Jesus Is First
Colossians 1: 15 – 23
I. Introduction.
A few weeks ago, I shared with you a terrible quote from Jim Denison. I heard Jim say this at a pastors’ retreat. He said that a worldwide Christian revival is currently taking place on every continent except Europe and North America. He attributes the worldwide revival to people and churches who proclaim God as king. He attributes the lack of revival to the fact that in Europe and North America we do not live as if God is our king. We proclaim God as our hobby. Here is the terrible quote…In the places where the church proclaims God as King, the Christian faith is growing faster than any other time in history. In the places where the church proclaims God as our hobby, Islam is the fastest growing religion.
If I understand the connection between God as King or God as hobby, then I think we ought to realize that our culture is depending on us right now. The way we live our lives individually actually makes a difference for the world we live in. The way we approach church actually makes a difference in our local community and in the world. The Gospel of Jesus Christ will succeed or fail, depending on how we chose to live in the world and how we approach the work of church.
It seems like an easy choice to make. On one hand, we can live as if God is the King of our lives and our church. On the other hand, we can live as if God is nothing more than our personal hobby—soccer, baseball, golf, deer hunting, one choice among many.
One of my seminary professors helped me to understand what it means to be a Christian. Granted, I became a Christian as a nine year old boy in Vacation Bible School and grew up in church. I majored in Bible in college and studied theology in seminary. However, I had never stopped to think about what separates Christianity from the religions of the world and what separates Christians from people with other faiths or no faith at all. The difference boils down to one belief. Jesus is the only way to God.
If someone believes Jesus is one option among many options for knowing God, then that person is not a Christian. If a person believes Jesus does not lead the way to God, then that person is not a Christian. Jesus is the exclusive way to God, salvation, forgiveness of sins, eternal life, Heaven. There is no other way to be a Christian.
One biblical person who demonstrates this both in his life and his writings is the man we know as the Apostle Paul. Paul began his life as a good Jew. Perhaps that is an understatement to refer to Paul as a “good Jew.” It would be more accurate to say he was the “best of the best” of all the Jews. He was born into a religious family. They trained him in godliness. They gave him the very best Jewish education money could buy. He advanced in educational circles and became a Pharisee.
The Jews of the first century were not happy with the way Jesus’ original twelve followers began preaching about Jesus among the other Jews. After the resurrection of Jesus and the gift of the Holy Spirit, these twelve followers grew in number from 12 men to 120 men and women to a movement of over 3,000. The Jews organized a resistance movement to stop the growth of the Christian movement. And Paul was the leader of the resistance.
Just as Paul had excelled in Judaism, he excelled in resisting the Christian church. He excelled until the day Paul met Jesus personally. At that moment, Paul’s life changed. He became a follower of Jesus, and he became an Apostle—an Apostle is someone who has been sent by Jesus to do Jesus’ work in the world.
Paul carried out his God-given mission by preaching the Gospel to the Gentiles, establishing Christian churches in foreign countries and by writing letters to instruct and encourage the Christian churches.
Read Colossians 1: 15 – 23.
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
16 For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.
17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.
19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him,
20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.(NIV)
If you are reading the New International Version, you will notice a subject heading in boldface type before verse 15. The interpreters tell us that this Scripture describes “The Supremacy of Christ.” That is a helpful notation because of all the pronouns…It begins with the pronoun “he” and never really explains who he is. But, we don’t have to depend on the subject heading to tell us who this Scripture is about. We can look at the context.
If we begin reading at verse 12 instead of verse 15, it is obvious who Paul is writing about. “…giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation (Colossians 1: 12 – 15).”
Paul tells us that God the Father has rescued us from this dark world and provided us with access to the Kingdom of Light. God the Father did this by sending his Son. This seems like an obvious reference to Jesus, the Only Begotten Son of God. But, once again, we do not have to assume anything. The context gives us the answer:
“We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you…(Colossians 1: 3)”
Paul’s theology is certainly in the center of what it means to be a Christian. He teaches us that Jesus is the only way out of the darkness and into the light of Heaven. He professes two things about Jesus in his statement Lord Jesus Christ.
Christ is not Jesus’ last name. Christ is Jesus’ title or even his purpose for coming. Christ is the English form of the Greek word Christos. Christos is the Greek form of the Hebrew word Messiah. In Jewish teaching and expectations, the Messiah was God’s Chosen One, who would come to earth and establish God’s Kingdom. This is why Jesus spoke about the Kingdom of God. It was his Messianic purpose to establish God’s Kingdom.
In Matthew 16, we read a story about Jesus and his disciples on the banks of the Lake of Galilee. Jesus asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” The disciples answered, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; still others say Jeremiah of one of the other prophets.” Jesus then made the question personal by asking, “What about ya’ll? Who do ya’ll say that I am?” Simon Peter was the first to answer the question. He said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” Jesus accepted this title in the way he agreed with Peter’s answer, “Blessed are you Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in Heaven.” To profess Jesus as the Christ is to profess Jesus as the Messiah.
Paul agreed with Peter’s profession of faith. Paul recognized Jesus as the Christ, the Jewish Messiah. Paul’s most frequent reference to Jesus is to call him Christ Jesus. And, Paul continued preaching Jesus’ words about the true nature of God’s Kingdom.
Christ is not Jesus’ name. It is his title. Lord is not Jesus name. Lord is Jesus’ role in our lives. The word “Lord” comes from the world of slavery. Every slave has a lord. The slave does not have any freedom of his or her own. The slave is subject to the wishes, the desires and the commands of their lord. The lord is the owner, the ruler, the boss and the king over the slave’s life. In the same way, as followers of Jesus, we are to think of ourselves as slaves to Jesus. Jesus is the one who determines what we do, where we go and how we live our lives.
In a word, Jesus is to be FIRST in our lives. Verse 15 – 20 contain Paul’s argument for why Jesus ought to be FIRST place in your life. There is an interesting thing about FIRST place. There can only be one FIRST place…
II. Jesus Is First in Creation.
Paul begins his argument with a description of Christ’s place in creation. Colossians 1: 15 says, “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.”
There is a false doctrine that developed out of this verse. It teaches that Jesus was the first creation God undertook. This is a false teaching, because it places Jesus on the wrong side of the Creator – creation relationship. Jesus is not a part of God’s creation. Rather, Jesus was with God at the moment of creation.
I can only explain it as much as I understand it, and I don’t understand it well. God has always been Trinity—Father, Son and Holy Spirit. God did not begin as One and then create his Son and later create his Holy Spirit. No, God has always been One God, expressed in the unity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Perhaps the Gospel of John gives us our best expression of this in John 1: 1. John tells us that Jesus is the Word of God. In John 1: 1 the Gospel tells us that “in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Jesus was not created by God. Jesus was present and united with God in the moment and the act of creation.
Instead of saying that Jesus was first in the birth order of creation, perhaps we should say Jesus is first in priority of creation. All of creation testifies of Jesus. All of creation points us toward Jesus.
Both John’s Gospel and Paul’s words in Colossians tell us that Jesus had an active role in creation. Jesus created all things—animal, plant, mineral and even human life. Jesus created the things we see and the things we cannot see—microscopic life forms and even nuclear design. Jesus created the power structures of our world—political powers of kings, queens and presidents as well as institutional powers.
All of these things were created by Jesus. But we also know that all things were created for Jesus. All of creation—life on earth, inanimate objects and institutional power—was created to bring glory to Jesus the Christ. He is the FIRST priority of everything that is.
