Today we are starting a new message series that I hope gives us a vision and the power to be a different church at the end of month, than we are today. When I was growing up there was a little song we learned about the church that used your hands to describe what the church is and what the church is not. It went like this…
The church is not a building, the church is not a steeple
The church is not a resting place, the church is the people.
The Church is the people, but not just any people. The church is the people of Jesus. The church is the people who love Jesus, trust Jesus as their Lord and Savior, and commit to following Jesus with all their heart, mind, soul and strength. If the very first church was the group of disciples who dropped everything to follow Jesus, think about what the church was like. With Jesus, they befriended prostitutes and outcasts. They enlisted tax collectors and sinners to be part of their congregation and leadership. They walked among the sick and healed them. They loved those that others hated. They fed the hungry even when they didn’t think they had enough food. They endured storms and walked on water. They saw the dead come back to life and their lives were forever changed. They turned their communities upside down. That’s a powerful church.
After the death and resurrection of Jesus, that first church was in danger of falling apart. The physical presence of Jesus, which had gathered them together and gave them power, was no longer there. The church could have easily disappeared if it wasn’t for the power of God’s Holy Spirit. With what looked like fire and sounded like wind, the Holy Spirit filled the followers of Jesus and gave them a power and courage that helped them grow in ways they never did when Jesus was with them. Jesus Himself said that the day would come when His followers, His church, would do even greater things than He did. It was on that day of Pentecost when one of those followers of Jesus, a man who had forsaken Jesus a few weeks earlier, stood up and preached a sermon that changed the hearts and lives of 3,000 people. Not even Jesus did that.
Through the power of the Holy Spirit, Peter, a simple fisherman, who always seemed to misunderstand Jesus and get it wrong, and then failed Jesus in His time of need, shared the message of Jesus in a way that changed thousands of people. The church of Jesus was on the move and those people came together in faithful and powerful ways that changed the world.
What started with Jesus and grew with the Holy Spirit is what we are part of today. But how do we compare to that first church? Are we just as bold, risk taking and courageous? Are we as faithful, and powerful? Are we changing our world? Do we even think we can change our world? I’ll be honest, I’m not sure we look much like that first church, but we can if we will faithfully and honestly say that We Are The Church, and if we will learn how to be the church from those who started it all.
To learn how to be the church, we are going to look back at that first church. For the next month we are going to return to this passage to learn how to be the kind of church that can change our world. We are going to look at Acts 2:42-47
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. Acts 2:42-47
There are three mindsets we see in this church that we need to embrace today.
1. Intensely Devoted. They devoted themselves to the apostle’s teaching, to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
The word devoted is proskartereo: to live in a constant state of relentless pursuit; persistent, ongoing, obstinate devotion. The verb is in the imperfect tense which means it is a constant state of devotion. They weren’t devoted to teaching and fellowship and prayer for an hour on Sunday, or an hour on Sunday plus an hour during the week. It wasn’t even an hour on Sunday and a few moments every morning before work, it was a constant state of devotion where every moment of every day was given to living for Jesus. This devotion is what drove the church.
We might have this kind of devotion to our spouse or family. Some people have this kind of devotion to their hobby or career. Some have this kind of devotion to all things Penn State, why else do you sit out in the rain to watch a football game? But do we have this kind of devotion to Jesus? Are we devoted to Jesus or are we comfortable with Jesus?
It was October 1982, 41 years ago when I stopped just believing in Jesus and became devoted to Him. It was the day I realized that without Jesus in my life I truly had nothing. I had turned away from God and asked God to leave me alone but God’s proskartereo for me, God’s constant pursuit, love and devotion for me, drew me in and I realized that I needed God more than I needed anything. I committed myself to following Jesus and everything changed.
