Whatever Happened to the Love Feasts?

Love Feasts you say?  What is that you say?  Would you be surprised to learn that there was a tradition in the first and second century church that we not only no longer observe, but many of us really have no idea what it was or why the early church observed it?   Well, allow me to introduce you to the Love Feast – what we in modern terms might call a Pot Luck Dinner – but one with a real purpose.  In my sermon this past Sunday (Click Here ), I made a passing reference to the Love Feasts as one of, but probably not the best, possible understandings of the meaning of “breaking of bread” in Acts 2:42.  I thought I might tell you a little more about it here and raise the question as to whether it is something we ought to resurrect in the modern church.

We know that when Jesus initiated the Lord’s Supper (or communion or Eucharist as it is often called among some groups), he did so at the end of a meal – the Passover meal, in fact.  We also know that it was a common practice throughout the early church for the Christians to get together and eat as a group.  For example, Acts 2:46 tells us how the early church would get together and eat from house to house.   Although in my sermon this past Sunday I asserted that “breaking of bread” in Acts 2:42 (as well as Acts 2:46) refers mainly to the Lord’s Supper itself and not this Love Feast, the phrase “ate their food with gladness” in verse 46 certainly implies that a full blown meal was a regular part of what the early church was doing together.  I have read (sorry, can’t remember where I read it – perhaps one of my Systematic Theology books) that one possible reason for this was to avoid inadvertently eating meat sacrificed to idols.  However, it is also true that the early church would often have a meal just prior to the observance of the Lord’s Supper.  Most believe that this practice is what is being referred to as the “agape” (i.e., love) feasts of Jude 1:12 and probably even 2 Peter 2:13.

Although very little is known about this practice, we know that it is a practice that resulted in many abuses in the church.  It was the abuses of this practice, in fact, that caused Paul to chastise the church in Corinth in 1 Corinthians 11.  Even the passages in both Jude and 2 Peter allude to the fact that some were abusing and misusing the Love Feasts for their own benefit.  Perhaps because of situations like these, the practice of the Love Feast was originally separated from the observance of the Lord’s Supper.  The prolific first century letter writer, Pliny the Younger, actually wrote a letter once to Emperor Trajan telling him in part about these feasts, which he described as happening separately and after the Christian observance of the Lord’s Supper (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agape_feast).   Several early church patriarchs, such as Ignatius, Turtullian, and Clement, speak of its observance, but even they often refer to the abuses that took place (drunkenness, disorder, etc.).  Augustine actually objected to its observance at all because of the propensity to abuse it.  Supposedly (I have not tried to verify this), the love feast was ultimately forbidden by the Council of Laodicea in 363-364AD.  And so its practice ultimately ceased.  Why did they forbid it?  Because it was being abused and by that time the mediaeval church had begun to place such a central focus on the Eucharist that the Love Feast itself probably lost its original meaning in their worship.

Several attempts to revive the practice have occurred over the years, including current, modified versions of the practice by the Moravian church.  There was even a semblance of a revival of the practice by the Methodist church.  However, the original idea of the Love Feast – at least as I would expect that it should have been observed - is not a widespread practice among Christians today.  But maybe it is something that we as Christians ought to seriously consider and look at once again.

Now let me just say that I have no evidence to back up anything I am about to say other than the application of the scriptures themselves. But consider the following line of thinking.  In Matthew 22, Jesus speaks of the parable of the wedding feast.  Although he is primarily speaking here of bringing people into the knowledge of salvation, the picture and idea of the Wedding Feast cannot be ignored.  Can the idea of a Wedding Feast be a metaphor for the Agape (Love) Feast?  Maybe or maybe not, but what is clear is the fact that in the parable, the servants (who represent you and me) are told to go out to the highways and byways and bring in those we find.   In the same version of that parable in Luke 14, Jesus follows up by saying in verse 13 “But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind.”  How many of us have thrown feasts where we have specifically invited the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind? I dare say not many of us.  Why not?  Aren’t we in the business of obeying Christ’s commands?   What better way to “Love your neighbor as yourself” than to throw such a “love feast” as that? 

I would be surprised if the early church of the first and second century did not specifically include the poor and needy in their Love Feast celebrations. In fact, when I read 1 Corinthians 11:21-22 I am sure of it:  “21 For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal. One goes hungry, another gets drunk. 22 What! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing?”  It sounds like there were those at the feast who were less fortunate than others - but they were being shunned and ignored.

