WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.560 Ah, good morning, church. Our text this morning is Acts chapter 2, verses 42 through 47. 00:00:07.839 --> 00:00:11.580 ! You can go ahead and turn there with me. If you'll remember the last couple of weeks, 00:00:11.580 --> 00:00:17.440 ! if you're with us last couple of weeks, the beginning of Acts 2, the Holy Spirit came down 00:00:17.440 --> 00:00:21.719 upon the gathered disciples at Pentecost, and then Peter, in the power of the Spirit, 00:00:21.719 --> 00:00:29.400 preaches a sermon explaining that the crucified Jesus is the risen Messiah and Lord, that He 00:00:29.399 --> 00:00:35.759 is the one who sent the Spirit upon them. Luke then tells us that 3,000 people responded to Peter's 00:00:35.759 --> 00:00:39.280 sermon, receiving the forgiveness of sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit in Jesus' name. 00:00:39.640 --> 00:00:45.739 And that all leads up to our passage today. And in our passage today, we have Luke's description 00:00:45.739 --> 00:00:57.019 of the dynamics of that Spirit-filled church. What happens when the ascended Lord Jesus 00:00:57.020 --> 00:01:03.500 sends the Spirit down, when heaven begins to invade earth, when the new temple takes shape, 00:01:03.500 --> 00:01:09.800 and the church, when the rocket is finally released, when the firework finally ignites in the sky, what 00:01:09.800 --> 00:01:16.600 do they do? What was it like? That's what this text is going to show us. In other words, this text shows 00:01:16.600 --> 00:01:24.080 us a snapshot of a healthy, vibrant, Spirit-filled church. And, you know, before we read it, I think 00:01:24.079 --> 00:01:29.120 it's important to realize that this isn't some sort of nostalgic glimpse of an idealized past. Rather, 00:01:29.120 --> 00:01:35.539 this passage gives us a kind of clear image or pattern of what our church can look like today. 00:01:36.179 --> 00:01:41.400 It can encourage us, it can correct us, and show us where to thank God for His work in our midst. And 00:01:41.400 --> 00:01:46.239 moreover, it shows us what happens when Christ gets a hold of a community by His Spirit. 00:01:48.180 --> 00:01:51.560 So, if you're here and you're investigating Christianity this morning, I think this sermon 00:01:51.560 --> 00:01:55.299 will be helpful for you as well. Because, you know, if you want to get to know an artist, you often look 00:01:55.299 --> 00:02:00.719 at His work. And today we get to look at Jesus' work through His Spirit in the New Testament church. 00:02:00.840 --> 00:02:06.540 So, turn with me, as I mentioned, to Acts chapter 2, verses 42 through 47. That's page 857 in the Pew 00:02:06.540 --> 00:02:14.319 Bibles in front of you. And let me pray before I read God's Word. Father, thank You for Your Word. Thank You 00:02:14.319 --> 00:02:21.219 for this witness to the work of Your ongoing work, Jesus, in Your Spirit in the early church. Help us 00:02:21.219 --> 00:02:27.739 as we read these things to understand them and to apply them to our lives so that we might glorify You 00:02:27.739 --> 00:02:33.459 and know You, Lord Jesus, more deeply and fully. I pray this in Your name. Amen. All right, Acts 2, 00:02:33.539 --> 00:02:38.919 42 through 47 says this, and they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, 00:02:38.919 --> 00:02:45.079 to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs 00:02:45.079 --> 00:02:50.659 were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common, 00:02:51.139 --> 00:02:55.439 and they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all 00:02:55.439 --> 00:03:01.239 as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, 00:03:01.719 --> 00:03:07.639 they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the 00:03:07.639 --> 00:03:14.119 people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved. 00:03:15.839 --> 00:03:20.500 Well, I don't know what strikes you about this passage, but as you've read it along with me, 00:03:20.559 --> 00:03:25.419 but one of the things that strikes me as I come to this passage again and again is the simplicity 00:03:25.419 --> 00:03:32.439 of it. Look again at verse 42. Here's what they did. They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching 00:03:32.439 --> 00:03:36.919 and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. It's a pretty short list, isn't it? 00:03:36.919 --> 00:03:41.639 Pretty straightforward. Now, in verses 43 through 47, Luke kind of fleshes that out a little bit, 00:03:41.679 --> 00:03:45.219 and we're going to spend our time this morning fleshing them out. But let's first just consider 00:03:45.219 --> 00:03:50.579 the simplicity of that. You know, this is no kind of elaborate scheme, no intricate programmatic 00:03:50.579 --> 00:03:58.539 endeavor, just teaching and fellowship, breaking of bread and prayer. Now, there are many things about 00:03:58.539 --> 00:04:04.079 Christianity that are deep, that are profound. Gregory the Great, the sixth century bishop, 00:04:04.080 --> 00:04:10.940 once said that the Bible is like a river where a lamb can wade, but an elephant can swim. 00:04:12.240 --> 00:04:16.980 In other words, the things of God are shallow enough for a little lamb to wade in and not be 00:04:16.980 --> 00:04:22.980 in danger, but they're deep enough for an elephant to swim inside. You know, it's like that with the 00:04:22.980 --> 00:04:28.300 church. Each element here in verse 42 is profound, is deep, but in all of it, there's an elegant kind of 00:04:28.300 --> 00:04:36.740 simplicity to it. And I don't know about you, but to me, that is refreshing. We live in a culture of 00:04:36.740 --> 00:04:44.759 busyness, don't we? Sometimes our importance is sort of marked by how cluttered one's calendar becomes. 