God Is …
The Church and the Spirit
May 15, 2022
Acts 2:42-47 NIV
“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.
What were the four foundations of the early church?
1. They were a learning church.
“To the apostle’s teaching”
The Spirit of God will always lead us to the Word of God.
The teaching of the apostles created a sense of steadiness and predictable growth.
2. They were a loving church.
Fellowship – Koinonia – a gathering where we give and where we receive.
Don’t let the church you want, keep you from loving the church you have. – Eugene Peterson
3. They were a worshipping church.
Every meal was a foretaste of the Messianic banquet promised by Jesus in the new heaven and new earth.
4. They were a prayerful church.
What happens when these foundations are in place?
1. Miracles happen.
v.43 – “everyone was filled with awe”
Awe – Phobos – a reverent fear
We tend to get what we anticipate.
There’s nothing more powerful than a group of faithful people anticipating and expecting God to be present.
“Why do people in church seem like cheerful, brainless tourists on a packaged tour of the Absolute? … Does anyone have the foggiest idea what sort of power we blithely invoke? Or, as I suspect, does no one believe a word of it? The churches are children playing on the floor with their chemistry sets, mixing up a batch of TNT to kill a Sunday morning. It is madness to wear ladies’ straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life preservers and signal flares; they should lash us to our pews. For the sleeping God may wake someday and take offense, or the waking God may draw us to where we can never return.”
- Annie Dillard
2. People find hope and strength.
v. 45 – “they gave to anyone as he had need.”
3. The prodigals come home.
v.47 - “And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.”
The early believers called their communion “love feasts”
Many unbelievers would come to the worship gatherings thinking it was a party.
We should be a people so full of life and joy that outsiders think our gatherings are a party they want to attend. Laughter, joy and the peace of God are really intoxicating traits.
