And beloved, this is God's Word. Book of Acts, chapter 2, beginning in verse 42. And they, this is the church, this is the church of about 3,000 at this point, and they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship and to the breaking of bread and prayers. And all came upon every soul and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. and all who believed were together, and they had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all of the people. And the Lord added to their number, day by day, those who were being saved. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, I pray that You would bless the reading of Your Word and its hearing. And I pray that You would use this Word to call Your people to Yourself, to build up the faith of Your own, and to be glorified in every way. and all things may you be made much of and spoken highly of. Father, I pray that you would do this both through and in spite of my best efforts. And these things I pray in Jesus name. Amen. This morning, we're going to spend some time talking about the character of the early Christian church. There's a reason behind this because it's easy for us as people and human beings to fall into the trap of comfortable habits. My son is reading a book on habits. He says in that book they're called atomic habits. So these are the atomic habits that my son likes to talk about. Some of you may be familiar perhaps with that book or not. a tendency to fall into those comfortable patterns. In the church we have a way of talking about it and we say, well, we've never done it that way before. Or maybe more truthfully or more accurately we should say, well, I don't remember having done it any other way than we're used to doing it. But you see, sometimes those comfortable habits, those comfortable patterns in our lives permit us to tolerate sin both personally in our own lives, but also corporately in the life of the church. So it's good for us to occasionally look back and to reflect upon the things that we do and ask the question, why do we do this? Why do we begin doing it and should we be doing it or should we not be doing it based upon a standard? There's a phrase that is sometimes spoken of as the quote-unquote motto of the Reformed Church. In Latin, the phrase is ecclesia reformata semper reformanda. In English, it is the Reformed Church is always reforming. In other words, it's basically asking, it's making a statement that the reformers got a lot of things right and we can build upon those things, but they were beginning a process that we are continuing and that we're always to be continuing as we look deep down at what we do, who we are, and asking ourselves, are we glorifying God? But you see, if you're going to reform though, if you're going to examine yourself, you have to examine by some standard that is outside of you, some ideal with which you should be striving towards. We don't get to say, well, you know, I have my preferences and so that's the standards that we're going to measure everything by. We don't get to do that. We look at the scripture and we look to the scriptures and in this particular case we look to the early church, this church, this Christian church that's developing in the book of Acts. as they try and live out under the leadership of the apostles, something that we are generations away from, under the leadership of the apostles as they seek to live out the Christian faith and the scriptural teachings in the life of the church in their day. And then using their example, which is imperfect, I grant. There's a lot of development and maturity that you see even through the Book of Acts as the church goes. But to use their example as we examine ourselves at Bury's here in the year 2019. So our text begins in verse 42. And it begins by telling us four things that characterized this early Christian church. You could argue that these are the four essential parts, not only about this early Christian church, but the heart of worship. You know, what is worship to be like? Well, worship should reflect these four basic things. First of all, we're told that they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching. Remember that the Great Commission, when Jesus gave that Great Commission, tells us that the church's job is not to go and make converts. That's the Holy Spirit's job, by the way. He uses the church as we go and take the gospel. But the Holy Spirit is ultimately the one that makes the converts. Our job is to make disciples. And Jesus tells us how that disciple making is to be done. We're to baptize in the triune name, the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And as a little side note there, notice that the word name is singular. It doesn't say names, plural, of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It's the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And that's one of those places that the early church looked to to say, we worship a triune God. They're not three separate gods, but it's one God. who happens to have three Persons, and thus three names identifying the three Persons, but it is ultimately one name that we're baptizing in the name of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We're to be baptizing on one hand, and then teaching people to obey everything that Jesus taught, which essentially encompasses the whole of the Scriptures. Yet we're reminded that you cannot make yourself a disciple of someone that you are not yet a disciple. And that means that we need to begin that process of disciple making with ourselves and always being, since we'll never get there perfectly, always being reforming our own lives in light of that goal to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. So how do you personally become a disciple? Again, it gets back to what Jesus is teaching, but maybe let me word it this way. To dedicate yourself to learning and applying and believing the Bible in such a way that it can be said of you by others that you are living in obedience to the Word of God as lived out and taught by Christ. So they dedicated themselves to the teaching of the apostles. Secondly, they dedicated themselves to fellowship with one another. Genuine Christian fellowship is edifying. It builds people up. It should be something that we crave. It should be something that attracts us to come back to worship over and over and over again because we crave that fellowship in our lives. Genuine Christian fellowship builds up one another rather than tearing one another down. It prefers to be insulted rather than to do harm to the brethren. It is humble and it is not self-seeking. It considers the needs of others as more