00:04:46.040 --> 00:04:52.120 But when God enters the equation, and when we as a church are recalibrated through the Spirit and the 00:04:52.120 --> 00:05:00.800 Word, it's not busyness that reigns, but a kind of profound simplicity, a simple profundity. And why is that? 00:05:02.199 --> 00:05:05.720 Well, ultimately, that is true, friends, because of what the gospel says. 00:05:07.079 --> 00:05:14.120 You see, the message of Christianity is that Christ has done it all. In His life, in His death, 00:05:14.160 --> 00:05:18.800 in His resurrection, He's performed all that's required for you and I to be right with God. 00:05:18.800 --> 00:05:25.800 Perhaps you've tried. Perhaps you've tried kind of frenetically constructing your own spiritual life 00:05:25.800 --> 00:05:29.900 to say the right prayers, to perform the right devotional acts, to build a kind of religious 00:05:29.900 --> 00:05:37.080 CV. But Christ comes to you in the midst of all that with a word of peace. 00:05:38.480 --> 00:05:43.920 Rest in me, Christ says. Trust in my work and be saved. And when we do, we find that there's a 00:05:43.920 --> 00:05:47.139 two-fold gift. Peter's sermon ended with it in verse 38. He says, 00:05:47.139 --> 00:05:49.919 the forgiveness of your sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit. 00:05:52.339 --> 00:05:57.300 You know, our deepest need as humans is not financial stability or a meaningful career or 00:05:57.300 --> 00:06:03.399 a loving family. Our deepest need is to have our relationship restored with our holy Creator God. 00:06:04.560 --> 00:06:11.019 And in Christ, that reconciliation has been made for all who believe. 00:06:11.019 --> 00:06:19.359 Imagine with me two kind of travelers, and they're both headed to London or to Rome for a whole month, 00:06:19.560 --> 00:06:25.060 and neither have been there before, right? And one traveler, not knowing anyone there, 00:06:25.859 --> 00:06:29.399 well, they pack all sorts of gear for the trip, right? They pack their guidebooks and their clothes 00:06:29.399 --> 00:06:33.859 and their plug adapters and their walking shoes and on and on and on and on. And they pack it all in a 00:06:33.859 --> 00:06:37.719 cumbersome backpack and they lumber their way to the airport, a bit nervous about what they're going to 00:06:37.720 --> 00:06:45.500 find once they reach the destination. But now imagine another traveler. And unlike the first, 00:06:45.940 --> 00:06:54.240 this traveler knows that when they arrive in Rome, they won't be alone. In fact, their own brother will 00:06:54.240 --> 00:06:59.760 be there to greet them. The spare bedroom is all set out, the closet's full of clothes, the plans have 00:06:59.760 --> 00:07:05.100 all been arranged. Now, that traveler would probably bring a toothbrush, right? Maybe their laptop, 00:07:05.100 --> 00:07:10.180 change of clothes, not much else though, because it's all taken care of. 00:07:12.360 --> 00:07:20.720 Friends, this is the gospel. Jesus Christ has become our true brother, and he has made all the 00:07:20.720 --> 00:07:28.780 provision we need so that when we arrive, the room will be ready. And that means our journey through 00:07:28.779 --> 00:07:36.059 this life can be light. Do you see now why the church in Acts 2 is marked by such a profound simplicity? 00:07:36.319 --> 00:07:41.899 They've been reconciled to God. The deepest longing of their heart, the deepest, the deepest core problem 00:07:41.899 --> 00:07:48.239 of their existence has been solved. And when the grace of God hits home, 00:07:48.919 --> 00:07:54.079 in that way, verse 42 tells us that they then devoted themselves to four things. 00:07:54.079 --> 00:07:59.120 Beautiful in their simplicity. These four things are the marks of a living church, 00:07:59.560 --> 00:08:02.159 of a community that Jesus has set free and filled with his spirit. 