What Are You Devoted to?

People come to church…people claim to have faith in God (in Jesus) for many different reasons.

Some come because they just always have come.

Some come simply because they have family that comes and they want to be with them.

Some come because they like the activities: services, programs, music, teaching, or outings.

Some come because they like the belonging, the atmosphere, or the friendship.

Yet others come for needed support like benevolence in times of difficulty, counseling, or at times even full blown rescue from the ravages of life in a sin-cursed world.

What people are devoted to most, determines their reason for coming.

It really doesn’t matter why you come to to Christ; nor does it matter why you come to His church. What matters is what you see and what you seek once you are there.

God uses all sorts of things that we just listed to bring us together. However, the reason Christ does so is that it is in such gatherings that Christ can reveal Himself more effectively.

It is in such gatherings that Christ’s promises are realized more clearly, a truth worth surrendering to.

It is in such gatherings that Christ can bring unity through relationship that is more deeply personal with each other and with Him.

It is through such unity and and personal relationship that Christ transforms lives. You see, as Christ’s people gather, there is an amassing of the gifts that God has given them, an engineered function that those gifts are designed to perform, and a planned power that those gifts were given to release and receive that can only happen in such gatherings. That amassing, function, and power is the very thing that Christ followers should gather for and experience together. That is where we will pick out this year’s theme in our QUEST for spiritual transformation next week, the Spiritual Discipline of Serving (Spiritual gifts).

That leaves us this week with a couple of questions we must answer for ourselves and answer together as we gather…in person…online…throughout the week.

What are we devoted to in coming to Christ?

Is our gathering with others something that develops personal relationship with them and with Christ?

Are we willing to surrender to Christ’s truth and be an active and effective part of the gathering of His people?

Our text for today, in the opening verses of the book of Acts, makes it clear that:

The Big Idea:

Christ gathers His people with purpose, so that they might see and surrender to truth, and thereby be unified and transformed by it.

Christ Gathers His People for a Purpose (Acts 1:1-8)

Christ Gathers His People for a Purpose (Acts 1:1-8)

++Christ presented Himself in order to gather His people (Acts 1:1-3)

++Christ gathered His people to instruct them (Acts 1:4-5)

++Christ gathered His people so that they might be empowered for His purpose (Acts 1:6-8)

Whatever reason compelled you to gather with Christ’s people today, please know that you are not here or listening in by mistake, by chance, or even by your own choosing (even though you may have had your own reasons). Christ has gathered you here today with His people and for those that are listening in at home, when you are able and as you are able, Christ wants you here not there, as you are able.

Our online streaming is a tool that can help greatly when people are prevented from gathering, but it is only a tool and is limited in its benefit. You will never fulfill Christ’s purpose for your coming to Him if you stop short of gathering with His people. Through gathering with His people, Christ provides something for you and for the church that you cannot get alone, at home, watching in; nor can the church receive the blessing of if you are not here. Your absence is felt, your strength is needed, and your purpose in Christ is at stake.

Please, use the online streaming and teaching as a supplement for your spiritual transformation and as a temporary stop-gap when you are prevented from being here…we know those times happen. However, if and when you are truly able, won’t you consider the actual gathering of Christ’s people for the mutual benefit of yourself and the church.

Remember:

The Big Idea:

Christ gathers His people with purpose, so that they might see and surrender to truth, and thereby be unified and transformed by it.

Now, let me say this again, you are not here or listening in by mistake, by chance, or even by your own choosing (even though you may have had your own reasons). You are here and listening in by Christ’s design, according to His purpose. This day, together with His people, Christ wants you to see His truth and surrender to it (accept it and commit to it). Are you willing to commit to Christ’s purpose for you?

Christ’s purpose for our gathering today is so that we might see His Truth and Surrender to it.

Christ Gathers His People so that They Might See His Truth and Surrender to It (Acts 1:9-11)

Christ Gathers His People so that They Might See His Truth and Surrender to It (Acts 1:9-11)

++See Christ ascended (Acts 1:9)

++Gaze intently for the ascended Christ (Acts 1:10)

++Embrace the truth of Christ’s return (Acts 1:11)

We have been gathered here today in the sight of God and these people, to unite these people in one mind (Christ’s) and prayer, for Christ’s purpose, as He transforms us together for His purpose.

Once you have joined together with His people:

Do you see and understand that Christ has ascended?

Do you look for Him in the pages of His Word and in the lives of the people to which you gather, and within your own mind and heart?

Do you embrace the fact of His return to the point that you are willing to commit to Christ’s truth for you?

Are you willing to be devoted to Christ’s truth? Is it personal to you?

Remember:

The Big Idea:

Christ gathers His people with purpose, so that they might see and surrender to truth, and thereby be unified and transformed by it.

Christ’s purpose in gathering His people is so that they might be transformed and reach others with His transforming power in love.

Remember the motto of Washington Baptist Church?

“Devoted to God and each other”

Such devotion is purposed by Christ so that His people might be transformed by His power, for His purpose, to reach others with His saving truth and transformation.

Christ Gathers His People so that They Might be Transformed (Acts 1:12-14)

Christ Gathers His People so that They Might be Transformed (Acts 1:12-14)

++Christ’s people had unity in mind (Acts 1:12-14a; 1 Cor. 2:14-16; Phil. 2:5-11)

++Christ’s people had unity in prayer (Acts 1:14b)

++Christ’s people had unity in faith (Acts 1:14c )

All the Apostles

The women followers of Christ

The brothers of Christ

Phil. 2:5-11 “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men.And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.Therefore also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name,that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth,and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”

1 Cor. 2:14-16 “But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no man.For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he should instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ.”

Are you willing to commit to Christ’s purpose for you?

Are willing to commit to Christ’s truth for you?

Are you willing to commit to Christ’s transformation for you?

Those things do not happen in isolation, they happen as Christ’s people gather in his presence for His purpose.

The Big Idea:

Christ gathers His people with purpose, so that they might see and surrender to truth, and thereby be unified and transformed by it.

Christ’s purpose in gathering His people is so that they might be transformed and reach others with His transforming power in love.