Part 1 can be found here. Part 2 can be found here.
For the past two weeks, I’ve been dwelling on the idea of community. We saw the birth of it in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve, and then we saw it expand to include a small group of people that can help us along whatever journey we are on. I mentioned my wife and I participating in a small group for young married couples because that’s precisely where we are in our lives and it is great to be with others who are at a similar stage in their lives. Today, we’ll see community expand once again beyond our scope to include the Church.
Pastor Howard’s current sermon study of the book of Acts gave me the inspiration to start talking about community, so it is fitting that we look to it to be inspired by the early Church.
The Fellowship of the Believers (Acts 2:42-47)
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
This takes place after Peter addressed a Jerusalem crowd of what had come to pass through Jewish prophecy: the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. After Peter’s convincing sermon, 3,000 people became believers. Think about this: Before Peter stood up on the steps of the temple, there were only about 120 believers at the time. All of a sudden their numbers had gone up a whopping 2,500%. Talk about a massive growth!
What did these new believers do? We see that they learned about communion, prayer and devoted themselves to the teachings of the apostles. They were excited and looked out for each other. They learned that earthly goods aren’t permanent and sold whatever they could to help their fellow man in need. Above all, though, they “broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people.”
Isn’t this a beautiful picture of the Church as a community! This is what God has in mind for His Church: giving, generous, sincere, glad, full of praise to God, and enjoying the favor of everybody. In his book Desiring God’s Will, David Benner discusses some of the philosophies of Louis Evely, a Belgian priest. “Louis Evely…suggests that in order to be sons and daughters of God we must be brothers and sisters to God’s other children.” I really like this picture and the truth behind it.
We are so fortunate and blessed as Christians to be part of a community in Calvary Church and to be part of the greater community that is God’s Kingdom. If we struggle with being giving, generous, sincere, glad, full of praise to God with our brothers and sisters at Calvary or outside of it; if we struggle to be inclusive rather than being exclusive; if we struggle with judgment rather than understanding; if we struggle to be brothers and sisters, then it would benefit us to take a moment to step back and consider ALL the blessings God has given us and how we can pour out those blessings to help others.
Because after all, God gave everything He had to us. How can He expect anything less from us?
– Matt
ActschurchcommuniongivekingdomPeterprayer
Community, Pt. III
June 17, 2010
Calvary
Comments Off on Community, Pt. III
Matt
Part 1 can be found here. Part 2 can be found here.
For the past two weeks, I’ve been dwelling on the idea of community. We saw the birth of it in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve, and then we saw it expand to include a small group of people that can help us along whatever journey we are on. I mentioned my wife and I participating in a small group for young married couples because that’s precisely where we are in our lives and it is great to be with others who are at a similar stage in their lives. Today, we’ll see community expand once again beyond our scope to include the Church.
Pastor Howard’s current sermon study of the book of Acts gave me the inspiration to start talking about community, so it is fitting that we look to it to be inspired by the early Church.
The Fellowship of the Believers (Acts 2:42-47)
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
This takes place after Peter addressed a Jerusalem crowd of what had come to pass through Jewish prophecy: the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. After Peter’s convincing sermon, 3,000 people became believers. Think about this: Before Peter stood up on the steps of the temple, there were only about 120 believers at the time. All of a sudden their numbers had gone up a whopping 2,500%. Talk about a massive growth!
What did these new believers do? We see that they learned about communion, prayer and devoted themselves to the teachings of the apostles. They were excited and looked out for each other. They learned that earthly goods aren’t permanent and sold whatever they could to help their fellow man in need. Above all, though, they “broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people.”
Isn’t this a beautiful picture of the Church as a community! This is what God has in mind for His Church: giving, generous, sincere, glad, full of praise to God, and enjoying the favor of everybody. In his book Desiring God’s Will, David Benner discusses some of the philosophies of Louis Evely, a Belgian priest. “Louis Evely…suggests that in order to be sons and daughters of God we must be brothers and sisters to God’s other children.” I really like this picture and the truth behind it.
We are so fortunate and blessed as Christians to be part of a community in Calvary Church and to be part of the greater community that is God’s Kingdom. If we struggle with being giving, generous, sincere, glad, full of praise to God with our brothers and sisters at Calvary or outside of it; if we struggle to be inclusive rather than being exclusive; if we struggle with judgment rather than understanding; if we struggle to be brothers and sisters, then it would benefit us to take a moment to step back and consider ALL the blessings God has given us and how we can pour out those blessings to help others.
Because after all, God gave everything He had to us. How can He expect anything less from us?
– Matt
Share this:
ActschurchcommuniongivekingdomPeterprayer