Purposed To Belong

Text: Acts 2:42-47

Introduction

You can belong to a lot of things, organizations, movements, golf courses, car clubs, 4-H, and many of them yield some beneficial qualities.

Story: Sinclair Ferguson told the story once about being on a gold course with one of his friends. On a beautiful mild day, with the sun shining, and the grass a deep green, he would turn to his friend and say, “This is a treat, thank you! It is a great gold course!” His friend would reply with a quite smile and say, “Yes, it’s such a privilege to belong here.” Come to find out, the initiation fee had grown to be $100,000 as apposed to the low rate his friend had paid years earlier. His friend would always share this membership experience with those who he considered friends.

LISTEN…that is exactly what the early Christians felt about being “members” of the church!!!

I hate to admit this, but I don’t think many who belong to the local church today carry the same attitude. While everyone will say, “I love my church,” some of those same people currently don’t appreciate those who make up the church the way they did in the early church. You may be one of those members who started that way, but then you slowly became critical, insensitive, socially distant, and only go out of your way to speak to those who share the same interests as you (clicks).

I believe it is high time that our membership is heading in the direction of “belonging” and not just being in the same place, facing the same direction, focused on the same preacher, and then exiting the same way out the building to go on about our day!

LISTEN…Jesus created His church! Therefore, neither of us get to highjack the definition, purpose of the church, as well as what it means to faithfully “belong.” Coming to church is NOT the same as “belonging.” Yes, you can join, and still yet not “belong.” Jesus knew that quit well!

(discloser: what I getting ready to point out is taking into consideration the legitimate circumstances that can hinder one’s desired quality of “belonging” to the church)

Pay attention to verse 42 where it says, “continued steadfastly.” Some of you might not like this, but this speaks to an addiction these early believers had. Yes, I said addiction. Those two words speaks of a persevering devotedly (aka. addicted). Some dare to translate that verb that way, but I believe it tells the truth about how absorbing church membership was then, and should be today.

They were not devoted to the “wrapping paper” of the gift, they were devoted to the gift. I want to reintroduce to you what about the church we need to be addicted (devoted) too today. Only then can any of say we certainty that, “I belong to CSMBC.”

1) You Belong When You Live Addicted To The Ministry Of God’s Word

A. Teaching and preaching is the heart-life of the church

You might mistake these early believers as egg-heads who met the standards of the Jerusalem schools. NOT SO! They were just common uneducated men.

Acts 4:13 “13 Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.”

To simply put it, these believers could not get enough of the apostles teaching and preaching.

It was not the size of their brain that made the difference. It was the size of their heart that drove them to be near the place of Biblical teaching and preaching.

Q — Why is it that the ministry of God’s Word is the heartbeat of the church?

ANS — God’s Word is the only thing that cause the heart to burn for Jesus and radically transform lives.

John 17:17 “17 Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.”

Romans 12:1–2 “1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”

Colossians 3:16 “16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.”

B. How does God’s Word make such a strong impact?

a) God’s Word is absolute TRUTH

We learn the truth about God, our sin, and our need of Christ.

It cuts through our minds and hearts to reveal our true motivations.

It clarifies any confusion and convicts our hearts of the many sins and failures of our life.

It leads us to know how things really are in the word.

It promises that we don’t have to remain guilty before God. We can receive Christ and be forgiven.

b) God’s Word extends God’s grace

It is a narrative pointing us all to Jesus!

It performs a work of purity and stirs up new affections for holiness.

This is not done through a vacuum. It fills our hearts full of these new desires while living in this dark world.

c) God’s Word extends God’s power

Through the applied Word, we can daily conquer sin!

Quote: (Charles Wesley) “He breaks the power of cancelled sin, he sets the prisoner free.”

2) You Belong When You Live Addicted To Fellowshipping With Fellow Believers

A. Reverence to God brought believers together

(verse 43-44)

Being a Christian is never an “individual thing.” The Bible never portrays it that way. It is a corporate thing.

Have you ever noticed all of the ‘each other’ or ‘one another’ statements that are in many of the epistles of the New Testament (letters circulated among local churches).

Romans 12:10 “10 Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another;”

1 John 4:12 “12 No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.”

Ephesians 5:21 “21 Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God.”

Hebrews 10:24 “24 And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:”

Some of you may have a little more personal work than others to help that addiction process be more successful.

You certainly can make it more difficult for your church family to want to gather together (constant sarcasm; lack of tact; cold attitude; pessimism, etc.)

Q — How many of you have ever said this about your own family, “I love my family and I wish we had more quality family time?

Sometimes what disrupts this is just the wind of change that blows into your life.

However, most of the time, it is your hand of the fan speed holding it Max Speed.

Church should be seen as ‘family time.’

We collectively express our love for Father, Son, and Spirit.

We have lifted up praise to God.

We have heard the Spirit’s voice through His Word.

You can’t get this anywhere else!

B. Genuine care for one another brought them together

(Verse 45)

This was not the first socialist/communist Christian movement!

They actually felt such a privilege to belong together by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, they treated each other life family.

Their addiction to fellowship was so alive, they shared everything they had with one another.

a) The spirit of self-centeredness was never given the first breath

Greed could not survive in those conditions.

Real church is where you find the focus on Jesus and one another!

b) The spirit of stinginess was never found

The Bible speaks a lot about “giving.” How we handle our resources.

Lets be honest, how open our wallets are is a litmus test to how open our hearts are!

The Gospel unplugged their their stinginess and gave them a heart to give.

2008 Study — Two sociology professors, Christian Smith and Michael Emerson published a financial stewardship study in the churches of North America called: Pass The Plate. It was eventually given the subtitle: The Riddle of Stingy Giving. Here was there conclusion: “Despite a reputation for generosity, American Christians give away relatively little money to religious and other purposes. A sizeable number o fChristians give little sums of money. Only a small percent of American Christians give generously, in proportion to what their churches call them to give…most American Christians are remarkable ungenerous.”

3) You Belong When You Live Addicted To Worshipping God

(Verses 45-47)

A. Worshipping God in UNITY

The early church took advantage of the room available within the Temple.

Of course, it didn’t stay that way due to persecution. However, if they could find a place were all of them could worship together, they did it.

Most of the time, they had to do it from house to house.

“Continued daily with one accord”

They had a single-mindedness when they came together.

LISTEN…If you are feeling good about your 1 hour Sunday morning attendance, or for that matter, your faithful attendance to all 3 service, notice the frequency of the early church!!!

I believe, if they showed up for church today and saw how little time we spend together, they would probably ask, “Do you all really love each other?” or “Does the Spirit of God really live in you all?”

B. Worshipping God with GLADNESS

This speaks to the sounds that elevated from their worship.

They lifted up sounds that left no question about their attitude toward God!

Q — If everyone worshipped like you, would this church be noticed by the community as a glad church?

C. Worshipping God with SIMPLICITY

While they used the latest means to distribute the Gospel and spread Missionaries across the globe, they KEPT IT SIMPLE!

Unlike many in church culture today, these early believers were NOT addicted to worship (i.e. the venue, style, etc.), but worshipping God!

Notice what happened:

‘Awe’ came over everyone.

They had favor with one another.

The Lord added to them as people trusted Christ.

This is what happens when a church is really a church!!!

Conclusion