Finally, there is the fact that originally, the Love Feast was done as a precursor to the observance of the Lord’s Supper.  When you consider how partaking of the Lord’s Supper is a testimony of our faith in Christ and a picture of his death for our sins, what better evangelistic tool would there be than to invite the lost to come to a dinner (thus showing them Christ-like love) and then testifying to that love through the observance of the Lord’s Supper?

So what am I suggesting here?  I don’t know whether I am suggesting anything at all.  However, I am contemplating and offering for consideration the possibility that there is something here that we should think about.  Sure I love eating like the next guy and we are probably just as prone to abusing the notion of the Love Feast as was the early church.  But what a wonderful testimony and display of Christian love would it be for us to set aside a regular time to just throw a big love feast – invite the public – that is, anyone that will come – feed them a good potluck dinner – have a short evangelistic message – and then celebrate with the observance of the Lord’s Supper.

What do you think?  Am I totally out of line here?  I would love your thoughts.

"Christian Fellowship" - A Response to My FaceBook Poll

Last week I did an unofficial and very unscientific research poll to get a feel for what people in my sphere of influence general thought about Christian Fellowship. I asked my FaceBook friends to finish this sentence: “Christian Fellowship is ____________.” I only received around 22 or 23 good responses, which is not very much, but I did get some very interesting results that I think are generally representative. There were also a number of “likes” on some of the comments, so perhaps that was other people “voting” for their favorite definition. Of course I did get one or two obligatory sarcastic responses (Honestly, I would have been disappointed if they had not made an appearance), but for the most part people responded generally with their first impressions of what they thought about Christian Fellowship.

The single most common theme throughout the responses was the idea that Christian Fellowship is showing Christ-like love I find that to be a very predictable and very interesting theme, especially since the second of the two greatest commandments is to love your neighbor as yourself. In no way would I suggest that loving one another is not part of being in Christian Fellowship. I think all of those comments were spot on from the perspective that if we cannot demonstrate Christ-like love towards one another, we can never be in Christian Fellowship. However, as I pointed out in my sermon on this topic yesterday (if you were not at Pawnee Baptist Church, you can hear the sermon at: https://app.box.com/s/kutqo8omf0jiztluvru1nahi95fxuo15 - please feel free to download), Christian Fellowship is more than just showing love for one another, it is about working together in unity for the cause of Christ. My own personal definition of Christian Fellowship, as put forth and explained in that sermon, is:

The BODY of Christ working in the UNITY of Christ to accomplish the PURPOSES of Christ.

The three key words in that definition are body, unity, and purpose. Our fellowship together is founded on the fact that we are the body of Christ, called by God to be in unity, working together for the service of God to accomplish the mission of the church. Based on this definition, I really have to give props to my friend, Tina Sumpter, who probably came the closest to my definition with this response:

“As members of His Body we need one another. Through our fellowship we encourage, edify, build up, strengthen, teach, sharpen, and spur one another on as we serve Him and His purposes.”

Nice job, Tina, that hits it squarely on target. With that said, I do have to say that a number of comments did hit on the idea of building up the church and serving one another, so acknowledgement for all of those is appropriate as well.

Perhaps one of the most interesting comments, however, speaks directly to a point that I was reserving specifically for the blog. In case you haven’t picked up on it yet, lately I have been posting blogs that specifically supplement my sermons, usually putting a slightly different twist on the sermon topic. One of the comments to my Facebook posts sets up that point well. Greta Thompson said:

Christian fellowship is “vital to living an obedient, healthy Christian life. It is both necessary [sic] and it is commanded. Lots of "one anothers" involved here, Love "one another", pray for "one another", encourage "one another", serve "one another", ect. ect. [sic] can't have an "one another" if you are alone.”

This is absolutely correct and I doubt I could say it any better. It seems like in today’s self-sufficient culture, we have bled the idea of self-sufficiency over into the church where it was never intended to exist. We have been called to live out our Christian lives in community, not in isolation. There are people out there today who are so offended at the idea of “corporate religion” that they are willing to turn their backs on this all-too important issue of Christian Fellowship.

I will be the very first to admit that too much “religion” has crept into the church. I am on board with the notion that “Christianity is a relationship, not a religion.” Unfortunately, that concept leads people down a path that suggests their relationship with God is all that matters. That is FALSE DOCTRINE. Christianity is just as much a matter of our relationship with the body of Christ (a.k.a., each other) as it is our relationship with Christ himself. Jesus called us to be a part of a community of the whole; he did not call us to be part of a community of one. Greta Thomson is spot on when she speaks of all the “one anothers” in scripture. There is no way that we can work together in unity to accomplish the purposes of Christ when we are all by ourselves. We need each other.  1 Peter 2:9 says:

“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”

This verse is full to the brim with plural references. You is plural in the Greek. Race is plural (or implies plurality). Priesthood also implies plurality - as does nation. People is definitely plural. We are to be a plural people – meaning that we are to be together.