00:08:04.919 --> 00:08:09.839 Now, before we flesh out each one, I want to say there's kind of two ways we could approach a passage 00:08:09.839 --> 00:08:14.120 like this. The first is to sort of approach it like a giant to-do list, right? There's a way of looking 00:08:14.120 --> 00:08:18.099 at this passage that says if you really want to be a successful church, you have to do this, and you have 00:08:18.099 --> 00:08:20.620 to do this, and you have to do this, and you have to do this, and you have to do it with the same 00:08:20.620 --> 00:08:24.959 intensity and persistence as they did, right? And if that's our approach to a passage like that, 00:08:24.980 --> 00:08:28.780 it's going to quickly become a burden, right? We'll start brooding over our own inadequacies 00:08:28.780 --> 00:08:32.000 and failings, and we'll start to despair over whether or not we can ever measure up. 00:08:32.960 --> 00:08:36.220 But I think there's another way to approach this passage. The other way of looking at this passage 00:08:36.220 --> 00:08:41.620 says here's an invitation. Here's an invitation to enter into all the good things that Jesus has 00:08:41.620 --> 00:08:46.240 won for you. Here's an opportunity to recognize all that the Spirit's already doing in your midst 00:08:46.240 --> 00:08:51.620 and be thankful. Here's a good reminder to clear away all the things you don't have to be doing 00:08:51.620 --> 00:08:57.440 so that you can devote yourselves to what matters most. So that's the approach I want to take this 00:08:57.440 --> 00:09:02.440 morning, because ultimately I think that's what Luke is doing. I want us to be encouraged by this 00:09:02.440 --> 00:09:08.279 passage because I think that's why Luke put it here. Luke's not unrealistic about the church. In the 00:09:08.279 --> 00:09:11.960 coming weeks, we're going to see he's up front with all sorts of problems in the early church. 00:09:12.259 --> 00:09:15.960 He knows that the church of every age is going to be a body of sinners, wholly dependent on grace, 00:09:16.240 --> 00:09:21.460 but in the church God's grace is at work. And this passage can help us see that in our own midst. 00:09:22.539 --> 00:09:26.759 So let's look at these marks of the Spirit-filled church with an eye toward thanking God for what 00:09:26.759 --> 00:09:31.440 he is doing in our midst and praying that God will grant us the grace to see them more and more. 00:09:31.440 --> 00:09:38.759 So what do we see first? First we see that a Spirit-filled church is a learning church. A Spirit-filled 00:09:38.759 --> 00:09:44.180 church is a learning church. They devoted themselves, Luke writes, to the apostles' teaching. 00:09:44.179 --> 00:09:48.620 Now, the apostles had spent three years with Jesus during his earthly ministry, listening 00:09:48.620 --> 00:09:54.639 and learning. After his resurrection, Jesus had instructed them for 40 days more. And that time, 00:09:54.699 --> 00:09:59.839 no doubt, he was showing them how all the Old Testament points to him, as Jesus says in Luke 24. 00:10:00.739 --> 00:10:04.779 So what are the apostles teaching here in Acts, right? Well, they were teaching all that Jesus had 00:10:04.779 --> 00:10:09.179 instructed them during his ministry. And they were teaching the Old Testament Scriptures from the 00:10:09.179 --> 00:10:15.120 standpoint of their fulfillment in Jesus. They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching. 00:10:15.379 --> 00:10:21.439 They devoted themselves to learning all about this gospel message and this new form of life that the 00:10:21.439 --> 00:10:29.620 gospel gave birth to. Now, of course, we don't have the apostles around to teach us today, 00:10:29.620 --> 00:10:38.159 but we do have the definitive form of their teaching preserved for us in the New Testament. 00:10:40.159 --> 00:10:44.440 So just like the first Christians devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, 00:10:45.060 --> 00:10:52.159 we today also devote ourselves to the apostles' teaching. How do we do that? By submitting to and 00:10:52.159 --> 00:10:55.580 understanding and receiving the authority of the New Testament Scriptures. 00:10:55.580 --> 00:11:05.620 So this is the first sign, as it were, of a church that is aflame with the Spirit. It's a deep hunger 00:11:05.620 --> 00:11:11.860 for biblical teaching. Now, why is this the first sign of a Spirit-filled church, right? 00:11:12.800 --> 00:11:18.440 We might say it's because the Bible, the Scriptures, the Bible is the Spirit's book. The sword of the 00:11:18.440 --> 00:11:23.980 Spirit is the Word of God, Paul writes in 617. In 2 Timothy 2, we're told that, in 2 Timothy 3, 00:11:23.980 --> 00:11:29.399 excuse me, we're told that the Scriptures are breathed out by God, breathed out by the Holy Spirit. 00:11:31.060 --> 00:11:34.300 In the writing of the Scriptures by the prophets and the apostles, 00:11:35.860 --> 00:11:40.740 James tells us that God chose to give us birth through the Word of truth. You see, when the Spirit 00:11:40.740 --> 00:11:47.120 gives us life through the Word, the Word of the Bible comes alive to us, and there's a deep spiritual 00:11:47.120 --> 00:11:53.820 resonance between a Spirit-born believer and the Spirit-breathed Scriptures. There's like calling 00:11:53.820 --> 00:11:59.519 to like. There's deep calling to deep. I've been told, I've never actually tried this because I've 00:11:59.519 --> 00:12:04.960 never been around enough pianos that aren't electronic like this one up here. I've been told that if you 00:12:04.960 --> 00:12:10.240 open the top of piano and sing a certain note into it with the sustain pedal pressed, that the strings 00:12:10.240 --> 00:12:15.500 that are tuned to that note start to hum and start to vibrate. Someone's nodding their head. Yes, that's 00:12:15.500 --> 00:12:24.500 true. Great. You see, for the church, friends, the Bible is the voice of God singing into our hearts. 