Larry C. Brincefield
larkayb@earthlink.net
April 6, 2003, Sunday Evening
Title: What we believe...about the Church
Text: Acts 2:42-47
Introduction
We have been talking about the various doctrines of the Nazarene Church.
Tonight, we come to Article 11, the Doctrine of the Church
But instead of listening to me preach a sermon tonight...
Imagine that we are all TV sportscasters standing on the sidelines of a football game to give the play-by-play.
Scene #1:
The team nearest us is standing together, heads bowed in prayer, with the coach in the center.
Suddenly they give a great cheer, and the coach trots out onto the field by himself.
The players go sit on the bench.
"What’s going on?" we ask as we stick a microphone in front of a 250 pound guard. "What’s the coach doing out there?"
"Oh, he’s going to play today.", he says.
"All by himself?", we ask.
"Sure, why not? He’s had a lot more experience and training than the rest of us.
We’ve got a lot of rookies on this team, and we might make mistakes.
Anyway, they pay the coach well.
We’re all here to cheer and support him--and look at the crowd that’s come to watch him play!"
Surprized, we watch as the opposing team kicks off.
The coach catches the ball.
He valiantly charges upfield, but is buried under eleven opposing tacklers.
He’s carried off only half- conscious.
Sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it?
But that is how many churches are.
The members expect the minister to do the preaching, praying, witnessing, and visiting because he’s paid to do the Lord’s work and he’s better trained.
But God gives leaders to the church,
not to do all the work,
but to help all of God’s people to do it!
Lay people are not there simply to pay pastors and evangelists to do the Lord’s work.
Instead, Pastors & Evangelists are to equip the lay people to be ministers!
Your pastor is intened to be a kind of playing coach.
Now look at Scene #2:
The team realizes they’ve all got to play, so they’re on the field in a huddle.
They huddle...and huddle...and huddle.
The referee calls a penalty for delaying the game and moves the ball back five yards.
Still the team huddles, huddles, and huddles.
The referee calls penalty after penalty, until finally the ball is moved all the way back to their own goal line.
"Hey coach!" shouts the quarterback to the sidelines.
"This is the greatest huddle I’ve ever been in.
What a group of guys!
We have the best fellowship...
and some of these guys are amazing students of the play book.
Some have memorized over a hundred plays and can analyze them precisely.
We learn so much in this huddle!"
The Coach replies, "But why don’t you get up on the line and play?"
"Why should we? What we want are bigger and better huddles! Besides, we might get hurt. No one ever got hurt in a huddle!"
The church is in big trouble if it becomes a "holy huddle"...
a band of saints gathered Sunday after Sunday,
singing,
praising,
and enjoying each other--
but never getting out of the huddle and applying what they learn.
The church is supposed to be Christ’s body--
his hands, his feet, his voice--
we are the means by which He carries out His plans in the world.
God intends that "through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known" (Eph 3:10).
The church is to be God’s light in a dark, corrupt society.
The Christian life was never meant to be lived only in church for a couple of hours on Sunday.
It’s meant to be lived out in the world
at school,
at the office,
and in the neighborhood,
seven days a week.
Of course, we need worship and training and fellowship with other Christians--
just like a football team needs the huddle.
But the important thing is what happens after the huddle.
Here’s scene #3:
the team breaks out of the huddle.
But instead of lining up against the opposing squad,
they break into 2 or 3 groups,
arguing with each other.
Soon they start shoving,
and two of them actually get into a fight.
"What’s wrong now?" we ask as one of them walks off the field in disgust.
He says, "We can’t agree on anything,".
"Those two over there are arguing over the color of the uniforms.
A couple of others are fighting over the right way to kneel in the huddle.
Those two guys are arguing because one believes in what he calls ’personal’ football, and not organized football.
They can’t agree whether the individual or the team is more important.
Some of the white players say the blacks should go play on their own field,
and some of the black guys don’t like the band music.
A couple are fighting over whether women should be allowed to play.
And I’m quitting because I can pass a lot better than that other guy, and they won’t let me be the quarterback."
God’s Game Plan for the Church says that Christ "is our peace"...
Can the world see that peace in our church relationships?
Within the Church, there is plenty of room for different people with different gifts,
but underlying that diversity is a spirit of unity.
So the first half ends.
The team drags off to the locker room
defeated,
demoralized,
beaten.
But when the second half begins, we see a different team.
Suddenly they’re playing together with a new spirit.
They huddle, slap each other on the back, and take the line.
They’re off the ball with split-second timing,
there is no hesitation,
they all know where they’re going
and what they are doing.
Each player carries out his assignment,
and soon they score a touchdown,
then another,
and another.
When the game ends, they’ve won!
Afterwards in the locker room the players are exhausted, cut and bruised, but they’re happy.
"What happened at halftime to change this team?" we ask, the coach.