I committed myself to the apostle’s teaching. I read the Bible daily. It was like I couldn’t get enough of it. I studied the Bible on Friday nights with a group of friends. I attended a formal Bible Study during the week and worship on Sunday. And I prayed with others every day. We had a daily prayer meeting on campus and I was there, every day. I scheduled classes around our prayer meeting because I didn’t want to miss it. I longed to spend time with God and God’s people in worship and praise so I set up a mid-week praise rally to sing to God on campus and invite others to join us.
While I was a student, my life seemed to revolve around my devotion to Jesus and God’s word, fellowship, worship, study and prayer. I’ll be honest, I look back at that time and I wonder if today I am more comfortable with Jesus than devoted to Jesus? Am I as Jesus focused as I can be or as I should be? Are there ways I need to stop being self-focused and return to being Jesus focused? If we are to be the church God desires us to be, we have to be intensely devoted to Jesus in all things and in all ways. Maybe we need the Holy Spirit to help us be more devoted to Jesus, but watch out if you pray for that because it just might happen and change everything.
2. Irrationally Generous. That first church sold all their possessions and gave to anyone who was in need. They were so generous that there was no needy person among them. It wasn’t government programs that met people’s needs, it was the church - the people of Jesus. They were irrationally generous. It didn’t make sense but they were so devoted to Jesus and His people that they did everything they could to care for one another.
I remember the first time I felt called to go out on a limb and invite the people of the church I served to be generous. I was serving a church in Lewisburg and a Bucknell student had been worshiping with us for a while and one Sunday, during a time of sharing prayer requests, she mentioned needing money to go on a mission trip. She didn’t share this in order to get money and she wasn’t asking us for any, but after she said that I felt compelled to look at the church and say, well… you heard her. She needs money to go on a mission trip and I think we need to give it to her. By the end of the day we had the money.
This has happened here at Faith Church in some both funny and powerful ways. The first time this happened, it was kind of funny. It was the week before Christmas and I was told that we needed 20 more pumpkin pies for our Christmas Dinner. Each year we feed hundreds of people on Christmas Day and I was told to ask for pies, so I did. We needed 20 pies but we didn’t get 20 pies. I’m not sure how many we got but I do know that we had 40 pumpkin pies left over. To this day I am not allowed to ask for pumpkin pies.
But the truly amazing and awe inspiring generosity of this church became clear in 2018. The UM Churches in this part of PA have a partnership with the UM Churches in Sierra Leone. Together, we help pay the salaries of all the SL pastors. I heard that for many reasons the partnership was in financial difficulty and as a Conference we were $30,000 short in funds. This meant that pastors in SL were not going to get their salary. I sat there at the conference and heard God say, Andy you can do something about this. You can help stand the gap. So I said, OK God, I’ll give some money. I thought about $100 but God said, no more. $500. And God said more. You can DO something about this. So I committed to give $1,000.
From that moment on I realized that God was asking me to really do something more about this and that to “stand in the gap” meant to fully fund the deficient. The next Sunday, I believed that there were 30 people who God was raising up to give $1,000 so we could meet this need so I stood right here and shared the need and how I believed God was calling us to give. At the end of two weeks we had raised more than $34,000. People come to my office in tears with checks for $1,000 or $2,000. There was an envelope with 10 $100 bills that was placed in the church office. It was the most irrationally generous act I have ever been a part of and we stood in the gap and made sure every UM pastor in SL got their full salary. We gave so that there might not be any UM Pastor in SL in need.
That is what it means to be the church. This is what we can do if we are the church and this is how God is calling us to live not just once or twice in a lifetime but every moment of every day. Just a few months ago we got an update from Archie at Raising Hope Ukraine and they said they didn’t want to take up an offering because we had already done so much. They just wanted to say thank you and share what they were doing with the resources given to them. I said, no we will invite people to give and give generously. $14,000 was given in 2 weeks.
