Real Followers Live in community, Acts 2:42-47
Eric A. Snyder, Minister, Farwell Church of Christ
January 13, 2002
A "Ziggy" cartoon recently pictured the small, pudgy man, sitting alone in a boat, drifting toward a tunnel with the sign above, "Tunnel of Meaningful Relationships." Loneliness is a growing problem in our society. A study by the American Council of Life Insurance reported that the most lonely group in America are college students. That’s surprising! Next on the list are divorced people, welfare recipients, single mothers, rural students, housewives, and the elderly.
Americans are amongst the loneliest people in the world.
I’m not talking just about divorce, we are a very mobile country.
Generally speaking you graduate from high school, move away from home for college, and then you move again for your job, and most people will switch jobs 2-3 times.
Now, there’s nothing inherently evil about this but it contributes to the loneliness in the United States, and you couple this with a high divorce rate in the country and that makes for some very lonely people.
Concert attendance has been slowly declining over the last 10 years, because people no longer want to go to concerts to get lost in a crowd.
But if you track another trend over the past 10 years you’ll see concerts down but coffee houses are up.
About a year ago the State Journal ran a piece on coffee houses check out this quote, "I come here because I like an atmosphere of busyness, I don’t like to feel like I’m alone."
One of the most watched episodes of any show this year was an episode of a show called "Friends."
A show that takes place in a coffeehouse, 5 or 6 friends in NYC just trying to make it and they spend time together.
One of the most popular shows of the 90’s was a show called Seinfeld, they said it was about nothing but it really was about a group of friends who hang out and talk about meaningless stuff.
We live in a society that is extremely lonely.
Some of you have experienced this feeling first hand and you have not wanted to complain for one reason or another
Some of youyou feel like you’re living in an endless game of keep-away.
There is an underlying sense of humiliation and shame and separation from other people.
As a country we are going to have to deal with this epidemic of loneliness.
I believe that real followers have the answers and we’re going to need to communicate those answers.
The world is definitely communicating their answers to the problem.
One solution that’s offered is to simply dull the pain of loneliness with destructive behavior (addictions and habits).
To point out how lonely people can be, Charles Swindoll mentioned an ad in a Kansas newspaper. It read, "I will listen to you talk for 30 minutes without comment for $5.00." Swindoll said, "Sounds like a hoax, doesn’t it? But the person was serious. Did anybody call? You bet. It wasn’t long before this individual was receiving 10 to 20 calls a day. The pain of loneliness was so sharp that some were willing to try anything for a half hour of companionship"
The other solution that’s offered is to get plugged in to a coffee house or bar and to simply hangout. I love hanging out, I love coffeehouses, I love having friends over to just be together. Being with friends and hanging out will satisfy a need in your life but it’s not the totality of the experience that God wants for you. God’s desire for you is to experience "community."
Real Community is "hanging out with a spiritual purpose." So, for instance, when you go bowling with some friends your hanging out (which is fine, there’s nothing wrong with that), when you come to church this is worship.
But we also need to learn to come together for an individual spiritual purpose.
Larry Crabb, "Community matters."
That’s about like saying oxygen matters. Community is essential in a healthy Church. As our lungs require air, so our souls require what only community provides.
We are designed by God (who himself is a group of three persons living in profound relationship with each other) to live in relationship.
The best way you can tell if you experience community is by answering this question:
How often during the week do I get together with people with a spiritual purpose in mind?
We are physical beings so we need to take care of ourselves physically, we’re mental so we need to sharpen ourselves mentally, but we are also spiritual so it stands to reason that we should take care of ourselves spiritually.
You can experience community any number of ways at Farwell.
Sunday morning is one way (but, that’s more to satisfy worship part of spirituality). You can become involved in a ministry team. Or you can get involved in a small group, or mid week Bible study.
I want to talk to you from the perspective of Acts 2:42-47.
Here we have the first churches and they were rapidly growing and were on fire. The Holy Spirit was moving. But we also see a group of real followers that were devoted to true community, this was a church that desired to be together with a spiritual purpose. This church was not a social club, they were not just a group of Christians that were "hanging out" they were dedicated to the things of God. So let’s read Acts 2:42-47 and find out what made this church so powerful.
Acts 2:42 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.
Check out this quote from CS Lewis, "Christ works on us in all sorts of ways…But above all He works on us through each other. Men are mirrors or carriers of Christ to other men…Usually it is those who know him that bring him to others."
We want our fellowship to have the spiritual base that I was speaking about earlier, so let’s discover what this early church knew about community and what were the qualities they possessed.
I believe that when we are involved with each other at the level I’m talking about then one of our deepest needs will be met in that moment and there will be no room in our life for loneliness.
Real Followers desire to be in God’s presence.
Often when we think of church we think of wanting to be around people, however this passage shows us that although it’s great to be in the presence of others our first priority is to be in the presence of God.
The early church understood that if you are getting together for a spiritual purpose the most important thing that can happen is to grow closer to the spirit of Christ. verses 42 and 47.
The early church prayed, read their Bibles, praised together and if we were wise we would do the same. I know that it’s great to get together but job number 1 is to grow in our relationship with God.
So we work hard to apply the Bible to our lives, we pray for people in our church that need encouragement, we do things to give praise and honor to God. We remove barriers so that we can allow God to speak to us and we do it as the early church did, together!
I love what is says in vs. 44, "all the believers were together."
