Make the Church Great Again

We all know that the Church in America has some issues. The moral decline of our culture is partly due to the Church’s inability to affect society. Not entirely, but partly. We’ve lost a little bit of our “greatness,” if you will. A little play on words here, but

If you were going to make the Church great again, how would you do it?

And I'm being serious - how would you make the Church great again? How would you restore power and prestige that the Church of Jesus Christ once had? Seriously think about that. We'll come back to that.

Last week we looked at the transformation of the Apostle Peter - how God took a hardworking blue-collar fisherman, filled him with the Holy Spirit and empowered him too proclaim Christ, resulting in 3,000 people receiving Jesus Christ for their salvation. This morning we will look at the transformation of those 3,000 people.

Before I read this paragraph in chapter 2, understand that there are two other similar paragraphs in chapters 4 and 5. These particular passages serve as summaries or snapshots of the 1st Century Church. They provide a general description of the characteristics and behaviors of the early Christians. Though it is a general description, there is much to learn.

Acts 2:42 ESV

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

And they …

Who are they? These are new converts to the long-awaited Messiah. These are the people whose lives were changed, not as a result of programs, but as a result of hearing and responding to the gospel. These are the Jewish people to whom Peter preached. They were saved and their hearts touched and transformed by Jesus Christ.

They hear the gospel. They receive the gospel. There's this internal transformation that begins to take place. So what do they do?

They devoted themselves …

Devoted - to do something with intense effort or persistence. There's a difference between liking something and being devoted to something. I'll use my Sasquatch analogy again. There are people who like the idea of Sasquatch, and that’s where it ends. Then there are those who are devoted to finding Sasquatch. Being devoted comes with a cost. To find Sasquatch costs what? Time, money, energy, effort, reputation …. Can be risky - I saw a commercial …. That’s much the same with anything.

Q - Knowing the difference between liking and devotion, and knowing that devotion comes with a cost, to what or to whom would people say you are devoted to?

Your answer will determine where that needs go. Some of us may need to make some adjustments - I’ll let you take it from there and wrestle with that one.

Now before we discover what they were devoted to, I think the bigger question is this -

What drives devotion?

What drives your devotion to Christ or to whatever it is that you named? That is a critical question. It's one thing to know what or who we're devoted to; it's another to know the motivation or the drive behind that devotion.

I think it’s critical to know our motivations. We could be devoted to good things but for wrong reasons. I’m letting that one hang … you may need to take some time to answer that question. You may even need the help someone else who can help you uncover some stuff.

Let's find out what they were devoted to, what drove that devotion and then the results of their devotion?

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

First, they were devoted to the apostle’s teaching. They intensely desired to hear about Jesus, and His connection with what we call the Old Testament. They devoted themselves (motivated) to learning, to increasing in knowledge and understanding. They wanted to know, “Now that we know Jesus, what do we do, how do we live.”

Q - What is your level of devotion to increasing in knowledge and understanding of Scripture, of God, of our faith?

(on a scale of 1-6. What would make it a ____)

Q - What are your obstacles?

(and we all have them!)

Q - What are some things you can do to overcome those obstacles?

Being devoted costs. Q - What cost are you willing to pay?

For instance, being devoted might cost an extra half hour in the morning or evening. Instead of 7 lattes in a week, you could buy a Study Bible.

Being devoted to Christ is costly…

They were also devoted to the fellowship. Not devoted to fellowshipping, but devoted to the fellowship. When we think of fellowship, we often think of an event or activity that the church organizes and we attend. We go to a Bible study - fellowship. We have a potluck - fellowship. Go to church - fellowship. That’s not necessarily accurate. Those things may be a part of the fellowship, but a church activity is not necessarily fellowship.

So what is fellowship?

The deeper meaning of fellowship has more to do with our relationship with people than the activity we attend.

Genuine fellowship is engaging people who have a mutual interest in Christ so as to develop a close bond or relationship that edifies one another.

So, they were devoted to the fellowship - they were devoted to the other believers in Christ. And as we’ll see next week, they deeply cared for and loved one another.

Now, I'm going to say something and it's probably going to sting, but it needs to be said. I don't say it out of anger or arrogance, but out of concern. Sunnyside has a fellowship problem, and it has for a long time - way before Covid.

Q - Name one person in this church, other than a family member that you are devoted to?

Follow me? There’s mutual devotion, a developing personal relationship with reciprocal spiritual edification.

Q - What do you think stops this church from engaging in authentic Christian fellowship?

Not looking to blame others. Not pointing fingers. May be some validity, but the bottom line is this - what stops you from being devoted to the fellowship?

Q - Does any of this really matter? If it matters, what should we do about it?

Before we walk away with our head low, we should understand that their devotion to Jesus, to one another, along with worship and prayer changed their world. Their devotion resulted in people being added to the church, which we’ll talk about next week. But know this, not all is lost. Occasionally, we need to ask ourselves hard questions. We need to expose some problem areas, find solutions, and make necessary changes. Change is possible.

At the beginning I asked if you were going to make the Church great again, what would you do? I want you to answer that - because it really is more about what you decide to do than what others do or don’t do. But it will cost.

What are you walking away with?

To be continued

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