Whether it is Habitat for Humanity, the Faith Centre Food Bank, Sierra Leone, Sowing Seeds in Belize or Raising Hope Ukraine we are a generous church. When a need is seen or heard, people meet it and we meet it with more than just money. This past week, people gave generously of their time, talent, gifts, resources, faith, finances and love. My question to you is, what’s next? Who’s next? What will be the next irrationally generous act of giving that God is going to call us to and will we step up and fill the gap? Will we sell what we have to make sure needs are met? I’m going to tell you right now, we cannot out-give God so when we give generously, God will bless us in ways we cannot even begin to imagine. Giving is also a way we share the love of Jesus and that is the third mindset the church had.
3. Share the love of Jesus. The very end of Acts 2 says that the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved. The Lord was able to add to and grow the church because the people were sharing the love of Jesus in all they said and did. Their devotion to God was so clear to see, and their giving was so generous and all-encompassing that people saw how much they loved Jesus and it became contagious. They shared their love of Jesus in ways that invited others to experience the love of Jesus, and as people experienced that love, it changed them. It saved them and daily, people were saved. Daily. Every day.
Imagine what it would look like if every day someone was saved and came to know the healing, hope, power and purpose of Jesus. Imagine what it would look like if by the end of this month there were 30 more people in our community who knew the love of Jesus because of our devotion and generosity. Everyday God was able to change hearts and lives because the followers of Jesus, the church, lived with faith, passion, and an ongoing devotion. This is what God calls us to be as the church? This is what it means to be the church and this is what I hope we will commit ourselves to during this next month.
We are the church. We are God’s plan for turning lives around and changing the world. We don’t exist for ourselves, but for the world. We don’t gather to be comfortable and safe but to be radical, risk taking, followers of Jesus who will do everything it takes to be devoted to Jesus and share His love with others. To be a different church by the end of this month, each one of us needs to take a step of faith, and if you aren’t sure what that step is, let me share a few we could all take.
1. Read God’s Word Daily. Be devoted to the teaching of the apostles. Read the words of Jesus. Read the teachings of Peter and Paul in the New Testament.
2. Serve in the Church. If you are not currently serving in the life of the church then there is an unfulfilled assignment with your name. We are the church together and if we aren’t all serving and working together then we aren’t as strong and faithful as we can be. You have a gift to offer and that gift might be just what the church needs to add one more person into the kingdom of God. In the pew you will find an opportunity card and you can fill that out and share with us the way God might want you to serve in the church.
3. Join a small group. Join a Sunday School class or a Bible study and grow and learn with others. Reading God’s word is great but reading alone will only take us so far. We get so much more out of God’s word when we will read it together and encourage one another to live out what we read. Maybe God isn’t asking you to join a group but to step out and lead a group. The best way to grow in your faith is to step out and lead others.
4. Give Generously. Our heart follows our giving so find a way to give generously to God and watch your faith grow. Give generously of your time or gifts. Listen to God and see where He might be calling you to meet a need by giving in some specific and generous way. It might seem irrational and even impossible, but give.
5. Pray Daily. Last week David encouraged us in the rhythm of prayer and asked us to set a goal. Are you working on that goal? If you weren’t here and want to pick up the rhythm sheet from last week, they are available in the lobby. Pray and ask God to open your eyes and your heart so that you can see God moving and how He wants you to be part of the movement. The church is on the move and the church isn’t a building or steeple, the church isn’t a program or a service, the church is the people. We are the church and God is calling us to be on the move in courageous, generous, and utterly irrational and devoted ways.
Next Steps
We Are The Church
Read Acts 2:42 - 47
Think about the things you’re devoted to. Are any of those things a hindrance to your devotion to God? What would your life look like if you focused on Him more?
We can grow in our devotion to God and more fully be God’s church by doing one thing that moves us toward Him.
What could that one thing be for you? (5 Suggestions)
● Read God’s word daily
● Serve in the Church
● Join a small group or Sunday School class
● Give Generously
● Pray Daily
Prayer:
God, thank You for this opportunity to focus on being Your church. Grow our devotion to You and our generosity. Help us to share Your love with others in all that we say and do. Shift our mindsets so that they better reflect You. Thank You for doing more in us and through us than we could ever ask or imagine. In Jesus’ name, amen.
