Being Committed to the Church

We are continuing our series in Acts on Instructions for the Church, this morning looking at Being committed to the the Church.

Today as we have remembered those that have given the ultimate sacrifice for our country to allow us to be free and allow us to be able to be here and worship today.

We will also remember the sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross for us to have forgiveness of our sins, and eternal life.

Those soldiers that gave of their life were committed to their duties, committed to their country, and committed to what they had signed up for, the oath of enlistment.

Jesus was sent to earth on a mission, and He was committed to that mission, He knew what the outcome was going to be, He knew that He would be beat nearly to death and be crucified before he ever came to earth, but He still came, and He was still committed to the mission.

We have been given a mission, and commanded to fulfill that mission, and we need to be committed to that mission no matter what, no matter what we face, no matter what comes up, we need to be committed.

We will see in our text this morning how the early church was committed to four aspects of church, that we also need to be committed to, that will enable us to be effective and committed to the mission and cause of Christ.

We are going to look at one verse this morning, but we will learn a lot from that one verse, but we have skipped a lot, last week we seen the coming of the Holy Spirit on the 120 disciples in the upper room.

From there the disciples went out amongst the crowd, and Peter began to preach, as the rest began to interpret it into the other languages of the world, this being known as the gift of tongues.

Peter has preached the sermon, all this has happened with the power of the Holy Spirit empowering Peter, and all 120 of the disciples.

When the people heard the sermon, they were pierced to the heart and asked what shall we do? Peter replied, Repent, and be baptized, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

We are then told that there were 3,000 people saved and baptized that day.

That brings us to our text, therefore, if you would stand in honor of the reading of the Word of God.

Acts 2:42 CSB

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

Pray

I. Devoted.

Our text begins with they devoted themselves, Who devoted themselves, That is the believers, all the believers, the 120, and more importantly the 3,000 that were just saved on the day of Pentecost.

They devoted themselves, The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines devoted as characterized by loyalty and devotion.

Another words, they were committed to the cause of Christ, they were committed to doing what Jesus had commanded them to do before he left.

These 3,000 new believers showed the genuineness of their faith by being committed even despite the hate, ridicule, and persecution they suffered, they remained faithful.

These new believers were committed to the cause of Christ, spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and they did not allow anything get in the way of that.

Today many churches are made up of uncommitted people, people who say they are believers, who say they are followers of Jesus Christ, but they are not devoted, they are not committed to the cause of Christ, they do not walk the walk.

To many churches are full of people that come and sit in a pew each and every Sunday, but that is the extent of it, they are not committed to what God has called them too.

And honestly they are not even committed to God at all, they believe that coming and sitting in a pew on a Sunday will get them brownie points or something to get into heaven.

But we all need to realize there is so much more to it, it is about a personal whole hearted committed intimate relationship with Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior of our Life.

When we say Lord, that means we are making Him, the king, the own, the ruler, the one that has authority over us, the one that has full and complete power over all we are.

We are to be fully surrendered and completely committed to Jesus.

They say when a Soldier enlist into the military they are signing a blank check for their life, that is cash-able to the United States government, that is meaning that they are willing to give their life for their country if that is what it comes too, in order to serve and protect their country.

That is how we are to be with Jesus, we are to be so commited to Jesus that we are willing to give our life for the cause of Christ, that we are commited to serving Him no matter what comes up.

II. Devoted To:

They devoted themselves to: the believers had devoted themselves or commited themselves to four practices in their new lives as followers of Jesus Christ.

If they were going to serve God, and surrender to Jesus as Lord, then they had to be devoted to these four practices in their lives, not just once a week, or a couple times a week, but every day, and wholeheartedly and fully commited to these four practices and the cause of Christ.

1. Apostles Teachings

So the first thing we are told they were devoted to was the apostles teaching, that is the Word of God, these new believers, the disciples were commited to the Word of God, to what the apostles, the twelve main followers of Jesus were teaching.

This is very important for spiritual growth, as followers of Jesus, we should all be growing spiritually at all times, if we are not growing spiritually as believers, then we are backsliding, one way that we grow spiritually is to be in the Word of God, and be devoted to the Word of God.

John 15:4–8 CSB

4 Remain in me, and I in you. Just as a branch is unable to produce fruit by itself unless it remains on the vine, neither can you unless you remain in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without me. 6 If anyone does not remain in me, he is thrown aside like a branch and he withers. They gather them, throw them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you want and it will be done for you. 8 My Father is glorified by this: that you produce much fruit and prove to be my disciples.

We are to be in the Word of God, it takes devotion and commitment.

2. Fellowship

The second thing these believers were devoted to was fellowship.

The Greek word used here is koinmonia, its basic meaning is association, communion, fellowship, close relationship; in secular Greek it could involve the sharing of goods.

The people spent time together, not just hanging out, not just eating lunch together, but productive time together, this fellowship was enjoyable, but also time that they could grow together through, that they could learn from one another, could build off of one another.

Yes, they would eat, they would hang out, but while they eat, while they hung out, they discussed Scripture, and ministry, and things about Jesus, which all allowed them to grow together stronger, and grow spiritually.

It is important that we enjoy life, but it is so much more important that we grow together, and even more important than that is that we grow spiritually so that we can serve Jesus.

3. Breaking of Bread

The third practice that these new believers were devoted to was breaking of bread, or participating in the Lord’s Supper.

