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Past Ponderings

Sunday, July 23, 2017

PONDERING... What's at the Heart of the Church? (Acts 2:42-47)

What’s at the Heart of the Church?
GIST: The early church provides a model for what the church should be about. So, let’s look at it.
SCRIPTURE: Acts 2:42-47
42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 43 And awe 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.
Like this morning, we’re looking at a passage that could realistically be broken down into several chunks. However, tonight I just want us to consider the big picture of what is at the heart of God’s church, what it means to be His people. This morning, I referenced a video, and I want to open by showing it tonight. Because 1) it’s good to laugh, 2) it’s Sunday night so we do stuff like this :D, and 3) it really does tie into what we’re talking about. (Drive Thru Church)
Now, this passage from Acts 2 is one of the most frequently referenced passages when talking about the local church and what it should be like. However, more than showing us specifically what we should be doing as a church, I think it shows us what we should be about. That is, the filter through which all church “activity” should be poured. I know there are different ways to break this down of course, but I see at least 8 characteristics or attributes that defined this church, and, by implication, should define the whole Church (body of Christ).
Don’t worry, this isn’t technically an 8-point sermon :D; just think of it as a one point with 8 examples ;).

  1. Devotion
42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.
They were devoted to four things. In fact, a better translation might be they were constantly devoting themselves to these things.
  1. The Apostles Teaching- Doctrine is important. At the center of every great movement of God, from the Old Testament up through the reformation and great awakenings, we always see a return to and emphasis on the Word of God. I know I harp on this a lot, but I can never say this enough (both for your benefit and mine): we need to fall in love with the Word of God. It has the power to change our lives and shake this world. As a church, we should be defined by an obsession with studying the Bible.
  2. Fellowship- They spent time together. We’ve been talking about this, so I won’t be long here. There is something very important about coming together with fellow believers that is essential to God’s design for the Church. We’re meant to do this together. I cannot even begin to express how much of a blessing our Wednesday nights have been this summer. Why? Because we’ve all come together. That’s fellowship.
  3. Breaking of Bread- Communion was an essential part of their coming together, and it should be a huge part of ours. Sadly, as a result of protestant denominations breaking away from the Catholic church, anything that feels sacramental has been under-emphasized. However, Jesus told us to do this until He returns, why? To remember Him!
  4. Prayer- They were coming together, studying His Word, remembering His sacrifice, and...talking to Him. You guys know the importance of prayer is something God has been convicting me about for some time. I know I am preaching to the choir here (almost literally), but of all the things we do together, less time is devoted to prayer than nearly anything else. And I know we’ve all heard the admonitions about Wednesday night prayer meetings traditionally being the least attended of all services. But it doesn’t have to be a Wednesday for us to pray together. Again, this should be so much a part of who we are as individual believers that it would feel unnatural for us not to do it together. I really want this to be true of what we do here at Providence. In fact, next Sunday night, I want to encourage the whole church to come out and devote the entire evening service to praying for VBS and God’s movement in the lives of these kids and their families.

  1. Awe
43 And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles.
  • Amazed by God. I think it is interesting to notice the order of the words here. The church was in awe; they were amazed and the disciples were doing wonders and signs. I don’t want to put an emphasis where it’s not, but other commentaries I read by men far smarter than me seem to agree. It is possible that they were amazed by the signs and wonders being performed by the apostles. However, that’s not the wording used in the verse. It doesn’t say awe came upon every soul because of the many wonders.; it says and. The signs and wonders were a perk. The source of their awe was God working amongst them in their devotion we just talked about. Coming to church and seeing God move in our lives and the lives of those with us should amaze us.

  1. Burden Bearing
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.
  • Taking care of each other. We’ve talked about this at some length recently, so I will not rehash it here (See Will you face trials together?). Nonetheless, this is not a call to communism, nor is it support for any other more democratic form of social life. It’s not a political statement at all--though I’ve seen it referenced as such before. It is talking about bearing burdens. Bottom line: these people were taking care of each other.

  1. Fellowship
46a And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes,
  • Again, we spoke about this in the morning service. They were together. (What I said this morning: Point 1→ A need. This was not written so preachers could guilt congregations into hearing their sermons. The preaching service is only one part of a much bigger picture, and honestly, you could hear better preaching somewhere else. We live in a technological age that allows you access to the most talented Biblical teachers at the click of a button. You should take advantage of that. Nonetheless, it will never be a substitute to actually being part of the church family, part of the body of Christ, serving and being served as Christ intended for His people. And if we’re the kind of people who consider how to stir each other up to love and good works, why in the world wouldn’t we want to be here? We need that. And we won’t find it anywhere else.  Points 2→ Not club building. And that’s why we should want people to come to church, not so that our numbers will grow, but so they can meet with Jesus and grow closer to Him with us. The competitive nature that can creep into local churches sickens me, and I know it repels people outside the church. If our sole purpose is having more people, so we can say we have more people, we’ve missed the entire point. Packed pews are meaningless if we’re not stirring each other up to love and serve Jesus. If people being saved and growing in their walk with the Lord is not our purpose, we are not the Church. “36 For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?” Mark 8:36

  1. Graciousness
46b… they received their food with glad and generous hearts,
  • General Attitude of Gratitude. What do we have not to be thankful for? I know that sounds like rhetoric made in the absence of pain. Yet, here it goes again… “...this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison,” 2 Corinthians 4:17

  1. Praise
47a praising God
  • The Whole Point. This should be a given. We should go to church to praise God. But, do we? Is that what you’re doing when you’re singing those hymns and listening to those lessons and shaking those hands? Personally, I know I fall into motions. I sing; I listen; I converse. But am I praising? Do I even think about what those words I’m singing mean? Do I care about the prayers I’m lifting up? I should.

  1. Character
47b...and having favor with all the people.
  • Transformed Lives. We looked at this right before my family left for vacation. Churches should be groups of people whose lives have been transformed by salvation. The notion that you can be saved but unchanged is bogus, and unbiblical. “17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” 2 Corinthians 5:17 There will be a change. Now, this might be less noticeable outwardly in the lives of those who are saved at young ages or have lived relatively moral lives up until then. Nonetheless, our whole framework for why we live will be completely altered. As such, we are to live so that though the world may hate us for our convictions and despise our commitment to Christ Jesus, they will have to respect our conduct. Interestingly, Luke uses nearly the same phrase in his Gospel account when describing Jesus, “52 And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.” Luke 2:52. Probably not an accident. It even happens at approximately the same point in the corresponding books (I don’t want to major on a minor here, but that is pretty cool). The point? God’s Church should be like Jesus. Period.

  1. Salvation
47c...And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.
  • We should want to see people saved. A church that has lost its desire to see people saved is not Jesus’. We should want to see that baptistry filled, not so we can put notches on our belts, but because we are about seeing people saved by the Truth--pulled from darkness into marvelous light. This desire should consume our prayers and fuel our actions.

How do we compare?
EXTRA RESOURCE

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