The Birth of the Church

Some within our church have had to face the schooling choice for your kids. Do you send them to the public school, the Christian school or take up the home schooling options? You want to do the right thing so that your child has the best outcome later in life.

For some of you, it might be a financial decision your faced with. Perhaps you don’t have lots of money, but the money you do have, you have a choice about how you invest it. Do you put it into your super, or perhaps invest in the housing market, or keep it in some type of bank account?

There’s lots of different decisions I could go through that each have the potential to have a big impact on our lives, and each decision we can agonize over the right answer. At times we might even stay awake at night wondering if we made the right choice.

The answer to church growth

In the church setting, we can be faced with the same sort of tough but important questions. Sometimes these relate to starting new ministries or closing existing ones.

Believe me, they can be tough decisions at times.

The reality is, I think we all have a desire to see our church, (and the church in general) grow. It’s a healthy desire, after all, it should be the natural outcome of the great commission, which is honouring to God.

But it is tricky thinking about how to make the church grow. Certainly it has taken quite a lot of thought and subsequent writing of many church thinkers around the world.

Progression of church thinking

This week I was reading an article which looked at how much of this thought has developed over the last half a century or so.

Church Growth Movement

It started in the 60’s in a movement that became known as the Church Growth Movement. Particularly by the 80’s this was a very popular movement amongst churches in western countries.

Essentially the movement was about thinking how the church should be engaging the culture around it, which on the the most part, had really sound principles associated with it.

By the 90’s, the movement started attracting criticisms, not because of the underlying principles, but because the way it was being promoted made the focus on numbers and the techniques to get those numbers.

Church Health Movement

And so in the 90’s, the new way of thinking was not to make numerical numbers as the main tool for measuring a church, but instead considered the marks of a healthy church.

Some of you might remember the national church life survey, which reports on eight different metrics like, empowering leadership, gift-oriented ministry and the like. This was to try and broaden our understanding of a healthy church beyond just numbers.

Now just like the Church Growth Movement, this actually started with very godly ideals and some solid principles, but like a lot of things, can start a bit of a life of it’s own, and so it ended up suffering a similar fate in that it again became some more techniques, only the metrics are a bit different.

Missional Movement

Interestingly, if you follow the popular line of thinking, we’ve actually now moved into what some are calling the missional movement, which if you compare the basic principles behind it, are quite close to the original Church Growth Movement, only framed a bit differently.

The truth is, there is actually great principles in each of these movements and it is only as they become popularised and people start thinking there are universal techniques to be found, that they go off track.

Finding the right thing

But this here becomes our problem. You see we want something that is going to get us back on track. If we just buy the latest book out there, then surely we can find the next best trick to find the answer.

Link to passage

Well, we know that these books are fallible - but we have a book that is infallible.

And, the passage we read before shows some astronomical church growth so surely we can find something in here to get us on our way.

Just to show you their amazing growth rate, we’re told back in chapter 1 that the number of believers was about 120, so we’ll take that number for the start of this chapter. By the end of this chapter we’re told in verse 41 that the number added that day was about 3000.

That represents a 25 fold increase in one day. That’s got to be the fastest growth of any church ever, anywhere!

So let’s find the secret...

Chapter 2

Well, verse 1 puts us on the day of Pentecost. It’s known as Pentecost as it is 50 days after the Passover feast. It’s actually interesting exploring the link between the meaning behind Pentecost in the Old Testament and what is becomes here in this chapter. I did that in some detail when we observed Pentecost last year, so I won’t go in much detail now, but just briefly, it was essentially a agricultural festival which celebrated the end of the barley harvest and the beginning of the wheat harvest.

In this way, people are coming to celebrate a festival of a new period of harvest. Before this chapter, that period of harvest was in the agricultural sense - but now, the idea of harvest is taking on the spiritual sense that Jesus often used.

The Spirit Descends

Well, in verse 2 we get the most amazing experience, one that is written in quite descriptive language, most likely because it was just so memorable for them all.

It starts with the sound of a wind, but this is no ordinary wind, in fact it was described as a violent wind. But then something weird happened, the wind didn’t just pass the house like you might expect, instead we read that the wind start filling the whole house that they were sitting in.

