Becoming a Community of Disciples

Introduction

Good morning CrossPointe

Personal introduction and thanks for Hilton preaching last week - time to work on partnership class (Celebration of vision)

Today we will be in Acts 5:1-11

PRAY

Most of us like a peek behind the scenes - to see how things really are and not just as they seem to be

DVD Extras - Back ground, Paul Harvey - the rest of the story, Inside the Huddle

Luke is a historian and in we get a peek behind the curtain. The book of Acts does not just tell us what the church does, it also tells us how the church experiences transformation, even when sin is present.

Luke doesn’t sugar coat the early church experience as if everything was perfect. The last verse of today’s passage says, “And great fear came upon the whole church and upon all who heard of these things.”

Book of Acts

God’s mission for the gospel to be proclaimed among all peoples through disciples empowered by the Holy Spirit.

God is gathering a people (across all nationalities) to himself, for his glory, and has given us a mission the make disciples of all nations.

There is a danger when we reduce our spirituality, or what is means to be a disciple, to what we do.

This outward mission though must flow out of an inward transformation

We must be changed ourselves by the work of Jesus in our lives, before we proclaim or participate in seeing the change in others.

This is why our mission statement as a church says that the gospel compels us to become disciples who make disciples.

personally experience the inward work of the gospel before we publically expressing the gospel

we publically expressing the gospel

Inward change before outward action

What we will see in today’s passage:

Big Idea: Biblical community is rooted in the gospel and is experienced through authentic transformation and it is endangered by faking it.

Read

This morning I want us to see how biblical community is 1) Established, 2) Experienced, and 3) Endangered

Community Established | The Gospel

What is the foundation of the community God is building?

“Full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul...”

In verse 4 Luke tells us there are 5,000 men. Assuming at least half of them are married, if not more, we are looking at 7,500.

How is it possible to have that many people unified?

Simple Answer: They ‘believed’ the gospel.

It was their faith in Jesus that unified them.

The apostles kept preaching the same message: This Jesus of Nazareth is the messiah, you killed illed him, God raised him - repent and believe on Jesus.

We don’t create unity - God establishes it

We maintain unity. says that we should “make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace.”

God creates the unity and we are called to maintain the unity he has already provided.

God is redeeming people. He is creating for himself one unified family.

Unity doesn’t mean uniformity

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From the beginning of Acts we see people from numerous backgrounds and from culture and nations across the earth.

Faith in Jesus isn’t just a religious expression for a particular culture or nation

Is Christianity an American religion or Western? No, it started in the Middle East and included people from numerous location.

This is important to understand because

1) We are go to see a comparison and contrast that helps us see what builds community and what breaks-down community.

2) What builds community is authentic generosity

Community Experienced | Authentic Generosity

Who shared: Everyone

When: All the time

What did they share: Everything

What does this mean?

The genuinely cared for others?

Lived sacrifically

We don’t need to better understand? We need to better apply.

So Luke gives us two examples: one is positive and one is negative

One shares us how community is experienced and the other shows us how community is endangered.

Example: Joseph

Jospeh is one of Luke’s heros - he is mentioned 23 times of the Acts

He also had a nickname - Barnabas, meaning, “son of encouragement.”

He sold a field and gave all the money to the apostles to distribute as they saw fit.

The Apostles give him a nickname. He has a reputation. It seems like his motivation was sincere and focused on the good of others and to help meet their needs.

The Rich

Important to remember that the Bible doesn’t say there was noone rich and they all had the same financial means.

Rather, it says that noone had need

If God has blessed you with money, you need to see that as both a blessing and a responsibility.

In Genesis, God tells Abraham that he was going to bless him so that he would be a blessing to others

Story of Papa

Application

How has God blessed you?

What does it look like for you and/or your family to be a blessing to others?

Money, Life Insurance, Investments, Matching Donations, etc.

Skills (web design, music, organization, parenting, cooking, mechanics, home repair)

True, Authentic Christianty

Compelled by the Gospel

Jesus gave his life to save us

We have received everything we need

We can do nothing to gain more acceptance from God

For the good of others

Not self-seeking

God-glorifying generosity to serve others

Community Endangered | Pretending Spirituality

In we see how evil and brokenness can exist in the most spirit-filled, Godly Christian communities.

