Value 5: Community Passion

Introduction

One of the most basic biological observations that we can make is that God gave us 2 ears and 1 mouth. We read in Genesis that everything God made was good, so it follows that God had a purpose for this and that purpose was good! Why would God give us twice the amount of ears than mouths? For one, we would look absolutely weird if we had 2 mouths - can you even imagine that? A basic takeaway is that we should listen more than we speak. This is repeated over and over in God’s Word to be slow to speak and quick to listen. As you listen to people, you quickly find out what they are passionate about because they’ll tell you if you just listen close enough. You can tell if someone has kids or grandkids just by listening to them because chances are they will tell you about them! You can tell if someone is a Chiefs fan right now because they’re going to be talking about the Super Bowl next week! You can tell if people like something because they bring it up in conversation. They talk about it. This is how we can learn about our passions as individuals and as a church - what do we talk about?

Whenever you come to FBC Salem, you’ll hear a whole lot about Jesus. We preach about Jesus, we praise Jesus, we pray to Jesus, we proclaim what Jesus has done. It’s all about Jesus! But what has Jesus done? He has placed us in Dent County. He has given us relationships with people in our schools, jobs, communities, and neighborhoods. He has put people in our lives who we care for and who we love. He has given us this Christ-Centered Community to belong to and grow alongside one another in the Word. We are passionate about this community - both inside these walls and outside of them! We talk about this community - I know that I do. We love this community. We want to see this community grow to be more like Jesus Christ!

We could have studied this one passage the last month to see each of our 5 church values instead of bouncing around to different texts. We’ve talked about how a healthy church must have a regular diet of Christ-Centered Preaching, Congregational Praise, Consistent Prayer, Collective Gospel Proclamation, and, today, Community Passion. A healthy church Preaches, Praises, Prays, and Proclaims the Gospel! A healthy church is a community that is centered around the Gospel. United around the Gospel. A church that proclaims the Gospel to the outside community. FBC Salem is a church passionate about the Gospel and because of that truth, we are passionate about this community. Let’s see why community passion is such an important in Acts 2:37-47 as we see what the first Church did just a few weeks after the ascension of Jesus Christ!

Acts 2:37–47 CSB

37 When they heard this, they were pierced to the heart and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?” 38 Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, each of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is for you and for your children, and for all who are far off, as many as the Lord our God will call.” 40 With many other words he testified and strongly urged them, saying, “Be saved from this corrupt generation!” 41 So those who accepted his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand people were added to them. 42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and signs were being performed through the apostles. 44 Now all the believers were together and held all things in common. 45 They sold their possessions and property and distributed the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 Every day they devoted themselves to meeting together in the temple, and broke bread from house to house. They ate their food with joyful and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. Every day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.

Last week we were reminded that we are all commanded, commissioned, and compelled by Jesus to go and proclaim the Gospel! We see in Acts 2 what happens whenever we take seriously the call to evangelize. Genuine conviction, conversion, and confession follows. This is our task - to go into our community and proclaim the Gospel. As we do this, lives are changed. Jesus builds His church. The Spirit moves among us. Let’s pray and ask God to guide us and be glorified this morning

God’s Gospel Changes Lives (37-42)

In Acts 2 we see the first Christian sermon as Peter shares that Jesus Christ is the Messiah - the promised Savior of sinners - and that He was crucified by these Jewish listeners. Notice what Peter says in verse 36 - “Whom you crucified.” Peter gives them the Gospel - the news that we all are separated from God because of our sin. We can’t save ourselves. We all need help. This is what Jesus did - He came to seek and save the lost, to give His life as a ransom for many. This Jesus came to forgive sinners through His death, burial, and resurrection! Peter preaches the Gospel and the people are pierced to the heart. FBC family, whenever the Gospel is proclaimed, the Word of God does the work of God for the glory of God. God opens eyes. God softens hearts. God works in great and mighty ways whenever His Word is declared and proclaimed - this is our call as believers, to proclaim the Word and watch the Word do the work. Look at what Hebrews 4 says about the Word of God

Hebrews 4:12 CSB

12 For the word of God is living and effective and sharper than any double-edged sword, penetrating as far as the separation of soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

