Are You A Healthy Christian in a Healthy Church? (AM Sermon Notes)
GIST: Healthy Christian churches are filled with people who are wholeheartedly devoted to loving, equipping, and sending.
SCRIPTURE: Acts 2:42-43
Last week we covered about 20 verses. This morning, we’re going to look at two☺️. However, that’s because there is a lot packed into these two verses. In fact, this is one of the most frequently cited passages in conversations about what a truly healthy Christian church should look like. That should be exciting for us because it presents us with an opportunity for self-reflection--and we should want that. We should want to be God’s people about His business, and this gives us a glimpse at what that should be like. Therefore, let’s prayerfully consider these verses this morning and how they should impact both what we do here at Providence, and what we all do in our personal lives--as the members of the body of Christ.
"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.”
About 10 years ago, I summarized the mission of our youth ministry as to love, equip, and send. Anyone in the youth group at the time would remember this because we did a big study over it. If you’ve ever been in the youth room, you might have noticed this outlined in the pictures I have hanging up next to the T.V., but chances are pretty high you have never heard me actually say these words out loud. Nonetheless, they have constantly been in the back of my mind as the purpose of everything we do together, both with the youth and with the whole congregation.
That is exactly the picture we’re given in this passage, so it is going to be a major part of our gist for this morning. I know pastors a lot of times will “cast a vision” for where they believe the church should be heading or what they think the church should be doing. This message will probably be about as close as I have ever come to doing that--but it’s not my vision! This is what the Bible teaches us about being the Church. This isn’t theoretical; it’s what we were made to be doing! So again, this is an exciting opportunity to stop and look at ourselves. Are we doing this? Are we healthy Christians in a healthy church? The gist? Healthy Christian churches are filled with people who are wholeheartedly devoted to loving, equipping, and sending.
I. WHOLEHEARTEDLY DEVOTED TO LOVING GOD AND PEOPLE
This Is Wholehearted Devotion. Verse 42 starts by pointing out that “...they devoted themselves to” these various activities. The word devoted could also be translated as “constantly doing”. This isn’t casual! We need to understand that from the outset here. This loving, equipping, and sending was a lifestyle, not an occasional occurrence. I want to make sure we see that before we get any further because I know my tendencies. When I come to a passage like this that requires self-evaluations, I’m going to start looking for things I’ve done...ever...that could possibly fall into these “good” categories. Of course, if the passage is telling me about things I shouldn’t be doing, I’m not as creative in my searching☺️! Yet, this wasn’t something they sometimes did; this was how they lived.
Since I’m breaking these activities down into categories, I’m going to have to skip around just a bit in the passage, so bare with me there. The first activity we’re going to look at that received their constant attention was “...the fellowship”.
They Were Devoted to Fellowship. It has been noted, that nearly everything else described in this passage points to what they did in their fellowship (Skip Heitzig). The word for fellowship here is koinonia which means something that is common. Man, we probably need to camp out here for quite some time. For now, let’s just consider two aspects of this loving fellowship. And these are phrases you have heard me use before. In fact, they’re on our t-shirts!
1. They loved God. This love for Jesus was the common bond which held them together. As we keep moving through this passage, we’ll see that they weren’t just a group of buddies that got together to shoot the breeze. The foundation of their fellowship was a common love for Jesus!
2. They loved people. This common love for Jesus resulted in a common love for each other. I’ve said this before as well. People who are greatly loved, love greatly! It seems the catch phrase in today’s theological circles is to talk about “sharing life”. And though I’ve seen this phrase misused and waterdown to the point that it often no longer carries the same implications probably originally intended, the core point is a good one. As a body of Christ, we should be living this life together.
This implies a constant and involved fellowship. This means the body comes together often, and everyone is participating in the fellowship. Remember, this is wholehearted. There weren’t people who just casually attended. I know this can be a toe-stomping point, but please don’t let me lose you here. I’m going to throw this out there at the risk on controversy, but we all need to hear this, myself included. Devotion (true dedication) to active (being involved) church attendance isn’t legalism; it’s the design of the body of Christ. I listened to a pastor named Skip Heitzig this week say something along the lines of, ‘this is not convenience fellowship. A “if nothing else is going on” kind of fellowship.’ We’re meant to live this life together. He went on to address the common objection, “I don’t have to be involved in an actual church to be a Christian”. He said, ‘I guess that’s true. You also don’t have to be on a football team to be a football player. You can go out to the field and run around by yourself and throw the ball in the air, but that’s not really what the sport is about.’ The same is true of our Christian life. Trying to do this alone was never the design.