Paul wants us to read these words about the supremacy of Jesus the Christ and to feel something. He wants us to feel that we are missing out on something when Jesus is not FIRST in our lives. If everything was created by Jesus…If everything was created for Jesus…If Jesus is the reason that everything continues to exist…Then, we are missing out on something when we place anything else FIRST in our lives.
Remember, there can only be one FIRST. What is your FIRST love? What is your FIRST priority? What is your FIRST purpose for living?
When it comes to setting priorities in life, most of us make very poor choices. We substitute created things for the Creator. If your FIRST priority is anything other than Jesus, you are living for the creation and not the Creator. Money…Work…Politics…Family…Self
III. Jesus Is First in the Church.
Now look at Colossians 1: 18, “And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.”
In this verse, Paul makes a theological point about Jesus and then makes a practical application to the church.
The theological point is the fact that Jesus was “the firstborn from among the dead.” This is a reference to the resurrection of Jesus—the central point of the Christian faith and the development of the Christian church. It is central to our faith, because if Jesus had not been raised from the dead we could not believe anything Jesus told us about himself.
For example, Jesus is the Christ—the promised Jewish Messiah. His purpose for coming into the world was to establish God’s Kingdom. This Kingdom was not to be a political kingdom defined by the political boundaries of a nation or the racial boundaries of a particular people. This Kingdom is something new and different. It transcends all human boundaries of politics, nationality, gender and race. It is God’s people, of which Christ Jesus himself is the King, the head, the FIRST.
On one hand, the resurrection proves that Jesus really is who he claimed to be—the FIRST. On the other hand, Jesus is the FIRST one to rise from the grave to enjoy eternal life. There is a connection between Jesus’ resurrection and our resurrection. Because he lives, we too will live an eternal life that goes beyond the grave.
Jesus is the FIRST in creation, and Jesus is FIRST in God’s new creation. God’s new creation will be fully realized when we are united with God and Jesus in Heaven. Until that day, God’s new creation is something we experience on earth through the church.
IV. Conclusion: What the Church Should Look Like.
There are a lot of churches in many different neighborhoods, cities, states and even different countries around the world. Some churches do a better job than others in reflecting what God intends the church to look like. So, who has it right? Is our expression of church what God wants the church to look like?
There is only one way to answer that question. It doesn’t matter if we are talking about our church or a church in a remote village of Africa. The church God wants is the church where Jesus is FIRST. All decisions in the church are made with Jesus in mind. All programming and ministry takes place with Jesus as the Lord, the King, the FIRST priority.
Sadly, a lot of churches have lost sight of this. There are a lot of churches who think their FIRST priority is to make all the members happy. They make decisions with the goal of keeping the members happy. They plan ministries and programs in an attempt to satisfy as many people as possible. They plan worship services to please people and not Jesus.
According to Colossians 1, this is the way church is supposed to work…
We begin by looking at Jesus. Colossians 1: 15 tells us that Jesus is the image of the invisible God. Jesus is the only way to get a true picture of God.
Since God revealed himself to us in Jesus Christ, when we look at Jesus we not only see who God is…But, we also see what God wants us to do. God gave us our mission when he gave us Jesus as our example. Jesus spent his earthly life and ministry reaching out to people who were far from God. Some of those people were unclean and undesirable sinners. They spent their time doing things that were in direct opposition to God’s will and God’s word. Yet, Jesus went to them and invited them to enter into a relationship with God. Other people Jesus went to were people who were held captive by demonic forces, physical disease and even poverty. Jesus went to them and met their needs. Then, Jesus invited them to enter into a relationship with God. Sometimes we see Jesus’ going to church…But that was rare and was not where Jesus spent most of his time.
When we look at Jesus, we see God. When we see God, we also see God’s mission for us as individuals and as a community of God’s people. Then, we develop our concept of church around God’s mission for God’s people.
Here is the sad reality. There are too many churches who reverse the order. We develop a concept of church around what I like to do…The songs I like to sing…The programs and ministries that make me happy…The decisions to do things the way I like them. Then, we think our mission is to get more people to like church the way we like church. Then, we take the next step and develop a theology about God and Jesus that proves to the world Jesus likes the same things about church that I like about church.
There can only be one FIRST in the church. Stop competing with Jesus. Jesus is FIRST in the church. Jesus is Lord of the church. Jesus is the head of the church.
When we discover that Jesus is FIRST in creation, we are suppose to realize that we are missing out on God’s purpose for our lives when Jesus is not our FIRST priority.
When we discover that Jesus is FIRST in God’s new creation, we are supposed to realize that we are missing out on God’s purpose for our church when Jesus is not our FIRST priority.
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Sunday, October 10, 2010
One Message, Many Methods
One Message, Many Methods
1 Corinthians 9: 19 – 23.
I. Introduction.
I am a week late on this information…Last Sunday—October 3, 2010—was the 50th anniversary of “The Andy Griffith Show.” The program aired on CBS television from October 3, 1960 until April 3, 1968. It ran for eight seasons and shot 249 episodes—I’m fairly sure I have seen each episode about a dozen times.
While I was not alive during the eight seasons “The Andy Griffith Show” was on television, I remember the show from its run in syndication. In fact, I would dare say that “The Andy Griffith Show” has probably been on television every day of my life—either on TBS or TVLand.
Do you have a favorite character from “The Andy Griffith Show?” Perhaps Andy was your favorite, because he was always able to solve problems in less than 30 minutes. Perhaps Barney was your favorite, because he could create problems for Andy to solve in less than 30 minutes. What about Helen Crump? Or Thelma Lou? Otis the town drunk? Or Ernest T. Bass?
Do you have a favorite episode? One of my favorite episodes was the one where they all went to church. (I know you expected me to say that, since I am a pastor.) There was a visiting preacher from out of town. He preaches a sermon with a refrain, “Relax…Slow down…Take it easy…” Of course, Barney slept through church. When he walked out the preacher’s door, he said, “Good sermon. Like I always say, You can’t preach enough on sin.”
The rest of the Sunday afternoon, all the residents of Mayberry work to refurbish the town Gazebo in order to have a Sunday afternoon band concert. By the end of the day, they realize they have not followed the advice of the sermon.
I can only think of one episode that was not funny. It was dramatic. Do you remember the time when Opie killed the momma bird? Andy made him raise the baby birds. Opie named them Inkin, Blinkin and Nod. By the end of the story, Opie learned his lesson and released the three birds back into the wild.
That may be the only sad episode…But there is something really sad about “The Andy Griffith Show.” It was fiction. Oh, but we wish it weren’t fiction. We wish the real world was more like Mayberry. We want to go down to Floyd’s Barber Shop and catch up on the town gossip. We want to pick up the phone and say, “Sarah, get me Aunt Bea on the phone.” We want to live in a town where the only crime is moon shining, and the only criminal is Otis—and only Otis has to serve 24 hours in jail…
It’s really not that sad for us to wish we lived in Mayberry. But, it is very sad to pretend like we do. For example, I think a lot of churches are organized for the people of Mayberry. We develop programs and ministries for a simpler time. We expect all families to have two parents. We expect the town and community to recognize the valuable services the church provides. Yes…If the real world ever returns to the fictional world of Mayberry, the churches will be well prepared.
If we can all recognize that we don’t live in Mayberry, we need to create churches that aren’t Mayberry churches. We need to be committed to the life changing story of the Gospel. But we need to present the Gospel in ways that our real world culture can hear the Gospel and respond.
The best way I know to say this is to say that our church needs to have one unchanging message—Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. But we need to communicate our one unchanging message in many different methods. Perhaps this is what the Apostle Paul was talking about to the churches at Corinth…
Read 1 Corinthians 9: 19 – 23.
19 Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible.
20 To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law.
21 To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God's law but am under Christ's law), so as to win those not having the law.
