[AI translation] There has been much talk among us lately about the ministry of the church, of the congregation, in this world, for this world. The people of God are to be a blessing to their environment, to serve God's will by their existence and witness, so that all people may be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. But for the church to fulfil this ministry, it must truly become the church of Christ. As we spoke about last Sunday, it must live the unity of Christ in the flesh, the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. This is served, among other things, by the great inter-denominational collaboration called the ecumenical movement. It is in this spirit that the great ecumenical week of prayer is now taking place throughout the world, in which our congregation is also involved, together with the evangelical congregation - but now, to go even further: in order for the Church to fulfil its mission in the world for the world, the individual congregations must become, within their own framework, as fully as possible, a living congregation, a people of Christ. So today I want to talk about the inner life of the church. And the best example of this is the life of the early church in Jerusalem, as we have seen in the Word we have read. Here an eyewitness tells us how the church lived at home, inwardly! And what impact this intimate congregation had on the outside world! We will now try to look at this more closely.Here is the most important data, what we read in our Word: "And they were busy in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and in the prayers of the Lord." (Acts 2:42) Let me point out that the newer Hungarian translations render this word "were busily engaged" as: persevered, persevered, persevered in spite of all obstacles. So, what is expressed in this short account is that the members of the early church had to overcome many external and internal obstacles in order to engage in the apostles' teaching, to participate in the church fellowship, to continue the ministry of prayers and to break bread - but they did not give up the struggle, they persevered in these things, they did not let anything distract them from these things and actions. So they were persevering, they were regularly engaged in the apostles' doctrine, in the teaching: in all that the apostles, the witnesses, told us of the life and teaching of Jesus Christ, as we have it available to us in the prophetic and apostolic testimony that reveals to us in the Scriptures the acts of God revealed in Jesus Christ.
Then they persevered steadfastly in the fellowship, that is, in the fellowship, the fellowship of life, worked by the Holy Spirit, in which they knew themselves to be one, felt themselves to be one, with the Head of the church, Christ, and with all the other members among themselves. Their faith relationship with Christ brought them into a living community of love with one another. Their common memory, their common promise, their common faith in Christ, created a relationship between them that spanned and defined their whole lives. They also persevered in the breaking of the bread, that is, in the repetition of the Lord's Supper. In the act, therefore, their sacramental communion with the risen Lord and their fraternal table fell into a wonderful unity. And finally, they persevered in their prayers of supplication, that is, in the daily communal exercise of the ministry of prayers, supplications and thanksgivings. In other words, in today's language, it was a living congregation of a handful of small believers, each of whom was glad to belong to the family of God's redeemed children, who persevered with one will in all the manifestations of the worshipping community and the fellowship of love of the congregation.
And it was precisely because of this that they dared to take seriously the special teaching of the apostles, the reality of the communion of love, the mystery of the Lord's Supper and the power of prayers: it was for this reason that what is recorded happened: 'And fear came upon every soul, and the apostles did many wonders and signs.' (Acts 2:43) For when a church perseveres so steadfastly in the study of the Word, in the practice of brotherly fellowship, in the Lord's Supper, and in prayer, when it struggles hard to persevere in these things, there is fear in every soul that sees that church. For in the life of such a congregation it becomes visible that God is alive and at work, that miracles and signs are wrought. The sick are healed, the weary are renewed, the sorrowful are comforted. There is a transformation of life such as we see in the Sermon on the Mount! Here, for example, "And all they that believed were together, and all things were common: and they sold their cattle and their herds, and distributed them to every man according as every man had need." (Acts 2,44-45) So a form of spiritual and material care for one another is being put into practice which is almost incomprehensible to common sense. And the result of all this is what the correspondent describes as follows. And the Lord multiplied the congregation every day with those who were brought." (Acts 2:47) They were looked up to and regarded with great respect and appreciation by outsiders and the world. They sensed that there was something strange and inexplicable about this church life.
So, in order for a congregation to be able to express its blessing outwards, to its surroundings, it is necessary for it to be a congregation within! Today, too, the true congregation is one in which "awe arises in every soul", in which the holy shudder of God's real presence is replaced by a dull, boring and familiar atmosphere, in which signs and wonders are constantly happening, in which its members find favour with the whole people because of the liberated, serene way of life. Can this happen to a congregation today? Yes, if God pours out His Holy Spirit upon it! And this fullness of the Holy Spirit will certainly happen to a church that perseveres in the apostles' teaching, in fellowship, in communion and in prayer. Herein lies the power of the church, and hence the impact of the church on the world!
