WHAT IS THE CHURCH?
Unchanging Faith ❧ Part 18
Acts 2:42-47 ❧ Pastor, Dr. John Denney
This morning we’re going to dive into the ninth topic in our series Unchanging Faith: What Is The Church? This seems like an easy one, but it really isn’t. There are a lot of confusing ideas about what the Church is. The only reliable answer to our question is the Bible. Jesus said, I will build My Church (Matthew 16:18). The Church is not ours; it belongs to Jesus. I want to look at the basics of what the Bible says the Church is.
The other day I was reminded of the legendary football coach Vince Lombardi. Known for his toughness, rookies and veterans alike feared him. It is said that at the start of every season, he would gather the players around for the first meeting of the preseason. There, he would give his famous “This is a Football” speech. Author Bob Kimbrell’s “Book on Management” summarizes this preseason meeting: “All the players knew that at the first team meeting, the legendary coach would waste no time getting straight to the point. Many of the men, half Lombardi’s age and twice his size, were openly fearful, dreading the encounter. The coach did not disappoint them, and, in fact, delivered his message in one of the great one-liners of all time. Football in hand, the great coach walked to the front of the room, took several seconds to look over the assemblage in silence, held out the pigskin in front of him, and said, “Gentlemen, this is a football.”
The story goes that Lombardi constantly stressed fundamentals. After holding up the football as though they had never seen one and describing its importance; He would then take the team outside and show them the field. He’d point out the out-of-bound lines and the end zones. Then, he would remind the players that the football is to go across the end zone line.
When it comes to the Church, I find God does much the same thing – He constantly stresses the fundamentals. He paints a lot of pictures for us throughout the NT to remind us of who we are and what we’re about. Theologian Paul Minear says there are ninety-six images and analogies used in the NT to refer to the Church. When God says something 96 times, He’s saying, “Don’t forget, this is important.”
This morning I want to take us to one of those passages in Scripture that remind us of the fundamentals of what the Church is. Turn with me to Acts 2:42-47. As I read these six verses, see if you can hear the defining marks of what the Church is. Did you catch them? I see five of them: fellowship, discipleship, worship, ministry, evangelism. We see them repeated throughout the NT. They are commanded by Jesus in the Great Commandment and Great Commission, explained by Paul in Ephesians 4, described in Jesus’ prayer for the church in John 17, and modeled by the first church in Jerusalem. They’re not new. They’ve been around for two thousand years.
One of the clearest images the Bible paints for us of the church is found in Acts 2:42-47. From these six verses we can learn what the Church is by what it does. They form the habits or the vital signs of what every healthy Church exhibits. There are, in fact, five of them. We’re going to look at just three of them.
- Growing closer through fellowship. They were continually devoting themselves to. . . fellowship. . .and all who believed were together. . . they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart(Acts 2:42,44,46). One of the marks of the early Church was investing in relationships with other believers. They continually devoted themselves… fellowship. That is they made a deliberate decision to live life together – and it wasn’t just on Sunday’s. They came together throughout the week. When it came time to eat, no one went home, no one ate alone. Instead they ate together with gladness and sincerity of heart. You get the sense there was as much talking and laughter going on around the table as there was eating! People felt genuinely welcomed and wanted.
Do you know what the number once source of their joy was? God’s presence. Each one had received the gift of God the Holy Spirit within them and a new life of God’s forgiveness and hope (2:38). Two of the most common descriptions I’ve heard people share time and again in our church family is, “I feel God’s presence,” and “I feel at home.” The Church is not just another gathering of people. It’s the gathering of God’s family filled with God’s Spirit.
One of the first things God pointed out that was not good in the Garden of Eden was it was not good for man to be alone. God created a world of relationships. We created a world of loneliness. The first responsibility of every believer is to build relationships. Christ not only gives us the ability to have a new relationship with God, but new relationships with other people as well.
In Nineteenth century British History, two figures loomed large on the landscape: William Gladstone and Benjamin Disraeli. It was said that when you dined with Gladstone, you thought that you were WITH the most interesting, brilliant, and dazzling conversationalist. And it was said that when you dined with Disraeli – an equally charismatic figure – you felt that you WERE the most interesting, brilliant, and dazzling conversationalist. When you stepped into the Community Church of Jerusalem you didn’t just feel as though you were WITH the most important people, you felt as though you WERE the most important person.
One of the constant temptations many believers struggle with when we come together is the desire to avoid people they don’t know. When we do, we send a message that says you’re not important. People are lonelier today than ever. They need welcoming churches. The reason a lot of cults are so successful at attracting a following is because they know people are hungry to feel connected. One of the main reasons people never feel connected in a church is because no one ever makes them feel like they’re the most important person there. When’s the last time you went out of your way to meet someone new? Invite them to lunch? Meet them for coffee? Give them a hand with a project? First habit – growing closer through fellowship.
