Acts 2:42-47 CONNECTING WITH GOD’S FAMILY
INTRO
ANCHOR no. 2 - FELLOWSHIP - to stay strong, we must connect with God’s Family.
Life is meant to be shared. Doing life together is God’s plan from the beginning of time. From the relationship of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit in the Trinity, with the 12 apostles, the early church (Acts 2) - all shares the pattern of life together. God longs to connect all His children in loving relationship with one another.
We longs to develop lasting relationship with other people. God makes us with a need for connection. We can connect with anyone intellectually and emotionally, but a spiritual connection requires that both people have a strong relationship with God. When we connect with anyone around our work or school, we feel different from that when we connect around believers - because of our deeper beliefs, values and longings rooted in our relationship with God Himself.
God intends for us to experience life together - that’s why He has brought us together - under one umbrella called THE CHURCH. There are many "one another" commands in the New Testament because it is God’s will for us to relate with one another, especially those in His household.
Ruth Bell Graham, the wife of Billy Graham, has written a story, which she calls “The Mender.”
“He had built for himself a great house on one of the Caribbean islands. It is a thing to behold. Tall rusty iron columns, collected and resurrected with an ingenious homemade device. This Great House is a masterpiece of salvaged materials. A collector and seller of scrap metal as well as antiques, he was also fascinated with broken bits and pieces of chinaware from his front yard.
Carefully he fitted and glued the pieces together. Few ever came out whole. They remained simply a collection of one who cared. When I expressed interest, he gave me a blue-and-white plate, carefully glued together — pieces missing. ‘You remind me of God,’ I said. By the look on his face, I knew I shocked him, and I hurriedly explained. ‘God pieces back broken lives lovingly. Sometimes a piece is irretrievably lost. But still He gathers what He can and restores us.’”
This story is a parable of the church - we are an unusual collection of broken people. But God has taken us, collected the pieces of our lives, and lovingly glued them back together. By His grace, our brokenness has been transformed into something of purpose, of value, of beauty.
But this beauty exists, not just because they are being used – but more so because they are being fixed together. This little piece of mine, when attached with that broken piece of yours, and that small piece of his, and hers… formed what we see as beauty and value.
That’s the fellowship of the church. Rick Warren puts it simply, "You were formed for God’s family." Eph 1:5 In love He predestined us to be adopted as His sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will... Such a beauty can only be experienced and seen when you and I come together – like this group here - in sharing our lives together and serving our common Father in heaven.
The world gives us a different picture - we see that in TV show Survivor. On the surface, it looks like a team game. But in reality it is about the “survival of the individual”. Those in the game will say, “You are not an asset to us. You threaten us. You don’t do things the way we have always done them. You are not part of our group. We don’t like you, so we have gathered the council and voted you off our island.”
Acts 2 tells us - 44"they were together"; 46"every day they continued to meet together..." - this picture of the church was made possible because the people made the relationship with others a priority in their lives. Luke says they were DEVOTED to fellowship. God wants us to commit to the same thing today.
OUR CHURCH WILL BE LOVING AND WARM...
· The best use of your life is to LOVE OTHERS...
· The best way to love is to MAKE TIME FOR OTHERS...
(1) LIVE OUT THE LOVE OF GOD...
Make the best contribution in life - love others. Care for those in need - physically, emotionally, spiritually.
It is not about having many people – although there should be more than 3000 pp in Acts 2.
· You can have many people – but people who want to experience the love of God, but do not want to share that love with others.
· You can have people who want to be forgiven, but do not want to forgive.
· You can have people who want to live by the grace of God, while holding others accountable for their errors.
· You can have people who want God to erase their sins while they pick at other people’s faults.
During Jesus’ darkest days, the disciples were arguing among themselves. Time after time Jesus told them about His impending sacrifice for mankind – that He would be taken into the courts of His enemies and be beaten, mistreated, and eventually crucified - but yet they were not really listening - because they were so preoccupied with their little internal quarrels. Even during the very last Supper they had with Jesus, they were arguing about who was the greatest among them. They were busy taking care of themselves that they were not at all concerned about what was about to happen to Jesus. They certainly were not concerned about the people outside the room where they were eating. They were only concerned about their own position and reputation in the group.
How many understand that the church is not about you? God has brought us together to love and serve other people. Even Jesus “did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many” (Matt 20:28). His mission was not to have others serve Him, but to give His life in service for others. Should my life be any different, if I claim to be His followers?
Why does God insist that I give attention and love to you? Why do we give priority to loving one another? Because God wants His family to be known for its love, not anything else. Jesus said our love for each other - not our doctrinal beliefs - is our greatest witness to the world. John 13:35 "By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another."
So let’s live out the love of God. This love has to be intentional, and you have to get your focus off yourself. You cannot walk around with “your eye balls outside their sockets!” (looking at yourselves!).
If I’m here worrying about myself — who spoke to me and who did not; who looked at you the wrong way; who said the wrong thing or made the wrong move — of course I am going to be hurt, because my focus is entirely on myself.
Maybe that other person had a bad day or an upset stomach. Maybe they are not good at communicating. Maybe they are clueless. Maybe they just had a fight with their wife or husband before they came to church.
You can’t walk around worrying about how others are treating you, you have to walk around seeing how you can live out the love of God for someone else — how you can serve; how you can be a friend; how you can show you care — whether that love is returned to you in exactly the way you think it should be or not.
Otherwise, how will other people experience the love of God if I never live it out for them? We are to be God’s agents of love in a love-starved world.
(2) MAKE TIME FOR OTHERS
Rick Warren, author of The Purpose-Driven Life, says the "best expression of love is time."
How important some things are can be measured by how much time we are willing to invest in them. The more time you give to something, the more you reveal its importance and value to you. If you want to know a person’s priorities, just look at how they use their time.
Time is the most precious gift I can give someone, because I have only a fixed amount of it. You can make more money, but you cannot make more time. When I give something my time, I am giving them a portion of my life, and I’ll never get it back. My time is my life! That’s why the greatest gift you can give someone is your time.
It is not enough just to SAY relationships are important - we must prove it by investing time in them. Husband must make time for the wife; wife must make time for husband; parents must make time for children. Relationships take time and effort.
True love - is not what we think or do or provide for others - but how much I give of myself. How sad, if the only thing a child looks forward to - of his father’s return from a business trip - is the present he will receive, and not his father’s presence and love.
Whenever you give your time, you are making a sacrifice. That’s the essence of love, and Jesus modelled it. You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving.
Am I willing to do that for the benefit of someone else? Are you willing to spend time with him so that he will be encouraged and blessed?
START NOW
Express God’s love NOW. Relationships, not achievements or the acquisition of things, are what matters most in life. Even in busyness, I must learn not to cut back on relationships. When in heaven, God won’t ask me much about my personal achievements, my bank account, or hobbies... He will review my relationship with people, particular those in need - the poor, the needy, the hurting, the lost... Matt 10:42 "And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward."
When I return home to heaven, I’ll leave everything else behind. All I’m taking with me is my character. Gal 5:6 "For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love." Pray that I’ll spend my day loving Him and loving people - because that’s what life is all about.
· Make a point to be present each Sunday - Heb 10:25 "Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another-and all the more as you see the Day approaching."