The Word doesn’t just change minds, but it changes hearts. This is why we present the Gospel. We read in the text that these people heard the Gospel and Peter called on them to repent. What does repentance mean? Why do we need to repent in the first place? We’re really good at justifying our actions, but the Bible shares with us that we have all sinned. What exactly is sin? Kids, you should know this answer because I’ve talked about it with you all at Kidz Choir and Camp Joy for 3 years now - sin is anything we _________! We’ve all sinned. The Bible tells us that when we’re convicted of our sin, we must repent of it. Repentance is more than just saying that what we did was wrong. It is more than just feeling bad for what we did. That’s just regret. Whenever my son Gabriel climbs on the TV stand for the 20th time whenever he knows that he’s not supposed to do so and quickly says, “I’m sorry!” He’s not repenting - he’s regretting that he got caught, again! Repentance is to make a U-turn. To hate our sin and to determine to obey Jesus. To acknowledge that the way we were going was wrong and to actively turn around and go the other direction. That’s not easy - but it’s necessary!

We repent and the next phrase is “be baptized” - now there are some denominations that say that baptism is required for salvation. As in if you are saved by grace through faith in Christ and you tragically pass away before your baptism, you are not saved. That’s crazy! The ordinance of baptism, the rite of baptism, symbolizes the cleansing that repentance produces. In other words, Jesus is the one who cleanses you of your sins whenever He takes up residence in your heart at conversion. He baptizes you with the Holy Spirit. You follow through with believes baptism which is immersion in water to signal what Jesus has done inside of you. Your water baptism is not to produce salvation, it is to signify that you have been saved in the name of Jesus and forgiven of your sins! We call on people to repent and to obey.

The reason that we proclaim the Gospel is because God promises to work as His Word is proclaimed. We love our community, both our church family and our community in Dent County. Why do we go and proclaim the Gospel in this community? Several reasons:

Jesus Commands Us

Souls Need Saving

God Promises to Work

We talked about this last week, we are commanded to to go into our community because there are people living in darkness. We are commanded to go and tell others about this good news of salvation. As we do this, our prayer is that people hear the Word and respond with repentance as God works through His word. From this point, what happens? The Gospel changes lives. Whose lives? Verse 39 - as many as the Lord our God will call. That sounds strange to our ears.

Acts 13:48 CSB

48 When the Gentiles heard this, they rejoiced and honored the word of the Lord, and all who had been appointed to eternal life believed.

All appointed to eternal life believed. What is this saying? The ones who believed were appointed to do so. The ones who repented and believed in Christ as Lord and Savior and obeyed did so because they were under conviction and placed their faith in Christ. They chose to do this. Yet, there is a divine side and action here that we can’t see. Those who did didn’t surprise God, He called them to do so! He appointed them to believe! What is our hope in evangelism? Some will respond as God works in their heart. We don’t know who will, but we do know that God works and that God’s Gospel changes lives. This is our hope as we share!

Titus 2:14 CSB

14 He gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to cleanse for himself a people for his own possession, eager to do good works.