00:12:25.639 --> 00:12:30.919 And the more of the Bible we hear, the more the Spirit's work will begin to resonate 00:12:30.919 --> 00:12:38.060 and reverberate in our midst. That's why, as a church, we're committed to the preaching and to 00:12:38.059 --> 00:12:42.579 the teaching of the Bible when we gather on Sundays and in small groups, because we want to devote 00:12:42.579 --> 00:12:48.799 ourselves to the apostles' teaching, because in it the Word of Christ comes to us and makes us truly 00:12:48.799 --> 00:12:58.559 and finally alive. Many people today are looking for significance, trying to root their personal 00:12:58.559 --> 00:13:03.979 identity in something that will be lasting. I mean, all of us as humans, really, we ask, who am I? Where do I 00:13:03.980 --> 00:13:11.379 come from? Where am I going? What's it all about? Right? And we, each of us, have a deep hunger to be part of 00:13:11.379 --> 00:13:19.539 something that's bigger, something that's worthwhile. And friends, that hunger resides within you because 00:13:19.539 --> 00:13:27.840 you were created to be a part of something bigger and something more worthwhile. You were created to be 00:13:27.840 --> 00:13:34.759 a part of the great drama that God is unfolding in history. Right? Why do we spend hours and hours and 00:13:34.759 --> 00:13:40.320 hours playing video games where within those video games we can, you know, achieve victory and glory, 00:13:40.519 --> 00:13:44.879 right? You can talk to me afterwards and I'll tell you how many hours I've played Breath of the Wild, 00:13:44.879 --> 00:13:58.980 right? Right? But friends, there is a narrative of glory and victory that God is inviting each of us in to 00:13:58.980 --> 00:14:06.799 enter into through faith in His Son, right? And the Bible is where we find this narrative recounted for all of us 00:14:06.799 --> 00:14:13.960 to hear, right? It's in Scripture that we finally find out who we are, humans created in the image of God, 00:14:13.960 --> 00:14:18.400 fallen because of sin, fallen because of sin and redeemed and restored through faith in Christ, 00:14:18.500 --> 00:14:28.200 and we're called to live for His glory and His cause. I mean, honestly, do you fear, do you fear 00:14:28.200 --> 00:14:39.600 that devoting yourself to the biblical teaching will make you seem like a prude or a boar or a conservative? 00:14:39.600 --> 00:14:50.000 Right? Do you fear that it will make you closed-minded or irrelevant? But friends, don't you see, if the 00:14:50.000 --> 00:14:56.659 Bible is God's Word, then it's the only thing that can finally shake us free from our prudishness and 00:14:56.659 --> 00:15:01.779 our boredom and our narrowness and our rigid conservatism, right? The Bible is the only thing 00:15:01.779 --> 00:15:07.740 that can really open our minds and free our minds from the passing whims of intellectual fads. 00:15:09.279 --> 00:15:14.620 Because the Bible is God's Word, it has the power to wake us up to who we really are and who God truly 00:15:14.620 --> 00:15:20.179 is. And most of all, it's in the Bible that we'll hear something that we'll never hear anywhere else. 00:15:21.299 --> 00:15:27.500 It's in Scripture that we'll hear the good news that God has not left us to our own devices, 00:15:27.500 --> 00:15:33.919 but He's entered the fray in flesh and blood in the midst of our rebellion and apathy, 00:15:33.919 --> 00:15:38.279 and He's become our victor, and He's come to set captives free. 00:15:39.659 --> 00:15:47.820 Is that message boring? Is it irrelevant? Is it conservative? They devoted themselves to the 00:15:47.820 --> 00:15:51.940 apostles' teaching, Luke says, and in 30 years, they turned the world upside down. 00:15:51.940 --> 00:15:58.020 So that's the first sign of a Spirit-filled church, devotion to the apostles' teaching found in 00:15:58.020 --> 00:16:02.460 Scripture. A Spirit-filled church is a learning church. Let's move to the second point. They 00:16:02.460 --> 00:16:08.140 devoted themselves, Luke says, to the fellowship. A Spirit-filled church is not just a learning church, 00:16:08.280 --> 00:16:16.400 but it's a sharing church. That's what fellowship literally means, sharing in common. The same root is 00:16:16.400 --> 00:16:21.320 behind the word common in verse 44 and behind the word generous elsewhere in the New Testament. 