Devoted

I don’t know if anyone else in this room is like this, but I always get nervous whenever I visit a new church.

and you think that wouldn’t be the case because I am a pastor but it is exactly the opposite because there are some weird church’s out there

You guys who are from St. Joseph are probably saying amen this is one of them.

But the real reason I am like this is because in college I was in a program where I would travel to different churches to preach,

and you never knew what you were walking into.

I have been in church where they took about a ten minute break in the service and everyone got up to hug the pastor

I have been in a church where a man has come up from behind me and started petting my beard

I have been at a church where I was just visiting (I wasn’t their to preach but someone found out I was a pastor during the service announced that I was giving the message. (It was a quick message)

But I think all of these things have made it so I get nervous whenever I visit a new church.

Because every church looks different.

and all of us have all of these preconceived ideas of what a church is and what a church looks like.

For some of us the church might just be a place we go on Sunday

But we need to ask ourselves how do we

For some the church might be something that has hurt you

For some you might view the church just as a building

But each of us has an idea (probably a different idea) what church looks like and what its role is in our life

and today we are going to be diving into a passage of scripture that sets an example of what the church looks like and the role it plays in our life.

So turn with me to

and this passage of scripture takes place right after Pentecost which was this event where God poured out His spirit,

But after this happens 3000 people from different countries and ethnicity's give there lives to Christ (which is amazing)

But it is also a little bit of an issue because before this their were only 120 people in the early church.

So now the early church goes from 120 to over 3000 people literally in one day.

And you can almost imagine the Apostles or leaders meeting together going what do we do now?

How do we manage a mega church?!

And this passage in Acts is really how they were able to make this group operate together and really it models what we should look like as a church.

So turn with me to because it says:

Acts 2:42–47 NIV

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

So as I mentioned this sets a model for how we should look as the church.

and the very first thing this passage mentions is this and I want you to read it with me because it say “They devoted themselves”

They were devoted

Devoted to the apostles teaching and to fellowship which took place through the breaking or bread and prayer

and really they were devoted to the life of the early church

They were not just hanging around but they were devoted, invested and commited in what God was doing through the early church.

and really this is the first thing we need to get out of this passage.

That we are called to be devoted

Devoted to Christ and devoted to His church.

Which means even when we are busy or if something doesn’t play out the way we thought we are devoted.

You know its like if my family was trying to have a nice family dinner, and everything was going wrong.

My wife burnt the lasagna

My 5 week old baby was screaming the entire time

and then to top it off our dog jumps up on the table and licks food while we are calming down our baby

thats a pretty rough family dinner

But when there is a night like that I don’t just say I am done with you all and find another family

But I keep coming back to my family and why?

Because I love my family and I made a commitment to them where weather it is small things like that or big things; I am there for them

and you know there is some truth to that in regards to how our relationship is with Christ and His church.

Because churches are full of imperfect people and their are times where we get frustrated and hurt

But what is amazing is the Bible calls us to be devoted to the church

and I have heard people say before “Well I don’t need the church, because I have a personal relationship with Christ”

And that may be true, but the Bible calls the church the bride of Christ and its pretty hard to say I love Christ but hate His bride.

Imagine if I said that to you, I love you but your spouse is the worse!

Chances are

Chances are we probably won’t get along very well.

But we see this passage saying we should be devoted to the Body of Christ (the church)

because there will be times where you get hurt or where your time is spread thin and this passage is telling us to stick with it! stay devoted even when its tough stick with it.

So first of we are called to be devoted, but then look at verse 44 because it says they lived together and they had all things in common

and there are two sides to this because on one one hand it was saying they were sharing all of their possessions and giving to those in need.

But then on the other hand it seems to imply that they almost had their own culture where they were similar people coming together

and when I read that I automatically think “thats a lie!”

because like I said earlier this group of 3000 people who gave their lives to Christ were from different cultures and areas and even spoke the same language

so I read this passage and I automatically think that thats not true because they had nothing in common other then being people

but whats amazing and really important for us to get is that they had these huge differences, but they were united in Christ

and because of this they were able to put aside their differences and come together to carry out the mission of Christ and be devoted to the body.

and whats neat is it doesn’t just stop their because look at verse 46 it says day by day they attended the temple together and broke bread together in their homes

in the temple, they praised God, they would hear the apostles teaching their in a large group

kind of like this service where we meet together in a large group we worship together and here a message

but then it says they would also meet in homes and ate together.

and these would be like small groups where they would dive deep i a way you can’t in a large group.

where you can ask the tough questions, and live in community even more then just coming to church on Sunday morning.

And these groups would sometimes be really diverse

You know years ago I interned in Green bay, WI and while I was their I got involved in a small group

and this small group had people who were all over the board

We had people who were nerdy (which there is nothing wrong with that) and one time outside of studying the Bible we were playing a super hero deck building game (I hate card games)

we had one guy who was in the process of getting drafted in the NFL

We had people who were high class and people who were from lower classes.

but this mismatched small group is where I had spiritual breakthroughs, Its where when I was discouraged I had people to life me up

and it was where I was able to dive deep into tough questions.

But God wants us to go deeper then just surface level. (showing up on Sunday)

We need to be going deeper where we are living life together as the body of Christ and despite differences and other issues.

You know this morning we have two churches that are getting ready to come together.

Really we have two different cultures merging together

Their will be differences, their might be changes but when we are unified in Christ and His mission

when we are devoted to His church because He has poured out His spirit to us

when we meeting in smaller groups and larger groups look what happens.

Look what the results are in the last verse

Its says “the Lord added to their numbers daily”

Lives were being transformed for Christ

I want to end today with this illustration that I actually heard another pastor use

But If you have ever been around a pile of charcoal burning and you remove a piece of charcoal from the fire.

that piece of charcoal is going to burn out pretty quickly

But when you have pieces of charcoal and you place them together back into a pile.

they are going to burn longer and hotter then they do alone

We are stronger together as the body of Christ when we are devoted to Christ and His church

like I said we have two churches coming together and we are stronger together.

and we are going to close probably in the best way we can and that is by breaking bread together not as two bodies of Christ but as the body of Christ.

and really we are going to participate in communion.

and what I love about communion is that their are people all over the world who take this as the body of Christ on Sunday morning from different backgrounds, denominations and cultures and they come together for communion to remember what Christ did for us.

You know, on the night when Jesus was betrayed He was having a meal with His disciples

and first He gave them bread and He said eat this is my body broken for you.

and then at the end of the meal He lifted the cup and said this is my blood shed for you

and today we are going to remember this meal and really remember what Christ did for us when He died on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins by receiving communion.

by receiving communion.

and during this last song Pastor Benjamin and I will be up front serving communion and I want to invite you to come up during the song and receive communion, but bring the bread back to your seat and we will receive it together as the Body of Christ as the end of the song.

and Everyone is welcome to participate in communion as long as you have placed you trust in Christ as your savior.

So I am going to pray and then I want to invite you to come forward.

Pray