The Journey: Following Jesus through Acts (2)
Scott Bayles, pastor
Scripture: Acts 2:42-47
Blooming Grove Christian Church: 7/3/2017
If you were with us last week, you know we began a ten-week journey through the book of Acts. It’s a faith-journey that began on a remote hillside near Jerusalem, where Jesus said goodbye to his followers and ascended into heaven. But before he left, he gave them the proof of his resurrection, the power of the Holy Spirit, and a purpose to fulfill.
After Jesus ascended into heaven, Peter, James, John and the other disciples set out on their own journey to continued what Jesus started. Their journey is the story of a movement that burst forward like a just open fire-hydrant out of Jerusalem and spilled into the ends of the earth.
On Pentecost, after the coming of the Holy Spirit, the small congregation of 120 believers exploded! Peter preached to a standing room only crowd on the Temple grounds. In one day three thousand people came to faith in Christ. Now what do they do? The answer is found in Acts 2:42-47. If you have Bible in your pew or on your phone, open it up to Acts 2 and let’s read this short passage together.
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 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 and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. (Acts:42-27 NIV)
Books about church planting, church health, and church growth are popular among church leaders today. Seminars about the church abound, with pastors and church boards eager to copy the techniques of a successful pastor or a fast-growing congregation. But this one paragraph offers a snapshot of the church a few days old. This handful of verses not only provides a concise summary of what the early church was all about, it provides a model that can be applied to the modern church, as well.
So what was the early church all about? As I read this paragraph I see a four-fold focus. First, the early church focused on gathering.
• GATHERING
Whether it’s the temple porch, a living room, a hillside, a prison, or a building specially constructed for Christians, God’s people gather together to reap the benefits of togetherness—and they’ve done so from the very beginning.
Notice again how Luke describes the church: “All the believers devoted themselves… to fellowship… They met together…worshipped together…met in homes… and shared their meals with great joy” (Acts 2:42-46 NLT).
Really, this is just the tip of the iceberg. Elsewhere, the Bible says that Christians are put together, joined together, built together, members together, heirs together, fitted together, held together, and will be caught up together. There’s a lot of togetherness in Christ’s church!
I’ve said many times before: Everyone needs a place where they belong, where people smile when you arrive and say, “See you soon!” when you leave. A place that fits you like a favorite pair of jeans, that’s as welcoming as your much-loved and much-worn recliner at home. That’s the way we’re made. Not to be isolated. Not to be alone. Even in the perfect paradise of Eden, God said, “It is not good for man to be alone” (Genesis 2:18). Modern psychology confirms that.
Stephen Ilardi, writing for Psychology Today, calls social isolation “a modern plague,” noting that “25% of Americans have no meaningful social support at all—not a single person they can confide in.” This isolation takes its toll, making us more vulnerable to mental illness, depression and addiction.
Max Lucado tells of a woman who know all about loneliness. Max’s friend Steve worked at a pharmacy while attending the University of Texas. His primary job was to deliver supplies to nursing homes, but every four days he had another stop along his route. He shouldered a large jug of water and carried it to an apartment building some fifty feet behind the pharmacy. His costumer was an older woman, perhaps in her seventies, who lived alone in a dark, sparse and tarnished apartment. She had no other source of water. She relied on his delivery for four days of washing, bathing and drinking. Municipal water was considerably cheaper. But rather than connect to the city water supply, she opted for a delivery. Why? The answer was the delivery system. Yes, the city water was cheaper and more practical. But the city would only send water, not a person. She preferred to pay more and see a human being than pay less and see no one.
We are not meant to live lone-ranger lives; rather, we are created for togetherness. The Bible says, “We must also consider how to encourage each other to show love and to do good things. We should not stop gathering together with other believers, as some of you are doing. Instead, we must continue to encourage each other even more as we see the day of the Lord coming” (Hebrews 10:24-25 GWT).
Belonging to God’s family is a precious gift. We all need a family that will encourage us to show love and do good. That’s why we need to follow the first church’s example and focus on gathering.
Of course, gathering is just the first part of their four-fold focus. Further, the early church focused on the Gospel.
• GOSPEL
Luke writes, “All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching…” (Acts 2:42 NLT). From the very beginning the early church was devoted to hearing, studying, and applying what the Apostles had to teach. So that begs the question: What did the Apostles teach? The rest of the book of Acts answers that question for us. Luke writes:
• “Peter and John returned to Jerusalem, preaching the gospel in many Samaritan villages” (Acts 8:25 NIV).
• “Philip, however, appeared at Azotus and traveled about, preaching the gospel in all the towns” (Acts 8:40 NIV).
• “They preached the gospel in that city and won a large number of disciples” (Acts 14:21 NIV).
Everywhere they went, from the streets of Jerusalem to the ports of Athens, the apostles taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ. So what’s the Gospel?
What exactly do Christians mean when they talk about the “gospel of Jesus Christ”? As you may know, the word “gospel” means “good news,” so when the Apostles taught the Gospel, they were simply telling the good news about Jesus! But this news isn’t just nice news; it’s biggest, best, most life-altering news ever!
But to appreciate how good this news is, we have to start with the bad news. The bad news is: God is holy and He is just, and I’m not. And at the end of my life, I’m going to stand before a just and holy God, and I’ll be judged. And my life is full of moral and spiritual failures and faults—I’ll be sentenced to death. That’s pretty bad news. The good news of the Gospel is that Jesus lived a life of perfect righteousness, of perfect obedience to God, not for His own well being but for you and for me. He has done for me what I couldn’t possibly do for myself. But not only has He lived that life of perfect obedience, He offered Himself as a perfect sacrifice to pay the penalty for my sins. So the gospel is the message of who Jesus is and what He did. When I put my faith in Jesus, the Gospel becomes very good news to me!