00:16:21.320 --> 00:16:25.620 The picture Luke paints here is of a group of men and women who are willing to share not just a 00:16:25.620 --> 00:16:31.680 couple of hours together on Sunday, but share their very lives with one another. You see, the church is 00:16:31.680 --> 00:16:39.940 not just a gathering where teaching happens. It's a family where genuine love is expressed. There is truth, 00:16:40.220 --> 00:16:48.200 yes, and with that truth there is love. Not one without the other, but both fully at the same time. 00:16:48.200 --> 00:16:53.879 Now, we should remember at this point how diverse this group of early believers was. If you can't 00:16:53.879 --> 00:16:57.840 glance back at the beginning of chapter 2 in verses 9 through 11, you can see all the various regions 00:16:57.840 --> 00:17:02.040 where these people were coming from. Now, it's true that at this stage in Acts, the first Christians 00:17:02.040 --> 00:17:07.259 are all Jewish, or they're all converts to Judaism, but from the Jewish diaspora, they come from this 00:17:07.259 --> 00:17:12.880 stunning diversity of regional backgrounds. And it's enough to make us pause and ask, what is it that 00:17:12.880 --> 00:17:20.960 binds the Christian community together in such fellowship, such common life? What binds them 00:17:20.960 --> 00:17:25.760 together? Is it race, class, or background? Is it a common political party? Is it a common set of hobbies 00:17:25.760 --> 00:17:31.060 or special interests? I mean, look around this morning. Gathered here at Trinity are men and women from 00:17:31.060 --> 00:17:37.640 literally across the globe, from Canada, from Brazil, from Germany, from Ghana, from India, from Indonesia. 00:17:37.640 --> 00:17:43.380 What could possibly bind us together, not just for a meeting on Sunday, but bind us together in the 00:17:43.380 --> 00:17:49.840 very fabric of our lives? Bind us together such that we'd be willing to expend our time, our hospitality, 00:17:49.840 --> 00:18:00.220 and our money in such generous ways as Luke describes here. The answer is our common sharing in Jesus Christ. 00:18:00.220 --> 00:18:07.940 We belong to the Son. His Spirit dwells in us. His Father is now our Father, and because we share in 00:18:07.940 --> 00:18:15.720 Christ together, we share out with one another. This is the twofold significance of our fellowship, of our 00:18:15.720 --> 00:18:25.180 common life in God and out to fellow believers. And this includes, this sharing includes spending time 00:18:25.180 --> 00:18:32.060 together, eating meals together, getting to know one another's needs, and sacrificially giving so that those needs 00:18:32.060 --> 00:18:38.799 can be met, expressing a kind of solidarity with each other in our needs. And we see that sacrificial giving 00:18:38.799 --> 00:18:45.320 right here in Acts 2. Now, of course, the early church didn't completely abandon private property, right? Verse 46 00:18:45.320 --> 00:18:51.200 tells us that they still owned homes. And in chapter 5, right, we're going to get to this, in the episode of Ananias and 00:18:51.200 --> 00:18:55.920 Sapphira, we see quite clearly there that no one was forced to sell their goods in the early church. No one 00:18:55.920 --> 00:19:01.920 was forced to do so. Peter tells Ananias flat out, the house was yours before you sold it. The money was 00:19:01.920 --> 00:19:06.400 yours after you sold it. The problem with Ananias and Sapphira was that they lied to God, not that they only 00:19:06.400 --> 00:19:12.860 gave part of it to the church. Now, we're going to come to that a little later in our series, but the thing to 00:19:12.860 --> 00:19:19.640 notice here in chapter 2 is that the sharing of goods was voluntary. It wasn't a kind of proto-communism. 00:19:19.640 --> 00:19:26.860 It was actually something much more radical than that. It's a community of men and women who are so 00:19:26.860 --> 00:19:34.560 certain of the love of God and so certain of his ultimate provision that they become eager 00:19:34.560 --> 00:19:42.360 to sacrifice for the other, and they become willing to sell their possessions and goods to help a sister 00:19:42.359 --> 00:19:49.839 or brother in need. Isn't this the kind of human community that so many are longing for today? 00:19:51.539 --> 00:19:58.279 The end of verse 46 continues to strike me. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad 00:19:58.279 --> 00:20:06.039 and sincere hearts. Such a beautiful picture, isn't it? And friends, I'm convinced that if by God's grace 00:20:06.039 --> 00:20:11.599 that reality took hold of us, it'd be nothing short of revolutionary. The word sincerity there means 00:20:11.599 --> 00:20:18.619 something like being single-minded or being genuine. The idea is one of having zero pretensions. 00:20:20.139 --> 00:20:23.279 No one's pretending, no one's posturing, no one's worried about image management. 00:20:23.839 --> 00:20:29.559 Here's a group of people who are so rooted in their identity in Christ that they can finally be free to 00:20:29.559 --> 00:20:36.500 be who they are before one another without any fear of rejection. How much of our time is spent today in 00:20:36.500 --> 00:20:43.339 image management? Is one of the reasons we're afraid to sit around a table with someone, even a fellow 00:20:43.339 --> 00:20:47.919 Christian, and share a meal together is because we feel like we don't have the strength to put forward 00:20:47.919 --> 00:20:54.879 the best version of ourselves? Are we worried what others might think or say if they caught us at our worst? 