Sure, there are many things wrong in the church. No one is questioning that at all - and certainly not me. The church is not perfect because people are not perfect. We haven’t been called to be perfect – well, maybe we have been called to be perfect (Matthew 5:48) – but we will never achieve perfection until Christ returns and we are all glorified. That means churches will be full of imperfect people and our “religion” is going to be messy. We just have to get over that and forgive one another of our shortcomings. After all, Jesus said that if we don’t forgive one another, the heavenly father will not forgive us.

If you don’t think you need the church, then first of all you don’t understand your own weaknesses. But more importantly, you don’t understand the doctrine of the church and why Christ called us out of darkness into his marvelous light. He did so in order that we might be one people, unified in purpose, working together to accomplish the mission of the church.  Why aren't you in church on Sunday?  Don't blame the people that are there.  Don't blame the institution.  Just remember you have been called to be part of the whole. Get back in church where you belong and contribute to make the church a better community.

Will I see you this Sunday?

How Important Is God's Word to You?

There was a time in my life when I could not say with honesty that God’s word had its proper priority in my life. Of course I was living in disobedience to God’s calling on my life, so not having my priorities straight was probably the least of my worries. Even during that time of disobedience, though, I would never have denied the importance of God’s word in the life of a believer.

Claiming that God’s word is important and actually giving it priority in one’s life, however, are two entirely different prospects. Knowing what to do is one thing. Actually caring enough to take the time and do it is a whole other matter. Most Christians would never suggest that God’s word has no meaning or no importance in their spiritual walk. Many would even go so far as to say that they place a priority on his word. The question is… do they really mean it?

According to a 2013 survey by the American Bible Society, more than half of all Americans think the Bible should have a greater influence in our society, but only about one in five read it regularly (Source: http://www.religionnews.com/2013/04/04/poll-americans-love-the-bible-but-dont-read-it-much/). Frankly, I wonder whether that one in five statistic is actually accurate, but I guess it all depends on how you define “regularly.” That same source said that 61 percent of people who owned Bibles wished they read it more and 57 percent read their bibles 4 times per year or less.

What concerns me most about our current Christian culture is the influx of quick-hit scripture we are bombarded with regularly on social media. We can tweet it, post it, share it, gram it, and put it in a meme. We can get in from a subscription to a daily email or even receive in through daily texts. To those who have that itching in the back of their brain telling them that they need to be in God’s word, this flood of scripture can be cathartic. We think that reading a stand-alone verse here or there is better than not reading anything at all - and maybe it is.

On the other hand, while it may feel good to click “like” or “favorite” a good Bible verse that has been posted by one of your friends... and it may feel even better for you to repost the daily verse you got in your inbox and see everyone else "like" it... getting your scripture in 140 character snippets will not result in spiritual growth nor will it truly satisfy that deep longing inside for the truth of God’s word. Instead, it just further promotes an already too shallow Biblical understanding among God’s people.

This is not to say that there is anything wrong with flooding social media with scripture. God knows that Wild West frontier needs as much taming as possible. However, true spiritual growth only comes with deliberate, consistent, and extensive exposure to large blocks of God’s word. Getting a true understanding of God’s word requires seeing it in its proper context. That means when we sit down to study God’s word, we need to take in as much of it as possible in each session. We need to see more than the by-line or tag line. We need to see the story behind the bumper sticker quote.

When I finally came to my senses and decided to get my spiritual life back in order, the very first thing I did was to start a daily routine of reading God’s word. I didn’t randomly choose sections of scripture nor did I try to start at Genesis and work my way through all the begats and thou shalts. I didn’t even start at the beginning of the New Testament in Matthew (there’s a whole chapter of begats there too). Rather, at the advise of a friend, I began to read the gospel according to John… then the gospel according to Luke… then Romans. With just that little bit of scripture – deliberately and consistently applied – I began to see a change in my life. I wanted more, so I went back and began to read the remainder of the New Testament. This time, the begats in Matthew were not so bad. As I read the New Testament, I began to see scripture in a whole new light, seeing things I never saw before.

