Small Groups Sermon

Title: Life together

One of the things I am passionate about is people growing in their faith. One of the ways I see that happening in through doing life together.

Story of depth, closest and spiritual growth that happened through mission trips, conferences and camps.

These life together communities are groups of likeminded people who desire to pursue Christ, live authentically, care for each other and see more people come to know him. These life together communities become the hands and feet of the church.

Acts 2 gives us a picture of small group communities starting in peoples homes and then filtering over into the larger gathering of believers.

Text: Acts 2:42-47

42 All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer.

43 A deep sense of awe came over them all, and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders. 44 And all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. 45 They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need. 46 They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity—47 all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved. Context/Background:

We know from a couple verses before that 3000 people had become believers recently as a result of Peter and John’s preaching. The Holy Spirit began to work in new believers lives.

It is impossible for all these believers to meet in one home. In the text we see them gathering at the temple for worship but then meeting together regularly in homes in small groups.

Main Take Away:

The scripture this mornings and the experience I have had I believe support 4 things Christ-followers should prioritize in their gatherings.

Prayer

Worship (vs 46)

Illustration:

Worship can look different for each of us. For some it is songs, others it is teaching or preaching that moves us to worship. For me when I am near the Ocean, the Great Lakes, the Mountains, or the sunsets I am moved to Worship the Lord.

Teaching:

Luke says that they “worshiped together...each day”. He goes on to say they praised God and as a result more people came to put there faith in Christ and follow him.

What is Worship? The word worship in the greek means “to be earnest towards, be constantly diligent, to adhere closely to”.

A pastor friend of my defines worship as “a way we show our love, gratitude, awe, obedience and reverence to God for who he is and what He has done, and it’s expressed in the way we live, in what we say, think and do”.

The new believers showed reverence to God by “devoting themselves to the apostles teachings”. I am sure many of them still had jobs, still cared for there kids, still planted their fields but the thing they diligently pursued was Jesus. There is an intentionality toward the things of God.

This type of worship is active not passive. One word that I like that is connected to worship here in the greek for worship is to “wait on (continually)”. It is a picture of sitting at the feet of Jesus and waiting for him to move. The early gatherings did this worshiping regularly (each day) vs.46.

Application:

What does worship look like for you? When do you find yourself in awe of God?

Worship is done together in the early church gatherings. I think this is important becauseThere is something inside of me that moves my heart when I see those I know, that have experienced or are currently experiencing pain, lose and suffering and yet are still choosing to join with others and worship Jesus. This only happens when we worship together.

Shared Meals (Communion)

Illustration

Meals together were common in the Jewish culture. This originate from the many festivals and feast this culture had to commemorate how God had provided for them through the Old Testament. This practice continues in the NT and is an important part of doing life together.

Family example of growing up eating all together.

Teaching

Not only were they eating together in each others homes (vs 46), but they shared in communion together (vs 42).

What is communion? Communion is a reminder of our individual commitment to Christ and what he did on the Cross. It is a reminder of how your sin needs to be paid for and Jesus paid for it on the cross. When we do this together we are confirming our committed to Christ and our commitment to each other. When we repent of our sin, put our faith and trust in what Jesus did on the cross we and receive his gift of salvation we are remembering the thing that units us.

What is Sharing meals?

When we share in meals together and share in communion we are seeking to have a face to face relationship with Christ and others. It is hard to have a meal with someone you are at odds with.

Meals together create opportunity for relationship. They create opportunities to be real with each other. To get to know each other. To hear about the joy and challenges in each other’s lives.

Verse 42 and 46 give us a picture that these meals together weren’t obligatory but done our of a real desire to be generous.

Application:

You don’t really know someone until you start to work together. I believe the same can be said about sharing a meal together. You can really get to know someone deeper by simply sharing a meal together. Scripture if full of illustration of gathering around a banquet table. The more we can eat together the more will know each other. If you want to love people share a meal together and see what God does.

Prayer

Illustration:

Story of prayer jar.