Notice how the Gospel not only changes individual lives, but it changes what we do as a collective body. Look at verse 42 and what these believers did. They submitted to the Word whenever they gathered - they didn’t do what they felt like doing or what they had previously done or what they thought was best or what their preference was. They did what the Word demanded. There are necessary things as we gather for corporate worship and necessary things as a local church: Preaching of the Word, Gospel Centered Community, observing the Lord’s Supper, and spending time in prayer. These are things that we do whenever we gather, not because it’s always easy - but because this is what the Gospel does: it changes us as Christians and it changes us as a church to align ourselves with what Jesus expects and what Jesus deserves. We might be expecting this to be a small group of people who were pierced to the heart and converted, but we actually see the opposite here. How many were saved and baptized that day? 3,000 people! This wasn’t Gravel Road Baptist Church, this was a megachurch! So often in church life we play the comparison game between ourselves and the church down the street. I can say this because I’ve been a member of 4 churches all of differing sizes. FBC Springfield and FBC Ozark fall into the “megachurch” category of being over 500 people on any given Sunday, sometimes closer to 1,000 than 500. Morgan Baptist in Conway was around 50-60 people more times than not. Here at FBC Salem we’ve seen our attendance go from less than 200 in fall of 2021 to averaging around 300 now. So often what can happen in church life is this: The smaller church looks at the big church and says, “The reason that they’re that big is because they’ve compromised the Gospel and that’s not a healthy church.” The big church can look at the smaller church and say, “That church must have boring teaching and preaching if they’re not growing like we are.” This is all wrong! There are bad big churches and there are bad small churches because big isn’t bad and small isn’t bad, bad is bad. God cares more about the health of the church than the size of the church. This church went from 120 to 3,000 overnight. This church in Acts would soon balloon up to the population of Dent County in just a few weeks time. What moved the crowd to repent was not the signs and wonders, it was the faithful proclamation and preaching of the Word. This is the means that God has historically used and will continue to use to grow His church! Regardless of church size, to be healthy, a church must prioritize the Word.

Our responsibility at FBC Salem is to follow Jesus. To stand on His Word. To sing His praise. To go to Him in prayer. To share His Gospel with a lost and dying world and to call on people to repent and trust in Jesus! As we do this, our prayer is that people would respond in faith and be saved and join us in this spiritual race as we keep our eyes on Jesus. Our only hope here is the Gospel. The Gospel changes lives and the Gospel guides our church. Our community must see that we are passionate about the Gospel.

God’s People Give Generously (43-47)

What does the word generous mean? One definition is to show kindness towards another person and another is to give more of something than what is expected or necessary. We live in a world that by and large is the opposite of generous. Sure, there are exceptions, but most people do what they have to do, nothing more and nothing less. This has never been the case for Christians, though. Christians have historically been a generous, a kind, compassionate, people who give more than what is needed. Why exactly has this been the case?

Why do God’s People Give Generously?

Jesus Commands Us To

Souls Need Saving

God Promises to Work

Notice that these people sold their possessions and assisted others voluntarily, not under compulsion or under command. There is nothing in the Bible that says that money is evil - the love of money is evil. There have been wealthy Christians since the book of Acts and God has used them mightily to further His Kingdom just as He has used the poor to do the same. What we cannot miss in the Word of God is that there is a command for all believers to be generous.

2 Corinthians 8:9 CSB

9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ: Though he was rich, for your sake he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become rich.

Jesus commands us to be generous because He Himself was generous with us and still is generous with us! We give generously because that honors Him. Second, we give generously because souls need saving. There were needs in this church. There were people who had no where to turn for help. There was no government program to provide funding or aid, there needed help but there was no help. So who stepped up? Their newfound brothers and sisters in Christ! These 3,000 believers within days were already helping others out. The last few weeks I’ve been in research mode for one of my PhD classes and I’ve been studying the Roman practice of adoption in the 1st century world. Did you know that just after this timeframe that we see in Acts 2, there was an orphan crisis of sorts and some parents who were in poverty and were unable to care for their children would drop their child off at one of these Christian house churches? That breaks our heart at one point, but doesn’t that speak volumes of the type of people that these early Christians were? They met needs. They cared for those who had no one else to care for them. Why did some of the wealthier members do what they did? Because they wanted to meet needs. Why do we give generously today? Because there are still needs in this congregation and in this community. There are souls that need saved and we must give to meet that need. Third, God promises to work as His people give! Are you ready for something you don’t hear in church often? God doesn’t need you. He doesn’t need me. He doesn’t need our money. He already owns it all! Giving is our way of partnering with God in doing His Kingdom work as God promises to work and to use what we give in bigger and better ways than we could ever imagine. We give and as we give we trust in God in the area of finances, a place that very few churchgoers trust in God and worship Him. A Generous Church is a Dangerous Church!

