What Real Christian Community Looks Like

Main Idea

Main Idea: Christian Community is a winsome, devoted, and unified community.

Have you ever been in a place where they nailed it when it comes to creating the right atmosphere and culture? Coffee shops are really good at this. The lighting, jazz music, coffee aroma, the comfy chairs… all of it is designed to keep you in, and it works! I’m also reminded of a story from my OCC days of how a company created a culture for their volunteers. In this particular company, their entire process was driven by volunteers, and they knew how to motivate them. The highlight of the story was in how they managed to maintain a high level of excitement, and therefore, a high level of productivity.

They did this by taking a general management tactic and flip it on its head. For managers who have employees they manage, they typically do so by maintaining a presence and keeping an eye out for things that are going wrong, and by consequence, they would inevitably catch people doing the wrong thing. Since this was a volunteer situation, they decided to intentionally catch people in the act of doing something right or doing it well. When this happened, they would blow a whistle and point at the person, then the room would erupt in a wave of applause. At first, it was a bit odd. Someone would discern the situation as a person in charge blowing a whistle and point at me, so now I’m embarrassed and confused as to what I did wrong and what all the noise is about. But, as this was done and explained, people started to get excited. They wanted to be the next one who was caught doing something right. They would start to think, hey, I want the whistle blown at me! What a thrill! I want my work to get applause! And so the room was electrified with excitement, applause and a desire to do good work. They nailed it.

Today, we are going to see 4 key elements that show us what real christian community looks like, and in the process, today’s scripture is going to hold up a giant mirror right in front of us and shine a 1,000 watt spotlight on the reflection.

Outline

Conviction [vv.37-41]

Devotion [vv.42-43]

Unity [vv.44, 46-47]

Sacrifice [v.45]

Result - an attractive, winsome, and growing community

Acts 2:37–47 ESV

37 Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” 38 And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” 40 And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” 41 So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls. 42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 43 And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. 44 And all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

Conviction

[of sin, of Jesus’ Messiahship & Lordship, and separation from the world]

Cut to the heart. They were not entertained. They didn’t have a momentary pause with a fleeting thought of conviction. Peter did his part to proclaim, and clearly the Spirit was doing His part to convict of sin and righteousness. The writer of Hebrews says the word of God is living active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart (Hebrews 4:12 ESV).

What should we do? This is the only right question to ask. They were in unmarked territory and Peter was their only reliable guide through this jungle. They started off by asking, “What does this mean,” and have ended with, “What should we do about it?” Being cut to the heart, they were convinced to their very core. They immediately recognized they were powerless to do anything about their current circumstance. We would do well to take note of their reaction and act accordingly.

Peter’s reply: repent and be baptized, In the name of Jesus Christ, You will receive the Holy Spirit. Repent: Turning away from sin and error is the only way forward. C.S. Lewis wrote in Mere Christianity: “If you are on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; and in that case the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive man.”

To repent is a sorrowful recognition the moral significance of the wrong track you are on and to change your mind… to turn a full 180 degrees and go the opposite way, so to speak. This is an aorist verb in the Greek, meaning, it is a one-time event that happens and is completed. Peter exhorts them to actively turn from sin and their misguided presuppositions of the Messiah and embrace the real one. We must recognize that our sin is a violation of God’s holy commands and character. We are the guilty party and must call on the one we have offended to forgive us.

Be baptized in the name of Jesus means fully accepting Jesus as Lord. The Great Commission commands us to baptize in the fullness of the Trinity (Father, Son, and Spirit), but here, Peter is driving home the reality of Jesus as God. Circumcision was no longer the external representation of being set apart as God’s people. Baptism is the new outward symbol. Thank goodness. Baptism doesn’t save us, but we follow the command to be baptized once we are saved, just like we do not do good works to earn salvation, but as an outward display of our faith, we do good works.

Receive the Spirit. This was the promise at the beginning of the book. It wasn’t just for the 12, or the 120. Repentance from sin, acceptance of Jesus, and baptism into His name results in adoption as God’s own child. Who needs to hear that today?

Separate yourselves from the sin of the people. Baptism is the outward sign of the inward faith you profess. It shows the believing community that you have been set apart by God for God. Now, you must take it a step further to save yourself from further harm and danger by avoiding the crookedness of the people around them. This doesn’t pertain to salvation, because we are commanded to perform the action. This is another aorist command to do something now.

