A Caring Community

Acts 2:42–47 (ESV)

And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

Acts 4:32–37 (ESV)

Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common. And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold and laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need. Thus Joseph, who was also called by the apostles Barnabas (which means son of encouragement), a Levite, a native of Cyprus, sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet.

Recap

Last week we started a new seires entitled “ The OG Church”

And through this series we are looking how the origional church in the book of acts functioned and did life

were looking at some of the hallmarks that made them such a successful church

and rediscovering the real meaning and value of what it means to be the church.

Last week

Last week we looked at our first hallmark of the origional church

that being that the church of acts devoted themselves to gathering.

They made a point to come together for a variety of reasons and in doing so they didnt just worship together, but they did life together.

And we talked about some the reasons why its important that we head hebrews 10:24-25

and not forsake the gathering together of the body…

that we regularly and faithful make it to the house of god..

and That we devote ourselves to gathering together as a body.

This morning

Were going to build off of this hallmark with our second hallmark..

because gathering was just a piece of the way the early church did life together.

another hallmark of what made the early church so impactful and successful is the fact that the early church not only devoted themselves to the practice of gathering..

but they went even further and devoted themselves to the practice of community.

and more specifically christian community.

They didnt just come together.

but they did life today.

they were a caring community of believes who loved and took care of each other.

so I want us to look this morning at what it means to be a community.

What is community

the practice of Community is important in our lives..

We as a society and humanity practice community regularly..

We go to school together..

work together..

We live in clusters of homes called subdivisions

in areas we call towns..

and we interact with each other in geographical areas we call our community.

We worship each sunday in the cleveland community..

we do live together regularly in the cleveland community.

But what is community?

google defines the word community:

as a group of people who live in the same place or have a certain charictoristic in common.

It also defines its as:

a feeling of fellowship with others, as a result of sharing common attitudes, interests, and goals.

Simply put, community is the way that we do life togther.

They way we come together and gather

the way we interact with each other

the way we care for each other

the way we support and encourage each other.

The way we are their for each other..

These are all aspects of what it means to be a community..

And for the church, the common charictoristic that brings us together as a group is simple..

its Jesus..

He is the object of our effection and attention

He is the nucleus of our community that brings so many different kinds of people together as one group..

he is the son that the christian community is supposed to revolve around.

Church

And When done right, the church should be a place of diversity..

Not simply a gathering of one kind of poeple..

of one skin color, language, look, or age..

but a multycultureal, multi age, male and female body of people

A people from different places and backgrounds..

who come together with around one thing..

loving Jesus..

He is the center that brings us together and makes us a community..

and the early in the book of acts sets the example of what it should look like to live in this kind of christian community..

Diverse

Remember when the people heard the early church speaking in toungues..

there was a multitude of languages..

Even the early church and the first form of eveangelism and outreach was diverse.

and the church should be too..

but the thing we have in common that brings us together is christ..

And this diverse group cared for one another in community.

The early church was a community centric church

If we take another look at the passages we read in the beginig..

I want us to pay special attention to the different things the church did together:

-Yes they gathered..

-They worshiped together..

-but they also studied an grew together..

-They broke bread, or had meals together..

-They fellowshiped together..

-they prayed together

-they witnessed miricals together

-they took care of one another and made sure no one in the group had need..

-They saw each other regularly.

-and helped each other out..

the early church didnt just come to a service together..

They did everyday life together..

They were not simply people who they saw as temple on sabath..

but they were people they saw and did life with each and every day..

and because of this they were unified as aone..

and each one was cared and provided for....

and the church grew..

they didnt just practice a religious attendance..

but they did life together in multiple way..

they practice community..

Jesus

The early church learned this from Jesus..

They didnt just do it..

but they were living out the greatest comandment.

Remember what he told the man who asked what the greatest comandment was?

Matthew 22:36–40 (ESV)

“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

Love god..

and Love people..

We dont love people simply by coming to church..

We love god by practicing community..

but actively being the hands and feet of Jesus

And intentionally loving them..

and this flows from our love for christ..

The modern church

im afriad we have lost our sense of community in the current church culture in america..

the church was intended to be a hub for the comunity centric life of the body that calls it there own..

Unfortunatly we live in a day where church is simply a moment in our week

and not the lifestyle we life.

Claim to fame.

Theres a church in akron whos claim to fame is the 60 minute service..

they will get you in and out in 60 minuites.

because we think church is someone were go on sundays..

Lost

I think thats a reason why mega churches were so popular for a time..

because you could go, be unoticed, and get out..

Authentic community

but I believe this is a shift..

where especially young people want authentic and real community..

place to do life together..

a missional place to serve..

we see this in the business wolrd already..

the shift back to mom and pop and small start ups..

buy local and the like..

community is on the rise again.

and i believe if the church can once again be the community that God has called us to be

we can see people come back to Jesus, or come to Jesus for the first time.

and we can live and breath and be the life flowing community god desires his church to be..,

so how do we do that?

Ways the early church practiced community

I think we find some practical ways the early church practice community..

The early Church was dedicated to more than just preaching and bible study.

Acts 2:42 (ESV)

And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

The greek word used here for fellowship can carry more of an intimate meaning, a mutual participation.

google defines it as companionship or friendly relationship or association

The early church was about the body being a close nit family

and as a family they spent time together doing thigns familys and close friends do.

The early Church broke bread together

Acts 2:46 ESV

And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts,

they didnt just meet on sundays and say goodbye.

they saw each other regularly and made a point too

they saw each other outside of the building

The early church thought of others before themselves.

Acts 4:32–34 ESV

Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common. And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold

They sacrifice of their own..

Like the good samaritain who took of his time and resources to make the beat up man was cared for..

The Early Church went out of there way to care for one another.

Acts 2:45 ESV

And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.

they didnt ust help..

they went out of there way and sarificially made sure everyone was taken care of..

The Early church spent a great deal of time praying together

Acts 2:42 (ESV)

And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

Multiple times throughout the book of acts we find the church coming togther both for regular prayer, but also for purposeful prayer.

In fact, the upper room was a prayer meeting.

Saying

a church that prays togther stays together..

when you pray together and make Jesus the center..

its hard for anything to disrupt that..

its hard to be a quarlsome and divided church if you are a praying church.

Community in the early church was not confined to a building

Acts 2:46 ESV

And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts,

they got out of the building.

not because a minsitry organized something..

but because they were a community..

Practical things we can each do to grow community

Make a new friend in the church

Sit with someone new

Talk to someone new each week

strike up a relationship with someone you dont normally talk too

Participait in non sunday events

today were going to the gaurdians game

that was a free sign up

Next month we will be doing our annual fall family fun day at ramsayer farms

North of 50 will be sponsoring an amish country trip as well

The women will be doing a womens conference

Come out and join a non sunday or wednesday event

Invite somone over or out to dinner

We used to do this often

but invite somone out to just get to know them

or catch up with them..

its hard to do that at church on a service day..

theres a lot going on..

find some intentional time to buiuld relationships

find a need and meet it

Join a ministry that is meeting needs and encouraging community such as meal train, food pantry, or care team

Make a sacrifice for someone else

Buy and extra coffee for somone in your church life

Pray Together

come to weekly prayer

or find a prayer partner to pray with each week

or both

Conclusion

when we each take the time to build community in the church

poeple are cared for, welcomed, loved, encouraged, edificed and included

and the church becomes what god wants it to be..

and the church will grow the way the early church grew..

Get out of the walls

this morning i want to encourage you not just to think about church as what we do on sunday morning..

but to start taking practical steps to live out the christian community god has called all of us to be..

Be the hands and feet of Jesus

lets be the community god has called us to be..