- Growing wiser through discipleship. They continually devoted themselves to the apostles teaching. . . (Acts 2:42). This is a personal ongoing commitment to learn and apply God’s Word in order to become more like Christ. They did not do this because they had to but because they wanted to; they were hungry to learn and grow in God’s Word. It’s one of the marks of genuine faith. The Bible calls this maturity. We are not to remain as children, but to grow up in every way in Christ. God says this is for your own good. In Ephesians 4 it says when we are full grown in the Lord we will no longer be like children, forever changing our minds about what we believe because someone has told us something different or has cleverly lied to us and made the lie sound like the truth. Instead, we will lovingly follow the truth at all times—speaking truly, dealing truly, living truly—and so become more and more in every way like Christ who is the Head of his body, the Church. (Eph. 4:14-16, TLB). This growing process is called discipleship. True discipleship is not about learning new information but growing in transformation.
One of the deep need’s discipleship meets in our lives is it gives a plan for fulfillment in life. One of the worst times of my life was shortly after I graduated high school. I framed houses, built forms for foundations, made pizza’s, loaded semi-trailers. But no matter what I did I was aimless and miserable. It wasn’t until I got serious about following Christ that my life started to make sense; I felt like was doing what I was made for. I knew my life was on the path to fulfillment. But it didn’t just happen. I had to learn to follow by faith, leaving my comfort zones behind and stepping into a whole new life. I literally had to learn to look through life with my new spiritual eyes rather than my eyes of flesh.
Neurologists tell us that people who are born blind and then gain their sight back literally have to learn how to see. Even though they are now able to see shapes and colors, they can’t interpret what they see because they are mentally blind. They refuse to see because the new world of sight is so different than what they’ve always known. They leave the visual world and go back to the tactile one – the one they can feel rather than visualize. They return to old habits and behaviors. They are now the seeing blind.
When you came to Christ, God gave you the ability to see spiritually. You’re no longer walking in the dark. Sometimes we’re like the blind man learning to see for the first time. And like the blind man you have to keep learning to see. The moment you stop intentionally learning, you begin to unconsciously slip back into old habits and behaviors. You become the seeing blind. Do you want to know the best way to keep your sight clear? Make a commitment to be in a church where God’s Word is being rightly taught. Invest some time each day to reading and learning God’s Word. Help someone else learn to see. Get together with them for the express purpose of showing them what God is showing you. Second habit, growing wiser through discipleship.
- Growing stronger through worship. They continually devoted themselves to . . . the breaking of bread and prayer . . . praising God(Acts 2:42, 47). Worship is probably one of the most misunderstood aspects of the church, even though the concept of worship dominates the Bible. In Genesis Adam and Eve fell because they failed to worship God. In Revelation of history concludes with all of God’s people worshiping Him for eternity. From Genesis to Revelation worship is woven into the fabric of every page of the Bible.
Worship at its foundation is a love relationship with God. Jesus said the greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. He is saying true worship means giving our lives to God. True worship is about surrender. It’s not about hymns or choruses, though they may be a part of it. Nor is it about drums or guitars or keyboards. True worship doesn’t happen on the outside; it happens on the inside. It’s what we do in our heart with Christ. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts(Col. 3:16, NLT). Have you ever experienced a time in worship where you forgot where you were at? You were so consumed with who God is in His greatness and wonder and majesty? C.S. Lewis captured our worship experience well when he wrote, As long as you notice, and have to count the steps, you are not yet dancing but only learning to dance. A good shoe is a shoe you don’t notice. Good reading becomes possible when you need not consciously think about eyes, or light, or print, or spelling. The perfect church service would be one we were almost unaware of; our attention would have been on God. Do you know what happens when our attention is fully given to God? It changes us. It empowers us. It brings life and all its consuming issues into right perspective.
God so understands our need for love that He tells us the greatest commandment, the greatest investment of your life is to love Him, worship Him with all your heart, mind and soul. Why is that so important? A couple of reasons: One, we were made to worship something. If you don’t worship God, you’ll worship something else. And two, whatever you worship, that is what you’ll become like. Psalm 138 says,Those who make them will be like them(Psalm 138:15).
When God laid out the plans in the OT for the Tabernacle, they were designed to emphasize the priority of worship in Israel. The Tabernacle was the dwelling place of God among His people – its place was right in the middle of the Israelite camp. All of the tents faced the Tabernacle. In the same way, God wants to be the center of our lives, the center of our inward affections.
What are the habits of a healthy church? Three fundamentals God stresses over and over again: Growing closer through fellowship, wiser through discipleship, stronger through worship.
