Community at its Best

Community at its Best! Series: The One Anothers - #1 Acts 2:42-47 Rev. L. Kent Blanton Introduction • Story of Sarah Harmeyer – Owner of Neighbor’s Table • Sarah learned that people crave community Transition • Why do we as humans crave community? • The Bible tells us that we were created in God’s image. • One reality about God is that he exists as three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit who live in an interdependent relationship of perfect community . . . a community of unadulterated love, complete satisfaction, and unbroken unity. • The Trinity has lived in perfect community for all eternity past and will continue in perfect community for all eternity future. • Because humans are made in the image of God, one of our most basic needs is to experience and participate in community. • The Bible tells us that at the pinnacle of his creation, when God made man, he saw something that was not good. Adam was alone. Though Adam and God enjoyed wonderful, life-giving community with one another, Adam needed something else. He needed community at a human level. God’s Provision for Humanity’s Need for Community • Marriage • God created Eve for companionship. The most basic purpose of marriage is our need for community, our need for human relationship and companionship. • Family • The family is another institution where genuine community can be learned and experienced. • Children experience community as they are loved, nurtured, trained, and disciplined. Parents grow in community living as they learn to lay down their self-interests for the good of their children. They experience the satisfaction and intimacy that results from loving unselfishly. • The Church • The NT tells us that the church is the Body of Christ. It’s made up of Christ followers who, together, comprise one body - Christ’s Body. • The community God designed to be experienced within the church is intended to provide a preview of the perfect community with God and one another we that we will experience in eternity. • God also intends that the community experienced within marriage, the family, and the church serve as a taste to the world around us of the perfect community experienced by Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Nature of Human Community • Genuine community includes both giving and receiving. • Real community involves being aware of, caring for, and meeting the needs of other community members. • Because we’re fallen creatures, living in community doesn’t come naturally for us. We must be reminded of our responsibilities to one another and the choices we must make for community to thrive. God’s Response • God has provided in his Word just such reminders and instructions. They’re called the One Anothers. • Throughout the NT, we’re commanded as Christ followers to think and act toward one another in particular ways. Love one another, serve one another, forgive one another, be kind to one another, give preference to one another, show hospitality to one another, pray for one another, don’t judge one another, and we could keep going for a while. • The phrase one another or each other occurs 100 times in the NT. 59 of these occurrences are specific commands teaching us how (and how not) to relate to one another in the church. If God has that much to say to us on a topic, it must be important to him, and important for us. • Over the next month, we’re going to explore many of these verses as we seek to become more aware of how God intends us to live in community within the Body of Christ. Today’s Focus on Community: Acts 2:42-47 • These verses summarize the life of the early church immediately after the Holy Spirit came to dwell within Jesus’ followers on the day of Pentecost. • Peter had preached to those who had gathered to check out the commotion that ensued when the Holy Spirit came in power upon Jesus’ disciples. • 3000 of those who witnessed the presence of God’s Spirit and who heard Peter’s message responded by turning from their sins, confessing faith in Jesus as their master, and by being baptized. Community at its Best • Four activities occupied the attention of the early Christians: • The apostles’ teaching • Fellowship • The breaking of bread • Prayer. • The early Christians weren’t casually about these activities. Verse 1 tells us that they were devoted to these pursuits. • The Greek word proskatero translated devoted means to hold fast to, to continue in, to persevere, or to persist obstinately in something. • The apostles’ teaching • What did the apostles teach? • From sermons recorded later in Acts and from their letters we know they taught about Jesus. • Jesus’ death and resurrection. • The Kingdom of God • Everything that Jesus had taught them. • Taught the Scriptures. They used the Scriptures to teach about Jesus just as Jesus has done with them. • Jesus loved God’s Word. He knew it, he quoted it, and he lived it. Even as Jesus hung on the cross, it was the words of Scripture that informed his prayers. “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” comes directly from Psalm 22. • Throughout the pages of the NT, we see the apostles and authors, again