A Contagious Community

Since the CoVid-19 pandemic, we have a new understanding of the power of contagion. Before then, most of us hardly gave any thought to what might be contagious. Oh, for sure, we were careful to cover our mouths when we coughed or our noses when we sneezed; and for sure, none of us would have used each other’s fork or toothbrush, but we weren’t so obsessed as we became during the pandemic. For example, I remember we ordered our groceries from Target on an app, which a person gathered for us and delivered to our doorstep; not inside the house — on the doorstop: contact-free delivery, they called it. The delivery person would text us when he or she had all the bags in front of the door and then they left. Then we would go out, bring the bags of groceries inside the house; and then, with disinfecting cloths, we wiped down all the bags, all the cans, all the boxes, everything. After everything was disinfected, we washed our hands with soap and hot water. We were so obsessed with avoiding any possibility of becoming exposed to germs, or people who might be contagious. Remember, “social distancing,” as if we were all like those big trucks delivering chemicals or fuel. You know, those trucks that have the big sticker on the back that says, “Keep your distance.”

Now, I’m not saying we should be reckless or put ourselves in danger of catching the flu or a virus. We should wash our hands, disinfect our houses, and stuff like that that keeps us healthy and keeps us from getting sick. But, just maybe, we became just a little germaphobic.

Imagine this: what if we were contagious — not with CoVid or the flu or some other disease — but what if our commitment to Jesus and the gospel were contagious? What if we were so contagious with the love of God that people who came into contact with us were eternally “infected"? What if we were a contagious church? Contagious with love and grace and joy.

Especially since CoVid-19, the word, contagious, is given negative connotations. But there are positive connotations. Have you ever known someone with a contagious smile? Or been around someone with contagious energy or a contagious spirit? You’ve probably known someone — or maybe you’re that someone — who walks in the room and it lights up; or whose laugh is so contagious that everyone is infected with laughter when they laugh.

That’s the kind of “contagious” I’m talking about.

Personally, I think there is an increasing joy and excitement that is contagious at Calvary. What if our joy in the journey of following Jesus, our joy in the glory of the Lord, and our joy in being Christ's ambassadors, will become contagious in the community. What if our love and worship of the Lord became contagious in the community beyond our walls. What if we become a contagious church? What could God do?

So for the next several weeks, that’s what we’re going to explore and work toward on Sunday mornings: becoming a contagious church.

Today, we start the process by exploring Acts 2:41-47, a fairly well-known story in the Book of Acts that begins Luke’s narrative of the early church. The gospel spread, and the church grew out of a contagious spiritual revival in Jerusalem during the feast of Pentecost. The narrative gives us the basic principles of being a contagious church. Acts 2:41-47 tells the story of a church whose selfless, faithful and compassionate devotions, atmosphere and faithfulness to the gospel built a contagious church and how the gospel quickly spread in Jerusalem, and finally to all points in every direction. If they did it then, we can do the same in our time and in our context. This passage sets the foundation for the entire series.

So, let’s get started.

Verse 41 serves as both a summary of the results of Peter’s sermon at Pentecost and transitions the reader to a new topic: the amazing spread of the gospel through a spiritually contagious church.

“So those who accepted his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand people were added to them.”

Now, that’s contagious! One man preached a sermon and three thousand people were saved. Of course, if we read the Pentecost story, we’d remember that the contagion was more than a sermon. The Holy Spirit empowered Peter and the other believers and convicted those hearing the sermon of their sin. So, as we pursue this idea of becoming a contagious church, we need to make sure we understand that becoming contagious with the gospel is not something we can create on our own, but must be — has to be — a work of the Holy Spirit, in and through us, and in our community. And when we are empowered and filled with the Holy Spirit, what this early church in Jerusalem became, we can become. And just look at the results: the explosive growth of the gospel.

Acts 1:5 numbers the disciples of Jesus at 120. In Acts 2:41, what we just read, about three thousand were added. By Acts 4:4, the disciples numbered five thousand. And from Acts 5:14, onward, Luke simply recorded that the number of believers continued to increase steadily: Acts 5:14; 6:1, 7; 9:31; 11:21. It should be noted that at the end of Acts, the picture Luke presents is the unhindered growth of the gospel:

Acts 28:30-31 “Paul stayed two whole years in his own rented house. And he welcomed all who visited him, proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus Christ with all boldness and without hindrance.”

