Why Are We Here - Part 2

Why Are We Here? - Review

Church (Gk - ekklesia) - assembly

There are local churches made up of a multitude of people

They are part of the Universal Church which is made up of truly repentant believers in Jesus Christ. They have been called out of the outer darkness and called together to be part of the Body that is the Church to be led by the Head which is Jesus Christ.

Not everyone who is in the physical churches are true believers

But those who carry out good works that God has prepared for them before the foundations of the world. They do good works and conform themselves to the heart of Christ by knowing God more so as to know the one who has created the universe, made us in His image, who reveals us the truth, and from whose character is derived what is good and what is not.

See the first church pop-up after Pentecost (Acts 2:42)

“And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching” (v.42a)

We come to church to hear what godly, mature, and God directed teaching looks like (so we can mirror it in our own studies) and be challenged by it (so we can change our lives in community with other brothers and sisters of Christ).

So why are we here for more than just an hour to hear the guy up front help us work out the details and themes and lessons that are found in God’s Word?

Acts 2:42b - “and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers”

Fellowship - koinonia (Gk) - a close relationship of holding together in community - a com (with/together) union = communion.

What Is Communion? Who Are We Coming Into Unity With?

If you only view Communion as a ritual that all you do is eat some bread and drink a shot glass of juice because Jesus did something like it then you fail to see the beauty of such a ritual and I would suggest (because the NT does) that it’s a dangerous, flippant act.

Paul in 1 Corinthians 10:16-17

“There is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread”. Here we see the Universal Church with Christ as the Head identified as the bread. We saw this same symbol of the body as the church in our study last week.

This is something the early church viewed as important and connected intimately with Jesus and the Last Supper (Luke 22:14-20).

When does Jesus do this? At the Passover supper and He ties it to a broken body and spilled blood. Of what? The unleavened bread and the Passover lamb who was a substitute for those of the children of the Promise who were called to remove the leaven bread representing sin, to accept the one sacrifice of the blood as a covering, and to come together and go out of the darkness of Egypt. The Hebrews ekklesia-d (assembled and were called out) and Jesus joins the Church with the Promised Bloodline of the Messiah to the promise of Abraham to be a blessing to the nations and have children as numerous as the stars. We are part of that family.

In our own salvation we are tied to Christ’s death.

I have been crucified with Christ, it is no longer I who live but Christ lives in me (Galatians 2:20)

We have been buried with Him through baptism into death so that as Christ was raised from the dead…so we too might walk in newness of life (Romans 6:3-4)

You also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ so that you might be joined to another to Him who was raised from the dead in order that we might bear fruit for God (Romans 7:4)

For if we died with Him, we will also live with Him (2 Timothy 2:11)

Just as Jesus uses the symbols of the bread and wine to tie us to the promises of Abraham, in them He also ties us to Him in an intimate way.

We join with the unique God Man in His death of dying as the only innocent man to ever die. We join in His taking our sin unto Himself so that the only one that may face the wrath of God feels the full force of God’s wrath on sin. And in His Resurrection we join with Him as being raised to new life to live as joint heirs and are able to approach the Father because not only has Christ removed our stained robes but has laid His complete righteousness on us. We are tied to the Old Covenant and we are grafted into the New Covenant.

How can we ever share Communion so blase’ ever again? V.16 - The cup of blessing that we bless is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread is it not a participation in the body of Christ.

We join together in this intimate fellowship so we can share the joy of God saving me because I take the elements and consume them and remember what they stand for. But we all get to see everyone else around us share in the greatest miracle God has ever done - saved us - the chiefest of sinners.

Fellowship - Breaking Bread

Our Acts 2 also talks about fellowship and the breaking of bread. The sharing of meals. This shows a level of intimacy. Bringing non-family members into the protection and provision of the house. Meals were a place for discussions or lectures.

Think about the makeup of people. You had men and women. Slaves and free people. Rich and poor. All coming together into one central location and sharing meals, hospitality, resources, time together, and aid.

The Apology of Aristides (2nd Century):

“But the Christians, O King,...they know and trust in God, the Creator of heaven and of earth, in whom and from whom are all things, to whom there is no other god as companion, from whom they received commandments which they engraved upon their minds and observe in hope and expectation of the world which is to come.

They do not commit adultery nor fornication, nor bear false witness, nor embezzle what is held in pledge, nor covet what is not theirs. They honour father and mother, and show kindness to those near to them; and whenever they are judges, they judge uprightly. They do not worship idols (made) in the image of man; and whatsoever they would not that others should do unto them, they do not to others…And their oppressors they appease (lit: comfort) and make them their friends; they do good to their enemies;

Their daughters are modest; and their men keep themselves from every unlawful union and from all uncleanness…if one or other of them have slaves or children, through love towards them they persuade them to become Christians, and when they have done so, they call them brethren without distinction…Falsehood is not found among them; and they love one another, and from widows they do not turn away their esteem; and they deliver the orphan from him who treats him harshly…And if they hear that one of their number is imprisoned or afflicted on account of the name of their Messiah, all of them anxiously minister to his necessity, and if it is possible to redeem him they set him free. And if there is among them any that is poor and needy, and if they have no spare food, they fast two or three days in order to supply to the needy their lack of food.

