Summer of Discipleship: Life in Community
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And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.
Welcome to our Family Sunday here at Confessors of Christ Church.
Whenever we have a 5th Sunday in a month we gather with children and adults and worship together through Song, Word, Prayer, and Communion.
So, it may be a bit louder than normal, perhaps a few more distractions, but I would encourage you to focus on the joy of family worship.
We do have a nursery area setup so that if your little ones need a break to get their sillies out, it is in the back hall.
Feel free to take advantage of that space should it be more comfortable for you at any time.
We have audio sent to that area as well, so you will not miss anything.
Now, the summer series continues as we seek to explore the different aspects of discipleship and how it will strengthen our faith and
Equip us for the purpose and the mission of our creation.
This week is especially important for the young and the old.
Those who are single and those who are currently raising families, as well as
for those who have sent their kids off into the world and wondering, now what?
Today we will seek to understand community, and not just community in the general sense, but Christian community.
So what on earth is Christian community? I’m glad you asked.
The question we will seek to answer is this: Has God created a unique and purposeful community that believer’s should participate in?
And I know you will be disappointed for me to spoil the answer from the get go, but the answer is yes.
There is something unique and beautiful about God’s design for community to be experienced by the believer.
Looking into the different aspects of this answer is what we will hope to discover together this morning.
And I am really excited about it! This is one of my favorite aspects of the Christian life.
But, can also be one of the most difficult, frustrating, and trying aspects of the Christian life.
Yet, even in the difficulties, God is working in and through us to bring about His purpose and plan along with our growth and joy.
I’m excited to share about these different aspects with you this morning, so let’s dive in!
Let’s begin with a more general question, because more than likely we will all have different answers, and this will effect our understanding.
What do you think of when you think of community?
In general, what comes to mind when you hear this word?
Could it be something fun? Could it be something terrifying?
Do you think of the community you live in? Is community based on a group of houses or an apartment complex?
Do you think of a hobby or group that enjoys the same things? Think: Community Theatre, Gaming community?
Do you think of a people group or ethnic gathering, that these are the people of your community.
Depending where you are in life and who you engage with will determine much of your definition of community.
My teens for example share what could be described as community with other teens here at church.
I say could, because entire conversations are had with just gifs and no words are exchanged, yet everyone knows what each other are talking about.
I did not know that you can have an entire conversation without saying a word. But, apparently this is possible.
Online I am a part of a community of Detroit Tiger’s baseball fans, were we spend time consoling each other and reminding ourselves that there is always next year.
So, it is apparent that there are different ways this term of community can be used and is based around a grouping of people united by something.
If we seek a definition, we can define community as:
A group of people living in the same place and/or having a particular characteristic in common such as sharing common interest and goals.
Which can bring us to another question, if this is what community is, then what is the purpose of community?
If you live in an HOA community, apparently the purpose of a community is to complain about everything.
I do not live in one, I may be wrong, it just seems to be what I hear to be the case.
The purpose could be to fulfill a void or a longing inside. Community’s purpose could be self-serving.
In the gaming community, one aspect is to get tips and hints so that you can beat a game or progress pass a point in which you are stuck.
On the flip side it could be to offer help so that you have a sense of purpose and feel needed.
Now we begin wading into deeper physiological waters for community.
While my goal is not to get dark in our discovery, it is important to at least acknowledge the different facets of community as we experience it.
This now can lead us to the why.
Why is it that we have community?
Perhaps maybe a great question would be this: Why are we drawn to community. Why do we have a longing for community.
A desire to not be alone. A void that we wish to be filled.
Does God have a plan for us in community? Is there a purpose is this longing and desire that is God breathed?
If the answer is yes, and I assure you it is, then we should ask this as well.
How does the Gospel influence and guide us in community?
And lastly my favorite question to explore is this: How is the Gospel made beautiful through Community?
This is what we are going to explore together.
Let us open our Bibles or turn them on if that is your preference and we are going to camp out in one paragraph today.
While we will explore other verses we are going to focus our attention in the book of Acts, so let us turn or scroll there now.
Acts is in the New Testament, toward the back of our Bible’s, and it is the first book after the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
If you get to Roman’s or Corinthians you have gone too far.
We are going to be in Chapter 2 and verses 42-47.
The Chapter numbers are the large numbers in your bible and the verses are the smaller ones.
These numbers were added in the 1500s to help us find places in our Bible quicker.
So let us now look at the inerrant and infallible Word of God as we hear this section in its entirety before we break it down.
And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.
These are the Words of God.
What we see in this section is the beginning of the local church.
The book of Acts is really a book about the beginning and the continuation of the church,
The beginning of the local and global community of believers.
