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Hey, I’m going to invite you this morning to Acts. Chapter two is where we’re at together today. Acts chapter two. And I want you to know, as we continue on in the book of Acts, which is what we’re studying together, I want you to be aware that we are intentionally going slower for the first couple of chapters. This this is not the pace that we’re going to sustain throughout the rest of the book. If we did, we would be here for probably ten years, right? So that’s not my interest at all. I want to get through the end of the book before the school year is over. But as we look at this, this portion of Acts, I want you to these first couple of chapters, we’re going a little bit slower through these chapters, because these, particularly these two chapters, are very foundational to the establishment of the early church and the precedent it just sets for the church in general and what God desires for us. And you think about the creation of the church. There is uniqueness in how Jesus established his church. Meaning, when you read the Old Testament, there’s always been a gathering of God’s people, and that’s been important to our identity as a community and living that out in light of who God is in order to be a blessing to those around us. But but when Jesus talked about the church in the New Testament, he recognized there would be something unique about the way the New Testament church would gather and live for the Lord that was different than than anything that had happened to that point.
And the way that we we see that is in in Matthew chapter 16, when Jesus asked that famous question, who do you say that I am? And Peter gives that pronouncement, You’re the Christ. And he said, you’re right. And upon that profession of faith, I will build my church. The gates of hell will not prevail against it. And so when Jesus talks about the idea of the church there, he’s he’s talking in terms of the future. He’s saying, I will build my church. And when you look in the book of Acts, that’s what you discover. We’re we’re finding Jesus gives that command, the commission for the church to go in the world, make disciples. And he tells us in Acts chapter one, verse eight, in Jerusalem, Judea to the uttermost parts of the earth, right. He created the the church as a force to make a difference in this world, for the glory of God, to the benefit of others. Right. This is. This is where where God’s people, we gather together to see Jesus’s work happen in us and through us. And so the beauty of this New Testament church is being formed on that. Jesus gives us that command, that commission, that call to think for a purpose greater than yourselves.
That’s why Jesus built the church. But then he tells us in Acts chapter one, but don’t do that yet, right? You gotta wait. And so the church is asked to wait until the power of the spirit comes upon the church. And you see that in Acts chapter two, verse four, and when the Spirit of God comes upon the people, Peter preaches the first message on the day of Pentecost. And there are people from multiple languages, people, groups that have gathered there at Pentecost. And and they’re hearing the Word of God delivered to them. And there’s transformation that takes place. And it’s incredible. And one of the things that we recognize about the early church is, is this this book, the book of Acts is how the Spirit of God moves upon the people of God to accomplish the will of God. And it’s the same God today, the same God ruling and reigning. And here we are as God’s people. We find ourselves in the 21st century, and we’re not here by accident that that God has you in a specific place and a specific point in time to not only know the Lord, but also glorify him with your life. And so what does that look like for us? How do we live in light of that? In Acts chapter two, verse 41, if we just think about the early church and how they lived that out, it tells us in an incredible way that once Peter preached that first message, look at this.
At the end of that message, it tells you they’re cut to the heart. They ask the question, what should we do to be saved? And then it says this. So those who received his word were baptized. And there were added that day about 3000 souls. So when you look at the the beginning of the early church, chapter one, verse 13 and 14, it tells you there’s a there’s about 120 people gathered in an upper room. And then they they share this message. And in one particular day, 3000 people come to know the Lord. And that’s a that’s a pastoral nightmare. And so Just. That’s fantastic. I mean, I just think, how do we deal with 3000? I don’t know what you do overnight. I just we’re trying to figure out how to fit 500 people in a building, let alone 3000. So. So what? Like when you think about just this, this impact, it’s it’s incredible. And you think, man and God still wants to use us today to make that kind of a difference. And how do we do that as as God’s community, knowing that God wants to work through our lives and and not only seeing us transform, but the hearts of people around us. And so 3000 souls, this is this is not only important in terms of numerically like God’s.
