Introduction
As we begin a new year of ministry together we also begin a new message series called “filled with awe.” This series is based on the early church we read about in the Book of Acts. This community of believers experienced something absolutely new to humanity – the dwelling of God with people! Acts 2:43 says, “Everyone was filled with awe…”
Why was everyone filled with awe?
Back when I was a kid there began the use of the word “awesome” as slang. Everything was “awesome!” “Dude, can I snag a couple of chips? Awesome!” Recently I heard the word used that way… maybe it never went out of circulation, I don’t know. But think about it – what is truly awesome? Awesome things are those that take your breath away. They inspire awe.
• Have you seen the Grand Tetons? The Pacific Ocean?
• Have you held a newborn baby?
These are awesome! A coke and a bag of chips are not awesome.
It is interesting to me how words change. Did you know that the word awful and awesome have the same meaning. Inspiring awe… filled with awe. “Awful” in the sense of afraid or terrified took place because of the intensity of the moment. Isaiah 6 is the biblical example here. Isaiah was so in awe of God that he said, “Woe is me!” It’s not until down in the list – the 3rd definition of “awful” do you get the idea of “extremely disagreable or objectionable.”
What if I added to the Pacific Ocean, the Grand Tetons and a newborn baby the local church. Does the local church seem awesome to you? Is it awful (depends which definition!)?
I was born and the next Sunday I was in church. I have quite a bit of local church experience to draw from. It was two weeks before my 8th birthday that I was baptized into Christ for the forgiveness of my sins and the gift of the Holy Spirit. I remember that day – and many since then, and my friends the local church can be awful and it can be full of awe. It can be horrible… and it can be awesome!
Q. How long have you been in the church? Has it been awful or full of awe?
The church was born on the Day of Pentecost, recorded for us by Luke in Acts 2. The Acts 2 church was awesome. Everyone was filled with awe! There are reasons for this that we want to discover in this series. There are principles clearly given to us that, if we learn and live out, will make our experience as the church an awesome thing. It’s my conviction that God still wants to awe us with Himself.
And this is the variable! The church is awesome when God’s Spirit is prominent and leading the hearts and minds of His people. The church is awful (extremely shocking, saddening or unpleasant) when God’s Spirit is not listened to and followed. It is possible to “grieve the Holy Spirit” (Eph. 4:30). People frustrate what God wants all the time – including in the church.
God Himself is awesome. As we experience Him in our lives we are filled with awe and amazement. When you think of awesome, think of God first! Is it really awesome? Consider these Scriptures:
Genesis 28:16-17
When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.”
Exodus 15:11
“Who among the gods is like you, O Lord?
Who is like you— majestic in holiness,
awesome in glory, working wonders?
Psalm 99:1-3
The Lord reigns, let the nations tremble;
he sits enthroned between the cherubim,
let the earth shake. Great is the Lord in Zion;
he is exalted over all the nations.
Let them praise your great and awesome name—he is holy.
Nehemiah 4:14
“Don’t be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes.”
The church of Jesus Christ was not created by men, but by God. There is a touch of the divine in the church. We are a gathering of people who believe in God and trust Jesus for salvation. We have been adopted into the family of God. The church is His doing, His creation, His masterpiece; His Kingdom – we are citizens in it.
Since the church is not of human origin, but a divine organization that is made up of humans, there is part of our experience that is a touch of the divine. God is “awesome in this place!” We sense His Presence as we sing His praises. As we live for Him and serve in His Name, we sense His pleasure and the blessing of God rests on us. There is something absolutely supernatural about our fellowship.
What’s supernatural is the Spirit of God who dwells in and among His people. We have God’s Presence with us in life.
This is the significance of Pentecost. In Acts 2 the Holy Spirit is given to the church. He is the One who births the church into existence. The church is the church because God filled the lives of His people with His Presence.
In the days of the Old Testament God’s Spirit was active in this world and in the lives of those who followed Him, but He did not dwell in their hearts as He does now. God promised His Presence in the Old Testament.
Jeremiah 31:31-34
31 “The time is coming,” declares the Lord,
“when I will make a new covenant
with the house of Israel
and with the house of Judah.
32 It will not be like the covenant
I made with their forefathers
when I took them by the hand
to lead them out of Egypt,
because they broke my covenant,
though I was a husband to them,”
declares the Lord.
33 “This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel
after that time,” declares the Lord.
“I will put my law in their minds
and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
34 No longer will a man teach his neighbor,
or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’
because they will all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest,”
declares the Lord.
“For I will forgive their wickedness
and will remember their sins no more.”
2 Corinthians 6:16
For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.”
The Holy Spirit was promised by Jesus. He said that He was going away, but He would send another, a Comforter (John 14:16,26; 15:26). And also before He ascended to heaven…
Acts 1:4-8
4 On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. 5 For John baptized witha water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
6 So when they met together, they asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”
7 He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 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.”
When Acts 2 begins, it was the Day of Pentecost and the disciples were together in one place…
Acts 2:1-4
When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tonguesa as the Spirit enabled them.
Peter explained to the crowds who had gathered what was going on – that this was something God was doing, something that He had promised a long time ago.
Acts 2:16-21
16 No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:
17 “ ‘In the last days, God says,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your young men will see visions,
your old men will dream dreams.
