Episode 5

Good morning everyone, I am so grateful to be here this morning. I love to get to see everyone every Sunday morning, and some of you all during the week as well. Its such a great time whenever we all get to be together! Listen, we actually are here this morning while we have some others that are joining us online. First of all I am excited to get to experience this amazing spiritual family every single week right here in the village of Leaf River. However, I am also excited to get to share as an extended family to all of those that are joining us online from your home. Whether you are at home due to illness, or some other reason, or even if you are on vacation I love that we get to experience our family together here every week at 9:30 am on Sunday mornings. I know that many of you joining us online maybe have not been able to join us in person for quite some time, but I truly want you to know that we have saved a seat for you as well as a hot cup of coffee whenever you are able to make it back to in person worship. While worshiping online is not the same as worshiping together, I am incredibly grateful that we have the technology that allows us to include this option. Actually, a lot of people don’t know this, but we have had people able to log in and join us from all over the states, and occasionally even from other countries…

You know, that is the power of technology, it allows us as a body of beleivers to participate in evangelism all over the globe. This is definitely not what the early church thought about when they were starting what we know today as the church. No, when they started meeting together they could have had no way to even dream about the opportunity that we have today as the church in the 21st century. But, how did they start? I mean, how did we go from Jesus, one man, to the apostles and then to the world today. That is a pretty massive reach that has taken hold over the last 2000 years isn’t it. When we think about the reach that the church has today, at some point we have to think about how this all got started. That is what we have been doing over the coarse of the last few weeks. We have been looking at how the church got started and what that means for us today. We are in this series called The book of Acts, an origin story”. So far we have seen that Jesus did not only give a job to the apostles, but Jesus gave a job to us today…Then I asked everyone a question, and I am going to keep asking everyone this question…Have you personally participated in the mission of the church?

You see, Jesus didn’t leave us with the guide and helper named the Holy Spirit so that we can simply ask others to participate in the mission of the church. No, Jesus gave us a job to do and then he gave us what we need in order to do that job. It really is that simple. So, I want to encourage you to actually start participating in what the church is doing. Im not specifically talking about our local church meaning LRBC. Im talking about the global eternal church that has been directed to impact the world. Now, our local expression of that global church is placed right here in Leaf River, meaning that we have an opportunity to make an impact on the community right here around us. I love so much that we, as a church are invested in missions. We designate a specific amount of money every year to go into missions projects, and we send money literally all over the world. However, if we are unwilling to see what is going on in our very own back yard, then are we being faithful with what God has given us? I would say no, not really. So, that means that we have an opportunity to make an impact on Leaf River, and each of us are a part of that story. Therefore, how have you personally participated in the mission of the church?

Ok, so clearly God has called each of us. However, how did this all start. That is what we are going to continue to look at this morning. Last week Brother Steve took us through Peter’s sermon and I want you to know that was a spirit filled sermon that was preached over 2000 years ago and that was a spirit filled sermon that was preached 7 days ago. Do you know how I know it was a spirit filled sermon? Because Scripture tells us it was. Remember the disciples were all filled with the Spirit and then Peter started talking and sharing the Gospel with everyone in Jerusalem. Peter began to explain to the crowd what the good news of Jesus really is. Peter did an amazing job telling everyone that Jesus is in fact the long awaited Messiah that they knew from the Old Testament. He then went on to tell them how to repent and turn around to follow Jesus. That is pretty much the mission of the church right there isn’t it. I mean…we exist to help others come to repentance and follow Jesus. That statement right there applies to both Christians and non-Christians alike doesn’t it. I mean for non Christian the church is meant to point you to Jesus for salvation, and for the Christian the church is meant to point you to Jesus for sanctification.

Now we have seen how the truth of Scripture has pointed people toward salvation. As a matter of fact, if that were not true then none of us would be here this morning. However, have you personally ever experienced the truth of Scripture pointing you toward sanctification? There is a term that I have used before, it is progressive sanctification. Basically that means that we are constantly growing to be more like Christ. That is what we are doing here this morning. We are here in order to allow the truth of Scripture to stretch and grow us as beleivers. Progressive sanctification is something that we each experience through a process called discipleship. Discipleship is how we experience progressive sanctification. Now, I know that is a couple of big words, but I promise they are not scary words. Basically all of this together means that we are growing followers of christ. Well this morning I would like for us to look at this passage and learn from the history of the church. We already know that the mission of the church is to point others towards Jesus both for salvation and for sanctification. We have seen through Peter how to point people to Jesus for salvation. We saw that last week. This week, as we look at Scripture, I think we will see...

