Two Examples of Church Members

This evening we’re going to study from the book of Acts in chapters 4 and 5 as we look at what it means to participate and serve in the local church. Some are a little confused about the idea of joining a church but we see in Scripture that this is exactly what happens to Christians. Think about the New Testament, we have the Gospels and the book of Acts which chronicles the history of the early church in a post-resurrection world, and then what do we have? Romans - which is what? A letter to the CHURCH in Rome. 1/2 Corinthians? Galatians? Ephesians? Philippians? Colossians? 1/2 Thessalonians? What are these letters? Letters to CHURCHES. Being a part of the local church mattered in the New Testament world and it matters in our world today! In the New Testament there were elders who were instructed to do this

1 Peter 5:1–4 CSB

1 I exhort the elders among you as a fellow elder and witness to the sufferings of Christ, as well as one who shares in the glory about to be revealed: 2 Shepherd God’s flock among you, not overseeing out of compulsion but willingly, as God would have you; not out of greed for money but eagerly; 3 not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. 4 And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.

The word elder here is not in reference to old people - the word is presbutros and it’s an office within the New Testament church. Some churches call these officers pastors, some still call them elders which is the word used most often in the Bible and one of these days we’ll talk more about elders and deacons and what their function was in Scripture - but what we see clearly in 1 Peter 5 is that there is a charge from the chief shepherd, Jesus Christ, to these under shepherds to do what? To shepherd God’s flock among them. The call is not to shepherd all the people. Not to shepherd people from other flocks. But to shepherd God’s flock among them - to shepherd and lead and pray for and encourage the people that God sent to their respective congregations. This is the same today. My command from the Lord is to shepherd the people here at FBC Salem in a way that glorifies Jesus and honors His Word. We see throughout the New Testament this idea of Biblical church membership - not lone rangers doing their own thing divorced from the church and also not people who were on a church membership roll but who didn’t serve or attend the gatherings. Those people are not church members - they might be, but Biblically that’s not church membership.

Why do people not seem to care much about church membership?

Goes against our consumerism mentality - we don’t just consume, we have to contribute as well

Accountability - we have others depending on us

Never been taught its importance

What we see in the book of Acts is the rapid explosion of the New Testament church. We see Peter’s first sermon in Acts 2 and 3,000 people come to faith in Christ as Lord and Savior. In Acts 4 we see Peter preach another sermon and 5,000 men come to faith in Christ and we aren’t told the number of women and children. Scholars estimate that by the time the church first faces persecution in chapter 4, there are nearly 20,000 members of the church in Jerusalem - that’s a megachurch! God is building His church and people are being saved and all is going so well as the Gospel is being proclaimed faithfully. Notice this in the first few chapters in Acts - salvation didn’t follow signs and wonders. It didn’t follow altar calls. It didn’t follow emotional music. It didn’t follow any ounce of manipulation. It simply followed the preaching of the Word. God’s Word doesn’t return void and as we look around our world, we are seeing churches with a high view of Scripture and an emphasis on expository preaching experiencing spiritual growth and this is the way God designed things to be as we see that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the WORD. This growth caused the leaders of the church rejoice to the Lord even whenever persecution came knocking on their doorstep.

Toward the end of Acts 4, we see that the people are praying and they aren’t praying for deliverance (shocker, because many churches today are exclusively praying for deliverance and breakthroughs). Look at Acts 4:29

Acts 4:29 CSB

29 And now, Lord, consider their threats, and grant that your servants may speak your word with all boldness,

This is the backdrop to our text this evening. The church is growing and persecution is rising. Their prayer isn’t for an easy life. Their prayer isn’t for things to go back to how they used to be. Their prayer is for boldness to do what God wants them to do. That they would have boldness to speak the truth in love to a watching world in desperate need of the Gospel.

Why do people often pray for deliverance over boldness in our world?

We think that we know what is right - suffering/persecution = bad and healing/health/wealth = good

We want a suffering-free life

My prayer for our church in the days to come is that God would provide us with boldness to do the work that He has in store for each one of us. We are living in a messed up, broken, sinful world that needs the Gospel just like Jerusalem 2000 years ago. These disciples are about to be hunted down by men like Saul and other Roman and Jewish leaders and their prayer isn’t that God would grant them safety… it’s that God would grant them boldness and faithfulness to be obedient to God’s task at hand. May this be our prayer as a church and as individuals in 2023 and beyond. Tonight we’re going to look at 2 different types of church members in this early church. First, let’s look at Acts 4:32-37 and see the example of encouragement, faith, service, and sacrifice in Barnabas.

