Speaker 1: 0:00

As we start. I want to start and I want to ask you a question, and this question might sound a little weird, but I'm going to ask it have you ever fallen in love with a church? Let me ask it a different way Are you still in love with your church Now? It's a weird question. It's a weird question. It's a weird question, especially sometimes when maybe we've had bad church experiences in the past or maybe even we don't know about our church experience right now. Just follow me in this, follow me in this line of thinking. You know, falling in love we like to use that phrase, falling in love. I had a pastor one time that said love isn't something we fall into like a mud puddle. That was his favorite joke. Nobody laughed here. I didn't think it was funny either, but that's what he always said.

Speaker 1: 1:01

Falling in love, whether it's a dating relationship, a close friendship or even a new community that you're a part of, that act of falling in love can be a very powerful experience. There's energy, there's excitement, there's infatuation. But anyone here who's been in a long-term, committed relationship of one kind or another, you know that that kind of feeling it doesn't last forever and that's not a bad thing. It is meant to fade in one way or another, not because because we want it to, but because that's just reality. You get used to something and that initial excitement fades. But true love, covenant love, it's not built on excitement. No, it's built on something else. It's built and the word I'm going to use for today it is built on devotion. It's the choice to show up, to serve, to put others first. It's the choice to share life, even when it's inconvenient or not glamorous. That's the kind of love that shapes deep marriages, enduring friendships and strong churches. That's what we see in Acts 2, 42 through 47. A church that didn't just spring to life and do whatever it wanted. No, it chose to share life.

Speaker 1: 2:53

This list that we're going to look at, or this passage that we're going to look at, it's not a list of church strategies. Instead, it is a snapshot of a people who had been changed by the good news of Jesus and they were now devoted to something. They were devoted to the teaching of the apostles, who were bringing them the very words of Jesus. They were devoted to one another in care and fellowship and love. They were devoted to gathering together around the table and sharing life and fellowship, true community. This isn't a prescriptive text that tells us exactly how to do it, but instead it is a real church that put into practice the real principles of what it looks like to live for Jesus. And it exhibits itself in this devotional mindset.

Speaker 1: 4:06

Last week Pastor Ricky preached from the opening part or the earlier verses. He actually, I guess, didn't technically preach from the very beginning of chapter two, but that was kind of all encompassed. He preached about how the church began at Pentecost. It started with belief. The Spirit moved, the Word was preached and people were genuinely converted. They were transformed, they were changed, they became part of the church that first big story. And this week we are looking at what comes next. When people believe, when they truly are transformed, what kind of community forms, what kind of rhythms take shape, what kind of love do they show for each other? That's this week.

Speaker 1: 5:08

I do want to give you just a little preview, because next week we're going to jump forward. We're not going to Acts 3. Next week we're jumping forward to Acts 6. And in Acts 6, we're going to see the church begin to organize. So this week is kind of more organic and next week we're going to see more organization. Why is that? Well, we're going to see the organization. Because as the number of believers grows, as the mission expands, structure becomes necessary to care for one another and stay healthy. So you could say it like this. So this is how I said it. You could say that the early church follows this pattern, and I would say not just the early church, but all healthy churches should follow this pattern.

Speaker 1: 5:55

Belief the church is born by the Spirit. They believe, they are truly transformed by the message of the gospel. And then you have belonging the church shares life through the Spirit. And then you have building, that not physical buildings, but that the church organizes itself under the Spirit. Each step matters. A church without belief isn't a church at all. A church without shared life, just flat out, is not healthy, and a church without structure will not survive. So today's passage, the belonging stage, is where we learn how ordinary people live out extraordinary grace together. That's what we're called to do.

Speaker 1: 6:55

So I'm going to read this passage. It's a short passage, it's a super familiar passage, it's a deep and rich passage. But as I read this passage and you follow with me, I want you to ask these questions along the way, about our own church first, and then about you yourself. First of all, what kind of church are we becoming? And then, more personally, what does it look like for you personally to devote yourself to the life of this church, not as a consumer, but as a participant in something beautiful? Okay, so we're going to read this text. Follow with me as I read and remember.