Who is the promise for? This is for you, your children, and all who are far off… All who God calls to Himself. No singular people group has exclusive rights to this promise. The door has been flung open for all people - those present for Peter’s sermon, for their families back home, and for the gentiles beyond them. Notice who is still the main active participant, thought. The promise is for people from every tribe, nation, and tongue, however, it is still initiated by God who is the one doing the calling. God calls, we respond - in that order. Praise God for his call to each and every one of us who have responded!

The result: 3,000 souls added to the Kingdom. Not too bad, eh? So, we see that the gospel sandwich is powerful and effective. We must proclaim Jesus - his life, death, resurrection, and ascension. When we do, hearts are cut, sin is rejected, and lives are transformed!

That finishes off the story of Pentecost. Who knows how long it took to baptize 3,000 people, but at some point after that, we are now given a glimpse of what their fellowship and community looked like.

Devotion

[teaching, fellowship, eating together, prayer]

This is what I want us to model ourselves after in Ashe Alliance. If we want transformative community that fills our sails and pushes us toward spiritual maturity, this is how we capture it.

And Peter begins by explaining what the posture of their hearts was like… devotion.

Apostle’s teaching. This massive group of 3,000+ new believers devoted themselves to the teachings of the Apostles, meaning the 12. Notice how Luke mentions their teaching and not just Old Testament scripture. This is important, because it was these very men (and later, Paul) who would pen God’s revealed will in their letters. Even before pen was put to parchment, it was recognized that they held spiritual authority. They were the ones who sat at Jesus’ feet. They were the ones we see in verse 43 performing similar miracles to what Jesus performed. This was a clear sign that they held a God-given authority that would verify their positions as Apostles as well as the truthfulness of their teaching.

For us, we must devote ourselves (individually & collectively) with scripture. It is our authority and foundation of understanding God. All christian community should and must start here. This is why the first of our 7 core values is biblical authority.

Fellowship. They actually enjoyed being around one another! Imagine that! The newness of the indwelling Spirit and love for the Messiah had forged an immediate and incredible bond among them. As we will see in just a moment, they didn’t devote themselves for a few hours one time a week. There was constant, ongoing fellowship. Remember, there were no church buildings, only synagogues, which they could not gather in. Their only option was to meet in shared spaces like individual homes (Life Groups!) or in open public places. They were continually together. Learning together, living life in the weeds together. It was literally one big family, because well… they were and we are!

We are all brothers and sisters in Christ and therefore spiritually related under on Father. I know many have had bad experiences in the church and therefore hate being around other christians. It is also a popular notion to think my spiritual life is just me and Jesus. He is all I need. Please do not fall into that lie. We need one another. God wove community into the very fabric of our being. We can’t live without it. That is why another core value we hold is intentional discipleship. We are to be about the business of being with one another and constantly sharpening one another’s faith.

Breaking of bread. There you have it. Baptist-style potlucks are biblical. We are to be about the business of feasting. I can handle this exhortation! Seriously though, there is something fantastic that happens during a shared meal, isn’t there? Fellowship grows deeper roots at the dinner table. It is a natural atmosphere to open up and really let others into your life. We rejoice together, we weep together… our guards our down when our bellies are full. The pangs of hunger are satisfied, so now the need for fellowship can be satisfied.

This is another reason why having Life Groups meet in living rooms is so effective. The atmosphere is warm, inviting, and safe. You can all gather together and enjoy on of God’s great pleasures… delicious food. It really is a simple way to forge relationships and enjoy God’s blessings.

This wasn’t just shared meals, though. It also likely refers to the Lord’s Supper. Not only did the fortify their community bonds through shared meals, but they also devoted themselves to the sacred sacrament of communion. So, in both the joyful, lighthearted meal around the dinner table and the somber remembrance of Jesus’ sacrifice, the early church broke bread together and further galvanized their growing community.

We need to do the same here. We partake in communion together once a month. We have a church-wide potluck every time there is a 5th Sunday in a month. Life Groups are forming so that living rooms and dinner tables are opened up for fellowship. These are the little cogs in the fellowship machine that keeps it working and keeps us thriving. May we never neglect or take this gift for granted!

Prayers. We saw how the group of 120 disciples were gathered in the upper room at the beginning of Acts, being devoted to prayer. And we see that devotion extend now to the 3,000+ disciples. They replicated the spiritual disciple and love for prayer. They new through the Old Testament scriptures that God heard the prayers of His people. They witnessed Jesus model devoted prayer over and over for three plus years. Now, they are being Doers of the word and not just hearers only. James would later go on to write how the prayers of a righteous person are powerful and effective. Surely they would not have had the successful expansion in the region had they not started on their knees.

