Changing
the World
Acts
2:36-47
This is Christianity’s version of the Big Bang. The disciples’ pent-up energy resulting from
the resurrection and their time with Jesus afterward exploded with the gift of
the Holy Spirit. They burst from the
upper room like a football team after a rousing half-time speech, and attacked
Jerusalem voraciously. They were hungry
to spread the good news which filled them to overflowing. Three thousand converts the first day, “and
the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.”
What happened? If
Christianity had continued at that pace there would not be one person left on
this planet who had not accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, and his
church as their spiritual home. What
happened to that enthusiasm? What
happened to the forward motion? Why are
there still so many who have not heard the gospel, let alone accept it?
There are many answers.
I want to look at a few of the most obvious.
First,
the spiritual big bang of Christianity behaved the same as the Big Bang that
started the universe. (Full
disclosure: I accept the Big Bang theory
of creation with one caveat: I believe
God created the bang.) Scientists tell
us that the universe is continuing to expand, but the rate of expansion seems
to be slowing. They also believe that at
some future time the universe will begin to contract, but that’s another blog
for another time.
The
first millisecond generated the vast majority of the energy of the entire
process. In other words, the rate of
expansion had to diminish because it was impossible to keep up that level of
intensity. The same is true of
Christianity’s big bang. The level of
energy generated on Pentecost and in the months and years immediately afterward
was impossible to sustain.
Second,
Christianity moved slowly but surely from being an outsider to being an
insider. The church went from lean and
hungry to fat and happy. This is what
led to the Reformation. It’s what
continues to produce new churches, new denominations, and new ways of looking
at the gospel. Sometimes the lean and
hungry outsiders split from the contented denomination to form a new
group. Sometimes the lean and hungry are
powerful enough to reform the denomination from within. Either way, a mini-big bang produces a new
burst of energy—which eventually slows down as that group becomes content with its own status quo. Unfortunately,
large swaths of the Christian Church have stopped singing Onward Christian Soldiers and other hymns which define an
energetic, lean and hungry movement.
Third,
we can say that the early converts were the “low-hanging fruit,” the easy ones
to reach. When the major opposition to
Christianity was a paganism which has long since disappeared, we might question
how potent that paganism was as a religious force. Yes, there were those who followed a
particular god or goddess with enthusiasm—the Ephesians worship of Diana for
example, which made things difficult for Paul.
But paganism could not hold out against Christianity the way other
religions have, some of which have been in existence as long or longer than
Christianity. Many of these religions
have strong ethical and moral components which can make them seem equal—and in
some cases, superior—to Christianity.
Perhaps
the church is still moving forward, but moving differently. Perhaps the movement—glacial as compared to
the post-Pentecost church—is active in a more disciplined way. They say still waters run deep. Perhaps Christianity is moving under the
surface of society in ways that will have a longer-lasting effect on the
world. Perhaps we’re still using Onward Christian Soldiers, but humming
it quietly, in a way that disrupts things subversively.
Perhaps
we’re not so glacial after all.
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