Speaker 1: 7:52

This comes right after Pastor Ricky's sermon, where 3,000 souls were added that day to the church. The very next verse what did they do? It says and they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers, and awe came upon every soul and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles and all who believed were together and had all things in common, and they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all as any had need, and, day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number, day by day, those who were being saved. This is the word of the Lord. So don't be scared, but I have five points. Okay, but don't be scared. Okay, it's a short passage.

Speaker 1: 9:19

I'm not going to go deep in explaining, but I'd like you to follow me through because I think that they progress. They flow out of this big idea which I'm going to give you right now, and this big idea births a certain pathway that, remember, isn't prescriptive. It's not like you have to do it exactly like this. We Redeemer Church. We don't have to do it exactly like this, but these are good, natural outgrows of what it means to be Christians in a church together. Okay, so this is the big idea and it's this when we devote ourselves to the practices of gospel community, of gospel community, god forms us into a compelling church that draws people to himself. When we devote ourselves I'm reading it again when we devote ourselves to the practices of gospel community, god forms us into a compelling church that draws people to himself. So we're going to get started and we're going to see what the outflow of this looks like.

Speaker 1: 10:38

And so the first piece of outflow that I want to draw your attention to, as we look at what a devoted church looks like, is this is that the devoted church is formed by four practices. The devoted church is formed by four practices. You know, when we look at that word formed. I was hoping Jake was going to be here today, because Jake does something. Jake, my son is here. He likes to say the first Jake, but he's younger but he was maybe here first, but the second Jake, I was hoping he was going to be here because he does something. And, ricky, I know you want me to stay up there for the camera, but I'm coming down here anyway. And, ricky, I know you want me to stay up there for the camera, but I'm coming down here anyway. Okay, because Jake takes clay, he takes mud, and he takes it and he shapes it and he forms it into something useful, something that can contain a liquid and pour it out. Okay, this is what a devoted church does, is it is formed. Let's set this down because I don't want to break Jake's pottery. It's formed, and it's formed by, in this text, four practices. Okay.

Speaker 1: 12:18

So it says they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, the breaking of bread and the prayers. These aren't programs, these are core commitments of the Christian life together. So what did they do? Well, first of all, they devoted themselves to teaching, but not just any teaching, it wasn't just hey, we're trying to learn everything possible that we can. No, a specific teaching, specifically the teaching of the apostles, and you're like, well, but we don't have any apostles. And I'm like, well, no, but we have their teaching.

Speaker 1: 12:57

Why were the apostles unique? Well, there were a number of reasons why, but let me illustrate it like this Suppose that those cameras that I mentioned earlier, that Pastor Ricky wants me to stay up here and not walk over there so that I stay on screen, suppose they weren't on, suppose we didn't record the sermon and I preached this sermon to this small crowd and it was the only people who ever got to hear it you would be uniquely equipped to go from this place and tell people what I said. Now, calvin might go out of here and say one thing and Ricky might go out of here and say another thing, and they might not be exactly right or they might be both a little wrong or whatever, but the fact is this that as soon as you guys go out there and tell someone else, and if that person were to say what we said here, it would change a little more. You've probably played the telephone game where you pass the message along right, and it changes.

Speaker 1: 13:57

Well, the apostles weren't teaching the apostles' teaching, they were teaching Jesus' teaching because they walked with him, they sat under him, they learned his teaching, and so the words that they wrote, that we have recorded in the New Testament which, sure, not all the words were written directly by apostles, but they were written by people closely connected with the apostles and their teaching and many of them were written by apostles we have those teachings here. So we as a church ought to be devoted to these teachings. That's why, practically speaking, that's why we're teaching a class right now, on Wednesdays, where we're teaching one of these books, the book of Revelation. It's not just because, hey, we want to have a class and that's what we're supposed to do. We feel like, no, it's because we want to be devoted to these very teachings.

