A Grace Driven Church

Acts 2:42-47

Some very odd things can motivate or drive Churches to behave in peculiar ways. In his best-seller, THE PURPOSE-DRIVEN CHURCH, Rick Warren cites several odd things that drive churches to do what they do:

A. Some churches are driven by tradition.

The goal of a “tradition-driven” church is to simply perpetuate the past. They are bound together by rules, regulations, and rituals. Tradition-driven churches are not at all flexible...in fact, they are resistant to change. Churches like this ignore the wise counsel of Ralph Neighbor who says the seven last words of any church is, “We’ve never done it that way before.” It is very difficult to grow a church that has slipped into the practice of being driven solely by tradition.

B. Other churches are motivated or driven by personality

There is one central figure....usually the pastor, a deacon/elder...who is the sole source of motivation and everything revolves around his will. The with that problem leadership style is it is very dictatorial. Every decision is made by that person. He approves every expenditure. That person becomes a “POPE” of sorts to these people. Church members spent more time asking what the pastor/deacon wants them to do than they did asking Jesus what He wanted them to do. And this of course hurt that church. Human personality is not a good motivator for ministry.

C. And then, some churches do what they do because they are driven by finances.

The question at the forefront of everyone’s mind in a finance-driven church is, “How much will it cost?” Now good stewardship and cash flow are essential for a healthy church but finances must never be the controlling issue. As Warren says, “The bottom line in any church should not be, ?HOW MUCH DID WE SAVE?’ but ?WHO WAS SAVED?’”

Several other odd things have been known to drive churches: programs...buildings...events...and, while these are good things, they are not good things to motivate a church. The motivating factor of every church should be grace. I want us to examine what it means to be a Grace driven church.

Acts 2:42-47

They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles.

All the believers were together and had everything in common.

Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need.

Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts,

praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

There was once an old monastery that had fallen upon hard times. Centuries earlier, it had been a thriving community of faith where many dedicated monks lived and worked and had great influence on the realm. But now only five monks lived there, and they were all over seventy years old. This was clearly a dying order. A few miles from the monastery lived an old hermit who many thought was a prophet of God. One day as the monks agonized over the impending demise of their order, they decided to visit the hermit to see if he might have some advice for them. Perhaps he would be able to see the future and show them what they could do to save the monastery. The hermit welcomed the five monks to his hut, but when they explained the purpose of their visit, the hermit could only sympathize with them.

“Yes, I understand how it is,” said the hermit. “The spirit has gone out of the people. Hardly anyone cares much for the old things anymore.”

“Is there anything you can tell us,” the abbot inquired of the hermit, “that would help us save the monastery?”

“No, I’m sorry,” said the hermit. “I don’t’ know how your monastery can be saved. But I can tell you this: one of you is a mighty, special apostle of God.” For months after their visit, the monks each pondered the significance of the hermit’s words.

“One of us is an apostle of God? Did he actually mean one of us here at the monastery? That is impossible. We are all too old. We are too insignificant. On the other hand, what if it is true? And if it is true, the which one of us is it? Do you suppose he meant the abbot? Yes, if he meant anyone, he probably meant the abbot. He has been our leader for more than a generation. On the other hand he might have meant Brother Thomas. Certainly Brother Thomas is a holy man—a man of wisdom and light. He couldn’t have meant Brother Elred. Elred gets crotchety at times and is difficult to reason with. On the other hand he is almost always right. Maybe the hermit meant Brother Elred. But surely he could not have meant Brother Phillip. Phillip is so passive, so shy—a real nobody. Still, he’s always there when you need him. He is loyal and trustworthy. Yes, he could have meant Phillip. Of course, the hermit didn’t mean me. He couldn’t possibly have meant me. I’m just an ordinary person. Yet, suppose he did? Suppose I am an apostle of God? Oh, God, not me. I couldn’t be that much for You. Or, could I?"

As they contemplated in this manner, the old monks began to treat each other with extraordinary respect on the off chance that one of them might actually be a special apostle of God. And on the off, off chance that each monk himself might be the apostle spoken of by the hermit, each monk began to treat himself with extraordinary respect.

Since the monastery was situated in a beautiful forest, many people came there from time to time to picnic on its tiny lawn and to walk on its paths, and to go into the tiny chapel to pray. As they did so, without even being conscious of it, they sensed the aura of extraordinary respect that now began to surround the five old monks and seemed to radiate out of them, permeating the atmosphere of the place. There was something strangely attractive, even compelling about it. Hardly knowing why, people began to come back to the monastery more frequently for picnics or meditation and prayer. They began to bring their friends to show them this special place. And their friends brought their friends. As more and more visitors came, some of the younger men started to talk with the old monks. After a while one asked if he could join their order. Then another and another. Within a few years the monastery had once again become a thriving order and, thanks to the hermit’s “gift,” a vibrant center of faith and spiritual growth throughout the realm.