Here’s what we learn from this early example of a contagious church:

1. A contagious church is devoted to God and each other (42, 46).

The word devotion describes something that happens without contingency; to persevere in a present action. The form of the word is a participle, meaning they were "devoted ones". This implies that their devotion was part of their spiritual DNA that made them who they were and what they did.

a devotion to apostles’ teachings: The apostles taught the O.T. Scriptures and Christ’s teachings. In other words, the believers were continually learning.

a devotion to fellowship: The word fellowship conveys a sense of commonality, solidarity, and shared responsibility; even sharing their resoures with one another. In other words, these disciples shared life together.

a devotion to breaking of bread: “breaking of bread” in verse 42 refers to the Lord’s Supper. However verse 46 uses is a differeent verb for breaking, and likely refers to sharing meals together, from house to house. Table fellowship in that day denoted intimacy and trust.

a devotion to prayer: "Holy Spirit-empowered prayer will be the very atmosphere of the young church in the chapters that follow. The word is used some thirty-four times in Luke-Acts (only fifty times more in the entire NT). It is a defining element of the New Testament Church."

“The earliest converts in Central Africa had no churches or private rooms in which to pray. So each chose a separate spot in the thicket, where he could hold communion with God. The paths to these places became distinctly marked. “When one of the converts became lukewarm and indifferent, the others would gently rebuke him. ‘Brother,’ they would say, ‘the grass is growing on your path yonder.’ “If we get slack about our ‘quiet times’ with God, the grass will grow on our paths, and others will see it in lives that fail to glorify their Lord.” Source: CSSM Magazine (1940). – John Stott, The Preacher’s Notebook: The Collected Quotes, Illustrations, and Prayers of John Stott, ed. Mark Meynell (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2018).

2. A contagious church lives with a sense of holy awe and wonder (43).

3. A contagious church is bound by a genuine and strong unity (44a).

“Together” means something much deeper than a shared location. They were together in relationship and purpose.

The word translated “together” is commonly used in Acts to express unity of purpose and particularly applies to the “one heart and mind” (4:32) of the Christian fellowship (cf. 1:14; 2:1; 4:24; 5:12; 15:25).

4. A contagious church is generous in its giving (44b-45)

There was an outward expression of their unity: a community sharing of property and goods. That kind of community was not necessarily unknown, but it was not common. "Josephus described the Essenes’ surrender of possessions as mandatory upon entering the community. The early church is different; the stress is on the voluntary generosity of the believers among themselves."

Verse 45 describes the specifics of their generosity. What was being sold were both property and goods. Then the proceeds were distributed (lit., separated) to those in need — the criterion for receiving.

they held all things in common

they sold their possessions

they distributed the proceeds

5. A contagious church is filled with praise (47a)

6. A contagious church is influential (47b)

7. A contagious church grows (47c)

consistent (“every day”)

by the Lord’s power (“the Lord added)

through the gospel (“those who were being saved”)

Shark Bay, Australia, should perhaps consider a name change to Seagrass Bay, since the largest resident isn’t a great white predator, but a single seagrass meadow. After discovering that the whole bay’s worth of seagrass spread from one seed and was all part of the same plant, it instantly became the world’s largest plant—as large as 20,000 football fields. At 77 square miles, it’s three-times the size of Manhattan, and could be 4,500 years old to boot.

Jane Edgeloe and colleagues took samples from several stalks from across Shark Bay. They wanted to find out how many individual plants made up the rich meadow, which spreads 110 miles throughout the giant inlet. Edelgoe said, “The answer blew us away—there was just one! That’s it, just one plant has expanded over 112 miles in Shark Bay, making it the largest known plant on Earth.”

The sea grass plant in Australia is big, sure enough; but it is not the largest living organism on earth. The church is. Christ’s church has grown from One Seed: the gospel. What began as 120 followers in Jerusalem has covered the planet with millions of believers and churches. In the same was, a local church can also grow in size and influence.

Don’t you want to be a part of a contagious, growing, powerful, awesome, Spirit-filled church? God is moving us in that direction. But each one of us must …

be devoted

filled with a sense of awe and wonder of God’s power,

build unity,

be generous in giving,

filled with praise,

express God’s grace,

and growing in our own spiritual maturity.

It’s going to take each one of us saying,

I will be a contagious Christian.