Unity in the Early Church and Now: The Power of Presence (Post #3)
Uhhh… What Unity?
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last 10 years, you know that today’s society isn’t very unified. In fact, it’s often easier to find something we disagree about than something we have in common. Wandering through a conversation can feel more like tip-toing through an active minefield with so many volatile issues just waiting to explode in your face. Abortion, immigration, gender and sexuality, and the upcoming election - it’s enough to make you want to live under a rock (if you don’t already). Maybe that’s why the unity of the early church in Acts chapter two is so special. It’s completely opposite of the discord and division we experience today.
So how did the early church reach and keep this uncommon unity? I’ve written about some of the most obvious factors, including…
Their perspective that studying and obeying Scripture was of utmost importance (check it out HERE)
Their careful stewardship of resources and selfless service of one another (check it out HERE)
Now let’s focus on the priority they placed on physical presence within the community of believers.
Let’s Get Together Just Text Me
I won’t lie: I hate talking on the phone. I’d much rather email (old school, I know, but hey! I’m a writer!) or text, mostly because this form of communicating can be done within my own timeframe and in my chosen context. But actually taking the time to meet with someone face to face and hang out in the same airspace? Yeah, it can be super inconvenient in terms of scheduling, but MAN is it rewarding. There’s just something so basic yet profound about being physically present with someone. I recently traveled to spend a weekend in Birmingham with my best friend and college roommate. Since we live in different states and both have families and busy work schedules (and both dislike talking on the phone), we don’t talk near as often as either of us would like. But when we get together in the same place at the same time (which only happens about once a year, maybe twice if we’re lucky), it’s pure bliss. This recent weekend together, we literally only left her house two times: once for lunch and once for dinner. All other minutes of the weekend were spent sipping coffee and sitting on her couch talking. It was more refreshing than I can describe.
Being physically present with loved ones in our lives is important, but it’s something we’re neglecting more and more. We settle for calls, texts, or Zoom meetings. Even when we are physically present with someone in the same room, we’re often not emotionally or mentally present because we’re on our phones. (Ouch. I’m stepping on my own toes.) I don’t know about you, but the fast pace of my busy life frequently makes me feel like meeting someone face to face to talk is a luxury my schedule won’t allow. It’s true that technology is a gift that makes communication much more convenient, but on the other hand, technology can also give us an “out,” allowing us to do what’s easy instead of what’s best.
Presence in the Early Church
You can’t read Acts two without noticing how much these early believers hung out. They got together to study and celebrate (v. 42). “All the believers were together” (v. 44), and “every day they continued to meet together” (v.46) See that? They actually met together “in their homes and ate together” (v. 46). They didn’t stream Bible Study on YouTube or pray over Zoom. They didn’t do prayer requests or accountability time over group text. They actually met together, face to face, in one another’s homes. I’ll admit it may have been easier for them because they didn’t have the options technology offers us today, but taking the time to gather together daily was still inconvenient for them. They still had to make time in their schedules and work around work.
They still had to answer questions like:
What’s the best time for everybody to meet?
Where are we meeting?
Who’s bringing the food?
What are we going to do with the kids?
Meeting and being together still wasn’t easy, but it was obviously a priority for the early church. It’s mentioned four times in just these five verses, so we can see how important it was for them, and still is today!
Coffee and friends: both are blessings from God.
The Power of Presence
To see the priority God places on presence, just look at how He chose to rescue us! He sent Jesus to live among us. John 1:14 says, “The Word became flesh and moved into our neighborhood” (the Message translation). For hundreds of years, God sent prophets with His message, but God’s final, most powerful move was to come to Earth Himself. That’s how important physical presence is to God. This eternal, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent God who exists outside of time and space limited Himself and came down to be with us. To walk with us, sit with us, eat with us, and share the same airspace. He chose to be with us. And when it was time for Jesus to leave Earth and return to Heaven, He made sure to leave us the Holy Spirit, who would never leave or forsake us. Presence matters to God. And it should matter to us.
Presence is Important
Being physically present with someone else is powerful. It proclaims to that person, “you are important to me. You are worth every bit of time and travel it took for me to come be with you.” God says this to us through Jesus, and He calls us to love others in the same way - by being present with them.
Although life’s demands make it impossible to be present with everyone every time we’d like to be, we can still be intentional about scheduling and showing up for time with others. Especially other believers. The writer of Hebrews reminds Christians of this:
“Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another” (Heb 10:23-25).
In order to “hold unswervingly” to God and His gospel, in order to continually remember and rely on God’s faithfulness, in order to encourage and inspire each other, we need to meet together. In these three verses, the writer of Hebrews makes it clear that the health of our individual, private faith lives is closely linked to our investment in the faith community’s unity and health. Meeting together is not something we can skip or “give up.” It’s vital, for individuals and for the group. Think about it: nowhere in the New Testament do we see an isolated believer walking out his faith alone, apart from a body of fellow believers. It’s just not there! Isolated Christianity is not a thing.
The Benefits of Presence
When the early church gathered together, it helped them in innumerable ways.
They bonded and built friendships as they shared meals and worshiped together.
They practiced loving each other like Jesus when they opened their homes and shared their resources.
They learned from each other as they read and discussed Scripture and heard the apostles’ teaching.
They encouraged each other and held each other accountable as they put their faith into practice in their daily lives.
They became bolder in their faith because they were surrounded by others who were moving in the same direction for the same reasons.
They were unified in their practices because they were unified in their purpose. And they maintained this unity by meeting together regularly.
The benefits of consistently meeting together with other believers, the value of our physical presence in our faith community, cannot be overstated.
Practicing Presence
I’ve heard the story of D.L. Moody visiting a man in his Chicago home on a cold winter day. As Moody discussed the importance of attending weekly services and Bible Study, the man made excuses for his absence, saying “I feel I can be just as good a Christian by myself as I can be with a group of other people.” Moody said nothing but silently leaned forward from his chair by the roaring fire and separated out a single lump of burning coal. Within seconds, the hot orange piece of coal visibly lost its warm glow and its embers cooled. Without looking up, Moody smiled as the man said, “Ahh. I see.”
The fire contributes to the warmth of the coal, and the coal contributes to the warmth of the fire.
We need the body of believers, and the body of believers needs us.
Our faith should definitely be personal, but it was never meant to be private.
We must practice presence. The early church seemed to get it and do it. Do we?