I love this story because it illustrates how powerful the fellowship between a group of Christians can be. Any church with a healthy grace-driven fellowship, will grow and even flourish. But, without it any church will literally die on the vine.

According to Acts, this first group of Christians held a high opinion of fellowship as well. Look at verse 42:“They devoted themselves to the apostle’s teaching and to FELLOWSHIP!”

They enjoyed relationships with one another that were healthy and attractive to the outside world. Well this morning I want us to look at this text and discover the secret to their powerful FELLOWSHIP. Doing this will allow us here at Redland to learn how to keep our relationships with each other strong and grace-filled. Okay, what was it about this early church family that made their fellowship so strong? What characteristics did they have that compelled non-believers to accept Christ & join them?

(1) The first quality that stands out was their emphasis on spiritual GROWTH.

Verse 42 says that these members of the early church “devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching....and to prayer..” Church fellowship is not just enjoying each other’s company. It is taking seriously our God-given responsibility to encourage each other to mature spiritually. You know, part of the purpose of any family is to help each family member to grow from infancy to full physical and emotional maturity. And in a sense, the church---as a family of God---functions in the same way. Within any group of Christians there are people with different levels of maturity. Some have just been born again-----They are infants in the faith. Others are spiritual adolescents. And others have been working at spiritual growth for decades and as a result are very mature....the pillars of the church. The church with healthy fellowship is a place where people are accepted at whatever level of maturity they are and nurtured in such a way that they grow to full maturity in Christ. The New Testament is filled with instructions that gives every member the responsibility of helping every other member to become a better Christian. The Bible says we are to “admonish one another…We are to “care for one another…We are to “encourage one another…We are to “submit to one another.” Because a church is a place where we help each other grow to our full potential in our walk with Christ.

You see, the church is a place of growth—not just growth by addition but also by nutrition. We don’t just lead people to Christ....we help them to grow and mature in Christlikeness. Robert Raines says, “The church is both evangelist and educator, both obstetrician and pediatrician, helping deliver those newly born in Christ and nurturing them from infancy to maturity in Christ.” The Apostle Paul is a great example of this combined growth focus. He traveled throughout Asia Minor as a missionary evangelizing people. Then he retraced his steps as a teacher-theologian to educate and develop the Christian community. Fellowship is a by-product of spiritual growth. If Christians devote themselves to growing spiritually they will have wonderfully healthy fellowship. I John 1:7 says, “If we walk in the light as He is in the light....if we GROW SPIRITUALLY so that we live just as Jesus would want us....we have FELLOWSHIP with one another.”

So, churches that have great fellowship like that first church in Jerusalem are places of continual spiritual growth.

(2) They are also places of GLADNESS

If the church is actually the family of God, it ought to be a place of laughter, a place of joy, a place where people like to go and want to be. Too often that is not the case. In too many churches acroos the country the preacher talks in a trembling voice that makes you feel the heavens are going to fall. The music is at such a slow tempo and with such scowls on people faces that it sounds like a funeral. The members are cold and unfriendly. But in grace-driven churches this is not so....people love one another. They value and cherish their time together and can’t wait for Sunday to come again.

They say with the Psalmist, “I was glad when they said unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord.” (Psalm 122:1 ) This was obviously the way it was in the early church. Look at verses 46 & 47 of our text:

“Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with GLAD and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

The early church learned that one thing that attracts non-Christians to church is gladness and joy. This gladness makes us stand out as a warm, joyful light in a dark depressing world. So churches with healthy fellowship emphasize the positive...not the negative:

..They emphasize what God CAN do, not what we cannot do...

..what is best in people, not what is worst...

..building each other up, not tearing each other down.

They have a positive attitude of infectious gladness and joy.

(3) And it is important to note that their gladness is rooted in UNITY

In Jesus’ last prayer before the cross, He prayed that the people who fellowshiped in churches like ours would be ONE. Unity comes from our knowledge that, whereas we are different, we do have one thing in common....our mutual acceptance of and dependence on the grace of God. And Unity in spite of diversity is a powerful magnet to draw lost people to God. But disunity drives people away. This makes sense because who would want to be a part of a group of bickering humans? Paul Billheimer was right when he said, “The continuous and widespread fragmentation of the Church has been the scandal of the ages. The sin of disunity probably has caused more souls to be lost than all other sins combined.” Unity just may be the key to reaching the world for Christ. I think it should have precedence in our prayers...we should join the Apostle Paul and “make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.” This does not mean we compromise our convictions or beliefs. We don’t abandon the truths of scripture. Our convention has yet to realize this fact. Remember the words of St. Augustine… As Christians we have “freedom in the non-essentials....UNITY in the essentials...and LOVE in all things.” Embracing UNITY does not mean that you can believe whatever you want....UNITY would be impossible under those conditions. But it does mean we understand how important UNITY is and so we constantly guard our attitudes and do everything we can to cherish and protect unity. You know one of the things that robs churches of unity is gossip and slander. Words spoken or written behind the back of another Christian hurt and divide the body and make it into a place that is not glad. It is Satan’s greatest weapon and he uses it ingeniously. Visitors to a negative church can sense this negative attitude immediately and are repulsed by it. We can’t work together unless we have this oneness. No group of Christians can. So....churches with healthy fellowship are places of GROWTH. They are also places of GLADNESS that is rooted in UNITY. And finally...