The Four Aspects of Discipleship

You see, from the very beginning we will see that the church we can see that this group of beleivers valued certain things. These things were instrumental in development and growth of the early church. Therefore, if it was good for the early church, then why wouldn’t it be good for us? Let’s take a look together and discover what was important to them, and therefore what should be important to us, not only as a church, but also personally.

Acts 2:42–47 (ESV)

And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

Wow…here in the very first sentence we are able to see something pretty important. In this very first sentence we are able to see exactly what the first Christians actually saw as important. Now, let’s be clear for a moment. The early Christians are not experiencing Christianity the way we are living today. No, they were already actively being persecuted. Christianity, at that time it was called “The Way” was seen as some sort of cult that was causing disruptions in the normal way of life. However, they weren’t focused on that, were they? No, they were focused on growing together as beleivers and telling everyone about the good news of Jesus Christ the Messiah. So, if that was their focus, how did they do that? First of all they...

Devoted Themselves

What does it mean to devote yourself? Well, this is a bit of a hard explanation, so bear with me here. On the surface to devote means to give all, or most, of your time or resources. However, there is something else going on here that is kind of important. You see, this word in the Greek is actually a bit more intense. You see, this word indicates that they all continued to exist together. It is more than just the english term saying I am devoted…No, this word holds a deeper meaning in the original authors context. When Luke wrote that they devoted themselves, he is indicating that the literarily all gave everything that they had or desired into these practices. In other words, when the early Christians repented of their sins, they existed to do the following things. Now, if these things were that important to the early Christians, then I think we need to discover how important they are to us as well. Lets take them one at a time

1. Teaching

Ok, this seems pretty self explanatory, doesn’t it. I mean the early believers were so focused on the teaching of the Apostles that they actually wanted to learn what was being said. Now, if they wanted to learn what was being said, that means that did absolutely everything they had to do in order to be at the temple whenever there was an opportunity to hear from the Apostles. What they were learning had weight in the lives of the early beleivers. Remember, they have just realized the truth of who Jesus is. Now the Apostles are teaching about the Old Testament prophecies and teaching about the miracles of Jesus. They were teaching about Jesus’ resurrection and everything that they had personally seen and heard from Jesus. Basically, as Jesus had given to the apostles, they were giving to the believers. We see that even through the following verses when we read about the many signs and wonders being done through the apostles. You see, the Holy Spirit had enabled the apostles to preform miracles in order to allow for a more robust teaching. This teaching would have been for the benefit of both the new beleivers as well as the person that is curious about what is going on with this new group. Vs. 46 tells us that day by day they were going to temple…day by day, in other words all of their time was spent learning as growing as believers.

Now, this doesn’t say that they were only at the temple all day long. I do not believe that is the case. You see, they would have had jobs and family to take care of as well. However, day by day they were at the temple learning. They were constantly going to see what they could learn…Jesus was like a good book that they just couldn’t put down, or a good movie they just couldn’t wait to come out. I know that everyone here either enjoys movies, tv shows, or books, some of you enjoy all of the above. Well, what happens when you watch a movie, and it is left on a cliffhanger? What happens at the end of the season of your favorite tv show when they left questions unanswered? What about your favorite book series that you just finished reading the 1st book and now you just can’t wait to read the next book. You see, that is the excitement that the early church is experiencing. They have just learned that Jesus is the Messiah of the Old Testament, and now they cannot wait to hear all of the stories and how all of these encounters happened. They have just seen the beginning and they are truly excited to see what happens next...

That’s not all they were devoted to though, no, the next thing they devoted to was...

2. Fellowship

Now as they are learning and growing as beleivers we see a need for fellowship. What exactly is fellowship? Well, here fellows refers to having a close association with each other including both being involved with the same things and having relationships with each other. In other words, fellowship is more than having a cup of coffee on Sunday morning. No, fellowship means that they actually lived their lives together and were involved in each others lives. You see, this is actually something that the modern church does not do a great job of. We do so well at making everyone feel welcome and a part of a spiritual family on Sundays, but the modern church kind of leaves it right there. This is really important becuase it is actually a pretty big part of progressive sanctification. You see, if you are actually involved in the lives of your brothers and sisters in Christ then you are able to help hold them accountable to Scripture and they are able to hold you accountable to Scripture as well.

