My text today is Acts 2 where we see the biblical definition of the Church – the Church as koinonia, “communion.”  At the beginning of the twentieth century, the Anglicans, Orthodox, and Protestant churches came together to call the Church back to “full visible communion.”  The Missionary movement was at its height.  Gathering together in Scotland in 1910, the missionaries agreed that a divided Church hindered missions and was confusing for unbelievers.  Yet the world was about to descend into war.  In World War I both sides had been Christian, both sides believed they were fighting a new holy war, a new crusade.  As a consequence, the last vestiges of Christendom were destroyed in Europe.  The Russian Ceasar was assassinated, and the third Rome was conquered by Marxists.  The Holy Roman Empire of Austria came to an end.  And the British Empire collapsed.  Yet into the vacuum left by missionaries leaving African and Asia, the Spirit raised up local leaders.  After 1700 years, Christendom was dead, but the global church was born. 

Into this context the Anglican Lambeth Conference issued an “appeal to all Christian people” in 1920.  This was not a call for other churches to repudiate their past and join any one denomination.  But it did frankly acknowledge that the Church was not visibly one and that this division was sinful.  This was not to say that the issues of the past weren’t important.  Of course they were.  But somehow the churches were failures for not coming to a common mind. 

The definition of visible unity Lambeth put forward could have come from the book of Acts.  One rule of faith, which is to say the Holy Scriptures as the “ultimate standard of faith,’ with the Nicene and Apostles Creeds as the sufficient summary of our faith.  In the book of Acts this corresponds to the common reception of the apostles’ teaching.  The Apostles are our leaders, and their teaching is a summary of the Prophets’ teaching.  The prophets told us that the Christ would die and be raised from the dead.  The apostles are witnesses of this fact. 

Acts also mentions the sacrament of Holy Communion – “the breaking of bread and the prayers,” to which the Lambeth Conference adds Baptism as the two necessary sacraments.  This is uncontroversial, but we need to remember that a hundred years ago it was not yet common for Protestants to share the Body and Blood of Christ.  This is still a hurdle between us and the Catholics and Orthodox.  But scripture tells us that we ought to share communion. 

Finally, the Lambeth Conference focuses in on common ministry.  We all agree that Jesus founded the Christian ministry by making Apostles, but we don’t agree on the form that ministry should take.  Do we need Popes, Patriarchs, bishops, presbyters?  Whatever the case, without the Apostles there would be no New Testament and no ministry.  They are the heads of the twelve tribes.  Without them, the tribes have no unity.  Without the laying on of hands, they would have no successors.  What this has meant for Anglicans is easy to understand.  The apostles founded the ordained ministry.  The ordained ministry is for the sake of unity.  The churches disagree about how that ministry is passed on.  Some people deny that one can be a pastor unless you are clearly in the succession.  For St Augustine, however, you might have valid apostolic succession and yet still be divisive, in which case you have undermined your own ordination.  The Lambeth Conference, therefore, did not deny that different denominations can have Spirit-filled ministers -  ministers who had not been ordained through a bishop.  For, the mark of a true minister is a desire for Christian unity.  But Lambeth encouraged the churches to come to a common mind about the process of ordination, and recommended the episcopate for consideration. 

But what does a desire for unity look like?  The Apostolic ministry has a certain form, according to Acts.  Just as Joshua cast “lots” (kleroma) when he distributed the “inheritance” (kleroma) of land to the twelve tribes, the twelve apostles also receive an “inheritance in ministry” according to Acts 1:20.  Now rather than receive this inheritance, Judas bought himself a lot of land in which he died – we should not miss the symbolism here.  Indeed, according to prophecy, Peter quotes the Psalm which said that Judas’ office – episcopos - was left empty.  This is the word for “bishop.”  Judas therefore lost his tribal inheritance, and the apostles had to cast lots to replace him as bishop.  The lot - or inheritance - fell to Matthias. 

