Day by Day…
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Review ALL IN series. Purpose for the series: how our discipleship process is just beginning like it was for them…
Review where we are: we just finished Acts 2, after Upper Room Outpouring, after Peter’s first sermon, and the overview of the first days of the early church…
Review Last Week: Generosity
What we have seen is a brief overview of what the early church looked like.
Literary tool used in much of the biblical writings: overview, then detailed look.
Now, we will see a bit more about how this played out on a more granular level in the lives of the members of the early church…
What we know so far is that after Peter’s sermon on the day of pentecost this is what the early church looked like:
42 They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
43 Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe; and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles.
44 And all those who had believed were together and had all things in common;
45 and they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need.
46 Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart,
47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.
We have spent the last several weeks exploring these verses, but I want to point out again the significance of the second half of verse 47:
Acts 2:47 (NASB95)
47 … And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.
Acts 2 concludes with this statement. This is the culminating thought in the summary provided by the author.
All the rest of the overview has landed on this one detail…
Day by day…
Day by day…
This is a particularly pointed verse for us at the Shed, because we believe we grow disciples in here that embody Jesus out there…
The Shed exists to develop workers for the harvest…
If that’s true, and we are committed to this idea, then we must recognize when the bible speaks of the harvest, that it directly impacts us as a congregation…
In this instance, the harvest is described as being gathered, Day by Day…
The reason we believe we should embody Jesus out there is not so they will come in here to meet Him, but so that we may have the chance to introduce them to Him out there!
The pattern is clear, they get saved out there, then they come in here to be discipled.
The Shed is not a display place for gospel presentations, it is a facility dedicated to developing disciples.
We are not a studio for Ted Talks, we are a greenhouse for growing disciples…
And healthy, ALL IN disciples make other disciples…
This is the pattern of ministry we are handed down from the early church fathers…
Day by Day…
If you’re looking for a church were you can go just to consume and get your fill, this may not be the most comfortable environment for you, because it’s my job to challenge you to growth you can’t achieve on your own…
Paul, having had the benefit of seeing the first few decades of how the church has developed, tells the church at Ephesus…
Ephesians 4:11–16 (NASB95)
11 And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers,
12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ;
13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.
14 As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming;
15 but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ,
16 from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.
V. 11 - The Five Fold ministry… Those who are considered leaders in the church…
Our job is to facilitate the equipping of the saints for the work of service with the end result being that we grow up into Christ, causing the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love…
For the equipping of the saints for the work of service…
What service? The word used here in the original Greek language is diakonia (diakoneea), which can be used as service, preparation, relief, support or mission…
But the most common translation in the New Testament, being used in more than half of the cases where this word is used in the NASB is MINISTRY…
You may ask, what service, what ministry have I been given?
But the bible is very clear as to what ministry we have been given…
All those who have been reconciled to God have been given the ministry of reconciliation…
17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.
18 Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation,
For those who He reconciled, He also gave the ministry of reconciliation…
But what does that mean?
I’m glad you asked:
19 namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.
What does it look like now that we are called disciples?
Once you have been reconciled to God, you have inherited the ministry of reconciliation, which means you have been given the word of reconciliation…
Put simply… You didn’t just get saved to go to heaven… You got saved to save those around you…
Now that you’ve been made new, you’re a new creation…
As that new creation, you’re now tasked with telling everyone around you about God’s mission to reconcile the world to Himself…
20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us; we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.
This isn’t just your mission, it’s God’s mission…
It’s always been God’s mission…
From the very beginning God had a plan for reconciliation…. This was His plan all along…
To reconcile you and me to Himself…
Now we have been given the task to tell everyone we can about what God has done for us… He reconciled us to Himself so we can have relationship with Him…
We aren’t just representing our personal calling, or a personal purpose… We aren’t just representing the vision and purpose of The Shed…
This is God’s mission and we are ambassadors for Christ…
We represent Him in everything that we do..
In all that we do, we beg those around us on His behalf… Be reconciled to God!
This is why there is such an emphasis for me on the line… Day by Day…
I am not just an ambassador on days I feel like it…
19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own?
20 For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.
This is what it looks like to be ALL IN, that we represent Christ day by day and so be tools of God whereby He may reconcile the world to Himself…
Make no mistake, we cannot do this on our own, we are not going to make it on ambition or grit or willpower, but only by His Spirit…
It’s not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit says the Lord Almighty…
The bible says:
Acts 2:47 (NASB95)
47 … And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.
We are not running on our own merits, but we are ambassadors to someone greater… Carrying a power not of this world… Living in a purpose with eternal implication…
We aren’t representing ourselves, we aren’t working in our own power, we aren’t serving our own mission, and it isn’t us that initiates the whole thing anyway…
Jesus said,
44 “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.
God starts it and He uses us to finish it…
Day by Day… God is sending us out as ambassadors to a lost and dying world committed to the ministry of reconciliation… Begging everyone who will listen…
God desires for you to be reconciled to Him…
And in doing this, we believe that He has gone ahead of us and softened hearts, drawing them to Himself that we may participate in His mission…
This is what it means to be a disciple in the Kingdom of God..
When I talk like this, many people tune out because they think about how much time they don’t have…
Well of course you would say that, you get paid to preach…
When would you like me to do all this you’re talking about? I don’t have time as it is…
DAY BY DAY…
These early Christians were not superheroes! They didn’t just waltz around, without a care in the world, living like hippies, with no responsibilities…
They had jobs and lives just like you and I, yet… DAY BY DAY…
Paul, who authored 2/3 of the New Testament was a tentmaker by trade… Yes, he was trained as a pharisee, He was educated enough to write what he did, He was called as an Apostle, but he had a job!
1 After these things he left Athens and went to Corinth.
2 And he found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, having recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to leave Rome. He came to them,
3 and because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them and they were working, for by trade they were tent-makers.
In fact, he worked that job even while in the ministry:
33 “I have coveted no one’s silver or gold or clothes.
34 “You yourselves know that these hands ministered to my own needs and to the men who were with me.
35 “In everything I showed you that by working hard in this manner you must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ”
So not only did he provide for himself, but also for those he would take with him… He used His job to help fund the Day by Day ministry…
Paul was adamant that Christians not only work, but do it well:
23 Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than for men,
24 knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance. It is the Lord Christ whom you serve.
and again:
11 and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands, just as we commanded you,
12 so that you will behave properly toward outsiders and not be in any need.
It wasn’t that they didn’t have jobs, but that they saw these jobs as their ministry!
Your Day to Day life is your ministry…
Acts 2:47 (NASB95)
47 … And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.
What does your DAY BY DAY look like?
I’ll admit, I tend to keep my head down more than I should.
I’m seemingly always in a hurry, get in, get out, get done…
But what if we recognized as the early church that our time is not our own, that God is our provider, and He is laying opportunities to touch those He has already begun drawing if only we will recognize the opportunity?
How often have you engaged in small talk with someone just to kill the awkward silence, but never used the opportunity to make an impact?
How many people do you pass every day that could be your opportunity?
Even more, how many people do you have in your circle of influence that are still unsaved?
Altar Call: List of Unsaved Exercise from the Discipleship Path…