So while that is a big part of fellowship, it is not the only part of fellowship. You see, this term fellowship also would refer to helping each other. We actually see Luke go a little further into this concept in vs 45-45 when he talked about having all things in common and selling possessions to give to those in need. The Greek idea of fellowship would involve sharing of goods, and so Luke does show us that is a part of fellowship. However, I do want to be clear here. This passage is not a call to some utopian socialist ideal. You see, many people will use this passage as a proof that the Bible teaches a socialist or communist political structure. That is a false teaching…You see, the Bible does not teach any political structure. Scripture teaches us individual responsibility and progressive sanctification. The Greek reader early on would have potentially seen a utopian socialist type of design as this is a concept that goes back to the Pythagorean communities of the 6th century. The Hebrew reader would have more rightly seen a picture of the Old Testament ideal of communities caring for each other and providing for those in need. You see, this idea of fellowship and the concept of selling their possessions to give to those in need was not a concept of selling all of their possessions at once. No, it was a concept of when there was a need, then the beleivers would come together to meet that need, many times resulting in selling their possessions.

The concept of fellowship with one another that Luke is describing her is a concept of true spiritual family. This is a concept that is truly played out in the final two aspects of discipleship. Let’s look at these together starting with...

3. Breaking Bread

Breaking bread is something they were devoted to doing together. This would have been a part of true christian fellowship. You see, there is a true level of trust and unity built when you break bread together. That is why you see dating relationships happening frequently around a dinner table of some sort. The conversation and the intimacy that is felt when you break bread together is at the root of Christian fellowship. This also shows us something that is actually very important. You see, the early church gatherings would take place not only in the temple, but also in the homes of individual believers. This concept of breaking bread together would have also included taking communion together by having a meal together with the Lord. This is the level of fellowship that is being experienced by the early church, and this is the level of fellowship that we should be striving for as beleivers today.

That also is not the end of their fellowship. They did something else that was far more important than breaking bread together when they were joined in fellowship. They were also focused on...

4. Prayer

This is an amazing part of their fellowship together. We can see in vs 47 that this prayer did not only include the petitions of needs, but the praise of thankful hearts as they are joined together in Christian unity. Through this we see more than just a continuation of the formal temple prayers, which were important, but the true sharing of prayers in their private house worship gatherings. Now, in order for a group of people to join together in prayer, there must be a level of unity and trust between these beleivers. When you are joined together in prayer you are also joined in conversation and growth in relationship together. The only way to know how to lift a fellow beleivers up to the Lord is for there to be conversation about that beleivers life and struggles. The only way to truly praise God for his work in another believers life is to understand how God is working in that persons life. This only happens with the fellowship of beleivers who truly desire to have all things in common. There is something more at work than simply giving a list and reciting that list in a prayer to the Lord. No, this necessarily includes relationship together which only comes through true Christian fellowship.

Finally, as we see these four aspects of discipleship take place in the life of the early church, we are able to see wha the result of this spirit filled life is. Vs 47 tells us that the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved. How amazing is that…This early church was a church that was evangelizing simply by participating in discipleship and by reflecting Christ more and more every day. Do you think that their knowledge of the Lord led them to live different lives in the marketplace? Yes, or coarse. Do you think that their knowledge of the Lord led them to be better parents? Yes, of coarse. What about their neighbors…do you think that their knowledge of the Lord led them to be better neighbors? I would say 100%, yes…And do you know what? I have seen that continue to happen today. When we grow in our own knowledge of the Lord then we will be better at work, at home and in our neighborhoods. So…what is stopping us from living the type of life that the early church lived? What is stopping you from living a life of progressive sanctification?

This morning I want to encourage you in something…If you are here this morning, or watching online and you have never experienced this level of Christian fellowship then I would like to ask you to reach out to me or to one of the elders in order to understand your relationship with the Lord first. Then I would like to encourage you to be honest with yourself about what kind of life you are currently living? Are you living a life that reflects the devotion to teaching and fellowship the way the early church did…or are you attending church on Sunday? You see, there is a difference. Anyone can attend church on a Sunday…However, it takes devotion to participate in true Christian discipleship.

John Pohill tells us that what we have just read,

“...gives an ideal portrait of the young Christian community, witnessing the Spirit’s presence in the miracles of the apostles, sharing their possessions with the needy among them, sharing their witness in the temple, sharing themselves in the intimacy of their table fellowship. Their common life was marked by praise of God, joy in the faith, and sincerity of heart. And in it all they experienced the favor of the nonbelievers and continual blessings of God-given growth.”

This morning we have seen what the early church participated in. We have seen where we come from, and where our focus as a church should be. However, we have also seen where our focus as individual beleivers should truly be.

Let’s pray