This is something we will be doing together here shortly, but it is something we need to understand is not just taking a little cracker that taste stale and a little cup of juice.

It is reflecting and remembering what Jesus did on the cross for us, the bread or cracker represents his body, and how he sacrificed his body as the ultimate Lamb of God for our sins that we might have forgiveness of our sins.

The cup of juice represents Jesus’ blood that He shed on the cross, that was poured out for our righteousness, in order that we might be able to stand before God Almighty and be found righteous before him, and have eternal life in paradise with Him.

As we partake of the Lord’s Supper we are to come with a clean heart, and right with God, and we are to reflect on what Jesus’ sacrifice means to us, and our salvation.

The Lord’s Supper is a very important time, a time that we need to take serious, a time that we need to reflect on what Jesus has done for us, and what it means to us.

4. Prayer

The fourth and final practice that the new believers were devoted to was prayer, this can be looked at in two different ways, as the Jews had formal prayer hours in the Temple, that this could be that the new believers could have been devoted to keeping, or it could be that they were devoted to prayer in their private prayer closets.

The Jews had three formal prayer hours, which were, third hour - 9:00 am, sixth hour - 12:00 noon, and the ninth hour - 3:00 pm. These were times that they would stop and pray each day.

This was the times that Daniel was praying in Daniel chapter 6 when some of the other governors deceived the king into writing a decree that if anyone prays to anyone or any god but the king that they would be thrown into the lion’s den.

Well, Daniel being the devoted man of God that he was continued his prayers three times a day, just as he had before the decree was signed, these other governors knew he would, they wanted Daniel gone, and they arranged for Daniel to be caught in the act, as Daniel was praying towards Jerusalem to God, he was caught.

He was thrown into the lion’s den, but instead of being eaten alive, as these lions were hungry, they were ready to eat, but God kept the lion’s mouths shut, and Daniel was alive the next morning when the king came to check on Daniel.

Then the king had the other governors who had deceived him, thrown into the lion’s den and they were immediately eaten.

Daniel, just like the new believers of the first church was devoted to God, and God used him in miraculous ways, just as he did the first church.

We wonder why we do not see things happen today in our churches, well, we need to be more devoted, more committed to God.

He has called us to a life of following him, and not look back.

Luke 9:57–62 CSB

57 As they were traveling on the road someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.” 58 Jesus told him, “Foxes have dens, and birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” 59 Then he said to another, “Follow me.” “Lord,” he said, “first let me go bury my father.” 60 But he told him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and spread the news of the kingdom of God.” 61 Another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but first let me go and say good-bye to those at my house.” 62 But Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”

Here we see a couple of scenarios of people wanting to follow Jesus but not wanting to be fully committed to the life of discipleship.

The first one says I will follow you wherever you go, Jesus says, hey animals have homes, but I do not. Another words be willing to give it all up, even your house.

Then Jesus says to someone, follow me, the person says let me go bury my father, now we hear that and think the persons father passed away, and this person has a funeral to go too. But the father is still alive, and the person wants to wait for their inheritance, in order that they will be better off to go on mission.

That is like saying, Jesus I will serve you fully and wholeheartedly once I am retired, but how do we know we will make it to retirement, or that we will have to health, or the resources.

Therefore, Jesus tells the person, let the dead bury the dead, now wow that seems a little rough, isn’t Jesus supposed to be love and all. But what He is saying is, let the unbelievers take care of the worldly things, and believers need to take care of spreading the Gospel message.

Then another person says I will follow you but let me go say good bye to those at home, Jesus says no one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.

See when the farmer is plowing his field if he keeps looking back to much, his plow line will be crocked, but as my dad and grandfather taught me as a young person learning if you will pick a post or a tree or something in front of you and focus on that, you can plow a straight line.

We as believers need to get our eyes on Jesus and focus on Him and we can do the work of the ministry, we can be committed to the cause of Christ.

Being committed is something that we as believers need to realize the importance of and understand that we need to get back to doing; being committed to the cause of Christ.

A way that God has laid on my heart for us to do that is actually something that God gave Pastor Wayne this past Veterans day.

As God gave Wayne the words to tweak the oath of enlistment for the military to make it the oath of Christianity

The Oath of Christianity

I, ___________________________________ do solemnly swear, that I will support and defend my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to God; and I will obey the commands the Lord has given me, in accordance with the Holy Bible and His direction. I plead for God to give me strength and courage to be the servant he has commanded of me and allow me to be used to show the love of Christ to all that comes my way. In Your Name and for Your glory, Amen.

___________________________________ _______________________

Signature Date

We are going to have a song of invitation, to give everyone a chance to get their heart right with God, to give anyone that needs to a chance to make things right with others if needed.

Also if anyone needs salvation, or baptism, or church membership, this is the time for that.

After invitation we will be observing the Lord’s Supper.

This morning we are doing the Lord Supper differently, God has laid it on my heart that we need to do it differently today, instead of passing it like we would normally do, we are going to go one row at a time. With that row coming forward and taking of the Oath of Christianity and then of the Lord’s Supper.

If you do not feel that you can take of that Oath today, then when your row is called on please just stay in your seat, this is between you and God and no one else, if you have not accepted Jesus Christ as your Personal Lord and Savior then I ask that you stay in your seat also.

You do not have to be a member of the church to participate in this, just a born-again-believer, that has a personal relationship with Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of their life.