Seeing the Big Picture”
Acts 2:37-47
My wife enjoys putting together jigsaw puzzles. Me? Not so much. But she really does. For about 25 years I have collected Coca Cola memorabilia and several years ago we bought a 2000 piece Coke puzzle and she put it together for me, glued the pieces together and we framed it and it hangs in what we call our coke room. There are several secret i think to putting together a puzzle of that size. (1) you have to be committed. It won’t happen overnight. It takes time. (2) Occasionally it’s good to have some help. If Allison is home she gets involved while Ross watches ESPN. (3) But perhaps one of the most important things is that you have the ability to see the big picture. You must pay attention to the picture on the outside of the box.
Now this picture that I want to describe to you today is like that. It is a picture of what the NT church should look like. This picture is our goal, our aim, it is our target. The book of Acts helps us to be able to see the big picture of the church-the design and the target we need to aim for if we are going to make a difference in our community. You see there are a lot of misguided churches today because their focus is on the wrong target. They are traveling in the wrong direction. For instance some churches have a constant focus on the past. Their target is to carry out the tradition of the church. So they have trouble making any changes. When these churches are presented with a new idea they reply with what has been called the 7 last words of the church...we’ve never done it that way before.
For other churches their primary focus is finances. In the church when they are considering a new ministry the question is always the same...how much will it cost to do it?
Still others have as their primary focus...certain personalities in the church. It may be the pastor or some key leader in the church. The problem is of course if that person leaves the church the church comes to a standstill because it is focused on the wrong area.
There are a lot of wrong ideas today about where a church should place its focus and so many times we simply settle fo whatever happens. You may have heard of the guy who shot an arrow into the sky, then picked up the target and ran as fast as he could, held it out, caught the arrow and shouted...Look I hit the target.
In the book fo Acts, Luke gives us 4 areas where the church must focus. We begin with GRACE and GIFTS. Look at verses 42-43. Here Luke is focused on 2 aspects of the local church and that is to reach new members and turn them into ministers of the gospel. Now all of this is a process. In the church today we focus on membership and ministry. We want everyone to come to Christ, be a member of the local church and we want everyone to discover their ministry.
One way we describe GRACE is that it is God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense. What does that mean? It means it’s free. Jesus pays for it. We simply receive it. Paul tells Timothy in the scripture that we are members of God’s own family. That family is the church. So this becomes our foundation. In Florida we all understand the importance of a good foundation. We deal with sinkholes. And they affect the foundation. All of us have things like this that step in and disrupt our lives. And when they do if we do not have a support system-if we do not have a church to turn to then we can fall apart. We all need a local church where we can become members and serve others.
We also need a local church where we can learn how to minister to others by using our spiritual gifts. The Bible lists at least 7 major gifts and a total of 21 spiritual gifts. Several truths we need to know.
(1) Every believer has at least one spiritual gift. Paul says “ a spiritual gift is given to each of us as a means of helping the entire church.” 1 Cor. 12:7.
(2) No believer has every spiritual gift. Paul says :now all of you together are Christ’s and each one of you is a separate and necessary part of it.
(3) Believers have different spiritual gifts than the other. We are all unique. Romans 12:4-5 (NIV)
Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, [5] so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.
Now the 2nd area of focus is SPIRITUAL GROWTH and SPIRITUAL GIFTS. Verses 44 and 46. After we connect with God He then wants ut to connect with the other members of His family. Peter tells us that “we are now members of God’s very own family.” The first church was at Jerusalem and the scripture says those who believed were baptized and added to the church. “They joined with the other believers and committed themselves to the apostle’s teaching and to fellowship.” They worshiped together regularly and they met in small groups in homes for communion. All of us, every one of us, need a group of people we can fellowship with..that we can discuss the scripture with. Solomon says IRON sharpens IRON. This is how we grow.
Let me ask you where do you turn when you are going through a tough time? Who do you turn to when you are under attack? Listen to what a secular organization says about this....the Department of Mental Health. “If you isolate yourself from other people and you never develop any close fellowship with a group of people you are 3X more likely to die an early death. You are 4X more likely to suffer emotional burnout and you are 5X more likely to be clinically depressed. And you are 10X more likely to be hospitalized for an emotional disorder.
Now do we get it? All of us need to be connected with others in a small group. Join a Sunday morning Bible class. We will be starting some new groups in homes. I want you to join one. Paul said in Romans : ”we belong to each other and each of us need all the others.” We need each other! Get in our Wednesday night Bible study group. To grow spiritually you need to get in a group. That is the 2nd step in this process.
There is GRACE and GIFTS. There is GROWTH and GROUPS. Then there is GIVING and GOING. The early church had a major focus on reaching lost people. We see them ...120, (1:15) then 3000 added here; the Lord added daily 2:47. They prayed and fasted...today we just pray fast.
The Bible gives us what we call the Great Commission in Matthew 28:19-20. When we translate that we see 2 applications. It is translated”as you go.” It certainly means that we are to go from one place or another; we leave the church and we go out to share the gospel in someone’s home but the bigger picture is this. It says as you go, everywhere you go, every day in everything we do we must share our faith. We have the privilege and we have the responsibility of leading this world to Christ. It is the reason we exist as a church. Read our vision statement with me.
“Our vision is to enlarge the size of heaven by taking as many people as possible with us.”
So as we go we must share the gospel. A 2nd part of this is our giving. Look at what the scripture says in verses 44-45. For many this is an area of growth that has not been touched. It’s not a judgment, it’s a fact. There are many in our congregation who have not yet discovered the joy of giving through a weekly offering. But i know it is God’s will that His church move forward and i know you will respond.
The next level, the next step is to hit the bulls-eye-this is our focus. Our goal is to live a life as close to God as possible. And when we discover His GRACE and we use our GIFTS and we GROW spiritually through GROUPS and we GO and share our faith and we GIVE to the church we will find that we have grown much closer to GOD and that we have brought others with us!
We exist to worship and bring glory to God. The scripture says it here. Acts 2:46 (Living) They worshiped together regularly at the Temple each day, met in small groups in homes for Communion, and shared their meals with great joy and thankfulness, Worship is the place where we gain the strength...the inspiration to live the Christian life each day. We don’t gather here to focus on the pastor or the worship leader or on ourselves. It is not about us. It’s about HIM! It’s about Jesus!
Together the church can do anything. Do you realize that? Every member of the body participating, using our gifts and growing in grace.
The story is told of a man who was reading the paper while his children were in bed. Suddenly to his surprise his little girl appeared... said she could not sleep. He told her to go back to bed, but she began to cry. So he put together a plan. In the paper was a picture of the world, and he cut into several pieces. He handed his daughter the pieces and some tape. “He said “Go sit in the dining room, and see if you can put the world back together,”” he said. He sat back to relax, but after only a few sips of his coffee, his daughter came running in with the world put back together. He was amazed and said, “Sweetie, how did you do that so fast?” She said, “Well it was easy, Daddy. On the back side of the page was a picture of a man. So I just put the man together. When you make the man right, you make the world right.”