18 Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days,
and they will prophesy.
19 I will show wonders in the heaven above
and signs on the earth below,
blood and fire and billows of smoke.
20 The sun will be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood
before the coming of the great and glorious day of the Lord.
21 And everyone who calls
on the name of the Lord will be saved.’
Peter goes on to preach the first Gospel message!
Acts 2:36-41
36 “Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.”
37 When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”
38 Peter replied, “Repent 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. 39 The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”
40 With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” 41 Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.
This was God’s doing. He created the church as He intended to. He continues to dwell with His people. Jesus said that He was building His church and the gates of hades would not prevail against it. We see the result of what God was doing, invading the hearts of people with His very Presence. Acts 2:42-47 describe how the early church experienced this new Kingdom, God’s new reality.
Acts 2:42-47
42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. 46 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, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
Everyone was filled with awe! God was (and still is) dwelling with His people.
Today I want to bring out the first principle of this series as we consider the early church. The were filled with awe – TOGETHER.
Acts 2:1 – they were together when the Holy Spirit came on the Day of Pentecost.
Acts 2:44 – a definition of this principle for us to follow. They were together and had everything in common! Togetherness is more than just proximity. It is oneness of heart and mind. Acts 4:32 – “All the believers were of one heart and mind.” When it says (in 2:42) that they were devoted to the FELLOWSHIP, this is what it means. Their togetherness was more than an affiliation. They were sharing life! They had a partnership in life together. They came to Christ and simultaneously to each other. They were members of a Body; citizens of a Kingdom – by God’s design.
That’s why the Apostle John would write in his epistle (1 John 1:3), 3 We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.
As we become partners with Christ in salvation, we become partners with one another in living this life of faith! And, as you read the New Testament is becomes obvious – we need each other! Again, this is all by God’s design.
Romans 12:10
10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves.
Hebrews 10:24-25
24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. 25 Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
As we begin this new year of life and ministry together, let’s do just that! Experience life and ministry together. We are members of God’s church; citizens in His Kingdom and He has given us His Spirit that we can experience Him, but we are going to experience Him together. The dynamic of God’s awesome Presence happens in community. This is by God’s design.
So what are we to do? Answer: Show up!
Show up physically. It sounds simple, but if you are not present, you will not experience the fellowship where God dwells.
Show up spiritually. Remember, while we cannot experience community without proximity, proximity does not guarantee rich fellowship. The church has been developed a poor reputation in the world I believe in part because we have spent too many decades showing up physically but not spiritually. We’ve laid the pressure on people to show up physically, as if that was all that is needed. To show up physically, but refuse to engage spiritually is damaging to the Kingdom of Heaven and to your own soul.
What does it mean to show up spiritually? To show up spiritually is allowing yourself to be known by others. Trusting your brothers and sisters in Christ with the real you.
Often we struggle with “Churchgoer Amnesia” - we forget that we struggle (the fake church persona comes as we try to live up to the lie that we don’t struggle with anything anymore). This is the atmosphere that will stunt/prevent spiritual growth AND it will repel people from the Kingdom.
We can function as if everyone is fine. That’s the default in our minds. Everybody is fine. Actually, we’re not fine! If you read this past week, you read Genesis 6 and the account of the flood. Do you remember why God destroyed all life on earth except Noah and his family? Because the hearts of people were wicked all the time. “… and the every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time” (6:5). Verse 6 says that God was grieved that He had made man and “his heart was filled with pain.” After Noah finally gets off the ark, he offers a sacrifice to God. Genesis 8:21 says,
21 The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground because of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.
Something happens to us – we think that now that we’re physically coming to church we no longer struggle with stuff. We’re delusional! If we believe the Bible then we’ve got to see that still, every inclination of our heart is evil from childhood. If there is anything good in us, it is Christ living through us.
We must change our thinking. We do not “come to church…” We ARE the church! We are people that God loves, broken as we may be… and He’s creating for Himself a people to bring glory and honor to Him.
Community (being real, authentic, non-plastic) is the atmosphere of spiritual growth (the “prepare” of our Mission Statement). Community (being real, honest, non-churchy) is the atmosphere that draws people into the Kingdom (the “reach” of our Mission Statement).
So what does this community; this fellowship; this being together look like? The biblical model is simple, yet powerfully infused with God’s Presence. Acts 2:46-47a says,
46 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, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people.
What our TOGETHERNESS looks like is meeting here for corporate worship (our ‘temple courts’) and from house to house in small groups. It is in these environments that God powerfully moves in the church… in us. Come to worship physically and spiritually engaged! Come to your small group physically and spiritually engaged. Be honest – you struggle. Life is hard, but God is good!
INVITATION
This morning I am inviting all of us to Jesus. To experience the Kingdom of Heaven as He intends us to: in the Temple courts and from house to house. I invite us to anticipate God’s powerful Presence into our lives. If your walk of faith has grown stale, I invite you to invite Christ back into your heart to clean house! I invite all of us to be in awe – for God is awesome and holy! Holy is His Name.
If you have never said yes to God in your life. The invitation is the same, to become a part of His family and to engage physically and spiritually into the Kingdom. It is the most significant personal decision that you will ever make, but it includes all of us. You become family. We do life together. If today is your day, come as we sing.
