It's very good to be back and preaching today. I'm coming off a three-week preaching break, and I've been incredibly thankful for that for multiple reasons, which I've stated previously.
Please turn with me, if you will, in your copy of God's Word, Acts chapter 2, verses 41 through 47. Luke's account here follows the preaching of Peter on the day of Pentecost.
The great sermon that I would encourage you, if you're not familiar with, to go back and read. Peter answers the question, what is happening in this day of Pentecost?
These people filled with the Spirit are starting to speak in other languages, and they're telling about the mighty works of God.
And so he explains that, and then he goes on to give explanation to who Jesus Christ is and how to place believing faith in Him.
This is the beginning of the church.
It's an incredibly important text.
Because it's so important, I want to get your minds moving in the right direction before we read it together by presenting you with a couple of questions.
First question, what is the church?
What is the church?
I think that readily all of us could come up with some answer to that question.
Is it the right answer?
What immediately comes to your mind when I ask that question?
Is it a building?
Or a piece of property?
Borrowed, rented, or owned?
Is it a particular preacher?
Is it an event like a Sunday morning gathering?
Is it a business set with the task of marketing to you Christ?
Employing the means of the world to accomplish the ends of God?
We have, I believe, in our Christian culture, a lot of really bad examples of what a church is.
As we begin to look to the culture for those answers, I think we'll find that most of them will be wrong answers.
I've been saving the past about week and a half just some of the things that I get in the mail and by email,
marketing things that are sent to me.
And most of these, some, are just wrong.
Most of these are not, in and of themselves, wrong.
But just to give you some idea of the type of things that we as a church are inundated with,
catalogs to buy products.
There's lots and lots of them like this.
I'm not particularly picking on this one.
But when we received this, it still wasn't too late to order our Palm Sunday Palm Fronds, tied up and ready to go.
Or our John 316 hand fans.
We could get those shipped to us very quickly.
Another one with some adult coloring books for moms, which is a great gift for Mother's Day.
Pictures that say things, the teapot says things like,
all women are special, which I agree.
Or keep calm and color on.
A bookmark maybe that says a mother's love knows no boundaries.
Not to leave the men out for Father's Day.
Men, you could get a flashlight that says men who walk with God light the way.
About some advertising for church cleaning.
Also church building cleaning.
Lots of local services for that.
We've got a company that will do our VBS t-shirts for us.
Go ahead and get those ordered up.
Some conferences to keep me from being arrested for tax fraud,
which are always very scary.
Pastor Jen Wright is still in jail apparently.
From our own denomination,
emails about webisodes and blogs that include things,
some highlights from today's episode.
Your church worship facility will feel full to attendees when it's above 80% capacity.
From a conceptual point of view,
it's easier to deal with the too full problem than the too empty problem.
I did not take time out of my week to listen to this.
Or how about a webinar being offered on how to recruit and maintain volunteers.
Or another one on reaching and retaining church guests.
Seems Facebook and all its intelligence has learned that I'm a pastor somehow.
And I get ads after ads after ads for outreach strategy companies.
How to reach people via social media and get them to attend our fellowship together.
Two that especially grieve me close by.
A large church in our area.
Inviting pastors, lay people to a training to use a premarital and marriage counseling curriculum.
That has as its stated goals.
So let's watch what I'm saying.
This is a church in our area.
In our denomination.
Saying they'd like for us to come to a training to use this tool that they use.
This is what they're using to equip.
And these are the goals.
Explore strength and growth areas.
Strengthen communication skills.
Identify and manage major stressors.
Resolve conflict using the 10-step model.
Develop a more balanced relationship.
Explore family of origin issues.
Discuss financial planning and budgeting.
Establish personal, couple, and family goals.
Understand and appreciate personality differences.
All of these are good things to be done.
But I find it interesting that nowhere stated for the thrust of this curriculum.
And I looked.
And I looked very hard for it.
Because I don't want to misspeak on the matter.
All over their website.
Anywhere.
How do our marriages magnify the gospel?
How do we apply biblical principles and the disciplines of Christianity to our marriage?
How are we made competent for our sanctification in our marriages?
Another local within our denomination.
