The Church’s Other Calling
Scripture Reading: Acts 2:42-47 and Acts 4:32-37
Introduction:
(find a video that will set the stage for this sermon - check out www.nooma.com)
Most of us would know and understand that one of the greatest things we can do in our relationship with God is to emulate His Love towards other people.
From time to time we have to discover and examine the purposes of the church.
One of the things we learn every Sunday morning through our Nazarene International Missions video clips and are still learning is that the church worldwide must evangelize, not only overseas, but also right here in our own neighborhoods.
(Acts 1:8) "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
I want to challenge you to stay faithful to your Faith Promise to support Missions around the world.
Keep in mind this is fulfilling part of our Mission Statement of what Jesus tells us to do.
Our Goal for World Evangelism is $45,000. and for the year, right now, 6 months into the church year, we have given $20,000 to World Evangelism.
If you are new to our church family and you would like to know what Faith Promise is - then I challenge you to meet with my wife, Drusilla and let her explain to you how you can get involved in helping build the Kingdom of God around the world in the Church of the Nazarene.
We have also learned of the importance of prayer, faith and fasting in our church in the last several weeks.
I want to encourage you to continue to get involved in Triplet Praying.
Three people getting together and praying for 9 unsaved and unchurched people.
And remember if you are a part of this Triplet Praying, you are helping our church pray for over a 1,000 unsaved people.
We have learned how vital fellowship is in the life of a church, building friends and relationships through getting involved in a Small Group.
We have discovered how crucial discipleship is to the healthiness of the church.
We have to understand that it takes a spiritually healthy church to grow.
And yet it seems to me that we are not growing as quickly as we should.
We have become aware of worship and how we need to come to His temple to praise and adore Him.
This morning I want to explore with you the ministry of the giving out of love to those who are needy.
I want to take the area we don’t preach about very often, but our church is moving toward this more and more.
As you have seen this morning on the screen, We started with the Extreme Makeover with Gail Latham.
The next family we helped was the John Brown family.
Today Pastor Derek introduced to you a very worthy family for us to help.
We love Chuck and Teresa Howell and their children.
They are very special to us. They’re one of us.
Chuck lost his job just last week.
Here’s a very worthy family for us come to help.
What I’ve presented to you this morning is what I want to refer to as Balance in the Church.
Teaching and Preaching
Worship
Breaking of the bread
Prayer
The one we don’t talk about much but this is a part of the equation of the Early Church and what they did and it is Helping those who are in need.
I want to direct your attention to Acts 2:44-45
"All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need."
Look at Acts 4:3435
"There were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need."
What is balance?
Balance is a tricky thing.
The last couple weeks I have watched my neighbors son learn the concept of balance when it comes to learn to ride a bicycle.
It’s a trick for him.
He doesn’t have it down yet.
He’s constantly leaning to one side.
Do you remember the bike with the training wheel?
One training wheel was well worn, and the other looked brand new.
Application:
Slowly but surely we need to learn not to lean too far one way or the other as a church.
Do you remember when your dad took off the training wheels?
Dad took off the training wheels and ran along side of you.
I learned a valuable lesson: balance.
One of our General Supt. Dr. James Diehl shares the concept of balance.
He shares a verse that I had never really noticed before. Proverbs 25:16 says,
"If you have found honey, eat only enough for you, lest you have your fill of it and vomit it."
Balance.
Honey is one of my favorites, but like anything too much of it is detrimental.
Balance is key to our diet.
One reason many of these fad diets out there don’t work is because they lack balance.
I believe the key to losing weight is a well-balanced diet and exercise.
Balance is key.
We get out of balance when we focus on one thing to the neglect of other things.
There is a balance in our time.
We balance our job, family, and other activities.
To overdo one of those areas to the neglect of another is to throw our life out of balance.
Excessive work will bring about the neglect of our family.
To overdo it on family time will likely have a negative effect our employment.
Again we must look for some semblance of balance.
Churches get off track when they overemphasize one aspect of our calling.
We can also get off track by neglecting some aspect of our calling.
The measuring stick is the early Church.
Turn with me to Philippians 4:10-20 and read it with me.
The fourth aspect of a WELL-balance Church is¡K
Loving and Caring
Their love was demonstrated in their desire to help the needy.
They took what they had and helped out as best they could.
Love was overarching all of that.
The Apostle Paul called love the greatest thing.
Jesus said, "By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if have love for one another."
When we love each other and others, people see what being a Christian is all about.
Loving others points people to God.
Illustration:
I read this story this yesterday in preparation for our sermon this morning and wanted to share it with you.
This comes from the Baptist New Mexican magazine.
I’ll just call him Charles. Charles told of visiting a family that had some financial losses, personal problems, and a general run of misfortune.
The family had been brought to his attention, and so he went to visit them.
He represented a church that could help them in different ways.
But since they were not members of the church he served as pastor, he didn’t feel obligated to visit them, but he did anyway because he wanted to help them.
When Pastor Charles arrived at the home he rang the door bell and the mother came to the door.
He introduced himself, but he was not invited in.
The woman listened to his offer and when he finished, the woman looked at him for a moment with a cold piercing stare; then she said with deep feelings, "You don’t really care."
Pastor Charles was stunned. He first reaction was anger.
Then he thought he would try to explain.
His third reaction was to walk away without saying anything.
He wasn’t really sure what he did, but he never broke the barrier and finally left.
Her response caused him to question whether he did care.
Spiritual Application:
This is the question that returns to haunt us again and again.
Do we really care?
Or do we just go through the motions of caring because of what is expected of us?
One of the characteristics of the a true church of the Lord Jesus Christ is that it really does care.