After the apostles choose a successor for Judas, we have the account of Pentecost and the outpouring of the Spirit and the manifestation of unity in the common life we have been discussing.  Right after this we have the account of Peter and John healing in the power of the Spirit, and suffering for Christ: they are imprisoned and whipped by the chief priests who were jealous of their ministry.  After returning home, Acts tells us that they meet for prayers and their house is again shaken; then it repeats that they held everything in common. 

This sharing of money and land is the final thing that characterizes the united Church.  But in chapter 4, Ananias and Sapphira, like Judas, pretend to share their “inheritance” with the Church.  The word used is the same as with Judas.  And Like Judas, they are also struck dead for their greed. 

Finally, later in Acts 8 we have the account of Simon the Samaritan, a magician who claimed to be the “great power” -  a title indicating he thought he was like the second person of the Trinity.  Simon was amazed by the fact that the Apostles imparted the Holy Spirit through the laying on of hands, and he wanted this magic for himself.  He therefore offered Peter silver.  Again like Judas, Peter rebukes him and says “you have no lot [kleroma]” in this ministry.  One cannot inherit the Holy Spirit and be greedy.  For the Church shares everything in common.  And anything the apostles receive is meant to be shared with the Body of Christ – teaching, money, the Spirit himself.  A church that does not share money is not really united. 

Now it is interesting that the figure of inheritance is also a geographical idea.  All twelve tribes receive their own territory.  Likewise the early church, but also the major missionaries, all felt that their ministries should not be in competition with other ministries.  This is why Paul wanted to go to Spain where he would not be building on someone else’s foundation.  By the same logic, Hudson Taylor tried to work where other missionaries had not been. 

More than this, Scripture shows what happens when leaders are jealous of each other.  For, the Sanhedrin was jealous of Jesus, and jealous of the apostles.  Jealousy is the motive behind betrayal, and betrayal is something you are sure to experience once you are in ministry.  The servant is not greater than his master.  It’s almost funny to look back on, but when I was in my second year of ministry, a colleague literally told me he was jealous of me.  He then tried to make my life unbearable.  Paranaoia about betrayal is why everyone in Egypt wears the Eye of Fatima (Hamsa); we are all paranoid that others’ envy will cause our downfall.  As Peter says, we can expect this kind of mistreatment both outside of the Church and inside.  It is better not to deserve it.  Furthermore, Christian unity is preserved when we persevere through it.  There is no possibility of avoiding these kinds of betrayals in the Church.  They happen because they happened to Christ.  But where his perseverance is the basis for Church unity, our lack of perseverance is the cause of disunity.  Therefore, we must persevere. 

Finally, as with Judas, Ananias, and Sapphira, so with the Church in 1 Corinthians 11:  greediness and divisiveness lead to literal death.  Paul tells them that members of their church had actually died because of their divisiveness.  In the same way, the Church in Europe understood that Christian divisions had fuelled the first World War.  So today the Spirit of Life has left many churches around the world for their divisive doctrines – and not only in the West!  As a consequence, non-believers around us are suffering in the darkness: without Jesus in their life, and without hope for eternal life.  Indeed, it isn’t only non-Christians who suffer.  When the Church no longer lives a common life, it no longer lives in the power of the Holy Spirit.  For the visibly united Church is a Church that has visible acts of power: signs, healings, and courageous witnesses.  The divisive Church does not. 

Like Simon the Magician, we cannot conjure up the Holy Spirit by our own power.  We may not even be able to conjure up real repentance.  But God can cause repentance.  Just as God subjected the Jews to the Babylonians, so he has subjected us.  Despite our rebellion, he is purging us.  And this is good news.  If we experience the discipline of God, we may also enjoy his presence again.  If we experience our disunity as intolerable, maybe we can enjoy unity again.  And if we can enjoy unity again, perhaps the Church will grow like it did in the book of Acts.  This should be our prayer for the churches today.  Amen.