and again, using the words of the OT scriptures to preach and teach Jesus. • The believers didn’t just listen to the apostle’s teaching, they devoted themselves to following and obeying the teachings. • They chose to turn from sin and self and to obey the truths and commands they heard and learned. • Fellowship. • The Greek word is koinonia. This is the only place in the book of Acts this word is used. I • Its basic meaning is association, communion, sharing, or close relationship. It denotes a sense of intimacy among the participants. • In secular Greek and other places in the Scripture, the word sometimes denoted the sharing of goods (see 2 Cor 9:13). The word is also used of communion with a god, especially in the context of a sacred meal (e.g. 1 Cor. 10:16). • In general, the word reflects the unique sharing that Christians have with God and with one another. The point here is that the believers devoted themselves to sharing life together and serving one another. • The breaking of bread. • This phrase was a technical expression for the Jewish custom of a father pronouncing a blessing and breaking and distributing the bread at the beginning of a family meal. • However, most scholars believe Luke intends the phrase here to refer to the practice of Christians receiving the Lord’s Supper together. • In the early church, this often happened in conjunction with a fellowship meal observed in the homes of believers. In Acts 20:7, we see that it was apparently the practice of the early church to receive The Lord Supper weekly and on a Sunday. • Regardless of how often it was, or is, observed, the Lords’ Supper was and remains a significant spiritual activity in the communal life of the church. It was in the breaking of bread that the eyes of people were and continue to be opened to recognize Jesus. The Lord’s Supper remains a significant act that connects believers in fellowship. The early Christians devoted themselves to this practice. • Prayer • The Greek reads, they devoted themselves to the prayers. • This term could refer to the set times for daily prayer at the Temple which Luke tells us in several places that the early Christians did attend (2:46; 3:1; 22:17). • But Luke also records times when the early disciples prayed in homes or other places (1:24; 4:24; 12:1). • Considering these realities, this is likely a broad reference to various kinds of prayers they engaged in, including prayers in their home groups. • What is prayer? The 4th century Bible expositor John Chrysostom said, “Prayer is conversation with God.” • Prayer is you and me talking to God and God talking back to us. It’s also God talking to us and you and me responding to him.” • One of the realities seen in the book of Acts is this: More than anything else, the activity that most regularly characterized the early church was prayer. • Luke says that the first believers devoted themselves, they joined together constantly in, they tenaciously persisted in, prayer. • These four practices, devoting themselves to the apostle’s teaching, to fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer revolutionized the first believers’ lives. Genuine community was formed. Other Aspects of Community in the Church • A sense of awe and wonder (2:43) • God was present among his people. One of the ways his presence was evidenced was in signs and wonders. • What were these sign and wonders? • Chapter 3 - a crippled beggar sitting at the Temple Gate is physically healed. • Acts 4:30, The church prays that God would show his mighty power through healing and other wonders • Chapter 5 - People being healed and delivered from demonic control by Peter and the apostles • Chapter 6 - Stephen, a deacon, performed wonders and miraculous signs among the people. Based on similar descriptions elsewhere in Acts (cf Acts 8:6-7), we can assume these wonders included healings and deliverance. • Chapter 8 - Phillip, another deacon in the church, was healing paralytics and cripples, casting out demons, and performing other miracles. • The list of ways God demonstrated his power in and through the church continues throughout Acts and the rest of the NT. • When God’s people devote themselves to his Word, to fellowship, to communion, and to prayer, God shows up. Things happen that can only be attributed to the hand of God. • God is always present with us. But his presence isn’t always manifest to us. We don’t always perceive nor are we always attuned to God’s presence. While God is always with us, we don’t always experience His presence. • When we attune ourselves to God’s voice, submit ourselves to him, and respond to him in faith, he promises to act. (see 2 Chr 7:14) Those actions can include displays of divine power. • Generosity and care (2:44-45) • They were selling their possessions. • Some even sold properties to ensure the financial needs of everyone in the church was met. • Unlike the modern-day church here in North America, there was no individualistic spirit present. The Christians were in it together for thick and thin. • Scholars tell us that the verb tenses in the Greek indicate property was sold according to need, rather than a case of