This community does not begin slowly and quietly over time, this community began with an explosion and
was united around the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.
The book of Acts begins with the Ascension of Jesus back into heaven.
Then the Apostles are empowered with the Holy Spirit and take to the streets and temple to proclaim to truth of the Gospel.
Through the proclamation of the Gospel, some 3000 people believe.
The result was that they repented and were baptized and joined the apostles and disciples in the very first Christian community.
These converts were also from all over the world as they descended upon Jerusalem for the festival and thus returned to their hometown with the Gospel.
There the Good News of Jesus spread to these areas and new Christian communities were formed.
Today, this work continues and Get this! You are sitting in an expression of this Christian Community that began 2000 years ago, here this morning.
Which is a very cool reality to ponder and meditate on.
So, what we see here is we have a community, united together, by the power of the Spirit, due to the accomplished work of Christ, and the plan of the Father.
This community is unified not in a hobby, or a fad, or anything of the natural, but united together in the supernatural. (Pause)
We think of sci-fi, and star wars, and aliens, when we think of terms like supernatural or something that isn’t what we naturally experience.
We can go to Mega-Con and see all sorts of wild imaginations that can be considered supernatural, but really what we mean is made up.
We tend to think of these things as fake or CGI, and this is true of our some of our favorite shows, but God’s power and work is not a work of fiction.
God is supernatural because He works outside of what He has established as natural to our experience.
So, what we discover first and foremost, is that the first community of believers and even this community of believers today, is a community of the supernatural.
Which is pretty amazing that we are part of something much greater than imaginable.
Now that we have the background to what was happening and how this community began, we are lead into our first verse of today’s text.
And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.
First I want to share a very important part that we must grasp if we are going to read our Bibles correctly.
What we are reading is what we would call a descriptive text. (Kiddos I want you to say descriptive)
What this means is that we are being told what happened.
We are not being told that we are to do, we are being told what is happening, or what is happening is being described to us.
Thus, this is not a command for us, but a description of what happened.
Therefore, this is known as a descriptive text.
The reason this is important is that we must not take descriptive texts and make commands of them.
Doing so means that we are misinterpreting the Bible.
Now, before you get very concerned about my interpretation, we do see prescriptive texts elsewhere calling us to what we see described here.
Kiddos say Prescriptive. Prescriptive is when something is prescribed for us to do.
If you receive a prescription from your doctor in the form of medicine, the doctor is telling you to take these as he sees fit.
What we have before us is a descriptive scene.
However, we will discover that we see described in this section, we will see prescribed throughout the New Testament.
I’ll be pointing this out as we go along, but I believe it is important that we are aware of these differences as we understand the teachings of Scripture.
Hopefully I did not just really confuse you, but it is very important concept that we must grasp as we mature in our understanding of the Bible.
So, what do we see here?
And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.
What we have before us is our model that we use for our weekly gathering here at Confessors of Christ Church.
We have the teaching of the apostles, we have fellowship, we have communion, and we have our time of prayer.
Let’s look at each of these together.
The first expression of a Christian community is a community of believers united to God’s Word.
The teachings of the Apostles were the teachings of the Old Testament, absolutely.
The teaching of the Apostles were the future Gospels, which they were declaring having lived with and along side of Jesus.
The teaching of the Apostles would also be the outworking of the Gospels as we see throughout the New Testament.
This must be the focus of every congregation and every believer.
We are to be rooted to and tethered to the Word of God.
We do not have Apostles today, anyone who claims they are a frauds, but we do have their teachings and our devotion is to these.
Not because of the Apostles in and of themselves, but because of God’s purposes to reveal Himself through the apostles.
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
Here we see a command that coincides to what the Apostles were doing.
We have God breathed teachings, that are to be used for, reproof, correction, training, so that the Christian is equipped.
These teachings are not the teachings created by the Apostles, but are the teachings given to us by God.
We are given these teachings for benefit of the believer and the encouragement of the community.
Next in our verse, going back to Acts 2:42, We see this community devoted to fellowship.
They not only devoted themselves to God but the outworking of this meant that they devoted themselves to each other.
If we jump ahead we see a continuation of this thought.
And all who believed were together and had all things in common.
To be in community from a Christian stand point, we must be together.
Physically, yes, but also spiritually and emotionally.
What does it mean to have all things in common?
Well, it doesn’t mean because I love Lord of the Rings, you should love Lord of the Rings.
I mean you absolutely should love Lord of the Rings, but this isn’t what is meant by this.
I believe we are given a clearer understanding if we jump a couple of chapters forward.
Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common.
It seems this all things in common was that they were of one heart and one soul.
In other words they were united together through the Gospel that was proclaimed to them.
It also seems that they were also making sure that nobody was going without.
