| Perhaps as God would have it, I’m reading a book that coincides with our biblical text today. The book is The Patient Ferment of the Early Church: The Improbable Rise of Christianity in the Roman Empire. I love the initial chapter’s assertion. That there was no good reason the Christian faith spread the way it did. It wasn’t convenient to be a Christian. There were no societal benefits. In fact, your Christian faith put you at odds with the larger culture. Today, we hear people say that is the true for us. But we’ve spent many generations building a privileged status. It’s not the same. So, why did this marginalized sect grow at all? Can we assume it must’ve been all God’s doing? Another question is, how did the community grow? That is where we see the heart of the book. Modern strategies speak of budgets and programs. We’re sure we need social media, websites and witty sermon titles. And we call this all evangelism. But the early church, the book argues, did not rely on evangelism. They didn’t hide behind the façade of fellowship. It’s primary witness was its patience. The church emphasized their life of prayer. They prioritized their teaching of faith and their worship of God. Then they patiently waited for God to hold true to the promises of scripture. I’ve only just started the book, but I couldn’t help but skim one of the final chapters. If the early church’s witness was its patience, that stands in contrast to the chapter titled “The Impatience of Constantine.” In short, Constantine instituted Christianity as the official faith of the empire. That changed everything. The emperor was not willing to patiently pray and learn what it meant to be a follower of Jesus. He only wanted to ensure his baptism kept him from the fires of hell. The church followed suit. And in all the time since, it doesn’t feel like we’ve learned our lesson. I find this argument to be persuasive. We can hear it in the opening verses of the book of Revelation. Listen again to John’s greeting: I, John, your brother who shares with you in Jesus the persecution and the kingdom and the patient endurance (Revelation 1:9). To be sure, the patience we’re talking about is not trivial. It’s a patience that trusts God through hardship, persecution or danger. This patience isn’t lured to whatever the church equivalent of a get rich quick scheme is. The early church did not seek to be powerful or dominant. Relevance was not their priority. Instead, they sought to be obedient. Prayer was never a waste. Patience wasn’t a virtue. It was the ultimate form of trust in the risen Lord. Stay blessed…john |
John Fletcher
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