Speaker 1: 14:55

The next thing that they were devoted to they were devoted to fellowship, real interdependent community. You know we talk about fellowship. You'll hear it said in a lot of places in a lot of ways like, oh, we're going to get together for good fellowship and we're going to hang out and watch the sports game together, and by one definition, that's some kind of fellowship. But that's not the kind of fellowship that we're talking about here. No, we are talking about, like I said, real interdependent community where we love each other, where we care for each other, where we bear burdens for one another and when one of us needs correction, we're willing to speak the truth in love to each other, because that is what a loving body that exhibits true fellowship does they're devoted to the breaking of bread.

Speaker 1: 15:53

Now, I'm not trying to get super deep exegetically here. There are different opinions on exactly what this means and I wasn't 100% sure what my opinion was coming into this, and so Ricky's over there waiting to hear what it is. So I do think that this. I do think, after studying this out, that this is indicating coming around the Lord's table together. I do think that that is in mind. I don't think it's like super crystal clear, exactly that, it's only that. But that is central to what they are doing.

Speaker 1: 16:29

They are gathering together around the table to celebrate the Lord's Supper with each other. Because what does that mean? We do it every week. That's how our church gives feet to this example. We do it every week, except Easter, because of something, and I hope you know what that something is. Well, it reminds us, yes, of what Jesus did. It reminds us to be thankful for what he did. But we have different words. You know that we use to describe it, one of them being communion. We gather around the table together as a church community, because what we do when we gather around the table is we affirm one another in the faith. Because you know what? It wasn't easy being a Christian right after Jesus was publicly executed as a criminal. They needed each other. And you want to know something? Look around. It's not easy being a Christian here either. We need each other. And so when we gather around the table, we say, hey, we are coming to Christ together.

Speaker 1: 18:01

And next, the fourth of the four practices they devoted themselves to prayer. This is together coming to God and asking for God's empowerment, for God's wisdom like we heard about in the Proverbs this morning for God's grace, for God's mercy, for God's guidance, because you know what, without God, we might as well not be here. That's why we are starting to gather for prayer on Wednesdays. Before and I heard it was a small turnout I wasn't here, I was in Texas. That's okay. I don't want it to stay super small, but I am okay if we gather with just a handful of people to pray. But my hope is that, as we set the tone as a praying church, as we believe that God answers prayer together, that we will get together, that we will pray together, that we will take to God our needs, that we would ask him for his strength and his wisdom and his guidance. Because you know what church, if we have any hope of seeing verse 41 happen in the Bay Area, it's not going to happen unless we're praying. It's not going to happen unless we're praying. It's not going to happen unless we're asking God for it.

Speaker 1: 19:42

Let's look at the next, how this flows out. Because what happens next in verse 43? Well, it says this flows out. Because what happens next in verse 43? Well, it says and awe came upon every soul and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. So the devoted church is marked by awe. And you might say well, you just told us we don't have apostles, we have the bible, but the bible's not doing wonders and signs. But you know what it does contain wonders and signs. But here's the thing Is, sometimes we think well, if I was around back then and I saw all the things that were happening, you know it would be different and I saw all the things that were happening, you know it would be different.

Speaker 1: 20:37

We are filled with the same Holy Spirit that filled these saints on the day of Pentecost, and we should have every expectation that the things that we see happen here as we gather and then out there as we scatter. We should have every expectation that God is going to do miraculous, amazing things. That's why, when I say, if we have any thought that verse 41 can happen in the Bay Area, that we need to be praying, we need to also believe that it can happen. In case you don't have your Bible in front of you, verse 41, that's the verse where it says so those who received his words were baptized and there were added that day about 3,000 souls. I believe that can happen even in this place. And you know what? This is a hard place. This is a hard place. It's a hard place to do ministry. It's a hard place to be a Christian. It is a hard place. But God is powerful and I believe it and I know you believe it too, but sometimes we just don't act like it. So, as a church, we want to act like it. We want to be a church that is devoted and a church that is marked by awe, that we look out and acknowledge the things that God is doing and be excited about them. Next, the devoted church shares life and resources. It says and all who believed were together and had all things in common.

