Be A Church that W.I.N.S

Introduction

Being a winning church is not that we are the largest.

It is not that we have the biggest budget.

It is not that we have the greatest band or greatest pastor.

No, what makes us a winning church is our devotion to the Lord and one another.

Being a Church that W.I.N.S means we are committed through thick and thin to the Lord and one another.

Much like...

During World War II the Allied Forces were composed of the armies of many nations. None of the armies renounced its own identity, but together they defeated Hitler and his allies. How? They had one greater loyalty and goal. So must the army of the redeemed follow their commander, Jesus Christ, with full assurance of victory over the evil one.

They came together with a greater cause in mind.

They knew that great evil must be stopped and together it could happen.

We as the church must have that same view.

We are but one branch of the family tree.

We are but one small finger of the ever larger body of Christ.

We are to always go and share the amazing grace of Christ to all and let them know of the victory in Jesus we have.

We do this by following what we read in Acts 2:42-47

Acts 2:42–47 ESV

42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 43 And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. 44 And all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 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.

There is a four step aspect of being a church that W.I.N.S within this section of Scripture.

Luke spells it out by describing what the early church did together.

That is the key word for any church and our church included.

We must be together.

If we are not together we will never accomplish these four items of a winning church.

Being together is critical so we as members of the body should strive the more diligently to be together than to not be together.

The early church was together daily for the edification of the body and the growth of the assembly.

That is incredible to me because today it is hard to get together once a week.

I am saying this about myself as much as anyone.

We are so busy that we miss time together and miss what this says to the Lord.

Satan loves us being busy because when we are so busy we never meet together except for once a week for a brief time, we never truly become a family.

We never fully become committed to one another.

We never become a church the W.I.N.S.

What is a church that W.I.N.S?

It is a church that...

Worships Together

In verses 46 and 47 we see that the early church was meeting together at temple day by day.

They were singing praises to God together every day.

They carried their love and devotion for the Lord all around and others saw this.

Look at verse 47.

It says they praised God and had favor with all people.

This is, to me, astounding.

Their praises of God and devotion to one another caused them to have favor with all people.

Why is that?

Because those watching saw true joy and love being exuded from the people of God.

They were getting along because they were worshipping God.

They were together in this and they knew that each person was with them and not out for their own gain.

They had their eyes on Jesus and they exuded His love to those with them and to those who were watching.

This tells me that our worship together in peace draws people.

Yes, there are those drawn by divisive talk and drama, but most people are drawn by a genuine love for each other and the Lord.

When we worship together with joy we are showing the watching world that we, like the allied forces in WWII, are individuals but we are one in who we worship and what we do.

We are together and going to the world with the same love we show one another.

If we can’t love each other enough to come together regularly and worship with genuineness, do we think the watching world will ever change and come to Christ?

No, they will not because they see us acting like them, or worse than them. They come together over many gods (i.e., sports, politics, or cars).

So, we must worship together with joy and peace because the world is watching.

But as important as worship is, we must also allow ourselves to receive...

Instruction

In verses 42 and 43 we see that the early church devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles.

Through this teaching and instruction they saw many signs and wonders.

Now, we today may not be able to do some of the things the apostles did then, we can show signs and wonders through the preaching and teaching of the Word of God.

What is so interesting about these two verses is that this teaching and instruction is mentioned in a sentence structure that is about the people being in a state of constant engagement with the teaching of the apostles.

This means they were in a regular daily habit of seeking them out and learning from them.

This is about a people group who wanted to know Christ more so they could KNOW Him.

What this means is that the only way we grow in maturity, whether in sports, work, or life is through instruction.

You must learn more to be better and the better you are the more mature you are in that field.

Think of it like this.

When starting a colt, that colt, even if he is eager, is not trained or mature.

You begin to work with him every day.

Some days it is for a brief time, at least at the beginning, because you do not want to overwhelm him.

So you work slowly and not so intense at first.

Then you get him further along, after several days of continual work, and then you up the intensity of the work.

He is getting better and learning and growing. He is beginning to understand cues and commands.

He finds out that if he follows what he is supposed to life is better.

He is maturing because he is receiving regular instruction from a firm but gracious hand.

This is us in our spiritual walk. We will grow to be better and have a better life when we take the instruction that the Lord has delivered to us through His word and people who faithfully preach his word.

When we begin we do not know it all even if we are eager to know, we must spend time learning and growing.

When we do this the Lord will begin to show us some amazing awes and wonders in His word and world.

These awes and wonders are at His marvelous grace and love for us even though we did not and do not deserve it.

We become in awe of our amazing God because of His love for us which leads us to worship Him more and spend more time with each other as the first aspect of a winning church taught us.

