Gathering to Grow
Series: ROOTS
Brad Bailey – October 16, 2011
Intro –
I want to begin by asking a question: Why are you here? Why are we here together?
It’s always good to stop and consider WHY we are doing something… what the purpose is. Because when we loose clarity on purpose we lose everything that matters.
(When you don’t know the purpose of something, it is likely to be misused, or abused.)
That is what this series we’ve titled ROOTS is all about. It’s about recapturing the life of Jesus in us… by looking at the roots of that experience in the Book of Acts. Today we want to recapture the essence of why we gather. Today God tells us about the first gathering of what we call the church. To grasp the purpose of such gathering, it’s important to capture the calling that they were responding to.
The Book of Acts begins as Jesus prepares his disciples for the big transition… in which they will go into the world embodying his life… his message and mission. (“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." – Acts 1:7-8)
When we become his living body…
we become a people of mission… ‘a missional community.’ and you will have the power of God at work with you.
Then in Acts chapter 2, the Spirit comes upon them… and they are surrounded by a crowd of lives … Peter explains what is at hand and the central act of the Divine drama that changes everything: the life, death, and raising of Christ… now the exalted king and ruler.
That crowd was filled with those who witnessed these events… and they now face the reality.. that they have been on the wrong side. They had claimed to be good religious people… but they had actually opposed God. So as we read last week:
When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?" Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. – Acts 2:37-38
They were ‘cut to the heart’…‘pierced’ in the heart… it is a sudden realization. You see.. the crowds had been excited about Jesus…. Many believing that he was the Messiah… the One sent by God. He spoke with an authority unlike any human teacher… he moved in the power to heal and overcome demonic oppression as only God could. He was finally coming into Jerusalem. But the people had sought a military leader to over throw Rome… so when he was arrested… beaten… the crowd turned on him. He didn’t serve their pride and desire for power. And now they must face their reality of the human pride and pretense. This was God suffering for the sins of the world… now risen and ruling. He represented the will f God… and they we’re on the wrong side.
> The church is birthed in an awakening of our pride and pretense before the power of his love.
Everything flows from that realization and the crossroads it brings one to.
It cannot be created from outside by another person.
Too often I fear that Christianity has become associated with simply becoming more moral… through some commitment to moral rules. It is really about a more central change.
When they face the reality of their pride and God’s power, they ask…what do we do?
When we face the same… we will ask the same. Peter explains: ‘Repent and be baptized.’
As described last week… this means:
We must turn around (‘repent’) from the depth of our self-will… and give ourselves…immerse ourselves (‘be baptized’) in the life of Jesus…now risen and ruling and revealing God’s will.
He embodied living in the will of God. [1]
He explained to his disciples,
John 4:34 (NIV)
"My food," said Jesus, "is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.
As he faced laying down his life for our sins… we see this reach it’s hardest moment…
Luke 22:42 (NIV)
"Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done."
Whose will we give ourselves to defines everything. You may recall when Jesus’ family came to a crowed house asking for him… he gave this response:
Matthew 12:48-50 (NIV)
"Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?" Pointing to his disciples, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother."
The decision to give up our wills for his is something we must choose. This is not a hostile takeover of will. In fact God created us with the very nature of a will that is a choice. (It’s we who try to control the will of others… not God.)
This is what the whole of Jesus life reflects… one of giving ourselves to the Father’s will. He gave his life on the cross.
This is what Jesus came to rescue and restore in us.
It is only in giving ourselves to the Father’s will that we are saved from being consumed in the separation of our self will.
Jesus said…
Luke 17:33 (WE)
“Anyone who wants to keep his life will lose it. And anyone who gives up his life will keep it.”
Or as the Message paraphrase states:
Luke 17:33 (MSG)
“If you grasp and cling to life on your terms, you'll lose it, but if you let that life go, you'll get life on God's terms.”
It’s a change in the story… a change in the script. In the false story… we are at the center… but ultimately have no life… but Jesus is making it possible to be reborn into eternal life where God is the center… in the true kingdom He rules and reigns… and we are the beloved in the Father’s household.
This choice to turn around at the depth of our self will… is the central choice of life. [2]
It’s a point and a process…involves an initial decision… as well as an ongoing process.