We have heard of this concept in the common cliche, “What’s mine is yours and what’s yours is mine.”
Or in an attempt to make my cuban Dad in Miami proud: “mi casa es su casa” meaning my house is your house.
The goal here is that we are together.
I am going to make sure that you do not go without.
We see the prescriptive of this throughout the New Testament but specifically in Hebrews.
Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.
While we are still sharing aspects of our fellowship let’s continue to verse 45 and see if this helps further our understanding of Christian community.
And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.
This verse certainly makes people a bit squeamish.
But, it is a continuation of what we just saw.
Here we see the first Christian community putting into action the teaching of the Apostles.
Note that the goal was not so that everyone was equal in having exactly the same thing or the same amount.
The goal was to make sure that no one was in need.
The Christian, united in community, has fellowship with everyone in the community, and
one aspect of this fellowship is a caring for one another’s needs.
All through the New Testament we see that we are to be in fellowship,
Paul tells us in Galatians to Serve through love, to carry one another’s burdens.
Romans tells us to love one another deeply and outdo one another in showing honor.
Thessalonians reminds us to encourage one another
1 Peter to be hospitable to each other and clothe ourself in humility toward one another.
We are not meant to be alone and the author of Hebrews plainly tells us not to forsake fellowship.
And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 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.
There is a tendency for those who bring up this verse to focus on the rule of coming to church and ignore what we see before or after in this verse.
You must come to church, you must be in fellowship, you must go to community groups and bible studies and serving opportunities.
Some of you are making a habit of not gathering with the saints and to that we say, “shame on you.”
Do you not know this command in Scripture?
And yes, we should gather with the saints, and yes, this is a command, but I think our focus should be on what is before and after the command.
Gathering means we are encouraging one another. How much and how often do you need encouragement?
God’s Word is here to encourage and strengthen you.
The Fellowship, prayer, sharing a meal, is meant to encourage you.
The goal of today’s gathering is to honor and glorify God, but the outworking of this should be a great encouragement to you.
If you come to church because you feel like you have to in order to be a good Christian, then stop coming to church.
Because none of us are “good.”
But let us come to be renewed, to be encouraged, to be reminded, to cast our eyes off of ourselves and upon our Savior.
Let us pray for one another, let us fellowship with one another, let us share meals together.
Have you jumped in with one of our community groups?
I highly recommend that you get with Brad, our other elder, and check one out.
At our community groups we share a meal together, we fellowship, we pray for one another,
And we talk about what God is doing through His Word in your life.
It is a wonderful and sweet time of encouragement that I would love for you to be a part of if you are not already.
Instead of looking at Church as something a Christian is commanded to do, and leaving it at that, look at the heart behind the commandment.
The heart behind it is to love each other, to encourage each other, to inspire one another.
This cannot be done in solidarity and you are missing out a beautiful aspect of community if you are not committed to the community of believers.
Let’s remind ourselves briefly of where we are at before we move on.
And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.
Now let us move to breaking bread and let’s connect this with verse 46.
And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts,
This is probably a reference to the Lord’s Supper as the sacrament was likely in the context of a meal.
Here we dedicate a time in our gathering to remembering and proclaiming our Lord’s Death and how it defeats death and sin.
What we see in this verse is the glad and generous heart that accompanied the Lord’s Supper and the fellowship of the saints.
This is not done in solidarity but in community.
We see Jesus prescribing the disciples to do this Matthew 26. We see Paul explaining to the church in Corinth that they are to do the same and
why this is important.
Thus we too should come together to do this.
But get this, their fellowship was not just on a Sunday, the first day of the week.
Yes, the believers made it a point to gather on the 1st day of the week instead of the last day of the week as the Old Testament declared,
But community was not just a once a week concept, this was a day by day enjoyment.
This was a continual aspect of the Christian life that was to be experienced.
If you think once a week commitment is hard then you probably will not like that being a Christian is a daily commitment.
But, if you are looking at this community as a commitment like you would i9 sports, or a job, or the gym, then you missed the point.
This is not a temporary enjoyment or a continual work that must be done until retired.
No, this is a new routine of life that is designed to give you life.
A new routine that God himself has designed to stir in you the affections and emotions of His goodness and glory in your life.
We see these gatherings are both big and small.
The temple provided a large enough place for large groups to gather and in their homes provided a space for a more intimate gathering.
We must not choose one or the other but embrace both aspects.
Embrace the large gathering of fellowship, preaching and teaching, singing and prayer.
But, also embrace the smaller gathering like our community groups and going out to dinner or inviting people over to hang out.
Back to Acts 2:42
And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.
This first community knew that they themselves could not accomplish anything without their dependance upon God.
We would do well to remind ourselves the very same.
