Life in community. Acts 2:42-47. April 14, 2024
Notes
Transcript
Scripture/Introduction
Scripture/Introduction
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who 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.
Pray.
Intro stuff, loneliness, or community
In this series we are exploring language that will encompass the discipleship journey for us at FMC and we believe represents the whole journey for what it means to be a follower of Christ.
Life in community
Investing in others
Focusing outward
Encountering God
Today we consider life in community.
Background
Background
Acts 2 is the birth of the Christian church in Jerusalem. The Holy Spirit has now come in a power and presence that has not yet experienced. Because of the life, death, resurrection, and particularly the ascension of Christ, the Spirit is now with all believers. I say particularly the ascension because the life, death, and resurrection is the defeat of sin, death, and evil in the world, but the enthronment of King Jesus now extends his life, reign, and power to all believers in all places. This is foundational for understanding the endwelling of the Holy Spirit and pentecost.
So the Spirit comes to those hearing the preaching of Peter and Pentecost and the response of those people is the earliest version of Christian community.
Now, this text seems like a pie in the sky experience of the church. Some believe this is a summary that presents a less than realistic picture of the church. But that is not what Luke is doing. He is not being less than honest. Later on he will tell a story of a couple that loses their life because they lie about what they are doing to support the church. Things are not perfect, however this is the vision of the church and they did two important things together….
The believers did two things:
Devoted themselves to the teachings of the Apostles
Shared Koininia together
Devoted to the teachings of the Apostles
Devoted to the teachings of the Apostles
I think there is a right way and a wrong way of interpreting what this scripture is saying. For the first century church this meant they respected the authority of the Apostles, they listened to the apostles but this does not mean that they simply learned all they can from the apostles. They devoted themselves to the teachings.
Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.
Receive this….Learning about Jesus is not the same as following Jesus.
Koininia: Living Life Together
Koininia: Living Life Together
Secondly, they shared Koininia, this greek word is a phrase that is used in the greek to describe the gathering of believers. Fellowship is not the best phrase for it. Fellowship denotes relationship in community. This is a byproduct of koininia, not the thing itself. it is a meeting together in a sacrificing relationship. So hanging out with guys discussing the Masters golf tournament is not koininia. This gathering is a costly gathering. It is a gathering of people that are willing to sacrifice for one another. In the first church, it was men and women that did not consider their own posessions to be their own, but their posessions were now common offerings to the church.
The average Methodist gives away about 1.2% of their income. This is not a money sermon, but consider our level of commitment to the local body. We are a long way off from… “I can sell my house and help those in need in my local gathering.” We are a long way off from that kind of sacrificial belonging to a community.
This was a gathering of people that were physically committed and spiritually committed to one another. The Koininia descriptors here is the sharing of possessions, breaking of bread, and prayer.
There was a major survey of millenials recently that asked young people what their goals were: most said a combination of 1) get rich 2)be famous
Robert Waldinger from Harvard has a TED talk, you can go and see it, but he shares the Harvard study of adult development that tracked 724 men over 75 years asking them about happiness and health. Since 1938 they tracked the lives of 2 groups of men:
men that were sophomores at college at Harvard
boys in the poorest families in Boston
They found that the lessons were not about fame or wealth, they found that good relationships keep us happier and healthier.
Social connections are vital and lonliness kills
People live shorter lives when lonely
Brain function deterioates
people that were most satisfied in their relationships at 50 were the healthiest at 80
What harvard does not get to is that this is exactly how God created us. We were created to be in relationship with one another. We were created to have thriving marriages in intimate connection. We were created to have sustained connection with people and to not be lonely. This is not a descriptor of extroversion.
Mark’s gospel is the earliest of the 4 and it is clear when you read it. Throughout the gospel there is an intentional presentation of Jesus but also of the disciples. The underlying question that they are asking throughout the gospel is “who is this man?”
and they are wrestling this together. So for example:
That day when evening came, he said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side.” Leaving the crowd behind, they took him along, just as he was, in the boat. There were also other boats with him. A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion. The disciples woke him and said to him, “Teacher, don’t you care if we drown?” He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Quiet! Be still!” Then the wind died down and it was completely calm. He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?” They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!”
They asked each other… who is this man. The devotion to the apostles teaching leads to the community of believers that wrestles with this question: Who is this Jesus?
You have enough information about this Jesus. But do you have community where you consider what it means for your life to be in relationship with the one who can calm the storms?
Living in community is this wrestling. Sunday school is not enough. Don’t email me.
Class meeting:
Simple definition:
A Class Meeting is a transformational small group of people who meet weekly to give testimony to their life in God and encourage one another in the pursuit of becoming more like Jesus.
Closing: God added to their number
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.
Meeting together, devotion to the teaching, breaking bread, praying for one another, and God added to their number daily. This is the greatest witness we can have.
I was at a gala this weekend for an important cause. The calling from the keynote is to give your life to these causes and we will be on the offense and we will bring life. I think there is some truth to that but the bottom line is not to give yourself to causes. But give yourself to each other and God will bring life through that invitation.