One that I spent part of my formative years at is going to serve as a satellite campus broadcasting something called the Global Leadership Summit.
It's put on by Willow Creek Church.
Bill Hyvel, as you may be familiar with, is the pastor there.
Since 1995, they've put on this leadership conference.
It's aimed at church leadership.
And they bring in leaders from around the world, both Christian and otherwise, to help pastors better lead their churches.
In an article online, I read the following, a 1993 survey of evangelical pastors by seven seminaries found that while they said their education had prepped them well in church history and theology, amen,
they felt undertrained in administration, management, and strategic planning.
Quote a pastor from Massachusetts,
In the 1950s, a pastor preached on Sundays, did weddings and funerals, and visited the sick.
He goes on to say,
I have almost 50 ministries that need to be put together, scheduled, organized, and led.
It's a different skill set.
What he's saying is, the Bible doesn't teach you how to do those things.
The article goes on to say,
Church conferences do little to address that need.
Most of them are pastors learning from pastors.
If you only hear preaching from the choir, you're never stretched.
You never see things from another perspective.
This year, the speakers there, Melinda Gates of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation,
and T.D. Jakes, who is a known prosperity gospel preacher and a modalist,
meaning he denies the nature of the Trinity.
And this is being hosted in our denomination so that we can learn from the business world
how we're meant to lead churches.
That's just a little, that's a sampling, a small, small, small sampling.
I'm just going to get it out of my way.
I'm not mad at it.
I'm just getting it out of my way.
Well, I am mad at it, but all the same.
A second and closely related question.
What is the church?
How do we recognize the church?
What is the normative activity and quality of the church?
What are the marks of a church?
Is this a biblical church?
Is that a biblical church?
What do we base that off of?
You may ask some wrong questions, like does the church have a particular set of ministries?
Does the church have a particular style of music?
Does the church create separate environments for middle schoolers and high schoolers?
I think that was lost on most of you and I'm glad that it's to your benefit if that reference is lost on you.
Does it matter how I dress or what kind of hairstyle I have?
It's my hope this morning, at least in part, to answer those questions for you.
But how do you tackle such a task?
What is the church?
What are the marks?
What are the signs of a biblical church?
Many pastors will speak of a vision for what any particular church should look like.
But I don't believe that my innovation is of any value to you.
None whatsoever.
If I am to love you as an under-shepherd of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who's the head of the church,
he's given us a prescription for the church.
He has said what the church should look like and what it should be about.
And the only way I can do it is to draw you out of the popular culture to ancient truths.
To bring you back to the Scripture.
Beloved, I have nothing to offer you apart from the Word of God.
I will tell you that there are many men in our culture who are phenomenal communicators.
Boy, they can wrap you up and take you in and say very little, but capture your attention.
If I attempted to do that, if I tried to come up here and to preach each Sunday without humbling myself under the Word of God,
recognizing it as the absolute authority,
within a month I would run out of anecdotes and personal stories from my lives and metaphors.
I would just have to start rehashing them.
You could say it's the second Sunday of the month.
Nathan's probably going to tell such and such story.
I don't have anything to offer you apart from the Scripture.
There's a fairly lost doctrine about the Scripture,
which is the sufficiency of Scripture.
The sufficiency.
Defined by Wayne Grudem in his work entitled Systematic Theology,
the sufficiency of Scripture means that Scripture contained all the words of God
He intended His people to have at each stage of redemptive history.
So, as the Scripture was being written,
it contained within it everything that God intended His people to have for that stage in redemptive history.
We call that progressive revelation.
And that it now contains all the words of God we need for salvation,
for trusting Him perfectly,
and for obeying Him perfectly.
It's a closed canon.
It now contains everything that we need for these tasks.
The Scripture contains all that we need to know and to place believing faith
in the personal work of Jesus Christ
and to follow Him perfectly.
2 Timothy 3, 16 and 17.
I hope you're familiar with this passage.
It says,
all Scripture is breathed out by God.
The Scripture says in many places that God by His Spirit inspired the Word,
that He spoke into men who pinned what He said.
This is the only place that it's said differently,
and it's speaking of another place in that process.