They observe the precepts of their Messiah with much care, living justly and soberly as the Lord their God commanded them. Every morning and every hour they give thanks and praise to God for His loving-kindnesses toward them; and for their food and their drink they offer thanksgiving to Him. “

In 1 Peter 2, he tells us that Christians should not be active, violent rebels but live peacefully with everyone and if they treat you unfairly count it joy that you suffer unjustly in the same way Jesus suffered unjustly.

My question to ME is, can I be described in the same way by an outsider like in Aristedes letter? Am I giving Jesus a bad name by associating my actions to His name?

This is my goal in life in this area. If someone is going to speak ill of you, force them to lie about you. (Work story?)

But what context does this testimony happen in? It happens in the church, surrounded by good examples and loving people you can invite others to call you out.

I don’t know if you come on Wednesdays but you have all sorts of people sharing stories and teaching. Our church has a food pantry and care closest. It’s clear we highly value God’s Word and teach it, even on days other than Sunday.

Discussion of a systematic theology book

Ask how a former member was doing

Offer of a book how teaching poetry to children

Homeschool resource help

Receipts, taking food to the elderly

English Second Language resources

Prayer requests, follow up on them

Helping hands, money disbursements for those in need

All around a meal prepared for this family that has gathered together.

Mentor Fellowship

Titus 2 - older men and older women are to be examples and to (v.3) train the young women and (v.6) urge the younger men. This isn’t age but sanctification in Christ.

One of the best things you could do is find someone in this church and ask them to be your mentor. Someone to come alongside you and each of you go over a book that you meet once a month or ask them to show you how to do woodworking or sewing or retro video games.

Get six of your friends and ask someone you know to challenge your group to go through John Calvin’s Institutes of Christian Religion or Wayne Grudem’s Systematic Theology. If you’re afraid someone might say “no” to that I dare anyone you ask to actually say no to someone coming to them and saying “Jim/Jane, I was listening to this dude in class talking about finding a mentor and going through a theology book with them and help me to be a better Christian and be there if I need any help or prayer. I’ve come to respect you and I see you have a heart for the Lord that I want to emulate.” I DARE them to say “no” to that.

Then when your time comes you can look like the older man or older woman for someone younger than you. Seek them out too. (Tony and me)

Between the 1930s to 1949, there was an informal literary discussion group at Oxford University. The members would gather together and admit people who were open to sharing their love of literature and open to critiques and critiquing the members' writings. They challenged each other to be better writers, better critics, expand their areas of writing, and be better presenters and defenders of their work. Some works read by notable members of this group include little-known books like the Outer Space Trilogy and Narnia series by C.S. Lewis and The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien.

They embodied Proverbs 27 - Let another praise you, and not your own mouth, a stranger, and not your own lips…Better is open rebuke than hidden love. Faithful are the wounds of a friend, profuse are the kisses of an enemy…As iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another” That’s the type of community we seek as fellow travelers in our sanctification process.

Fellowship And Prayer

We are called to love one another (1 John 4:7). Love one another with brotherly affection (Romans 12:10); Love one another earnestly from a pure heart (1 Peter 1:22).

We serve a God who is Trinity. Love is relational and directed at someone. God did not have to learn love as each member of the Godhead loved each other before creation. That love, that community, and that sending out in the world is talked about In John 17 of Jesus’ high priestly prayer before His death. It’s shared in the community of the Godhead and then directed out to Jesus’ followers to go forth from Him. That is the Church.

1 Thessalonians 5:12-26 - We aren’t just here for only the good times. We don’t just help in only the bad times. Our praying for one another shows our focus directed up towards God and out towards others.

I get so many emails talking about how people couldn’t find a good church in their area because the church had too much hypocrisy or didn’t teach the Word right. They would want to be encouraged to use online lessons as their church and preachers as their pastor.

Here’s what The Bible has to say - Go to church! Admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, pray without ceasing, greet all believers with a holy kiss. Be part of God’s family - together!

Believers were often ostracized from their families and this intimate and close contact was an outward sign of welcoming - like our handshake and side hug today.

Is that how you are treating the people in this church? Even the annoying ones? Even the ones you don’t agree with? If you struggle with that, wait until you get married. Realize that even with love, forming a relationship takes effort and self-sacrifice and communication and for you to decrease and the other person to increase.

Our relationship in the community of the Church will be a struggle. Look at all the letters written to the churches in the NT! They are letters written because something is happening in those churches that God is using to sanctify that church and the universal Church as a whole. The Apostles never call those being written to to abandon the church but to reform it and conform it more and more to Christ’s image.

The change of our hearts and the hearts of others starts with petition to God - who is sovereign (so we pray), who is love (so we pray), who desires communion (so we pray), who desires fellowship (so we pray), who changes hearts (so we pray), who builds up men and women for appointed times for good work. So we pray.