22 To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some.
23 I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.(NIV)
In my experience, most people who quote this passage use it to rationalize their behavior. Perhaps they live an unconventional Christian life. They claim to be Christians, but they don’t really live like Christians. So, they turn to places like this in the Bible to claim that they are living a missionary lifestyle. They claim that by becoming more like the world, they are in a better position to share the Gospel with the world. But, is that really what Paul was saying?
Actually, I think Paul is saying something entirely different. We can grasp Paul’s point by looking carefully at the context and at Paul’s words…
II. Context.
1 Corinthians 9 falls in between 1 Corinthians 8 and 10. That seems obvious enough. But, I want you to notice the themes of 1 Corinthians 8 and 10.
1 Corinthians 8: 13, “Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to fall.”
This verse sounds like Paul’s conclusion about meat sacrificed to idols. It only sounds like his conclusion, because I believe his argument does not end in chapter 8. It continues through chapter 9 and ends in chapter 10.
Meat sacrificed to idols does not seem to be a very big issue to you and me. However, there was no such thing as Brookshire Brothers in the ancient world. On one hand, people did not eat a lot of meat. Meat was a luxury item. On the other hand, the places where meat was most readily available were the places where animals were being sacrificed on a daily basis.
The animals were slaughtered as a part of pagan worship services. There were a lot of animals killed, and there was a lot of meat left over. The pagan temples would then sell that meat to the public.
Some Christians didn’t really see this as a dilemma. They knew that the pagan gods were not real gods. These gods didn’t actually exist. These gods didn’t actually possess any real power. Therefore, these Christians would eat the leftover meat.
Other Christians had a real struggle with this practice. They thought that eating meat sacrificed to idols was in actuality participating in idolatrous behavior. Where did they get this idea? From the Old Testament…
1 Corinthians 10: 18 – 21, “Consider the people of Israel: Do not those who eat the sacrifices participate in the altar? Do I mean then that a sacrifice offered to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything? No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord's table and the table of demons.”
Paul’s argument is based on the Old Testament as the Word of God. He refers to the Jewish practice of eating the meat of slaughtered animals as an act of worship. Then, he does two more things. First, he warns the Corinthians not to participate in idolatrous worship by eating tainted meat. Second, he encourages the Corinthians to make a choice between worshipping God and worshipping false gods.
1 Corinthians 10: 23 – 24, “"Everything is permissible"-- but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is permissible"-- but not everything is constructive. Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others.”
The NIV has placed the first quote in quotation marks. This is a way of interpreting this passage as something Paul has placed in the mouths of the Corinthians. In other words, this is a dialog between Paul and his readers. Since this is a written communication, Paul is the only one speaking. So, he is both asking their questions for them and answering their questions. We could read it like this… “You say everything is permissible. I say yes, but not everything is beneficial. You say everything is permissible. I say yes, but not everything is constructive. Remember, nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others.”
1 Corinthians 10: 31 – 11: 1, “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God--even as I try to please everybody in every way. For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved. Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.”
This is Paul’s conclusion to his teachings about meat sacrificed to idols. His conclusion includes three points. First, be very careful in your actions and make sure that everything you do brings glory to God and to no one else. Second, don’t do things that might cause other people to sin. Third, follow Paul’s example.
In my interpretation, this is the reason 1 Corinthians 9 appears in Scripture. Paul was setting himself up as an example for the Corinthians to follow. In fact, I think he is setting himself up as the example for all of us today to follow as well.
What was Paul’s example?
III. Paul’s Example.
In 1 Corinthians 9: 1 – 6, Paul insists that he is an Apostle. Apostleship in the New Testament had an exclusive membership. Everyone who claimed to be an Apostle had to have two characteristics. On one hand, they had to have personally seen the resurrected Jesus. On the other hand, they had to have been sent by Jesus to preach the Gospel. This is the literal meaning of the word Apostle—one who was sent.
Paul met both characteristics. In Acts 9, we read Paul’s conversion story. While Paul was on the road to Damascus to persecute the church there, Jesus appeared to Paul. In the rest of the Book of Acts, we read about Paul’s missionary journeys. On these missionary journeys, Paul preached the Gospel, established churches and even appointed elders, pastors and deacons to serve in the churches. The churches of Corinth were some of the churches Paul established. These churches were in and of themselves proof that Paul was a real Apostle.
As an Apostle, Paul was in an elite company of men. We don’t know how many Apostles there were, but we know that there were not very many. Apostles got special treatment from the early churches. The churches paid all the living expenses for the Apostles, so that they would not have to work. If the Apostles did not have to work for a living, they could devote themselves to full time ministry—preaching the Gospel is far away places and establishing more and more churches.
Yet, this was not Paul’s practice. Paul never accepted money for his work as an Apostle. Instead, he chose to work with his hands, making tents. However, he insists that he has every right to take money from the churches he served. He had a right, but he chose not to exercise his right.
This is the example Paul wants us to follow. When you and I became Christians, we received certain rights from God. It would be perfectly understandable for you to demand that your rights be upheld. In fact, we could even jump ahead to chapter 10 and say it would be “permissible” for you to demand your rights. However, not everything “permissible” is “beneficial.” Not everything “permissible” is “constructive.”
Paul never demanded his rights, because it was not the best thing for the church. He thought of the church more than himself. He placed the good of others above his own rights as an Apostle.
With that in mind, think of what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 9: 19 – 23…
Paul did not think of himself as a Jew anymore. His primary way to identify himself was as a follower of Jesus—a Christian. Yet, he was willing to live like a Jew in order to preach the Gospel to the Jews.
Paul did not consider himself a man under the Old Testament Law. When he placed his faith in Jesus, Jesus set Paul free from the Law. Yet, he was willing to forego his rights of freedom and to live according to the Law in order to preach the Gospel to those who lived according to the Law.
Paul did not live under the Law, but he also did not live a “lawless” life either. He lived according to the Law of Christ—The Law that Christ gave and the Law that is Christ himself. Yet, he was willing to live among lawless people in order to preach the Gospel to lawless people.
Paul’s fourth example is different from the first three. In the first three, Paul said he became LIKE a Jew, LIKE one under the Law and LIKE one who is lawless. In the final example, he did not use the word LIKE. Paul did not become LIKE a weak person. He actually became a weak person.
What do these examples have in common? Paul chose NOT to exercise his rights as a Christian. As a Christian, Paul did not have to live like a Jew…But he did, for the sake of the Gospel. As a Christian, Paul did not have to obey the Old Testament Law…But he did, for the sake of the Gospel. As a Christian, Paul did not have to live among lawless people…But he did, for the sake of the Gospel. As a Christian, Paul did not have to be a weak person who refused to eat meat sacrificed to idols…But he did, for the sake of the Gospel.
In a word, Paul SACRIFICED for the Gospel. We don’t really like the word SACRIFICE. We would much rather demand our rights as Christians and, as a consequence, live any way we want to live. But, Paul tells us that the church and the Gospel are worthy of our sacrifices.
IV. Conclusion: Following Paul’s Example.
Life in the church today is very hard. I have several friends who grew up with fathers who were pastors. Most of their fathers are retired today. And most of their fathers have told them that they could not do it today, because it is so different.
There are cultural differences today. We don’t live in Mayberry anymore. Perhaps, we never really lived in Mayberry…But we thought we did.
There are internal differences today. For the first time in history, the church consists of four or five generations of the same family worshipping together. Think about the number of 80 and 90 year olds in our church. Just 20 years ago an 80 year old would not be healthy enough to attend church every week. Today, our churches contain 90 year olds, their children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.
