How Do You Look?

You know some of us have been in the been in the church awhile, some of us may have grown up in the church and other of us we may be fairly new to church or even our walk with God

But if you are someone who is a little newer in your walk with God you probably remember having times in your life where you asked I wonder what that whole church thing is about or I wonder what this whole Christianity thing is about?

Because if we are honest you could look at a church and go those people are a little different right?

In fact this past week I was looking up some different models of churches

There was one church where they took out all of the chairs in the sactuary and set up a bull ring and the pastor started church by riding a bull until he was bucked off and then the service would start

There was another church they did an MMA fighting mens ministry where they could punch eachother in the name of Jesus

Some of you may have saw this picture on April fools that our church posted that we bough a bunch of Wacky, Waving Inflatable Tube Men for the church.

And a guess not all of these are bad, but when you look at what a church is known for in the community or what Christians are known for from people who may not be Christians, we hope that the church makes a deeper impact then thats the church with the Wacky Waving inflatable tube men.

But you know on a serious note a lot of times Christians and churches end up giving themselves a reputation (a lot of times unintentionally) that is very far off of where God desires us.

Because a lot of times people view Christians as people that are judgmental

A lot of times people view the church as a place where they have gotten hurt, and where they are unwanted

A lot of times Christians get this reputation for hating the community

The church is somtimes viewed as political or even just a building

But so often people do not know the church for how He has designed it and they do not know Christians for who He has called us to be.

And so today we are going to be Acts 2:42-47

And if you were here last week we saw God fill a small group of people with His Spirit

And because of this we see all these amazing things happening and there are some people who are critical, but others who are amazed

And so between last week and this week a man named Peter stood up to address all the people and He began to to preach and somthing amazing happens where 3000 people come to know Christ and are baptized

And so now the early church has really began to form and they are filled with God’s Spirit and really today we get this neat picture of how the church should operate and we as people in a relationship with Jesus should live.

And my hope for us today is to realize are there areas where we are not living the way Christ has called and designed us to and if so how can we live in the way God has called us too.

So all of that to say if you have a Bible you can turn too Acts 2:42-47, if not it will be up on the screen but we are going to just start in the first verse of this.

Kind of like last week this first verse has a ton of meat:

Its says:

Acts 2:42 (NIV)

The Fellowship of the Believers

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

So before anything else I want you to notice it says they were devoted.

And the truth is when you are devoted to something it impacts how you live right?

I remember there was a summer I lived in Green Bay Wisconsin and if you have ever been to green bay its like a small town or city where all the sudden their is a huge football stadium in the middle of it

And can I just tell you this football stadium shapes the entire area

Because the fans were die hard and devoted to the Green Bay Packers

the houses by it are painted yellow and green

half the restaurants are packer themed

People would just walk to the stadium

The city was a basically shut down on game days

I mean people we devoted to this team and because of it they were shaped by it

And so in this passage we see they are devoted to a few things and I have to say these things shape who we are as Christ followers and who we are as the church.

And the first was is they devoted themselves to the teaching (specifically the apostles teaching)

So one of the biggest parts of the early church was they were devoted and shaped by the teachings of the people who were with Jesus.

Basically they were shaped by Jesus

I mean this is why we have small groups and why we have a message preached, because we want to be devoted to these teachings.

And this is not a legalistic thing, but the reason these teachings are important is because they are life giving to us.

I mean we believe when we live a life that God calls us to we are getting rid of the toxic things in our life and get to experiance the life giving life that God has called us too.

I mean its like if you have a car and it tells you make sure you get your oil changed, well you could say no way, I am not doing that, well your car might seem okay a few thousand miles later but eventually your cars will not be doing to well.

But really one of the reasons we teach about what God desires in our life is not to say “do this” or “do that”

But its because we believe what God ask us to do in our lives are life giving.

But here is the issue, because to be honest as Christians a lot of times we are devoted and shaped by a lot of other teachings rather then what Jesus has taught us.

Sometimes we are shaped by things that culture says is okay

A lot of times Christians are shaped by the news

In fact (this ones a big one) I saw a quote awhile ago that said Christians are more discipled by the news (whether its CNN or FOX) they are more discipled and shaped by the news then by Jesus.

And not everything in culture or news or something else is bad

But we need to allow the thing that disciples and shapes us to be Jesus.

And look at the next area because they were devoted to teaching, but they were also devoted to Fellowship and breaking of bread

You know if you grew up in a church you have probably heard that word “fellowship” before, in fact I heard another pastor say “this is probably one of the most overused words in the church”

We have fellowship events

Fellowship halls

Fellowship times

But really the idea of fellowshipping with each other is we are gathering with people who will push us closer to Christ

And not only that but when it says they are breaking bread together its first off talking about communion.

