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.

2. 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.

3. 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.

4. 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

5. 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

6. 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.

7. 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.

8. 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

1. Great sermon by Sinclair Ferguson

PONDERING... Are You Stirring the Right Pot? (Hebrews 10:19-25)

Are You Stirring the Right Pot?

GIST: Because of who Jesus is and what He does in our lives, the church should be a place where we encourage one another to love and live like Jesus.

SCRIPTURE: Hebrews 10:19-25

19 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, 20 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

Before I left for vacation, we wrapped up a relatively short series on living in the face of trials. For the next couple services, Lord willing, we’re going to take a look at what the Church should be like. Again, this is not going to even begin to be an exhaustive study, but will hopefully give us some encouragements, some convictions, and some foundations to build on.

This morning, I want to look at a familiar passage (something I feel like I’ve been doing a lot lately).  We’re going to take this in context a bit. Realistically, each of these points could, and at some point probably should, be a sermon of its own, but today I really want to focus of the last portion. With that end in mind, we see the passage builds like this: because of who Jesus is and what He does in our lives, the church should be a place where we encourage one another to love and live like Jesus.

I. FOUNDATION: Because of who Jesus is...

19 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, 20 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God,

Again, we could camp out here for a long time, and I encourage you to spend some time chewing on these verses. Nonetheless, I will be brief. These verses serve as a summary of what has proceeded. The writer of the book of Hebrews has been comparing Jesus’ sacrifice to the Old Testament sacrificial system. The Old Testament pointed to our need for Jesus, but was incomplete without Him.

Look at how the chapter opens: For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near. 2 Otherwise, would they not have ceased to be offered, since the worshipers, having once been cleansed, would no longer have any consciousness of sins? 3 But in these sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. 4 For it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. Hebrews 10:1-4

So we have a few foundational points to grasps here, all of which hinge on our dependence on and blessing in Jesus.

1. Jesus’ sacrifice was complete and necessary.
• We cannot save ourselves, but we do desperately need to be saved. We are sinners against an eternal God who deserve eternal punishment. Only a perfect sacrifice could possibly atone for that. Jesus was the only option--our only hope. We need Him. We have to remember that!
2. Only because of Him, we now have confidence to enter the holy places.
• I won’t spend too much time here, but we need to remember this was written for a Jewish audience. They would have immediately connected some dots. The holy places were only entered by the High Priest--and only once a year. It was a serious matter. In fact, from what I’ve read, bells were tied to the high priest’s feet so the other priests would know he was still alive, and a rope tied around his waist so they could pull out his body if the bells stopped ringing. Entering the holy places, the presence of God, with an unclean heart, was deadly. This was not taken lightly. So, for the writer to say--we now have confidence to enter in because of what Jesus has done is no light matter. We have been granted accessed to God by God.
3. And He is our Great High Priest, so this is a lasting condition.
• 26 For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. 27 He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself. Hebrews 7:26-27 His sacrifice worked. Again, there is so much here, but what a blessing it is to know Jesus is our representative before the Father. This is why we have confidence to enter into His presence--because of Jesus.

II. PERSONAL REACTION: and what He does in our lives

22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.

After laying that foundation, we have three “let us” statements. The first two deal with our personal reactions. And we’re given these directives (again, I will be brief, but each is worth our further attention).

1. Draw near to God. In the context here, it is not talking about drawing near to each other yet, but rather to God Himself.
• With a true heart. This implies earnestness. You are not just to go through the routine of Christian stuff, but truly to come to Him as you would an intimate friend.
• In full assurance of your faith. That is, knowing that your salvation is real and lasting. Why?-->
• Because you have been cleansed by Jesus.
2. Hold on to the truth of the Gospel--the good news that we are sinners saved by the grace of God, the sacrifice of Jesus. We cannot waver on this-->
• Because He is True!

III. CORPORATE RESULT: the church should be a place where we encourage one another to love and live like Jesus.

24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

After laying this foundation and explaining what our personal reactions should be, we are given another “let us”. Here is where we get some insights into what the Church (big C, the body of Christ) should be like. I know I opened by saying this is what we were going to be looking at, so I could have just gone here and skipped those other verses. However, until the individuals in the church are changed by God personally, we’ll never see this corporate result. If the whole basketball team eats junk food and sits on the couch any time they’re not at practice, it doesn’t matter how well intentioned your practices might be, they won’t be effective--and your games will be even worse. So, again because of who Jesus is and what He does in our lives (that has to come first), this should be the result.

