Acts 2:42-47
The Fellowship of the Believers
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
“A Five Star Church”
[Put Chef’s apron on… put Chef’s hat on]
Oh hi! Welcome to our restaurant. I don’t know if you heard the news or not… but our restaurant recently earned the coveted five star rating!!!! Did you know that there are only 54 restaurants in the entire world that have earned the five star rating?!?! Well… 55 now!
We are very proud. Getting a five star rating is nearly impossible to accomplish. There are so many different elements that need to be perfect. It isn’t just about food… I mean… you can go just about anywhere and be fed… but it is truly hard to find true fine dining perfection. Just look at the star rewards themselves…
A really well run McDonald’s could attain a one star rating; one star really isn’t much of a big deal. A two star rating is little harder… it represents “a truly enjoyable dining experience”… something slightly out of the reach of a McDonald’s. Now, three stars is much harder… three stars represent “a very good restaurant in its category.” Four stars is tougher still… “excellent dining experience, worth a detour.” And five stars… “exceptional cuisine, worth a special journey all on its own.” A five star restaurant is a really big deal… it means people will go out of their way… drive hundreds of miles, book reservations months in advance… just for the experience.
Five stars represents a perfect marriage of all the right elements… a top notch chef able to make the finest dishes the world has to offer, a wine list extensive enough to impress even the stuffiest of snobs, service unlike you have ever witnessed in you life… I had to fight three other restaurants to get the quality of our Maitre D’ service, finally… ambience… a perfect blend of décor and location. The 100th floor of the Hancock building, the cliffs overlooking Jaur de Pure, we are all too fortunate to have snatched up this prized property overlooking the magnificent “Casey’s” on highway 24! We could not have received our fifth star without it!
A top restaurant rating can easily mean success or failure for a restaurant… not just in the sense of business success either. The difference between four stars and five stars is so great… that it has made and broke reputations and fortunes. Not only that but it has influenced the direction of the country’s – indeed, to a lesser degree, the world’s – restaurant scene.
If you ever happen to loose the five star rating… it can absolutely crush a restaurant, or crush the head chef! Take the Disney animated film “Ratatouille” for instance. Famed French chef Auguste Gusteau lost his five star rating to a bad review… and the broken hearted chef… *DIED!* [wipe a tear] I’m sorry… I’m still emotional about it.
If you can ever reach the coveted five star rating, and keep it… people will climb over each other to get in the doors.
Now… it might shock you… but… I belong to a church. And I’ve often wondered if we could take the success of five star ratings for restaurants and apply that same success to our churches. I mean… churches working to become excellent in all their different areas… so much so that people will climb over each other to be a part of the amazing things happening in the church.
Then, I just so happened to stumbled across this scripture verse from the book of Acts. This text comes right on the heals of the miraculous story of the Pentecost… all the excitement… all the emotion… the outpouring of the Holy Spirit that wins three thousand souls. However, this is nothing too special… the high points of religion easily come… almost as easily as they can slip away. We’ve seen mass revivals… we’ve seen sudden growth after a fancy new church is built, seen sudden growth after a new way of thinking is introduced… however… we’ve also seen that growth become temporary as the “new guard” quickly becomes the “old guard” and the newness wears off.
What may surprise us… is that Luke does not stop with the story of Pentecost… he turns our attention here at verse 41 to what happens after Pentecost. The apostles build a church… and turn it into the first ever “five star church:” a church worthy of going out of the way to see, a church able to sustain growth, a church… living up to its calling as a church. Let us read again these verses with fresh ears, focusing on the aspects of this “five star church.”
Acts 2:42-47
The Fellowship of the Believers
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ (1) teaching and to the (2) fellowship, to the (3) breaking of bread and to (4) prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they (5) gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
Five marks… for a “five star church.” Five marks, to help us live up to our calling. Five marks… for us to set as goals… to become a “five star church” that will not only feed people, but also do it in a most excellent way!
1) Devoted Study
A church that devotes itself to study is a church that grows… not only in numbers, but also growing in its own personal faith. As a church, we need to be concerned with the teaching of every person in these walls… from the youngest to the oldest. It is one of our most challenging jobs, and at the same time on of the most important, that everyone who comes here is not only told of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ… but also reminded of it! It is right in line with that distinction I always like to make… it is extremely easy to be a Christian… it is a lot harder to be a Disciple… someone who walks daily following the example of Christ. To be a Disciple… we must devote ourselves to personal growth, and one of the ways we do that is through study. Now, a church that exceeds at promoting excellent Christian Education is well on its way to becoming a “five star church.”
2) Fellowship
Part of our calling as a church is to become more than a building, to become more than a group that gathers occasionally… we are called… to become family! Like the church in our text this morning… we are called to be a community that supports one another, that shares its joys with one another, that shares the burden of its concerns with one another… that takes care of one another in brotherly and sisterly love. When a church gathers exhibiting true love and care for everyone within its walls… it is well on its way to becoming a “five star church.”
3) Bread-Breaking
At the heart of this lesson, Luke places the importance of breaking bread together. And it makes sense; at the very heart of a “five star church” should be a dedication to the worship of God… with focus and attention placed on the importance of the sacraments. Everything we do should, inside and outside of these walls, reflect a personal worship of God. Our very lives, our every action… can glorify God and be an act of worship. We shouldn’t have to TELL anyone you are a Christian… they should be able to see it through the way we live. When the worship of God becomes such an elemental part of who we are and what we do… we will be well on our way to becoming a “five star church.”
4) Praying Together
The family that prays together… stays together! That saying holds true for the church family too. As we dedicate ourselves to praying together, we join as a whole and lift ours thoughts and minds into the presence of God, and something very special happens. Not only do we devote ourselves to relying on God… but something changes inside of us as the Holy Spirit moves through us and aids us in our prayers. We are joined to God, and to one another… through prayer. Furthermore, we become aware of the pastoral needs of the community and support each other in prayer through good times and bad times, as the entire church becomes a pastoral presence in times of need. When the church dedicates itself to prayer and pastoral care… it will find itself well on its way to being a “five star church.”
5) Giving of Yourselves
Finally, the fifth mark asks us to give of ourselves. We are called to hold nothing back and give generously to God and to his mission and ministry on this earth. We are called to give of our whole selves… time, talents, and finances… to support the five marks of the church: to support teaching, to support fellowship, to support worship, to support pastoral care, and to support the mission of the church. When a church dedicates itself to give generously to support these five marks… they are well on their way to becoming a “five star church.”
Now, it is pretty easy to easy ways in which ANY church does these five marks… however, it becomes a question of how well it does them. Like the five star rating for restaurants… you can go just about anywhere and be FED… but there is a big difference between a “one star church” and a “five star church.” There is a big difference in the fruits they produce. In our text today… we have an example of a “five star church” and the validation rests there at the very end in verse 47… “And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” The church in our text became the kind of church that people went out of their way to visit, that people made a point to go to… because it was the type of place where they knew that they weren’t just going to be fed… but be fed extremely well!
I don’t know about you, but that is the kind of church I want to be a part of! That is the kind of church I want to become. I know we are doing all five marks of a “five star church” but if I’m honest with myself, I see ways in every single one of them where we could grow and we could improve. We have the capability of becoming the kind of church that people go out of their way to come to… the big question is… do we want to make the dedication… do we want to put in the work… to become the “five star church” we are meant to be? It’s up to us.
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.