Have you ever stopped to think about how difficult it is to bring four generations together for worship? And how difficult it is to select music for four generations?
Have you ever stopped to think about the differences in the ways these four generations learn? For example, I am almost 40 years old. I was born in 1971. Two years before I was born, 1969, a new television program came out—Sesame Street. I grew up watching Sesame Street. I grew up learning by watching characters on a TV screen. If you are older than I am, you grew up learning by reading words on a page or listening to a lecture given by an expert. If you are younger than I am, you grew up with the Internet. On the Internet, you can learn anything you want to learn (and probably some things that you don’t want to learn).
This has huge implications for the church. We have One Message—Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. But if we communicate our One Message in only One Method, we will not connect with the multiple generations inside our church and we will miss our opportunity to reach those outside the church.
1 Corinthians 9: 19 – 23.
I. Introduction.
I am a week late on this information…Last Sunday—October 3, 2010—was the 50th anniversary of “The Andy Griffith Show.” The program aired on CBS television from October 3, 1960 until April 3, 1968. It ran for eight seasons and shot 249 episodes—I’m fairly sure I have seen each episode about a dozen times.
While I was not alive during the eight seasons “The Andy Griffith Show” was on television, I remember the show from its run in syndication. In fact, I would dare say that “The Andy Griffith Show” has probably been on television every day of my life—either on TBS or TVLand.
Do you have a favorite character from “The Andy Griffith Show?” Perhaps Andy was your favorite, because he was always able to solve problems in less than 30 minutes. Perhaps Barney was your favorite, because he could create problems for Andy to solve in less than 30 minutes. What about Helen Crump? Or Thelma Lou? Otis the town drunk? Or Ernest T. Bass?
Do you have a favorite episode? One of my favorite episodes was the one where they all went to church. (I know you expected me to say that, since I am a pastor.) There was a visiting preacher from out of town. He preaches a sermon with a refrain, “Relax…Slow down…Take it easy…” Of course, Barney slept through church. When he walked out the preacher’s door, he said, “Good sermon. Like I always say, You can’t preach enough on sin.”
The rest of the Sunday afternoon, all the residents of Mayberry work to refurbish the town Gazebo in order to have a Sunday afternoon band concert. By the end of the day, they realize they have not followed the advice of the sermon.
I can only think of one episode that was not funny. It was dramatic. Do you remember the time when Opie killed the momma bird? Andy made him raise the baby birds. Opie named them Inkin, Blinkin and Nod. By the end of the story, Opie learned his lesson and released the three birds back into the wild.
That may be the only sad episode…But there is something really sad about “The Andy Griffith Show.” It was fiction. Oh, but we wish it weren’t fiction. We wish the real world was more like Mayberry. We want to go down to Floyd’s Barber Shop and catch up on the town gossip. We want to pick up the phone and say, “Sarah, get me Aunt Bea on the phone.” We want to live in a town where the only crime is moon shining, and the only criminal is Otis—and only Otis has to serve 24 hours in jail…
It’s really not that sad for us to wish we lived in Mayberry. But, it is very sad to pretend like we do. For example, I think a lot of churches are organized for the people of Mayberry. We develop programs and ministries for a simpler time. We expect all families to have two parents. We expect the town and community to recognize the valuable services the church provides. Yes…If the real world ever returns to the fictional world of Mayberry, the churches will be well prepared.
If we can all recognize that we don’t live in Mayberry, we need to create churches that aren’t Mayberry churches. We need to be committed to the life changing story of the Gospel. But we need to present the Gospel in ways that our real world culture can hear the Gospel and respond.
The best way I know to say this is to say that our church needs to have one unchanging message—Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. But we need to communicate our one unchanging message in many different methods. Perhaps this is what the Apostle Paul was talking about to the churches at Corinth…
Read 1 Corinthians 9: 19 – 23.
19 Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible.
20 To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law.
21 To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God's law but am under Christ's law), so as to win those not having the law.
22 To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some.
23 I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.(NIV)
In my experience, most people who quote this passage use it to rationalize their behavior. Perhaps they live an unconventional Christian life. They claim to be Christians, but they don’t really live like Christians. So, they turn to places like this in the Bible to claim that they are living a missionary lifestyle. They claim that by becoming more like the world, they are in a better position to share the Gospel with the world. But, is that really what Paul was saying?
Actually, I think Paul is saying something entirely different. We can grasp Paul’s point by looking carefully at the context and at Paul’s words…
II. Context.
1 Corinthians 9 falls in between 1 Corinthians 8 and 10. That seems obvious enough. But, I want you to notice the themes of 1 Corinthians 8 and 10.
1 Corinthians 8: 13, “Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to fall.”
This verse sounds like Paul’s conclusion about meat sacrificed to idols. It only sounds like his conclusion, because I believe his argument does not end in chapter 8. It continues through chapter 9 and ends in chapter 10.
Meat sacrificed to idols does not seem to be a very big issue to you and me. However, there was no such thing as Brookshire Brothers in the ancient world. On one hand, people did not eat a lot of meat. Meat was a luxury item. On the other hand, the places where meat was most readily available were the places where animals were being sacrificed on a daily basis.
The animals were slaughtered as a part of pagan worship services. There were a lot of animals killed, and there was a lot of meat left over. The pagan temples would then sell that meat to the public.
Some Christians didn’t really see this as a dilemma. They knew that the pagan gods were not real gods. These gods didn’t actually exist. These gods didn’t actually possess any real power. Therefore, these Christians would eat the leftover meat.
Other Christians had a real struggle with this practice. They thought that eating meat sacrificed to idols was in actuality participating in idolatrous behavior. Where did they get this idea? From the Old Testament…
1 Corinthians 10: 18 – 21, “Consider the people of Israel: Do not those who eat the sacrifices participate in the altar? Do I mean then that a sacrifice offered to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything? No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord's table and the table of demons.”
Paul’s argument is based on the Old Testament as the Word of God. He refers to the Jewish practice of eating the meat of slaughtered animals as an act of worship. Then, he does two more things. First, he warns the Corinthians not to participate in idolatrous worship by eating tainted meat. Second, he encourages the Corinthians to make a choice between worshipping God and worshipping false gods.
1 Corinthians 10: 23 – 24, “"Everything is permissible"-- but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is permissible"-- but not everything is constructive. Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others.”
The NIV has placed the first quote in quotation marks. This is a way of interpreting this passage as something Paul has placed in the mouths of the Corinthians. In other words, this is a dialog between Paul and his readers. Since this is a written communication, Paul is the only one speaking. So, he is both asking their questions for them and answering their questions. We could read it like this… “You say everything is permissible. I say yes, but not everything is beneficial. You say everything is permissible. I say yes, but not everything is constructive. Remember, nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others.”
1 Corinthians 10: 31 – 11: 1, “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God--even as I try to please everybody in every way. For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved. Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.”
This is Paul’s conclusion to his teachings about meat sacrificed to idols. His conclusion includes three points. First, be very careful in your actions and make sure that everything you do brings glory to God and to no one else. Second, don’t do things that might cause other people to sin. Third, follow Paul’s example.
In my interpretation, this is the reason 1 Corinthians 9 appears in Scripture. Paul was setting himself up as an example for the Corinthians to follow. In fact, I think he is setting himself up as the example for all of us today to follow as well.
What was Paul’s example?
III. Paul’s Example.
In 1 Corinthians 9: 1 – 6, Paul insists that he is an Apostle. Apostleship in the New Testament had an exclusive membership. Everyone who claimed to be an Apostle had to have two characteristics. On one hand, they had to have personally seen the resurrected Jesus. On the other hand, they had to have been sent by Jesus to preach the Gospel. This is the literal meaning of the word Apostle—one who was sent.