The coach explains, "We were sitting here beaten
and suddenly a kind of presence seemed to come over us.
I started talking to the players,
pointing out my mistakes,
and theirs,
and they started talking.
Everyone was honest.
Nobody blamed the others.
We took a good look at ourselves.
Then someone recalled that the Great Coach,
the one who invented the game,
also wrote the Master Game Plan.
Wouldn’t it make sense to see what he said?"
We remembered how he literally gave himself to get the game started and to teach that first team everything he knew.
So we got out the original Game Plan
and read about basics such as each player knowing his place and dedicating himself to it,
about pulling together,
about being willing to sacrifice,
knowing the purpose of the game,
and using the proper equipment that he designed.
"Well, we got real quiet.
It felt as if the Great Coach was with us,
as if somehow his Spirit got inside us.
Suddenly, we were up!
Motivated!
Ready to go!
We can’t take the credit.
It goes to Him!"
(I got this illustration from www.sermonillustrations.com however, it was uncredited. So I don’t know who the original author is)
Read Text: Acts 2:42-47
The book of Acts tells about the early church
and how it began to grow
and how it began to impact the world for Jesus Christ.
We would do well as a Church to study the book of Acts...
The Book of Acts is not only about how the Church developed in its earliest days...
but it also helps us see what the Church can and should be today!
Acts makes it clear that the success was not due to any human effort,
but the success came because of the power of the Holy Spirit.
As I read in Acts about the early church,
it makes my heart hungry to see that kind of power come upon our church and our people.
I want God to come in a mighty way upon us so that many people find Jesus Christ as a result of a spirit-filled church.
I encourage you to read the book of Acts
and begin to hunger for that kind of experience for our church.
This passage of Scripture I just read is a good picture of what the Church of today should be like.
Let me hit the highlights from this passage of Scripture:
Body
1. They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching Acts 2:42 (NIV)
The early church devoted themselves to the Apostles’ teachings.
By the same token, we need to devote ourselves to Apostle’s teachings.
We need to devote ourselves to become better students of the Bible.
2. They devoted themselves to ...fellowship Acts 2:42 (NIV)
We seem to do this so well!
Have you noticed how when we sing the fellowship song on Sunday Mornings?
How much we love to visit and shake hands with one another?
How we love to have afterglows?
How we like to hang around after church and visit?
How we love to eat and visit?
We need to devote ourselves even more to fellowship.
Fellowship can be evangelistic in nature!
We can reach new families through fellowship!
3. They devoted themselves to ...the breaking of bread Acts 2:42 (NIV)
Scholars indicate that this is talking about more than just sharing a meal together...
it is talking about sharing the Lord’s Supper....
which goes back to our worship.
Worship has a sense of expectancy.
Worship is the atmosphere where a spiritual miracle can take place.
We need to come in to worship expecting God to do something great in our life.
Worship has a sense of involvement.
Worship is not a spectator sport.
You don’t come to church to watch other people worship.
You come to church to worship for yourself.
We need to devote ourselves to worship.
When people come into this church,
they need to feel like they are coming into the very presence of God Himself.
They need to feel Him standing near.
4. They devoted themselves ...to prayer Acts 2:42 (NIV)
We focus a lot of attention on prayer.
Our church has several prayer ministries.
I encourage you to be a part of them.
Prayer is the catalyst the causes good things to happen.
Prayer is the key.
We need to devote ourselves even more to prayer.
5. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Acts 2:44 (NIV)
They had unity
They had harmony
They didn’t have everything in common in the sense that there weren’t any differences...
they all had Jesus
and the desire to love one another.
and that was enough.
6. they gave to anyone as he had need Acts 2:45 (NIV)
They were good stewards...
they were involved in ministering to people’s needs.
7. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts Acts 2:46 (NIV)
They were faithful in their Church attendance.
When people hunger to be in God’s House...
God will come in a special way...
and the Church will grow!
8. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts Acts 2:46 (NIV)
They enjoyed a true friendship with one another.
This brings us back to our vision...
Loving God...Reaching Families...MAKING FRIENDS!
9. They enjoyed praising God Acts 2:47 (NIV)
They gave the glory to Who it belonged!
God was the one who had made all the great things happen in the early church...
and He is the One Who will make it happen in our church!
Conclusion
This passage of Scripture also points out what happens when the Church does these things...
1. Everyone was filled with awe Acts 2:43 (NIV)
people stood up and took notice.
And people were deeply moved...
2. many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles Acts 2:43 (NIV)
When the Church is obedient to God’s plan...
God is faithful!
He will come in miraculous and supernatural ways!
3. And perhaps the most impressive result, "And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved". Acts 2:47 (NIV)
If we devote ourselves to these things,
I am convinced that God will do mighty and wonderful things in our church.
He will do things that we cannot do.
Things will happen in this place that could not happen, unless God was in them.
