Who Are You?
If I were to meet you for the first time and ask, “Who are you?”, how would you answer? You’d probably tell me your name again, but then I’d probe deeper and say, “No, who are you, what defines you, what is your identity?” At this point the conversation starts to get really awkward and so you start nervously telling me where you work or what school you go to or where you’re from or where you live or who you’re married to and how many kids you have. You may even tell me that you’re a follower of Jesus. The more you talk the more I’m able to get a picture in my mind about who you are.
I wonder, if you were to actually have this conversation with me or anyone else, would “church member” be part of your explanation about who you are? When you think about your identity, is “member of a church” part of the picture? Is membership in a particular local church a part of who you are? Is church an event you attend or a family you’re part of? Is church something you go to or something you are?
“Religion Was Not Chosen”
We’re going to look at a text this morning that describes what life in the first local church looked like, and we’re going to see that membership in the local church changed everything about the first Christians. But first, I want us to consider how our culture has radically shaped how we think about church, how our culture has trained us to think that the church is more like a product than a family.
For the last several months, Nick and I have been reading a book together called Divided By Faith: Evangelical Religion and the Problem of Race in America by Michael Emerson and Christian Smith. Their thesis is that evangelicals in America unknowingly contribute to the racial divisions in our country.
In their chapter on why most churches end up looking the same ethnically, they give lots of sociological reasons why this is so. Along the way, one of the things they point out is how our country has created a “religious marketplace” where consumers can shop around until they find the church they like.
They point out how this wasn’t always the case. They say that, in preindustrial societies, “religion was not chosen,” but was rather “ascribed, given at birth, shared by the whole social group…One’s religion was not only the religion of one’s parents, but also the religion of one’s relatives, neighbors, and community members…Religion was so ‘given,’ so essential to individual and corporate identity, so intertwined with all other spheres of life, that the concept of religion as a separate entity often did not exist.”[1]
The “Mega-Mall of Religious Consumerism”
With a few exceptions (the Amish come to mind), this is not the case in our culture. The American religious experience is more like a shopping mall with a massive number and variety of stores to choose from. Emerson and Smith say, “With only slight exaggeration, the United States can be characterized as the ‘mega-mall’ of religious consumerism.”[2]
America has religious suppliers, religious consumers, and the freedom to choose your religion (the most important freedom we have). In this environment, the religious consumer looks at the options among religious suppliers in terms of their personal preferences and “having their needs met.” Churches become purveyors of religious goods and services, each vying for their share of the market. No wonder churches have become content providers rather than families, or events we attend rather than a people we belong to. This is why churches have become more about what happens on a stage than a gathering of people who love one another.
Our consumer-driven culture has radically shaped how we think about church, training us to think that the church is more like a product than a family. So again, “Who are you?” Does “church member” factor in to your identity? Is church an event you attend or a family you’re part of? Is church something you go to or something you are?
The passage of Scripture that we’ll be looking at today shows us that membership in the local church changed everything about the first Christians. Acts 2:40-47 describes what life in the first local church looked like.
Saved Into the Church
This is how I’d summarize this text: God saves people out of the world and into the church, where they become a learning, loving, worshiping, and witnessing community. First, notice how these first Christians are saved out of the world and into the church in verses 40-41.
Let’s get our bearings on what’s happening here. At Pentecost, fifty days after Passover – fifty days after Jesus was crucified and resurrected, God sends the Holy Spirit to fill the apostles. They start preaching the gospel to the crowd in all the languages of the nations so that everyone understood what they were saying. The crowd says they’re all drunk, so Peter stands up and tells the crowd what’s happening. He tells them that Jesus was crucified, risen, and exalted.
The crowd’s response is in verse 37. The people who cried out for Jesus’ death are now crying out for his mercy. Peter tells them what they must do in verse 38. They must turn away from their sin, trust in Jesus for the forgiveness of their sins, be baptized, and receive the Holy Spirit.
But verse 40 tells us that Peter’s concern was for more than private, individual conversions. The people must leave “this crooked generation.” He’s telling them that, if they truly want to be saved, then they have to change communities. To be saved, they’d have to transfer their membership from the world to the church, they’d have to publicly identify with other believers.
Apparently Peter’s message struck a chord (v. 41). Thousands of people repented, believed, and were baptized. The number of Jesus’ followers went from 120 to 3,120 (Acts 1:15). These people were so convicted of their sin and so convinced that Jesus was their only hope that they decided on the spot to publically identify themselves with Jesus and his followers.
This was no small thing. By being baptized, they were publicly breaking away from the Jewish community and joining the Christian community. This doesn’t mean that they stopped being Jews. It does mean that they were willing to pay a social cost to follow Jesus. It means that they understood that being a Christian meant a fundamental change in their identity.
