Wonder of the Community

Introduction

Let’s Pray

This morning we are going to talk about the Wonder that was experienced in the early church community. Our main idea this morning and what I hope we will leave with is - There is Life in Community. It’s important that we recognize our need for community. God through the bible calls us toward this time and time again. But what is community? We talk about it a lot in church and when we meet with people, we encourage you to join the community or find community. But what is it?

We are probably familiar with this idea of community being defined as a group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common. In a sense that is what community is people who are in the same place or have a shared interests coming together. What we will find out today that community in the Christian sense is so much more.

I think as people we do want community. We do want people to spend time with and to go through this life with. I know for me, as a bit of a extrovert, I really love spending time with people. And I’ve found throughout life that people gravitate toward some sort of community whether good or bad. When I went back home after finishing university in 2009 I found myself leaving the community that I found in university, a group of Christian young adults that I had being doing life with for 3 years. I went home to their not being a strong community of young adult believers and so I ended up gravitating toward a community that was made up of my work colleagues. This community was focused on career and partying. And so I found myself gravitating toward this group of people which wasn’t directing me toward things that would better my life. But God is good and he began encouraging me through my friends from university and eventually directed me toward a group of young adults, who were not all from my church, but were meeting together, studying the bible, and growing together. And this was the push that I needed to chose and be apart of a community that would give me life.

What’s incredible are the many stories of communities of Christians springing into action and bringing the love of Jesus into situations. Let me share a story, a number of years ago at my church in Bermuda there was a guy in the Young Adults ministry group. He was out kite surfing, during a windy day as you do in Bermuda. (Story on community.)

There is life in community. And with that we will continue looking at the book of Acts. Please grab a bible from the seats and turn with me to verses 42-47. It’s page 832 just at the top left of the page.

- 42 All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper*), and to prayer.

43 A deep sense of awe came over them all, and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders. 44 And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. 45 They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need. 46 They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity*—47 all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved.

Background

* 2:46 Or and sincere hearts.

We’re in the same story that we were in last week when we talked about the Wonder of the Holy Spirit and how it came to the believers in Jerusalem. Acts is written by the Apostle Luke and he spends a bit of time writing about what the early church was and things that they were going through as the begin going out into the world sharing the gospel.

Tyndale House Publishers. Holy Bible: New Living Translation. Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2015. Print.

We see here the believers had just experienced this supernatural event. They had all come from different places and had gathered together as one. Then the Spirit came and they were able to hear each other in their own language as they talked about all that God had did through them. The bible tells us that many people were being added into the list of believers during this time. The community was growing. We are seeing life formed and nurtured into this community.

As we look at this thought this morning - there is life in Community - our passage begins to give us some ideas of what was going on in the midst of their community which help us as we look to see our community grow.

1. They committed themselves to 4 things. (Acts 2:42)

You see immediately that all the believers devoted themselves to four key things; teaching, fellowship, sharing meals and praying.

Teaching

We see the focus on teaching, specifically teaching from the apostles which would have been the preaching of the gospel. The apostles were instructed by Jesus near the end of his ministry on earth, and we read in Matthew, to go into all the world and to share all that he had taught them; to share the gospel. And so we see the early church meeting together and taking in this teaching. They make sure that they were present and doing exactly what we are doing now. They devoted themselves to do this. It is so important for us to be regularly meeting together and talking through and learning about the bible and how we should live our lives. I love what one commentary said, “They first of all devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching. Meeting together in the temple courts appears to have been for the express purpose of hearing the apostolic preaching, though doubtless there were also opportunities for teaching in the home context.” Understanding what was going on during this time, there was a thirst for learning more and more about Christ; about who he was and what he was about. And it didn’t just stop during their times together in worship together but was brought back home.

Why should we do this? The bible backs this up for us when it says in , “16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. 17 God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.” The early church knew that in order for them to grow in their faith they needed to be in a place where they were receiving teaching about Jesus. There seems to be an eagerness to do this together. The bible is our source for knowing how God wants us to live.