Teaching

Verse 42 tells us that new believers devoted themselves to pray. Prayer can be very personal. We can also join in with others and take there request to the Lord. There were regular prayer times throughout the day at the temple jews would stop and pray. As a result of people devoting themselves to prayer verses 43 does make sense. God was doing some things which left people in awe and wonder.

Prayer is a powerful tool that Christ-followers have. We need to be careful we don’t put God in a box through our prayers and say, God has to do _______________. We are not God and he knows what is best for each one of us. Why he allows some to be healed while others go on in pain and suffering I do not know. But God is God and we are not. He sees with a perspective that we don’t have.

Application

So Prayer. Prayer together with others. Share real joys, real challenges, real hopes, real fears, real hurts. And when some one does share with you there prayers, just listen, and take them to the lord. Heart felt honesty and transparency are critical as we approach the Lord in prayer.

If you want to kill a group choose to be untruthful. Honesty can be hard. If you can’t share truthfully just be quiet and pray that the Lord will give you the strength to share and be real in his timing.

I remind myself each day to lead out of weakness and vulnerability.

Find a group or community you can pray honestly with. Don’t have one consider starting a group that prays together.

Grace for each other (vs 46-47)

Illustration:

Loving and supporting those in the good and hard times. ?

Teaching

Verse 47 tells us the Christ-followers “enjoyed goodwill towards all the people”. The word goodwill means “grace or favor”. They shared genuinely and authentically out of their own supply with those in need. They had “great joy and generosity” towards each other in the process. For those things to happen there needs to be grace. In a gathering of people there will be things that will challenge and hurt you. Things will be said that offend you. The only way we as gathering of believers has stay committed to each other is be giving grace to each other.

The devil is looking for every possible opportunity to destroy Christ-followers. One of the many ways he does this is through relationship. We need to be a people of grace.

Application

Giving grace to each other needs to be authentic and real. It is hard to genuinely love someone if you don’t know them. If you only share the good stuff or the things that make you look good you really aren’t making possible to be loved in the way that Jesus desires us to love each other.

This is messing, this is hard.

Jesus tells us in John 13:34 “So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other.”

So love those in your church, in your small groups. You might say how do I do this? Or what does this look like? I can’t say for each of you but I will say how it look for me. For me a lot of the time it looks like doing the opposite of what I feel.

When I want to pull away because of fear or worry or this is hard I strive to press in and move closer.

That might mean challenging a friend on something

Being honest when I’d rather avoid confrontation.

Sharing with by small group or mentor some struggles that I am face.

Because we are each different love others for you will look a little different.

Conclusion: Fellowship is what connect each of these together. They devoted themselves to fellowship (vs.42).

What is fellowship? Participation, sharing, close mutual association, partnership. Fellowship is to business partners which different personalities that manage and lead there business forward. Fellowship is two teammates that understand there different roles and complement each other on the court.

A good picture of fellowship can be seen in the Lord of the Rings.

Fellowship of the Ring Illustration.

In it you have a strange group of nine that comes together for a journey that will be incredibly difficult.

In the story you see the difficulties this group has together from the beginning. The elves and dwarves relationship is hostile right away. The weight of the ring grows on Frodo as the story unfolds and he becomes hostile towards his friends from time to time. Some of his friends try to take the ring from him because of their temptation to it.

Quote:

“You can trust us to stick to you through thick and thin–to the bitter end. And you can trust us to keep any secret of yours–closer than you keep it yourself. But you cannot trust us to let you face trouble alone, and go off without a word. We are your friends, Frodo”

This is the kind of fellowship Jesus is calling us to. We are on a journey in our faith and we can’t do it alone. You and I need a community to do life together with.

Is this hard? Yes

Is this messy? Yes

Is this what God desires? I believe so.

Fellowship in worship, fellowship in meals, fellowship in prayer and fellowship in grace

In the closing scenes in the Lord of the Rings Frodo is nearing the final goal to destroy the ring and finds that he can’t go any further. His friend Sam realizes that Friend is struggling because he has seen it before. in that moment Sam sacrifices his safety and carries Frodo the rest of the way.

That really is a picture of authentic small groups and other gatherings of Christ-followers.

Prayer