When I finished the New Testament, I didn’t immediately go to the Old Testament, but started over again in the New Testament. By this time I was hooked and I was truly beginning to see real change in my life. I wasn’t reading God’s word every single day, but it was pretty close to it. Eventually, I did go back and pick up the Old Testament and this time it wasn’t nearly as boring as it was the first time I tried to read it. I was seeing Christ even in the Old Testament. It had all new meaning to me.

Now, I have a true love for God’s word. I want more and more of it all the time. If I go more than a day or two without reading (or hearing) God’s word, it really affects my life. The love for His word is real – but so is the NEED. I need His word in my life every day.

The point of all this is simple. God’s word changes lives, but only if you really commit yourself to it and read and study it in a manner that builds you spiritually. My Christian life can be broken into two distinct periods of time: My life before making God’s word a priority and my life after making God’s word a priority. Can you guess in which era I have grown the most spiritually?

It is all a matter of commitment. I make you this promise. Commit to reading God’s word 10 minutes a day, 6 days a week, for at least 6 weeks. At the end of the 6 weeks, your attitude and commitment to God’s word will have changed so drastically that you will wonder why you never tried this before. Take this challenge:

How to Be A Neighbor

What does it really mean to Love Your Neighbor As Yourself? This can truly be a tough question. In Luke 10, a lawyer tried to test Jesus by asking him how he could have eternal life. In fashion true to form, Jesus responded to his question with another question, “What does the law say, how do you read it?” The lawyer’s response was not unlike what Jesus himself had said on a previous occasion – You must love the Lord your God… and you must love your neighbor as yourself.

It was the right answer, of course, but unfortunately the lawyer did not fully understand it because he was not satisfied to leave it at just that. He promptly responded with a follow up question – Who is my neighbor? It is from this simple question that we get the story of the Good Samaritan. Of course to a Jew, there was no such thing as a “good” Samaritan, which is what makes the story so ironic. You see, Pharisees like this lawyer believed that obedience to the law was paramount, and so any law that seemed impossible to keep was often re-interpreted to be more easily obeyed. In this case, “love your neighbor as yourself” became “love your neighbor and hate your enemy.” In this way, to be obedient to the command was simply a matter of properly defining “neighbor” and “enemy.”

The problem with the story of the Good Samaritan is that the one who demonstrated that he was a neighbor was the enemy. With the story of the Good Samaritan, Jesus wrecked the whole concept of “who is my neighbor” by making the worst enemy the hero of the story. Rather than focusing on “who” was the neighbor, the Pharisees should have been focusing on “how” to love their neighbor. The story of the Good Samaritan makes it plain to us that loving our neighbor is all about being available to help in their time of greatest need. In the story, the Priest and the Levite ignored the need. The Samaritan, however – the one who was the enemy – not only saw the need, but took the time to meet it. And in meeting that need, he went out of his way, inconveniencing himself, to make sure the enemy was properly cared for. To the lawyer, it had to be mind blowing.

I had an opportunity to live out the story of the Good Samaritan this week. Driving down a fairly desolate strip of road, I passed a stranger walking in the opposite direction. It wasn’t just any stranger. If I were the kind of person who judges by appearances, I would certainly have make some fairly negative judgments – Tattoos, bling, white “wife beater” tank top tee shirt (that he was holding, not wearing), baseball cap turned at 90 degrees, and even the baggy pants. He could not have been more cliché if he had tried. From the outside, this person would have been the type of person who would make you think that the safest course of action would be to cross to the other side of the road and pass with some distance between you. He appeared to be the kind of person that would make you worry that you would be the one beat up and bleeding on the side of the road like the man in the story.

At that moment, though, I had a choice. As I said, it was a fairly desolate stretch of road. Clearly he had already walked a few miles and there were probably several more miles before he would get to where he was going – not to mention that along that particular stretch of road, none of the major cell carriers have signal. It was probably the worst place in the whole area to break down. So my choice was to be the Priest, be the Levite, or be the Samaritan. I chose the latter.

Making that choice was a divine appointment. Sure, he looked like a complete hooligan (is that even still a word?), and as it turns out he had lived a very rough life and had done many things (including dealing drugs) that most of us would cringe at. However, that simple act of being a neighbor spoke volumes to him.