Here’s the challenge you have before you as being called out of the world while still being in the world.

Men, the whole world is against you. You will be deemed worthy by the world for the work you do, the money you make, and how little you get in the way of those who want the world to continue on the wide path of destruction. You will be told to build this world and then you will be crapped on for wanting to use it as a means to glorify God. The virtue and values you have that allowed us to get where we are will be shunned, swept under the rug for the new society and new morality. And just like any society that steals from another, it soon runs out of other people’s money. You will be blamed for the downfall of a bankrupt and dead system.

Where will you turn to be strengthened? To share in the fortification of others who pledge fidelity to the One who created and ordered the universe? Who calls the dead to life? Who has called us to live righteously according to the standard He imbued the universe to reflect. Who will you build it with on the top of the dead, dry, brittle bones of the dead that hate you for your new life?

Will you treat those guys around you as brothers and not just people to tolerate? What would you look like if you have a group of close guys around you to pray for you, challenge you to be better, to read harder theology?

And let us not stick to only be inspired by those around us in this time and this place. Hebrews 12 tells us “Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith.”

This was written as a message to the Hebrews in the early days of the church who had the Old Testament and the Apostles to look at. We have 2,000 years of godly men and women who existed during times of persecution, peace, war, plague, times of growth, times of reformation, attack from crown - pope - and Viking raiders, teaching wolves disguised as sheep, liberalism infecting the church - ya know, all those things we definitely don’t know about these days. (Revived Thoughts podcast)

And still, the church has survived and thrived in the thick of it all. And we join those in the great cloud of witnesses - we turn from young men early in our faith to old men. Does your relationship with those of the church exhibit an inspiration for others to ask to join you in fellowship, in breaking of bread, in prayer?

Will you treat the women as fellow heirs of God? As sisters who are to be protected and sacrificed for and encouraged and taught and called to deep spiritual sanctification. Don’t only seek after the perfect woman for you. Seek to make yourself a man seeking after God’s own heart so that you can be the perfect man for someone to find.

Women, the whole world is against you. You will be deemed worthy by the world for how you look and how you have overturned the old ways for the narrow path of life for the new ways and when the new ways become the old ways you have better always been for the new, new ways. You are encouraged to see yourself worthy when you compare yourself to others. With your friends, you must put down and degrade the men around you. When you’re with your other friends, you must degrade the women not there. You will be worthy for how you raise children to continue in rebellion against God. You only hold value at work in how you most can act like men while putting them down at the same time.

How will you be known? Will you have worked to look the best, to be the best in your field, to accept the path of least resistance to the world? And when you have fulfilled your usefulness and your beauty fades, when you’re replaced by the next best thing, when the values you took on no longer follow the path of the majority - what will you be known for?

Will you be known as the gossip or being the godly woman trusted with the confidence of your friends? Will you be known for honoring the godly brothers in your midst and listening to the wisdom of the older women? Will you appease those looking to use you up or will you glorify God with the good works He has given you? Are the books that you will read a source of glorifying yourself and feeding your self-worth or will you challenge yourself to know God first and conform your heart to the heart of Christ (read more theology).

Rebel

I asked you all last time to embrace rebellion against the world.

After the death of Christ there were about 100 followers, how could 100 people make a difference? They did.

In the middle of Ephesus - the Temple of Atrimus (one of the 7 Wonders of the Ancient World), Paul spoke at a theater of 3500 people who came to watch fights to the death and plays of hypocrites. He used the tools of the world to preach the Good News. Paul used it to convert the rich and poor and slave.

Demetrius the silversmith stirred up against Paul for ruining his trade of idol-making and the tax system of Ephesus. The Gospel message ruined one of the biggest trades of one of the biggest cities, at one of the biggest pagan centers, at one of the biggest tax sources of Rome. All that’s left today is a marshy swamp of rubble.

The stronghold of Rome in Cappadocia became the first church buildings. Carved into the volcanic rock. And became an underground network for some to hide when Muslim raiders would later chase after Christians.

Christians used the Roman roads to spread the Gospel. Used persecution as motivation and Christianity conquered by the Word (not the sword).

Paul was beheaded and yet the rich were pulled to brotherly love for their slaves and the poor. Men who sought prostitution became men of one wife. Women who sacrificed to idols for their desires now focused on prayer to the known God. New societies were formed and the stories they told still carry us along today. Paul stood in the midst of all the idols of the world and called people to rebel against the ideas of the day and some laughed and others ekklesia-ed to him.

In Acts 17, Paul rebelled against the status quo and proclaimed Jesus as the Christ in the midst of the synagogue. “And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a great many of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women”. Some hated this and dragged out some believers to the city authorities and declared “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also, and acting against the decrees of Caesar saying that there is another king, Jesus”.

How will you serve? Who will you serve? Brothers and sisters, ekklesia with us - assemble with us in this church and the Universal Church - as we live in a world we are called to continue to turn upside down and declare that there is one King - Jesus the Christ.