The church at Philippi cared.
They cared about Paul. They cared so much about him that they sent him money while he was in prison.
It’s not natural for us to love others unconditionally. But this is how the church at Philippi loved Paul.
Our sinful nature is bent on looking out for number one.
But when Jesus invades our life, we begin to look out for others.
This is what the Apostle James meant when he said that faith without works is dead.
If you don’t truly love others, I doubt that Jesus has done anything real in your life.
I want to share with you Four Things that Happens When a Church cares.
I. First, it gives expression to its concern.
A. Concern must be expressed.
In verse 10 Paul said, "I rejoice greatly in the Lord that at last you have renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you have been concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it."
It can be fairly easy for us to say we are concerned.
-We can make the right facial expression.
-We can even say the right words.
But what the world is looking for is an expression of that concern.
B. Concern must be expressed tangibly.
How Paul know these people were concerned about him?
They expressed it by sending him money.
How can we express our concern towards needy people?
When a mother is sick, we care for her children.
When a person goes to the hospital and has surgery and comes home to recover, you take meals in to their home.
When a person suffers loss of some kind, you help by providing groceries.
There are just so many ways we can show our concern tangibly.
That doesn’t mean you have to go and sell your house or your car and give the money away.
But if God impresses on your heart that you should do that, then you had better do it.
The Word of God tells us if we have two coats and our brother doesn’t have a coat, then we need to give him one of our coats.
Folks, listen, we have been the recipients of the greatest gesture of love in the history of the world.
God loves us so much that He gave His only Son that we might have deliverance from spending an eternity in hell.
We have the opportunity for salvation through Jesus.
John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life."
That’s tangible!
And since we’ve been changed in our lives, then we are to show the world by tangible expressions of love.
We are to be stewards of God’s love and share it with the world.
Love is the mark of a true Christian.
The Apostle Paul wrote, "Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends."
That is how our lives and our church should look.
When we look at balance and love, we have to look at how we express our love to others who need this love.
II. Secondly, When a Church Cares it seizes the opportunity to act.
A. Opportunities to act cannot be scheduled.
The indication from the people in the Church at Phippi had always shown concern for Paul.
They just had not had an opportunity to act before.
When you really care, you will seize the opportunity when it comes.
Now Listen ¡V You can’t always schedule when another person might need you or your help.
It’s not a matter of doing what is expected of you; anyone can do the expected.
It’s doing the unexpected because that is what is needed at that time.
B. Opportunity comes through a sensitivity to others needs.
This means that timing is important.
We become sensitive to the needs of others and act when the time is right.
That might even mean that we act to help someone even when it’s inconvenient for us.
As a dad, I love my kids. I’ve always wanted to be there for my kids.
There are times though when I have to put aside my own personal convenience in order to be there for them. Do you know what I mean?
Love doesn’t mean we are always bailing them out of tough situations.
Sometimes they have to work themselves out by themselves without interference from their parents.
It means that we’ve got to point them to God and help them in life.
III. Thirdly, A church that cares shares in the lives of others.
A. That church is involved in the work of others.
Look at vv. 14-16 with me:
Yet it was good of you to share in my troubles. 15 Moreover, as you Philippians know, in the early days of your acquaintance with the gospel, when I set out from Macedonina, not one church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except you only; 16 for even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent me aid again and again when I was in need."
Paul praises the Philippians for sharing in all that he had done.
IV. The Church that cares receives a blessing itself.
A. Caring blesses the one who gives as well as the one who receives it.
Paul’s real joy in the gift was not what it did for him, but what it did for them.
Listen to verse 17-18 "Not that I am looking for what may be credited to your account. 18 "I have received full payment and even more; I am amply supplied, not that I have received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent. They are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God."
B. Caring causes us to shift attention from ourselves to others.
This frees the Holy Spirit to work more mightily in our lives.
C. Caring meets two needs: yours and theirs.
So a WELL-balanced Church worships, evangelizes, learns, and loves.
Is that all? No!
A WELL-balanced Church will surround all four aspects with prayer.
The early Church devoted themselves to prayer.
Prayer is such a broad subject.
Dr. Jack Eyestone, who is a District Superintendent in the Church of the Nazarene, says that prayer is the heart of what we do as a Church.
He says, "Prayer is the work."
We not only help those in need, but we spend quality time in prayer for them.
The early Church was a praying Church.
At every turn in the Book of Acts they were praying.
In chapters 1 and 2, they were gathered in prayer in the Upper Room.
In chapter 4, after Peter and John were told not to speak about Jesus, the Church gathered and prayed for boldness.
Later, when Peter was thrown in prison, the Church prayed for his release.
The list goes on and on.
In his letters, the Apostle Paul told his readers that he was praying for them, and he asked them to pray for him.
Our worship, evangelism, learning and loving must be saturated in prayer.
Prayer is the fuel that makes the Church go.
We wouldn’t think of driving a car without gas.
We shouldn’t think of operating a Church without prayer.
What was the result of all this?
The last half of 2:47 says, "And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved."
Who did the adding?
The Lord did the adding.
The great Nazarene missionary Harmon Schmelzebach said, "God gets the job done; we just handle the paper work."
If we are a WELL-balanced Church God will give us the increase.
We have to make the commitment to do it.
It wasn’t just the leaders of the Church who were rowing the boat.
Everyone was doing their part.
Likewise, this Church cannot succeed without everyone doing their part.
Will you commit with me to do your part in helping this Church accomplish its mission.
When a Church cares, that care is expressed in actions.
Those actions result in a ministering stance that marks a church of the Lord Jesus Christ who cared for us.
