First Harvest, First Church

43 days after leaving Egypt, Moses and the other hundreds of thousands of Israelites arrived in the wilderness near Mount Sinai. There the Lord fed them with quail and manna. Later, the 50th day--one week after the appearance of manna--would be designated the Festival of the Harvest to celebrate all that the Lord has provided, during which each is to bring a voluntary offering in proportion to the blessings (Deut. 16:9-112). The celebration was with the whole family, all the servants, the priests and...perhaps more importantly all the foreigners/travelers, orphans and widows amongst them. The Festival is also called the Festival of Weeks--as in seven weeks after Passover--Shabuot or the Festival of Pentecost.

Christ had told His disciples, speaking of the need to spread the Good News, that the harvest was plentiful but the workers few. In the gospel of John, Christ is quoted as saying that the harvest is 'white' perhaps like manna. Also that the disciples would be able to harvest where they didn't plant. Unnamed others have already planted the 'good seed' and the disciples just need to gather the manna. Manna was provided by God, through His Holy Spirit; He made the provision and we are asked to just harvest.

After His resurrection, and ascension into heaven, His disciples are gathered in Jerusalem again for the Festival of the Harvest. As promised the Holy Spirit comes to them, empowered them to speak in the languages of the pilgrimage people also gathered in Jerusalem. Those people thought they're drunk but Peter gave an impassioned call to repentance citing the prophet Joel and others. That day, among the pilgrims, three thousand people were baptized and joined the 'church' and began learning what it means to follow Christ. This was a clear sign that God had indeed prepared the harvest and the disciples just had to be faithful and gather the manna.

Two weeks after the appearance of the manna, one week after the date of the Festival of the Harvest, Moses climbs Mount Sinai for the first time to receive instructions from the Lord. Likewise, the believers assembled each day to hear the Good News of the Lord ('the teaching of the apostles') and to have fellowship, to share meals and pray for one another. No longer would they need Moses to clamber over rocks, crevices and bushes to have a conversation with the Lord and come back and report what He said; they merely need to pray and the Holy Spirit was there to intercede for them and they could hear directly from the Lord. They were 'climbing Mount Sinai' themselves to commune with God, and they were doing it together.

When they gathered daily to celebrate new life in Christ, they shared, not just meals, but also means in that they also sold things to provide for those in need--like the widows and orphans. With the coming of the Holy Spirit to live within His people, the celebration was not just annually during the Festival of Weeks. It was daily.

How about you? Are you celebrating with others daily for all the Lord has provided?

Led by the Spirit But Not Listening to the Spirit?

In a recent discussion about the Holy Spirit, a true unsung Hero, I recalled a little discussed passage from the book of Acts, chapter 20:

"And now, compelled by the spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me--the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace."

I italicized 'spirit' in the first sentence because most translations capitalize it as if it's the Holy Spirit. However the word is 'pneuma' which can also refer to the human spirit. And it's different in the next sentence when the word 'holy' is added a descriptor of that spirit (Spirit).

I believe a good reading of this passage is that Paul is passionate and self-compelled to go to Jerusalem. Otherwise we'd have a contradiction in chapter 21 (see below). Either way, Paul is traveling...and trying to listen to the Holy Spirit.

Paul writes a lot about the importance of submitting to the Lordship of Christ, being led by the Holy Spirit, listening to the Holy Spirit. He seems to be a good role model of this as we understand his missionary career. Can you imagine being a first century career counselor to Paul? "Paul," you might say, "you've been beaten, stoned, jailed, shipwrecked, kicked out of cities, criticized by peers...Have you thought about just sticking with the tent-making business?" And in this instance of feeling the need to go to Jerusalem, the Holy Spirit may not leading him there. This becomes clear later on as we learn:

• in Tyre, fellow believers 'through the spirit or Spirit' urged him not to go
• in Caesarea, fellow believers told Paul that 'the Holy Spirit' (note the distinction) says Paul will be captured and turned over to Roman authorities (something Paul already guessed as shown in the quoted passage above)

