OPEN: We opened with a youtube video that highlighted the basketball career of Bill Bradley. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_BJg4rhFNs (24 second begin… 3:25 end)
In 1964, Bill Bradley was captain of the Olympic Basketball team that won gold at Tokyo.
In 1965, his senior year at Princeton he led that University’s unremarkable team to place 3rd in the NCAA tournament behind UCLA and Michigan.
After college, Bradley went on to play professional basketball with the New York Knicks and earned a place in the professional Basketball Hall of Fame.
Bill Bradley was arguably one of the best basketball players of his day.
The story’s told that when Bradley was at Princeton, the basketball floor at the college was being refinished. So, he made arrangements to practice at a local high school gym. During his 1st practice at the high school gym, Bradley began shooting jump shots. To his amazement, his first 3 jump shots hit the back of the rim and bounced away.
A friend with Bradley said that Bill stopped for a moment. He looked up at the backboard and rim.
It appeared that Bradley made a mental adjustment. Then he picked up the basketball and began shooting again. After a few shots, he turned to his friend and told him “the rim is an inch and a half too low.”
A few days later his friend went back to the gym with a stepladder and a tape measure to find out if Bill was right. But he wasn’t. Bradley was wrong.
The rim was not an inch and a half too low.
It was an inch and a quarter too low.
APPLY: In the video we just watched, Corky Smith (a college basketball historian) said that “There were better athletes, better shooters, people with better technique.
Even Coach Bobbie Knight noted:
“He knew he had limited athletic ability, so he made himself into a tremendous basketball player.”
So, Bill Bradley was not the best athlete, best shooter and he had limited athletic ability BUT, he MADE himself into a basketball player???
How did he do that?
Well… he practiced.
He practiced everything.
And he practiced until he instinctively knew how to put that basketball thru that hoop.
Bradley was a perfectionist who had a set routine where he’d shoot a number of shots from one position, and then move on to another spot on the floor and shoot a series of shots from there.
And he kept at it over and over again until it became 2nd nature to him.
Bradley understood he couldn’t win a basketball game if he didn’t know where the basket was. So he repeatedly trained himself to know where the goal was from every point on the floor
APPLY: That’s true in basketball. In fact it’s true in any sport.
You can’t win a game if you don’t know where the basket is. Where goal is located.
And the same is true for us as Christians.
We can’t win for Jesus if we don’t know where the basket’s at.
So, what is our goal?
Where is the basket located?
ILLUS: I read about a denominational church sent the following report to their headquarters:
Number of members added by baptism 0
Number of members added by letter 0
Number of members dismissed by letter 5
Number of members who have died 3
Amount raised for home missions 0
Amount raised for foreign missions 0
The note at the bottom of the report read:
"Please pray for us, brethren, that we continue faithful unto the end."
Now that church was probably very religious.
That church membership was probably faithful to be in church every Sunday.
That church, probably paid their bills and kept the doors open.
They sang songs, took communion, listened to sermons… but they were not really doing anything for Jesus.
That church was like a basketball team that gets out on the floor and does nothing but pass the ball back and forth all the time… but never score. In fact, that’s why most college and professional basketball courts have shot clocks - because there are players who will do just that to slow down the game. They’ll just hang on to the ball… but they won’t do anything with it.
So, where’s the basket for us?
How do we know if we’ve “scored” for Jesus?
Well the first question should be: who’s the scorekeeper?
An official scorekeeper “adds” numbers to a team’s score as they make baskets.
So, who’s the one who keeps track of whether or not we’ve made a “basket?”
(GOD)
Notice what Acts 2:47 says “And the Lord ADDED to their number daily those who were being saved.”
God was keeping score. And His team on the floor was making baskets. They were doing something RIGHT, so God “added” to their score/number (adding those who were being saved)
So, what was the church in Jerusalem doing right?
Why was God adding to their numbers?
