Enlightenment II

Acts 15:30–41

“So the men were sent off and went down to Antioch, where they gathered the church together and delivered the letter. The people read it and were glad for its encouraging message. Judas and Silas, who themselves were prophets, said much to encourage and strengthen the believers. After spending some time there, they were sent off by the believers with the blessing of peace to return to those who had sent them. But Paul and Barnabas remained in Antioch, where they and many others taught and preached the word of the Lord. Some time later Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us go back and visit the believers in all the towns where we preached the word of the Lord and see how they are doing.” Barnabas wanted to take John, also called Mark, with them, but Paul did not think it wise to take him, because he had deserted them in Pamphylia and had not continued with them in the work. They had such a sharp disagreement that they parted company. Barnabas took Mark and sailed for Cyprus, but Paul chose Silas and left, commended by the believers to the grace of the Lord. He went through Syria and Cilicia, strengthening the churches.”

The Church community exists not only to communally praise and worship God but also to live with one another and foster relationships. This, I think, is the sharp contrast of Christianity from any religion of worldview that emphasises ascetism, that of cutting oneself off “attachments” such as forms of Buddhism, Taoism, and many variants of Hinduism, which according to its central tenets, enlightenment, Nirvana or Moksha—release from the frustratingly meaningless merry-go-round cycle of life, death, and rebirth is achieved by ironically focusing on oneself away from others. These philosophies, whilst emphasising compassion, at its very core is oneness with non-identity and endeavouring to be meld with the divine ethereal nothingness, and such a union can only be achieved by a sort of Gnostic rejection of entanglements in complex human relationships. Christ teaches however that enlightenment and union with God is only through a most intimate, loving relationship with Him (John 3:16, 14:6), and byproducts of such a relationship is a healthy fellowship with His Body, the Church, with fellow believers, flawed people we may disagree with (v. 39), like everyone of us who recognise our need for a saviour. No amount of meditation, prayer, alms, and other acts of compassion can help us earn God’s love, we do not need to, it is a gift of His grace received by faith in Christ (Eph 2:9). Enlightenment, as a Christian, is indeed drawing near to God through our Lord Jesus Christ, and it always brings me back to the metaphor used by British evangelist, Roy Hession in “The Calvary Road”, that as the spokes of a wheel come to the centre, they come closer to each other as well. The Early Church knew well that they are in this life together, and so “they were continually devoting themselves to the Apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer (Acts 2:42),” these are what pleases God (Heb 13:16), and such genuine Christian relationships are not without conflicts, frustrations, forgiveness, and sacrifice, but it is also filled with encouragement, strengthening, and love when we choose to foster that environment (vv. 31-32, 41). By this everyone will know that we are Christ’s disciples, if we love one another (John 13:35), and by this we are being fashioned back into the image of God from the fall that defaced and distorted it, Christlikeness is our key. Success in this area is granted by God as well; it is by His grace. Brothers and sisters, let us pray, “Lord, I acknowledge that it is difficult to forgive and reconcile when I disagree strongly with someone. Give me a teachable heart so that I may be gracious with my Christian brothers and sisters just as You are gracious to us. In Your name I pray. Amen.”