Sermon Tone Analysis

What Kind of Church?

Acts 2:42–47

Introduction

Good morning again Church!

Welcome back, I am excited to continue in our study of the book Acts.

Before we jump into our passage this morning, I want to set up the message with a question,

“What Kind of Church Would You Like to Have?”

I would like to suggest that you can have any kind of church that you want to have!

But we should want to have the type of Church that Jesus wants to have!

As we seek to pursue Christ and live our lives as His people and as we seek to have a church that He would be proud to call His bride, it is important for us to know what He expects of us!

The best way I know how to do that is to look at the early church in the book of Acts.

Look at how they operated, how they behaved, how they functioned, and even look at mistakes that they made.

Our text this morning finds the early church immediately after the giving of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost and after Peter’s first sermon.

Again, I want to say that for his first sermon, Peter sure did knock it out of the park!

In today’s passage, I believe that we are given a pattern on how to be a functioning Church that He would love and be proud of.

That is my desire.

I want Baptist Fellowship to be the absolute best Church that we can possibly be.

I desire that we would be the apple of our Jesus’s eye, that we would please Him with our obedience to His commands and guidance.

Let’s look at our text.

Acts 2:42–47 (ESV)

42And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.

43And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles.

44And all who believed were together and had all things in common.

45And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.

46And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts,

47praising God and having favor with all the people.

And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

I think from these verses we can ascertain seven things that the early church was and by association, seven things that we as a church and individual Christians should strive to be.

What kind of Church are we?

What kind of Church do we want to be?

The bigger question is, what kind of church does Christ want us to be?

First,

The New Testament Church Was a Christ Centered Church

Christ wants His bride, His Church, to be centered on him.

It was all that a young woman could do to maintain a conversation with a fellow Christian while waiting for her fiancé’s jet to bring him home to her after a three-week separation.

Once the plane was at the gate, conversation was impossible as the engaged woman stood watching, eagerly waiting for the moment when she could throw her arms around her loved one at last.

As she peered down the passage, the friend with whom she had been talking earlier was heard to say, “What a beautiful picture of the church watching for the return of her bridegroom.”[1]

We must be Christ Centered as a Christians and as a Church.

Each Christian in the early Church recognized the church as Christ’s: It was His body, His bride, His Flock.

In every figure referring to the church, Christ is at the Center, in charge, in command: We are the sheep, He is the shepherd; the Church is the fold, He is the door; we are His servants, He is our master; we are the bride, He is the Groom.

The church recognized the authority of Jesus: also, the authority of His written Word given by the Holy Spirit by the appointed apostles.

The members appreciated the price with which they were bought—the precious blood of Christ.

If we understood the price at which we were bought, we would keep Christ at the center of everything we do.

He would be the center of every thought and every action.

I want BFR to be a Christ Centered Church.

Next,

The New Testament Church Was a Big Church

It has never ceased to amaze me when I hear people say to me, “I prefer a small church.”

“I don’t like those big ole churches, where no one knows you, where you are lost in the crowd.”

I don’t understand that kind of thinking.

The first church, the original presentation of what God intended for the church to be was HUGE!

Jesus Loves people.

He loves people so much He gave His life for them!

Why would we want small churches?

“Well people won’t know me if the church gets too big…” Oh, I’m sorry, the church is about you?

NO!

It is about Jesus!

Who if not people do not know you!

They need to know Jesus!

Church is not about you, not about your ministries, not about your projects, or even about your needs, and especially not your preferences!

Sure, if the church is healthy and focused on Jesus, those things will all fall into place.

Because if the Church is healthy, that means that you are spiritually healthy too.

And that means that you are Centered on Christ!

The Church is about Jesus Christ!

And He desires worshippers!

That is why we were created, that is why He Saved us, so that we could worship Him.

The first Church operated on a large scale.

They started with 120 members!

Wow!

What a head start!

In Vermont that is already a mega Church isn’t it!

But they didn’t stop there, they didn’t say, well that is about enough.

Any bigger and we won’t know everyone.

Any bigger and we will have to start a building project.

No, they started preaching and the next thing you know after a one-day revival meeting they grew to three thousand members!

Then right after that, they grew to five thousand members!

“Well, how did they control and manage all of that?”

They didn’t!

They made it about Jesus, they stayed focused on His mission and His purpose.

“If the church got that big, I would have to find another church, I wouldn’t feel comfortable…” Let me ask you?

What in the world are you going to do in Heaven?

You will be one of Billions of Christians all worshiping Jesus for eternity!

Are you going to ask for a smaller heaven, a small church partition?

The New Testament Church Was a Growing Church

Obviously, it was growing in numbers, it was a multiplying church.

But they were growing in other ways too.

Luke tells us in our text that they grew in favor in their community.

The early church, with the guidance and power of the Holy Spirit, began to meet the needs of the community around them.

They didn’t compromise their God given mission.

They shared the Gospel of Jesus Christ while meeting the known needs of their community.

Look at what Luke says about the church and their relationship to their community in Acts 5.

Acts 5:12–14 (ESV)

12Now many signs and wonders were regularly done among the people by the hands of the apostles.

And they were all together in Solomon’s Portico.

13None of the rest dared join them, but the people held them in high esteem.

14And more than ever believers were added to the Lord, multitudes of both men and women,

While functioning as a healthy church, guided by the instructions of Jesus Christ, and operating with the power of the Holy Spirit, the early Church made an impact on their neighbors.

Not everyone was saved.

The majority were not saved.

But the Church’s impact was great.