Well – 1st – that church loved Jesus
Acts 2:46-47 says “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…”
These folks loved Jesus so much they praised Him EVERY DAY, and they did it with glad and sincere hearts. They praised God everywhere and all the time because of Jesus.
And when Sunday rolled around, and they gathered for worship “They DEVOTED themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” Acts 2:42
Now “devoted” is an interesting word.
A person who’s devoted to basketball plays basketball every chance they can.
They love the game…
So they’ll just shoot baskets for fun.
They’ll get a bunch of friends together for a pickup game.
They’ll watch the game… listen to the game… they’ll talk about the game.
BUT most of all… they want to play the game whenever they.
ALL THE TIME.
Because they are DEVOTED to that game.
A Church that’s filled with people who love Jesus will do the same thing, because they are DEVOTED to Jesus.
They’re going to church, just for fun… it’s a great place to be.
They’re getting a bunch of friends together to take with them to see Jesus at church.
They come to church to watch and listen and talk about how much they love Jesus.
But most importantly, they come to PLAY.
They come to take part in Church.
They’re not going to be satisfied to just sit back and do nothing.
So, how did the church in Jerusalem show their devotion to Jesus?
1. They showed their devotion by studying teachings of the Apostles (we call it New Testament)
o Here we Sunday School classes that are fairly packed because so many of you want to devote yourselves to the study of the teachings of the Apostles.
o And (like many churches) we set aside a major portion of the worship service to the preaching from the pulpit where people like me try to help all of us understand what those Apostolic teachings mean to us.
2. They showed their devotion by fellowshipping with each other at church.
o One of the things I’ve noticed about this church is that after worship, you can’t hardly get people to go home. You folks love Jesus so much you don’t want to leave. There have been times I’ve had to leave while a bunch of people are still in the building… and just hope you lock up.
o AND we encourage fellowship here by the having a greeting time right in the middle of worship. And everyone so enjoys this greeting time that we’ve learned the only way to get you back to your seats is to begin singing the next song in our worship time. By the about the 2nd verse… you’ve all made it back to where you started from.
3. The church at Jerusalem showed their devotion by taking communion.
The early church did it each Sunday, and so we take communion every week. And every week one our men gives a talk. Do you know what those talks are called? Devotions. Those devotions are given each week to help us understand importance of what we do at the Lord’s Table, so that it doesn’t become just an empty ritual.
4. And the Church at Jerusalem showed their devotion to Jesus by constantly praying as they worshipped. We try to encourage that same attitude here by placing a prayer time prominently at the first part of the service… and giving you suggestions of whom and what to pray for.
So, these EARLY Christians LOVED Jesus – that was the first thing they did right
The 2nd thing that church got right was: they LOVED each other.
Acts 2:44-46 tells us that “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.”
Notice the believers were all together.
They loved spending time together.
Here, we not only have mid-week in-home Bible studies…
But we also have folks that go out to eat together
Play together
Camp out together
One of the strengths of this church is that you actually like each other!
And we try to encourage that fellowship by arranging carry-ins and singspirations, etc. so that those of you in the 1st service get to know those from 2nd, and vice versa. We do this all through the year so that you can get together and meet people you might not have met otherwise.
They fellowshipped together.
FELLOWSHIP! That’s interesting word too.
One person described fellowship to me this way:
“Two Fellows Together in One Ship Rowing In The Same Direction. Fellow Ship.”
We’re ONE Church … but many members.
We have ONE ship here… and we’re a bunch of fellows/gals.
And when we all get together in that one ship/church and when we row together in the same direction then we have fellowship.
The way YOU develop fellowship is to decide YOU are going to make it happen. Fellowship is not something that happens TO you. Fellowship is you picking up your oar and rowing beside everybody else.
Until you pick up your oar and start rowing you’re not really fellowshipping. What you’ll experience will simply be the overflow of the fellowship that others create.
