The First Altar Call

Introduction

We’ve been walking our way through the book of Acts the last couple of weeks. We’ve talked about how Luke was spelling out all of the works that Jesus did, and talked about how Acts wasn’t the end of Jesus ministry on earth, rather it was the transfer from the singular body of Christ, to the body of Christ that we know as the Church. Last week we looked at the very first sermon that was ever preached and noted the simplicity of the Gospel. We also saw the Holy Spirit arrive and cause a stirring amongst the people. Peter speaking through the Holy Spirit, preached a sermon that was bold and hard-hitting. Gone was the cowardly fisher man who was ashamed to be associated with Jesus, in his stead was a Holy Spirit filled warrior for Christ that spoke the Word of God boldly!

What caused this transformation? Why the Holy Spirit of course! Not only that but the Holy Spirit was moving amongst all of them in such a way as to cause a great deal of excitement amongst those in Jerusalem for the Pentecost feast. So we learned that the most effective means of getting the people’s attention is to allow the Holy Spirit to flow as HE wills, not according to our wisdom. Once the Holy Spirit got their attention, Peter was able to preach the truth of their need for a savior- this caused the crowd to be cut to the heart. Next he preached the simplicity of the Gospel- you can’t but He can!

Body

Was that sermon effective? What happened next? Well I’m glad you asked. Let’s pick it up there:

Acts 2:40–47 NKJV

And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, “Be saved from this perverse generation.” Then those who gladly received his word were baptized; and that day about three thousand souls were added to them. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need. So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.

Crazy or what? THREE THOUSAND PEOPLE! What was it about that early church? Was it their superior sound system? Was it perhaps their marketing? No, as we said before it was the simplicity of the Gospel. Notice, that the message itself was not very seeker sensitive. It was hard hitting, and it was unapologetic. It made no excuses for the truth. I have seen church leaders actually apologize to the homosexual community for stigmatizing them and saying that their lifestyle was a sinful one! Can you imagine that? Sure, we should apologize if we’ve ever treated anyone badly regardless of their sin of choice, but to say what God says about a person’s sin is not something we should be apologizing for.

For too long now, the church has been trying to figure out how to become relevant to the world around us. We have compromised by becoming more and more like the world to the point now that you can’t even tell the difference between the two. I recently heard that the divorce rate in the church is actually a couple of percentage points higher that it is in the world! How did this happen? How could we get to this point? Jesus tells us how.

Matthew 5:13 NKJV

“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.

In the times before modern refrigeration and freezers, the only way to keep meat from going bad was to salt it. The messaging here is clear, Jesus was telling the disciples that if they lost their seasoning, they would no longer be able to stave off the rot in the world. Well church, I’d venture to say that we are about there, because saints… this world is smelling very rotten, and with very few exceptions, I don’t see the masses flocking to the church. How did the early church do this then?

Acts 2:42 NKJV

And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.

What does this really mean?

Well this verse is mirrored in verse 46, let’s read:

Acts 2:46 NKJV

So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart,

So clearly there is a correlation between the apostles’ doctrine and continuing daily in one accord in the temple. The breaking bread part is obvious and then there is a correlation between the praying, and eating their food with gladness and simplicity of heart.

To continue in the apostle’s doctrine, daily with one accord in the temple speaks of our church relationship. Notice what Dr. Luke is saying that the secret to their success was. It was in their church time. The church is not going to get you saved- only Jesus can do that, but the church is going to provide you with your true community to accomplish that task. But it is not just about the going to the temple, they were going to the temple with what purpose? It is clear there, they were going to the temple to get the apostles’ doctrine.

The primary purpose of the church is to provide a forum for learning the word of God together—a place where we learn how to follow God’s law and how to apply it to our daily lives. We have come far from that place over the years. We no longer see the church as vital. For too many people, the church has become an optional part of Christianity, and as a result we are seeing lives shipwrecked.

