Most of us , upon reading the historical account of the first church in Acts are amazed at the awesome power which was ushered into their midst on the day of Pentecost. We marvel at the miracles, we wonder at the signs, we are struck by their compassion and generosity. We somehow think that this is all wonderful, but it is not for us today. I want to suggest that this approach is one that is born of unbelief. We do not believe that God can do those things in our lives today. Consequently we do not experience their kind of faith. So we become confined and anemic in our practice of faith.

The NT church was in every sense made up of Cosmic Christians. We too need to become Cosmic Christians in this day and age. But what do we mean by Cosmic Christians? By cosmic we mean that we must have a world-conscious spirituality. After all, this was the gospel of Christ. He was concerned for the whole world, with all of it's needs. Cor. 5:17-20 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 18All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. 20We are therefore Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
There are primary characteristics that define the spirituality of a cosmic Christian as seen in this historical account in Acts 2. Their spirituality was contemplative, it was compassionate, and it was conversionist.

Around 1973, a young South African man by the name of Taylor wrote a book called "The Eye of a Needle". As the title implies, the book dealt with the reality of Christians being ineffective in society because of their love of comforts. He suggested that in order for Christians to become truly world Christians, we would have to step outside of our comfort zone and do the things that Jesus would do, say the things that Jesus would say, touch the people that Jesus would touch, and pay the price that Jesus would pay. He said that every person in the world is a product of their society and that being true, we as Christians do have a responsibility to get involved socially as well as spiritually. Jesus in Luke 19:10 tells us that He has come because the Father has sent Him to seek and to save what was lost. And then in John 20:21 He makes His mandate our mandate when He says, "as the Father has sent me, so send I you."

The first church members in Acts knew what this meant and they grasped the principal as some wonderful formulae for well being that they were compelled to give to a horribly sick society. Acts 2:41-47 Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day. 43Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. 46Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

Notice in the first instance that theirs was a
I. Contemplative Spirituality.

42They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

We saw some weeks ago that the word used here for "devoted" is the word "proskutereo" which means "to carry on in." Their lives were governed by the Word which was passed on to them by the apostles. They contemplated the deeper things of God. They devoted themselves to the Word. They desired the fellowship of other believers in reflection of the Lord's suffering. They dedicated themselves to prayer. These activities relate to the disciplines of faith. The things of the heart. The things that matter to Father. They kept the main thing the main thing.

For us to become world Christians, before any of the other characteristics of a world Christian can emerge, we must learn to be contemplative in our faith. This is something we have lost over the years. We have a tendency towards a herd mentality. We want to do things in a crowd. We want to do things in great numbers. Family, the place where it matters most is in the closet. When no one is around to hear our eloquent prayers or our distinguished vocabulary. When we don't have a public platform to receive recognition. When it is Just Jesus and me. That is where God really does His work in our hearts.

This is why I believe it is so important to recognize that God has blessed us with many different religious traditions. Each one makes a rich contribution to the Christian faith. The Evangelicals have taught us the importance of serious study of the scriptures. The Charismatic's have taught us about Praise and Worship. The Pentecostals taught us about the importance of spiritual gifts. The Quakers and other contemplative type movements taught us the value of closet praying. Getting alone with the Father. One on one, heart to heart. Meditating upon Him, and searching His heart.
All four of these traditions are like tributaries that add to the flow of a great river. On their own, each tributary would eventually dry up, or become a useless cesspool. But together they forge themselves into a deep canal which is able to carry on regardless of any obstacle. We do well at the first three traditions. We must work at the discipline of contemplation.
Contemplation is more related to listening to God than it is to praying to Him. And it is something that will take a conscious effort on our part. Our culture will not give us much help in this area. We are much too attuned to the rat race and making things happen than we are to "listening to the still small voice" Becoming world Christians will require a "seeing that goes beyond looking, a listening that goes beyond hearing, and a perceiving that goes beyond thinking. It will require pushing open the doors and flinging back the shutters of hearts and minds to let God's love flood our inner chambers, drive out our fears, and quicken our understanding"( "Therefore" CLC of the BGCT, essay by E. Glenn Hinson, A Social Spirituality)

It will require such an exercising of our hearts towards God that the least nudge of the Holy Spirit may be felt. It will require people becoming so transformed to His likeness that we would cry out against a society afflicted with racism, violence, poverty, inequity and all sorts of injustices. When we devote ourselves to Him in this way. When every part of our being desires to be in His presence, practicing it daily, His heart will become our heart and then we will truly know His love.
That will drive us to the second characteristic of a World Christian. World Christians are characterized by a contemplative spirituality. They are also characterized by:
II. A Compassionate Spirituality.

44All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need.