Perseverance in the apostles' doctrine is therefore paramount. It is not only the regular practice of listening to the word in worship and Bible study, but perhaps even more so the study of the word as an individual and as a family. To the extent that our congregation is being renewed, to the extent that its members, you, all of us, are becoming Bible people. Let's not have our Bibles like I heard somewhere the other day when a pastor asked a little girl if she knew what was in the Bible? To which the little girl replied: Oh, yes, I know exactly: my little brother's photograph, mommy's face cream recipe, my little brother's hairpin, and the pawn ticket for daddy's watch. There are lots of places like that in the family Bible. And yet the Bible is not just for keeping old letters, pressed flowers and memories - like in a desk folder - but for receiving God's guidance, advice, help and strength day by day. Anyone who does not try to order his daily life as much as possible under the discipline and power of the divine Word of God as revealed in the Bible is, in essence, living without God. Just as in Jesus Christ the Word of God took on real human flesh, so the written word and the printed letter of the Holy Scriptures took on flesh. It is through the Bible that the invisible God becomes for us a reality that speaks to us and intervenes in our lives.
We must therefore renew ourselves here, at home too, in persistent, steadfast listening to the divine word revealed in the Bible! And let me tell you that the Holy Spirit of God is already at work in this renewal all over the world! Let us not be left out! In the ecumenical university of the Church, it is now increasingly seen that the renewal of the Church is not possible without personal and communal Bible study, and without passionate and unceasing Bible study. Increasingly, churches are feeling the need to listen seriously to what the prophets and apostles preach about the Word of Life. The fact that new, modern Bible translations are now being produced in almost every language, and that there is already a new, modern Bible translation of the New Testament in Hungarian, not only by the churches of the Reformation, but also by the Roman Catholic Church, is testimony to this. God feeds His Church with His Word - let us just live it!
Second, our Word mentions the practice of communion. You may recall that last Sunday I shared the testimony of a witness who sat through the opening worship of the Evanston Assembly a year and a half ago, the moving feeling of being surrounded by people of all colours and looks, all speaking the Lord's Prayer and the Creed in their own language at the same time. To his right was someone speaking in English, to his left the deep voice of a Negro, in front of him in French and Hungarian, behind him in Italian and Japanese. Something like triumphant joy came over one's heart that, in spite of all that is going on in a world torn apart, there is one faith, one baptism, one God, Father of all, and one Jesus Christ, the hope of the world! But why does not the same triumphant joy fill our hearts when we worship our Lord in the same church, in the same language, in this very place, in this very congregation? Shouldn't we experience the same family communion even more powerfully, even more concretely, in the same church?! For a common faith, a common prayer, a common table, a common Lord, is a unifying force like no other in the world! It is not just a passing acquaintance, but a spiritual bond that is even more real and stronger than blood! Where can we expect understanding, help, consolation, spiritual and material support, if not here in the church, among one another - among those who are united by "one Lord, one baptism and one faith"? To be cut off, to be left behind in the community of the church, is like taking a small piece of the big pile of embers and putting it aside: the fire goes out while the rest is still burning!
So, for the church to fulfil its mission in this world, for this world, you too must persevere in the smaller or larger community of the big family of the church! And in the ever-renewing communion, says the Word! In the mystical act of proclaiming the Lord's death until He comes again! Yes: it is by our spiritual participation in the Lord's Supper that we are joined and strengthened anew in the circuit that is stretched between Christ's death and his return! The light bulb also goes on when the two conductors of electricity, the positive and the negative, come into contact. Our lives also shine, illuminate, serve truly when they are in faith contact with these two poles of the energy of the Kingdom of God: the death of Christ and the return of Christ. Communion is not only an exercise in piety, but a continual refilling with that heavenly tension by the power of which we can live as Christians in the world outside!
And, finally, to persevere steadfastly in communal and private prayer! On New Year's Day, God warned us in His Word to keep praying. Three weeks have passed since then, now examine for yourself: what has been achieved in your prayer practice of regular, concentrated, special prayers and supplications for the world, for the peace of humanity, for the needy, for the sick, for the unity of the Church of Christ, for all people?! Yet only the church that perseveres in the service of prayer will be a blessing to the world!
So what is our first contribution to the Church of Christ's mission in this world? It is that we all persevere steadfastly, persistently in the apostles' teaching and in the ministry of corporate and individual prayer. Wherever this is done, miracles and signs are still happening, human lives are still undergoing miraculous and unhoped-for blessings, and blessings are still radiating from there to all human coexistence. The renewal of the inner life of a congregation always has blessed practical consequences for the outside world! Indeed, only the life of a church that is renewed inwardly has blessed effects outwardly! For in such a congregation the living Lord himself is present, Jesus Christ himself is at work! A congregation that truly feeds on the Word, truly practices fraternal fellowship, truly participates in the mystery of Holy Communion and truly carries out the ministry of prayers: by its very existence it proclaims that Jesus Christ is the way, the truth and the life for the whole world!
Amen.
Date: 22 January 1956.
Lesson
ApCsel 2,42-47