Shipwrecked? Pastor that’s pretty harsh! That is hyperbole! That can’t really happen can it? Is it? Let’s see what the Bible says:

1 Timothy 1:18–19 NKJV

This charge I commit to you, son Timothy, according to the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you may wage the good warfare, having faith and a good conscience, which some having rejected, concerning the faith have suffered shipwreck,

See? There is the phrase right there, “concerning the faith have suffered shipwreck”. According to verse 19, what causes the shipwreck? Rejecting faith and a good conscience- correct? Ok, now let’s go look at each. Where does faith come from?

Romans 10:17 NKJV

So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Correct, but hearing what? From what source? There is some bad doctrine going around out there. Doctrine that I had to repent to God of having helped spread. Some people actually believed that if you just read your bible out loud, this was sufficient to hearing the Word of God. But that’s not what this verse is about! There are people running around out there that are saying that the only true way to have a new testament church is by having small home churches and having bible studies together- no preaching, just leading in the Word. But while I obviously believe that we can and should have intimate gatherings, I don’t see it as a valid, permanent replacement for what God has ordained for His body, this is not scriptural! Here’s why it is not, let’s walk this passage back a little bit at a time.

Romans 10:14–16 NKJV

How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!” But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?”

“How shall they hear without a preacher?” And “How shall they preach unless they are sent?” For whatever reason, God has chosen to use preachers—but not just any preachers, preachers who are sent by God! You can be a child of God, but the primary method by which God has ordained the growing of your faith is by sitting under the preaching of somebody sent by God!

I know, it’s crazy huh? Churches have been using preachers for millennia. Who would have thought that we had it right all along? Why then, the rush to change things? No we’re not going to preach anymore. Instead we are going to do plays! Instead we’re going to just sit around and do things in a more “creative and relevant” way.

You see the problem with that way of doing thing is that you have to either go all in or go all out. Here’s what I mean. If you go with the “emerging church” method of being seeker sensitive, you have to be completely seeker sensitive. You can’t have a shred of anything that seems like a traditional church otherwise, well you’ve scared of the seekers! But by the same token, you can’t try to be just “a little” seeker sensitive because then all you’ve done is managed to only slightly water down the message of the Gospel- certainly not enough for people to come on board with our new program. The problem of selling out completely to this “seeker sensitive” way of doing things is that while we may fill the chairs, we will never affect the permanent change that is only possible with the hard-core preaching of the Word of God. It really becomes an all or nothing proposition. The problem is that we as Americans are so results oriented. And let’s face it the “seeker sensitive’ way works well. There is a problem for us though:

2 Timothy 4:3–4 NKJV

For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.

So, why do people go “church shopping”? That is your answer in a nutshell. This is why people go to a church, this is why people leave a church, this is why people even go so far as to bad-mouth a church and its leaders, because people today want someone to preach to them to make them feel better about themselves, not a sermon that will confront them with the hard truths about life. People will follow whoever is willing to tell them that there way of doing things is just right, it’s just fine. Correction becomes a four letter word. People want their doctrine to be validate, but Acts didn’t say that they came together to share their various doctrine, the doctrine came FROM THE APOSTLES!

ἀπόστολος (apostolos)- The messenger, the one who is sent. The doctrine comes from someone who is specifically sent to deliver the message. The preacher, the pastor, the teacher. This is not a “shared” thing. And this doesn’t make you less of a Christian. A misconception we have amongst particularly charismatic and Pentecostal churches, is that every believer is fully qualified to be a pastor in the church, it’s just a matter of growth. But nothing could be further from the truth!

Ephesians 4:11–12 NKJV

And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ,

So then only some are given by God Himself to the church for what purpose? Verse 12-for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.

They (the three thousand) met daily to hear the 12 preach. That is not a small home group by any means! But they also met from house to house (not all 3000 at a time)- this means they had relationship, but always there was prayer.

And then look at what it says in Acts 2:47- they earned the favor of all.

Here’s the problem I had with that. I cannot see the church always earning favor- especially in this day and age. I am just a little bit cynical of the world’s ability to really favor anything that even remotely has something to do with a Pastor or a Priest. But let’s look at that more closely too.

The word favor here is χάρις (Karis), and it means grace or a gift. Grace means unmerited favor, so if we read that passage again let’s add one more word:

Acts 2:47 NKJV

praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.

What then, was the source of this favor?