Acts 4:32–37 CSB

32 Now the entire group of those who believed were of one heart and mind, and no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but instead they held everything in common. 33 With great power the apostles were giving testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was on all of them. 34 For there was not a needy person among them because all those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the proceeds of what was sold, 35 and laid them at the apostles’ feet. This was then distributed to each person as any had need. 36 Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus by birth, the one the apostles called Barnabas (which is translated Son of Encouragement), 37 sold a field he owned, brought the money, and laid it at the apostles’ feet.

What an amazing testimony of these early believers - note verse 32, this statement is made of those who believed. Those who believed in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior were of one heart and mind and held all things in common. This is what happens whenever we remember our helpless state before Christ and the miracle of our salvation in the first place. We have unity as Paul talks about in Ephesians 4:1-6 whenever we remember all that Christ has done for us and how underserving we really are of that salvation!

There should be a unity among Christians because of the Gospel and because of our salvation and because of our common mission to glorify God by proclaiming the Gospel, making disciples, and loving God and others as He commands! This doesn’t mean that they didn’t ever disagree about things - we’ll see an example of this in Acts 15 as the early church did have some disagreements and our church will too because we’re people. But even though we are people who think differently and are wired differently, there must be a unity within Christ’s body as we unite to fulfill His mission.

What are some genuine threats to unity within the church?

We don’t really know Christ - we’re about ourselves (See Acts 5)

We always think we’re right

We misunderstand our purpose

We elevate a secondary issue to a primary issue. We quarrel over preference over priority.

Whenever growth is taking place its easy to fall into 2 extremes: Either 1) We normalize what God is doing or, 2) We attribute what God is doing to us. Both are categorically wrong. We have to fight against these temptations! God is growing His church and the biggest threat to this movement of the Lord inside His church is the members of His church not doing what God wants them to do and getting stuck in their blessed assurance or boasting about their actions or saying things like this, “I saved so and so.” Or, “I did ______.” It’s the Lord. We have to remember what He has done and what He commands us to do and leave the results up to His perfect plan.

1 Corinthians 3:6–7 CSB

6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. 7 So, then, neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.

We have to remember this! Tony Merida put it like this years ago, “When God’s grace is at work, God’s people get generous.” We get generous with our time, talent, and treasure - and by the grace of God I see this with so many of you all and others within our church. Generosity on the rise and God is honoring that and we are seeing a harvest! But it’s not about us - it’s about God. He’s using us, yes, but He doesn’t have to. These early Christians were trusting in the Lord even during persecution, and God was using them to meet needs both physical and spiritual. One example of this is found at the end of the chapter as Joseph of Cyprus sold a field he owned and gave the money he collected to the disciples so that they could help those in need. We see an example here of a man better known as Barnabas (who shows up 23x in the book of Acts as a chief encourager) who practices genuine generosity.

What we need is to pray that God would help us be church members who practice Godly generosity just like Barnabas. Maybe this is by selling something and giving the money to the church for a mission endeavor, I’ll shoot straight and tell you that there are ministry things that we would love to do if those funds were present! Maybe, though, this is a call to serve faithfully with our time and talents and not do so in order to get our name in the bulletin or to have our name in a classroom, but to simply give faithfully and serve sacrificially in order to worship Jesus well and to further the Kingdom of God and starting that all here in our local church.

What are some characteristics that make up a good church member?

Servant hearted

Fruit of the Spirit

Generous Giver

Faithful Follower of Jesus

Persistent Prayer

We see an example here of a person focused on the glory of Christ and the proclamation of the Gospel who was willing to help others and maintain unity - this is what we all need as we think about what God expects of us today and in the days to come. This is the church member that we should strive to be. Let’s keep looking at the other example Dr. Luke gives us in the next chapter.