Such a radical transition…can naturally seem overwhelming to really make. We may all sense that it’s a choice that could lead to both fulfillment as well as frustration.
May of us know just how challenging it is.
• You may be just facing that initial decision… counting the cost.
• You may have given yourself… but then felt the conflict.
• You may have said ‘yes’ but realized you are not as grounded in that way of life as you need to be.
Today we see what that first group did…
TEXT
Acts 2:41-47 (NIV)
Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day. 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.
Imagine so many lives making such an initial choice.
Few if any had been followers… disciples… apprentices with Jesus. They had some roots in being God’s people… but their own will had kept them from following God’s will… and so they had a unique reorienting of life.
How could they begin to grow? How do we grow in developing a life fully centered in God’s will?
Let’s quickly look at what they did.
They DEVOTED themselves to that which reflected life in God’s will.
Before noting those practices… it’s vital to note that they didn’t just dabble in these things… they DEVOTED themselves to these thing. To devote oneself means to be dedicated to it… to give oneself deeply to something…as a sustained way of life.
So how did they form this new way of reorienting their lives in God’s will? How did they grow in giving themselves to this new life of Christ?
We read here of what they did. This statement in Acts 2 is an initial summary… and I want to quickly review these practices as they relate to God’s will… and how they developed as part of the ongoing life of the new community.
Teaching – learning the will of God (through those faithful and fruitful)
They devoted themselves to the Apostles teaching. Later we know that many carried this teaching forth. In so doing we are learning God’s will. [3,4]
God’s Word is God’s will. So we teaching the Word is not simply a matter of gaining knowledge but of hearing the voice that defines and directs us… in every aspect of life.
Jesus had declared that
‘People do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ - Matthew 4:4 (NLT)
Bread may keep your body alive for awhile… but you only really have life in relationship to God. The sustenance of our lives is found in the word of the Lord.
Nothing leads our shift from self will to God’s will more than wanting to know that will and pursue it.
A part of human nature thinks that God has rules.. and rules restrict life. But in fact… God’s Word is that which calls us into existence… into life with Him. What liberates the human soul is not freedom from expectations… but entering into the right expectations… those we were designed for.
Jesus said in John 8:32, “If you continue in My word, you are truly My disciples; and you will know the truth and the truth will make you free.”
It involves gaining knowledge but is very different than seeking knowledge as an end in itself.
Illustration: If my kids told me they had memorized all the family principles and practices… yet had no interest in them…. it would actually strike me as disappointing if not defiant.
Some think the Vineyard, like other movements that value the ministry of the Spirit at work, are less serious about the value of the Scriptures. My own experience is that the Vineyard was birthed in realizing that many of us had sought to know the Bible… and even the God of he Bible… but were not recognizing that we were to really do the stuff… really follow Jesus in ministry and mission.
We are indeed a community defined by God’s Word… governed and guided by it. We are not a social club… we are a community of lives birthed into a new story… and that story defies who we are and how we seek to live.
Note – there are many gifted teachers throughout our community… children…. Youth…Young adults… small gatherings…support groups as well as larger gatherings. We should value that… along with the many resources from which we can learn.
Next, it’s noted that they devoted themselves to fellowship.
Fellowship – living God’s will as a new community (through inclusion and inter-dependence)
This kind of fellowship did not exist before the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. This the first use of the Greek word koinonia (which we translate as ‘fellowship’) in the New Testament. [5]
Ephesians 1:5 (MSG)
Long, long ago he decided to adopt us into his family through Jesus Christ.
> The entire Bible, this entire book, is the story of God building a family. God is building a family for Himself that is going to last not just here on earth, but forever and ever and ever in eternity.
It begins now. God is reuniting humanity in relationship to Himself… and so we gather with a new reality at hand. We live as a new household. If such fellowship is about enjoying our wills… then we will gather in God’s name but just relate the same way… defined by our divisions and dysfunctions. We gather to work through our divisions and dysfunctions.
We need a clear perspective on the role of fellowship… the purpose of gathering.
They did not go off in pride and privacy of individualism…. nor simply passively attend some meetings required to be a member of the club.
We see here something which transcends the independent ego… as well as the institutional emptiness. Neither will produce growth.
