Aliens will shepherd your flocks; foreigners will work your fields and vineyards. Isaiah 61:5
To the believers in Ephesus, Paul wrote “You were then without Christ, you were utter strangers to God’s chosen community, Israel, and you had no knowledge of or right to the promised agreements. You had nothing to look forward to and no God to whom you could turn. But now in Christ Jesus, you who were once far off are brought near through the shedding of Christ’s blood…So you are no longer outsiders or aliens, but fellow citizens with every other Christian - you belong now to the household of God.” Ephesians 2:11-13,19
It was Isaiah who prophesied the change that would take place when the church was born at Pentecost. Rather than a protected race whose purpose was to bring the Messiah into the world, the church was to be Ekklesia – The Called Out, charged with the mission of redemption. “I am the Good Shepherd,” Jesus said. “Will the shepherd not go out into the darkness to rescue the sheep that was lost?” As the arm of the Lord, the Church was created to spread the message of the love of God and salvation through His Son, “to the Jew first, but also to the Greek.” Led by Peter’s baptism of the family of Cornelius and Paul’s evangelism in the churches in Asia, the realization of Isaiah’s prophesy was manifest in the early church where gentiles were included in the body of Christ.
But change did not come easily. Many of the prejudices against the gentiles were based on God-given restrictions existing to create a purified race for the birth of the Messiah. Circumcision, eating
restrictions, and observance of the Sabbath had little place in the new body of believers. Jesus had identified the commandments that were to form the basis of the church. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul and all your mind. And the second is like it. Love your neighbor as yourself. All the law,” Jesus continued ,” is based on these two commandments.” In the letters to the early church contained in the New Testament, these two commandments are the underlying premise of behavior and belief. Love of God is manifest in treatment of others – for those already in the fold and those still on the hillside. The Church was to be a place of community.
Community has been defined as a fellowship with others as a result of shared common characteristics. While this description could be applied to the early church, it falls far short of the commonality that identifies Christ- believers. Ours is the acceptance of the commission of evangelism and the repulsion of worldly passions. It is teaching the Word and the devotion to worship. It is prayer. It is giving. But it is nothing if it is not fueled by love – love of God, love of others, based on the acceptance of the Sonship of Christ.
In his three letters included in the New Testament, John writes to help the new believers understand the indwelling of God. God is Life, God is Light, but most importantly, God is love. As those belonging to God, he explained, our love must not be a theory or empty words. It must be put into active practice. (First John 3:18) The early Christians understood. They accepted the responsibility of others, often selling their own possessions to provide for those in need. The urgency of Christ’s return defined their actions. It was said, “Behold how they love one another.”
Over the years, the church evolved and divided. Separated by ideologies proposed by men, the tenets established in the early church were questioned, resulting in modification or even elimination. The brotherhood of saints was shattered by denominations, sects and personal opinion. And yet the Church created at Pentecost still is. The importance of love described by Christ will ever be the basis of His Church. Together, we must “tend the fields and vineyards,” strengthening the new believer and encouraging the weak, training our children to become this generation’s “early church.” In the midst of confusion, suspicion and hatred which is our reality, the church must still love as Christ taught.