Good evening. Excited to be with you guys tonight. Before we start, I just want to be transparent
because I realize that you guys aren't all in our community group. So my name is Matt and I'm a
pastoral resident here. We have been coming out to Hope for a while. We've been at home participating
in church virtually for a month, a month and a half. I don't know, I'll lose track. But
the reason why is because we as a family, we have five, almost six adults, and we all have
different feelings and thoughts and concerns about COVID. And so we work through that. We've been
working through that just like you guys have here and those who are online. It's something that we
all struggle with and there is no right answer. And so I share that with you just so you know that
we are in it and we struggle with it together. And if there's anything that I do that causes someone
to struggle or if you have questions or you want to talk about it, please don't keep it to yourself.
Whether you're here or especially online, talk to someone about it. In your community group, talk to,
email me about it. Matt at Trinity Cambridge. Send me a message on Slack. But if you're struggling with
something related to that, please reach out to somebody because I wouldn't want you to stay
that way. And it's, I know the difficulty, especially when you're disconnected physically,
the struggle in that and what it does to church life. And so I just want to, I just want to say that
before we start.
Hopefully that's an encouragement. I don't know, but that's where things are. And my prayer,
hopefully your prayer, is that things will continue to get better. And at some point in the future,
whenever that is, we will be more unified physically together. I don't know when it is,
but hopefully that will happen and it won't be too long into the future.
Let's, let's pray together before we open up the word.
God, we thank you for this time you've given to us. We thank you for your word. And particularly
tonight, we thank you for this passage. We pray that you would help our hearts to be open and our
ears to be open to what you have to say. Lord, I pray that, that I personally would, would preach
the words that you would have me preach and not my own personal thoughts, that they would not cloud
and get in the way of your word, what you would have us to grab onto, to be encouraged with and to be
taught and sharpened. Lord, we pray these things in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
So Acts chapter 2, we'll be reading the last several verses of this chapter, verses 42 to 47
of Acts 2. And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread
and the prayers. And all 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. It's helpful to remember that what we see taking place
here at Acts is not the birth of God's people. We see the birth of the New Testament church, but
still the people of God that he is calling out to himself. The same group of people he began to call out
4,000 years ago when he started with Abraham. The reason why that's helpful for us to remember is
because we need to not disconnect what God started in the Old Testament to what he's doing here in this
passage and for us now on this side of the cross. We are witnessing here the remnant of God's people
becoming the spirit-filled body of Christ. Before, in the Old Testament, sacrifices were needed
regularly to cover people's sins. Now, at this time, Christ has died and has covered sins once and for all.
Before, God dwelt physically in the temple most of the time. Now, we see the Holy Spirit being poured
out on God's people and coming to dwell in them daily, all the time. And this passage that we're
going to look at tonight gives us a brief window into the lives of this early New Testament church
and shows us how their lives were changed by God. In verse 42, we see that our passage starts out and it
says, and they devoted themselves to. We're going to dig into what they devoted themselves to in just a
minute. But before we start out, I want to ask you a question, and that is, what are you devoted to?
Many people see church or religion as something that they just add to their life, kind of like a
secondary thing, like a sport or maybe a humanitarian activity that gets added to their resume at the
bottom to help them to help them look better. So how about if we change verse 42 to kind of match the
tendency that people have towards God and their own Christian way of life? If we do, it might sound a
little bit like this. And they attended church once a week, connected with their community group if they
weren't too busy, shared meals with others, when it included doing something fun. But we try to avoid
getting too personal and too deep. And for prayer, well, we do that sometimes, at least before meals.
Now, if that was verse 42, you would say, there's not a people devoted to a God here that I can see.
And that's not the passage we see here before us. It's not what's happening to this church that is
called out by God. And it's not what this Bible teaches for his people. If you've been called out
by God to be part of his church, his fellowship of believers, then he has called you out of the world
to be different from the world. Not just a nice moral version of those who are in the world,
but to be devoted to what God calls us to be devoted to.
In October of 1994, I, as a 21-year-old kid,
made a promise,
a vow,
to my then 21-year-old wife.