Peter left no room for them to think that they could be a Christian without being a part of the Christian community. God didn’t save them without also “adding” them to the church. There was no such thing as solitary Christianity, or following Jesus without officially joining with other followers of Jesus. As John Stott says, “Salvation and church membership belonged together.”[3]
I didn’t plan to preach this sermon on the day we’re doing a class on church membership, but I guess God did! If you’d like to know more about what joining a church looks like and why it’s important, you’re welcome to join us for the class today from 12:30-2:30 in the fellowship hall.
A Learning Community
God saves us out of the world and into the church. But what does life look like in this new community called “the church”? Notice what it looked like for the first Christians (v. 42).
They were devoted to four things: the apostles teaching, fellowship, the breaking of bread, and prayers.
First, they were saved out of the world and into the church in order to become a learning community. They devoted themselves “to the apostles teaching.” Stott says, “The Holy Spirit opened a school in Jerusalem that day; its teachers were the apostles whom Jesus had appointed; and there were 3,000 pupils in the kindergarten!”[4]
These first converts to Christ weren’t having some kind of mystical experience in which they turned off their minds and followed their feelings. These first Christians didn’t think that, since they had the Spirit, they didn’t need human teachers. They sat at the apostles’ feet and soaked up their instruction. They were filled with the Spirit and hungry for truth.
Their teaching was authenticated by signs and wonders (v. 43). This helped the early Christians accept their teaching as true. We still have the apostles’ teaching, by the way. It has come down to us in the form of the New Testament. Devoting ourselves to the apostle’s teaching means devoting ourselves to the Word of God.
The local church is meant to be a learning community. We’re all called to be life-long students of God’s word, and we’re called to do this together. Perhaps you’re overwhelmed by how much you don’t know about the Bible, or perhaps you think that you’ve got it all nailed down. God has given us each other to help us grow in understanding his Word and keep up from thinking we have it all nailed down.
We started a training class this morning on Church History. One of the reasons we should study Church History is because it’ll help us understand the Bible better. Historian Mark Noll says it like this, “It is certainly prudent to study the Bible carefully for oneself. But it is just as prudent to look for help, to realize that the question I am bringing to Scripture has doubtless been asked before.”[5]
The Bible is meant to be wrestled with and read and studied within a community. We’re called to “teach one another” the “word of Christ” (Col. 3:16). This is another reason why, as I said last week, your local church should be your primary source of biblical instruction. We’re called together to learn together.
A Loving Community
The next thing we see here is that the first Christians were called out of the world and into the church in order to be a loving community. They “devoted themselves to…the fellowship” (v. 42). The gospel created a community of love. The church’s food created the church’s love.
The word “fellowship” is usually used in churches to describe times when the church eats together in the “fellowship hall.” Fellowship is thought of as what happens when Christians hang out with one another. But “fellowship” is so much more than socializing.
The word “fellowship” is the Greek word koinonia. It literally means “a close mutual relationship of sharing.” It refers to relationships where there’s giving and receiving. Our text goes on to describe some specific ways this was happening in the first church (vv. 44-45). These first Christians loved one another so much that they were willing to share their possessions with any who had need. Their love was real and tangible, just like John later says ours should be (1 Jn. 3:17).
Does this mean we all have to sell everything? No, it does not. This was voluntary, not compulsory. Verse 46 says that they were “breaking bread in their homes” so apparently some of them still had homes. But even this is evidence of their love and fellowship. They shared their homes, their most private space, with one another.
We may not all be called to sell everything, but we’re all called to generosity, especially toward the poor and needy. Can you imagine a church where no one had any financial need? This is what was happening in the church at Jerusalem (4:34-35).
The Old Testament prophets make it clear that those who truly know God will use their resources to help those in need (Hos. 8:14; Jer. 22:16). It’s the responsibility of the people of God to make sure that those within the church have what they need. Yes, we can and should try to help as many people as we can, but our efforts must be aimed at the church (Gal. 6:10). The principle is simple: family first. If you see your church as your family, this principle begins to make more sense. If church is an event you show up to, this will be harder to understand and carry out.
If you have a financial need, please let our deacons of member care, Jeremy and Stephanie Housel, know. We have money to help you. We want to help you. If you know of a need and can meet it on your own, then go for it! Especially in this economic situation we’re living in, please don’t assume that everyone is able to pay their bills.
The gospel created a loving community, a community full of “close mutual relationships of sharing.”
A Worshipping Community
The next thing we see is that the first Christians were called out of the world and into the church in order to be a worshipping community. They “devoted themselves to…the breaking of bread and the prayers” (v. 42).