Now, I need to say this because I’m the pastor, and I know how this probably sounds coming from the pulpit. However, this is not so that I can feel better about you being here, or so “our church” can report having higher attendance. Those motivations have nothing to do with the Kingdom of God! I want you to be actively involved in church because that is precisely God’s design for the Christian life. We are to be growing closer to God together in our fellowship with one another. And let’s face it; our world today does not prioritize that at all. Missing church isn’t only accepted; it’s come to be expected. Please, don’t fall victim to this. We’re not trying to boost our numbers; we just want to see the kingdom of God spreading as individual lives our changed. If this isn’t the church-home where you can get plugged in and use your gifts, we understand. But please, get plugged into a local church and use what God has given you to serve there.
We are called to be wholeheartedly devoted to loving each other. And we’re called to be→
II. WHOLEHEARTEDLY DEVOTED TO EQUIPPING EACH OTHER
They Had a Love and Hunger for the Word of God. The first activity actually listed is a devotion to “...the apostles' teaching”. They were dedicated to the truth. When they came together, they listened to the apostles teach what they had been taught by Jesus. These people wanted to know God.
This is important for us to remember. We don’t just commit to some teaching, but to the true teaching of God’s Word. This has to be our focus! Pastors and Sunday School teachers should never aim at being motivational speakers. We should just faithfully teach the Bible. Our words have no power. His Word has all power. I’ve probably said this before, but this is exactly why I feel so convicted to preach expository sermons through books of the Bible. I want to safeguard myself from just returning again and again to my pet-topics, or taking a passage completely out of context. It’s also why we as individuals should be committed to a “whole-reading” of Scripture, so we don’t fall into just looking for specific inspirations.
You want to be prepare to live the Christian witness? Get into His Word! The church should be teaching it, and we should be hungry for it!
We also see→
They Constantly Remembered Jesus. Another activity they devoted themselves to was “... the breaking of bread”. Now, breaking bread, as we’ll see tonight, can just mean eating together--like we do on Wednesday nights☺️. Applying the definite article here (sorry, English teacher moment), as in “the breaking of bread” seems to imply something more specific and has commonly been interpreted as Communion. Now, what is communion all about? Remembering who Jesus is and what He has done. They did this constantly. Why? Because it is vital to remember Jesus and keep Him in the forefront of everything we do!
And not only did they remember Him, but→
They Were Continually Talking to Jesus. What is the last activity listed? “...the prayers”. This encourages our fellowship with God, but also equips us as it is central to our growth in Him. One commentary I read this week put it so well, “The vitality of the church is directly tied to the reality of its prayers” (David J. Williams). We talked about this last Sunday night. Prayer is central to what it means to be a Christian. This is our incredible privilege to actually talk directly to God. I’ve spent much time in the past talking about this, and probably will again because it’s something that deeply convicts me. I know my prayer life is still not what it should be. This should be a constant and vibrant part of both what we do here together and what we do in our private lives. And here’s the deal, a church full of people who pray will pray together. If we’re not praying alone, we’ll probably never have much meaningful prayer time together.
So they were committed to loving and equipping...and→
III. Wholeheartedly Devoted to Sending Out to Share the Gospel
This has actually been the focus of several of our messages as we’ve been moving through the book of Acts, but it might not be as readily noticeable here. Look at verse 43, “And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles.” So, where am I getting this “sending” from? Let’s make two quick observations.
1. These Signs Pointed To Their Source. Remember when we studied the gospel of Mark and talked about the miracles of Jesus? They were never an end in themselves. He did not come to perform miracles, but to save souls. The miracles were signs used to point to His power, who He was. These miracles played the same role in the apostles’ ministry. They pointed to these men being used by God. And these weren’t just done amongst the 3,000 who believed after that first sermon. In the context of being devoted to loving and equipping, the apostles were going out→
2. And This Witness Resulted in Wonder. People noticed something was different. They were in awe. For some, we know this led to salvation because verse 47 says, “the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.”And that was the end goal! They loved; they equipped, and they sent, so that others could be transformed by Jesus’ salvation and be loved, equipped, and sent.
TAKEAWAYS
For the takeaways today, I just want to hammer home the reciprocal nature of these three aspects of the Christian life.
1. We should be loved and loving.
-The church should be a place where we experience the love of Jesus. There should be compassion and genuine care here.
-And… we should be an active part of that experience as well!
2. We should be equipped and equipping.
-Church should be a place where we come to be fed the Word of God. It should be a place that points constantly to Jesus, and spends intentional time praying together to Him!
-And… as we’re equipped, we should equipping others. Take what God has revealed to you in His Word. Live it and share it! This starts at home. Sunday school shouldn’t be the only place, or even the first place, where your family is learning from the Bible!
3. We should be sent and sending.
-If the role of the church is to send, then we should be going.
-However, we should also be bringing others with us!
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