts.

The believers gave themselves over to learning from the apostles, they were able to worship and fellowship with communal practices.

The practices of the Christians was fueled by the devotion to God and the Church became what Jesus had done.

The early Christians stood apart because they had everything in common, a new way of living.

Christianity attracted all races and cultures; both genders.  All people were valued, loved by God and given opportunities to be forgiven through Jesus.

The wealthy and poor were welcome and accepted; slaves and free, all were part of the beginning of the local Church.  No other religion took in so many groups and strata of society.

Christianity brought these four ideas into the world:

1) Love your enemies, not to take revenge against those who have sinned against you and to reconcile with one’s enemies.

Matthew 5:44  But I tell you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who mistreat you and persecute you.

2) Christians cared for the poor, which is the basis orphanages and hospitals.

3) All people were made in the image of God and should be treated as such.

Genesis 1:27  So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

4) No matter what you have been given we are all equally sinful and need Jesus.

Ephesians 5:1,2  “Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”

Why did Christianity spawn these concepts?  The followers of Jesus looked at Jesus and understood what Jesus did for humanity by dying on the Cross for their sake.

Jesus gave up His life so that God could see us as being loved, beautiful, becoming part of His family.

The early Church recognized the bonds of love that characterized God and tried to emulate the same sacrificial love.

The Church comes to realize that God came to give Himself away.

The ultimate reality Jesus was pointing towards in His words and life was to give themselves away to people around them.

The implication of Jesus’ example is we are willing to lay aside our glory and get involved in the lives of people who are in need.

We are called to love our enemies, forgive them, live in grace, becoming more loving and forgiving like Jesus.

Church is not a place.  It’s a body – a family with blood ties through Jesus Christ.

This week, meditate on the chapter in Acts, the people, the struggles and how Jesus sacrifices for all humans, that draws us all together to become followers of Christ.  What is the significance of this in your life?  How is Christ moving in your heart?  God bless.