Paul met both characteristics. In Acts 9, we read Paul’s conversion story. While Paul was on the road to Damascus to persecute the church there, Jesus appeared to Paul. In the rest of the Book of Acts, we read about Paul’s missionary journeys. On these missionary journeys, Paul preached the Gospel, established churches and even appointed elders, pastors and deacons to serve in the churches. The churches of Corinth were some of the churches Paul established. These churches were in and of themselves proof that Paul was a real Apostle.
As an Apostle, Paul was in an elite company of men. We don’t know how many Apostles there were, but we know that there were not very many. Apostles got special treatment from the early churches. The churches paid all the living expenses for the Apostles, so that they would not have to work. If the Apostles did not have to work for a living, they could devote themselves to full time ministry—preaching the Gospel is far away places and establishing more and more churches.
Yet, this was not Paul’s practice. Paul never accepted money for his work as an Apostle. Instead, he chose to work with his hands, making tents. However, he insists that he has every right to take money from the churches he served. He had a right, but he chose not to exercise his right.
This is the example Paul wants us to follow. When you and I became Christians, we received certain rights from God. It would be perfectly understandable for you to demand that your rights be upheld. In fact, we could even jump ahead to chapter 10 and say it would be “permissible” for you to demand your rights. However, not everything “permissible” is “beneficial.” Not everything “permissible” is “constructive.”
Paul never demanded his rights, because it was not the best thing for the church. He thought of the church more than himself. He placed the good of others above his own rights as an Apostle.
With that in mind, think of what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 9: 19 – 23…
Paul did not think of himself as a Jew anymore. His primary way to identify himself was as a follower of Jesus—a Christian. Yet, he was willing to live like a Jew in order to preach the Gospel to the Jews.
Paul did not consider himself a man under the Old Testament Law. When he placed his faith in Jesus, Jesus set Paul free from the Law. Yet, he was willing to forego his rights of freedom and to live according to the Law in order to preach the Gospel to those who lived according to the Law.
Paul did not live under the Law, but he also did not live a “lawless” life either. He lived according to the Law of Christ—The Law that Christ gave and the Law that is Christ himself. Yet, he was willing to live among lawless people in order to preach the Gospel to lawless people.
Paul’s fourth example is different from the first three. In the first three, Paul said he became LIKE a Jew, LIKE one under the Law and LIKE one who is lawless. In the final example, he did not use the word LIKE. Paul did not become LIKE a weak person. He actually became a weak person.
What do these examples have in common? Paul chose NOT to exercise his rights as a Christian. As a Christian, Paul did not have to live like a Jew…But he did, for the sake of the Gospel. As a Christian, Paul did not have to obey the Old Testament Law…But he did, for the sake of the Gospel. As a Christian, Paul did not have to live among lawless people…But he did, for the sake of the Gospel. As a Christian, Paul did not have to be a weak person who refused to eat meat sacrificed to idols…But he did, for the sake of the Gospel.
In a word, Paul SACRIFICED for the Gospel. We don’t really like the word SACRIFICE. We would much rather demand our rights as Christians and, as a consequence, live any way we want to live. But, Paul tells us that the church and the Gospel are worthy of our sacrifices.
IV. Conclusion: Following Paul’s Example.
Life in the church today is very hard. I have several friends who grew up with fathers who were pastors. Most of their fathers are retired today. And most of their fathers have told them that they could not do it today, because it is so different.
There are cultural differences today. We don’t live in Mayberry anymore. Perhaps, we never really lived in Mayberry…But we thought we did.
There are internal differences today. For the first time in history, the church consists of four or five generations of the same family worshipping together. Think about the number of 80 and 90 year olds in our church. Just 20 years ago an 80 year old would not be healthy enough to attend church every week. Today, our churches contain 90 year olds, their children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.
Have you ever stopped to think about how difficult it is to bring four generations together for worship? And how difficult it is to select music for four generations?
Have you ever stopped to think about the differences in the ways these four generations learn? For example, I am almost 40 years old. I was born in 1971. Two years before I was born, 1969, a new television program came out—Sesame Street. I grew up watching Sesame Street. I grew up learning by watching characters on a TV screen. If you are older than I am, you grew up learning by reading words on a page or listening to a lecture given by an expert. If you are younger than I am, you grew up with the Internet. On the Internet, you can learn anything you want to learn (and probably some things that you don’t want to learn).
This has huge implications for the church. We have One Message—Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God. But if we communicate our One Message in only One Method, we will not connect with the multiple generations inside our church and we will miss our opportunity to reach those outside the church.
Sunday, October 03, 2010
The Work of the Church
The Work of the Church
Acts 2: 42 – 47.
I. Introduction.
I spent Monday through Wednesday of this week at Camp Buckner in the Texas Hill Country. Camp Buckner is a retreat facility owned and operated by Buckner International—a ministry our church works with to serve orphans and vulnerable children around the world. We have worked with them in ministries here in Lufkin, and we are working with them in Ethiopia.
The retreat began on Monday night, so I planned to drive from Lufkin to Burnet on Monday afternoon. But, on Sunday night, an interesting thing happened. Dr. Sid Roberts (from our church) called me to ask a huge favor. He needed to borrow my truck for a couple of days to move some furniture. I told him that I don’t mind his borrowing my truck, but I was planning to drive to Burnet for the retreat. He said, “If you will let me drive your truck to Dallas, I will let you drive my convertible to Burnet.”
Do you remember what the weather was like on Monday? It was probably the most perfect day of 2010—Fall-like temperatures and a clear sky. So, I drove a sporty convertible from Lufkin to Burnet with the top down the entire way. That’s a little over four hours on the road.
I told my sons that I was going to drive up at the pastors’ retreat in a convertible, and all the pastors would say, “Andy, if you ever want to leave Lufkin, I hope you will recommend me as their next pastor.” But, that’s not what happened.
It was a beautiful day. I drove on two-lane Texas highways with the sun on my face and the wind in my hair. But, nobody told me you need to wear sunscreen when you drive a convertible for four hours!
I showed up at the pastors’ retreat with a sunburn on my face and “raccoon eyes,” because I was wearing sunglasses. The first person I saw at the camp said, “That’s not your convertible. Everyone who drives a convertible knows you have to wear sunscreen.”
Buckner invited 20 pastors from around Texas to participate in a pastors’ retreat. It was quite an honor to be one of 20 pastors invited to the retreat. However, I do not believe it reflects on me as one of the top twenty pastors in Texas. Rather, I think it reflects on you as a church. I was invited to participate, because Buckner recognizes Lufkin’s First Baptist Church as a valuable ministry partner. Our church’s work with Buckner began before I was your pastor.
Each day, we heard presentations from Buckner ministers describing Buckner ministries in Texas and around the world. We also heard presentations from Jim Denison about what is taking place spiritually around the world.
Did you know that the Christian faith is growing faster today than at any other time in history? The people who study the growth and spread of religions estimate that at least 82,000 people are becoming Christians every day. That is the lowest estimate. Some people estimate that the number is over 200,000 new Christians every day.
Of course, some of us hear those statistics and have our doubts. We are not experiencing that kind of spiritual growth and spiritual awakening in Lufkin, Texas. How can we say that Christianity is growing faster today than at any other time in history when we can’t see it happening in our own community? There are two answers…
First, there is a spiritual awakening taking place in Africa, Asia, Australia and South America. But, there is no spiritual awakening taking place in Europe and North America. For example, there are 82,000 people becoming Christians every day around the world. BUT, only 6,000 people become Christians every day in Europe and North America COMBINED. (That is to say, approximately 7% of all new Christians live in Europe and North America.)
