The (post) Easter season features readings from the book of Acts, giving us insights to the new community forming after Jesus. Sweep away any notions of what you think the church is and start from scratch. Acts 4 deals with possessions as a community while 1 John deals with sin and the community.
Of course, Jesus didn't set out to form a new religion; his mission was to reform Judaism, but on a different model than John the Baptist, another Jewish reformer. What teachings and learnings did the disciples-now-apostles bring into their beginning movement?
One of Jesus' key teachings had to do with wealth and possessions. In Acts, we hear a unique story about the community of shared goods - communists! Okay, communalists. What was the teaching that the community of believers in Jesus the Messiah put into practice and why?
In 1 John, (not exactly a letter but more like a teaching or a sermon) we hear language akin to the imagery of the Gospel of John. Perhaps they originated in the same community. Composed in the late 1st century, some things were getting clarified, but there was still a lot to sort out.
We can infer one of the issues being addressed in 1 John from the response, e.g by flipping the response to form the original questions or issue. New life in Christ and forgiveness of sins may be completely understandable to us. But given human capacity to send things in the wrong direction, that seems to be the case here. Correction was needed! Find out what was at issue in the sermon video below, noting the downloads below the video panel.
Of course, Jesus didn't set out to form a new religion; his mission was to reform Judaism, but on a different model than John the Baptist, another Jewish reformer. What teachings and learnings did the disciples-now-apostles bring into their beginning movement?
One of Jesus' key teachings had to do with wealth and possessions. In Acts, we hear a unique story about the community of shared goods - communists! Okay, communalists. What was the teaching that the community of believers in Jesus the Messiah put into practice and why?
In 1 John, (not exactly a letter but more like a teaching or a sermon) we hear language akin to the imagery of the Gospel of John. Perhaps they originated in the same community. Composed in the late 1st century, some things were getting clarified, but there was still a lot to sort out.
We can infer one of the issues being addressed in 1 John from the response, e.g by flipping the response to form the original questions or issue. New life in Christ and forgiveness of sins may be completely understandable to us. But given human capacity to send things in the wrong direction, that seems to be the case here. Correction was needed! Find out what was at issue in the sermon video below, noting the downloads below the video panel.
| 04-08-18-ff-answers.pdf |
| 04-08-18-the_new_community-new_identity.pdf |