There’s some debate over whether “the breaking of bread” refers to the Lord’s Supper or just sharing a meal together. It seems to me that this refers to the Lord’s Supper because of the definite article. Luke calls it “the breaking of bread,” not just “breaking bread.” “Breaking bread” was how a Jewish meal began, but it took on special significance after Jesus’ meal with his disciples the night before he was killed. Luke 22:19, “And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’”
The first Christians worshipped together through the Lord’s Supper. Prayer was also central to their life and worship together. They “devoted themselves to…the prayers.” This could be referring to the Jewish hours of prayer (3:1) or to prayer as a part of their gatherings. Either way, it’s not talking about private prayer. It’s referring to their praying together. Corporate prayer was a key part of the new community’s life together. They were devoted to praying together. This is one reason we give more time than you may be used to toward prayer in our worship services. Prayer isn’t ancillary to who we are. It’s a central part of it.
Their life together in worship appears to have had a formal and informal aspect to it (v. 46). These Jewish Christians didn’t immediately abandon the temple, though it’s unlikely they took part in the sacrifices. They likely went to be a part of the prayer services and to preach to those who were there. The temple court was also the only spot in town big enough to hold all the Christians at the same time. Their worship involved meeting with all the other Christians in town for prayer and teaching.
But it also had a more informal aspect to it. They “broke bread in their homes” (v. 46). These home meetings complimented and reinforced what they were doing all together at the temple. It allowed them to get to know other believers and talk about what they were learning together. It allowed them to see and meet needs within the church. It helped them form a new identity as part of a community of people. These “home groups” were likely a life-line for these first Christians who were now hated by their Jewish families, and for many who were from out of town and didn’t know anyone in Jerusalem.
If you can only do one thing with us each week, then our worship gathering at 10:30am each Sunday should be it. But if you’re able, and if you want to connect and grow and get to know the people you’re worshipping with, I’d encourage you to come to one of our community groups. They’re open to anyone. See me or Nick Surguine for more information if you’re interested.
A Witnessing Community
The last thing we see is that the first Christians were called out of the world and into the church in order to be a witnessing community. Verse 47 tells us that their life together drew other people in. The first Christians weren’t so focused on learning, loving, and worshipping that they forgot to witness.
Their new, Spirit-given life in Christ compelled them to move in toward other believers, and out toward the lost. People came to Christ every day through their ministry. It wasn’t their doing, but the Lord’s, “The Lord added to their number…” The Lord was saving people, but he was doing it through the life and ministry of this local church.
The Church Is a Message
As one theologian puts it, the church is the result of a message, has a message, and is a message.[6] The church is created by the gospel, shares the gospel, and displays the gospel. The church’s life together says something about the power and love of Jesus. When we devote ourselves to learning, loving, worshiping, and witnessing, God will be honored and people will notice.
God saves people out of the world and into the church, where we become a learning, loving, worshiping, and witnessing community.
Individuals Made for Community
Let’s return again to our question, “Who are you?” Is “church member” part of your identity? Are you content to be a part of the universal church in some vague non-committal way, or have you joined and devoted yourself to a particular family of faith?
Church members, one way to test how deep our commitment is to our local church is to look at our habits and patterns during the week. For example, since last Sunday, have you spoken to another church member? If you haven’t, it doesn’t mean you’re a terrible person. It may not be the result of sin, but it does reveal how we’re profoundly shaped by our culture.
Individualism is the air we breathe in America. The individual is elevated above the community. But God designed us to thrive as individuals when we’re deeply rooted in community. I don’t even need the Bible to make this point, just watch a season of the show “Alone.” Almost every single contestant talks about how being utterly alone and cut off from other people was the hardest part of their experience in the wilderness. It was so unbearable that many quit because of it.
We’re made in the image of a “We” not an “I.” God told Adam, “It is not good for man to be alone.” When you think about your life, does your community of faith make up a significant part of who you are?
How Do We Do This?
Let me close with a few practical things that we can do immediately if we want to put what I’m talking about into practice.
First, join a Bible-preaching local church as soon as possible. Second, attend the main worship gathering of the church you’re a member of every week unless you’re sick or out of town. Third, join a community group in order to get know people. Fourth, make the church you join the primary place where you invest in community. Fifth, reach out to other church members on a regular basis. Sixth, remember that your elders and deacons are members of the church too, and that they need the care of the body as much as anyone else. Seventh, pray through the church directory. Eighth, share your money with those in need within the church. Ninth, invite unbelievers to come to church or community group with you. Tenth, if you move or leave this church, find another Bible-preaching church as soon as possible. Eleventh, reach out to the church members you haven’t seen in a while. Twelfth, pray that the Spirit of God would bless the life of our church and add to our number those who are being saved.
The Cure for Your Loneliness
I close with a final question, one that’s especially relevant this year: Are you struggling with loneliness?
The cure for your loneliness is the gospel of Jesus Christ and the community that the gospel creates. Joining a church and getting involved is one of the best things you can do for your mental and spiritual health. We weren’t made to walk alone. We were made to live with Jesus and with other people living with Jesus.