BACK TO THE BASICS

Christianity 101

“I believe in the basics: attention to, and perfection of, tiny details that might be commonly overlooked. They may seem trivial, perhaps even laughable to those who don’t understand, but they aren’t. They are fundamental to your progress in basketball, business, and life. They are the difference between champions and near champions. For example, at the first squad meeting each season, held two weeks before our first actual practice, I personally demonstrated how I wanted players to put on their socks each and every time: Carefully roll the socks down over the toes, ball of the foot, arch and around the heel, then pull the sock up snug so there will be no wrinkles of any kind.”

The previous December they had finally made the NFL championship game only to lose in the last minutes to their rival Philadelphia Eagles, and they were still feeling the pain. But Coach Lombardi had a plan for the 1961 season—go back to the fundamentals.

“Gentlemen,” he growled, gripping the football in front of him, “this is a football.”

With that statement he began a new day in that team’s history. They started doing the fundamentals of the game. December 1961 they defeated the New York Giants finally to become the NFL Champions. Lombardi never lost another playoff game.

The books of Acts is the record of the acts of the Apostles as they were empowered by the Lord Jesus Christ. During this time of great transition, it was essential that the early believers understood the basics of Christianity.

There was gnosticism, Stoicism, Platonism, Docetism, Legalism, polytheism— all vying for the hearts and minds of God’s people. And here, we have a build of new believers who need to be taught the basics of living the Christian life.

Acts 2 provides an amazing, first-hand, early accounting of the mindset of Christian saints and how they overcame transition with power to preach Christ and to propagate the good news of Jesus.

NEW BIRTH

preaching of the Word

Acts 2:14 “But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words:”

power of the Holy Spirit

Acts 2:17 “And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:”

response of the people

Acts 2:37–40 “Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation.”

NECESSARY BINDER

Christ as the only mediator for revelation

Colossians 2:9 “For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.”

Deuteronomy 6:4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord:”

Christ as the only means of salvation

Acts 4:12 “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”

by faith- Acts 20:21 “Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.”

and repentance- Hebrews 6:1 “Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,”

Christ as the only middle ground for cooperation

Romans 1:14–16 “I am debtor both to the Greeks, and to the Barbarians; both to the wise, and to the unwise. So, as much as in me is, I am ready to preach the gospel to you that are at Rome also. For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.”

Jew and Gentile

slaves and freemen

Barbarian and Greek

wise and foolish Forced them to ask this question: “What makes us US?” What makes the church our “Family?” Whether you knew of Christ through the shadows of the Old Testament Scriptures or through the preaching of a soul set free, it was all about Christ! -Religion does much to divide us. We split fellowship in nuance and shade…not heresy but preference…not doctrine but decore… ILL. chandelier- don’t need it and, beside, we don’t even have someone to play it anyway… not Christology but controversy… …and a watching world looks on and in and says, “I like their Christ, but their Christians look nothing like Him!”

NEEDED BEHAVIORS

Acts 9:2 “And desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem.”

Acts 19:9 “But when divers were hardened, and believed not, but spake evil of that way before the multitude, he departed from them, and separated the disciples, disputing daily in the school of one Tyrannus.”

19:23, 22:4, 24:14

John 14:6

In first-century Judaism, “walking” was a common metaphor for how one lived (cf. Psalm 1:1).

So the Way implied:

A pattern of life

A moral and spiritual path

A daily obedience, not just a confession

Christianity was seen as a movement you walked in, not simply an idea you agreed with.

…THEY CONTINUED…the verb here means that they continually devoted themselves to these things…

A COMMITMENT TO CHRIST QUICKLY LED THESE BELIEVERS INTO A SACRIFICIAL CARE FOR ONE ANOTHER!

ILL. loving what He loves- building a house- marital conflict? No. We love the same things.

TERTULLIAN, 2nd C historian n North Africa. He imagined pagans looking at Christians and saying, “Look . . . how they love one another (for they themselves [pagans] hate one another); and how they are ready to die for each other (for they themselves are readier to kill each other).” 

Devoted to doctrine

doing life

Acts 2:46 “And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,”

devoted to discipleship

apostles’ doctrine

house-to-house

Acts 2:46 “And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,”

Acts 5:42 “And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.”

demonstrated charity

Acts 2:45 “And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need.”

did miraculous things

Acts 2:43 “And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles.”

Today, we’re not asking, “What’s new?” but “What’s essential?”

Like Lombardi’s team, the church does not need a new playbook. We need to pick up the Bible again and say:

“This…is Christianity.”