Sermon Tone Analysis

Intro

Some things seem too good to be true.

I remember a trip to Niagara Falls that my family took when I was young.

Dad was really excited about the price of gas he saw.

He had the attendant fill up the tank and when the man told him it would cost $25 (which was a lot for a tank of gas then), he thought the guy misspoke.

But in Canada, they price fuel by the liter, not the gallon.

Too good to be true...

When you hear the account of the early church, you could almost think that this is too good to be true.

No church will ever be like that...

And we know that if we are looking for the perfect church, then we'll be church hopping the rest of our lives.

It could almost be described as the young church’s “age of innocence.”

The subsequent narrative of Acts will show that it did not always remain so.

Sincerity sometimes gave way to dishonesty, joy was blotched by rifts in the fellowship, and the favor of the people was overshadowed by persecutions from the Jewish officials.

Luke’s summaries present an ideal for the Christian community which it must always strive for, constantly return to, and discover anew if it is to have that unity of spirit and purpose essential for an effective witness.

Let's not be discouraged because we think that could never happen.

Let the right ideal motivate us!

I hope the next few weeks of sermons are encouraging to you as we return to the basics of living together as the church.

Remember that old rhyme that completely wrong??!! Here's the church, here's the steeple, open it up and here's the people.

It really should be: Here's the church, made up of people; sometimes they meet in a building with a steeple.

The church isn't a building.

Church isn't something you attend.

Church is something you are part of if you are saved by Jesus Christ.

You are called to the fellowship of believers if you are saved by Jesus Christ.

Fellowship is the Greek word koinōnía (κοινωνία), which means "participation, communion, fellowship."

You are called to participate with other believers in the mission of God.

Transition:

We need to be a committed church.

In v.42 of our text, we see that the early church was devoted to the teaching and to fellowship.

Today, we'll see their example of being committed to the fellowship.

I want to share three ways how fellowship occurs in the church: through love and care; through ministry service; and through small groups.

Let's look at Acts 2:42-47 to see all of this.

Fellowship Happens Through Love and Care

They were together (Greek literally and simply means "in the same place")— there’s a very simple principle here that Christians need each other.

They need to be together.

How can we encourage/love/care unless we’re together?

Today, we have so many ways of being together, but for the people in Acts, this was physically together.

Illustration/Application:

And I think there's an important point to make here: too many people call themselves Christians but make no place in their lives for the church.

They will say they're saved, but make no effort to be with other Christians.

They're on the lake for the weekend; sleeping in; they think watching a TV preacher is the same thing as attending fellowship and worship activities with a church.

But God has called his people to be together.

We see this in the popular verse: “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 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.”

(Hebrews 10:24–25, ESV) Being together should motivate us to love and good works.

Fellowship happens through love and care.

Along with being together, the people were unified.

Their unity is expressed by having all things in common.

"Common" here is referring to things which had several people as partakers.

V.45 describes this even more.

There was a general care for others by providing for each others’ needs.

They were selling things and using the money to care for others in times of need.

Now it doesn’t mean that Christians can’t own anything.

We see in this passage even the possessive form: their houses.

We see the possessive even after Acts 2, referring to people's homes they met in.

It doesn’t teach communism, as you’ll read some people argue.

This was not government-forced living.

This was a voluntary effort people made to take care of each other.

Acts 5 gives the account of Ananias and Sapphira, who promised the church money from selling their land but then did not follow through on that promise.

In Acts 5:4, Peter reminds them that they were under no compulsion to sell the land or give the money to the church.

But the important thing was to keep their word.

It was their property when it wasn’t sold, and when it was sold, the money was at their disposal.

But they lied against God.

So we see in the immediate context even that the church was under no compulsion to sell and give.

Instead, something more glorious was happening: the church was sacrificially giving to one another on their own accord!

They wanted to!

Their fellowship of loving and caring for one another strengthened them.

Illustration

Travel to Muir Woods Park, a historic forest north of San Francisco, California, and you will find giant sequoia trees, the world’s largest trees.

Their average height is between 164-279 feet and 20-26 feet in diameter.

It is estimated that the average age of sequoia trees ranges from 800-1,000 years old.

Some may be as old as 1,500 years in age.

(http://www.sftodo.com/muirwoodssanfrancisco.html)

It's amazing to think how they were able to withstand the torrential rain, gusting winds, and seismic earthquakes of California.

You would assume that they would tell you that it is because of their deep roots.

However, the roots of many sequoias are only three feet deep, and at most 15 feet.

So, what is their secret?

The interlocking root systems of the sequoias provide stability and strength.

The sequoias are stronger together.

They literally hold each other up.

Application

Jesus designed the church to be a vessel for caring for one another.

It is a family where the members of that family should genuinely love one another.

And from what we can read, every person in the church was active in caring for one another.

This is not a task for just the pastors or deacons or teachers or long-time members or any specific group—every single person in the church should be committed to the fellowship of loving and caring for one another.

We are to be together.

We are to have things in common, sharing as we can to help others in need.

I hope you’ve been blessed by the care and love and others.

And I hope others have been blessed by the care and love you have shown them.

Transition:

Fellowship happens through loving and caring for one another.

But fellowship happens also through ministry service.

Fellowship Happens Through Ministry Service

In v.46, we are told that the believers would attend the temple together.

Now the word "temple" is interesting to me because we associate temple with Jewish practices normally.

So let’s understand what’s meant here in this text.

The Christian presence in the temple testifies not only to their remaining faithful to their Jewish heritage but also evidences their zeal for witness.

( John B. Polhill, Acts, vol.

26, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1992), 121.)

The temple was the center of Jewish worship, and it certainly still existed after the time of Jesus and the beginning of the early church.

When we see early Christians going to the temple, it was not to participate in the Jewish worship practices, but seemed to be rather for their ministry service, their witness of Christ.

You would find the largest gathering of people at the temple, and we have examples from Peter and John that they would go to the temple daily even, to proclaim Jesus.