Speaker 1: 22:31

Now, these verses can sometimes be confusing. You can look at them and say is this teaching like communism or something? And no, that's not what it's teaching. And remember, remember, this is not prescriptive, meaning it's not giving us a manual for what we should do it like. So I'm not telling you guys to go sell all your stuff, bring all your money, and we'll do it together. That's not what I'm saying. But what I am going to tell you that this text teaches us is that we, as Christians that are part of this church together, as Christians that are part of this church together, that we should joyfully and voluntarily practice generosity that flows out of the shared identity that we have in Christ.

Speaker 1: 23:30

Look, generosity means a couple things, okay. Well, it means one thing, but it has natural outflowing Generosity. If I'm going to give you a definition, it's just being willing to share what you have. But what does it look like? Like practically nuts and bolts. Well, it looks like being willing to come and to show up and to help when we as a church decide that, hey, we're going to do this thing, let's do it, let's show up, let's be there, because you see, this devoted church right here, they didn't just add these things to their daily life. No, in fact, this church right here, they actually reordered their daily life so that they could do these things.

Speaker 1: 24:19

I don't want to don't mishear me. I am not trying to bind your conscience and make you feel like, oh, we have to do all of this. I am saying this is what a church looks like, that we do these things together, that we give generously, and so, yes, that means generously of our time, generously of our energy, of our labor. It also means generously of our finances. The reality is is we don't preach a lot on giving? Okay, why don't we preach a lot on giving? Well, because we generally preach through books of the Bible and it's only there. When it's there, you know you might be sometimes in other churches where you know they just preach on topics and it's like, oh, the offerings are kind of down, let's preach on giving, and okay, that's how other churches may do it. But I'm going to just be plain with you.

Speaker 1: 25:10

The reality is is that our church, the heritage of our church, the earlier in our church history, the church designated money for church planting and that money, that pool of money, is still supporting our church and that can't go on forever. The reality is, is we need from just a financial standpoint, we need to bear this burden together Ministry life all of this is expensive, it takes finances and we need to give generously towards that. The devoted church lives with joyful consistency. Verse 46 says and day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they receive their food with glad and generous hearts. So I've kind of had, with each of these kind of points, a outworking of kind of how we try to do this at Redeemer Church.

Speaker 1: 26:24

For the most part, the I didn't have one for fellowship and I and here we are now with this this day by day, and the reason why I didn't do it is because we kind of do these things together. So this is not the only way. This is not the exclusive way and it definitely shouldn't be the only and exclusive way. But one of the ways we do this is through community groups. We gather together in homes almost every week. This is real life. I mean, we have rhythms and we have things that come up, like my community group, I don't. I think actually both of our community groups are off for basically the month of June, maybe at the end of June, I don't know. But you know, life happens, vacations happen, these things. This is real life. But in our regular rhythm of church life, we gather in homes, we share a meal together, we pray for each other, we love each other, we care for each other because we need to and we need space to do that. This isn't the best space for it. I mean, I'm up here talking towards you and you're listening. You know we're not having an open, interactive dialogue, and that's okay. That's not what this time is, but we need space and time and place for that. So if you're not regularly a part of a community group, I deeply, strongly encourage you get connected. It's a great place to actually get to know the people in church. So that's my strong encouragement to you Come and to participate.

Speaker 1: 28:07

Finally, verse 47. The devoted church becomes a compelling witness. Verse 47 says Praising God and having favor with all people, and the Lord added to their number, day by day, those who were being saved. So they grew right, because they were having a VBS every summer, or because they were going door to door, knocking on all the doors, or they had a s'mores night or a Memorial Day picnic, or they sent out flyers, or they made a new logo or they put a bell up on their bell tower. No, that's not what it says Doesn't mean we don't do those things. No, we obviously don't. I just listed a bunch of things that we either do or we may aspire to do one day. It doesn't mean we don't seek to actively proclaim the gospel and we do. That's been a big part of like kind of our vision casting as a church is that we want to be a church that's embedded in and reaching out to the Dakota community. That's a huge part of who we are, but in the end, we're basically inviting them to come through the door and to see our community, them to come through the door and to see our community.

