Establish
Notes
Transcript
Claim - God’s people corporately ‘devote’ themselves to his Word’, the Lord’s Supper, prayer and love for each other
Focus - The aim of Estbalish is to build each other up in Word and fellowship
Function - To cause devotion to God’s Word and fellowship
Pray
We’re going to start with a question this week.
Why do you associate yourself with Church?
(or if you’re not a regular but you’ve been just listening online - why do you associate yourself with your own church
- or even why don’t you associate with a church if you don’t!
What is your motivation - your reason for being part of a church?
And I want you to be honest - don’t say what you think is the right answer - say your honest reasons.
I’m not going to ask you to tell anyone - but you can discuss it in your families if you want.
I’ll give you 30 seconds to think or discuss before our reading
READING Acts 2 42-47
I asked you to think about your reasons or motivations for assosicating yourself with church.
Now church is a tricky word becasue we tend to use it to describe what we ‘do’ in an organised sense as a church in WP
I’m going to church - what are we doing or learning at church.
What is the church doing about x, y or z.
Where does your church stand on this issue or that.
So when we ask what is church?
We think:
It’s the place we go on Sunday,
It’s where Christians attend to learn about God and to encourage one another.
It’s really all about the events the ‘organised church’ lays on.
That use of the word isn’t wrong -
The book of Acts has many such uses of ‘church’ in that sense.
but we just mustn’t forget that it is not the whole meaning of ‘church’ in the bible.
You see for a local church to do, or act, or respond, or decide upon anything,
it first has to exist - it has to be!
And a church can only exist or be, when people undertsand they belong to it.
And it’s that belonging/existing as a church - that results in action as a church.
1 - We belong to the Church
1 - We belong to the Church
Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
As this first ever Christian church began to establish itself after the death and resurection of Jesus 2000 years ago,
there is a sequence of steps that happen that casue a belonging to the church.
Individuals hear the gospel,
Repent in faith and are baptised to signifiy their acceptance of God’s grace towards them through Jesus,
- all for the forgiveness of sins to be people indwelt by the HS.
They recieve something… the Holy Spirit
- which makes them a belonger to the church
- under Jesus the head, with each other as belivers the body
- as Paul the apostle explains in other passages.
v41 makes the belonging sense even clearer
Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.
3000 is a good days work for any preacher,
but what we’re observing here is the sense that the church is something we belong to.
these 3000 were added to their number.
The first church was defined by belonging to a ‘people group’ who repented and were baptised and now lived by the Spirit.
These 3000 did not need to ‘attend’ anything to be a part of the church -
they ‘were’ the church by definition of their new belief.
This is hoepfully where are River of Dreams diagram can help us to.
Show image
Until we have repented, believed in the death and resurection of Jesus,
we do not belong to the church - to the number of believers.
We still exist in a state before repentance for the forgiveness of sins as achieved by Jesus on the Cross.
You can and should still come along, and you are welcome to ‘do’ church - in the local church sense,
We love people to do that
but you cannot belong to the universal church,
unless you have repented, believed in Jesus’ death and resurection,
as signified in Baptism,
for the forgiveness of sins - at which point we receive the HS.
We’re not embarrassed to say that unless you’re a believer you still need to be evangelised - to hear and respond to the gospel
- becasue the only way to avoid God’s right judgement on us is through the cross fo Jesus,
We would hardly be showing you love if we were content to ignore the judgement you still face - without urging you to receieve the grace and mercy of Jesus as we have.
Incidentally, That’s why Baptsim is so important for believers to experiecene.
It is the sign that we have died to sin - as Jesus died for us on the cross,
and risen again to new life by His Spirit, as he also rose.
If you haven’t been baptised, then please ask me about it, I’ve started a list for after lockdown!.
So back to our opening question -
Why do you associate yourself with church,
well part of our answer for believers ought to be simply that
‘we belong to the church,’ to Jesus, to each other.
By Extension We are part of those 3000 added to their number back in Acts.
If we don’t define ourselevs as a people who belong together as a number - then there would be no church to assosiate to.
Infact we cannot even really define ourselevse as Christians - and not belong to the number.
A Christian - by definition belongs to the church.
Where else would we be?
To who or what else do we belong?
If not to church - then v40 - the only other optionis to this corrupt generation!
Everyone looks for beloinging - and sadly even Christians keep looking for belonging even outside of church!
In a sports club or fan club,
in work,
in community,
in our peer group at school,
You only need to spend 5 minutes on the likes of Instagram, Facebook,
to see a world of people (including many of us here) looking for acceptance or belonging, or praise or credit from others!
Teenagers - (and adults) after church today you can go through your social media and remove all those possy photos that say - look at me, I’m cool or amazing, please think I’m great, so I feel like I belong -
becasue, you belong exclusively to the church!
To Jesus the head and each other in the church.
We ought to avoid this corrupt generation and the lies of this world - we do not belong to it,
we need find no comfort or rest or belonging from it,
For we belong to the church of Jesus.
The HS does not share His home in your heart with 236 facebook flat mates and our manager from work an the football fan club.
We exclusivley belong to the church.
The reason many of us struggle to attend, or tune in,
or ensure our families join in with the ‘doing’ side of church,
is that we think it’s an event organising outfit that we can dip in and out of
if it ticks our boxes!