00:20:54.880 --> 00:21:03.080 What if we turned out to not be as smart or as good or as funny or as wise as they thought we would be? 00:21:05.320 --> 00:21:11.300 And yet the gospel comes and says, your sins are forgiven and you are a child of God. 00:21:12.120 --> 00:21:16.340 And it's that freedom that makes real fellowship possible. 00:21:18.680 --> 00:21:24.640 But friends, you see, it's also the fellowship that continues to remind us of our identity, 00:21:24.640 --> 00:21:31.140 as God's children. We need our brothers and sisters to remind us again and again that we do belong to 00:21:31.140 --> 00:21:38.160 Christ, that our sins are forgiven, that the Spirit is at work in us, so they devoted themselves to the 00:21:38.160 --> 00:21:44.680 fellowship. Right? Next week after the service, we're going to have Trinity 101, which is our membership 00:21:44.680 --> 00:21:51.900 class. What is membership? Membership is devoting yourself to the fellowship, saying, I know I need a 00:21:51.900 --> 00:21:58.600 living, breathing, flesh and blood local church to be a part of, not just so I can serve others, but because 00:21:58.600 --> 00:22:05.519 I need the Word of Christ in my own heart to remind me of who I am, so I can lay my pretensions down and 00:22:05.519 --> 00:22:14.340 be free in Christ. So we see a Spirit-filled church is devoted to the fellowship. Let's look at the third 00:22:14.340 --> 00:22:18.560 sign. The third mark of a Spirit-filled church is that it's a worshiping church. Verse 42 continues, 00:22:18.559 --> 00:22:24.839 it says, they devoted themselves to the breaking of bread and to the prayers. Now, if you study the 00:22:24.839 --> 00:22:30.299 book of Acts, as we're going to do this over the next months, you know, you'll start to see that this 00:22:30.299 --> 00:22:36.379 language of breaking of bread, you know, commentators are kind of split. Does it refer specifically to the 00:22:36.379 --> 00:22:39.679 Lord's Supper, what we're going to do in a couple minutes, or does it refer more generally to just 00:22:39.679 --> 00:22:44.960 eating meals together? If it refers to just kind of eating meals together, then Luke seems to be 00:22:44.960 --> 00:22:50.319 especially emphasizing one aspect of the fellowship that we just spoke of. But if it refers to the 00:22:50.319 --> 00:22:57.340 Lord's Supper, then it seems to be a natural pair with what Luke lists next, which is the prayers. 00:22:58.420 --> 00:23:02.340 Now, if you have a different translation, or even I think if you have an older version of the ESV, 00:23:02.680 --> 00:23:06.200 it may just read, they devoted themselves to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 00:23:06.200 --> 00:23:14.420 But the text does literally say the prayers. And here, most scholars are in agreement that that 00:23:14.420 --> 00:23:23.920 expression, the prayers, refers more to just the sort of general act of praying, but refers to set 00:23:23.920 --> 00:23:32.460 prayers, to organized prayer. In other words, it seems that what Luke has in mind here is what we might 00:23:32.460 --> 00:23:40.920 call corporate worship gatherings. So the third mark of a Spirit-filled church is that it is a 00:23:40.920 --> 00:23:49.079 worshiping church. It gathers to praise God and to pray to God. And this happens in both large contexts 00:23:49.079 --> 00:23:54.100 and in smaller ones. Verse 46 says that they met together in the temple courts and they met together 00:23:54.100 --> 00:23:58.400 in one another's homes. And there isn't one form that's somehow apparently better than the other. The 00:23:58.400 --> 00:24:04.300 early church saw both kinds of gatherings. And it's good for us today to have both large gatherings and 00:24:04.300 --> 00:24:12.940 small gatherings. But what's most striking, I think, is verse 43, where it says, everyone was filled with awe. 00:24:14.440 --> 00:24:26.240 In this community, there is intimacy with God, true spirituality. God is real here. God is palpable. 00:24:26.240 --> 00:24:35.700 Here, the deeper springs of transcendence have kind of burst through the heavy concrete of the mundane. 00:24:36.579 --> 00:24:42.279 And the two-dimensional has suddenly become three-dimensional. The black and white and gray has 00:24:42.279 --> 00:24:50.000 been overtaken by a flood of color. Their lives have literally been opened up to the reality of God. 00:24:50.000 --> 00:25:01.240 The literal word in verse 43 is fear. Fear came upon every soul. Do you know what it is to fear God? 00:25:03.400 --> 00:25:10.339 Not kind of frightened in a cowering way, but to be so in awe before the reality of Him 00:25:10.339 --> 00:25:15.279 that everything else, our own selves included, starts to recede into the background. 00:25:15.279 --> 00:25:20.200 It's like when you stand before the immensity of the ocean when the waves are kind of crashing against 00:25:20.200 --> 00:25:24.859 the shore, and all you can see in the distance is that seemingly infinite expanse of water. 00:25:25.200 --> 00:25:30.960 And what strikes you is just a sense of awe. There's a bigness to it. There's a sense of 00:25:30.960 --> 00:25:37.200 uncontainability, of both power and serenity, that no photograph could do justice. 