(4) They are places of GRACE

The scripture I read earlier this morning says, “With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much GRACE was upon them all.” Grace seasoned their fellowship. It gave their relationships with each other flavor and an aroma that drew the lost to them as the smells of a hot meal draw hungry people into the kitchen. You see all people hunger for relationships with others that are seasoned by grace.

Charles Swindoll tells of a former marine buddy recently converted to Christianity. This friend said the only thing he missed about his former way of life was the neighborhood bar. He described it as a place where he could go and find friends who would accept him as he was, listening to his problems in a non-judgmental way. Keith Miller speaks on this in his book The Edge of Adventure: “The neighborhood bar is possibly the best counterfeit there is to the fellowship that Christ wants to give His church. It is an imitation, dispensing liquor instead of grace, escape rather than reality, but it is a permissive, accepting, and inclusive fellowship. It is unshockable. You can tell people secrets and they usually don’t tell others or even want to.

The bar flourishes not because most people are alcoholics but because God has put into the human heart the desire to know and be known, to love and be loved, and so many seek a counterfeit at the price of a few beers.” What I am saying is I want us to realize that all people THIRST for grace. And if there is one place on this planet where a person should find acceptance and love....if there is one place where people can come to have their thirst for grace quenched it should be here. We are stewards dispensing grace.

We who have experienced God’s grace tell the whole world about it and in so doing quench the thirst for grace that all people have.

In his book, What’s So Amazing About Grace, Philip Yancey tells the following story of an amazing concert that took place in Wembley Stadium in London. Various musical rock groups had gathered together in celebration of the changes in South Africa, and for some reason the promoters scheduled an opera singer named Jessye Norman as the closing act. For twelve hours groups like Guns and Roses blasted the crowd through banks of speakers riling up fans already high on booze and dope. The crowd yelled for more curtain calls and the bands obliged....whipping the people into a frenzy. Finally the time came for Jessye Norman to sing.

A single circle of light followed Norman, a majestic African-American woman wearing flowing African dashiki as she strolled on stage. No backup band, no musical instruments, just Jessye. The crowd stirred, restless. A voice yelled out for more Guns and Roses. Others took up the cry. The scene got ugly. Then unaccompanied, Jessye Norman began to sing, very slowly:

Amazing Grace, How Sweet the Sound

That saved a wretch like me!

I once was lost but now am found

Was blind but now I see!

A remarkable thing happened in Wembley Stadium that night. Seventy thousand raucous fans fell silent before her aria of grace. By the time Norman reached the second verse, “Twas grace that taught my heart to fear and grace my fears relieved...,” the soprano had the crowd in her hands. By the time she reached the third verse, “Twas grace has brought me safe this far, and grace will lead me home,” several thousand fans were singing along, digging far back in nearly lost memories for words they heard long ago.

“When we’ve been there ten thousand years

Bright shining as the sun

We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise

Than when we first begun

Jessye Norman later confessed that she had no idea what power descended on Wembley Stadium that night. I think you and I know. It was the power of thirst. Our world does THIRST for grace.

When any group of Christians allow grace to flavor the way they treat each other, the world around them will stop what they are doing and listen.

Three things enabled the church in Jerusalem to have a healthy fellowship....one that greatly facilitated their evangelistic efforts in that city: Their growth.....their gladness rooted in unity....and their grace. The same three “G’s” will help any church to have healthy grace-driven fellowship.

Maybe you have never experienced Gods’ grace personally…

Maybe you are looking for that special fellowship God wants you to be a apart of…

You know we do have a great fellowship here at Mt. Elam. I see people growing spiritually around here. Christian maturity is something we strive for and value highly. This is a glad place....a church with a positive can-do attitude...you are fun to be with! And we have committed ourselves to learning about grace. We have a great fellowship here. But you know we must never take it for granted. Fellowship can be lost....it can weaken and die as those monks in that monastery discovered. So we must guard our fellowship and nurture it. Our journey as a church is not complete. We must continue to strive to be a Grace driven church.