The Church as a Devoted Community
(Second in the series: The Core Characteristics of the Church)
Acts 2:36-47
In Matthew 13 Jesus tells a series of stories (actually, parables) about the nature of the kingdom of heaven. One of them is called the Parable of the Mustard Seed and it goes like this:
The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. Though it is the smallest of all your seeds, yet when it grows, it is the largest of garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and perch in its branches.
Matthew 13:31-32
Most scholars agree that this parable is about how the church would begin small, with only a few people and with little or no organization, no property, etc, but would grow to be quite large. It would become far-reaching in its scope and complex in its organization.
Looking back over 2000 years of Christian history, we can easily see that this is true.
Some scholars go on to say that birds in this parable represent bad things. (I’m not sure this is the correct interpretation, but it does serve to bring out a point.) They refer to the birds of the air in the earlier parable of the sower (given first in this series of seven parables) where the birds come and eat the seed before it has time to sprout. Jesus says that the birds represent the evil one.
The idea here would be that as the church grows into a large, established, organized institution, there would be the tendency for it to attract people who are insincere, or to adopt ideas that are short of truth, or to begin projects that do not represent its primary mission.
Again, as we look back over 2000 years of Christendom, we can see that this has been true.
Our Forbears—the eight men and women who bravely stepped into the Eder River in Germany 295 years ago and launched the movement that would eventually become the Church of the Brethren—would have understood this parable.
Those eight souls, led by Alexander Mack, were disillusioned with what the church in their time had become. The broke away, never wanting to begin another denomination—they were no doubt wise enough to realize that if they did start another denomination, it would eventually become much like the ones they were leaving.
Instead of founding some new organization, they simply wanted to be obedient to Jesus. They wanted, as much as possible, to rediscover the heart and soul the New Testament Church. They believed that what God placed in the midst of the first believers represented exactly what he desired for his church through out all ages.
For this reason, the Brethren Movement, and others like it, have been referred to as a restoration movement, rather than reformation movement. The great church leader Martin Luther (whom I greatly admire) set out to reform the existing church, thus we call the work that he launched, the Protestant Reformation.
Mack and his seven followers had no intention of reforming the existing church—they desired to restore primitive (that is in the sense of original) Christianity as God first intended it.
Of course they were idealistic.
Of course they made mistakes.
But that original intent—to rid ourselves of the cumbersome structures that hinder us and from the busyness that distracts us—and to return to the basics—this concern, lies at the heart of who we are.
It is this vision—of being a truly New Testament Church—that has kept me Brethren through the years.
Unfortunately, we have largely lost this vision. It is actually carried more authentically today by other groups in the Christian Church. That is one reason why I’m excited about our study of Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire. The cry of Cymballa’s heart resonates with mine and with the heart of authentic Brethren heritage—lets get back to doing the things God really cares about—the things he has designed his people to be and do. This, and only this, is what brings life in a dying world and vitalization to an institution.
Throughout our Lenten season, I want to address what I believe are some of the core characteristics of the church AS GOD DESIRED IT TO BE.
The best and most concise description of the first generation of Christian believers is given in Acts 2:42-47. In this short though poignant passage, are five key words that serve to describe this community. They are:
Devoted (2:42)
Filled (2:43)
Together (2:44)
Praising (2:47)
Added Daily (2:47)
You might say, but this was so long ago. Surely the world has changed, calling for new innovations.
Absolutely; yet the core of who we are—the spiritual DNA as it were—must remain the same or else we become something other than what we were intended to be.
Consider DNA for example. In recent decades we have discovered that in every cell of any living thing is embedded the code that defines the creature. That is way, at least in theory, if we have but one living cell of any living creature, we can recreate the entire organism. The hugely successful movie, Jurassic Park, was built upon this assumption.
In the same way, the core characteristics, the essential qualities, that we see in the primitive church must remain in the DNA of the church forever, or it ceases to be the church.
On Being Devoted
For the remainder of our time today, I want to address this first core quality, focused for us by the word devoted.
Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary defines “devote” like this:
1 : to commit by a solemn act (devoted herself to serving God)
The early believers were devoted; they were committed, sold out to Jesus.
This devotion, says Luke in 2:42, was lived out in four specific ways.
They were devoted to the apostles teaching
The first apostles enjoyed a unique place among the early believers, being persons chosen by God, trained by Jesus, and given the awesome responsibility of laying down the foundation upon which the church would be built.
We have no one alive today who holds this same status. However, we do have the Bible, the Word of God, which includes the teachings of the Apostles.
In today’s vernacular, to be devoted to the apostles teaching would be to be devoted to the Word of God, the Bible and the message it contains.
Christians are people of the Book. Why? Because in its message is life, health and happiness. To live by the precepts of the Bible is to live free from guilt and heartache.
The reading of, study of, preaching of, the Bible and its message is the bedrock of Christian belief. It is embedded in the DNA of the faith and the church. To depart from this is disaster.