Sorry, it's still
crazy to think about.
I made
a promise to her,
and she made a promise to me
before God and before others
that we would love and be devoted to one another for life.
Now, if we went into that promise of devotion,
and afterwards,
there was no life change.
We shared things together,
but our lives didn't change.
We didn't come together as one,
like God calls us to,
that wouldn't look like much of a devotion.
You would say,
that's not true love.
That's easy, convenient love.
That's convenient devotion,
because it works out for you.
But that's not the devotion
that marriage is based on.
That's the closest
example I could think of
to the devotion
that we're called to
as the people of God.
Our outline
for tonight's message
is taken right from verse 42.
It lays out what
the people of God
are called
to,
and then the remaining
verses
go into detail
as to what that looks like.
So the first one is,
they devoted themselves
to the apostles' teaching.
They were devoted
to learning more
about this Jesus
whom God had sent
and they had crucified,
the one who gave up
their life for them.
And their eyes had been opened,
we saw last week,
by the Holy Spirit,
and they wanted more.
They were hungry
for the word of God.
They submitted to
and they wanted more
of the teaching
of the apostles.
Why the apostles?
Why them?
It was from their teaching,
we saw last week again,
specifically from Peter,
that's the sermon
that the Holy Spirit
used to open their eyes.
We also know that
Jesus had been preparing
the disciples
for this time.
the great commission,
if you remember,
in Matthew 28,
go and make disciples
of all nations,
baptizing them
in the name of the Father
and the Son
and the Holy Spirit,
teaching them
to observe all things
that I have commanded you.
At the end of Luke,
Luke 24,
Jesus said to them,
these are my words
that I spoke to you.
This is after
he was resurrected.
These are the words
that I spoke to you
while I was still with you,
that everything written
about me
in the law,
in the prophets,
in the Psalms,
they all must be fulfilled.
And he opened their minds
to understanding
the scripture.
The Old Testament
is God's word.
Jesus taught
from the Old Testament.
He taught them
about himself
and how the Old Testament
was all about him
and how it was
to be fulfilled.
And Jesus taught
how they were all connected.
If we are called by God,
then we,
like this early church,
are called to be devoted
to the apostles' teachings.
This is one of the places
in the Bible,
in the New Testament specifically,
where we see
that authority
is confirmed by God.
It says in verse 43,
And all became upon every soul,
and many wonders and signs
were being done
through the apostles.
God is working
through the apostles
as confirmation
that his word
is being taught
and that his word
is true.
John Stott says this,
The Spirit of God
leads the people of God
to submit to the word of God.
That means that we,
as a continuation
of this New Testament church,
called by the same God,
spreading of the same gospel,
we should also devote ourselves to
and be under the submission of.
After that,
we see that they were devoted
to the fellowship.
This word gets a little,
gets a little fuzzy
because it's used a lot in church.
It's not a word
that you would use
outside of church, really.
You don't,
you don't use it
in the workplace
after a company dinner.
Hey guys,
let's go back
and have some fellowship together.
Kind of sounds funny.
It's specific to the church.
The word used here
for fellowship,
the Greek word is
koinonia.
And it's not always
translated fellowship.
And the reason for that
is because this word
koinonia is dynamic
in that there isn't just
one English word
to describe it.
So depending on the text,
it gets translated
a little different.
But koinonia describes
a relationship
which includes being
active in Christian community.
It's sharing and enjoying
the spiritual blessings
that we have with one another.
And it's the giving
of material blessings.
It's a fellowship
that's about participation.
It's a sharing
what we have in common
that is Christ.
So it's much bigger
than what we think of
when we just hear fellowship.
Paul says in 1 Corinthians,
God is faithful
through whom we are called
into the fellowship,
the koinonia
of his son,
Jesus Christ.
that's a deep version
of the word fellowship.
That's got depth to it
that we can hang on to.
The fellowship of Jesus Christ
that we've been brought into
is what brings us together.
New life in Jesus Christ.
For the new believers
in our passage
and for us,
Trinity Cambridge,
our commonality is Christ.