They would remember what Christ did for them

But its also was referring to them as just living life together despite differences.

And I talked about this a little last week so I do not want to beat it in to you, but we are people that should be living life together despite our differences and pushing each-other closer to Christ.

Look at this next area because they were devoted to teaching, fellowship and breaking of bread, but they were also devoted to prayer.

You know prayer in the early church was huge, in fact the word for pray is actually used 32 times in the book of Acts.

But it was because Jesus gave them this huge task that we talked about last week to “go” and they realized the only way they could do it is through prayer.

Because prayer is such a neat thing:

I talk a lot about how it alligns are heart with God

But it also is really the driving force of our life and church.

Because when pray we are moving away from the idea that I am the one doing it

And we are acknowledging that if I want to accomplish what God has asked me to then the only way I can do it is through Him.

I have mentioned this before but one thing I love is as a pastor God always makes this so obvious that I am not the driving force the ministry of the church.

I mean there will be times I prepare for my sermon and feel amazing.

I mean I think wow this might be the best sermon of my life and it ends up being okay

But then there are times where I preach and think wow, that was rough, but as people are leaving they go “Pastor that was one of the best sermons you ever preached”

But really it just shows me that the things God has called me to do are not mainly accomplished by me, but by God’s hand.

You know though as people in a relationship with Christ we need the driving force of our church and our lives to be prayer.

Because when we come to God He can do some amazing things with what we have to offer.

And let me move on to the next three verses because it say this:

Acts 2:43–45 (NIV)

43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need.

So they were devoted to teaching, fellowship and breaking of bread, and prayer, but then then last one I want us to focus in on is God gave them generous hearts

Because the passage says they are all actually together and they are selling property and possessions to help anyone who has a need.

And I don’t want anyone to worry my next point is everyone has to sell their house

But there is this picture we get where people in the early church had generous hearts.

And I know some of us probably tense up when we hear that word in a church because their are pastors and churches who have twisted it

But really when we think about having generous hearts, it is something God desires us to do personally but also as a church.

Because it is something where if we see a need and God is nudging our hearts for that need, we should be a people who respond to that need.

As a church we should be a church that cares about more than what happens in these four walls but we want to be people that support missions, that support the local food bank

And this is more then just time and money

But individually we need to ask ourselves when we look at our time, money and even the skills or talents we have and I using them to just build my kingdom, or am I using them to build His kingdom.

Because we want to be people who are devoted to generosity where it is part of who we are individually and as a church.

Well look at this last part in verse 46-47 because it basically sums us everything we talked about and shows the result.

It says this:

Acts 2:46–47 (NIV)

46 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, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

Well look at the result because things are going well and they are living this out and its says they are glad, they have sinceire hearts and they are praising God.

And not only that but people are looking at the church amazed, because of all the good they are doing and all together we get this beautiful picture and it closes by saying God is adding to their numbers daily.

You know I believe that when we are living how God has designed and called us to live personally and as a church we get to see this fruit where there is a joy in our lives

and not only that but we get to see fruit in our church and in our own personal lives where more people are coming to know God and deepen their walk with Him.

And so we are going to close in a moment but before we do can I just ask you is their a specific area that we discussed today (in your life ) where maybe its just off from where God desires or designed it to be?

Maybe its an area in our church even and God wants you to do something about it.

But as we close let me just ask you

What is the thing shaping or discipling you?

Is it Christ or something else?

What does your prayer life look like?

If you looked at your life would you day prayer is a big part of it

Maybe even as a church is prayer a big part of our church. Maybe God wants you to just start a group that prays regularly

The next one: do you view yourself as someone who is generous.

Maybe God is desiring you to have a more generous heart whether that be towards the church of some other need

And really the last one is breaking bread together.

And this last one we are going to close on and actually be working on together this morning

Because I mentioned how it was living life together but it was often through something called communion

And communion was a meal that they would have that actually remembered the sacrifice of Jesus and the grace that was extended to them

But you never saw them having this meal alone.

In fact communion was around a table not starting at the person in front you’s head.

But today we are going to recieve communion, (and I thought about us setting up tables) but I want you first off to remember the sacrifice of Christ, but I also want you to ask yourself who am I living life together with and are their any other areas God is calling me to to adjust this morning.

Because I believe the grace that God extends to us does not just cover us, but it changes every part of who we are.

And so as we close the elements will be up front and during this song you are welcome to come forward and take the elements back to your seat and we will receive the elements after the song together as the body of Christ

But before we do lets pray