00:25:37.200 --> 00:25:44.799 Friends, that's just a small hint of what it's like to be in awe of God, the creator of all oceans and 00:25:44.799 --> 00:25:51.799 the ruler of all the earth. Now, in thinking about worship, we have to remember that God is 00:25:51.799 --> 00:25:57.140 omnipresent, right? He's not limited to one day of the week and one specific time. We can worship God 00:25:57.140 --> 00:26:02.559 anywhere at any time, but with that being said, God has promised to be with His people in a special way 00:26:02.559 --> 00:26:08.639 when they gather for prayer, for praise, for preaching, for the celebration of the ordinances. 00:26:11.379 --> 00:26:15.220 And looking at our text, certainly part of what struck awe in the hearts of those first Christians 00:26:15.220 --> 00:26:19.819 was what Luke describes in the rest of verse 43. Many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the 00:26:19.819 --> 00:26:29.500 apostles. Now, many Christians today differ over how to apply this verse, right? Some faithful Christians 00:26:29.500 --> 00:26:34.440 would say that these wonders and signs are meant to be part of the pattern for the church today, 00:26:34.519 --> 00:26:39.259 right? That we should expect God can and will do such things in our midst. Other faithful Christians 00:26:39.259 --> 00:26:44.519 say that these wonders and signs were a special thing that God did at that time to authenticate 00:26:44.519 --> 00:26:49.519 the ministry and the message of the apostles. It was God's way of giving special testimony to their witness, 00:26:50.640 --> 00:26:53.180 the witness that we still devote ourselves to today, right? 00:26:53.180 --> 00:26:59.519 Now, in all, I honestly think we shouldn't get too worked up over this issue. 00:27:02.299 --> 00:27:08.460 This question of the sort of ongoing validity of these kind of sign gifts is certainly one where 00:27:08.460 --> 00:27:14.840 Christians can have differing views and still maintain fellowship. In all, I think we do need to 00:27:14.840 --> 00:27:19.960 maintain that the ministry of the apostles was unique, right? There are no more apostles today. 00:27:19.960 --> 00:27:24.960 So it makes sense that God would work through them in an especially powerful way, right? 00:27:25.799 --> 00:27:31.920 And in a way maybe that we wouldn't quite expect today. We have their God-authenticated message in 00:27:31.920 --> 00:27:36.259 Scripture, and that's the most important thing. But I think we also need to realize that God can still 00:27:36.259 --> 00:27:40.980 do powerful and even miraculous things today. After all, God is God. Why couldn't he do such things? 00:27:40.980 --> 00:27:48.680 But when we think about worship, when we think about fearing God, of being in awe of him, 00:27:50.039 --> 00:27:55.160 friends, the truth is we really don't have to have miraculous signs and wonders performed in our midst 00:27:55.160 --> 00:28:01.799 to genuinely fear God and worship him rightly. After all, God is God. 00:28:01.799 --> 00:28:16.279 God has already done for us in Jesus Christ. God took on flesh. He died on the cross. He rose again. 00:28:17.359 --> 00:28:21.619 This is the foundation of our worship. This is what formed the core of the apostles' teaching. 00:28:22.039 --> 00:28:25.859 This is what formed the basis of the fellowship. And this is what the sacraments or the ordinances 00:28:25.859 --> 00:28:33.519 visibly demonstrate. Jesus Christ, crucified, risen, and coming again, and even now at work in our midst 00:28:33.519 --> 00:28:39.119 through his Spirit, impressing upon us his majesty and mercy and driving us to pray, 00:28:39.659 --> 00:28:41.719 thy kingdom come, thy will be done. 00:28:44.939 --> 00:28:50.099 You see, in our culture that's, I think, longing for transcendence, 00:28:51.599 --> 00:28:55.799 friends, the Christian church ought to be the place where people can find a true sense 00:28:55.799 --> 00:29:02.399 of the reality and fear of God, where his majesty and mercy are on display, 00:29:03.019 --> 00:29:08.299 where everything rightly fades in comparison to knowing him, loving him, worshiping him. 00:29:09.519 --> 00:29:13.240 They devoted themselves to the breaking of bread and to the prayers. 00:29:14.700 --> 00:29:17.519 A Spirit-filled church is a worshiping church. 00:29:17.519 --> 00:29:26.299 Lastly, then, we find that all of this leads to witness, to witness. 00:29:27.480 --> 00:29:30.940 Now, to see the fourth aspect of a Spirit-filled church, we have to look at the very last verse, 00:29:31.079 --> 00:29:31.539 where it says, 00:29:31.619 --> 00:29:34.440 And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. 00:29:35.039 --> 00:29:39.119 It's clear from this verse that the early church, full as it was with the apostles' teaching 00:29:39.119 --> 00:29:42.819 and the fellowship, with the breaking of bread and the prayers, it's clear that they couldn't keep 00:29:42.819 --> 00:29:44.139 the message of Christ to themselves. 