They didn’t simply devote themselves to a meeting… but to maturity and mission.
Meeting isn’t the end in itself. Those who use a gym wisest don’t go to the gym to only for the sake of the gym life…but for the health it gives them in the rest of their life. Those who go to school most wisely, don’t go to school just for the experience of school and being a student…. But for the sake of what it prepares them to do.
> Let us be devoted to gathering because we are devoted to life around us.
Let’s understand, this is not a hide out… it more of a huddle.
We gather as a people on a mission together… who gather to celebrate and cultivate life that is given to the life of Jesus… which he is seeking for the world around us to know.
That is why it’s so vital to not call this church. It is a gathering of the church… who then go out into the world as salt and light. We gather to grow to go.
Common Meal of ‘Communion’ – centering ourselves in the defining act of God’s will (the death and risen life of Christ)
In verse 42, it says they devoted themselves to the breaking of bread. Most scholars agree that this is a reference to the Lord’s Supper… also referred to as ‘Communion’… not just having a meal together. But it’s interesting that they are related. In Jewish culture… especially of that day… to break bread was to acknowledge being in fellowship… included.... of having a common life. Jesus became the bread of life that we share. When he gave his body he united us in his life. So we are centering our lives in what is central… his life given for us as the Bread of Life.
They also devoted themselves to prayer.
Prayer – aligning ourselves with God’s will (through submitting our wills to His)
This is what church was birthed upon… and lived in. Acts sees a constant re-gathering in prayer. Prayer is not simply a time when we go to God with our "wish list." It is also a time when we seek His will…direction…and guidance. Prayer has often become like a wish list we give to God…. We repeat it often in case he hasn’t been paying attention. We think of getting Him to fulfill our will. But prayer is actually about us aligning with His will. [6]
E.M. Bounds –
“The praying of Christ was real. Prayer pressed upon him as a solemn all-imperative, all-commanding duty, as well as a royal privilege. Prayer was the secret of his power, the law of his life, the inspiration of his toil, the source of his wealth, his joy, and his communion in strength. To Christ Jesus prayer occupied no secondary place, but was exacting and paramount, a necessity, a light, the satisfying of a restless yearning and a preparation for heavy responsibility.”
We’re also told of how God did supernatural miracles through the apostles. Soon the Spirit began to empower all to flow in supernatural ways.
Ministry of Holy Spirit – manifesting God’s will (as the Spirit empowers and gifts)
Sharing Resources – reflecting God’s will (to generously love one another freely and responsibly)
Will look at this generosity more in a couple weeks. [7]
Finally.. it says that they were a people who were ‘praising God’… a people who shared in worship.
Worship – exalting God’s will (His reign and rule of love)
Worship draws us into the core of this transformation of will. For the root of our self will is what we saw in the Garden of Eden… when humanity decided to try and be like God.
In worship we are declaring that we are not God… God is God… and we are the beloved. [8]
Perhaps the Apostle Paul captured this calling most dynamically when he wrote so passionately:
Romans 12:1-2 (GNT)
So then, my friends, because of God's great mercy to us I appeal to you: Offer yourselves as a living sacrifice to God, dedicated to his service and pleasing to him. This is the true worship that you should offer. Do not conform yourselves to the standards of this world, but let God transform you inwardly by a complete change of your mind. Then you will be able to know the will of God—what is good and is pleasing to him and is perfect.
Because of the profound love and mercy of God… let us offer ourselves as living sacrifices… who choose to give ourselves to knowing what is pleasing to him…. Hs will which is good… perfect.. pleasing.
As many have noted… the challenge of a living sacrifice is the potential to want to crawl off the altar.
We will naturally want to crawl off every time it comes down to a choice of our will being given over to His.
The truth is that we often gather with a desire for God to serve our wills. Jesus is leading us into a life of trusting God’s will. This central call to trust Him… grasp His goodness… setting Him apart.
It means that as we gather… we lay down our crowns. (Probably didn’t know you had one… you do… it reflects your will.)