It was inspired, but it was also expired by God.
And that is to say that He is the very source.
All Scripture is breathed out by God.
It's His book.
He authored it.
And it's profitable for teaching,
for reproof,
for correction,
and for training in righteousness.
It's profitable.
It's good for this,
for doing these varying activities that bring about righteousness.
And the result of that, in verse 17,
is that the man of God may be complete
and equipped
for
every
good work.
Not some good work.
Not a sampling of the good work that we're meant to do
as followers of Jesus Christ,
but that we would be equipped for
every
good work.
The Scriptures are sufficient for this.
We don't need to look beyond the Scripture
for that.
The way we define
and conduct ourselves as a church
is included in this.
Every good work.
It's included in that.
Necessarily.
It must be.
If we believe in the sufficientness of Scripture,
it
must be.
Now, I'm not saying that we don't
read other books.
I'm going to quote from a book
I've been reading
just this week again
to you.
I've got a library
full of books,
but they're only of any value
if they speak of
the Scripture.
If they help us
expound and understand
the Scripture.
The saints of old
called the sufficiency of Scripture
as it played out
in the life of the local church.
They called this
the regulative
principle.
The regulative principle
of the regulative principle.
John Calvin said this,
God disapproves
of all modes
of worship
not expressly
sanctioned
by His Word.
The Second London Baptist Confession,
1689,
a really great
Baptist confession.
A lot of
churches
like ours
with the same
soteriological
persuasion
use the Second London
Baptist Confession.
It says this,
the acceptable way
of worshiping
the true God
is instituted
by Himself
and so limited
by His own
revealed will
that He may not
be worshipped
according to the imagination
and devices
of men
nor the suggestions
of Satan
under any visible
representations
or any other way
not prescribed
in the Holy Scriptures.
Sufficiency of Scripture.
A good gauge
for us
as a church
as we carefully
and prayerfully
consider what
the Scriptures
teach us
about how to
conduct ourselves
as a church
is to ask
the question,
does our church
have a model
of ministry
that could exist
in any place
in the world
at any time
in history?
Do we do anything
that couldn't
be duplicated
in any place
in the world
at any time
in history?
Does our church
have a model
of ministry
that could exist
in any place
in the world
at any time
in history?
This means
that a follower
of Christ
from Iran
should be able
to come fellowship
with an American
congregation
this morning
and not
find him or herself
out of place.
Fly in
Sunday morning.
Hit the first place
that they can find
and not feel
entirely out of place
amongst those people.
This means that a
first century follower
of Christ
should be able
to come fellowship
with an American
congregation
this morning
and not find
him or herself
out of place.
Now I'm not
suggesting that all
churches should
look exactly
the same.
We're given
banks on the river,
we're given some
things in the Scripture
that are very,
very, very clear
and that's going
to express itself
in different ways.
For example,
Wes leads music
for us
and I don't know,
he's a little
folk rocky.
That's why we do
music in the way
we do music.
Not because we've
tailored it in a
certain way
or because God
has prescribed it
but we do sing
God-focused,
Christocentric songs
because the Scripture
does prescribe that.
We don't sing songs
about us
and songs that are
man-centered
because the Scripture
has us avoid
that type of singing
but the style
is inconsequential.
It may look different
and different places
so somebody may come
from Iran
or from the first century
and come and sit
and say,
I've never heard
this song.
This is an entirely
new song to me
but it's very similar
to the types of song
I may sing
in my church
at home,
country,
or time.
And not suggesting
that we must meet
in a straw and mud building
and gather
under the cover
of darkness.
Someone from Iran
would probably say,
it makes sense
that you meet at 1030
because you can.
We meet at 3 a.m.
because we can't meet
at 1030.
I would hope,
I think they would though,
walk into many of our churches
in America,
these two,
this time traveler
and this person from Iran,
and they would say,
why did they build
all of this?
Why are there so many spaces
being so unused?
Why are there fish tanks
in here?
How in the world
did they get a first century
Jewish village
inside this building?
What is the guy
on the stage
even talking about?
Why has he taken
his copy of God's Word
and cast it carelessly
onto a side table
and walked away from it?