significant than one's own, and it prefers to serve rather than to be served. It corrects error, but it corrects error in a loving way. And it desires to be corrected because those who are in genuine Christian fellowship do not want to misrepresent Christ either in their words or ideas that's submitting to the apostles teaching or in their actions as they live out Christian fellowship in their lives. dedicating themselves to the teachings of the apostles, dedicating themselves to Christian fellowship. Thirdly, they were dedicating themselves to the breaking of bread. As a reference to the sacrament of the Lord's Table that we too will be celebrating, again identifying us as part of the church throughout the ages as we worship God in this way. And fourthly, they were dedicating themselves to prayer. a lot of time talking a few weeks back about what it means to dedicate yourself in prayer. But simply ask yourself, is prayer a pivotal part of your life today? Teaching, fellowship, sacraments, and prayer. That's what it is that this first church, this first Christian church I should say, was dedicating themselves to. And like I said, those are the four things around which Christian worship revolves. And so if we stopped right there and just stayed and stuck with that first verse, and we used that verse to examine ourselves as a church here at Burry's this morning, the question is, how would we measure up? Individually and corporately. Recognizing that the office of the elder and pastor has replaced the office of the apostle. So dedicating ourselves to the instruction of both the pastor and the elders. When the elders read scripture in the morning, the way of salvation, that's meant to be something that we dwell upon and think about. and apply to our lives? Do these, in this case the Proverbs, do they speak to the way that we live? And if not, how am I reconforming my life so that I do conform my life to what it is that is being taught to me by the elders in the morning? And then of course the sermon, as God's Word is laid out, how we live as Christians. Are we seeking the fellowship authentically? in Christian relationships, building up and not tearing down, not gossiping, not speaking maliciously of one another, but genuinely seeking the good of those who we are in fellowship with to build them up and to express love in such a way that it is both contagious and something, again, that we crave so that it attracts others to us and to our fellowship. Are you dedicated to prayer? Again, we tackled that idea already, but is prayer an integral part of your life, both individually and corporately? There's a place for corporate prayer. Not just corporate prayer in terms of what we do here, that's a big part of it. But when you gather together in Bible studies, when you gather together with just a couple Christians, when somebody says to you, pray for me for this, do you genuinely do it? Or do you say that with the best intentions and then completely slips your mind and forget? Even the best intentions. One of the best things that you do or can do in terms of a Christian witness is when you say you're going to pray for somebody, stop right then and there, whatever you're doing. It could be in the grocery store. It could be walking down the streets or at the mall or wherever and pray for them. Then and there. That way they know that you're taking seriously what it is that you have promised to do. And where we fall short. Because none of us get it 100%. None of us will get it 100%. We're sinners living in a fallen world. So it's not even if we fall short, but where we fall short. That's where we begin the process of seeking to reform both ourselves and, as led by the church council, our congregation. What is the result of this? What is the result of the church living this way back in the first century AD? What is the result of that? It's fascinating to read what we find next in verse 43. The first words are, and awe came upon every soul. The Greek word there, the ESV translates as awe, is the Greek word phobos, which is where we get the English word phobia. It most naturally translates as fear. The fear came upon every soul. Now there's a mention in this passage about the wonders and the signs. Those are references to miracles. But I want to highlight something. That comes secondarily to what is being said. The text isn't saying, look, there were wonders and signs being done and as a result people were fearful when they saw that. People were in awe when they saw that. It doesn't say that. It says, and fear came upon them. Why? Because the church was living in this way. And oh, by the way, secondarily, there were these wondrous works that were also being done in the midst of the people. That was pretty cool too. But what was most cool was the fact that this church was living in this way. That's what's being emphasized in the text there. And we shouldn't lose sight of that. Why is it that that's something that would cause us to fear or cause the society around them that's watching them to be in awe or to be in that sense of reverent fear? And the answer, I think, is pretty simple. Because folks don't normally live that way towards one another. People usually get together in groups to gossip, to pursue their self-interest, and don't often play nice. Disagreements arise and when disagreements arise basically people take their toys out of the sandbox and go home. Or maybe just in church language pick up and go to a different church because they don't like what decisions were being made. what the church was doing and living out at that time and day. And I would argue in any time and era if the church is getting this right is shocking. And that shockingness that people would live that way towards one another is something that gets attention and cause people to go, oh my, what is going on there? And what really took the cake, even, is when you get to verses 44 and 45. Basically, wherever there were needs, whenever there was something or someone that was in need, people went as far as even not only to share, but if there was a need bigger than what I could share with, they sold stuff so that they could provide for that need. And people around them were going, huh? We're not used to seeing that in the world in which we live. Now I want to go on a little bit of a side track here because this is not, I want you to hear me again, this is not an early form of communism. I can't tell you how many times in my life people have said, well the early church lived as communists, why can't we? This is not an early form of communism. They did share freely. But it was a sharing that was not compelled by the government