WELCOME & INTRODUCTION
- As we come together in ministry, we are not hesitating to begin our first series together. I want us to focus on the essentials for our church here at 29th. This morning we are beginning a series called: “We Are Better Together”. This series will be focused on unity and what it means to be unified as a church.
- This series is going to focus on the truths of what is most important to the life of the church and to us as believers in the faith. I know you are going to love this series and I hope you will invite people to join us Sundays to hear each of these lessons.
- This series is going to challenge our long-held beliefs and bring us to Scripture for the answers to how we unite together. We, as the church, are truly better together. You don’t have a church without unified people.
THE BEATLES: John, Paul, Ringo, and Eric Clapton?
Recently released documentary on the Beatles creation of Let It Be
Recording on the rooftop of the studio in London.
By this time, the Beatles could barely stand each other. John Lennon was spending most of his time with his wife Yoko Ono, Paul McCartney was butting heads with his bandmates over the business side of things, Ringo Starr quit and then reluctantly returned, and George Harrison was frustrated because he was allowed to contribute only a few songs per album.
Then came the 1970 Let It Be sessions, which were being filmed for a documentary. At one point, off camera, George Harrison and John Lennon got into a fistfight. Later, during rehearsals (and on camera), Paul McCartney was patronizingly directing George, who barked back, “I’ll play whatever you want me to play, or I won’t play at all.” At lunch, Harrison announced, “Put an ad in, and get a few people in. See you ‘round the clubs.” Then he quit the Beatles.
“Let’s get Eric,” John said a bit later. “He’s just as good and not such a headache.” That afternoon, the remaining Beatles “jammed violently” (as Ringo later described it). Yoko Ono sat on George’s abandoned cushion and screamed into his microphone. Lennon reiterated, “I think if George doesn’t come back by Monday or Tuesday, we ask Eric to play.”
Eric Clapton’s latest band, Blind Faith, had called it quits a few months earlier, so he was available. He was aware of what John Lennon had proposed, but he was never formally offered a spot in the Beatles because 10 days later, George returned.
As far as Paul McCartney was concerned, the Beatles were John, Paul, George, and Ringo…or nothing. There was a time when the Beatles were the closest-knit family you’ve ever seen.
THE ACTS 2 CHURCH
This band is argued to be the greatest ever. They just fit together to write hit after hit. But even this tight-knit family had arguments and couldn’t get along 100% of the time.
As we begin our series on unity, we are going to look at the first century church and what they were like as a people dedicated to the cause of Christ in a close-knit community.
READ ACTS 2:42-47
42And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 43And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. 44And all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.
THE EARLY CHURCH
How this church was born:
Peter preached a Christ-exalting sermon
The Holy Spirit at work – 3000 souls were saved (that’s a pretty good day!)
God builds His church by His Word.
The church is God’s plan. That plan is bigger than the conversion of some individuals. Christianity is a personal thing but it is not individualistic. It’s corporate. Jesus is saving a people for himself (Titus 2:14). This fact is made plain here in Acts 2: as the people gathered together. The communal nature of the church is reiterated throughout the New Testament. Let’s look at this early church and see what they embodied and were devoted to and how we are to live today and how this speaks to unity as a church body.
DEVOTION TO THE WORD
The author of Acts, Dr. Luke tells us the church was devoted to certain activities. At the top of the list is the devotion to the apostles’ teaching. The apostles were teaching everything they had learned from their rabbi, Jesus. This is the diet of a healthy body of Christ. Based on Peter’s sermon earlier in Acts 2, the apostles taught everyone about the Messiah and everything about his teaching.
This congregation of people was Spirit-filled. They did not abandon the study of the Word of God just because the Spirit was at work. In fact, the Holy Spirit fills every believer at our baptism. If we are walking in the fullness of the Spirit, we will be drawn to good things like God’s Word and the spoken words that Jesus has taught. If we are focused on the words of Christ, it is difficult to be divided. We can unite under the wonderful words of life that God has given to us.
Consider Paul. Paul was arguably one of the most Spirit-filled and Spirit led men we know of. And what does he do? He teaches the gospel message from the Word of God. It was central to his life and he passed it along to those he discipled; men like Titus and Timothy. And those men taught all they learned to the next generation of Christians.
This is our role in the church today. We must be devoted to the Word of God. Everyone must be devoted to the Word. And it may not feel like the gift of teaching is for you, but you can at least point others to His Word. We all can point to Scripture when people have questions about what to do in this life.
