Scripture Reading: Hebrews 13:1-5
1 Let brotherly love continue.
2 Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.
3 Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.
4 Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.
5 Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
GALILEO: In February-March 1616, the Catholic Church issued a prohibition against the Copernican theory of the earth’s motion. This led later (1633) to the Inquisition trial and condemnation of Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) as a suspected heretic, which generated a controversy that continues to our day. Do these Church actions prove the incompatibility between science and religion? What lessons can be learned from the thought and actions of Galileo, who became the “Father of Modern Science”?
From <https://origins.osu.edu/milestones/february-2016-400-years-ago-catholic-church-prohibited-copernicanism>
WELCOME: To Central Church of Christ, not a place, but a people called out to Show God’s Love, Tell God’s Story, Be God’s Family. Today we begin a new sermon series called, Take Me Back. It’s inspired by a desire from the elders to reexamine early Christianity, what the disciples after Jesus did, how they gathered, worshipped, and encouraged each other. It’s a desire to Take Us Back to Church.
Take me back
To the place that feels like home
To the people I can depend on
To the faith that’s in my bones
Take me back
To a preacher and a verse
Where they’ve seen me at my worst
To the love I had at first
Oh, I want to go to church
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- The question is, WHAT CHURCH do we go back to? 1990’s, 1950’s, late 1920’s, 1800’s, 1600’s KJV, 1500’s Martin Luther, 313AD (Constantine made state religion of Roman Empire), Church of the 2nd Century under writers (PolyCarp, Clement, Hermas, Ignatius).
The word “church” in the New Testament is always translated from the Greek word ekklesia 1577 “an assembly, a (religious) congregation” Abbott-Smith Lexicon.
From the Online Bible, ekklesia 1577:
1) a gathering of citizens called out from their homes into some public place, an assembly 1a) an assembly of the people convened at the public place of the council for the purpose of deliberating 1b) the assembly of the Israelites 1c) any gathering or throng of men assembled by chance, tumultuously 1d) in a Christian sense 1d1) an assembly of Christians gathered for worship in a religious meeting 1d2) a company of Christians, or of those who, hoping for eternal salvation through Jesus Christ, observe their own religious rites, hold their own religious meetings, and manage their own affairs, according to regulations prescribed for the body for order’s sake 1d3) those who anywhere, in a city, village, constitute such a company and are united into one body 1d4) the whole body of Christians scattered throughout the earth 1d5) the assembly of faithful Christians already dead and received into heaven.
“Not until the first half of the third century did the Christians build houses of worship.”3
Richard Krautheimer writing in “Early Christian and Byzantine Architecture” states:
Until A.D. 200, then, a Christian architecture did not and could not exist. Only the state religion erected temples in the tradition of the Greek and Roman architecture. The saviour religions [for example, Mithras or Isis], depending on the specific form of their ritual and the finances of their congregations, built oratories above or below ground, from the simplest to the most lavish but always on a small scale. Christians congregations prior to 200 were limited to the realm of domestic architecture, and further, to inconspicuous dwellings of the lower classes.4
Acts 2:42-47 – And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 43 And awe[a] came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. 44 And all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.
From <https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts%202%3A42-47&version=ESV>
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- &&&The Assembly In The Ephesian House Of Aquila And Priscilla
“The churches of Asia greet you. Aquila and Prisca [Priscilla] greet you heartily in the Lord, with the church that is in their house” (1 Corinthians 16:19).
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- The Assembly In The Roman House Of Priscilla And Aquila
“Greet Prisca [Priscilla] and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus,… also { greet} the church that is in their house. Greet Epaenetus, my beloved, who is the first convert to Christ from Asia” (Romans 16:3-5).
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- The Assembly In The House Of Philemon
“Paul, a prisoner of Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, to Philemon our beloved { brother} and fellow worker, and to Apphia our sister, and to Archippus our fellow soldier, and to the church in your house:” (Philemon 1-2).
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- &&&The Assembly In The House Of Nympha
“Greet the brethren who are in Laodicea and also Nympha and the church that is in her house” (Colossians 4:15).
1 Peter 4:9
Show hospitality to one another without grumbling.
Romans 12:13
Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.
Titus 1:8
But hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined.
1 Timothy 3:2
Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach,
1 Timothy 5:10
And having a reputation for good works: if she has brought up children, has shown hospitality, has washed the feet of the saints, has cared for the afflicted, and has devoted herself to every good work.
Hebrews 13:2
Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.
From <https://www.openbible.info/topics/hospitality>
Luke 14:12-14
He said also to the man who had invited him, “When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. For you will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.”
Hebrews 13:1-6 (Church in HOMES)
Do not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. – Hebrews 10:25
From <https://biblehub.com/hebrews/10-25.htm>
1 Let brotherly love continue.
2 Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.
3 Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.
4 Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.
&&&5 Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
From <https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Hebrews%2013&version=ESV>