One of my high school friends went to Mizzou and began attending a local church up there and shared a post that captured my eye. Local Church pays off $43 million in medical debt. Apparently this church was made aware of some local families really struggling with medical debt and they were able to contact the agency and and the church gave $430,000 towards this effort and changed the lives of hundreds of families. How were they able to meet this need? Through generous giving. Even poor college students joined in on this effort and gave what they could in order to be a part of what God was doing. Do you remember entering the “real world” after high school and you’re trying to figure everything out as an “adult?” I’ll always remember this conversation with my dad. I’m working on campus at SBU while I’m going to school and I drive down one weekend to play bass guitar in our church orchestra for our big Sunday night Christmas program and I’m having this conversation on how I can’t afford to give because I’m barely making ends meet as the poor college student that I was. The Taco Bell Cravings Menu seemed like a luxury that I could not even afford. Dad says this, “Son, you can’t afford not to give.” He wasn’t sharing some Prosperity Gospel trick of giving God $10 and Him giving you $100 - I’ve heard that message before… He was saying this, “Giving is a way that we trust in God. We worship God. We honor Him. You can’t afford not to do that.” This early church gave generously and this is the model for our church today. This is a practice that the modern church is largely unfamiliar with.

Today the average churchgoer gives 2.5% of their annual income to the ministry of the church - this is compared to 3.5% during the Great Depression. These early Christians gave generously out of their poverty in order to meet needs in their congregation and their community. Research has found that 1/8 churchgoers give anything close to a tithe. The word tithe doesn’t appear in the New Testament and Christians are not under the Old Testament law of giving that amount. What we see in the New Testament is that Christians are to be a generous people when it comes to giving because this is what God loves

2 Corinthians 9:7–8 CSB

7 Each person should do as he has decided in his heart—not reluctantly or out of compulsion, since God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to make every grace overflow to you, so that in every way, always having everything you need, you may excel in every good work.

The early church was passionate about gathering together with their Christian Community and they were passionate about reaching out to their non-Christian community as well. Look at what these early Christians did every day - they met together in the temple to worship Jesus. They went to each others homes and broke bread together and enjoyed genuine fellowship regularly. These people were not only generous with their treasure, they were generous with their time as they spent it with their community - growing in their walk with the Lord. We could say that these were early Baptists, eating their food with joyful and sincere hearts - sign us up for that, right? This is the only time the Greek word for sincere shows up in the New Testament, “Aphelotes” - some believe that it should instead be understood not just as sincerity but as generosity. They met, fellowshipped, and gave generously and praised God for all that He had done. A healthy church needs Biblical nourishment, loving fellowship, vibrant worship, and consistent outreach. These are marks of a healthy church and these are things found in this early church in Acts - this is a church that I’d want to be a part of, wouldn’t you!? This is the church that Jesus expects us to be and this is my prayer for FBC Salem today and in the days to come. That we would be a generous people as we stand on the Gospel and look out for those in our faith family and even those outside of it. Dent County has needs and Dent County needs the church to stand on the Word and practice sacrificial giving so that we can make an even bigger dent in the lost population of Dent County for God’s glory in 2024 than in 2023.

What is the result whenever Christians share the Gospel and give generously? 3rd,

God Gets the Glory (47)

We see in our text that every day, the Lord added to their number those who were being saved. Nothing makes your pastor happier on a Sunday morning than getting to start our worship service off with our black baptism shirt on. Times of harvest are sweet because they aren’t always our reality. This early church exploded like wildfire even in the midst of opposition and persecution! Look at Luke 15:10 with me

Luke 15:10 CSB

10 I tell you, in the same way, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels over one sinner who repents.”

FBC, God is clearly a baptist because His people love food and His servants in heaven throw parties every time a sinner is saved! If this is what happens in heaven whenever the Gospel is proclaimed and a sinner repents, what should we do down here? That had better get you excited - and we’ve seen much of this in recent days!

As we see in Acts 2 and throughout the book of Acts, the early church was obedient to God’s call on their lives individually and collectively. In Acts, we see God’s Providence and Gospel Proclamation. We see God working and opening doors and using faithful servants who stand boldly upon His Word and share His Gospel to a lost and dying world. This is what our world needs today. God is still faithful. He still opens doors. He still provides. As we are faithful and obedient, God gets the glory. Dent County needs Christians to be passionate about the Word and passionate about this community enough to go out and share the Gospel. To give sacrificially and generously to the ministry that God is doing here at FBC for God’s glory and the good of our community!

