New Construction

COMING SOON! the sign goes up along the highway, the equipment moves in; excavation begins, buildings, parking lots, landscaping…boom! a new church

Not in 1st Century Jerusalem

It didn’t start with a great fanfare

Nobody announced it ahead of time; not even a building at the time

Not even social media advertising of the great revival speaker: Peter the Apostle

Whuddathunkit?

This thing we now look back at, call it Pentecost

Preaching of the Gospel with a call to repentance

Recognition of sin and repentance by a large number

Baptism—yes, I believe we’re talking about physical baptism

Now something new is happening among those new believers

Something that will grow, be dispersed, sprout in in new places, believers would be harassed, killed, spread throughout the world, spread this thing we now call the Church... and still be going today

The Church!

Our word derives from old English circe (cyrice)…really nerdy…back to Gr. kurios

This was a great assembly, something new

The root is kaleo, to call; this assembly is of the “called out ones”

This group, called out from among their culture

We, today, called out from all that surrounds us; we SHOULD be different

Thinking in terms of believers,

We will shortly see it as the church, a new endeavor—not what anyone else had ever seen

We recognize the Church universal and the local church—local groups of “called out” ones

We will see three things that typified this assembly: Gathering. Giving. Growing.

Gathering Church

English Standard Version (Chapter 2)

...they devoted themselves to...

Exactly what does “devoted” convey? Intently engaging in...

one lexicon, persist obstinately !!

…the apostles’ teaching and...

…the fellowship (koinonia), …the breaking of bread is included in the fellowship

As Baptists, lots of carbohydrates, fats and, of course, coffee!

POSSIBLY, the breaking of bread include celebration of the Lord’s Supper, along with a common meal

Paul’s critique of the Corinthian Church would indicate that was the case

…the prayers—what had once been formal and ritualistic was now alive

Not just pre-written prayers…though they may have used known patterns of prayer

They may have prayed the Shema: Hear, oh Israel, the LORD, the Lord your God. is One!

…but the prayers would begin to take on new, personal dimensions

They’d understood God as a national God, now a personal God

Connection to v. 46

…attending the temple

…meeting/sharing food in homes, sharing meals was a culturally significant thing—bonding between parties

Within these group activities, the miracles and signs continued

Likely all relates to the “having favor with all the people:

The people noticed…and liked what they saw

Giving

…had all things in common

…selling their “stuff”

…distributing as there was need

Praising here is tied to the giving!

From the giving, they were gaining favor with all the people

We will see a couple with a major disconnect when we get to chapter 5

Despite thoughts to the contrary, this was not any form or prototype of socialism

It was voluntary…no centralized control…nothing forced or coerced

Holman’s NT Commentary sums this up nicely

Acts F. Purpose of the Spirit’s Coming (vv. 42–47)

The early church was marked by faithful attendance—meeting together daily in the temple courts. They prayed, gave, ate, and rejoiced together. They practiced the presence of Jesus—still a good idea for his people.

It would seem that these new converts, entering into this new adventure, couldn’t get enough of each other—

Comment with Terry and Rosemary last week “People just don’t want to leave—a good problem to have!”

…and the church was...

Growing

…the Lord added to their number...

...day by day

...those being saved

First thing to note: It was God’s work that brought the growth

Yes, the preaching/teaching and other activities were tools; but God brought the salvation of each person

The growth was steady

WITFM?

Note first the intensity of the gathering

In the temple courts—

In homes—possible other public places…we can only guess where they may have met

It was what they wanted to do—there was something happening EVERY DAY

Note the devotion…persistently obstinate! They didn’t let things get in their way

Note the teaching

Scholars suggest that the teaching, since they were devout Jews, came from the OT, linking what they’ grown up knowing, to this Jesus they had now met, in whose church they were now participating

They fellowshipped—developing relationships in ways they’d likely never had before

This was a religion of love

They’d understood “love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength—even if it had been devalued to a rote, ritualistic experience

Now they saw the “love your neighbor” piece of that in a way they’d never seen before…and it would intensify as the years would go on in the experience of the Church

The would understand the commandment of Jesus in John 13 34

John 13:34 ESV

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.

In our Current Context

We are a local church, we have a constitution, by-laws, membership process—far more complex than the early church had

Guidance from the Reformation what a church is:

Luther’s statement, as embodied in the Augsburg Confession (1530), defined the church as “the congregation of saints in which the gospel is rightly taught and the Sacraments rightly administered” (Article 7).37 Similarly, John Calvin said, “Wherever we see the Word of God purely preached and heard, and the sacraments administered according to Christ’s institution, there, it is not to be doubted, a church of God exists.”

So, at the bare minimums, we fulfill what Luther taught---but how about Calvin?

He adds that the Word must be purely preached and heard

We are dedicated to expositional preaching—exegetical preaching

The message comes from the Word, and we make it as plain as we can

That’s why we give the nuances of time, culture, concurrent events, oddities of language

All part of making it plain

…but is everyone hearing…is everyone doing? James 1 22

James 1:22 ESV

But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.

Are we gathering regularly? Heb 10 25

Hebrews 10:25 ESV

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.

In 50 years, the data has changed: 2-3 times/week to twice/month

Not taking every opportunity for fellowship/encouragement and growth? Why not?

Could anyone say your are persistently obstinate about worshiping God? Meeting with believers? Taking opportunities to study/be taught the Word?

How about this fellowship stuff? Hospitality was something expected in the Middle East in that time

How hospitable are we? Do we share our selves, our homes, our meals…even meeting for coffee is getting to be more of a rarity

How are we with our “stuff?” Do we hold it so tightly that it gets in the way of our relationships with other believers?

Are we growing?—lets stay away from the corporate aspect—we are, actually

But are you growing? The text deals with grown of the corporate body…but we ask this question on a personal level, are you growing in the grace and knowledge of the Lord?

Ordinances

We don’t use the word “sacraments” in our circles, we observe two

Baptism and the Lord’s Supper

Baptism is for believers, a mark of obedience, not to be entered into lightly

The Lord’s Supper is also only for believers—as sort of family meal

Paul cautioned about that—only believers, not living in unrepented sin, not holding grudges,

To participate