Life Together 101
Life Together, 101
Acts 2:42-47
1. INTRO: Interview with Brian Smith
Ø Can you tell us about the new roomie you had for a week or so?
Ø Why did you take him in?
Ø What were some of the things you experienced and challenges you faced?
Ø How did what you did impact Buster and those to whom he introduced you?
Ø Were you aware of what you were risking? How did that work out?
Ø How did you feel in hindsight, were you mad? Did you wish you hadn’t taken him in?
Ø What have you learned, how has it changed you?
2. Scripture, Acts 2:42-47
Ø We have been looking at the early church as a model.
Ø It seems that living unified led to their being satisfied, magnified and multiplied. Look at the Scriptures.
Ø I want us to look first at what they did, but and then why that is so important to us.
Ø Pay attention in this first part, because if we don’t get it we won’t fully mature as followers, we’ll always be so needy that we will continue to make horrible decisions in life, and we will stay so self-absorbed that we will never be able to make a real difference in the world.
3. Breakdown of Specifics of What They Did
Ø The Christians you meet in the Book of Acts were not content to meet once a week for “services as usual.” They met daily, shared daily, studied daily, reached out and increased in number daily. Their Christian life was a day-to-day reality, not a once-a-week routine.
A. Meeting – Community (4x)
Ø They did life together.
Ø They met in two main places, the temple and homes. In many ways like CCC, big & small church.
Ø Eating together and talking over meals yields intimacy. 4x this is mentioned in various forms. It seems their fellowship centered on intimate worship, sharing and study.
B. Sharing – Meeting Needs (2x)
Ø They were so one that they considered all they owned as available to any as had need.
Ø They held their own possessions lightly, ready to use them at any moment for someone else, as needs arose
Ø It is debated to what degree the sharing took place. The need for deacons a little later in Acts demonstrates that the sharing was not done to create a complete economic leveling, though genuine care was noted by the world for centuries.
Ø The point being, they loved each other sacrificially and continually.
C. Teaching
Ø The early church did more than make 3000 converts, they sought to immediately disciple those 3000. They were devoted to the apostles teaching. The daily community and teaching made it much more likely to yield a devoted follower of Jesus.
D. Praying
Ø Not a lot here, but Acts shows us this was a huge part of early church’s daily life.
E. Reaching
Ø God added the people, but they were talking, meeting out in public, doing miracles, demonstrating love, but God did the adding.
F. Praising: Part of what they did every time they gathered
G. Serving: Miracles being the pinnacle of that service.
4. Strength & Synergism in the Daily Community
A. How does it work?
Ø This constant meeting did not produce an additional burden which wore them out over time, but instead produced a joy that leapt up in their hearts!
Ø How many of you have swirled the water in your bathtub? Tell the truth. What happens if keep swirling and swirling with your hands slowly picking up speed? What would happen if you tried to create that whirlpool in just a few huge frantic strokes?
Ø Everybody in the YoungLife whirlpool swirling! Those who wouldn’t swirl were pressured. Why?
Ø Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up! Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.
B. Without It Disciples Aren’t Made
Ø It is an apprenticeship, not a history class.
Ø Ephesians 4:11-16.
C. Without It Unmet Needs for Love Lead to Bad Decisions
Ø Eddy & Mary’s wedding. It hit me when he kissed his bride.
Ø It is a natural part of life to long for the kind of permanent relationship that fosters real intimacy and belonging. The ache of loneliness and longing often call us like a siren to rush things and force intimacy before its time. Sometimes it is a rush in the area of sex. At others times it is a rush in the area of belonging; to cleave to another before we are really ready to leave our families of origin and make a lifelong commitment form a new one. However, intimacy without commitment and permanence is hollow. It leaves our hearts questioning. Why isn't there commitment? Will this end, can I trust it? And those haunting questions usually push away the very intimacy we seek to rush.
Ø Marriage is a picture that God paints for us of intimacy with commitment. It is a picture that mirrors the eternal union between Jesus and his bride, the church. He sacrifices all of himself to love, serve and lead all those who give their lives to loving and serving Him. Our hearts never have to ask "Why isn't there commitment? Will this end, can I trust it?"
Ø It's tough to resist the loneliness and longing that tempt us to rush. Eddy chose to do it right; to develop things God's way in God's timing. He trusted God, his Christian community, and his mentor, to meet His needs for belonging and love while he waited for the day he could step into a lifelong commitment to Mary.
D. Without It We’re So Busy With Our Own Needs We Can’t Serve Others
Ø When someone is drowning, what does instinct lead them to try to do to anyone trying to save them?
Ø In life, when we are drowning, we can’t do what Brian did, acting selflessly.
Ø So needs must be met first through a personal relationship with God, then through a relationship with his current physical body, the church community and the family. Both of these last two should seek to augment and reinforce the primary relationship.
5. How are you doing, and how are we doing?
Ø How does CCC “meet daily” living life in community? How can we do better? Can we use net & modern communication to overcome the change of pace in our culture?
Ø CCC uses sermon, cell, and mentoring.
Ø Cells are key to getting there and keeping it real and personal.