I imagine that at about this point, you’d start to get a little worried, wondering what in the world is happening.

But things were still to get even weirder. Verse 3 tells us that we then get these tongues of fire that separate and landed on each of them.

Speaking in tongues

They then open their mouths, but as they speak, they speaks a different language.

Now I know there are differing opinions on the gift of speaking in tongues today and it is not my intention to go into much depth now, but it’s worth pointing out that while today, it is often thought of as some sort of heavenly tongue that is being spoken, verse 6 makes clear that what was being heard was actual earthly languages that other people could understand.

A bewildered crowd

You see, we learn from verse 5 that while this extraordinary event was occurring, a crowd was gathering outside, because someone (probably supernaturally) they could tell something was happening.

And it left them bewildered.

Peter Addresses Crowd

Well, I’m going to come back to this part of the account, but let’s continue my trace of the story.

You see it is Peter, the leader of the group who then steps up to addresses the crowd.

He starts by addressing their initial concerns, that is, that they must be drunk - and he assures them, that they are not (as he acknowledges, it’s only nine on the morning!)

But to offer a different take on what this crowd has just witnessed, he offers them a prophecy from Joel.

In this prophecy, that can be found in , it was foretold that in the last days the Spirit would be poured out and the sons and daughters will prophesy.

Peter is making a direct link between what has just been experienced and what was foretold centuries before.

To then give a very quick outline of what he goes on to say, he then describes the work of Jesus and his subsequent trial resulting in his death, but more importantly his resurrection because death could not keep him down.

From verse 25 he then moves into some words of David, in particular from where he talks of his hope for the future.

Peter makes a compelling argument that David’s vision had to extend beyond death, and makes most sense if read in light of what happened to Jesus.

Again, quoting another Psalm of David, this time, , Peter confidently declares that Jesus is the Lord and Messiah that has been longed for by the Jews for many many years.

The response of the crowd

This response from Peter has deeply affected the crowd, in fact, Luke uses expressive language to tell us that they were cut to the heart.

But being emotionally moved wasn’t enough - they wanted to know what next. So they asked the apostles “Brothers, what shall we do?” (verse 37)

And so Peter replied with a simple “repent and be baptised”.

The result

Verse 40 tells us that there were also many other words spoken, pleading them to turn from their ways, with verse 41 telling us that on that very day, 3000 accepted the message and were baptised.

From verse 42 to the end of the chapter we then get this beautiful picture of what the new community of believers looked like.

I always believe that when Christian community is done well, we get a little foretaste of what heaven is going to be like.

We could spend some time exploring this community, but I just want to highlight how it is just so characterised by love. It just shows that when we actually live like Christ, and have the same servant hearted nature that He demonstrated for us, the result can be truly beautiful.

Lessons from Acts 2

Well, I’ve quickly breezed through this chapter, which as I mentioned before saw the most amazing growth you could ever imagine - going from about 120 believers to about 3000 in one day.

So what can we learn from it?

Was it Peter’s superior preaching skills?

Was it that the apostles demonstrated how follow up should be done following an evangelistic talk?

Well, to be honest, I don’t believe that this passage was given to us so that we can harvest it for new techniques. We could analyze Peter’s use of scripture or his call to repentance, but these weren’t given for a model for us to emulate.

The importance of Holy Spirit

There is something far more fundamental that we should be taking from this passage.

I spoke before about the evolution of Christian thinking regarding how to do church, and on the most part (although probably not in all cases), the books and literature written actually aknowledged the truth I’m about to show from this passage - it’s just that this truth often got overshadowed by the techniques surrounding it to the point people forgot this important truth.

So what is the truth from this passage that I’m speaking of?

It’s the truth that there was one thing and one thing only that made the events of this passage possible - and that is that the Holy Spirit came.

We looked at the start with the strange happenings when the started speaking other languages - this was a direct result of the spirit.

When Peter stood up and addressed the crowd, rather than this being about his talents as a speaker, it rather showed the Spirit working through him.

When the crowds reacted in the way they did, and asked what they should do next - this was not a result of the apostles carefully thought out strategy - in fact there is no evidence of a strategy at all, because it was the Holy Spirit stirring in their hearts, pushing them into a new life.