BUt actualy - church is where you belong
- and the events we organise are not to entertainment
but oppertunitties to express and grow our belonging to Christ and each other.
To the church.
And this is the role of the establish ministry here at GC - to help us grow in our belonging to Jesus and each other - the church.
It’s from this point of understanding that we belong to the church
and the church only exists becasue we are the church,
that we reach the ‘doing’ aspects of church:
So, back to our 3000 strong church in Acts -
what is it that they did - in response to their belonging.
here
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
We summarise that here at GC in our Estbalish ministry as
Establinging the committed (the belongers) in word and fellowship.
Belonging to the church,
To Jesus,
having the HS,
results in a devotion to God’s Word the bible and fellowship.
Devoted to God’s Word
Devoted to God’s Word
The phrase - devoted to the apostles teaching,
doesn’t mean they threw out the OT!
Far from it, the aspostles did little else other that teach from the OT,
and showed how it all points to Jesus.
And so it was obvious to these 3000 new belongers,
that to hear this gospel, this good news from the apostles that led to their salavtion,
that they would want to learn more from those same teacehrs.
It’s sad it’s not so obvious to us today often.
that we ought to devote ourselevs to God’s Word,
for it is in God’s word that we first found the truth of salavtion in the first place!
And yet we will make more effort to play sports,
watch our favourite Netfix show,
or read a novel,
than we will to priorities the WOrd of GOd in our lives.
We do the same for our chidlren - we accept their complaints or moans that youth group is not for them,
or church is too hard to understand,
or they can’t sit still that long
blah d blah d blah.
Church services, youth group, Sunday Shcool aren’t meant to be fun!
They are meant to be the place we devote ourselves to God’s word- and we must instill that same principle in our chidlren - for it is where our life belongs!
Of course we can try to make all these things as accesible and ‘fun’ as we can -
but our motivation to gather and learn from God’s word is not to be based on what we like - but on what we need and who we are.
We are to devote ourselevs to God’s word as a church
- like a labrador that is devoted to it’s owner whether the owner is playing fetch with him,
or rebuking him,
or seemingly not having time for him -
it is not about what we like - but on what we need and who we are.
We are the church - and we devote ourselevs to the Word of God at the cost of all else.
Which brings us to that second result of belonging to the church
Devoted to Fellowship
Devoted to Fellowship
Let us also not think we can do Faith alone.
To lay aside the corporate learning of God’s word and the love and accountability of that famliy, as if we don’t need it would be foolishness.
Those 3000 early believers did not receive the HS and then say - great - that’s all I need, just me and God with some special personailsed revelation plan between him and me!
No, they devoted themselves to the Apostles teaching as they taught the full word and truth of God.
The only people with speical revleation here is the apostles themselevs!
Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles.
At the sight of miricle working apostles who teach the truth with authority - what else would these new believers do?
Elevate their own knowldge,
return to worldly wisdom?
Seek their own special way forward with God?
No chance!
They devoted themselevs to the one certainty before them.
The bible teaching apostles.
And the family fellowship they now belong to.
The people in Acts heard the message that they had rejected God in their lives, which we call sin
- that they where respoinisble for the death of JEsus, God’s son
- who came in love to save them,
and 3000 who believed, repented, where baptised and revieved the HS.
And joined their number.
Their natural response is devoting themselves to the Word of God and fellowship seems obvious.
Anyone who claimed repentance in Jesus, but then failed to deveote themselves to His teaching and the rest of the beliwvers in love - would surely be considered a fraud?
They woudn’t be considered as one who belongs to the church at all.
Church is not church with fellowship
and we’ve already discused that a Christian by defualt belongs to the church!
So again - fellowship is not just about whether we feel loved and cared for,
and if we don’t get that, the way we want or expect it, we leave.
No Fellowship is again about belonging.
We are family and we belong to each other - whatever happens
v44 says it simply.
All the believers were together and had everything in common.
And those 2 elements - together and everything in common are explained in the next verses
They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need.
That seems to be the everythgin in common.
That is why our hardship fund is so encouraging,
it’s a way that in our culture enables us to practically support those of us who need finaical help.
But it does not replace the need to still look out for and care for each other practically and finaicnially in other ways.
and
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,
And this seems to be the explanation of togetehr.
Again our culture - and certainly our present times don’t really enable us to meet daily to chat and learn - and support
but surely we ought to prioriites the oppertunites we do have to meet with each other more than we do.
We have home groups that are far from fully attended,
a monthly prayer meeting that is quiet,
(Which is a shame as that is part of the early church devotion - to be praying together in v42)
and families or parts of familes missing from our Junior church services .
and church services.
Chidlrens and youth groups are not always well attended - it seems unlikely our chidlren will be devoted to word and fellowship as adults if we do not insist on it and speak of it’s benefits while they are younger.
For belongers (and teenagers you can be asking this aswell) - we should be asking where we belong if we’re not in fellowship as often as we can!
IN acts the standard was everyday - some of us struggle wiuth oncea week!
There are of course very real and good reasons to miss some things, and to not be able to be part of certain things,
an that is comleetly undertsnadable,
but i wonder if some of us need to rememebr to who and what we belong
Just remmeebr this:
We belong through God’s Spirirt to the church and so devote oursleevs to God’s word and fellowship.
Let’s spend another 3-seconds thinking about why and how we’re going to assosicate ourselevs to the church fromt this day on.
30seconds
Pray