The Sin of Ananias and his wife, Sapphira, is they lied by pretending to be more spiritual than reality

They wanted to people to think they gave everything they received from selling the land

They wanted the recognition, the pride, to shape how the leadership and community saw them.

Even Peter tells them, you owned the land, you didn’t have to sell it and you didn’t have to give the money to the church.

They could have said, here’s half of what we received from selling the land.

They we fake, imposters, pretending to be spiritual

Pretending is how we try to minimize our sin

This is what endangers biblical community - when we try to make people think think are better than we are.

Who are you really? Does the image you project to others represent the reality within or is it a manufactured imagine that is fake? Are you trying to shape people’s perception of you? I want people to see me like.....

Bible - well used and need a new one but then people will think you don’t read your Bible

Giving - in Chad, Africa - empty hand

Marriage or Parenting - the way you interact with your wife and kids at church compared to when you are at home alone.

Two Ways We Pretend: Compare & Focus on External Behaviors

We compare ourselves to others

In : Ananias and Sapphira are directly contrasted with Barnabas because it seems like they compared themselves to Barnabas .

They saw his offering, his nickname, the way people responded.

They wanted to be perceived in the same way. They wanted prestige, recognition, nicknames, honor.

They gave because they wanted to get something.

In us

Barnabas gave because he had already received everything he needed.

2. We focus on our external behavior to impress others

Ananias and Sapphira chose to sell their land to earn a favor and identity that Jesus had already freely given them.

They wanted

Conclusion

The Consequence - Death

We shouldn’t overlook this punishment too quickly

For some this comes across as extreme - too severe - but this shaped the early church.

“Great fear came upon the whole church”

Faking our spirituality should also cause us great fear as well. This endangers the community and it endangers our own lives.

The reality - we all struggle with the sin of pretending.

How do we exchange fake spirituality for authentic christian life as disciples of Jesus?

Preaching to the person beneath the Imposter:

Who is the imposter

Brennan Manning in Abba’s Child quotes Thomas Merton: “Every one of us is shadowed by an illusory person: a false self.” “This is the man I want myself to be .”

Manning continues, “Living out of the false self creates a compulsive desire to present a perfect imagine to the public so that everybody will admire us and nobody will know us. The imposter’s life becomes a perpetual roller-coaster ride of elation and depression.”

“Our false self stubbornly blinds each of us to the light and the truth of our own emptiness and hollowness. We cannot acknowledge the darkness within”

Who is the person beneath the imposter

Deep within we all know that we have failed to live up to person we project to others.

Have you ever grown so tired of pretending that you finally opened up to someone. It feels like a moment of weakness after a long day when the walls fail to hold people out.

You wake up to the next day, re-energized to hold people at a distance and wonder what will become of the conversation.

Preaching the Gospel to the heart

“We even refuse to be our true self with God - and then wonder why we lack intimacy with God.”

St Augustine, “There can only be two basic loves, the love of God unto the forgetfulness of self, or the love of self unto the forgetfulness and denial of God.”

God is perfectly holy and is not fooled by our charades and performances. The mask we wear to fool others does not fool God. God is holy and righteous - this caused the church to have a renewed fear of God.

God is also gracious and loving to the hurting

Satan would love nothing more than to have you paralyzed by fear and guilt. He is the author of cynicism and skepticism, mistrust and distrust, sick thinking and self-hatred.

Joseph was given the name, Barnabas, meaning ‘Son of Encouragement’ because he reflected the true Son of encouragement and compassion - Jesus.”

He didn’t just sell a possession for your good (Barnabas selling land), he [Jesus] gave his life for the real you. The hurting and broken person you hide from people is who Christ loves and redeems.

Application

Deeper understanding of our sinfulness

How are you pretending? (being)

Trying to shape people’s perception of you?

Celebration that in Jesus we are reconciled to God.

Have you come to grips that God already fully knows the true you?

How have you been blessed? (doing)

God has blessed you to be a blessing.

Name 2 or 3 areas that God has blessed you

Pray about who you can bless this coming week