Fellowship of Believers (Conclusion)

WE:

Pledge

Passage: Acts 2:42-47

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

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

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

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

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

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

Prayer

Today we are concluding our series “Fellowship of Believers”

TITLE: Fellowship of Believes (Conclusion)

We have been looking at the 1st Church of the N.T.

This passage picks up right after Peter preaches and 3000 people come to know Christ as their Lord and Savior.

We have 3120 Charter members

There are three things we can point out about this church......

First thing is what we have discussed over the last few weeks.

A church that is “Exclusively, Faithfully and tirelessly” devoted to Christ

His teaching

To fellowship (Corporate)

To breaking of bread (Intimate)

To Prayer

A Church that is in AWE of God which produced ....

Wonders and Signs

A church that was together and ....

Had all things in common

Sacrificing

Serving

Joyful Hearts

Worshipping

To sum all of that up we could say that one of the three things this church displayed was “UNIFICATION!”

They were UNIFIED!

They were experiencing things they had never experienced before

They were seeing things happening they had never seen before.

They were hearing things they had never heard before.

All of this caused them to become UNIFIED.

Think about this though ....

We are experiencing things we have never experienced before

We are seeing things happen we have never see before.

We are hearing things we have never heard before.

But all of this is causing us to become DIVIDED!

So what is the difference? GOD!

One was the movement of GOD

The other is the coercion of the enemy.

Which is causing Division and not Unity.

Transition Statement: Have you ever been a part of a team (Sports or something else) that was unified?

YOU:

Looking back on those days I played sports I know that one of the key factors in our success was all players being UNIFIED!

Football - every player doing their part.

Basketball - every player moving together as one.

We could always tell when we had the other team beat ..... when they started fighting with each other.

They no longer were doing their part … they were more concerned about pointing out each others faults.

They no longer were moving together as one but someone was starting to be a one man team.

Transition Statement: What we see with the 1st Church of the N.T. is a church that is UNIFIED!

GOD:

The next things we see with this church is found in VS 47 “having favor with all the people.”

We see the Church not only being unified but it is being “MAGNIFIED”

Look at the word “favor”

Greek - Charis

This is the word we would translate as “GRACE” or “GOODWILL”

The verse could read .... “having goodwill (Grace) with all the people”

There is an issue that arises with the Greek word translated “WITH.”

There is no grammatical support for translating the preposition (pros) “WITH” in this construction as “from” or “with.”

Second, in first-century texts written by the Jewish historian Josephus and the Jewish philosopher Philo, when this particular preposition follows the word charis (favor*, the NT word for “grace”), it always describes the person toward whom GRACE is expressed.

Looking at different commentaries we can look at this section of this verse 2 different ways .....

First, having favor given to the believers by the world. (How the world was toward the believers.)

“Having Favor with all the people”

Second, having grace toward all the people. (How the believers were toward the world.)

“Having Grace toward all the people”

Either way, the outcome is usually the same .....

Extending Grace or having Favor with people ..... ALL are attracted to it! Jesus

Example: People seeing you living in Grace ....... they are going to be attracted to it

People seeing you extend Grace .....they are going to be attracted to it

This is why the church is important ...... because of the message the world should be receiving from us.

What is that message ...... Love, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, and self-control

JESUS - Salvation, hope, Grace, purpose, redemption, justification, VICTORY over sin! Eternal life!

Not doing this so we can receive FAVOR from the world but so that they may receive GRACE!

Transition Statement: So what is THIS church revealing to our community? To this City? To this State?

YOU:

Are people attracted to Jesus because of what we are displaying about Him?

Are we loving people like Jesus would?

Are we exhibiting peace that attracts people to peace?

Are we patient with those who are impatient?

Are we Kind to the unkind?

Are we gentle with the cruel?

Are we under control when others are out of control?

Transition Statement: Church this is what the world should see coming from the Church.

WE:

The world should be attracted to the church.

The enemy knows this! This is why he is so concerned with the church.

He doesn’t want us to look attractive.

The First Church of the N.T. was an attractive church. WHY?

They were UNIFIED and they this MAGNETISM about them. They were attractive to the people.

Is the church attractive today?

I would have to say .... not like it use to be!

They enemy is trying to defeat us.

The enemy can tell when he has us (as a church) beat ..... it is when we start fighting with each other.

We are no longer unified (doing our part) .... we are more concerned about what others are not doing or what they are doing.

We are no longer serving as one body but starting to see others becoming dis-unified with the body.

We are no longer attractive to the world. We have lost our magnetism.

But I will say this, when the church is UNITED and MAGNIFIED, .....

The third thing happens .... it is MULTIPLIED!

(47b) “And the Lord added to their numbers day by day those who were being saved.”

I want us to notice something in this section of this verse.

The LORD is the one that added. NOT the apostles, the believers, or programs.

I believe this ..... When you have a church that is UNIFIED and MAGNIFIED .... the Lord will MULTIPLY!

This can be us church.

Lets work toward being UNIFIED

Lets work toward being attractive (MAGNIFIED)

Lets watch how the Lord will then MULTIPLY