They first of all devoted themselves (ēsan proskarterountes) to the apostles’ teaching.104 Meeting together in the temple courts (v. 46) appears to have been for the express purpose of hearing the apostolic preaching (cf. 3:11–26; 5:21), though doubtless there were also opportunities for teaching in the home context.

16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. 17 God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.”

104 proskarterountes normally means ‘to occupy oneself diligently with something’, ‘to pay persistent attention to’, ‘to hold fast to something’, or ‘continually to be in’ (it is used in the last sense in 2:46). Cf. W. Grundmann, TDNT 3:618. Luke uses the same verb to describe the devotion of the 120 to prayer (1:14) and the resolve of the apostles to occupy themselves with prayer and the ministry of the word (6:4). The periphrastic construction in 2:42 (with the imperfect indicative ēsan and the present participle proskarterountes) stresses the ongoing nature of this activity. Johnson 1992, 58, translates ‘constant in their attention’. The verb applies to the four nouns in the dative case that follow, though the Greek connectives put them in pairs: ‘to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to the prayers.’

I love talking and spending time with new Christians. Very often they have an intense hunger for God’s word. They just can’t get enough of it. As we grow in the faith there are times where our desire and want to be in God’s word decreases. I know there are times where I’m in that place. And I know that I need to check my heart because I need fill my spiritual tank with truth from the bible. And one of the best ways that I’ve learned to do this is in community.

Peterson, David G. The Acts of the Apostles. Grand Rapids, MI; Nottingham, England: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2009. Print. The Pillar New Testament Commentary.

We started a small group in Bermuda with a few friends a number of years ago. And I was a really amazing time of growing together in our understanding of the bible. I remember often being struck with a thought from someone else on a thought from the bible and also being able to help someone else understand a piece of scripture better. I’d leave this group energized and uplifted. Why? Because there is life in community when scripture is at its core.

I would encourage you to be considering joining a life group. We will be announcing more on this in a few weeks but be in prayer now and really consider joining one of our groups that will meet throughout the week to spend time in God’s word and to really do life along side one another.

Fellowship and the Breaking of Bread

24 Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. 25 And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.

This verse also focuses on fellowship and breaking of bread. Fellowship here has the idea of association, communion, and participation; it means to share in something. It’s this idea of spending time with and caring for one another. It is said that the Christian Life is meant to be full of fellowship, of sharing one with another. And we do this because of what we share:

We share the same Lord Jesus.

We share the same love for God.

We share the same desire to worship Him.

We share the same struggles.

We share the same victories.

We share the same job of living for Him.

We share the same joy of communicating the gospel.

I think a reason they were devoting themselves to spending time with each other is because of the encouragement that they got from one another. The Christian life isn’t easy and we need to be there for one another. The bible tells us in tells us, “24 Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. 25 And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.” It can be easy for us to fall back into doing things that were part of our life before Christ, but having a Christian community around us to help encourage and keep us accountable is so important. As the verse in Hebrews says to motivate and encourage each other toward loving one another and toward doing good things.

tells us, “24 Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. 25 And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.”

tells us, “24 Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. 25 And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.”

And not only were they just spending time with one another they found the importance of breaking bread together or having a meal. If you think about it the dinner table is an amazing place for connection and conversation. It’s a place where you don’t have a great deal of distraction and can spend really good time with people.

What we encourage with life groups is to make sure that you are sharing a meal together every so often. We know that there is opportunity for deeper bonding and relationship building when a group shares a meal together.

Along with spending time with one another, fellowship encourages us to care for one another. To be there helping and meeting one anothers’ needs. This is stepping in when a brother or sister is in need of something. I’ve seen church do really well in this, taking care of one another. There are incredible stories of groups of believers coming together to help and care for others. I’ve heard many stories while being here of this church stepping up and meeting needs as they’ve been presented. For me that’s a sign really great fellowship taking place and is a sign of healthy community taking place. Again because there is life in community.