DEVOTION TO ONE ANOTHER
As we read on these early Christians had a devotion not only to the Word, but to one another and we see that in the next listing of things this Church did. The first thing was fellowship. The first-century church shared a common way of life. They were united spiritually as “believers,” and this spiritual union worked itself out into practical acts of love and support for one another.
Such fellowship with one another is tied to the Christian’s fellowship with the Father. Out of our common fellowship with the Father through Jesus, we enjoy fellowship with our spiritual brothers and sisters. If people are out of fellowship with Christ then they will be out of fellowship with the church. We don’t want people out of fellowship. We want to be a place where people can find commonality in Christ and with one another. This should be a place where we find security in the world.
Consider the blessings we enjoy in the church because of our fellowship with one another. You get to spend time with brothers and sisters in the faith. Do you realize what a source of encouragement and blessing they can be to you and you to them?
When we are devoted to one another, we find the unity and commonalities we have. It is difficult to have division and arguments when we are devoted to the people sitting around us. (Look around……)
DEVOTION TO THE BREAKING OF BREAD
Next was their devotion to breaking bread together.
This breaking of bread is a reference to the Lord’s supper. This memorial was likely enjoyed within the context of a meal together. After the earliest days the church grew, became more stable, and spread out geographically. Then it seems the church began to take the Lord’s supper in conjunction with the meal they shared together on the Lord’s Day. I don’t want to go into all the various arguments about the Lord’s Table, but simply want to point out the Christ-centered nature of this community. Taking this meal together was a way to unite the body under the proclamation of the death of Christ…until he comes.
READ 1 CORINTHIANS 11:26 (on screen)
The early church had unity with the breaking of bread. This brought their minds and hearts under one purpose.
DEVOTION TO PRAYER
Throughout the book of Acts, we find occasion after occasion with the church and how vibrant their prayer life is.
The apostles were seriously devoted to prayer.
The church practiced both regular prayers individually and communally.
Some were formal while others were informal and free.
The believers prayed together corporately.
They also personally prayed without ceasing.
They prayed in the temple, in homes, as they walked along the road,
as they encountered the sick and afflicted,
before they preached sermons,
before they heard sermons,
while they were experiencing persecution,
they offered thanks for food,
to Jesus for forgiveness of sins,
to God in song,
and to meet daily needs.
What an example the early church is for us in prayer! We should pray like this!
A healthy church is a praying church. And a united church prays together and is constant in their prayers. It is so difficult to experience division and strife with brothers and sisters if we are in prayer. I have said many times in my life, it is difficult to hate someone if you are praying for them. In fact the more you pray for an enemy, the more you love them and they are no longer an enemy.
DEVOTION TO GENEROSITY
In verse 45 we see that this early church was devoted to making sure no one was in need. The Bible teaches radical generosity. This was not forced upon them. They were not commanded by the church leaders to give everything away. But they sold their possessions as needed to provide for those in need. They loved one another so much. This is the unity we see in the church—a body willing to make sure everyone is taken care of.
Redeemed people should be generous people. It is difficult to be at odds with someone if we are taking care of them on a daily basis. The church should give freely, voluntarily, sacrificially, and generously to the work of God’s kingdom. Jesus has changed our hearts so let us be people who now invest in the world by giving generously.
But they did not just give anonymously and without knowledge. These people were so heavily invested in their community of faith that they knew who needed help. They were aware of the needs around them.
This church lived out this life every day. They were involved in one another’s lives. While the church has to love those outside the family in order to fulfill her mission, a healthy church meets together as a family regularly. A lot of the responsibility to unity begins with just showing up!
If we don’t come together, we are missing out on opportunities to love and care for one another. If 29th wants to be this kind of church, we have to show up. We have to be together to be able to pray and break bread and serve one another.
CONCLUSION
I would love to say if we do all these things we will never argue. We will never disagree. We will never lose friends. But I would be lying. It takes work to be unified. It takes a willingness to be wrong even when we think we are right. We have to love one another through difficult times.
My prayer for us is that through this series, we will see the many ways we can be united as a church under the things that matter most. First of all, Christ and Him crucified. And we will discuss what this looks like in the future lessons of this series.
May we be the kind of church that is so unified, people will begin to whisper, “What is happening over at 29th and Yale?”
“That church is so different.”
“That church loves one another.”
“What is your secret?” No secret. We love Christ. We love each other. We genuinely care about one another. We pray for one another. We eat with each other. We serve each other. We help each other. If we disagree, we defer to unity.
Maybe you need help in one of these areas…invitation…