Acts 5:1–11 CSB

1 But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property. 2 However, he kept back part of the proceeds with his wife’s knowledge, and brought a portion of it and laid it at the apostles’ feet. 3 “Ananias,” Peter asked, “why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the proceeds of the land? 4 Wasn’t it yours while you possessed it? And after it was sold, wasn’t it at your disposal? Why is it that you planned this thing in your heart? You have not lied to people but to God.” 5 When he heard these words, Ananias dropped dead, and a great fear came on all who heard. 6 The young men got up, wrapped his body, carried him out, and buried him. 7 About three hours later, his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. 8 “Tell me,” Peter asked her, “did you sell the land for this price?” “Yes,” she said, “for that price.” 9 Then Peter said to her, “Why did you agree to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.” 10 Instantly she dropped dead at his feet. When the young men came in, they found her dead, carried her out, and buried her beside her husband. 11 Then great fear came on the whole church and on all who heard these things.

What is the greatest threat to the Church?

Government?

Leaders?

Policies?

Persecution?

Media?

None of the above. Hypocrisy from within.

There was nothing that said that people had to give their proceeds from their property and give it to the church. This wasn’t a command, it was a conviction for some to help others just as it is for some today. Now, giving isn’t a matter of conviction, giving is something that is instructed even in the New Testament… but the amount of giving is still a matter of conviction. Some are convicted to give 10% while others are convicted to give 20%. Here’s the problem with Ananias and Sapphira… They were convicted to give, but they gave for the wrong reasons and impure motives. They wanted everyone to think that they were giving 100% of their proceeds from this transaction but they had actually kept some of the money while making a big deal to everyone else that they were donating everything. They were hypocrites and liars.

How many of you have heard the expression that God loves the sinner and hates the sin? We’ve all heard this and there’s a positive aspect of the statement as God does love His creation and we are made in God’s image… but look at Acts 5. Does God kill sin or does kill the sinner? We have to understand how seriously God takes sin, friends! Sin is a big deal.

Tony Merida shares that there were 7 things that Ananias and Sapphira did wrong here

They were spiritual posers

They were praise seekers

They were liars

They were greedy

They were deceivers

They were Satan’s instruments

They were Spirit grievers

Let’s think about the ramifications of their actions this evening. They lied and they died… this cost them their lives, but it also impacted numerous others as our sin does today. Our sin impacts ourselves and our relationships with others, even years later! Who was impacted by the sin of Ananias and Sapphira?

The whole congregation as they had great fear

God is so holy that He takes sin so seriously and we must take it seriously as well. God is jealous about His glory and whenever we attempt to rob God of His glory by overemphasizing our credit or holding back from what He has done, we do just this. As we go forward as a congregation, we have to remember that God has a purpose and plan for us. Ananias and Sapphira cared more about what people thought about them than they did the glory and praise of God - whenever we care more about our comforts and our praise, we are in for a rude awakening.

Conclusion

Expect great things from God. Attempt great things for God! - William Carey

We must be a people who prayerfully expect God to do the things that He promises to do and we must partner with Him and accomplish His plan for our lives as we rely on His power.

At FBC Salem, my prayer is that we would be a people who faithfully preach the Gospel to the saved and the lost and that we go about the Lord’s business of glorifying Him in all that we do as we proclaim His Gospel, make disciples, and love Him and others. The model in Acts is that the preaching of the Word changes lives and this is still true today. We need to be members who serve faithfully, give generously, pray persistently, encourage eagerly, and hunger for the Word while striving for Godly unity.

God has a role for us as members of His church: To pray and live in harmony as we serve together. We don’t all look alike. We don’t think the same. We might have different backgrounds, interests, and jobs… but we have the same Gospel message to share in our community. Our culture of individualism must bend the knee to Scripture because God designed us to do life together. Christianity is a team sport comprised of multiple members and the New Testament talks about the church in reference to a body often. We need one another. We must cling to Christ and as we do this in Christian community, we realize that others are clinging to Him as well and we must encourage one another!

How has a member of this church encouraged you in recent days?

Pete - David - Others as they’ve had faith during their fires

To borrow from my New Members material: Don’t ask what FBC Salem can do for you, ask what you can do for FBC Salem through the power of the Holy Spirit as we partner together to glorify Jesus in all that we say and do. This is the Barnabas approach. What can I do to glorify Jesus. What can I do to reach others. What can I do to help those in need. How can I serve? How can I help? Let’s pray that Jesus would help us be this type of church member as we strive to make a dent in Dent County for the glory of God!

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