Prayer

Our verse this morning also talks about the believers devoting themselves to prayer, the most important aspect to this. Specifically the verse talks about the believers devoting themselves to the prayers. Meaning the believers were still in their Jewish rhythm of praying at specific times during the day. But what is different about these new believers would be the contents of their prayers. You see, they would be praying for each other, for God’s work taking place in their lives and they would be praying to God on behalf of others in their community. Praying was also taking place during their fellowship with one another. So while they were meeting together and sharing meals together they were praying. As we read through Acts we see Luke portray prayer as integral to the church’s life. The Intervarsity Press Commentary does a really good job describing prayer in this verse when it says, “It is the essential link between Jesus and his people as they carry out his kingdom work under his guidance and by his strength.” They are praising God for all that he has done and also pleading with him to continue his work through them. The bible reminds us time and time again to be praying. In , “16 Always be joyful. 17 Never stop praying. 18 Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.” And over in we read, “14 And we are confident that he hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases him. 15 And since we know he hears us when we make our requests, we also know that he will give us what we ask for. “ This early group of believers recognized that there was an incredible amount of power in prayer.

It is the essential link between Jesus and his people as they carry out his kingdom work under his guidance and by his strength

16 Always be joyful. 17 Never stop praying. 18 Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.

14 And we are confident that he hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases him. 15 And since we know he hears us when we make our requests, we also know that he will give us what we ask for.

Larkin, William J., Jr. Acts. Vol. 5. Westmont, IL: IVP Academic, 1995. Print. The IVP New Testament Commentary Series.

Tyndale House Publishers. Holy Bible: New Living Translation. Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2015. Print.

Tyndale House Publishers. Holy Bible: New Living Translation. Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2015. Print.

And this is the call on us. That as we spend time in community that we need to be praying. Being in prayer for one another and for God to move around us. I love this quote from Oswald Chambers when he writes, ““We tend to use prayer as a last resort, but God wants it to be our first line of defense. We pray when there's nothing else we can do, but God wants us to pray before we do anything at all. Most of us would prefer, however, to spend our time doing something that will get immediate results. We don't want to wait for God to resolve matters in His good time because His idea of 'good time' is seldom in sync with ours.” This is sometimes our view on prayer. I know for myself I get caught into this thought process of doing so my immediate response isn’t prayer. The passage this morning is very convicting as prayer was a rhythm of the early church to keep them plugged into God. And so I’m convicted that my first response in situations is to go to God.

Most of us would prefer, however, to spend our time doing something that will get immediate results. We don't want to wait for God to resolve matters in His good time because His idea of 'good time' is seldom in sync with ours.”

Being around the church you get to hear many stories of God faithfully answering prayer when his people come to him in prayer. I’ve seen this take place in my life as well. Just in the way and process of Bethany and I moving to Sicamous it was so good to see doors opened, needs met and specific things sorted out as we prayed and as a number of people here and in our life group in Bermuda prayed for this to happen. There is life in community especially when they come together in prayer to God.

And I believe that if we want to see life and growth in our community we need to also be devoting ourselves to these things.

2. They saw amazing things take place and because of that there was growth. ()

And you know what. Because of devoting themselves to the apostles teaching, fellowship, the breaking of bread and prayer the believers were able to see the power of God in incredible ways in their community. We see that they experienced a deep sense of awe come over them. This is evidence of the power of God and how it is able to change the heart of people toward a reverent honour of God. This sense of awe is inspired by the awareness that God was at work in their midst. Not only did this have this sense of awe but they were able to see the apostles perform miraculous signs and wonders. They were able to sense the power of God at work within them as well as see it take shape in front of them within their community of believers.

We then find that they were able to have amazing unity among their community. You see they were all meeting together, it is thought that more than 3,000 believers had gathered together at this point. And in this community that was forming there were people who had and those who didn’t have. What we are then seeing is that they community was taking care of one another. They realized that taking care of the needs of people in their community and following in Jesus’ command to love others was more important than their possessions. Andy Stanley writes, ““If you see your brother in need, it doesn't matter if you already gave somewhere else. You should be open to the idea of God using you to meet your brother's unexpected need.” This early church community was doing just that. Meeting needs as they came about.

