* Sermon *

http://english.watv.org/

The world of the righteous and the world of sinners

6. The Early Church's saints who lived a life of sinners

Acts 2:38-47 Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. … "Save yourselves from this corrupt generation." Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day. They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

It is written that the saints of the Early Church were favored by all the people. If they had only preached the truth of the Bible, they would not have been praised by the Gentiles. What they were preaching was true, and moreover their deeds were good in the people's eyes.

Then, would there be no conflict when they continued daily to meet together? Though a man and a woman are in love with each other, when they unite in marriage and continue to see every day, they come to find fault with each other and become indifferent and consequently injured. But the Early Church's saints could continue to meet together every day with glad and sincere hearts. There was something to make them united with joy. Of course, there was the help of the Holy Spirit, but the greatest one among various factors was that all of them realized they were sinners.

The Early Church was in the world of sinners. As sinners, the saints laid the blame on themselves and apologized to each other, trying to mending their own ways. By doing that, they could be continually filled with joy. Acknowledging their own infirmities, they corrected mutual shortcomings and guided each other into the right path. That's why they could be continually filled with joy and sincerity every day: They came to get praised by all and the gospel continued to spread and those who were being saved daily increased in number.