00:29:45.179 --> 00:29:48.619 They had come to know Christ crucified for their sins, risen as their Lord. 00:29:48.700 --> 00:29:51.179 They had received the gift of the Spirit through faith in Jesus' name, 00:29:51.319 --> 00:29:53.700 and they spread this good news throughout the entire city. 00:29:54.819 --> 00:29:59.619 A Spirit-filled church, brothers and sisters, is a witnessing church, an evangelistic church. 00:30:00.579 --> 00:30:04.399 As we come to the end of the passage, we see that there's a great comfort, isn't there, 00:30:04.400 --> 00:30:05.220 in verse 47, 00:30:06.220 --> 00:30:12.560 When all is said and done, it's the Lord who adds new men and women to His church. 00:30:13.840 --> 00:30:15.220 The Lord does this work. 00:30:15.220 --> 00:30:20.240 Our part is to speak the message of Christ truthfully and lovingly with our words 00:30:20.240 --> 00:30:22.980 and reflect that message authentically in our lifestyle. 00:30:24.160 --> 00:30:26.140 We're not called to manipulate others. 00:30:26.259 --> 00:30:27.980 It's not our job to convert other people. 00:30:28.100 --> 00:30:30.100 We ultimately leave it in the hands of God 00:30:30.099 --> 00:30:36.259 as we just bear witness to what we know to be true and real of our risen Lord. 00:30:38.379 --> 00:30:39.899 And what confidence that brings. 00:30:41.019 --> 00:30:45.359 What confidence it brings to know that ultimately it's the Lord who is building His church. 00:30:46.059 --> 00:30:48.959 What confidence it brings to know that when you speak about Jesus 00:30:48.959 --> 00:30:52.879 and all that He is and all that He's done with your neighbor, your friend, or your co-worker, 00:30:54.159 --> 00:30:57.779 that it's the Lord Himself who's at work to bring that person to Himself. 00:31:00.099 --> 00:31:03.339 So friends, here's the New Testament vision of a Spirit-filled church. 00:31:03.439 --> 00:31:05.799 It's a learning church and a loving church. 00:31:05.879 --> 00:31:08.480 It's a worshiping church and it's a witnessing church. 00:31:09.139 --> 00:31:12.879 And at the center of each of these activities is the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:31:13.619 --> 00:31:15.039 He's the one we learn about. 00:31:15.759 --> 00:31:18.419 He is the one we love in our brother and sister. 00:31:18.959 --> 00:31:21.839 He's the one we worship in our gatherings, large and small. 00:31:21.939 --> 00:31:23.799 And He's the one we witness to in the world. 00:31:23.799 --> 00:31:29.899 Let me end with a quote from Dietrich Bonhoeffer from his book Life Together. 00:31:30.899 --> 00:31:31.339 He says, 00:31:32.139 --> 00:31:34.500 Christian brotherhood, meaning Christian community, 00:31:34.599 --> 00:31:39.059 Christian community, church life is not an ideal that we have to realize. 00:31:40.139 --> 00:31:45.599 It's rather a reality created by God in Christ in which we may participate. 00:31:45.599 --> 00:31:55.599 The more clearly we learn to recognize that the ground and strength and promise of all our fellowship is Jesus Christ alone, 00:31:56.599 --> 00:32:05.379 the more sincerely and serenely we shall think of our fellowship and pray for it and hope for it. 00:32:05.380 --> 00:32:13.540 Well, friends, with that in mind, let's pray and let's thank God for Christ and for the reality that He's made here in our midst at Trinity. 00:32:17.840 --> 00:32:26.180 Lord Jesus, we confess that as we look at this picture of the early church just bristling with life and awe and learning and love, 00:32:26.700 --> 00:32:29.240 Lord, how our hearts long to be that kind of church. 00:32:30.540 --> 00:32:34.160 Thank you for all the ways in which we've seen that work in our midst here at Trinity. 00:32:34.160 --> 00:32:39.560 Oh, Lord, help us to surrender and keep in step with your spirit more and more 00:32:39.560 --> 00:32:44.220 so that we might continue to become this kind of place. 00:32:45.680 --> 00:32:49.620 And Lord, in your sovereignty as you choose to add to our number daily, 00:32:50.360 --> 00:32:55.279 Lord, we pray that each one you bring would hear the saving message of Christ, 00:32:56.120 --> 00:32:58.779 be saved, and devote their lives to you. 00:32:59.980 --> 00:33:02.120 We pray this in your mighty name, Jesus. Amen. 00:33:04.160 --> 00:33:05.160 Amen. 00:33:05.160 --> 00:33:05.160 00:33:05.160 --> 00:33:05.160 00:33:05.160 --> 00:33:05.160 00:33:05.160 --> 00:33:05.160 00:33:05.160 --> 00:33:05.160 00:33:05.160 --> 00:33:05.160 00:33:05.160 --> 00:33:05.160 00:33:05.160 --> 00:33:05.160 00:33:05.160 --> 00:33:05.160 00:33:05.160 --> 00:33:05.160 00:33:05.160 --> 00:33:05.160 00:33:05.160 --> 00:33:05.160 00:33:05.160 --> 00:33:05.160 00:33:05.160 --> 00:33:05.160 00:33:05.160 --> 00:33:05.160 00:33:05.160 --> 00:33:05.160 00:33:05.160 --> 00:33:05.160 00:33:05.160 --> 00:33:05.160 00:33:05.160 --> 00:33:05.160 00:33:05.160 --> 00:33:05.160 00:33:05.160 --> 00:33:05.160 00:33:05.160 --> 00:33:05.160 00:33:05.160 --> 00:33:05.160 00:33:05.160 --> 00:33:05.160 00:33:05.160 --> 00:33:05.160 00:33:05.160 --> 00:33:05.160 00:33:05.160 --> 00:33:05.160 00:33:05.160 --> 00:33:05.160 00:33:05.160 --> 00:33:05.160 00:33:05.160 --> 00:33:05.160 00:33:05.160 --> 00:33:05.160 00:33:05.160 --> 00:33:05.160 00:33:05.160 --> 00:33:05.160 00:33:05.160 --> 00:33:35.140 Thank you.