Orthodoxy and orthopraxy.
Orthodoxy and orthopraxy.
Orthodoxy and orthopraxy. Doctrine and practice.
What we believe determines how we live. After recently walking through the book of Acts during our Discipleship Intensive, I have been meditating on the unity of the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles. At the end of Luke, chapter 24, Jesus opens the minds of the disciples to understand the Scriptures as pointing to himself. Then Acts 1 opens with Jesus giving his disciples the power of his Spirit to proclaim the truth of Jesus according to the Scriptures. Truth proclaimed. The reality of the risen Jesus unifies the Word from creation to present and launches a radically re-oriented lifestyle. This is the background to Acts 2:42-47 and 4:32-35.
Those who hear the gospel of Jesus Christ and believe are baptized, then they start living a community life that many have praised, but few have experienced. A short list describes the devotion of the believers:
They were devoted to the apostles' teaching, to fellowship, to breaking bread, and prayers. They were together, sharing, and selling what they had to give to the needy. They gathered in the temple for worship and in homes for meals. Their demeanor was one of joy and gladness as they generously gave, praising God and enjoying favor with all the people.
As the lifestyle of the church is described, the truth of Jesus Christ proclaimed rests at the center.
On Sunday, we looked at how the gospel of Jesus Christ shows us how we are to love one another within the body of the local church. The apostle John (who is among the apostles during Acts 2 and 4) describes this lifestyle as indicative of those who have passed from death to life (1 John 3:14). It is an actual, visible practice modeled after Jesus who laid his life down for us. The church where Jesus is preached as the good news of the whole of Scripture should, therefore, embody a life-laying-down way of living. How might RIC grow to look more and more like this?
How does the truth of Jesus inform your love toward your fellow church members?
When you read Acts 2:42-47, how does the gospel according to the Scriptures compel you toward actions like those described?
In what ways do these passages encourage you to be more generous?
Where do you need to grow? In devotion to the teaching? In devotion to others in prayer, worship, meals, service?
May the Word of God dwell richly in us and may his Spirit fill us to live according to the truth of Jesus Christ,
Loren