This is one of the many reasons that prayer is so important to the Christian community.
We see the prescriptive in 1st Thessalonians
Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
This is why we set aside time during each service to speak to God through prayers of praise and petition.
We pray for God’s will to be done, and we pray for each other.
We pray that God would strengthen us and sustain us as well as guide us.
We pray knowing that, in and of ourselves, we cannot accomplish all that needs to be done.
Thus, we ask for God’s help and direction as we seek to love and care for each other and glorify His name.
Praying should be like breathing for the believer in Christian community.
How amazing is it to be united together with people who pray for you and with you.
In our jumping around verses 42-47 there are still two verses we need to cover.
Let’s look at verse 43.
And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles.
When we are united together in Christian community there will be an awe and wonder that surrounds us.
When we unite in what is bigger and grander than anything else we experience.
When we see that we are united beyond the natural but in the super-natural.
We will experience the awe and wonder of our God and we will do so together.
When we gather and declare the glories of our God, when we recount the blessings we receive.
When come together to bare one another burdens and lift each other up in prayer
You will begin to grasp the awe that the Spirit grants through the glory of God.
What we also see here is it wasn’t the signs and wonders that caused the awe, it was the community gathering in verse 42.
The community that was devoted to the teachings, the fellowship, the breaking of bread, the prayers.
This granted the Spirit given awe that came over everyone in the community.
The wonders and signs were done through the apostles to authenticate the message.
Now lets jump to our final verse, verse 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.
A christian community is one of joy and celebration.
Even in the dark times our hope is not in this world, our hope is not in our circumstances, our hope is in Jesus.
Who defeated Sin and Death and is preparing a place for us to be with our Savior for eternity.
We have much to praise and much to celebrate and what we see here is that causes others to take notice.
The early Christian community did not want to keep this Gospel, this Good News to themselves so they went out and shared it with others.
God gave them favor with the people and added to their numbers day by day those who were being saed.
We are called by Jesus Himself to go and make disciples.
We are called to share of Jesus and declare His glory.
The Christian community is not an inward community but an outward community.
We do not want to be exclusive but inclusive.
Our goal is to tell the world and bring them in to experience the awe and wonder of Christ.
So, this brings us back to the questions we asked in the beginning.
Does God have a plan for us in community? Is there a purpose in this longing and desire, that is God breathed?
The answer is absolutely, yes.
As we discovered, God has a plan and a purpose in uniting us together in Christ.
There is a community created by God to not only fulfill our needs and desires, but a community created by God to carry out His will and purpose.
This is not just a temporary or a community that you will find yourself in for a season, but something beyond our wildest imaginations.
This is an eternal community.
A community that isn’t about who you are, but who you know.
A community that doesn’t check to see if you are good enough, smart enough, wealthy enough, but a community that we find all of this in Christ.
We are good enough because Jesus was perfect and through his atonement made us perfect in the Father’s eyes.
We are smart enough, not because of what we have created, but because of what we have discovered through God’s Word.
We are rich enough because our wealth is not found in the global economy the changes with every shifting wind, but we are rich in Christ.
The one who owns all and created all and sustains all is who calls us His.
How does the Gospel influence and guide us in community?
The Gospel is the good news of Jesus.
Who came to rescue, redeem, ransom, and restore.
We look to Jesus, we rest in Jesus, we trust in Jesus, and live for Jesus.
Our community is a gathering of believers who seek to not only do this,
but also spread this Good news of Jesus to our friends, family, neighbors, and co-workers.
Therefore, the Good news of Jesus defeating sin and death and our future hope in Glory influences and guides us in Community.
And lastly my favorite question to explore is this: How is the Gospel made beautiful through Community?
In its basic Form the Gospel is discovering the greatness of God, realizing our rebellion against God, and trusting in Jesus bring us back to God.
Jesus does this through His perfect obedience to the law, by being a sacrifice for our sin and paying the penalty of our sin, and
defeating death through the resurrection with the promise of returning to bring us to Him.
This truth is made beautiful as we display the riches and wonders of this Gospel in community.
We gather to declare and be reminded of the greatness of God.
We gather to lament of our sinfulness and failures to follow God as we should.
But it is then, we are reminded of the amazing grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus, who stood in our place, and reconciled us to the Father.
Thus our community not only points to this, but our community also represents this.
We forgive in the community because we have been forgiven.
We love in the community because we have first been loved.
We encourage in the community because our soul’s have been encouraged through Christ.
We embrace each other in the highs and lows because we ourselves have been embraced by God.
The Gospel is made beautiful because we not only received the Gospel, but we now display the Gospel through Community.
This is what Christian community is all about and this is what you are invited into today.
Amen? Let’s pray