Matthew 5:16 CSB

16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.

Think of some ways that we’ve seen God move in recent days.

In a season in which some churches are still in decline since COVID nearly 4 years ago, our church has seen numerical and spiritual growth take place. Since becoming your pastor, we’ve celebrated 44 baptisms together. We’ve commissioned a missionary back to her home country of Brazil. We’ve seen God use mission teams here in Dent County and in other countries to provide for those in need by building homes, fixing roofs, and feeding bellies. We’ve seen God work in saving those who are lost and helping those who are saved grow to be more like Jesus. We’re able to minister to dozens and dozens of children each Monday after school with Kidz Choir as they not only get a meal and learn songs, they learn about Jesus. This summer we’ll have 100 kids at Camp Joy and hundreds more at VBS learning about Jesus. We have a growing church that God is blessing left and right through His kind providence. What is our responsibility? To be passionate about this community: both those inside these walls and those outside of it. To partner with what the Lord is doing here at FBC for His glory and the good of this community. There are ministry needs that we have that we aren’t able to meet because we don’t have the means at this time. If you haven’t figured out yet, we have a growing church and space is getting tighter and tighter and this is what we’ve prayed for for years! What must we do? We must be obedient. We must stand on the Word of God unashamedly. We must preach Christ boldly. We must praise Christ corporately. We must pray to Christ consistently. We must proclaim Christ urgently. We must be passionate about Christ in this community! How can people tell that we are passionate about Christ in Dent County?

Talk

We should be eager to talk about Jesus and what He has done in our lives individually in saving us and what He is doing in the life of our church. People can tell what you are passionate about by talking with you - we must talk about Jesus.

Time

People should be able to see a difference between our lives and the life of a non-Christian in the way that we spend our time. We not only gather at church 1/2 times a week, although we are expected to do that, but we serve within the church. We go on mission trips. We attend Bible studies. We live life on mission outside the walls of this building and that requires our time. We are passionate about Jesus and we give it to Him.

Treasure

Our world thinks that it is foolish to give to anything not relating to self or family. Think about giving to the ministry that God is doing through this church. Is this foolish? No, it’s obedience. God is working here for His glory and our good. This is our spiritual family. As we give generously, God takes those offerings and uses them in ways that we can’t even begin to imagine as He blesses what is given and extends it to bless our neighbors and the nations. They say that churches only care about your money - in fact there are folks in our own community who have expressed that. Nothing could be further from the truth. I care about souls, anyone else? How do we reach souls? By being obedient as believers. How do we honor God? By being obedient as believers. How do we make a dent in Dent County for God’s glory? By being obedient as believers with our time, talent, and treasure, and by talking with others about Jesus Christ.

God has blessed us as a church. He has blessed us as Christians. We must be passionate about His work and we are called to come alongside Him in this community to take the Gospel far and wide. A healthy church is a church that wants to see its community come to know Jesus! Do you want to see Dent County evangelized with the Gospel? Are you ready for the cost? Back up, is Jesus worth the cost?

If you are here and you don’t know this Jesus, He still pierces hearts. He still changes lives. He changed mine, regardless of your past, He can certainly change yours too. He saves us to serve Him and this is what this church is about: Serving Jesus Obediently and Faithfully. This is what a healthy church does. We love our Creator, we love this church, and we love this community - we’re passionate about it. Ask yourself, what is my next step of obedience today? Is it repenting of my sin and trusting in Jesus as Savior? Is it taking the Gospel to someone I know who doesn’t know Christ? Is it evaluating the way that I spend my time and reflecting on what I talk about? Maybe it’s looking at my giving and asking this question: Am I giving generously or am I giving sparingly and sporadically? At FBC let’s be a people who give with 3 P’s in mind: Priority, Percentage, and Progressing. Let’s make giving a priority to reach this community. If you don’t currently have it planned out, set a percentage and give that regularly - start somewhere! And as you do, progress in that giving journey. Trust in the Lord, watch Him work, and let’s reach this community for the glory of God!