That's what we share together.
So in verse 44,
when it says,
and all who believed
were together
and had all things in common,
that was the unity
around their commonality
was Jesus Christ.
That's what they shared in.
What they now believed
is what brought them together
and gave them unity.
Unity of the spirit.
Witnessing what God
was doing around them.
There was a reverent fear,
it says,
that took place
because of what they were part of
and what they were witnessing.
That's what they had in common.
That's the fellowship
that they were sharing in.
But that's not all.
Secondly,
it's also about
what they shared out.
So it's about
what we have in common,
what we're sharing together,
and also what we share out.
The same word,
koinonia,
Paul uses to talk about money
that he collected
from the Greek churches
for those who were struggling
in Jerusalem.
They were sharing
what they had in common.
If I had wealth
and another brother had need,
then it was shared
as if we all had it in common.
As we read through these verses
and we hear about
how they had things in common
and they sold their possessions,
I want to make sure
that no one gets the wrong idea.
Luke is not describing
some type of a religious communism.
I was,
I'm a Star Trek fan.
At least I was when I was younger.
Just so I don't date myself.
Not the old original Star Trek.
So that was like in the 60s.
It was a little hokey.
I couldn't connect with it.
But the next generation,
that,
that I could,
that I enjoyed.
That was the good stuff.
But the thing I liked
about Star Trek
is there was this world
where everybody just got along.
You never saw paychecks.
You never saw people
complaining about their job.
Like everybody did their job.
Everybody got taken care of.
And there was just this commonality
that was there.
But that wasn't real.
I understand.
It was fake.
And as cool as that would be,
it wouldn't work in real life.
But here we,
there is no religious requirement
to sell what is owned.
We'll see it later in Luke
as we run across another passage
that's similar to this.
But there was no requirement
to sell their own home.
The desire that they had
was bigger
than that default desire
to acquire more for ourselves.
That one that we want to collect
and get enough for us
to be comfortable
into the future.
And then once we feel comfortable enough,
then,
then I can give past that.
Then I can give to someone else.
But let me protect myself first.
That's not the heart of God.
That's not the love of Christ.
While there is nothing
against saving for the future,
God has overflowed us
with blessings.
Jesus didn't come
and give a little.
He gave everything.
And it's,
it's that posture
that we should be
as a church
overflowing
with what we've been blessed with
for those who are in need
around us.
It's why as a church,
we do specifically
set money aside
for when people are in need.
Specifically in the church,
but there could be times
where we give outside of that.
We also give towards
Sovereign Grace churches.
It's a family of churches
to which we belong.
And we pay money to them
regularly
because they give to other
Sovereign Grace churches
that are struggling,
that are in need.
They also send to
other parts of the world
where there are
like-minded brothers and sisters
that are doing work
that need money.
They also use it to start
new Sovereign Grace churches.
And Lord willing,
in our future,
our prayer
is that we would be able
to send out
a church ourselves
and be able to help
support that church.
In verse 42,
after the apostles' teaching,
after the fellowship,
we see that we're devoted
to the breaking of bread
and prayers,
or the prayers,
specific prayers,
corporate prayers.
Let's look at verse 46 and 47
because it gives us
a little bit more detail
about that.
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.
They attended the temple together.
Even as God was moving
among them
and changing
their definition
of what church was like
and taking out sacrifices
because of what Jesus did,
the temple was still
the established
central institutional church
at the time
where they went
corporately to worship God
and they didn't neglect that.
They didn't abandon it.
They still went to that.
Day by day,
they attended the temple together.
They also broke bread together.
And this phrase,
the breaking of bread,
can be a reference
to the Lord's Supper,
communion,
that we're going to take
part of tonight.
It can also be
just sharing a meal together.
So,
as we see this passage,
are they celebrating
the Lord's Supper?
Are they doing communion?
Are they sharing a meal together?
And the answer to that is yes.
They're doing both of theirs.
They're sharing meals together.
They're breaking bread.
They're remembering
what Jesus had done for them.
And we can easily see
how this part
of sharing a meal together,
of breaking the bread together,
how it can easily be connected
to our fellowship
that we have with one another.