Would they find a people
who love the Lord Jesus Christ
in the same way
that they do
and are about the work
of pursuing his ways
and his means?
Would they think
that we worship
Jesus
or ourselves?
Our entertainment,
our preferences,
our whims?
At best,
in many places
this morning,
the right God
is being worshipped,
but he's being worshipped
wrongly
out of ignorance,
out of an unbiblically
saturated ignorance.
At worst,
many people this morning
are worshipping
a God
of their own making,
worshipping themselves.
Beloved,
I will not have you
be ignorant
this morning.
The sufficiency
of Scripture
also means
that a follower
of Christ
from Iran
should be able
to come to fellowship
with our congregation
this morning
and not find him
or herself
out of place.
This should feel
normative to them.
It means that a
first century follower
of Christ
can time travel
and come fellowship
with our congregation
this morning
and not find him
or herself
out of place,
but rejoice
that God is doing
a work
amongst his church
in America.
So our text today,
Acts chapter 2,
beginning in verse 41.
Psalm.
Beloved,
this is God's word
to us.
It was written
for his glory
and our good.
We would all do well
to listen to it
this morning
in order to believe
its promises
and obey
its commands.
So those who received
his word,
Peter's word,
were baptized.
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.
So,
what is
the church?
What is the church?
I've defined it
for you this morning
simply this way.
And there's more
complex answers to this.
Simply the community
of regenerate followers
of Jesus Christ
in all places
for all time.
So,
everyone who will
ever place
believing faith
in Jesus Christ
is the church,
capital C,
the global church.
Certainly,
that has
local expressions
of church.
again,
regenerate followers
of Jesus Christ.
Here we find
both the global
and local expression
at the same time.
It's the only time
in history
this will happen.
The church will soon
be scattered
as we read Luke's account
in Acts.
But right now,
it's both global
and local
expressions.
The church,
whether we are speaking
globally or locally,
whether for all time
or today,
is made
of true followers
of Jesus Christ.
Not merely people
who profess
to believe
in Jesus Christ.
While they may
fellowship with a church,
they may be
tears among
wheat.
But people who are
actually regenerate,
who have been given
the regenerating work
of the Spirit of God
in their life.
Regenerate followers
of Jesus Christ.
It's the gathering
of those people,
the ekklesia,
which is a really
simple word in the Greek.
It just means
gathering.
In Greek,
it could have been used
of any other type
of gathering
as well.
Just a gathering
of those
who believe
in Jesus Christ.
It's not a gathering
to events.
It's people gathered
around the event
of Jesus' life,
death,
resurrection,
ascension,
and now His
working in the world.
That is what
the church is.
Verse 41.
So those who received
His word were baptized.
And there were
out of that day
about 3,000 souls.
What word did they receive?
If you back up
to verse 38,
you see that Peter says,
Repent,
turn from your sin,
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.
Repent and believe
in the person and work
of Jesus Christ.
This is the word
that they received.
And this was the way
that they were to,
verse 40,
save themselves
from this crooked generation.
They responded in faith
to the gospel preaching
of Peter
because they had the gift
of the Holy Spirit.
Regeneration precedes faith.
It's given to us
as a gift
so that we cannot boast.
Right?
They had this regenerating work
that happened in them
and they believed
in the person
and work
of Jesus Christ.
These are regenerate people
who are about this activity
of the early church.
So how do we recognize the church?
The church is
in one way of answering it.
How do we recognize it?
What are some of the indicators,
the normative activity
and the quality,
the marks
of the church?
And there's three we can find here
together in the text.
Number one,
the Spirit-filled church's
devotion.
The Spirit-filled church's
devotion.
In verse 42,
and they devoted themselves
to a number of things.
Four things.
And they devoted themselves.
They collectively.
Not some devoted themselves to.
Some decided they were going to be
really sold out for Jesus.
And some decided
they were not.
They were just going to be
nominal Christians.
Fire insurance policy
in the back pocket.
I'm going to ride this out.
They, collectively,
were all devoted.
If you are regenerate,
you are part of the church,
and you are to be
devoted to these following things.
It's a commitment,
a firm commitment,
and you each have a part to play
and are each responsible
for your part.