In order to become world Christians, our compassion will have to go way beyond the idea of feeling. God knows we have more of that than many of us can handle. It is not in the feelings that we err. It is easy to gather in a meeting such as this and become impassioned with the plight of the lost and the poor and the sick, and leave this place doing absolutely nothing about our feelings.
This is not compassion. The true definition of compassion is "to suffer with" Not to avoid the social skirmishes of the world, but to get right into the thick of whatever we are able to do to provide some relief for the suffering of those less fortunate than ourselves. It means to follow the example of the one who, though in the form of God, did not hold selfishly onto His position, but, rather, humbled himself and became a man and suffered the cruelest most horrible death for us.

Compassionate spirituality is the spirituality of the Cross. The first Christians embodied this idea in every sermon they preached. In every hymn they sang. In every instruction to a new believer, they included the mandate to take up the Cross of Christ's suffering.
The apostle Paul exhorted the Philippians in Philip. 2:5-11 Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: 6Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, 7but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death--even death on a cross! 9Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
I confess that my spirituality has not always been of the compassionate kind. It has been more like that of the Pharisees who believed that the giving of alms exonerated them from their greater responsibility to give love. This is what we would prefer to practice. Arms length Christianity. Part of the problem is that we believe that if we do too much for the riff raff of the world they may want to become one of us, and that would not be proper. Family, this is not compassion. This is pity.

In our spirituality we say we love Jesus. We must then ask ourselves, "If He were lying in the gutter. If He were at the place where the poor are and where the sin sick are, would we reach out to Him?" And in answering yes, we must not be tripped up by His revelation of Mt. 25:40 that He is the suffering person. "Just as you did it to one of the least of these, you did it unto me."
What the world needs now is not more arms length, but more "suffering with" spirituality. Like that of Francis of Assisi, who, as he expressed it, married "Lady Poverty" so that he might be one with the poor who begged at the city gates. Like that of Catherine of Genoa, a noble woman, who overcame her nausea and spent most of her life cleaning the wounds and tending the needs of the poor in the Pammatone Hospital in Genoa.
Like that of John Woolman, the American Quaker, who refused to ride horseback or in carriages because blacks were not permitted to ride. He wore unbleached muslin suits because the dye for making men's suits was made from indigo, and indigo was made from slave labor. He stopped eating sugar, rum, and molasses made in the West Indies because they were produced by slave labor. All of this while at the same time in terrible turmoil lest too many would follow his example and hurt those he wanted to help. He was a world Christian. He rejoiced in the resurrection of his Christ while at the same time fellowshipped with all of His suffering.

We may not be able to do that. We have many other ways that we can put our hands to our compassion. I suggested last week that Jesus began with the ministry to His own. We have those in our midst that we may minister to. It may not have to be the big things. There are many little things that we can do. Some of us will be called to do the big things. Whatever it is, we must make up our minds to do it.

A contemplative spirituality that births in us the heart of God, a compassionate spirituality that manifests itself in social action. But it cannot stop there. When social action becomes the end in itself, we have a social gospel which has no greater impact on a society than any other social organization. If we fail to feed the hungry, it would be a terrible thing, but someone else will. If we fail to clothe the poor it would be a terrible thing, but someone else will do it. If we fail to help the homeless, it would be sad, but someone else will. But if we fail to meet their greatest need which is to experience the life changing power of Jesus Christ, then we will be most miserable of all people because no one else will tell them.

That is why we must consider for one more moment a third characteristic of a world Christian.
World Christians are recognized by:
III. A Conversionist Spirituality.

Acts 2:44 All the believers were together and had everything in common.

47praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

These believers were a living example of the exhortation given in Romans 12:2 "do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed to by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God - what is good and acceptable and perfect. They themselves were radically changed by their encounter with Christ, and then, as they began to share His love through and active kind of compassion, they went beyond the social concern. They went beyond what we would call their felt needs to the far greater need of the human soul. The one that most do not even realize they have, and that is the need for an intimate relationship with a living Christ.

You see, true liberation from all of societies ills is found in conversion. We almost hesitate to use that word, because it has been adulterated by our religious usage. "Walk down an isle, sign your name on a card, and take the church bus. Leave the driving up to us. Sit back in your comfortable pew and enjoy the ride. No, family, that is not conversion. That's religion. Conversion is ongoing. It is found in the renewing of the mind. Paul sets it out for us in Philip. 1:9-11 And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, 10so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, 11filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ--to the glory and praise of God.

We get so hung up with the front end of Christianity that we miss out on the need for a continuing conversion. You know why America is a mess? Because we have elected officials who have bought into the front end of Christianity without the renewing of the mind. It's no wonder we don't know right from wrong. We can murder innocent unborn babies. We can rob and steal from the elderly. None of this changes until the mind is changed. And the mind does not change until the heart is converted. In Paul's view it is God's love alone that recycles the mind.
Oh, how we need to foster conversionism in our churches.

We must become Cosmic Christians with a contemplative spirituality. Seeking the heart of God. A compassionate spirituality. Transforming our feelings into action that meets the deepest needs of human kind. A conversionist spirituality. Recognizing our need for a total change in our way of thinking. Letting the mind of Christ becoming our mind so that His heart becomes our heart. We may not be able to change the world, but we can change our corner of the block.