Some of the best ways
that we can fellowship
is by sharing a meal
with one another.
It could be sharing a meal
with someone
who is in need of a meal.
It could also be sharing a meal
with someone who doesn't need the food,
but needs the fellowship.
The last point
we're going to see tonight
is that they were devoted
to the prayers.
The prayers that were part
of corporate worship.
The prayers that we do
each time we meet
when we pray
for different areas.
They met at the temple
for prayers,
and they didn't neglect those.
They also prayed in homes.
Back in chapter 1,
we saw how they prayed together
before the Holy Spirit came.
We'll see them praying more
in chapter 3.
In chapter 4,
they were devoted to prayer.
They were devoted to prayer.
And so the question there is,
do we feel that same need
to pray?
Do we feel like we're
actually praying
when we come together
and pray all together
for different parts of the world
and for other churches?
Or do we just,
we go through it
like it's another thing
in church that we just do?
When you get in your community groups,
do you pray?
Do you pray like you need to pray?
Do you pray like you're talking to God?
And outside of that,
personally,
do you pray?
Jesus prayed.
Jesus was one with the Father.
If He needed it,
why do we feel
that prayer is not important?
How prideful and arrogant
to God
must it look like
for Him to see
Christians going through a life
not needing prayer?
So a couple things
in wrapping up.
In verse 46,
we see they were receiving
their food with glad
and generous hearts,
praising God.
This was epic Thanksgiving
that was going on here, folks.
Thanksgiving for what they had,
for what they had been given,
for what God had done with them.
It was changing their lives.
It was that thankfulness
combined with the devotion
fueled by the Spirit
that overflowed in their generosity,
their love for the community around them.
First,
first to the community of believers
because of the common bond
they had with one another,
and after that,
to the community
outside of that.
Verse 47
says,
praising God
and having favor
with all
the people.
This is people
outside of the church.
This is people
out in the community.
They had favor
with those people
because their generosity,
because their love
flowed outside the church
to them
and extended to them.
The people outside
felt that.
Lastly,
in verse 47,
it says,
and the Lord
added to their number
day by day
those who were being saved.
So first and foremost,
remember that it was
the Lord
that added
to those being saved.
They didn't add it.
The Lord is the one
that saves,
not us.
We can add numbers.
We can't add souls.
Only God
calls people
to himself.
We saw that verse
last week.
Only God
calls people.
It's only Jesus
who is able
to save
through his blood
and the Holy Spirit
that can change
people's hearts.
tonight,
if you are not part
of God's fellowship,
know that you can be.
If you don't know
his forgiveness,
then let me,
like Peter,
exhort you
to repent
and look to him
who can give you
the promise
of salvation
because no one else
can give you
that promise.
For those here,
for those
who are online,
who are already
saved,
I want you to see
something in verse 47.
There was a sharing
of the gospel
that took place
with the people
around them
as they lived lives
devoted to God.
It wasn't a devotion
that was left
inside a building.
It wasn't left
here in a church building.
It wasn't left
in their homes.
They were devoted
to the teaching.
They were devoted
to the fellowship,
the sharing of meals,
of praying together.
They interacted
with the world
around them.
And day by day,
people were being saved.
That means there was
also evangelism
going on.
They were reaching out
to those around them
and bringing them
into their fellowship,
into their generosity.
generosity.
So,
church.
If we,
Trinity Cambridge,
are a church
called by God,
then we are a church
devoted to God.
And just so,
sometimes we can get
lost in the corporateness
of the name church
and fall into that mindset
like the church
is responsibility
for that
or they'll take care
of that.
Each one of us
individually
make up the church.
So,
if you've been
called by God,
if I've been
called by God,
then each one
of us
individually
need to be
devoted to God.
I'm almost done.
I desire
to preach
the word of God
and do it faithfully,
but I also
fight hard
to try
and connect
things
practically.
So,
how do we,
with an example
like this
of a people
who are devoted
to God,
how do we,
knowing that God
is calling us
to that,
how do we
practice that?
