Essentials Of The Faith / Sunday Morning Sermon Series / Acts: Enlarging Our Vision

By Being One 10/12/08

Sermon Series: Acts: Enlarging our Vision

Sermon Title: ‘By Being One’ pt.1   

Sermon Text: Acts 4:32-5:11

Introduction:  I got to thinking this past week, what makes a church great? Some think a big church, some think a small church. Some think a church that is highly emotional while other think a church that is keenly intellectual. Some think a simple country church, and others a multicultural city church. I’ve been in all of them and a simple country church has a special place in my heart.

From my experience, you know you’re in a country church:

·       When the Call to Worship is ,"Y’all come on in!"

·       When the Preacher says, "I’d like to ask Billy Ray Bob to pray for the offering" - and five guys stand up.

·       When opening day of deer hunting season is recognized as an official church holiday.

·       When the choir is known as "The O.K. Chorale."

·       When the church directory doesn’t have last names.

·       When the only time people lock their cars in the parking lot is during the summer and only so no one leaves them another bag of okra!

·       When finding and returning lost sheep is not just a parable.

·       When people wonder when Jesus fed the 5,000 whether the two fish were bass or catfish.

I believe this is a great church!

·       I believe this is a great place to worship God and serve Him!

·       I believe this is a great place to come and feel a part of something much bigger than ourselves!

·       I believe this is a great place to experience forgiveness, acceptance, love and a deep sense of belonging!

·       I believe God is doing great things here in our midst!

But, I also believe there’s a greater work of God still to come. And I want to be a part of that. How about you?

Background: The early church in Acts, wasn’t a country church, but it was a great church. And God has given this newly birthed church in Jerusalem, as our example of how to be a great church.

And it comes down to this.

·       Jesus rubbed off on them.

·       They made Jesus’ mission, their mission

·       and the Holy Spirit empowered them to carry out all that God called them to do.

·       And God blessed that church.

That’s, a great church. And I believe we’re on our way to having what made that early church great, rub off on us.

One of the traits that made that first church great was the oneness displayed by all of it’s members.

I believe that deep down within us, we all long to be close, to be part of a family, a fellowship, a community of faith. We all long to be in touch with each other and feel like we belong. The Christians in that first church found that…and I believe many here are beginning to find it as well.

Transition: Open your Bibles to Acts 4:32 (pr. 834 in the Bibles under the chair in front of you.) For it’s there we’ll find we enlarge our vision of God by being one.

Read: Acts 4:32-5:11

I. In the early church there was Great Unity.

The text tell us ‘All the Believers were one in heart and mind.’ The structure of the Greek implies there was complete and total oneness, unity, harmony, and accord. And we need to remember, this was no small group. There were over 5000 Christians at this time. It begs the question: ‘How can any group of people, especially one of this size, become so unified?’ I’ll tell you.

These early Christians gave their heart and soul to the Lordship of Jesus Christ and to the continuation of His mission in their lives. They truly believed:

·       That Jesus died for their sins.

·       That Jesus had rose  from the dead.

·       That Jesus was exalted to the right hand of God the Father in Heaven.

·       That Jesus commissioned them to share the Gospel and to help people.

·       That Jesus would return and reward them for being faithful to His mission.

Here’s the bottom line.

These early Christians knew Jesus to be Lord,

so they gave their lives to be His servants.

They did this so people might be saved from death and hell and receive eternal life. Christ’s mission literally became their mission. And that made them one, united to each other, even when it was not popular, safe or easy to do so.

The same must be true today if we want to have a significant impact on our family, our friends, our neighbors and the world around us. Their oneness, must be our oneness.

·       Or the hungry will continue to starve.

·       The cold will continue to freeze.

·       The unclothed will continue to be embarrassed.

·       The homeless will continue to suffer exposure.

·       The lost will continue to die without Christ.

How? How can we ever begin to do this, to live this way? Jesus already told us.

Read: John 13:34-35 ‘A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.’

Love one another….Specifically: love one another, as I have loved you. Oneness can only come where there’s love. Jesus’ love.

·       Love, in spite of, our differences.

·       Love in spite of our hurt.

·       Love in spite of our pride.

·       Love, because Jesus first loved us.

And love is often best demonstrated by our commitment to caring for each other’s needs. For Luke and these early Christians, being filled with the Spirit not only meant they boldly proclaimed God’s truth, it also meant they unselfishly shared what they had with those in need.

