September 15, 2024

Community Scripture Reading

Acts 2:42–47 ESV

42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 43 And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. 44 And all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

Introduction

• Opening Illustration:

This last year Ashley broke her tailbone and was unable to go to Christmas plans with the family. Everything about Christmas was different because she couldn’t be there.

Yesterday I tweaked something in my back. This meant a foundational part of me which I just counted on to work is now a problem that affects all of my body. Without the healthy support of my back, everything else I try to do is affected.

• Transition: The same thing happens when we neglect investing in our church community. We are all essential parts of the body of Christ, and we are called to come together regularly to build each other up, encourage one another, and serve God as a family.

I hope that as a result of today you can see the value of community in the context of church. And I hope you can see why real, human community still matters today even in a time when people are giving up on community left and right.

1. Community Strengthens and Encourages (Hebrews 10:24-25)

Have you ever stopped and thought about the amazing priveleges we have as followers of Jesus? We are really fortunate!

Hebrews 10:19 ESV

19 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus,

Because of the blood of Jesus we can enter the most holy place. We can walk right up to God and talk to him. We can have a relationship with God. There was a time when the only way you could talk to God was by going to a priest and then having that guy pass the message along. Perhaps you do that with friends and just pass the message along sometimes. It's epically better when you can actually talk to and know someone. That's the privilege we have because of what Jesus did.

Hebrews 10:20 ESV

20 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh,

In the old temple in the old Tabernacle that was built there was a curtain and the same thing in the temple there was a curtain that separated the most holy place where God lived from the rest of the temple. The most holy place where God's presence was felt from the rest of the place. It's hard for us to come to grips with the significance of that division period of a curtain blocking us off from going to a place. Because in America we don't have a lot of sacred spaces. We don't have a lot of places where we can't go.

We also have to see that he describes this as a new and living way through the curtain. All the ways that the priests facilitated for us to come to and talk to God involved the repeated sacrifice of animals. It was an endless cycle of making sacrifices for your whole life to make atonement for your sins. When the writer to the Hebrews describes this as a new and living way it's something that will last . it's something that we don't have to keep doing over and over again because Jesus did it once.

Hebrews 10:21 ESV

21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God,

Remember the priest was the person that stood between you and God. Not to block you from God but to introduce you to you and help you to talk to God. Jesus is our priest. Jesus enables us to come to God.

So we have acess to God. We have someone who lives to intercede to God on our behalf. We have priveleges. How should we then live?

Hebrews 10:22 ESV

22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

We draw near to God with a sincere heart, confident in our faith.

This second part is about baptism.

Hebrews 10:23 ESV

23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.

We need to hold fast without wavering.

If holding unswwervingly to our faith depended on our own effort, then we are doomed. But God is faithful to provide the stamina we need if we depend on him.

So follow me here:

We have a great privelege of relationship with God because of what Jesus has done.

Because of this we need to draw near to God

In part this can be devotions and daily devotion to God.

We need to hold fast to what we believe.

Each of these things are personal things.

Now Hebrews turns our and his attention to what we need to do for each other.

This is community

Hebrews 10:24 ESV

24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works,

We are called to take responsibility for each other.

What does it mean to consider something? It means to give focused attention.

We focus on things that are important to us, right?

We focus on a good book.

We focus on a big project.

We focus on getting the house ready for family to visit.

Focusing is hard today isn’t it?

It’s easy to focus on yourself because you are kind of unavoidable.

It’s hard to focus on others. To consider others….

Hebrews & James 1. An Appeal to Experience Christ’s Power (vv. 19–25)

As Christians we have a corporate responsibility. We must help others who stumble and falter. We must concentrate on the needs of others and not on our individual salvation only.

Think about it.

We can spur people towards good or bad works.

Which will you choose to do each day?

What choices will you make to move others in a positive direction?

What are we called to spur people towards here?

Love and Good works.

And of course faith has been mentioned earlier.