Do you want to be happy, blessed, and successful in God’s eyes?
Do you want your children to grow into respectable, God-fearing individuals?
Do you want the strength to live above the evils of this world?
Be devoted the to apostles teaching. Take it up, read it and obey it.
Don’t elevate the Bible above the One of whom it speaks. In other words, we don’t worship the Bible—we worship only God as he has revealed himself as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. But we receive the Bible as the primary trustworthy source of our knowledge about God and as such, we are devoted to its message.
They were devoted to the fellowship
Fellowship, what an unusual word.
When we think of this word, our mind conjures up images of pot luck lunches wherein the church sits around talking more about the weather, or football, or the latest car, or whatever—almost everything except the One hold binds us together.
Although potlucks and other fun events help us get to know one another (and as such are useful. The Early Church seemed to eat together—see v. 46.), biblical fellowship is something else altogether. The true fellowship of Christians is more like that of soldiers who are molded together for life because they have waged war side by side in the foxholes of battle.
Recently this word—fellowship—has been in the headlines of our daily experience, thanks to the popular movie adaptations of J. R. R. Tolkin’s Lord of the Rings trilogy.
In the first book and movie, entitled, Fellowship of the Ring, J.R.R. Tolkien describes the camaraderie of a diverse group of people who came together around a central purpose. Called "the fellowship of the ring," their goal is to destroy the power of the Dark Lord that is somehow resident in his ring. The persons in this fellowship are different in many ways, yet they are united in their opposition of the Dark Lord. That is the source of their fellowship.
The reason the fellowship of the church is so weak today is not because we do not have enough fellowship events. Rather our weak fellowship is due to the lack of time we spend together doing the hard work of the kingdom, sharing time as it were in the foxholes of ministry, together making a difference in the lives of the hurting people of our world.
And by a foxhole of ministry, I do not mean merely serving on a committee. I mean, getting in touch with people who are hurting and broken. More likely your fellowship will increase if you commit to sharing the work of the prayer team, or the DivorceCare ministry or the Hospitality House, or teaching SS, or leading a small group. These are ministry opportunities that place you in touch with one another on the level of shared ministry.
If you are feeling lonely, join hands with a few other believers and engage in some work for God, and you will soon learn what real fellowship is all about.
Soldiers in battle will die for each other, so strong is their sense of community and fellowship. In this broken world of ours, many people hunger for a human connection that mean that much to them.
Christian fellowship binds us together in a community unlike anything the world as to offer.
They were devoted to the breaking of bread
The reference later in this text to “breaking bread in their homes” is a rather clearly a reference to sitting tighter for a meal in another person’s house.
The reference here, sandwiched between the apostles’ teaching, fellowship and prayer, seems to suggest that this is a more specific, even churchy, use of the phrase.
I believe it has reference to the believers’ firm commitment—their devotion, as it were—to carrying out the simple commands of Jesus. One of the most basic of his commands is to remember his death and resurrection by the sharing of communion.
They were sold out to Jesus, devoted to him, and thus regularly, routinely, obeyed his command to share in his life through the rite of Holy Communion.
When is the last time you took communion? You will have opportunity in a few weeks, as we will celebrate this rite on Thursday evening of Holy Week.
I do not believe there is any magic in Holy Communion. In other words, if you come to Love Feast with a heart that is hard—you are not focused on Jesus, you do not know him or seek him. You will be exactly the same afterward—No, I take that back. You will probably be even more lost and lonely. Why do I say this? I say this because; it is a dangerous thing to treat the blood of Jesus with contempt. See Hebrews 10:29.
But I do not also believe that the bread and the cup are nonsense, or that there is no spiritual significance in them.
What I believe is that for the person coming to Communion with a heart soft toward God, seeking him, repentant and open to his grace, such a persons receives grace upon grace and leaves fortified for life in this hostile world.
Spiritual renewal, being grafted into the vine of Jesus, enjoying his life embedded in ours, is in the DNA of Christian relationship.
If it is not in your life, and if it is not in the life of the church, we are no longer Christian.
They were devoted to prayer
The early believes were sold out to prayer. Do I need to say more?
I am gratified with the over 100 persons committed to the Epaphras Connection prayer ministry of the our church. Wow!
We will continue to mold prayer into every aspect of our lives, not as substitute for action, but as the foundation upon which all action is based.
Conclusion
The first believers were devoted.
Sold out to Jesus.
They devoted themselves. In other words, you begin by an act of your will.
Devotion to God and his word marks true Christianity.
Devoted to truth, ministry, obedience and prayer.
We often wonder why we are weak.
Why we work so hard only to be set back
Why life seems to be empty, a rat race.
Why loneliness prevails.
The answer lies in our devotion.
To what can it be said that you are devoted?
To what will it be said that we as a church are devoted?
Let’s put the DNA of our life, individually and collectively, under God’s microscope and see if it includes devotion to truth, ministry, obedience and prayer.