Real followers desire to grow their relationship with God together.
Sometimes if I’m not careful my relationship with God can be like a persimmon. Maybe I need to explain that statement with a story.
Either I was really bored, or I had a sudden lapse in sanity.
It was my freshman year in college, and a group of my friends were in my dorm room, and we were trying to figure out what to do that night.
Should we see a movie? No. Go get desert? No. Study? NO!!! Finally, someone came up with what seemed like the perfect idea-- Why don’t we have an exotic fruit night? (Yes, I said exotic fruit night—it was a Christian College.)
With that we piled into the car and went to Meijers—where we bought all the exotic fruit we could think of. Pineapple, kiwi, star fruit, and persimmon. (I told you we were bored.) So we went up to the room, cut the fruit an sat in a circle. The deal was we would pass out a piece of fruit to every person and try it at the same time.
We started out with the pineapple, and I’m not kidding you the juices from that pineapple exploded into our mouths in a way I can’t describe, and we knew we were tasting a little bit of heaven.
This frenzy of taste sensations lasted as each fruit was passed in the circle. Then we came to the persimmon. Let me say at this point I don’t know if we had a flawed persimmon, I don’t know what the persimmon is supposed to tasted like, or what it’s used for—because after this experience I have never tasted another persimmon.
We passed the fruit around each popped it in our mouths expecting a taste explosion, but what happened next surprised everyone. That persimmon sucked every bit of moisture out of our mouths-- the next few minutes were that of chaos. Some people were gagging, others were downing gallons upon gallons of water, and others simply sat in awed silence.
Let me say that I don’t believe the apple was the forbidden fruit in the beginning with Adam and Eve, I believe it was the persimmon.
Satan wants nothing more than to suck you dry spiritually, and some of you may be there already.
Do you find yourself frustrated every time you try to start a devotional with God?
Do you feel dry or empty spiritually?
If those things are true for you I want to encourage you to get plugged into community here, where people will care about your spiritual welfare, where you can have some Bible application, and prayer.
I am always amazed at how good I feel spiritually after Sunday night discussion, it’s like drinking a big tall glass of ice water it’s refreshing.
Real Followers are dedicated to each other.
I want you to notice some of the imagery in this text
Everyone was filled with awe, all the believers were together, and every day they continued to meet together. The early church understood and wanted to be together and they were dedicated to each others needs.
If the need was physical, we’re told the early church sold their possessions and gave to anyone who had need.
If the need was spiritual this tight knit group of people would be available for that as well, to help and pray.
I heard a minister tell about how his son was born without a left hand.
One Sunday back in the children’s program the teacher was trying to illustrate the church and in order to illustrate it she folded her hands and said, "Here is the church, here is the steeple, open the doors and see all the people."
She asked the class to do it along with her, obviously not thinking about the boy’s inability to pull off the exercise.
Yet in the next moment it dawned on her what she had done but before she could say anything the boy sitting next to him said let’s do it together.
The two boys proceeded to join their hands together to make the church and the steeple.
that’s the church.
That exercise should never be done the same way again because the church is not an individual but it is made up of people interconnected in Christ.
Sometimes life throws a curve ball, and things don’t always make the most sense. Tragedies happen and they cannot be explained.
Dennis Wholey says, "Expecting the world to treat you fairly because you are a good person is a little like expecting the bull not to attack you because you are a vegetarian."
Bad news: tragedy happens.
Good news: if you are a member of the body of Christ and His church you don’t have to go through it alone.
Do you know what happens when a church loves to be around each other this much and hardship comes on one who is part of the family?
Encouragement is given, prayers are offered up, sometimes checks are written. But the body of Christ does exactly what it’s name implies and becomes Jesus to that person. Maybe you’re here today and you feel like you’re going through the ringer.
At this church and I really hope you find a group of friends who will help you in anything. So when someone gets a job promotion or a raise or if they’re pregnant or getting married, we all celebrate together. If something bad happens and they lose a job or a loved one dies, we all mourn together.
Real Followers are devoted To The Mission.
Notice the last verse in our story today. "The Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved."
The fellowship or community that I’m talking about is attractive.
Remember how lonely people are and when they see the friendships (but not just friendships) that we make and the spiritual satisfaction that we have they will be drawn like a magnet to Christ.
Notice in the passage that the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved, it’s ultimately the Lord who adds to our number.
Our job is not to be the Savior but our job is to be proclaimers.
Every day this church was in the temple courts talking to people, worshipping and sharing Christ to those who didn’t know.
God is very relational.
As a matter of fact he lives amongst three parts that are intimately involved with each other, so he communicates to us through relationships.
In true community you can see people for who they really are, people desperately in need of God’s grace.
In community you can see God for who He really is.
In community you can see the true friendships that God desires for every believer.
When people see these three things they are going to want what we have and a tide of growth will sweep this area like we’ve never seen.
You don’t have to feel lonely any more.
Do you want to be a part of a community that desires to be in God’s presence? That are dedicated to each other, and that are devoted to the mission.
Bob Russell has said, "The church exploded in growth because the people loved being together. When you get a group of people together who genuinely believe something and who really enjoy each other, it’s such a contagious atmosphere that you can’t keep people away from it. People assume that smaller churches must have better fellowship and stronger relationships because everybody knows everybody. But churches that genuinely love one another don’t stay small very long."
When God Builds a Church, Bob Russell, Howard Publishing, 2000, p. 1999