enforced sharing, like communism. • Not all properties were sold, or Luke wouldn’t have told us they continued to meet in homes, because the houses would have all been liquidated! • The important point here is that fellowship was not just touchy-feely sentiments for the early Christians. Community touched their wallets! • They recognized that everything they possessed belonged to God and they freely shared their resources with one another. • Temple presence (2:46) • Early believers went to the Temple just as Jesus had done. • They tried to remain within the Jewish fold. • Paul generally went to the Jewish synagogue first when he visited a new city on his missionary journeys. • Stephen declared that the Temple was unnecessary (Acts 7:48-50) and soon the church would say that being a Jew was unnecessary to follow Christ (Acts 15:19-21). • However, we still have a corporate aspect to worship today with the gathered church on Sundays (Heb 10:25) • Hospitality (2:46) • Practiced in homes • Small groups are nothing new! • Christians gathered in one another’s homes for worship and fellowship. • In their homes they: • Received communion together • Ate together (just like Sarah Harmeyer and her neighbours) • Were glad and had fun together. • With sincere and genuine hearts. • They weren’t getting together out of duty or obligation. • They couldn’t wait to be together to experience genuine community with God and each another. • Praise (2:47) • When Christians come together and experience community, praising God is the natural result. • Genuine fellowship focuses on God and helps people to remember the good things he has done. This inevitably leads to praise. • Favor with outsiders (2:47) • Such an unselfish and power-packed community life had an effect not just on those inside the church, but also on those outside. • The believers won the admiration of outsiders who witnessed what was happening among them. • More people chose to follow Christ and join the church. Others who witnessed community in the church wanted in. (Remember what Sarah Harmeyer learned: people crave genuine community.) • Interestingly, Luke never writes that these later conversions took place primarily through the preaching of the apostles as had happened on the day of Pentecost. • The favor that all the believers had among the people would have given them natural opportunity for spiritual conversations with unbelievers • Personal witness through word and deed surely added to the impact of healings and public preaching and resulted in comprehensive evangelistic outreach. • God’s hand in people coming to faith (2:47) • It was the Lord that added to their number. • Like Paul, we can plant the seeds. Like Apollos we can water them. However, it’s God alone who makes the seeds grow and draws people to his Son. (1 Cor 3:6) • As the early church did their part to live in genuine community and to make him known, God did his work. • More and more people chose to follow Jesus, and the church grew. Summary • In the weeks ahead, we’re going to further unpack what it means to live in community through the One Another passages. • Today, God wants us to remember that Christianity requires community living. There can be no Lone Ranger Christians. • The entire Christian life, including spiritual growth, battling sin and Satan, and serving God, are intended to be done in community. • Christianity is by nature a community religion. We don’t get together because it’s helpful, we get together because we’re each a vital part of the Body of Christ. • The Body is incomplete without you, and you are incomplete without the Body. Community is not an option for a Christian. It’s an essential component of our faith. (pause) Application • What is God saying to you about community? • Perhaps you’ve never taken the step that 3000 people did on the day of Pentecost. In response to Peter’s message, they turned away from sin and self, chose to believe in Jesus, and were baptized to confirm and publicly confess their faith. God is inviting you to follow Jesus today and to start living in community. • Or, perhaps you have taken those initial steps of response to God, but you’ve been attempting to live as a Lone-Ranger Christian. • Perhaps you have viewed meeting house-to-house as the early church did as an optional activity - you’ve neglected to devote yourself to community in a small group. • Perhaps you’ve neglected showing hospitality to others in the Body by failing to open your home to them. • Perhaps you’ve missed out on the sense of community gained through serving others in the Body of Christ. • Perhaps you’ve been missing out on the manifestation of God’s power at your point of need because you refuse to humble yourself and receive prayer offered by your brothers and sisters within the church. • Perhaps it’s something totally different. • Whatever God is speaking to you today regarding community, will you respond to His voice? If you do, you can experience the transforming work of the Spirit of God. And one of the deepest cravings in your soul and in the heart of God can be satisfied . . . your need for community, and the Body of Christ’s need for you.