To be devoted speaks of
constancy,
diligence,
firm commitment.
It means that it takes work.
It means that to be devoted
to the things we're going to talk about
here momentarily takes work.
You have to apply yourself
to these things.
And, beloved,
while we're talking about
the church broadly today,
the church is made of people,
primarily,
and you're one of those people,
I hope and pray.
So it means that you're to work
and to be devoted.
You must be disciplined
individually
so that we can be disciplined
corporately.
We can together be devoted
to these things.
So what are they devoted to?
They're devoted, number one,
to the apostles' teaching.
To the apostles' teaching.
So in this day,
this early church day,
the apostles are there
and they're beginning
to expound to them
the Old Testament Scriptures
as Peter's already done
in chapter 2.
They're explaining
all of the things
that they need to know
about Christ.
They're going to go on later,
these apostles,
to pin letters
to the churches.
These letters are canonized
into our Scripture today.
So we can understand this
for us as a devotion
to the truth,
the truth found
in the 66 canonized books
of the Bible.
Devotion to the truth
is foundational
for the definition
and health of the church.
Any people,
you're going to like this one,
it's bold,
any group of people
claiming to be a church
that are not devoted
to the truth of Scripture
is no church at all.
And any church
that doesn't continue
in that devotion
to the truth
of Scripture
will very quickly
become anemic
and die.
Beloved,
this is the problem
with so many
of our churches today.
It seems that you either
have churches
that are fizzling out
because they've traded
the truth of God
for the traditions
of men.
They're doing things
some way because
it's always the way
that they've done it
and there's no foundation
for it in the Scripture
itself.
Or they're innovating
themselves to a place
of cool
and attracting
a crowd.
Both are damaging.
They were devoted
to the apostles'
teaching.
They're also devoted
to the fellowship.
And there is so much
to be contained in here.
We have a schedule
for the book of Acts.
I was tempted
just to rewrite it all
this week
and park on this
for the next couple
of months.
They're devoted
to the fellowship,
the koinonia in Greek,
which is not merely
a potluck meal
after a service.
But it can include
a potluck meal
after the service.
Word carries the idea
of it with partnership
or sharing,
but specifically
in the things of life.
In the comings
and the goings
of life,
they were in partnership
with one another.
The details
of what koinonia
looks like
for a Bible-believing,
Bible-defined church
are expressed
in all of the
one another's
in the Bible.
And there are too many
for me to give them
to you this morning,
but just a few.
John 15, 12.
Jesus says,
this is my commandment
that you love
one another
as I have loved you.
Again,
Romans 12, 10.
Paul,
love one another
with brotherly affection.
Outdo one another
in showing honor.
Romans 6, 16.
Paul says,
greet one another
with a holy kiss.
And that was a practice
of showing someone
that they're a part
of your family.
You're part of our family.
We are a faith family
together.
Galatians 6, 2.
Bear one another's burdens
and so fulfill
the law of Christ.
Their devotion
to the fellowship
included discipleship.
It included counseling.
It included sharing meals together.
It included helping each other
with yard work.
It included all of these
types of things
that Christians
are meant to be drawn into
together
as the people of God.
Expansive meaning
the fellowship.
They were also devoted
to the breaking of bread.
And I think,
some will say this is referring
to meals taken together.
I'd like to put meals
in the fellowship.
I think that specifically,
Luke,
is referring to them
practicing
the ordinances.
This is them
practicing
the Lord's supper
together
as He had commanded
them to do.
I broaden that
to talk about the ordinances
because we saw in verse 41
that they were baptized.
They didn't need to be
as this early group of people
continually devoted
to baptism
because they had already
been baptized.
But they go on
to now be devoted
to this continuing
practice
of breaking bread
with one another.
Practicing the Lord's supper.
Remembering together
what Christ had done
on their behalf.
What He was doing
and what He had promised
to do.
They're celebrating that
collectively
together.
They were remembering
together
that their fellowship
was a divine reality.
It was something
that was accomplished
by the personal work
of Jesus Christ.
This is the continuation
of His ministry
on earth.
Do you think
about the church
in that way?
Do you merely
attend a church?