And in doing all of this they saw growth and life in the early church. Many people were being added to their numbers. There was such life in this community that the folks around them took notice and they wanted to know and take part in this new community. Folks when we are in community with one another and are loving each other and in unity with one another people will take notice and want to be apart of what is going on. This is something that cannot be ignored. We see this all throughout the book of Acts.

What we’ve been talking about up unto this point is God’s prescription for church growth. Not only in numbers but in maturity and love toward one another. If we take it upon ourselves to do what is being modelled in our passage; being taught, fellowshipping, praying and seeking unity we will see God take care of the rest and bring about growth in our personal lives and in the church. There is life in community.

3. There are tough times in Community (1 Corinthians 1:10-17)

We will also find that there are times where we face difficult times in our community. Times where our community needs to be corrected and set back on the right track. I’ve been apart of Life Groups in the past which were life giving, but I’ve also spent time in Life/Community Groups that needed to be corrected and set back onto the right path. I was part of a Life Group during a season where the church wasn’t doing very well and instead of focusing on all the things that our passage this morning in is talking about my group focused on and spent a lot of time in the muck of what was taking place in the church. Talking about what was wrong and the people involved. It wasn’t until getting out of that Life Group did I realize that the season of being in this group was affecting my relationship with others in the church and more importantly with Jesus.

In we read, “10 I appeal to you, dear brothers and sisters,* by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, to live in harmony with each other. Let there be no divisions in the church. Rather, be of one mind, united in thought and purpose. 11 For some members of Chloe’s household have told me about your quarrels, my dear brothers and sisters. 12 Some of you are saying, “I am a follower of Paul.” Others are saying, “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Peter,*” or “I follow only Christ.”

10 I appeal to you, dear brothers and sisters,* by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, to live in harmony with each other. Let there be no divisions in the church. Rather, be of one mind, united in thought and purpose. 11 For some members of Chloe’s household have told me about your quarrels, my dear brothers and sisters. 12 Some of you are saying, “I am a follower of Paul.” Others are saying, “I follow Apollos,” or “I follow Peter,*” or “I follow only Christ.”

13 Has Christ been divided into factions? Was I, Paul, crucified for you? Were any of you baptized in the name of Paul? Of course not! 14 I thank God that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, 15 for now no one can say they were baptized in my name. 16 (Oh yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas, but I don’t remember baptizing anyone else.) 17 For Christ didn’t send me to baptize, but to preach the Good News—and not with clever speech, for fear that the cross of Christ would lose its power.”

We see that there were some tough things going on in the church. What is really interesting about these divisions is that it was caused because the people were removing their focus from Jesus and instead placing it on the people who they were following. This is what we need to protect our communities from. From building these idols of our group and straying from what we talked about is important; studying the bible together, having authentic fellowship, being in prayer together and experiencing unity. If we want to really experience life in our community we need to keep a check on these things.

* 1:12 Greek Cephas.

Conclusion

Tyndale House Publishers. Holy Bible: New Living Translation. Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2015. Print.that there were divisions in the church. What is really interesting about these divisions is that it was caused because the people were removing their focus from Jesus and instead placing it on the people who they were following. This is what we need to protect our communities from. From building these idols of our group and straying from the impor

As we close our time together, I want to remind us again of the importance of community. And with that I want to really encourage you to join a Life Group here at SCC. We’ve been apart of one since we arrived in Sicamous and it has been such a blessing and something that we’ve come to look forward to. Over the next few weeks our team are going to be sharing more information on the Life Groups that will be starting in October. They will run for about 8 weeks and we hope will bring about deeper relationships and community here in Sicamous. I would encourage you to come and talk to myself, Bob or Kim and get plugged in.

I want to leave you with a quote from A.W. Tozer, “Has it ever occurred to you that one hundred pianos all tuned to the same fork are automatically tuned to each other? They are of one accord by being tuned, not to each other, but to another standard to which each one must individually bow. So one hundred worshipers met together, each one looking away to Christ, are in heart nearer to each other than they could possibly be, were they to become 'unity' conscious and turn their eyes away from God to strive for closer fellowship.”

― A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God: The Human Thirst for the Divine