A LESSON FROM THE EARLY CHRISTIANS: Trust in the Words of God and Less in the Words of Man The

early Church started with many disheartened followers of Christ. They had followed a man from all appearances, just like them. Yet, he also displayed an authority and power claimed to be of God that allowed him to overcome sickness, hunger, thirst, and death. When they concluded he must be the Messiah, all hell seemed to come upon him. What they witnessed next was a man receiving a wicked chastisement and punishment that ultimately claims his life, seemingly brought on by his words and works. In the pagans eyes and their own Jewish religion, Jesus Christ lived and died as a criminal and heretic. However, they remembered his claims of being the Son of God and something about coming back and sure enough, Jesus did come back as He had promised. Some witnessed His return on more than one occasion. Some even talked with Him and dined with Him. With a renewed hope and comfort they barely had time to rejoice when faced with similar hollow words as before, he must leave them, and all He could do was tell them to sit and pray until the Holy Ghost comes. It was as if the kingdom of God slipped through their hands and they just knew it was time to establish, Heaven on Earth, this of course reflecting the Jewish idea of , "The Kingdom of God." 1 Surely, this Jesus was the Messiah but how had they misunderstood the scriptures about his coming? The early followers of Christ (those who had forsaken all and were striving to be with Jesus daily) walked a roller-coaster path with doubt, trust, fear, boldness, weakness, strength, ignorance, enlightened knowledge, confusion, clarity, strife, peace, stress, calmness, depression, and hope. Now at what seemed the end of a great hope, they were to simply, wait.

Jr. J. Julius Scott, Jewish Backgrounds of the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 1995), 302.

This paper shows how from a human viewpoint it is easy to develop a sympathizing view of the early followers of Christ. Much like the sensationalizing of news today, it is easy to put everything into a human perspective and bypass God. You probably thought there was agreement between you and I toward the poor and confused early Christians situation. Socialistic ideology is easily adapted into Christian writing and usually accepted by the reader. Although it makes the reader feel like they relate, unfortunately it is more often just a way to distract from the scriptural report God wants us to see. To comprehend the word of God such as in the situation of the early followers of Christ, do we follow our feelings or do we accept the word of God? In retrospect, after all the ups and downs, after giving up everything to follow Jesus, after their deplorable actions of forsaking Jesus, after witnessing the crucifixion, after being lifted up in hope by his return, and after losing him again to simple words of wait, according to the word of God, the real mood and attitude of the people is expressed in Acts 2:1, "they were all with one accord in one place, o (homothymadon). The Greek word is expressive. They were unified in all things with complete and total purpose. They did not have a distracted mind or thought. They were ready and willing. It is important to see this unity as it is the testimony of what can take place when the church is unified in desire and willingness for the great work of the Holy Spirit. The Early church was born in a room with believers in Christ waiting for the comforter as Jesus had promised and instructed. A very thorough description of the Church comes from Nicolas Lossky, "The Church is creatura Christi and creatura Spiritus, created by the redemptive work of Christ the Son of the Father, instituted at Pentecost by the sending of the Holy Spirit who proceeds from the Father and rests in the Son. The Church is thus that

dimension of creation in which human beings are enabled to 'partake of the divine nature'(2 Peter 1:4), which means to be made partakers of Trinitarian life."2 The Christian in America should be careful. Feelings about something can be confusing. Spiritual understanding does not come through the human spirit but through the Holy Spirit. We can learn more from God by trusting in His word and less in our words. The early church was dependent on what Jesus told them. If the Holy Ghost did not come, then Jesus would be a liar and there would be no reason to follow Him. Trust in God and less in the words of man.

Paul Avis, The Christian Church: An Introduction to the Major Traditions (Great Britain: Antony Rowe Ltd, Chippenham, Wiltshire, 2002), 1.