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Back to the Basics • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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We’ve been taking a deep-dive investigation of the formation and commitments of the early church in Acts 2. We’ve been considering the things that marked that first church with an earnest desire to go Back to the Basics. So far, we’ve talked about how a New Testament church preaches the gospel, baptizes believers, and teaches the truth. Today, we come to the next mark that made the early church so impactful: fellowship. These early believers genuinely cared for one another and served one another and shared life together. This new way of living had a way of attracting others to Jesus.
Today, though, we take this idea of fellowship…koinonia, in the Greek…and boil it down to dinner on the grounds, but as we’ve said ever since going through our study on koinonia years ago, fellowship is more than fried chicken. It truly is sharing life together at a deep and sacrificial level. And, many churches today are missing this all-important aspect of love in motion. A NT church must have a tremendous care for one another. Looking at the NT church, the Book of Acts here shows just how devoted the early church was to fellowship.
Committed to Mutual Edification
Committed to Mutual Edification
I want us to consider three passages, some of which are probably familiar to us. First, Hebrews 10:24-26.
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.
Second, 1 Corinthians 14:26.
What then, brothers? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up.
And finally, 1 Peter 4:7-11.
The end of all things is at hand; therefore be self-controlled and sober-minded for the sake of your prayers. Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.
Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace:
whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ.
To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
It is inescapable — healthy churches will have genuine fellowship that is devoted to building one another up: mutual edification. And, it happens in direct correlation to how we use our God-given gifts to serve one another. There’s no exception to this. God can, will, and does use every believer to build up His body. Listen, I need you pouring into me as much as you need me pouring in to you, but we, and I’m talking the collective western church, have radically departed from “one another” ministry in favor of a “professional/amateur” or “priestly/laity” or “pulpit/pew” divide. This ought not to be, but we sadly embrace it whole-heartedly. We are all called to full-time ministry, it’s just that some of our callings flesh themselves out differently.
Emil Brunner said in his book The Misunderstanding of the Church:
“There exists in the Ecclesia (church) a universal duty and right of service, a universal readiness to serve…”
Every single one of us, if we’ve given our lives to Jesus, has a ministry. And if we would see our churches become as healthy as possible, if we were to be biblical churches, we must be willing to adapt and adopt the practices that Scripture commends to us, and chief among them are the ways that we think about ministry — who and how we minister.
Did you know that one of the biggest barriers to church growth is the insistence that the “Senior” Pastor do all of the visitation of a church? Without fail, churches who demand the pastor to be at all of the hospital visits and ball games and recitals and at every meeting and so forth and so on, those churches struggle to grow. There are at least three dangers to this:
The pastors gets worn out.
Far too often they end up sacrificing their family on the altar of ministry.
It also robs the congregation of the opportunity to be used by God, to serve God and to love one another, just as Scripture commands.
Listen, my prayer for you is no more effective than any other Christ follower. Kyle doesn’t have God’s ear in some special way. Matthew doesn’t have a phone line to the throne room that you can’t access. We all come by Jesus. That’s it, and when we demand that only the ministry of the ministers counts, we actually make the body sick.
Think about this. I’ve been on a health journey, realizing I’m not as young as I used to be, and I want to live not a longer life, but I want to live with a longer quality of life. Imagine I trained every day, but the only thing I ever trained was my neck muscles. I mean, why not?! It supports the head, which is the control center. And sure, I’d look a little funky with a giant neck but no other muscles. But I trained them hard every day…seven days a week.
What would happen? My neck muscles would actually stop progressing, because if I worked them seven days a week, they’d be over-worked. There would be no time for rest and recovery, recuperation and growth. And, the rest of my body would be weak. Gangly arms…chunky legs…a heart riddled with disease. There’d be no health at all.
It takes the entire body working together, working in tandem…in harmony and unison…to truly be healthy.
We must recapture this in our churches. And, the best place to form those relationships to mutually edify one another in our church is in a small group Bible study that meets on Sunday mornings and/or a Life Group that meets in homes, typically on Sunday nights. We must be one-anothering one another.