His name was Zack. He was a new father and seeing his new baby boy had made him realize he needed to make changes in his life. He was trying to put his life in order. Unfortunately, this had not been a very good day for him. He lost his job, and on the way home his truck broke down. According to Zack, many people had already flown by him, ignoring him, not stopping to help him. He was very grateful for the help. For me, it was inconvenient because he was going in the opposite direction, but I had already decided to see the situation through. So I drove him all the way to his home (about 5 miles away). In our short drive, we had a chance to talk about many things, including spiritual things. He wanted to understand why I was willing to go so far out of my way to help him, so I was able to use that curiosity to direct the conversation to the gospel, which he was also open to hear.

When I finally dropped Zack off at his home, he was still not ready to give his life to Christ; but he said to me that he had never heard anyone speak of Jesus that way. The Jesus to whom I had introduced him was not the one he had heard about through culture and media. I consider it a seed planted and pray that he will eventually give his life to Christ.

The point of the story is this: You never know when loving your neighbor will result in a life changing divine appointment. It can be scary to step out when truthfully you never know what will happen, but that is the kind of love for our neighbor that we have been called to live.

A Christian's Most Important Priority

It has been said that the only constant thing in life is change. For me, the latest change in my life is the fact that I have accepted the call to pastor Pawnee Baptist Church. And in good pastor fashion, I had to come up with my first sermon series. For me, there was no question what that should be. If we (that is, my new church family and I) were going to get off started in the right direction, we would need to be on the same page regarding our Christian priorities.

Of course, there’s no question as to what the number one priority should be. It comes from Deuteronomy 6:4-5 and it is what Jesus called the Greatest Commandment – “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” It is called the “Shema” (Hebrew word for “Hear”) because it starts with “Hear O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.” The Shema was probably the most important scripture for the committed Jew. It was the center of the Jewish prayer book and was typically the first scripture that a Jewish child would memorize. Jews would write the scripture on the wall of their homes and bind it on their wrists. And because Jesus called it the Greatest Commandment, it should be, by far, the most important priority in the life of the Christian.

A few years ago, I was reading the Shema passage in Deuteronomy after having studied Jesus’ reference to it in Matthew 22 and realized that I did not have the Shema on the walls of my own home. Of course I rectified that immediately – not out of a sense of some legalistic requirement to keep the rules and regulations of the Mosaic Law, but because I need to be reminded every time I sit down on my couch that my number one priority must always be to Love God with every ounce of my being.

The thing is, though, being reminded to Love God doesn’t actually make it happen. I can be reminded all day long to Love God, but if I really don’t know how to Love God, then I never will.

Believe it or not, the secret to actually loving God is found in the Shema itself; but if we are not careful, we might actually misread and misunderstand it. The Shema tells us to love God with our heart, then our soul, then with all our might. The problem with that is what we call in biblical interpretation as “cultural distance.”

The meaning of heart, soul, and might to the ancient Jew is not the same as what we would consider them to be today. Think about it, what comes to mind when you think of your heart – not the muscle that pumps your blood, but the other heart. Of course, we think about Valentines hearts and sweethearts because when we think about the heart we think of emotions and passion. At the same time, when we think about our soul, we think of our inner self, our volition, and our will.

Based on this understanding, if we are to love the LORD our God with our heart, we would begin with our passions and emotions. We would strive to create within ourselves some sense of passion for God. To do this, we would try to seek out spiritual experiences that move us at the emotional level. In truth, this is how so many people seek out God every day. There are even churches whose worship styles are designed specifically to create the kind of emotional experiences we are talking about. They believe that such an emotional experience helps develop the believer’s actual love for God.

The thing is, we cannot always maintain that level of passion based on experiences – and we shouldn’t even try because that is not how the ancient Jews understood the Shema. To the ancient Jew, the understanding of the concepts of heart and soul were completely reversed from how we understand them. The heart was the seat of the volition and will whereas the soul was the seat of passions and desires. In other words, if our pattern for knowing how to Love God is the Shema, then there is a good chance we are going about it completely backwards. Because of our cultural understanding of heart and soul, we are seeking to love God the wrong way.

If we are to truly learn how to Love God, then we must begin first with our will. It is a choice. We decide to commit ourselves unconditionally to the prospect of Loving God and we dedicate ourselves to finding out what it means to know Him. After all, isn’t that how true unconditional love between humans is fostered? First you get to know the person better and then true love starts to grow? The same is true with our love for God. As we grow to know Him personally, an amazing thing happens – we begin to develop a passion for God that is not dependent upon experience or emotion, but rather on a personal relationship with a creator-God who first loved us before we ever loved Him.

So if you really want to be faithful to the most important Christian priority, make a simple choice. Decide to get to know God more personally and see if a deep passion for God does not develop as well.