Closing / Responsive song: We Fall Down (by Chris Tomlin)
We fall down
and lay our crowns
At the feet of Jesus
The greatness of
Your Mercy and love
At the feet of Jesus
And we cry holy, holy, holy
And we cry holy, holy, holy
And we cry holy, holy, holy
Is the lamb
Notes:
1. Regarding the central call to give ourselves to God’s will, other Scriptures include:
John 6:38 (NIV)
For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.
John 8:28-29 (NIV)
So Jesus said, "When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am [the one I claim to be] and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me. 29 The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him."
John 14:30-31 (NIV)
I will not speak with you much longer, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold on me, 31 but the world must learn that I love the Father and that I do exactly what my Father has commanded me. "Come now; let us leave.
Matthew 6:9-10 (NIV)
"This, then, is how you should pray: "'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
1 John 2:15-17 (NIV)
Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For everything in the world--the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does--comes not from the Father but from the world. 17 The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.
Matthew 7:21 (NIV)
"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
Colossians 1:9 (NIV)
For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding.
2. Regarding repentence
C.S. LEWIS
Now the proper good of a creature is to surrender itself to its Creator - to enact intellectually, volitionally, and emotionally, that relationship which is given in the mere fact of its being a creature. When it does so, it is good and happy. Lest we should think this a hardship, this kind of good begins on a level far above the creatures, for God Himself, as Son, from all eternity renders back to God as Father by filial obedience the being which the Father by paternal love eternally generates in the Son. This is the pattern which man was made to.
-C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain, Ch 6, pp. 90-91
C.S. LEWIS - ESSENCE OF CHRISTIANITY
If the universe is not governed by an absolute goodness, then all our efforts are in the long run hopeless. But if it is, then we are making ourselves enemies to that goodness every day, and are not in the least likely to do any better tomorrow, and so our case is hopeless again.
. . . Christianity tells people to repent and promises them forgiveness. It therefore has nothing (as far as I know) to say to people who do not know that they need any forgiveness. It is after you have realised that there is a real Moral Law, and a Power behind the law, and that you have broken that law and put yourself wrong with that Power - it is after all this, and not a moment sooner, that Christinaity begins to talk. When you are sick, you will listen to the doctor.
-C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity, Bk 1, Ch 5, p. 38-39
True repentance hates the sin, and not merely the penalty; and it hates the sin most of all because it has encountered the true love of God.
3. Regarding God’s Word as His life giving will…
The Psalmist wrote in Psalm 119:11,
“I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.”
4. Regarding the role of teaching / learning God’s Word, Mark Opperman states:
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching….” What do you suppose the apostles taught the people of the early church? Well, if they obeyed what Jesus told them to do, we know that they passed on what they had learned from Jesus. In Matthew 28:19-20 Jesus told His disciples”Therefore go and make disciples [learners] of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”
-So, the apostles were teaching all that they had heard Jesus teach. They also taught from the OT, because it spoke of Jesus as well. In Luke 24:27 when Jesus appeared to two of the disciples on the road to Emmaus, He taught from the OT: “And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.” Jesus used the OT a lot, because it was God’s revelation of Himself and of His Son Jesus. The apostles also used the OT, because Jesus did, and also because it gave the background and setting for all that Jesus did on the cross for us.
-We are blessed with great teachers here at CLC. From the youngest SS class to the oldest, we have several qualified teachers who share truth and love with us. Teachers, thank you for sharing truth with the people who come to this church! Thank you for treating God’s word with respect and integrity. Teaching is such an important part of a growing church!
-One important thing that made the teaching of the apostles effective is the way it was received. V.42 says they devoted themselves to it. Why? Because it was truth; and Jesus said in John 8:32, “If you continue in My word, you are truly My disciples; and you will know the truth and the truth will make you free.” If we will devote ourselves to obeying God’s word, whether we learn it in a SS class, a sermon, in our own Bible reading time, or some other way, we will learn to live in the freedom God has for us. Let’s devote ourselves to learning and teaching God’s word!
5. Regarding fellowship, it was well stated:
“ Candles stand in candlesticks; light bulbs go into light sockets; trees grow in soil. Without candlesticks, candles would fall over; without being plugged in, light bulbs would never shine; without soil, trees would die. AND...for Christians, a church is a candlestick, a power source and somewhere to be rooted, so you can stand, shine and grow.”