And so in this passage, what we are witnessing is the work of the Holy Spirit.

How do you receive Holy Spirit?

But this of course begs the question, how can we have the Holy Spirit?

Now I believe this passage actually answers that question very clearly, however before I look at the answer it’s worth pondering some common thinking on the issue.

Now to be fair, depending on what circles you mix in, your perception of this may differ.

The wrong approach...

In some circles, there is a great deal of emphasis placed on receiving the Holy Spirit.

It has sometimes been taught that you become a Christian when you accept Jesus as your Lord and Saviour, but that receiving the Spirit can often occur at a later point in time. Often with this strain of teaching, the receiving of the Spirit will be evidenced by speaking in tongues.

Most commonly, the evidence used to suggest that the receiving of the Spirit is evidenced by tongues speaking is given from the various passages in the book of Acts, including this one, where we are told that the new believers speak in tongues.

The right approach...

I’m actually going to challenge that understanding, and I’m going to do so on the basis of this chapter.

If you have your bibles open, then look at verse 38, because I believe this is where it is made very clear.

You see, while I’m going to challenge the understanding that the receiving of the Spirit is a separate event to accepting Jesus as Lord and saviour, the far harder part to understand, and why I believe this incorrect teaching occurs, is the notion of being filled with the Holy Spirit.

The verse says:

Acts 2:38 NIV (Anglicised, 2011)

Peter replied, ‘Repent and be baptised, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

I can see no evidence at all that Peter at this time meant to put some caveat on that statement, as if to say, well if you repent and be baptised then maybe you’ll receive the Spirit, but you’ll only know if you speak in tongues.

Not just about speaking in tongues

Part of the problem is that at times, there can be a tendency to equate receiving the Holy Spirit with speaking in tongues. Sometimes they go together. Quite often they don’t.

I believe that the notion that you only have the Holy Spirit if you speak in tongues is a concept foreign to the Bible and is in fact plain wrong.

What about being filled by HS?

Now I just want to touch on a related topic because I think this is sometimes the cause of confusion with some people on this matter.

The issue is the one of being filled with the Holy Spirit. The concept can agree with what I just said, that is, you receive the Holy Spirit at conversion, but it suggests that our filling of the Spirit can vary from time to time and based on a number of factors.

This language of being filled with the Spirit is actually language used by the Bible, both in the New Testament and the Old.

In a few chapters time we will see Peter being “filled with the Spirit” as he addresses the Sanhedrin.

Interestingly, when we do see the various biblical characters being filled with the Spirit, rarely does it involve them speaking in tongues. More commonly it refer to having the right words to say, or having the courage to face a situation, or extra wisdom or the like.

It can be easy to automatically equate the Holy Spirit’s activity in our lives with the likes of speaking in tongues - but Paul addresses this directly in where he tells them that these supernatural gifts are just some of the many gifts of the Spirit that we are given.

Understanding church growth

Well let’s try to bring this back altogether now.

As we think about how church growth works, what we get from this passage is not a technique, but rather the need for the Spirit to be involved.

And when we see how you get the Holy Spirit, we see that we just need to repent and be baptised.

It sounds simple, but if it is so simple, why aren’t we seeing people burst through these doors?

Simple and hard

The truth is, it’s actually both very simple, but also hard.

It’s simple because you just repent and believe, but it’s hard because that means you have to give up control. It’s not about you, and that message can be hard to take - but when we live it, that’s when we see the Christian community like at the end of the chapter.

It’s also simple because we have the Holy Spirit guiding us and showing us the way, but it’s also hard because there is a spiritual battle raging which pulls us off track. Not only that, but sin blinds us and stops us from hearing the Spirit clearly.

Conclusion

What we learn in this passage is that the church is at its best when the Holy Spirit is in control.

There are a lot of books out there that will give us ideas for how to do church. Some of them are fantastic books, others, well… not so much.

Our focus however, needs to be on repenting, turning from our own ways, and believing that Jesus has risen from the dead, conquered all and has a way set for us.

It’s actually so fundamental that it gets glossed over when we think about church strategy. But repent and believe and you will receive the Holy Spirit.