Second, spiritual awakening happens when we adopt a biblical view of God. The Bible teaches us that God wants to be our King. When the church teaches the culture that God is our King, spiritual awakening takes place. But, that is not happening in the United States of America. In our country, we don’t like to talk about God as our King. We prefer to talk about God as our hobby. In the cultures where the church proclaims God as King, Christianity is growing at unprecedented rates. In the cultures where the church proclaims God as our hobby, Islam is growing faster than Christianity.
This reminds me of the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2. We can describe Pentecost in two ways. On one hand, it was the day Jesus sent the Holy Spirit. On the other hand, it was the birthday of the Christian church.
After the resurrection, Jesus spent forty days with his disciples. In these forty days, Jesus reminded the disciples of everything he had taught them during his earthly ministry. Jesus also instructed the disciples in their new roles—they were to continue the work Jesus began. When Jesus ascended into Heaven, Jesus would send them the Holy Spirit to be present in their lives and to be their source of Power to perform the same kinds of work Jesus performed in his earthly life. But…Jesus told his disciples to wait. They were not supposed to go to work until they were filled with the Holy Spirit.
The disciples obeyed Jesus. After Jesus ascended into Heaven, the disciples waited in Jerusalem for another 10 days. After 10 days, the Holy Spirit came, and a miracle took place. The same disciples who were once so frightened they could not stand up with Jesus were now empowered with supernatural power to preach the Gospel to their friends, family members and neighbors.
Remarkably, Peter stood up and preached to a crowd of thousands of people. This was the same Peter who once denied even knowing who Jesus was, because he was afraid for his life. The Bible tells us that Peter’s sermon led to an enthusiastic response to the Gospel. Over 3,000 people placed their faith in Jesus as Lord…Affirming that God is the King of their lives.
But what happened next? What happened when the disciples stopped preaching? These 3,000 new believers organized into the first Christian church. This was no ordinary church. It was unique because it was the first church. But, it was also unique because it was a church which proclaimed God as their King. If we want to be a church which proclaims God as our King, we ought to follow their example.
Read Acts 2: 42 – 47.
42 They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
43 Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles.
44 All the believers were together and had everything in common.
45 Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need.
46 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,
47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.(NIV)
II. The Apostles’ Teachings.
The first way the church demonstrated that “God is their King” is the way they devoted themselves to the Apostles’ teachings.
Before the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost, there were 12 Apostles and a total of 120 Christians. All of these people had lived with Jesus. The Apostles had sat at Jesus’ feet and listened to all his teachings. The rest of the Christians had followed Jesus in the crowds, witnessing all the miracles and learning from Jesus’ public sermons. They knew what Jesus had stood for and what he had come to accomplish in his death and resurrection.
After the Holy Spirit came, over 3,000 new believers committed their lives to Jesus as Lord. These people did not have the same kind of knowledge and understanding about what Jesus had done for them. Therefore, it was now necessary for the 12 Apostles to share what they knew about Jesus with others.
The most important thing we can say about the Apostles’ Teaching, is to say that they were teaching others what Jesus had taught them. The Apostles were not making up new teachings to share with the new believers. They were giving others what Jesus had first given them. In the Twenty-First Century, this is the same thing as teaching the Bible. We teach the Bible, because the Bible is God’s Word. It contains the teachings of Jesus passed down to his Apostles, who in turn wrote it down so that we can know what Jesus has done for us.
III. The Fellowship.
The church was also devoted to a new kind of fellowship. This is the Greek word “Koinonia.” It refers to fellowship in the sense of Christian brothers and sisters relating to each other through the love of Christ. The heart of the word “Koinonia” is the Greek word “koinos,” which means common. In other words, these new Christians had something in common with the original 12 Apostles and the original 120 Christians.
I find it noteworthy that Luke does not say the early church was committed to “fellowship.” He says they were committed to “THE fellowship.” There is something different, something unique about the fellowship these Christians shared with one another. For me, I have always associated fellowship with the church. And, I have always associated church fellowships with pimento and cheese sandwiches with the crust cut off. That might be “a fellowship,” but it is not “THE fellowship” Luke was talking about in this passage.
THE fellowship is the significant bond we share with each other that can only come as a result of our relationship with Jesus. When a man or woman places their faith in Jesus, something supernatural occurs. At the moment we profess our faith, God places his Holy Spirit in us to begin the work of shaping us into the image of Jesus. When a group of people whom God is shaping to become like Jesus get together in the church, God begins to work on that church. God shapes that community of believers into the image of Jesus. Just as God is working on you and me as individuals to make us more like Jesus, so God is working on our church to make us more like Jesus.
THE fellowship of Christian brothers and sisters is different from the community life on non-Christians. God is forming us into a community like no other. He is placing in us the same loves and desires that Jesus demonstrated in his life. THE fellowship we experience is a missional experience. Sure, we like to hang out with each other and laugh together. But, we also feel called—even compelled by God—to meet the needs of the world around us and to share the life-changing message of the cross.
One Demonstration of Fellowship: Selling Their Possessions, They Gave…
This is a source of great debate. Among many theologians, there is a belief that the early church practiced a form of socialism. They claim that individual church members did not own property. They think this is God’s ideal for us, even today.
I do not subscribe to this interpretation. In fact, there is evidence here that Luke did not want to communicate this kind of shared property. Luke described the church’s action by using a Greek Imperfect tense. The Imperfect tense is translated as “continuous action in past time.” In other words, we can translate this as “they kept on selling their possessions to give to those in need.” If they did this in a continual sense, then it suggests they continued to own property and continued to sell that property to give the money to the church. Also, we later read examples of Barnabas as well as Ananias and Sapphira who sold their property at a later time, suggesting that they did not sell everything at this one time in history.
The best way to describe what the Christians were doing here is to compare it with stewardship—stewardship as an expression of fellowship. They used their personal possessions and their personal wealth in ways that demonstrated the life of Jesus. They gave to those in need, and they gave to advance the Kingdom of God missionally.
IV. The Breaking of Bread.
There are at least three ways to interpret the words “the breaking of bread.” This might be a reference to the Lord’s Supper—the act of eating bread and drinking wine (or grape juice) in remembrance of Jesus’ death on the cross.
This might be a reference to the simple act of sharing a meal together. There is no better place to see community life in action than to observe people who are eating together. Some have interpreted this as a reference to the Lord’s Supper—the act of eating bread and drinking wine (or grape juice) in remembrance of Jesus’ sacrificial death. Others interpret this as simply sharing food together. I prefer to think of this as simply sharing a meal together.
We believe the book of Acts is the second volume of Luke’s account of Christianity. The first volume is the Gospel According to Luke. One of the many consistent themes in the Gospel According to Luke is the criticism Jesus faced as a result of his eating habits. In Luke, Jesus rarely ate supper with good, religious people. Most of the time, Luke tells us that Jesus ate supper with tax collectors and sinners. The religious folks did not like this, because it was against their customs to eat with people who were different from them. Jesus broke the religious and cultural norms of his day by sharing his meals with “undesirable” people.
Some of you are old enough to remember the civil unrest in our country during the Civil Rights movement of the 1960’s and 1970’s. One aspect of the Civil Rights movement related to the restaurants and lunch counters in our country. The burning question of the day was: Should black men and women be allowed to eat with white people? The reason this was such an issue is because sharing a meal with another person is like saying we consider that person our equal. All social barriers are broken down when people sit shoulder to shoulder at the same table.
I find it remarkable that the 120 Jewish men and women who made up the very first Christians were comfortable eating at the same table with foreigners. They abandoned their Jewish, social norms in favor of a new kind of community where all who believe in Jesus are considered equal.