Acts 2:43–44 NKJV

Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common,

So then what was it? Correct, it was the signs and wonders, but in this case it wasn’t the signs and wonders that they were all doing, just certain people! Why? Well let’s take our clue from the next verse:

Acts 2:44 NKJV

Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common,

Do you think Dr. Luke was thinking about something in particular when he was writing this sentence? Why would favor, fear and signs and wonders go together, and especially the signs and wonders performed through the apostles? I think that writing about how the people had all things in common brought to mind a tragic event in the life of the church.

Let’s first take a quick trip down the next few chapters. You can read them on your own, but Chapters 3 and 4 give more details about this living together.

Chapter 3 tells the story of Peter and John healing a lame man, then confronting the Sanhedrin concerning Jesus.

Chapter 4 speaks of Peter and John being arrested for preaching the name of Jesus and they are punished and the preaching of Jesus is forbidden by the religious class.

So tell me, so far does this sound like they are experiencing much favor with all the people? No… it sounds like persecution. Rather than cower as they did before, the church asks for boldness, then they begin to take care of one another’s needs. They all sold off possessions they no longer had need of in order to help each other out, but this is not what caused the fear. Read chapter 5 with me.

Acts 5:1–13 NKJV

But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession. And he kept back part of the proceeds, his wife also being aware of it, and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostles’ feet. But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself? While it remained, was it not your own? And after it was sold, was it not in your own control? Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.” Then Ananias, hearing these words, fell down and breathed his last. So great fear came upon all those who heard these things. And the young men arose and wrapped him up, carried him out, and buried him. Now it was about three hours later when his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. And Peter answered her, “Tell me whether you sold the land for so much?” She said, “Yes, for so much.” Then Peter said to her, “How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.” Then immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. And the young men came in and found her dead, and carrying her out, buried her by her husband. So great fear came upon all the church and upon all who heard these things. And through the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were done among the people. And they were all with one accord in Solomon’s Porch. Yet none of the rest dared join them, but the people esteemed them highly.

There it is in verse 13! THIS is why they had favor with the people! Not because they lived in a commune, but rather there was a power from the apostles that was undeniable; an authority from God that all the people respected. They had a unity behind the fact that by respecting the apostle, they respected the Word of God from him. There was an understanding of spiritual authority.

That is not to say that I’m going to start requiring that you sell your stuff and bring the proceeds to church, and don’t you dare lie to me or I will prophesy death to you! No, but I will tell you what we do share as a church. We share each other’s life. And when I ask you over and over to come partake in one another’s life, to call each other and be a part, do you take that seriously? How many casualties have there been in the church that were the result of somebody left feeling isolated? Well I don’t want to say that people are dying, but you know, when you go out and decide to live your life the way you see fit, and forsake the fellowship of the believers, you begin to experience a sort of death in your life.

Hebrews 10:24–25 NKJV

And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.

Is the day approaching? Do we see the world becoming increasingly evil? Then there is greater impetus for us to fellowship with one another! There is greater reason to be submitted to each other in love. Church, I am not anyone special, I am just a man sent by God on a mission to teach His sheep, and to care for them. I spend a considerable amount of time each and every day praying for your well-being, I don’t say this to get any atta-boys or accolades, rather to stress to you how important it is to be covered according to God’s divine structure. If you are submitted in the church, if you will allow me to pour my heart and my life into you, then I am the one who according to scripture has to give account. The promise of God is then, as a person under authority, you will have spiritual authority because you are covered and protected. Not out of obedience to me, but out of obedience to God. It is heartbreaking when I see the people who were once members of our congregation suffering because they have strayed away from the truth, or because they put little importance in the fellowship of the believers, or because they disdained the authority that God sent to them. It may not be as dramatic as Anaias and Saphira, but it is tragic nonetheless.

Conclusion

Jesus, sent the Holy Spirit to guide us, and He also gave us people to watch over us. It was fully His intention since the beginning to provide for a dynamic life for the believers. While the church did suffer early persecution, it eventually became favored and feared by those outside of it; favored because of their love for one another, feared because of the authority that God placed in the apostles. It is God’s will that we walk in submission to one and other and to the authorities He has placed in our lives in order to obtain that favor and fear of the early church.