1. Consider how to stir up to love and good works
• Give serious thought to. Rather than just attending out of obligation, there is an active nature to our coming together. Not only are we supposed to love each other and serve together, but we’re to give serious thought, consciously think about, how we can do that. In fact, we’re suppose to consider how to “stir each other up”.
• Stir up, a strong emotional reaction. Usually, when we think of stirring stuff up, it comes with a negative connotation. It means you’re causing problems or distress. People who like to “stir the pot” like to make others miserable. The idea here is almost the same. In fact, this Greek word is the same root as our word paroxysm (vocab moment: a fit, or at least a strong and sudden display of some emotion). Here it means to incite or provoke such emotions. However, we’re given this qualifier. We’re supposed to give serious thought to how we can stir each other up to-->
• Love and good works. Be like Jesus. All throughout the Bible we are called to love and serve; it is at the heart of what it means to belong to Jesus who was the ultimate example of love and service. How can we come together in such a way that we’re helping each other love Jesus and His Word and each other more? How can we then take that love and show it to those around us by serving them? That’s what church should be like. I know this is one of those ‘toe-stepping on’ moments, but we all need to remember this. Church is not just a weekly time when we come, listen, and leave. We are the body of Christ growing together in our love for Jesus and our service of Him. This is God’s design, and we should want it, which is why the next admonition is given.
2. Meet together
• 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. This is where you're taken off the sidelines, and put into the game.
• 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
3. Encourage one another
• We need the encouragement because complacency is easier and stagnation common. This is what we're supposed to do. You start stirring and encourage those around you to do the same.
4. Especially since Jesus is coming back!
• Our time is short. Our mission is vital.

TAKEAWAYS

1. Why do you come to church? I watched a video online once that compared the modern church to a drive thru. People would drive up to the church and order the specific type of service they wanted to meet their “needs”. One guy asked for a short sermon, with some humor, but not too much conviction. Another asked for specific types of music. Another wanted a particular children’s ministry, and even specified the type of goldfish she wanted for her kids. It’s funny to watch (and here’s a link), but a sad reflection on a real problem. Many people come to church just to get something out of it, and then leave when they don’t get that. That’s not the purpose of the church.
2. What makes you want to miss church? Could this be because of your answer to the first question? People will miss church. We get sick. We go on vacation. Emergencies arise. But this shouldn’t be our norm. If this is a place where we grow closer to God together, it shouldn’t be something we’re “just not feeling” today.
3. How can you stir up love and good works? We should be thinking about this. Last Wednesday, I saw this happening. It was 100+ degrees outside, not many were coming out to our block party from the community. Nonetheless, we had over 80 people out here working together and registered 20 kids for VBS. You guys weren’t here because you love bouncy houses and hot dogs (well, at least not all of you were here for that reason :D), but because you wanted to support one another. It was a blessing to be a part of, and that’s how the church should be.
4. Encourage each other in this. The Day is drawing near. Come together when we’re together to encourage each other to be like Jesus. I’ll never forget the times in my life when I just wasn’t feeling it, and a Christian friend, completely unaware of what was going on inside my head, stirred me up by just being excited to study God’s Word and share His message and brought me into that. Let’s be that kind of church.

PONDERING... 183 Years

I am blessed to have been part of Providence Baptist Church for nine years now. So much has happened in that time. Yet, that is less than 5% of the time this local body of believers has been meeting. This week, we are celebrating its 183rd anniversary. This is incredible!

As I consider that length of time, a couple thoughts come to mind. ( Beyond, of course, whether or not my mother-in-law was actually a founding member... ;D)

1. This is not about us. This is God's Church and will remain so only so long it it remains in His will.

Colossians 1:16-18  For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.  17  And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.  18  And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.

For 183 years, God has seen fit to use a body of believers in this place. Praise The Lord!

2. So, let's not forget what being the Church is about. We are the body of Christ working together to perform His will. To be His hands, feet, eyes, ears...etc. We are to love as He loves and spread that love.  Consider just the following verses.

Mark 12:30-31  And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.'  31  The second is this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these."

Matthew 28:18-20  And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  19  Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,  20  teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."

Love God. Love People...enough to tell them about God.