or ruling bodies. It was a sharing that was compelled and done by love. When the government compels something, it becomes sometimes a legalized form of theft. That's what communism ends up doing. And theft is sin. Last time I checked my Ten Commandments. You sometimes hear it said of people, you know, that they are so generous that they would give you the shirt off their back, or they were generous to a fault, is sometimes a phrase that I sometimes hear people say. That's the context. That's the change that was worked in the hearts of this church. That is how they lived towards one another. This early church, they chose to live out of love for the body and in their gratitude for the free and undeserved gift of God's grace they chose to share with one another. The distinction between what the church was doing and what socialism or communism is, is that in socialism and communism the government is controlling the economics, it's compelling the people to do X, Y, and Z financially. And as a result that ends up stifling entrepreneurship, it ends up stifling free enterprise, creativity, ingenuity, and basically brings everybody down. Where in the Christian church what we find here is that everybody was being lifted up by the love and the generosity of the body. They still had private ownership. They were the ones choosing to sell what they had. And there was still a free market economy because they were selling what they had or trading things to provide for the needs of those who were poor. There was no coercion apart from the work and the change of the Holy Spirit worked upon their life and thus no thefts. only their goodwill and their love of God and gratefulness for His work in their lives. They genuinely wanted to share with one another as they recognized needs in their midst. And again, everyone was lifted up in the process to the same level, brought up together. And the church is one of those few places I'd argue probably the only place in society, maybe next to the graveyard, where there are no distinctions. Whatever your education level, whatever your wealth level, whatever your status in society, whatever your role in society, whatever your gender, your ethnicity, standing and all of those things are utterly irrelevant. You serve as God calls you and equips you. You serve as God has ordained. So there's different roles, just like different parts of the body. But all the parts are necessary for the body to be whole. I want to say that, and I want to just emphasize that. I'm not going to get political on you, but with the elections coming up, there's a lot of talk about socialism going around. And I will simply want you to understand that somewhere along the line somebody is going to say in that context, well look, socialism isn't so bad, it's what the early church did. It is not what the early church did. That is a lie. It comes from hell and it should smell to us like smoke. The person is either misinformed about the Bible, misinformed about what socialism is, or trying to pull the wool over your eyes. Don't let any of those happen. verses 46 and 47 kind of wraps up their activities there they were in the temple remember this is the Jewish Pentecost that they were all down there for so they were gathered in the temple lots of Jews from all over the place So we're there to worship God, but you know that they were sharing what they knew to be true, and thus all of those people who were added to the number. But notice that the Lord was adding them to the number. Again, the work of conversion is God's work. Our job is to be tools in God's hands and to disciple-make. And so verse 46 and 47, they were in the temple. They were celebrating communion. That's a breaking of bread in the homes. They didn't have big churches to gather in and do it all in one place. So they broke up into smaller groups and did it in their homes. Everybody had gratitude for the food that they received and had gracious hearts. And as a result of the way they lived, They gained favor with the people around them in the community, and many were added to their number daily. I want to close with two things as we transition to the Lord's table. First of all, if you want to bring reform to the church, here's a standard that is set. Ask yourself, whenever we got an idea, I want to do this, I want to do that, I want to change this, I want to change that. Ask yourself first, are these things that you're thinking about, are they things that will draw us closer to these four elements in the way this church was living? What are the things that will distract from drawing closer to those four elements? If it draws us towards those four elements, it's a worthy thing. If it distracts us away from that, it's a thing that will bring, regardless of the intention, it's a thing that will bring sin into the life of the church. Second of all, if you want to add to our numbers, try living this out. Try making our fellowship look just like this. Because the world's going to look at us and say, those guys are nuts the way they live here at the top of the hill. But I'll tell you what, it's a good kind of nuts. And it's the kind of nuts that will attract people. And they're going to say, you know what? Whatever they got, whatever's driving them to live the way they're living in that selfless way, I want some of that. And so I'm going to pursue that and see what it is that brings about this change. Again, they dedicated themselves to the teaching of the apostles, fellowship, to the sacraments, and to prayer. And let me say one more thing about that. To get there, to strive in that direction is not something that a couple people get to do and everybody else kind of sits around and goes, well, isn't that nice? But it's something that we all need to commit to every day, every moment of our lives, both in the pews and wherever God takes us every step and every hour and every minute of the day in our jobs, our communities, our families, our neighborhoods, whatever it is and wherever it is that we happen to be doing or happen to be. We don't get to say, well, you know, they're doing it. That's good enough. I get a free pass. In Christ's church, none of us get a free pass. This is the end towards which we are called. And again, these guys didn't get it perfect. And you'll see pretty quickly as we go and continue in the book of Acts that they goof some things up. But they grow through it because their goal is to protect the character of this church. Let us protect the character of this church. At this point, I'd like to invite the Council to come forward as we continue to strengthen the character of this church as we gather at the Lord's table.