A Special Kind of Crazy

A story about Jack… and John and Jerry, oh and Jim

John owns a paint store, Jerry is his salesman. They need a Point of Sale solution to sell their paint.

They decide to create software, Point of Sale software to sell their product, so they hire Jack to make it.

They like it so much they decide to close the paint shop and just start selling the software! They met Jim and he was interested in investing.

Crazy! Absolutely nuts! What do paint store salesmen know about selling software? They made every mistake.

50% of business fail within the first five years.

A special kind of crazy.

Did everything go smoothly? No. One of them is in jail for life now (it turns out). That’s a fun story.

Kind of foolish, really.

But 22 years later, they are still going strong.

A Picture of the Early Church

The Holy Spirit has filled those 120 followers of Christ. Peter has preached the first evangelical sermon and 3000 came to ask “how can we be saved?” and repented and were baptized on that day. More came flooding in in the days that followed.

What did they do next? How did they know to do it?

What did they know about managing an endeavour on this kind of scale, 3000+ people! It’s a mega church, imagine the mechanics of organizing those fellowship meals!

What did this early church look like?

Acts 2:42–47 ESV

And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

They had no plan. (They took action before they planned).

No bylaws. No organization.

No long term sustaining.

This is ignorance on fire. This is a special kind of crazy.

But from the very beginning they are doing certain things together that are recognizably “church”. We recognize what they are doing… because it is very familiar.

Six Dimensions of Vision

Acts 2:42 ESV

And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

Holy Living

Devoted. Continually devoting themselves… (to teaching and fellowship).

This is “holiness” language. Devoting themselves. And they are devoting themselves to something. There is practical expression of their devotion, of their holy living.

They are devoting themselves to these things that follow: teaching, fellowship, breaking of break and prayer.

Edification

Teaching. Not a complicated word: making it so someone knows stuff.

We use this word: edification. The instruction or improvement of a person morally or intellectually. Teaching.

But, you might say, we don’t have the teaching of the apostles! Yes we do… they wrote down their teaching. Matthew (apostle), Mark (probably the testimony of Peter, apostle), John (apostle), Luke (gathering the teachings of apostles). 1,2,3 Peter, 1,2 John, Jude, the writings of Paul, an apostle called by the risen Christ.

Fellowship

Now here is a word of power. Sharing, participation, contribution.

Eating together is part of it, but bringing everything they have.

Holding everything in common, (same root as fellowship)

Work of the Holy Spirit in putting them in a family - family intimacy, all in it together. Committed to one another. And everything I have is available as part of that process.

Not a nascent communism. As need arose people gave. The apostles didn’t seize assets. As God led people would sell their property or donate their goods and services.

Isn’t something you can do alone.

Worship

The breaking of bread. Just eating together, but there is a definite article here which may imply they are taking communion, or incorporating it into their regular meals together.

And praying together.

They were doing all this together. Praying for one another, praying to God, just spending time in his presence. Talking to Jesus. Letting this new indwelling Holy Spirit intercede with God on their behalf. Learning all of this, for this first time. Figuring it out!

I lumped these two under worship, but of course all of the things they are doing are wrapped up in worship. Worship is declaring with our time and attention that God is worthy.

Acts 2:43 ESV

And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles.

Awe came upon every soul. Were they afraid at the task they were taking on? That is literally what this word means. “Fear”. Fear, awe, at what was being done among them. What was happening with them. The challenge before them was huge… but they could see it taking shape.

A special kind of crazy.

And to encourage them, many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles.

Did signs and wonders cease with the apostles? No. God still fills us with wonder at his answered prayers. Sometimes miraculous in a way that we see and often expressed through his creation and (so often) through his people.

But, in a special way through the apostles, signs and wonders were being done. Do most of the church do signs and wonders? It isn’t just the apostles who do so in Acts… but it is only a few others that are called out (Stephen, Paul, etc…)

Acts 2:44 ESV

And all who believed were together and had all things in common.

Acts 2:45 ESV

And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.

We see their fellowship made real. Now is this realistic? Is this ripe and ready for abuse? Yes.

We see it abused in Acts 5, we see it used to manipulate. We see people taking advantage… because they still have those pesky sinful natures. But we see the foolishly beautiful Spirit of fellowship. It is risky… but oh so beautiful.

And was there a need? There are thousands of people in from out of town. They came for Pentecost, were they prepared the weekend, and now they are staying for weeks.

What are they doing? This isn’t sustainable!!!

Indeed, later the church in Jerusalem goes broke, Paul is running around Asia raising money for the church in Jerusalem). Foolish! (but so beautiful).

A special kind of crazy.

Acts 2:46 ESV

And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts,

We have 3120 people. Are they all gathering in one mega church? No, they didn’t have time to build an auditorium. They could gather around the temple occasionally, a big together worship service. But the picture we have is gathering in one another’s homes. Little home gatherings, little small groups, home churches.

Beautiful! We have Worship, we have Fellowship, we have Teaching/Edification, we have Holy Living… what is left?