Or are you
in fellowship
with a group
of believers
because of what
Christ has done
on your behalf?
We have,
if we're in the faith,
the greatest
uniting commonality
between us.
We could come from
all various
different backgrounds.
We have Christ.
Christ.
We have community
and fellowship
together.
And the Lord's
supper is meant
to remind us
of that.
I'll read to you
from a little book
by a man named
Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
If you don't know
who he is,
please learn who he is.
You'll be encouraged
by him.
A little book
called Life Together.
He says,
I am a brother
to another person
through what Jesus
Christ did for me
and to me.
The other person
has become a brother
to me through
what Jesus Christ
did for him.
This fact that we
are brethren
only through Jesus
Christ is of
immeasurable
significance.
He pulls out
some significance
for us.
He says,
first,
that Christian
brotherhood
is not
an ideal
but a divine
reality.
It exists
already
because of what
Christ has accomplished.
Second,
that Christian
brotherhood
is a spiritual
and not a
psychic
reality.
By that he means
it's something
that exists
in spiritual places
and not necessarily
caught up in the way
we think or feel
about it
at any given time.
He goes on
to explain this
and he talks about
our feelings
and the things
that we want
to get from
Christian community
and he calls
those wish dreams.
So when you
hear a wish dream
that's what I'm
talking about.
He says,
every human
wish dream
that is injected
into the Christian
community
is a hindrance
to genuine
community
and must be
banished
if genuine
community
is to survive.
He who loves
his dream
of a community
more than the
Christian community
itself
becomes a
destroyer
of the latter
even though
his personal
intentions
may be ever so
honest
and earnest
and sacrificial.
Beloved,
do you know
people like this?
I think a lot
of you college
students may.
A person who's
always looking
for the perfect
church
make up of a
certain set
of somethings
that make them
feel a certain
something
to know that
they've finally
arrived at the
place
or those people
who will come
and commit
and only stay
for a while
and then they'll
go someplace else
and commit
and stay for a while
and they'll go
someplace else
and they give
so many
very many
very reasons
why
and fail to
recognize
that the
common denominator
in all of that
is them.
That's some
weird ideal
set up in their
mind for what
church must be
and they fail
to recognize
that it exists
because of
Christ
and we're doing
that together
when we take
the Lord's
Supper
every Sunday.
You may not
have known
that.
You are.
They're also
devoted to
the prayers.
Now the NASB
which is the
other translation
I enjoy
and appreciate
in equal measure
to the ESV
which I typically
preach from
doesn't include
the article
V.
It just says
prayer.
A little
interesting
when you
begin to
look around
and look
at the
original
language
that the
article's
not there
in the
original
language
either.
I think
a button
just made
that happen.
That's weird.
I think
that ESV
rendered it
this way
because of
the context
of them
collectively
being devoted
to
understanding
that it
was likely
referring
to
corporate
prayer.
So this
doesn't
diminish
the need
for personal
prayer
but here
we see
them
together
devoted
together
to
the
prayers.
So times
of corporate
prayer
I believe.
The vitality
of the church
depends on
this.
Acts 3.1
we see that
Peter and
John were
going up
to the
temple
at the
hour
of prayer.
So it
seemed to be
a practice
in this
day that
the church
was doing
that and
still
participating
in those
Jewish
times of
prayer that
were practiced
in that
day.
Do you
recognize
prayer is
necessary?
Do you
get that
the power
of God
is necessary
for the
work of
the church?
Have we
outgrown
our need
of these
things,
these devotions?
Have we
innovated
beyond the
necessity
of the
basics
Christian
living?
In some
places
it seems
to be
the case.
Some
churches
seem to
say we
don't need
the Bible.
We have
multimedia
presentations
and funny
quips,
movie scenes,
skits.
We don't
need fellowship
because we're
just all too
busy and
besides we
have social
media groups.
We don't
need to
empty ourselves
of our
individuality
for the
sake of
service
to the
whole.
We have
so many
varied
ministries
that I
can find
one that
meets my
needs and
my
conveniences.
We don't
need prayer.
We have
a website
and a
kiosk
sign
and a
window
sticker.