But training is not enough to keep us focused on the winning technique of the church.

No we just like the early church need to take...

Nourishment Together

Again in verse 42 and in verse 46 we see that the early church was together breaking bread in two ways.

The first is the Lord’s Supper and the other is in sharing meals together.

When we partake of the Lord’s Supper we are remembering the Lord and what He did for us which keeps us focused on Him and helps us to remain faithful.

We see His broken body and blood spilled for us and feel a deep love and desire to love Him back.

We grow in our walk because we know what He did for us and others and since He did this for us, we share this with others.

But we also need to break bread together in a meal.

We need to eat together and become closer by doing so.

When we eat together we are more open. We fellowship more because we are sharing an intimate aspect of our lives with others.

Eating together makes us vulnerable to others when we do this in our own homes because we are allowing people to come in and stay a while.

We are opening up to others and letting them see us in our domain and comfort zone.

This builds growth and harmony because we become comfortable with one another.

We can do this together in this church too.

We can draw together in fellowship meals where we only spend time together and grow closer.

We are a family and as a family we should share meals together.

We should share time together that is only about sharing time together.

When we live this way we do not cling to things as mine but as the church’s and ours together.

We are not greedy or stingy with our things because we are a family and as a family we share.

We love one another.

We help one another.

We care for one another because we never know what is waiting around the next corner.

When we do this we become close and are willing to receive instruction better and we will worship together more and more.

But this is not the final step in becoming a church that wins.

To do this we are to...

Share Our Blessings

In verses 44-45 we see this aspect of sharing with the church.

The early church had all things in common and sold possessions and belongings to help all who had need.

They willingly gave up their stuff so others could have what they needed.

They did this without compulsion but because they wanted to be a blessing to others.

This section does not say they lived together in a compound like a cult or that they ignored the needs they had.

It does say that they became uniquely generous because of their unity and fellowship.

They began to see people as more important than things or their own comfort.

This can be translated into today's concepts in themes like us giving up a streaming service because we know the ministry of the church can use that money more.

It can mean we stop ordering those coffee shop coffee’s everyday and use that money to help a struggling family.

It can mean we fly coach over first class and stay in a lower star hotel over the high end ones when we go on vacation.

We take food with us rather than eating out when we travel for work or vacation so we can use our money to help the church or families in need.

Maybe we take some money we have and set up a vacation for a family that cannot afford to take their kids on a fun vacation.

These are a few ways we can become more sharing over hoarding what we have.

The early church saw the needs of others as more important than their desires and they gave in the proper manner.

We are part of the church and we can be like this too because they had the same Spirit in them then as we do now.

We have the Holy Spirit in us the same as them and because the same Lord is working in us as He was in them.

They were this generous because of their love for the Lord and others, we can be the same way.

To be A Church that W.I.N.S, is to be a generous church in money, time, or goods.

Giving is a blessing because when we give to needs we are doing the Lord’s work and by doing His work we are being blessed.

We are being a blessing and by that we are blessed.

What an amazing gift to us when we give.

You see, giving is a blessing and not an oppressive obligation.

We are not bound to give the tithe as Israel was but we are free to give what the Lord lays on us to give.

We are to give because of grace not compulsion.

When we give through grace we are serving the Lord faithfully because of our love and desire for Him and others, not because we must give.

Giving, sharing our blessings, is a true blessing because it is an honor to be able to help in that way.

Application/Conclusion

Let us be a church that W.I.N.S by worshipping together, receiving instruction together, taking nourishment together, and sharing all things with one another.

Let us participate well together in this world and be a winning church.

You see the most important aspect of winning is not always the final score it is in how we participated.

Much like this story of this coach.

Suffering from terminal spinal cancer at the age or 47, former North Carolina State basketball coach Jim Valvano spoke with a reporter earlier this year. He looked back on his life and told a story about himself as a 23-year-old coach of a small college team. "Why is winning so important to you?" the players asked Valvano.

"Because the final score defines you," he said, "You lose, ergo, you're a loser. You win, ergo, you're a winner."

"No," the players insisted. "Participation is what matters. Trying your best, regardless of whether you win or lose -- that's what defines you."

It took 24 more years of living. It took the coach bolting up from the mattress three or four times a night with his T-shirt soaked with sweat and his teeth rattling from the fever chill of chemotherapy and the terror of seeing himself die repeatedly in his dreams. It took all that for him to say it: "Those kids were right. It's effort, not result. It's trying. God, what a great human being I could have been if I'd had this awareness back then."

Let us always be good faithful followers of Christ and participate well.

Let us show the world by our love for one another that our savior is the greatest and we are His not only by belief but by actions.