A godly people is a praying people. A caring community is a praying community. An impactful mission happens when the people gathered for that mission are devoted to prayer as agenda item #1. This is why prayer is also one of our core values. The christian life begins and ends with prayer.

Unity

[held all things in common, going to temple together, eating together in living rooms, praising together]

Could you imagine how attractive the church would look to unbelievers today if every denomination held all things in common? Just put those rose-colored glasses for a moment. Think about the constant bickering about 2nd and 3rd level issues. Or about the style of worship, the color of the carpet, or the slightly offensive way that Jessica looked at Susie. What if the unbelieving world saw a unified front of every professing believer pointing to the magnificence and glory of Jesus. How winsome do you think that community would be? How badly would you want to get your foot in the door to a club like that?

That’s not a pipe-dream. That was fact for a time. Eventually it got worse, but for a few glorious moments in the fellowship of believers, there was complete unity. They held all things in common. They would go to temple together (while they still could), we see them feasting together again, and we see them praising God with glad and generous hearts. I don’t know about you, but that sounds like heaven on earth to me.

How can we create this heaven in Ashe County? How can we love one another enough to put aside meaningless differences and make unity the objective? How can we have fruitful discussions of doctrinal differences (assuming we are on the same page with the main pillars) so that both sides walk away stronger, mutually encouraged, and unified? Winsome communities aren’t divided communities. A house divided cannot stand. Set your resolve on being unified with one another and be willing to talk out any differences until unity is achieved.

How can we encourage one another by worshiping together? After all, that is a core value we champion: Engaging Worship. Worship isn’t just the sining part of Sunday mornings. It’s a lifestyle of holy gratitude. They worshiped God as they ate together. They worshiped in prayer. How can we do that for the community gathered in this room?

How can we truly act as one body and serve one another well? Paul tells us that we are all like individual parts of one body. One. Unified. Body. There is no such thing as a rogue eyeball that survives by disconnecting itself from the head. That’s absurd, and yet that is the rugged individualism at work in our culture. Gifted Service is another one of the seven core values. Why? Because a christian community is a serving community. Do you serve at Ashe Alliance? We need you just as much as you need us.

Sacrifice

[sold possessions for any need]

Finally, a real christian community sacrifices for one another. Verse 45 tells us that they were selling their possessions to distribute the proceeds to everyone who had a need. That is amazing. Has anyone every sacrificed like that for you? Could you imagine the feeling of love and care that brings to someone who can’t provide for themselves or come close to reciprocating that generosity? That is what God has done for us. We didn’t deserve Jesus, nor could we do anything about our sinful condition, and yet God gave his Son. And here, we see that Christ-like generosity in the sacrifice made by his people. They took what they owned, sold it, and gave away the proceeds.

Now, this isn’t socialism, as some has suggested. This isn’t a government-mandated redistribution of wealth. This is a love-filled volunteering of one’s possessions for the good of another. This is an emulation of what Jesus did for us when He went willingly to the cross to sacrifice himself. I don’t know about you, but I want my life to reflect this same willingness to sacrifice.

How ready are you to sacrifice your stuff? Your time? Your wants for the good of someone else’s needs? Really ask yourself how well this describes you right now. If it doesn’t, let it prompt you to action. If it does, let it inspire you to inspire others. This hits on yet another core value at AAC, which is joyful generosity. God loves a cheerful giver, and being generous goes beyond tithing. As we see in the passage, it not only applies to money, but also to the giving of time, resources, skill, and love.

The Result

So, what was the result?

People wanted in!

The Lord added new believers to their community daily. DAILY.

Evidently, they were about the business of relational evangelism, because non-believers became believers when they interacted with this crew.

That is what happens when you create a devoted, unified, sacrificial community that is convicted that sin is harmful and Jesus is the King.

I don’t want to measure the health of this church solely by looking at Sunday morning attendance. That is not a true measure of health and success, but it is one of the dashboard indicators. Why? Because a true christian community is an attractive community. Any non believer who spends time among us should see our level of care and devotion and WANT IT.

If you kept track, all 7 core values that we hold to are in these 10 verses.

Biblical Authority

Engaging Worship

Intentional Discipleship

Gifted Service

Joyful Generosity

Relational Evangelism

Prayer

That was the model set by the early church and that is the model we have set for Ashe Alliance. As we go out from this place and into the work week, we must be doers of the work and not just hearers only.