Summary:
One way to rebuild our church is in terms of love. The Bible tells us to love to the extent of laying down our lives for one another, but sometimes we aren’t even willing to inconvenience ourselves for each other. Why are we not able to love to the point of sacrificing our lives? It might be because we don’t love God enough. Go back to the fundamentals: do we love God? If we do, we would love our brethren in church. What standard are we at in loving our brethren?

The church doesn’t refer to the physical building but the congregation that gathers for worship. During the apostolic times, the members did not have a physical building but were referred to as a church. Hence when we talk about rebuilding, it doesn’t refer to laying bricks but the faith of the believers. In which aspect do we need to start rebuilding our church? We emulate how the apostles lifted the church back then.

Acts 2:44-47 describes the apostolic church which we should aspire to. The previous sermon covered two points:

1. They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teachings. This should be the foundation of our faith.
2. They had a reverent heart towards God. Do we have such a heart?

3. They had all things in common; they sold all and divided among all

Acts 2:44-47
Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need. So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.

They sold their possessions and goods and divided them among all, as anyone had need. It’s akin to someone withdrawing all their money from the bank today to buy necessities to share with the rest of the church. This was something they ALL did.

Pr Joshua of Myanmar went to buy KFC. On his way back, he met with some countrymen who had been repatriated from Malaysia and had not eaten for days. He has compassion and decided to give the food to them.

Today, everybody in church seems to be lacking nothing. We might say that in the past, people weren’t really lacking either. Why was there the need to sell all and share? Why were the people so willing to do this?

John 13:34
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.

What is the spirit of this new commandment? Not just to love one another, but to do so just as Jesus loved us. How does Jesus love us?

1 John 3:16
By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

Jesus loved us by laying down His life for us. We also ought to lay down our lives for our brethren.

Many of them had witnessed Jesus dying on the cross. Comparing great sacrifice for them to the small sacrifice of their goods moved them to do so.

Reflect upon our church and ourselves. To say the church lacks love isn’t accurate as there are members that have displayed a lot of love. For example, when a member falls sick, other members quietly support and take care of them. The church has love. But does it have love at the level of the apostolic church? We need to strive towards that level.

How? By lowering ourselves.

Why? Because we are self-centred.

For example, it is raining today and we know some members have difficulty travelling to and from church. Perhaps we have space in our car. Would we offer to drive them home? Or would we have thoughts like: “I’m so tired and just want to go home. It’s not convenient because I’m going somewhere else.” When we meet with a situation that would inconvenience us, would we struggle to help others? What would our ultimate decision be?

The Bible tells us to lay down our life for others. If we aren’t even willing to inconvenience ourselves for others, how can we lay down our lives for them?

Let us reflect today: what standard are we at in loving our brethren?

During the pandemic, we may not be able to meet to show love and concern. But we can make use of technology to encourage one another!

Why are we not able to love somebody to the point of sacrificing our lives? The reason might be because we don’t love God enough.

1 John 4:8, 11-12
He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us.

If we truly know God, we would know what love is. If we don’t have sufficient love for God, how are we able to have sufficient love for others? According to the Bible, there doesn’t exist a person who loves God but doesn’t love others. Go back to the fundamentals: do we love God? If we do, we would love our brethren in church.

Why do we partake of the Holy Communion? Perhaps we partook of the Holy Communion habitually every month m last time. Since we have not been able to partake of it for a long time due to the pandemic, and are now able to again when we return to church, let us reflect on how much we love Christ and each other. Partaking of the Holy Communion is to love Christ more.

To love our brethren, we must have the correct mindset of loving Christ. Let’s improve ourselves to be able to reach the level of the apostolic church.