Hebrews & James 1. An Appeal to Experience Christ’s Power (vv. 19–25)

Faith provides assurance. Hope promises an incentive to obedience. Love provides a foundation for prodding believers to godly living

Trusting in God with faith means we have assurance that he will provide and keep his promises.

It means you can trust God with today and tomorrow.

Faith is what helps you sleep at night because you have faith in God’s promises.

Hope is looking forward to God’s reward. Hope is believing that following God is worth it.

Hope is trusting that if your parents tell you to do something and you’ll be rewarded….you working in hope of what good will come.

Hope is working for a company and getting paid what you are due but believing that it will work out for growth for you and provision for your family.

Hope is looking forward and allowing the future to equip us to live today better.

Love is the foundation isn’t it?

Out of love we do great acts of service.

Wives tolerate their husbands out of love.

Parents sacrifice for their children out of love.

Siblings tolerate each other because of love (and parental threats. :) )

And God’s love for us motivates us to love others.

Our love for God should challenge us to love others.

We love others because we love God

We live rightly before God because we love God. And because we fear him.

If you struggle to obey and live rightly before God it might be because you either lack in your love of God or your fear of Him.

Hebrews 10:25 ESV

25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

Some of the people that read this letter to the Hebrews had stopped meeting together with other believers. They didn't get together to worship but they needed to be reminded just like we do it's crucial to get together to encourage each other.

We've got 10,000 ways to connect with other people today. Messages video and more. But nothing still replaces the full on capability that we have to interact in person.

At men's Bible study this week we talked about the debate on Tuesday. And we were able to have an intentional thoughtful sometimes confrontational conversation as we discussed the presidential candidates in light of our faith. But we left the meeting with respect and love for each other because we looked each other in the eye and assured each other that we wanted to honor each other.

You can't do that over a text message or on social media.

You can't lovingly correct someone with a text message as well as you can with a face to face conversation.

In this world we need encouragement. Showing up with other believers is a crucial way to give and get encouragement.

If you choose to show up in church only once a month will you be encouraged and supported by those friendships and relationships or will these relationships be just a side note in your life? We have got to get together regularly as a church if you want to experience the benefit that God wanted the church to offer.

2. Community Devotion Builds Unity and Growth (Acts 2:42-47)

Acts 2:42–47 ESV

42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 43 And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. 44 And all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

First of all they devoted themselves to teaching. In the early church and in now new believers and old believers need teaching to understand the word of God to understand how to live as God has called us to live. But it wasn't a school. It was a place where you are loved.

John 13:34–35 ESV

34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

And of course they got together breaking bread and breaking bread simply means eating a meal together. For the early church the Lord's supper wasn't just a matter of a little bit of bread and a tiny glass of grape juice. It was often a full meal that ate together regularly.

In this early church not only did they eat together regularly they actually invested in each other making sure that everyone had all that they needed.

Acts 2:43–45 ESV

43 And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. 44 And all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.

And this wasn't communism. This was voluntary discretionary generosity. It wasn't selling all that they had period it was selling their abundance to support and care for each other.

Acts 2:46–47 ESV

46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

Think for a moment of what this would look like. Every day groups of these Christians went to the temple which is where they learned about God and Jesus and their faith. They spent time together at the temple and they ate together in their homes period now this was a time when most people had fairly small homes so none of the homes would be large enough to house all the people. Mind you at this time the church grew by hundreds and thousands. So this church went from house to house to house eating together celebrating their faith together. They were constantly involved in supporting encouraging and loving each other.

What if the church looked like that today? What if instead of getting together once a week we got together two or three times a week?

You know as much as our world wants to diss if we were this involved in each other's lives. If we were this involved and encouraging supporting and transforming each other and feeding each other and investing financially and otherwise in each other they wouldn't be able to ignore us.

• Application: Challenge the congregation to devote themselves to the teaching, fellowship, and prayer that comes through weekly community. Suggest practical steps like joining a small group, attending church events, or serving in ministries.

3. Every Member Plays a Vital Role (1 Corinthians 12:12-27)

Preach and apply this as you read through it.