By our standards, those early Christians were not rich, yet they were able to care for the poor in their church. How much more, we who are richly blessed by God, can help those in our midst who are struggling financially? And you do…that’s what our Deacon’s Fund is for.

And as the economy continues to take a nose dive, and more and more people lose their jobs, those who are able, who are richly blessed by God, need to step up and be available to help those who are struggling in our church.

The greatness of that first church in Jerusalem was demonstrated in the way they responded to each others needs. What we see, is a snapshop of a community of people, whose hearts were utterly revolutionized by believing, truly believing in Jesus Christ.

When the Holy Spirit came upon those early disciples at the Pentecost event, He produced a mystical unity, a spiritual oneness among them. It was up to them, to nurture it, by their faithfulness to the Lordship of Jesus Christ and a commitment to His mission.

The same is true today. When you asked Jesus into your heart, the Holy Spirit took up residence in your life. His very presence in you is the link connecting you to the Christian sitting next to you, behind you and in front of you.

We sing, Blessed be the tie that binds.’ The tie that binds us together in oneness, in unity is the Holy Spirit.

Transition: In a great church, there is great unity. But a great church is so much more.

II. In the early church there was Great Power

Read: Acts 4:33a ‘With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus…’

This is vital to being a great church.

·       If we do kind things for others.

·       If we share our resources with each other.

·       If we demonstrate love for each other

·       without faithfully proclaiming God’s truth,

·       without testifying to Jesus’ resurrection from the dead,

then we’re nothing but a do-gooders club looking to gain attention and praise from others.

Not that first church.

·       They consistently told others of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead.

·       They consistently told others of God’s presence in their midst.

·       They consistently told others of God’s power at work through them.

Because Jesus was their Lord, and He alone, was worthy of any attention and praise people may want to offer for the great works they were seeing.

Understand that the term ‘great power’ in the texts, is not a meaningless, phrase used to get your attention. This great power was real.

·       It was the power of new life in Christ.

·       It was the very same power that raised Jesus from the dead.

·       It was Holy Spirit power in the lives of people, who were totally sold out for Jesus Christ and His mission.

In the midst of such great unity and great power, it’s no wonder Luke goes on to say that the early church experienced and demonstrated great grace. But more on that next week.

The early Christians moved from a mystical unity provided by the indwelling Holy Spirit to a ministerial unity, a oneness of purpose. And their purpose was to walk with the Spirit to help build the Kingdom of God by faithfully proclaiming God’s truth and helping those in need.

There’s work to be done. There’s a Great Commission to be fulfilled. That was Jesus’ mission and now…it’s ours…together.

If we’re going to be a great church, we must demonstrate great power…Holy Spirit power, in proclaiming God’s truth to the lost…all of us, together.

To that end, we must decide if we’re going to give more than just our spare time to Christ and His mission.

You see, the whole idea of unity is not to bask in our oneness, but to join together in a common purpose.

ILL: In 1985, a celebration took place at a municipal pool in New Orleans. The party around the pool was held to celebrate the first summer in memory without a drowning at the New Orleans City pool. In honor of the occasion, 200 people gathered, including 100 certified lifeguards. As the party was breaking up and the four lifeguards on duty began to clear the pool, they found a fully dressed body in the deep end. They tried to revive Jerome Moody, 31, but it was too late. He had drowned surrounded by lifeguards celebrating their successful season. (Douglas Bryan)

What a tragedy. But, it’s even more tragic when people are surrounded by Christians and still die not knowing Jesus.

The early Church was committed to reaching the lost for Christ. And there was great power in their message of forgiveness of sin through faith in Jesus Christ.

We need to raise the bar of our commitment to reaching others in the great power of God’s truth. And that will be one of my priorities in the coming year. I pray you’ll join me.

Transition: Luke does not stop here. He wants to show that to be filled with the Spirit involved deeds as well as word, service as well as witness, care in community as well as testimony to the world. So, we will examine 3 other marks of a great church…next week.

Conclusion

Let me close with this.

We can not be satisfied being a church that’s no more than a religious hobby to which we give some of our time, some of our money and some of our attention… when it suits us.

We are a great church, and we’re on the way to seeing God do even greater things here at CBC. Our job is to:

·       Nurture the great unity, and oneness the Holy Spirit has already begun in our lives and in our church.

·       And seek God’s great power to faithfully proclaim God’s truth to a lost and dying world and to care for each other’s needs.

Let’s pray.