What about Service and Outreach?

Acts 2:47 ESV

praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

Does it say they were serving the people here? No. But this is a snapshot of what the early church was doing in Acts and over the next few chapter we get some details. What were those signs and wonders the apostles are doing? Look at the very next verses in chapter 3, healing the lame beggar. They are serving one another and serving the community.

Of course the community is loving them (though that isn’t going to last long).

And it seems clear they are continuing to be Witnesses of Jesus, likely continuing to teach in the temple (as they kept attending daily). They were being faithful to witness, but ultimately it is God who is adding to their number… for it is the Lord who saves. It is our responsibility to be faithful to witness, faithful to testify, the Lord saves and adds to our number.

Service and Outreach

Thus the early church is Serving each other, serving their community and reaching out to them. These words aren’t called out explicitly in our text today, though “fellowship’ (koinonia) has connotations of selfless service as well. But we see them in the character of the community and we see, in particular, in the fruit of the community: people were being saved.

They were being saved… the ongoing process. God is working the process of reaching them, God is working the process of rescuing them.

A Special Kind of Crazy

How did the early church know to do all of this?

Jesus laid the groundwork.

Israelites laid the groundwork. The church of God is continuous stretching back before Pentecost.

Behind the scenes, God had been preparing them for millennia. The praise songs were already written by David and others. The language of their prayers, the content of their teaching or edification, the example of service, the model of outreach, what fellowship looks like… all prepared in them beforehand.

Did they know what they were doing? No, they were fools on fire.

A special kind of crazy.

But we can see how God laid the groundwork in the past for what they would become in their future.

Our Vision

As we pray about what’s next, we pay attention to where we are.

As we pray about who we are becoming, we study who we have been. For God is doing a new thing, but He has already laid the groundwork long before.

We look at who we have been to help determine where we are going.

What is the groundwork God has laid upon us?

(From our Bylaws, Article IV)

Read together.

The members of the Next Step Christian Church will love one another and live up to our full Christian potential in order to be found mature and complete in Christ. We will accomplish this by the grace and power of God through worship, fellowship, service, holy living, outreach, and edification.

Worship: We will worship in honesty before God and in the power of the Holy Spirit on the Sabbath.

Fellowship: We will commit ourselves to regular attendance, participation in each others lives, and giving of money, time, and talents.

Service: We will care for the community in loving ministry.

Holy Living: We will encourage one another to lead holy lives motivated by our love for God and his word, the Bible.

Outreach: We will share the gospel one person and one family at a time, in the places and relationships where God has strategically called us.

Edification: We will equip fellow believers, leaders, and future pastors to fulfill their calling and use their spiritual gifts within the body of Christ and encourage them to increase in their knowledge of God and his word, the Bible.

What does it look like to take a next step in worship?

What does it look like to take a next step in fellowship?

In edification?

In service?

In Outreach?

In Holy living, fully devoting ourselves to Christ and His Righteousness?

I think we need a special kind of crazy.

The early church is not a template to emulate. They were foolish, unsustainable, ignorance on fire. It didn’t work for long, they were scattered to the winds. Nowhere in Scripture do we hear anyone else saying “let’s be just like the early church.”

They were foolish. They were a special kind of crazy.

And God did incredible and powerful things through their special kind of crazy.

I think we need a little bit of that crazy. A vision bigger than what we can hope to accomplish on our own. A God-sized mission.

A vision is “a clear picture of a more preferable future.” It is a spot down the road and saying “I want to get to there!” I look at the things we just read… and we are doing those things. Can we grow in them? Yes. Each of them are aspirational statements, we can grow in them, we can fellowship more wholly, enter into worship more fully and more often, provide more opportunities for edification. We are all striving for holy-set-apart-devoted living.

But what, specifically, is before us on that road?

I don’t have that answer this morning. But I have this conviction: we are going to need a special kind of crazy.

Fools for Christ

Paul writes to the church in Corinth, and he contrasts the comfortable life they have created for themselves in the church with the “special kind of crazy” he and the apostles walk. We get a picture of what it feels like to walk in the apostles shoes for a moment.

1 Corinthians 4:8–13 ESV

Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! Without us you have become kings! And would that you did reign, so that we might share the rule with you! For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, like men sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men. We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute. To the present hour we hunger and thirst, we are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless, and we labor, working with our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we entreat. We have become, and are still, like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things.

Crazy for Jesus. A fool for Christ. Devoted to God in a way that goes beyond common sense and into pure folly.

God has brought us here, and He is and has long been preparing us. Together we worship, we devote ourselves in holy living, we edify one another, we serve together, we fellowship together, and we reach out to our community.

Would you join me in this risky prayer?

God, I am ready to be a fool for you?

A little bit of the crazy, beautiful foolishness of that early church. Ignorance on fire? I don’t even know yet what I am asking for… but you do, for you have prepared me already to do it.

You have prepared us to do it. Lead us into that special kind of crazy, wholly devoted to you.