Jesus said, if you do this right – if you really love each other the way you should, everybody will know you personally belong to HIM. He said “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." John 13:35
So the church at Jerusalem SCORED for Jesus because
1st - They loved Jesus
And 2nd - they loved Each Other
AND 3rd - They loved people who weren’t part of their group
Acts 2:47 says they were “praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.”
The church at Jerusalem enjoyed the “favor of all the people.”
Everybody in town seemed to like this church!
Why?
1. Well, part of the answer lay in the excitement and love these Christians felt about Christ.
Excitement is infectious. If you’re in love with Jesus… it shows, and it draws other people to your Savior.
2. And part of the reason may have laid in how they treated their fellow Christians.
ILLUS: The church began on Pentecost and it was made up of people who’d not only lived in Jerusalem… but also folks from Rome, & Greece, & Egypt and Asia. At Pentecost 3000 people were baptized into Christ that day. And they all wanted to stay in and around Jerusalem. Nobody wanted to go home.
The problem became: there were a lot of people who didn’t have a job or a place to live.
How were all these new Christians going to survive?
Well, the Christians who lived IN Jerusalem began to sell their possessions and give the money to the church to pass out to those in need.
I’m pretty sure the neighbors in town began to notice that.
You see… when you do Christianity right… you show love to other Christians. And the world notices that. The world notices when we really care for each other.
And they also notice when church people don’t love each other, and get mean spirited & harsh with each other. That kind of church doesn’t get much favor with all the people. Why would they want to belong to a church like that????
Jesus said: “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." John 13:35
And that may have been part of the reason the church enjoyed the favor of all the people.
3. But I’m thinking it was mostly because of how the Christians treated their neighbors.
I believe these early Christians showed love to those around them. Because that’s what Jesus taught us to do.
Jesus taught “…love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.” Luke 6:35-36
CLOSE: You see God set us an example so that we’d be known as a people of love.
For God so (loved the world) that He (gave) His only begotten son.
God LOVED THE WORLD… a world filled with sinful and selfish people, and because He first loved us… He set the example of how we ought to live.
Now, I want to let you in on a secret: Christianity ISN’T basketball.
I know that may come as a surprise to many of you, seeing as how we’ve been heavily using basketball illustrations for the past 4 weeks of this series.
But let me repeat: Christianity is NOT basketball.
Have you been watching the NCAA final four competition?
Have you seen any “fouls” in these games?
Of course you have. When people are devoted to basketball they elbow their opponents, they trip them. Back in dad’s day, they pulled down the shorts of the opposing player once in a while. People who are devoted to basketball can get downright mean on occasion.
ILLUS: Back when I was in Bible College, I’d heard about one of our college’s basketball players who tripped an opposing player… from another Bible College. I liked that guy, but it was obvious he was more devoted to basketball at that point in his life than he was to Christ.
ILLUS: A few years ago I took part in a Hispanic Church Camp, and some of the Hispanic men had a basketball game and invited me to join in. Now, I was in my early 50s at the time, but I was smoking. I was making plays, making baskets. I was good! But the reason I was so good, was because these younger men weren’t all that good. They were just out to have a good time. There were no elbows, tripping or shorts pulling. We congratulated each other on the shots each made. That’s what Christianity should be like.
CLOSING ILLUS: This past weekend I heard a gospel singer tell about witnessing to his father. His dad was in his 80s and lived 300 feet from the church he grew up in… but hadn’t been to that worship service (or any other) for years. The singer told of how hard it is to witness to your father, but he swallowed hard and said these words to his dad:
“Dad, I know that when I die, I’m going to go to heaven. But I’m not sure I’ll meet you when I get there. I love you so much that I really want you to go to heaven.”
What was he telling his dad?
I love you so much I want you in heaven with me.
That’s the kind of message that we need to share with our relatives, our friends and our neighbors, because that’s the message that will speak to their hearts.
Most folks don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.
And we can show we care when we
1. Love Jesus with all our hearts
2. Love each other as Christ loves us
3. Love those who aren’t part of our church and tell them we want them in heaven with us.