Some
churches
these days
seem to
be what
Todd
Friel
calls
silly
factories
because he's
unwilling to
call them
churches.
Let it
not be
so among
us.
Let us
be a
church
devoted
to the
scripture,
to partnering
in Christian
living together,
to gathering
regularly in
worshiping God
in observance
of the
Lord's
Supper,
and to
praying
individually
and corporately.
Their
spirit-filled
devotion,
secondly,
produced
spirit-filled
character.
Their
spirit-filled
devotion
produced
spirit-filled
Spirit-filled
character.
And I'm
going to
start speeding
up for you.
Spirit-filled
church's
character,
point number
two,
verses 43
through the
first part
of 47.
Notice
first that
they were
awe-inspired.
The beginning
of verse 43
says,
an awe
came upon
every soul.
They were
amazed
at the
work of
God
and the
people
of God.
Verse 43
goes on
and says,
and many
wonders and
signs were
being done
through the
apostles,
which certainly
fed the
awe,
but it
wasn't the
primary
thing.
Awe came
upon
every soul
and
miracles
were taking
place.
The
apostles
were doing
miracles.
So whether
or not you
think that
this is a
gift that's
still active
today or
that it's
not active
today,
you can
see that
as a
church,
we are
meant to be
enthralled
by the
work of
God
in the
people of
God.
If you
have witnessed
or been
part of
and believe
that possibly
miracles do
still happen
in these
evidencing
kind of
ways,
we have
to recognize
that the
greatest
miracle that
happens
ever is
that dead
hearts are
made alive.
People who
were once
enemies of
God have
now been
made His
friends and
this was
happening on
the regular
in their
day.
They were
awe-inspired.
They were
motivated by
the goodness
of God
to them
in Christ
and what
He was
doing in
the church.
They were
generous.
They were
generous.
It was
44-46.
They were
together.
They had
all things
in common.
They were
selling
possessions
and belongings
and distributing
proceeds to
all as
any had
need.
Day by
day,
they were
together,
attending
temple
together.
Before the
Jews prohibited
them from
doing so,
and they're
breaking
bread in
their
homes,
Lord's
Supper,
and they're
receiving
their
food.
We live
in an
interesting
political
climate
right now
where many
socialist
arguments are
being made.
This is not
an argument
for that.
It's not a
government
reigning over
them in this.
This is a
compulsion that's
being brought
about by the
Spirit of God
in their
hearts.
So,
beloved,
I'm not
absolving you
from caring
about other
people.
What I'm
saying is you
need to
press it up.
We need to
be more
generous as
the people
of God.
I'd just
rather do so
personally to
my neighbor,
not through
a program.
They were
generous.
This is being
generated in
them by the
Spirit of
God.
They were
joyful.
Last part of
verse 46,
they're doing
all this with
glad and with
generous hearts.
First part of
47,
they were
praising God.
They were
joyful.
They were
filled with
joy.
They were
glad,
generous.
NASB again
renders that
they were
sincere.
They had
sincerity of
heart,
which is to
say simplicity
of heart.
They weren't
divided.
They weren't
pulled in
multiple
directions.
They were
glad and
joyful and
focused on
the Lord,
praising God,
offering up
praise to
His name for
all that He
was doing
in their
midst.
So that was
second.
The Spirit-filled
church's
character.
And lastly,
and thirdly,
the Spirit-filled
church's
effect.
These are all
things that we
should be able
to observe
in the church
of God.
And beloved,
these are
indicators.
These are
litmus tests.
These are
barometers to
us.
These things
exist in the
life of our
congregation.
If not,
we need to
be really
looking at
why.
Why do
they not
exist?
Are we
not
regenerate?
Are we
not devoted?
Are we not
Spirit-filled?
These are the
things that are
happening as a
result of
this.
The last part
of verse 47,
you'll see that
they were
attractive.
They were
having favor
with all
the people.
And this is
going to come
and go.
We're going to
get just a
couple chapters
later in the
book of Acts,
and a great deal
of persecution
is going to
come to the
church.
They're not
going to be
quite so
favorable any
longer.
together.