1 Corinthians 12:12–27 ESV

12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit. 14 For the body does not consist of one member but of many. 15 If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 16 And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. 17 If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? 18 But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. 19 If all were a single member, where would the body be? 20 As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. 21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” 22 On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23 and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, 24 which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, 25 that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. 26 If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. 27 Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.

Each one of you have talents and gifts that are not only beneficial to the church body they are crucial. You cannot make the mistake of thinking that your gifts are not necessary to the community. Each one of you plays a crucial role in our church. Each one of you is here by God's purpose and plan. It's easy to dismiss the gifts you have as lesser or greater sometimes.

I remember in the last Church I was part of we had severely mentally handicapped individuals in the community.

It might be tempting to ask what gifts they could have brought to the church but the reality was they served in so many different ways. With a childlike faith literally they participated in so many aspects of church life bringing joy to many. And what's more caring for and respecting these individuals challenged all the rest of us in how we lived and how we loved.

• Application: Remind the congregation that every person has gifts and talents to contribute to the body of Christ. Encourage them to identify their unique gifts and find ways to serve and invest in the community. No one is too small or insignificant in God’s kingdom.

Practical Tips for Weekly Investment in Community:

1. Show Up Consistently

: Challenge the congregation to make attending church a priority, even when life is busy. Set aside Sundays or other key times to be with their church family.

2. Be Active, Not Passive

: Encourage them to move beyond just attending church services. They can actively engage by serving, joining a small group, or participating in fellowship events.

3. Look for Opportunities to Encourage

: Remind them that weekly investment in community is not just for their benefit but also for others. Look for ways to encourage and support those in their church family, whether through prayer, a kind word, or acts of service.

Conclusion

Acts (IV. Life Application: The Clever Monk)

The Clever Monk

I once heard a wonderful story about a young monk who was called on to preach his first sermon at the monastery. Frightened and intimidated, he opened with a question: “How many of you know what I am about to say?” When no one raised a hand, he timidly admitted, “Well I don’t either” and dismissed the assembly with the traditional Dominus vobiscum, “the Lord be with you.”

Of course, his superiors would not let him off the hook with that kind of behavior, so a week later he was back on the same platform. To everyone’s surprise, he asked the same question: “How many of you know what I am about to say?” This time the brothers determined to teach him a lesson, so everyone present raised a hand. Courageously, the young monk smiled and said, “Well, since you already know, you don’t need to hear the sermon. Dominus vobiscum.”

After a severe reprimand he slowly ascended the stairs of the platform yet a third time. Slowly, but deliberately, he astonished the audience with his now traditional question: “How many of you know what I am about to say?” To completely unbalance this clever amateur, half the brothers raised a hand, the other half did not. “Well,” said the young monk, “those of you who know tell those who don’t know. Dominus vobiscum.” And he dismissed the group.

We may feel like that young monk. We may think we don’t know enough to preach to others or that we are not mature enough to present ourselves as prime examples of the Christian faith. We can all share with others the experiences we have had in our lives up to this point. If we are new Christians, we can at least tell others that we know Jesus and can help others know him. We don’t need to be trained theologians. We can simply tell others what our own experience has been.

“We are witnesses,” said Peter. Luke makes that theme the banner of his book. Like the early Christians, witnesses are simply people who know, telling people who don’t know, what God has made possible through the death, resurrection, and exaltation of his Son, Jesus Christ. We do not need to be brilliant theologians to fulfill that mission, but we do need to be biblical Christians.

The last part of our chapter forces us to examine our own congregations and our individual roles in those congregations. Do our contemporary churches feature these biblical characteristics? If so, special programs and growth formulas are probably unnecessary.

God understands all our shortcomings, our failures, and our problems. Yet he has no other plan for sharing the good news with the world than the proclamation of his people. When we truly believe the power of Peter’s message and truly behave like these early believers, some day a future historian may write of our churches, And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

Close with Prayer

Closing Community Prayer

Matthew 6:9–13 ESV

9 Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. 10 Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread, 12 and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.