Committed to Sacrificial Care
Committed to Sacrificial Care
Moving beyond encouraging one another toward godliness, the NT church was committed to actually caring for one another, so much so that they shared their lives, their meals, and even their own possessions. We live in a world that is sold on the rat race of out-pacing the Joneses. Not the case with the NT church who was actually selling their possessions so that they could share with anyone who had a need. There was no separation between the spiritual and the temporal. As a matter of fact, it was because the things of this world are just that…temporal things…that they seemed to have no attachment to them. Instead, it seems that the thing owning their heart was Christ and His love, and His love flowed out of them in generous care to one another. It mirrors the sacrificial love of the Father that we’re told about in Romans 5.
but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
And, this type of love was attractive, so much so that they had “favor with all the people” (Acts 2:47). It was common to see kindness on display. The church wasn’t so committed in their outside lives that it neglected the basics of love for one another. They took serious the teaching of Jesus:
By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
So it led them to be concerned about others’ needs:
Now in these days when the disciples were increasing in number, a complaint by the Hellenists arose against the Hebrews because their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution.
And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables.
Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty.
The first deacons were called so that no need was left unmet.
So, it does beg the question:
Who are our widows?
Who are our members who are hurting?
How will we even know if we are not deeply committed to one another in genuine, life-sharing fellowship. If the deepest we ever go in our relationships with one another is a “Hey, how ya doin’ brother?” on Sunday morning, we will never get to the depth of genuine sacrificial care that should mark the body of Christ.
Committed to Unity
Committed to Unity
First, living in harmony is not optional.
Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight.
Romans gives us at least two instructions to live in harmony:
Don’t be haughty. Humility is the path of unity.
Never be wise in your own sight. We need wisdom beyond what we think and what we reckon.
The second passage is found in Ephesians.
eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
We already know that there is to be a shared shouldering of the ministry in general. But, there was also unity in the decisions that were made. But, how was that the case? If you get two people in a room, you’re going to have three different opinions. How does the church build unity in their community, especially when it comes to making a decision?
Unity is built through a deep, life-sharing community that is committed to Scripture, walking in humility, and praying and waiting on the Spirit.
Consider Acts 15. A dispute arose when some men insisted Gentile believers must be circumcised and obey the law of Moses to be saved. Paul and Barnabas strongly opposed this teaching and brought the matter before the apostles and elders in Jerusalem. After much debate, Peter reminded them that God had already given the Holy Spirit to Gentiles by faith, without distinction, and that salvation comes by grace through Jesus, not by the law. Paul and Barnabas confirmed this by recounting God’s mighty works among the Gentiles. James then pointed to the prophets, affirming God’s plan to include the Gentiles, and concluded that they should not burden them with the law but only ask them to avoid idolatry, sexual immorality, and eating blood or strangled animals.
After the discussion, notice what happens:
Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders, with the whole church, to choose men from among them and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They sent Judas called Barsabbas, and Silas, leading men among the brothers,
Unity is birthed out of dependence upon the Scripture as they studied and considered God’s Word together and were led by the Spirit. How do I know they were led by the Spirit?
For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us…
Now, is this descriptive or prescriptive? There will also be debate around that for the Book of Acts, but it certainly is quite insightful. The Scripture, plainly taught by the apostles and elders, while being led by the Spirit, created unity for the church. This is why
The Bible is our sole rule for thought and life.
And, it is also why we insist on hearing the credible testimony of prospective church members — because those who are charged with governing the church must be led by the Spirit.
If we’re committed to one another, committed to sharing life together, committed to seeing the church as a family of believers, realizing that the relationships we share in this room with other believers is an eternal relationship, if we are committed to the Scripture as our final authority in all matters, and we are committed to dependence upon the Holy Spirit to lead, guide, and direct us, remembering the His Spirit will NEVER lead contrary to His Word, then we will be unified. And we will bask in the Scripture:
Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!
remembering that we must…
…above all…put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
And when we do this, God is glorified, others see this life and love that we share, and the gospel all-the-more becomes a sweet and enticing aroma.
The picture of fellowship we see in Acts isn’t casual friendship or occasional potlucks — it’s life shared deeply, sacrificially, and intentionally for the glory of Christ and the good of His people. Real fellowship means stirring one another up toward godliness, using our God-given gifts to build up the body, carrying each other’s burdens, and being committed to unity through humility, Scripture, and the Spirit. This kind of love in action cannot be outsourced to pastors or limited to Sunday morning meetings — it requires every believer to step into the ministry God has entrusted to them. When the church lives this way, not only is the body strengthened and healthy, but the watching world sees something profoundly different — an attractive, gospel-shaped community that points directly to Jesus. The challenge for us, then, is simple but costly: are we willing to lay aside comfort, convenience, and consumer Christianity so that we might embrace true koinonia and love one another as Christ has loved us?