Years later, the apostle Paul wrote, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes” (Romans 1:16 NIV).
The great misconception in our day is that God is wishy-washy deity, who just waves a wand of forgiveness over everybody. No. For God to forgive you is a very costly matter. It cost the sacrifice of His own Son. And the Bible makes it clear that we are saved not by our works, not by our efforts, not by our deeds, but by grace alone, through faith alone in Jesus alone. When you put your faith in Him, you’re covered in God’s grace, you’re adopted into God’s family, you’re forgiven of all of your sins, and you have begun your journey toward eternity. That’s good news!
So the first church focused on gathering together and Gospel teaching.
Furthermore, the early church focused on goodwill.
• GOODWILL
As we dig just a little further into Acts 2, we read: “all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had. They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need” (Acts 2:44-46 NLT).
What’s really amazing is that most of these early Christians had been strangers to each other just a few days before. Many of these new believers had traveled to Jerusalem for Pentecost, which was a major Jewish festival, and now they were extending their stay in order to learn the basics of the Christian faith. Displaced from their homes and businesses many of them needed financial help. There were also many Jerusalem natives that were widowed or poor who came to faith in Christ. This presented a unique and challenging financial burden.
But the Christians who did have financial resources—property and possessions—displayed generosity and goodwill to all. They made sacrifices and gave of their means in order to provide for the needs of others.
Even though our situation may be very different from theirs, we as a church and as individuals are still called to goodwill—to generously care for people in need. While many best-selling books offer advise on how to get the most out of life, God wants you to give the most in life.
Studies continually show that church-goers tend to be more willing to give to charity than non-church-goers. According to research presented on Philanthropy.com, about 75% of people who attend church frequently gave to their home church, religious charities and nonreligious ones. By comparison, fewer than half of people who said they didn’t attend church supported any charity, even a secular one.
But I think real goodwill is about more than dropping a few dollars in a collection plate. It’s a condition of the heart; it’s about compassion and empathy.
The Bible is full of commands like this one: “Share your food with the hungry, and give shelter to the homeless. Give clothes to those who need them, and do not hide from relatives who need your help” (Isaiah 58:7 NLT).
These are devastating times: 1.75 billion people are desperately poor; one billion are hungry. Underprivileged children indwell our neighborhoods and attend our schools. In the midst of it all, here we stand: you and me. So how about you? How generous are you? Do you show good will to those in need?
Again, Scripture says, “as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers” (Galatians 6:10 NIV). It doesn't matter if you have a lot to give or a little, it's the heart that matters! You never know how a small act of goodwill can draw someone closer to God.
So the early church focused on gathering, the Gospel, goodwill and—finally, the early church focused on glorifying God!
• GLORIFYING GOD
Again, Luke writes, “All the believers devoted themselves to… prayer” (Acts 2:42 NLT) and “They worshiped together at the Temple each day… all the while praising God” (Acts 2:46-47 NLT). The early church focused on glorifying God through prayer and praise. Luke says they worshipped together every day. What about you? Do you worship every day?
The word worship conjures up many thoughts in many minds, not all of which are accurate. When you think of worship, what do you think of? Outdated hymn poorly sung? Dramatic prayers laced with thees and thous? Irrelevant sermons painfully delivered? Near empty auditoriums and meaningless rituals?
In their surveys on the subject of worship, the Barna Research Group has found that the term "worship" means many things to many people. There is no single definition of the word that is common to more than one out of five adults in this country. Of the most likely definitions held by people:
• 19% related worship to expressions of praise or thanks to God
• 17% defined worship as praying to God
• 17% think it means attending church services
• 12% relate it to having a personal relationship with God
• 10% believe it to mean a particular attitude toward God
• 9% think of it as a way of living that reflects one's spiritual commitment
As I read through this list, I actually think worship is all of these things. Literally, the Hebrew word translated worship (shachah) means “to bow down.”
It reminds me of a story about Neil Marten, a member of the British Parliament, who was once giving a group of his constituents a guided tour of the Houses of Parliament. During the course of the visit, the group happened to meet Lord Chancellor Hailsham, wearing all the regalia of his office. Hailsham recognized Neil Marten among the group and cried, "Neil!" Suddenly, the entire band of visitors promptly fell to their knees!
In many ways that’s what worship is—bowing in reverence before a majestic and mighty God. But worship is also a celebration. In a Psalm of David the Bible describes worship like this: “Praise the Lord, you angels; praise the Lord’s glory and power. Praise the Lord for the glory of his name; worship the Lord because he is holy” (Psalm 29:1-2 NCV).
The essence of worship is simply this: giving God the praise he deserves. To worship is to applaud the greatness of God! And in the context of Scripture worship is both an attitude and an action. It begins as an attitude of mingled awe and reverence in our hearts toward God and then explodes into action through prayer and praise.
The Swiss Theologian Karl Barth summed it up this way: “Christian worship is the most momentous, the most urgent, the most glorious action that can take place in human life.”
Conclusion:
As we study this snapshot of the earl church life, I think a pattern and a model emerges for us: they focused on gathering, on the Gospel, on goodwill and on glorifying God.
Because the early church maintained this four-fold focus along their journey, Luke says that God continually added to their number day by day those who were being saved. In other words, more and more people joined them for their journey.
They were at the very beginning of their spiritual journey, but two thousand years later by keeping this same four-fold focus, I think it will help us stay the course on our journey, too.
Next week, we’ll continue our journey through the book of Acts.
Invitation:
In the meantime, maybe you’re looking for a place to belong, maybe you’re in need of some goodwill, or maybe you’re ready to respond to the Gospel of Jesus. In any case, I’d like to help. You can talk to me after church, call me at home, or come forward now while we stand and sing.
