First Things
We Believe in Church
January 12, 2020
Acts 2:44-47 NIV
“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.”
Every believer in the New Testament belonged to a local church.
All fully mature followers of Christ belong to the community of church.
• All the stories we get about Jesus are from churches!
• The Holy Spirit is most present among people who are committed to following Jesus and loving one another.
What’s the truth about church?
1. Church will always be imperfect.
• Church – “Assembly” or “the gathering of frail human beings”
• Church is not just hanging out with our friends or the people we choose.
Acts 6:1-2 NIV
“In those days when the number of disciples was increasing, the Grecian Jews among them complained against the Hebraic Jews because their widows were being overlooked in the daily distribution of food.”
Church gives us the privilege of loving broken and messy people.
We need people we’ve not met and people we’ve not met need us.
Church chooses us.
• It would be easier to isolate myself among a tribe of homogenous people, but church does not give us that luxury.
This week, someone mentioned a church where Pam and I once attended. Immediately, I remembered the pain I experienced. That has not kept me from being in church, though.
2. Church is a holy habit.
Hebrews 10:24-25 NIV
And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
The epidemic of loneliness in our world is the fruit of our radical individualism.
There is power in our priorities. Our habits form us.
Community comes to the committed.
3. Jesus is the head of the church.
Matthew 16:15-18 NIV
"But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?" 16 Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." 17 Jesus replied, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven. 18 And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.”
The church shows the world what’s possible if Jesus was king.
The Table:
Ephesians 1:22-23 NIV
“And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.”