6. Regarding prayer,
E.M. Bounds states. “The praying of Christ was real. Prayer pressed upon him as a solemn all-imperative, all-commanding duty, as well as a royal privilege. Prayer was the secret of his power, the law of his life, the inspiration of his toil, the source of his wealth, his joy, and his communion in strength. To Christ Jesus prayer occupied no secondary place, but was exacting and paramount, a necessity, a light, the satisfying of a restless yearning and a preparation for heavy responsibility.”
7. Regarding the nature of their sharing of goods, John Hamby note:
(1) That this is not some form of primitive communism or socialism is evident from the imperfect tense of both verbs translated “selling and sharing (which indicates that the selling and the giving were occasional, in response to particular needs, not once and for all.)
(2) The early believers did not sell everything as some have tried to say. Some still had houses as verse 46 indicates. The point is, the fellowship of the early church rested on a mutual generosity and sharing. Fellowship cost something in the early church. True fellowship costs!!!! The truth is, we will have fellowship only when we make it a practice to reach out to others and give them something of ourselves.
(3) What actually happened was that personal property was sold “as anyone might have need.”
(4) Acts 5:4 indicates that such selling was purely voluntary. In 2 Corinthians 8:4 we see the Macedonian church begging for the privilege of participation in an offering, a contribution. Where the Spirit reigns, God’s people not only relate to the Word – they relate to one another in fellowship and sharing.
(5) In no other churches of Acts was this pattern of selling property repeated. While I do not see the Bible teaching that every Christian should sell his or her possessions, I do see it teaching that all that we have has been given by God and that we are merely stewards of it.
Many will be surprised at the link between giving and God’s blessing. Many have been blessed even in this life by giving. J. L .Kraft , head of the Kraft Cheese Corporation, who had given approximately 25 percent of his enormous income to Christian causes for many years said. “The only investment I ever made which have paid constantly increasing dividends, is the money I have given to the Lord. Pastors will do their greatest service in leading men to understand the truth of God concerning stewardship of time and money.”
John D. Rockfeller explained a great principle when he said, “I never would have been able to tithe the first million dollar I ever made if I had not tithed my first salary, which was $ 1.50 a week.
Other examples include John Wanamaker of Philadelphia, who from the beginning of his business career is said to have dedicated one tenth of his increase to the Lord. Likewise, William Colgate, the great soap and perfume manufacturer, rose to fame and wealth while consistently paying a tithe of his earnings into the gospel treasury. This he recognized as the minimum requirement designated by divine wisdom; and year by year as God prospered his efforts and multiplied his wealth, Colgate gladly gave far more than a tenth.
The real question is, “ What does our giving say about us?”
Mark Opperman notes:
It appears that they overcame poverty through their generosity. We don’t have to read very far throughout the rest of the Bible to see that each person was still expected to be a good steward of the resources God was blessing them with. For example, if one person was wasting the blessings of God through unwise spending, and then coming to the apostles asking for financial assistance, they were most likely refused. The language of our text shows how closely these early believers lived out their faith. 44”All the believers were together and had everything in common.” They were in each other’s homes daily and ate meals together, and celebrated the Lord’s Supper together. They knew what was going on in each other’s lives. The apostle Paul tells the Christians in Thessalonica, “You should work with your hands, as we instructed you, 12 so that you may live properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one” (1 Thess. 4:11-12). So we see that each person likely pulled his or her own weight, but when there was a genuine need, the body made sure that it was met.
Melvin Newland
I’ve heard people talk about those verses & compare what they did to communism. But let me point out one major difference - their sharing was voluntary, not forced. In a time of opposition & persecution, their concern for those who were in need resulted in an outpouring of love & sharing to meet those needs. They believed what Jesus had taught them, & they put it into practice in their lives.
8. Regarding worship…
• Story of Mike Pilavachi's church, a congregation known for great worship music, where they banned the band for a time to refocus and then wrote the song, "The Heart of Worship."
• “If worship does not change us, it has not been worship. To stand before the Holy One of eternity is to change. Worship begins with holy expectancy; it ends in holy obedience.” - Richard Foster.
• The problem is that: “Most middle-class Americans tend to worship their work, to work at their play and to play at their worship.”
Resources: Mark Opperman, John Hamby