Speaker 1: 29:35

And I am just saying this Look, christians, we can fight. I told you, I went to the SBC and you know what? It was really nice to be at this year's SBC because, in my opinion, though there were people that disagreed, they behaved primarily like Christians, and that was really exciting, because other SBCs that I've been to sometimes they're not behaving like Christians and there's some pretty hard things said and it's like this is embarrassing. But this year I thought it was pretty good, unless I missed something and I there was like a couple of sessions that I missed, so maybe there was something bad that happened. So if you go like look on Twitter or whatever Twitter is called now, and you see something different, don't blame me. I might've not been there for that part. But here's the thing as Christians, yes, people will say, well, christians fight all of this stuff will say, well, christians fight all of this stuff. But most of the people this is anecdotal. I don't have a study to back up this statement I am telling you on my own personal experience and stories that I have heard, most people that come to faith in Christ Don't come from one gospel presentation.

Speaker 1: 30:59

Most people who come to Christ don't do it in the way that you hear it in this Pentecost, where like, hey, there's the sermon and 3,000 people believe. That doesn't seem to be the normal experience in real life in our day. No, what happens is someone has a friend who loves them, who cares for them, who's a part of their life, who shows up at their kids' soccer games or has them over for dinner or you know just serves as a true friend. And part of that true friendship, they urge that friend to believe in Jesus. And you know what? Usually they don't believe the first time. Sometimes it's multiple friends, you know. Sometimes one person's breaking the ground, another person's planting the seed, another one's watering, and then someone gets to harvest.

Speaker 1: 32:02

But the reality is this that the kind of community that is possible in Christ is only possible in Christ. The kind of love that we can have for each other in this room, that I believe we do have for each other in this room, we only have that in Christ. Look around the room. Who expects a group that looks like us to hang out in real life, like seriously, like you know, if you're in your 20s, you usually hang out with people in your 20s, not people in their 70s. If you're, you know, a family with young kids, you usually hang out with families with young kids. If you're a single adult, you usually hang out with other single adults. If you're a 14-year-old teenager, you usually hang out with other teenagers. But you know what you guys come into this room every single week and you gather together despite the fact that, humanly speaking, there's no reason why you should be in this room together except because of Christ. And so the community that we exhibit, that we practice, is compelling because we have true love for each other. And when people outside can see that love, they find that compelling because that kind of love doesn't exist outside of Christ.

Speaker 1: 33:44

The big idea, remember, is this when we devote ourselves to the practices of gospel community, to the practices of gospel community, god forms us into a church that draws people to themselves. The early church didn't build itself on marketing staff or programs. It built itself on devotion, spirit-filled, ordinary, shared life. So I'm just asking you, I'm going to ask you this weird question that sounds, on the surface, potentially self-serving Are you devoted to Redeemer Church? Are you devoted? Let me say, are you devoted to me? That's our covenant. If we are members, we are devoted to each other, not because you know what, like I love this leader, or I love the like and I just no, because we genuinely, in Christ, love each other. Not because I'm good, not because you're good, not because anybody in here is good, but because Christ is good, and in Christ we know that we need each other to pick each other up and carry us along in what gospel community looks like. So, yes, that question sounds weird, but that's what it means to be partnered together, to be devoted, to be a church devoted to the God, the triune God who saved us.

Speaker 1: 35:46

Let's pray, heavenly Father, thank you. Thank you that we look at this text here and we see within it an example. We don't see a prescriptive rule of how to do it all. We see an example of what it looks like to follow Jesus faithfully, to be devoted. So help us, god. Help us to give, to show up, to serve, to share. Help us to love one another. Help us to, as our covenant as a community calls on us, help us to be truly devoted to one another, to care for each other, to bear each other's burdens. God, make us a faithful, devoted church. It's in Jesus' name we pray, amen.