[Acts 2:40-47]
And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, "Save yourselves from this crooked generation." So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.
And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.
{Rev. Charles Han}
I'm hoping this message will give us a perspective on why this is important to our church in this moment of our church. Picture this. In 30 years, Christianity went from a sect of Judaism to spreading across the entire known world. This is not just a historical thought. This is where we are now. God moves in this passage, just as He works now in His church. From Acts, we can take our cues on fellowship, on community, on how the church should look like.
The passage tells us two things:
The evidence of what a spirit-filled church looks like.
The actions of a church that puts themselves in a place where the spirit will move.
1) Learning Community
2) Worshiping Community
3) Sacrificially Caring Community
4) Missional Community
Learning Community
Paul testified to the people. And when he did so, it cut people to the heart and 3,000 people joined the church. It went from 150 people to 3,000 people. Can you imagine the logistics? Insanity for those who were dealing with administrative things.
What were they devoted to? The teachings of the apostles. They were a learning community devoted to learning. Learning about how their lives should be lived in light of the gospel. 3,000 spiritual babies devoting time & energy to learning.
Reasons to be intensely devoted to the word: The gospel grows richer as we devote more time to it. The mundane practice of daily reading, group bible studies, and preaching are all there for God to challenge & grow us.
"What is interesting to me is that the means God appointed to help the children of Israel were to remember what was important. In his dealings with Moses, God had established a set of repetitive processes by which the Israelites would be constantly reminded of all that God had done for them. Thus, for example, in Exodus 12, God establishes the Passover Feast, the performance of which is designed in part to provoke later generations to ask the question of why this is done. This will then require parents to tell their children about God’s great act of saving grace in bringing the children of Israel out of Egypt even as this was by means of an awesome and terrifying judgment against the Egyptians.
The Passover is just one example of many rituals outlined in the Torah which functioned on one level as reminders of who God was, who the Israelites were, and how they related to each other. Thus, when we come in to the Promised Land and we find the Israelites suffering persistent recurrences of amnesia, it does not take a genius to assume that part of the immediate cause of this was their abject neglect of the means which God had established for keeping his name and his acts fresh in their minds.
What this kind of amnesia tells us is that we need constant reminders of who God is and what he has done if we are to stay on the straight and narrow; and that these are provided by the routines and rituals which God specifies in Scripture. For the Christian, under the terms of the NT age, these are the Word of God, read and preached and heard, and the sacraments, or, if you are a Baptist, the ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s Supper. These things are given to remind us of who God is; and the neglect of them will only help to accelerate any proclivities towards forgetfulness that our instinctive rebellion of God encourages.
To spend the week voyaging at the far reaches of intellectual seas of scholarship, and then the weekends listening to some person standing in a pulpit and simply expounding the text or serving bread and wine? What is the value in that? One can imagine the Israelites in the Book of Judges raising similar questions. Do we need to do that Passover thing again? Do we not all know what it means? Do we really need the law read to us so often? Surely once we know what it says, we can move beyond it? The net result in Judges is, of course, that the values of Sodom come to flourish within the very boundaries of the Promised Land and within the very practices of the Lord’s people, with fatal consequences for at least one young woman. Neglect of the boring, day-to-day routines led to absolute disaster.
This is why church is vitally important...
It is the same today. I have yet to come across a student who struggled with, or even abandoned, the faith, who did not, at some early point in their struggle, abandon the mundane routines of the Christian life: regular attendance at the preaching of the word, prayer, etc. etc. Boring they may be, but they are God’s means of preventing amnesia; and we forget them at our peril." - Carl Trueman, Lest We Forget
Daily neglect is how sin works in our lives. When we neglect the mundane everyday practices, keep us close to God.
Worshiping Community
This 3,000 person church gathered in two ways. They gathered in one corporate body. They also gathered in smaller groups in their homes. In both of these gatherings, they are characterized by "awe came upon every soul" and "glad and generous hearts."
So for us, how do the meetings with fellow Christians look like? Do you encounter the awesomeness of God? Is there intimate joy in your heart when you leave these meetings? This is what the early church looks like. Consider the nature & quality of the community we are in...
Sacrificially Caring Community
"they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need." How much did they care for one another? The rich among them sold their wealth and provided for those who were struggling. This looks like communism to some. But there's a significant difference. There is no forceful coercion.
The people were not individualistic. There was a communal consideration for each other. They were all members of the body. But for us nowadays, we ask... is it enough to give 10% regularly to the church. What is the biblical answer? Our standard of measure is the Cross. God gave everything to us, can we withhold anything from his body?
Missional Community
And the LORD added to their number, people who were being saved. This church was in the world, but they were not of the world. They were not small, ingrown, self-centered enclaves. They were on mission with God to reach people. They saw incredible numbers come to Christ. What does this look like? Let's take a step back. In our history, Renewal has grown by being an attractional church. We set up events and invite people in. But the problem is that non-Christians have stopped coming to us. The visitors are usually Christians looking for a church. So what does it look like for our church to engage the skeptics and the non-believers? How do we encounter and engage those outside the Church?
This is the missional church.
The way our church did "missional activity," we would cram our schedule with evangelistic meetings. And this would take us away from our individual communities. Instead, we are trying to clear the schedule. Basically, the only meetings would be meeting together to worship the LORD. Otherwise, we want you to work in your community of non-believers. We want you to scatter throughout the rest of the week. Won't you join us in reaching people for Christ?
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