The third way we can interpret the words “the breaking of bread” is to observe one of the earliest practices of the early church. The church ate a meal together as a part of their corporate worship. Eating together demonstrated their unity BEFORE they entered into worship together in music and preaching. As such, we can interpret this in the context of our worship. A church who proclaims God as our King will be devoted to unity in worship…Worship that brings us together…Worship that demonstrates how much we have in common, rather than how much we don’t have in common
V. The Prayers.
Literally, Luke tells us the new community was devoted to “THE prayers.” This leads many scholars to interpret this as reference to the official Jewish practice of religion. In other words, the church abandoned their traditional social norms but did not abandon the worship of God in the Temple. In much of the Book of Acts, we continue to see the Apostles teaching and preaching in the Temple and showing how Jesus is the fulfillment of everything the Jews had been hoping for in the Old Testament. As long as the Gospel was preached primarily in Jerusalem, the early church remained closely connected to the Jewish Temple. When the Gospel began to spread outside of the Jewish race, Christian worship became separate from Judaism.
That is a great historical fact, but it does not translate very well to our Twenty-First Century American, Christian lives. What does translate is the way the early Christians were committed to the power of God that is only possible through prayer.
What do you think about people who pray? Some people think prayer is a sign of weakness. They think people who pray cannot take care of their own needs under their own power and abilities. These people are exactly right. This is why we pray. We pray, because we need God. We pray, because we cannot make it on our own power and abilities. We pray in order to express our total dependence on God for even our smallest needs. Without God and his power, we can do nothing.
This is true for individuals. This is true for churches. A church that prays acknowledges God as our King. A church that refuses to pray thinks of God as nothing more than a hobby.
VI. Conclusion.
Are you currently praying for your church? Do you spend time during the week praying for God to move in our church?
Perhaps there are people praying for our church that I am not aware of…But I do know of two groups. On Wednesday mornings, there is a men’s Sunday School class that meets for breakfast and to pray for our church. On Monday nights, there is a small group of folks who meet here at the church to pray.
What do you suppose would happen if we had groups of people praying for our church every day of the week? What if your Sunday School class or your group of friends took time to pray for God’s leadership? Frankly, we can’t be the church we need to be on our own power or abilities. We can’t become the church who proclaims God as our King without God’s help.
Acts 2: 42 – 47.
I. Introduction.
I spent Monday through Wednesday of this week at Camp Buckner in the Texas Hill Country. Camp Buckner is a retreat facility owned and operated by Buckner International—a ministry our church works with to serve orphans and vulnerable children around the world. We have worked with them in ministries here in Lufkin, and we are working with them in Ethiopia.
The retreat began on Monday night, so I planned to drive from Lufkin to Burnet on Monday afternoon. But, on Sunday night, an interesting thing happened. Dr. Sid Roberts (from our church) called me to ask a huge favor. He needed to borrow my truck for a couple of days to move some furniture. I told him that I don’t mind his borrowing my truck, but I was planning to drive to Burnet for the retreat. He said, “If you will let me drive your truck to Dallas, I will let you drive my convertible to Burnet.”
Do you remember what the weather was like on Monday? It was probably the most perfect day of 2010—Fall-like temperatures and a clear sky. So, I drove a sporty convertible from Lufkin to Burnet with the top down the entire way. That’s a little over four hours on the road.
I told my sons that I was going to drive up at the pastors’ retreat in a convertible, and all the pastors would say, “Andy, if you ever want to leave Lufkin, I hope you will recommend me as their next pastor.” But, that’s not what happened.
It was a beautiful day. I drove on two-lane Texas highways with the sun on my face and the wind in my hair. But, nobody told me you need to wear sunscreen when you drive a convertible for four hours!
I showed up at the pastors’ retreat with a sunburn on my face and “raccoon eyes,” because I was wearing sunglasses. The first person I saw at the camp said, “That’s not your convertible. Everyone who drives a convertible knows you have to wear sunscreen.”
Buckner invited 20 pastors from around Texas to participate in a pastors’ retreat. It was quite an honor to be one of 20 pastors invited to the retreat. However, I do not believe it reflects on me as one of the top twenty pastors in Texas. Rather, I think it reflects on you as a church. I was invited to participate, because Buckner recognizes Lufkin’s First Baptist Church as a valuable ministry partner. Our church’s work with Buckner began before I was your pastor.
Each day, we heard presentations from Buckner ministers describing Buckner ministries in Texas and around the world. We also heard presentations from Jim Denison about what is taking place spiritually around the world.
Did you know that the Christian faith is growing faster today than at any other time in history? The people who study the growth and spread of religions estimate that at least 82,000 people are becoming Christians every day. That is the lowest estimate. Some people estimate that the number is over 200,000 new Christians every day.
Of course, some of us hear those statistics and have our doubts. We are not experiencing that kind of spiritual growth and spiritual awakening in Lufkin, Texas. How can we say that Christianity is growing faster today than at any other time in history when we can’t see it happening in our own community? There are two answers…
First, there is a spiritual awakening taking place in Africa, Asia, Australia and South America. But, there is no spiritual awakening taking place in Europe and North America. For example, there are 82,000 people becoming Christians every day around the world. BUT, only 6,000 people become Christians every day in Europe and North America COMBINED. (That is to say, approximately 7% of all new Christians live in Europe and North America.)
Second, spiritual awakening happens when we adopt a biblical view of God. The Bible teaches us that God wants to be our King. When the church teaches the culture that God is our King, spiritual awakening takes place. But, that is not happening in the United States of America. In our country, we don’t like to talk about God as our King. We prefer to talk about God as our hobby. In the cultures where the church proclaims God as King, Christianity is growing at unprecedented rates. In the cultures where the church proclaims God as our hobby, Islam is growing faster than Christianity.
This reminds me of the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2. We can describe Pentecost in two ways. On one hand, it was the day Jesus sent the Holy Spirit. On the other hand, it was the birthday of the Christian church.
After the resurrection, Jesus spent forty days with his disciples. In these forty days, Jesus reminded the disciples of everything he had taught them during his earthly ministry. Jesus also instructed the disciples in their new roles—they were to continue the work Jesus began. When Jesus ascended into Heaven, Jesus would send them the Holy Spirit to be present in their lives and to be their source of Power to perform the same kinds of work Jesus performed in his earthly life. But…Jesus told his disciples to wait. They were not supposed to go to work until they were filled with the Holy Spirit.
The disciples obeyed Jesus. After Jesus ascended into Heaven, the disciples waited in Jerusalem for another 10 days. After 10 days, the Holy Spirit came, and a miracle took place. The same disciples who were once so frightened they could not stand up with Jesus were now empowered with supernatural power to preach the Gospel to their friends, family members and neighbors.
Remarkably, Peter stood up and preached to a crowd of thousands of people. This was the same Peter who once denied even knowing who Jesus was, because he was afraid for his life. The Bible tells us that Peter’s sermon led to an enthusiastic response to the Gospel. Over 3,000 people placed their faith in Jesus as Lord…Affirming that God is the King of their lives.
But what happened next? What happened when the disciples stopped preaching? These 3,000 new believers organized into the first Christian church. This was no ordinary church. It was unique because it was the first church. But, it was also unique because it was a church which proclaimed God as their King. If we want to be a church which proclaims God as our King, we ought to follow their example.
Read Acts 2: 42 – 47.
42 They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.
43 Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles.
44 All the believers were together and had everything in common.
45 Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need.
46 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,
47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.(NIV)
II. The Apostles’ Teachings.
The first way the church demonstrated that “God is their King” is the way they devoted themselves to the Apostles’ teachings.