But the
thing that
we need to
learn from
this is
whether or
not people
hate the
message that
we preach,
they ought to
consider the
world better
for us being
here.
Your boss
should appreciate
the fact that
you work for
him or her.
Your professors
should feel that
way.
I had a lot
of professors
that did not
agree I was
a sociology
major with
my world
view at all.
I hope that
they all
appreciated the
work I did in
their classes and
the way I
made my
case.
They were
attractive.
People were
drawn who
were gods to
the church of
God.
And they were
multiplied.
And they were
multiplied.
And the
Lord added to
their number,
day by day,
those who
were being
saved.
Now,
church, I
have made the
argument before
that we could
possibly live in
a time like
Jeremiah lived
in, labored
his whole life
as a prophet
of God, saw
we think maybe
possibly a
convert, one
person who
turned from the
sin of Israel
and back to
God.
I think that
when I've done
that, I've used
it as a cop
out ultimately.
Oh, we're
doing the work
of God, we're
doing the work
of God, we're
doing the work
of God.
God just isn't
blessing it yet.
We're persevering
in faithfulness.
We need to be
doing this thing.
I think we
need to really
to consider
whether or not
we're doing
the work of
God if we're
not seeing
people added
to our
number.
And we
as a church
have had the
benefit, the
joy of
receiving so
many college
students across
the years.
Hear me,
college students,
we're really
thankful that
you're here.
Having people
who have come
out of churches
that are entirely
unbiblical and
see that at
least in some
ways we're
getting it a
little more
right.
I said that
with a great
deal of
humility,
we're
attempting,
we're pressing
at being a
biblical church
together and
I'm so
thankful for
you who have
transitioned over
and are helping
us build
together a
church for the
glory of God.
This is good.
This is a good
thing.
We don't want to
stop doing that.
We don't want to
stop being a
place where
college students
can come up
and have a
church up here
as they begin
to reestablish a
different home for
their time in
college.
We don't want
to stop taking
in people who
have been wronged
by unbiblical
models of
church and
serving them and
loving on them and
growing them in the
truth.
We don't want to
stop doing that.
I think we're
really missing the
point if we're not
growing through
conversion.
And that troubles
me.
And I think as a
church, it's easy
for us to be excited
each year because we
get a little bit
bigger.
because there's
another recruit of
college freshmen
that come around
and they come here
and it feels like
stuff's happening.
Things are happening.
I want to hear,
Sunday morning I
want you to come up
to me and don't
ask me where the
paper towels are
stored and say,
guess what?
I've been preaching
the gospel to my
roommate and he
came to faith in
Christ.
I think he'll be
here next Sunday.
I couldn't get him
here today.
Or here he is.
And our community
outreach groups as
we're being
accountable to one
another and we're
trying to press
at each other to be
sharing our faith
constantly, that
people are converted.
We're preaching the
gospel to them.
It could be that
we're not preaching
the gospel.
It could be that
we're preaching
some version of
the gospel.
We're preaching
the gospel to
them and they're
converting to faith
in Jesus Christ and
they're beginning to
come around and
we're adding in
that way.
We can praise God
for his regenerative
work in the lives
of his church.
They were
multiplied.
They were
multiplied.
So the local
church is a
community of
regenerate followers
of Jesus Christ
who are devoted to
the scripture,
to living together
on mission,
to celebrating our
oneness in the
Lord,
and to prayer.
And it is
characterized by
its worship of
God,
its generosity,
and its joy,
which makes it,
by God's work,
attractive,
and growing.
Has this been your
understanding of the
church?
Has your
understanding of
church been defined
by the popular
church culture or by
the truth of God?
Do you recognize
that you have an
important role to
play in the life
of a biblical
church?
In what ways have
you failed at
this?
How much do you
repent of those
failures?
In closing,
I'll read to you a
David Platt quote.
It's on the front of
your bulletin if you'd
like to see it.
You and I can
choose to continue
with business as
usual in the
Christian life and
in the church as a
whole, enjoying
success based on the
standards defined by
the culture around
us.
Or, we could take
an honest look at
the Jesus of the
Bible and dare to
ask what the
consequences might
be if we really
believed Him and
really obeyed Him.
Let's pray
together.