How do we start
to live that out
in this weird time
where we are
in 2021?
Here are just
some thoughts
that I came
to
while studying
this passage,
while praying
through it,
and I would
invite you
to take
an opportunity
to dig deeper
in your community
group
as you guys
discuss this.
First,
I would say
pray that God
would help us
be ready
for when the
smoke clears.
years.
Whenever this
is all done,
by the grace
of God,
we pray that
things will get
better,
and I think
that they will.
I'm not going
to give you a time.
I don't know.
I didn't think
it would be
this long.
But let us
pray that we
would be ready.
Let us pray
for our church.
Let us pray
for everyone
in our church,
regardless of
where we are
in the
pandemic
spectrum.
Because
like all
the churches,
most churches
spread across
the U.S.,
we are a
disconnected
church.
We know
this.
We are a
disconnected
church that
longs for
our unity
to be
restored.
And I mean
physically.
And when I
say these
things,
please don't
understand that
I'm saying
those who
are here
are in a
good place,
that those
who are at
home are
in a good
place,
or you
need to
fix where
you are.
That's not
what I'm
saying.
Because we're
all in
different spots.
We all have
to deal
with what
God has
laid out
for us
in different
ways.
And there
is no
wrong
unless we're
sinning in
it.
But let
us pray.
Let us
pray that
God would
bring us
together as
a church
in a way
that is
deeper than
we knew
before.
Begin now,
or if you
haven't,
or if you
have been,
continue on
finding ways
to grow in
fellowship with
one another.
That includes
people that are
here, that
includes people
who are at
home.
Find ways to
fellowship with
one another.
it's hard.
Fight for
it.
We are all
the same
members of
the same
body of
Christ.
If you
are a
totally
online
member,
then share
a meal with
somebody
online.
It's weird.
We know
that.
But fight
for the
unity we
have in
Jesus Christ
because we
need it.
Because there
are people
out in the
church who
need it.
You guys
feel it
here.
You guys
feel it
online.
Sometimes
we just
want to
hug people
and we
can't.
It's not
right, but
it's where
we are.
So fight
to be
devoted to
the church
of God.
And if it
means,
hey, will
you share
a meal with
me online
Friday night?
Because I
need to
eat and
you need
to eat.
And you
know what?
we can
have
fellowship
with one
another in
the name
of Jesus
Christ because
one of us
needs it,
if not
both of
us.
Don't be
content to
fall back
anywhere,
to hide
behind a
mask,
or to
hide behind
a screen
and just
get lost.
That's what
Satan would
want us to
do.
But fight
where you
are.
I'm not
saying fight
to get
back to
anywhere,
but fight
where you
are.
Fight for
that community.
And lastly,
plan for
the future.
Plan how
you might
engage with
those around
you whenever
the smoke
clears,
whenever
things ease
up,
whenever
everybody
feels
comfortable
to do
what we
used to
do,
whenever
that is.
Plan for
that.
God has
given us
this weird,
quiet,
time-out
period where
there's rest
and where
there's stress.
And so
look to
him.
And then
move,
plan to
move out
in bigger,
in newer
ways than
you did
before.
God has
to
go live
a life
that is
devoted
to God.
Let's
pray,
let's
pray together.
Lord,
I thank
you for
your word.
I thank
you for
the examples
that we
get to
see here
in Acts.
I thank
you for
the Holy
Spirit and
the work
that happens.
We thank
you that
you were
the one
that saved
souls and
not us.
We thank
you for
your promise
of salvation,
your gift
of Jesus
Christ,
and your
gift of
the Holy
Spirit.
God,
we pray that
you would
help us
to be a
devoted
church for
you,
to see
how we
need it
individually,
to see
how we
need it
corporately,
to see
how we
live in
a world
that needs
to see
it,
God.
So,
Lord,
we pray
that you
would help
us.
Help us
where we
are right
now.
Help us
to look
to you
and help
us to
plan for
the future,
what you'd
have us do
and how we
would be
devoted to
you,
God.
we ask
these things
for your
glory,
in Jesus'
name,
Amen.