Before the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost, there were 12 Apostles and a total of 120 Christians. All of these people had lived with Jesus. The Apostles had sat at Jesus’ feet and listened to all his teachings. The rest of the Christians had followed Jesus in the crowds, witnessing all the miracles and learning from Jesus’ public sermons. They knew what Jesus had stood for and what he had come to accomplish in his death and resurrection.
After the Holy Spirit came, over 3,000 new believers committed their lives to Jesus as Lord. These people did not have the same kind of knowledge and understanding about what Jesus had done for them. Therefore, it was now necessary for the 12 Apostles to share what they knew about Jesus with others.
The most important thing we can say about the Apostles’ Teaching, is to say that they were teaching others what Jesus had taught them. The Apostles were not making up new teachings to share with the new believers. They were giving others what Jesus had first given them. In the Twenty-First Century, this is the same thing as teaching the Bible. We teach the Bible, because the Bible is God’s Word. It contains the teachings of Jesus passed down to his Apostles, who in turn wrote it down so that we can know what Jesus has done for us.
III. The Fellowship.
The church was also devoted to a new kind of fellowship. This is the Greek word “Koinonia.” It refers to fellowship in the sense of Christian brothers and sisters relating to each other through the love of Christ. The heart of the word “Koinonia” is the Greek word “koinos,” which means common. In other words, these new Christians had something in common with the original 12 Apostles and the original 120 Christians.
I find it noteworthy that Luke does not say the early church was committed to “fellowship.” He says they were committed to “THE fellowship.” There is something different, something unique about the fellowship these Christians shared with one another. For me, I have always associated fellowship with the church. And, I have always associated church fellowships with pimento and cheese sandwiches with the crust cut off. That might be “a fellowship,” but it is not “THE fellowship” Luke was talking about in this passage.
THE fellowship is the significant bond we share with each other that can only come as a result of our relationship with Jesus. When a man or woman places their faith in Jesus, something supernatural occurs. At the moment we profess our faith, God places his Holy Spirit in us to begin the work of shaping us into the image of Jesus. When a group of people whom God is shaping to become like Jesus get together in the church, God begins to work on that church. God shapes that community of believers into the image of Jesus. Just as God is working on you and me as individuals to make us more like Jesus, so God is working on our church to make us more like Jesus.
THE fellowship of Christian brothers and sisters is different from the community life on non-Christians. God is forming us into a community like no other. He is placing in us the same loves and desires that Jesus demonstrated in his life. THE fellowship we experience is a missional experience. Sure, we like to hang out with each other and laugh together. But, we also feel called—even compelled by God—to meet the needs of the world around us and to share the life-changing message of the cross.
One Demonstration of Fellowship: Selling Their Possessions, They Gave…
This is a source of great debate. Among many theologians, there is a belief that the early church practiced a form of socialism. They claim that individual church members did not own property. They think this is God’s ideal for us, even today.
I do not subscribe to this interpretation. In fact, there is evidence here that Luke did not want to communicate this kind of shared property. Luke described the church’s action by using a Greek Imperfect tense. The Imperfect tense is translated as “continuous action in past time.” In other words, we can translate this as “they kept on selling their possessions to give to those in need.” If they did this in a continual sense, then it suggests they continued to own property and continued to sell that property to give the money to the church. Also, we later read examples of Barnabas as well as Ananias and Sapphira who sold their property at a later time, suggesting that they did not sell everything at this one time in history.
The best way to describe what the Christians were doing here is to compare it with stewardship—stewardship as an expression of fellowship. They used their personal possessions and their personal wealth in ways that demonstrated the life of Jesus. They gave to those in need, and they gave to advance the Kingdom of God missionally.
IV. The Breaking of Bread.
There are at least three ways to interpret the words “the breaking of bread.” This might be a reference to the Lord’s Supper—the act of eating bread and drinking wine (or grape juice) in remembrance of Jesus’ death on the cross.
This might be a reference to the simple act of sharing a meal together. There is no better place to see community life in action than to observe people who are eating together. Some have interpreted this as a reference to the Lord’s Supper—the act of eating bread and drinking wine (or grape juice) in remembrance of Jesus’ sacrificial death. Others interpret this as simply sharing food together. I prefer to think of this as simply sharing a meal together.
We believe the book of Acts is the second volume of Luke’s account of Christianity. The first volume is the Gospel According to Luke. One of the many consistent themes in the Gospel According to Luke is the criticism Jesus faced as a result of his eating habits. In Luke, Jesus rarely ate supper with good, religious people. Most of the time, Luke tells us that Jesus ate supper with tax collectors and sinners. The religious folks did not like this, because it was against their customs to eat with people who were different from them. Jesus broke the religious and cultural norms of his day by sharing his meals with “undesirable” people.
Some of you are old enough to remember the civil unrest in our country during the Civil Rights movement of the 1960’s and 1970’s. One aspect of the Civil Rights movement related to the restaurants and lunch counters in our country. The burning question of the day was: Should black men and women be allowed to eat with white people? The reason this was such an issue is because sharing a meal with another person is like saying we consider that person our equal. All social barriers are broken down when people sit shoulder to shoulder at the same table.
I find it remarkable that the 120 Jewish men and women who made up the very first Christians were comfortable eating at the same table with foreigners. They abandoned their Jewish, social norms in favor of a new kind of community where all who believe in Jesus are considered equal.
The third way we can interpret the words “the breaking of bread” is to observe one of the earliest practices of the early church. The church ate a meal together as a part of their corporate worship. Eating together demonstrated their unity BEFORE they entered into worship together in music and preaching. As such, we can interpret this in the context of our worship. A church who proclaims God as our King will be devoted to unity in worship…Worship that brings us together…Worship that demonstrates how much we have in common, rather than how much we don’t have in common
V. The Prayers.
Literally, Luke tells us the new community was devoted to “THE prayers.” This leads many scholars to interpret this as reference to the official Jewish practice of religion. In other words, the church abandoned their traditional social norms but did not abandon the worship of God in the Temple. In much of the Book of Acts, we continue to see the Apostles teaching and preaching in the Temple and showing how Jesus is the fulfillment of everything the Jews had been hoping for in the Old Testament. As long as the Gospel was preached primarily in Jerusalem, the early church remained closely connected to the Jewish Temple. When the Gospel began to spread outside of the Jewish race, Christian worship became separate from Judaism.
That is a great historical fact, but it does not translate very well to our Twenty-First Century American, Christian lives. What does translate is the way the early Christians were committed to the power of God that is only possible through prayer.
What do you think about people who pray? Some people think prayer is a sign of weakness. They think people who pray cannot take care of their own needs under their own power and abilities. These people are exactly right. This is why we pray. We pray, because we need God. We pray, because we cannot make it on our own power and abilities. We pray in order to express our total dependence on God for even our smallest needs. Without God and his power, we can do nothing.
This is true for individuals. This is true for churches. A church that prays acknowledges God as our King. A church that refuses to pray thinks of God as nothing more than a hobby.
VI. Conclusion.
Are you currently praying for your church? Do you spend time during the week praying for God to move in our church?
Perhaps there are people praying for our church that I am not aware of…But I do know of two groups. On Wednesday mornings, there is a men’s Sunday School class that meets for breakfast and to pray for our church. On Monday nights, there is a small group of folks who meet here at the church to pray.
What do you suppose would happen if we had groups of people praying for our church every day of the week? What if your Sunday School class or your group of friends took time to pray for God’s leadership? Frankly, we can’t be the church we need to be on our own power or abilities. We can’t become the church who proclaims God as our King without God’s help.
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