Not only does it seem that the Holy Spirit may not be leading him there but it doesn't seem to be mission-successful. The elders in Jerusalem greet him warmly and are enthusiastic about what's happening through Paul's church-planting activities...but there's this criticism that Paul has been telling the Jews they don't need to follow the ceremonial laws of the Hebrew Scriptures, like circumcision. This is similar to the issue of Gentiles needing to be circumcised before becoming a follower of Christ (i.e. becoming a Jew before becoming a Christian) confronted five chapters ago in an earlier visit to Jerusalem, in which Paul defended the position that they don't need to be circumcised. On this last visit to Jerusalem, Paul seems to capitulate that the Jews should continue to be circumcised, among other things, and remain faithful to the ceremonial laws even while following the Christian 'way'...and is ordered or asked to accompany four men participating in purification rites and ordered or asked to pay their head-shaving expenses. So, Paul, you may argue that followers of Christ don't need to pay attention to those things in the Hebrew Scriptures, but you must publicly show that you think they do and you should pay some money too. A week later, Paul is accused of violating the Temple by allowing a Gentile to enter, arrested by the Romans and bound with double-chains (just as the Holy Spirit warned) and mis-identified perhaps as an Egyptian terrorist leader. "Boy oh boy," Paul must be thinking, "the whole city knows who I am as a leader of this Christ-following movement but this guy thinks I'm a terrorist..."

Here the story starts to turn around somewhat as Paul gets back to his mission of testifying. He gets to preach to the crowd, to the Jewish leaders (Sanhedrin council). Even though he remains in jail for over two years, he gets to preach to multiple Roman governors and a Jewish king and is sent to Rome to appear in Caesar's court. In preparation for or presentation in Caesar's court, it is speculated that Luke wrote the two accounts (his eponymous gospel and the Acts of the Apostles) for Theophilus. Therefore, all of church has benefited for several millennia from these accounts recorded because Paul ignored the Holy Spirit or perhaps just the spirit of the believers in Tyre.

We can all take heart that even if we fail to listen to the Holy Spirit, though trying to be led by the Spirit, God makes things work out well for those who believe in Him and creates ways for us to get back on the right path, as many scriptures passage say. In particular, it says, "...He will show you a way out so you can endure." (1 Corinthians 10.13)

More Honored, More Protected, More Hidden

This is another example of still being surprised by scripture even with decades of reading and studying the Bible:

I was reading 1 Corinthians 12 regarding another subject, but a few verses surprised me. Paul is writing about the church and using the human body as an analogy. He discusses how the body has different parts, just as the church is gifted with many talents, knowledge and experiences. Not every member needs to have the same talents; in fact, it wouldn’t survive if the organization only could do one thing. And then he says:

Construction work hidden by facsimile at Stephansdom cathedral, Vienna

And the parts we regard as less honorable are those we clothe with the greatest care. So we carefully protect those parts that should not be seen, 24while the more honorable parts do not require this special care. So God has put the body together such that extra honor and care are given to those parts that have less dignity. 25This makes for harmony among the members, so that all the members care for each other. 26If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it, and if one part is honored, all the parts are glad.

What parts of the church has less honor (but should be given more), should be protected more, should be hidden?
What parts of the church actually are given more honor, are protected more and are more visible?
How have we gotten this backwards in our modern church?

I sometimes challenge church leaders to recognize that we often put successful (i.e. wealthy) business people on our church boards...because we believe they have the favor of God?...even though scripture tells us that rich people have little faith while poor people have much faith. Perhaps we should elevate and honor the poorer people in our congregations. They’re often hidden and they’re suffering. If we honor them, wouldn’t the whole body benefit?

But I still wonder what parts of the church should still be hidden and well-protected. I can’t think of one aspect of the modern church where this is true. So what are we missing from our communal life that the first century church understood?