We’re counting the people that come to know the Lord here because people count, right? Everyone matters. So there’s 3000 souls, but but also symbolically in what’s represented here. Because when you when you consider that this is the day of Pentecost and you start to do a little studying, the idea of Pentecost, you realize that the number 3000 is very symbolic in what it represents. Meaning, if you were to go all the way back to the book of Exodus chapter 32 and specifically verse 28, you would discover that that’s during the time period when Israel has been released as slaves from Egypt, and they’ve journeyed into the wilderness, and God is now giving them the law, the Ten Commandments, to Moses on Mount Sinai, a very sacred moment that Moses goes up on the mountain for 40 days in the presence of God, gets these commandments right. Then he comes back down from the mountain. And the Bible tells us that during that time period, people were kind of at a loss what to do. They’re like, what do we what do we do now? Moses is gone. He might even be dead. We don’t even know he’s been gone for so long. Who goes 40 days without eating right? Like. And so they’re concerned, and all of a sudden their leadership decides to tell them, you know what we should do? We should make an idol. Let’s worship the idol.
And when Moses is coming down from the mountain, as he’s coming down, seeing them worship the idol, it just so happens that of these ten commandments, the first ones are you should not have an idol, right? And and so. And God brings judgment on the people. And on the day of Pentecost, as Jewish tradition teaches, this is the first time Pentecost is celebrated. 3000 souls perish in judgment. But now, when you get to the New Testament on the day of Pentecost, 3000 souls are finding rescue in Christ. And this is very important for us to think in terms of our own faith journey in the Lord. I think the most important question you will answer with your life is Who is Jesus? Because the significance of who Christ is is liberation for us and finding and finding only our salvation, but our identity and purpose for which we are called to live our lives. And when you think in terms of the Old Testament, Old Testament was representative of law. And it’s it’s even law is demonstrating the idea of really what religion is about, meaning in this world. Not only do we have the law of the Old Testament, but we have lots of different religions and and under a system of law, religions really say the same thing. They all say it works like this. Here’s the system of rules. God wants you to obey those rules.
If you obey those rules, you obligate God to have to do things for you. So if you’re a really good law abider, then that law is going to be what frees you. And God’s going to be really impressed with you. And the only thing he’s going to be left to do is be able to love you, because you’ve made yourself so lovable, right? And you can even compare yourself to other people about how great you are at those rules. Thinking you’re better than other people because, well, you’re a much better law abiding person than those other people in terms of your religion. So that obviously makes you better than other people. And can I just tell you, in that kind of a world and in that kind of a heaven, if that’s where you’re going, I don’t want to belong to it. I don’t want any part of it. And the reason for that is I gotta listen to the rest of eternity for you, for you to brag about how great you are at the things you did. And I don’t want to live there. Right? Like that’s why Ephesians chapter two verse eight says, for by grace are you saved through faith and not of yourselves? It’s the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. Eternity is not boasting about how great you are. Eternity is about boasting and how great God is and what he’s accomplished for us.
And that’s the difference between religion and the gospel. And this is the liberation these individuals are finding themselves in Second Corinthians chapter three verse six says it like this. The law produces death, but the spirit gives life. And what it’s saying is this, that religious law is not freeing for the soul. The only thing that the law does is demonstrate to you how short you fall before a holy God. And it helps you recognize just how how precious it is, the gift of Christ made known for you. Because if if liberation was really discovered in religion, Jesus should have just told us, man, there’s so many religions in this world. Just pick one and be really good at it. But the very fact that Jesus was willing to give his life screams at us the significance of why we need him. And when Peter’s message is preached in the first century, they’re discovering just how much their life has been void of this salvation and all that Christ has really done. It tells us that they’re cut to the heart and they turn their lives over to him. And the Spirit of God liberates them in the presence of Jesus. And and it’s the same for us today. The most important question Who is Christ? I hope we recognize this morning just how much value that puts on you and I, that not only did God make us in his image, but God was willing to become flesh and offer his very life that you could find freedom in him if there were another way.
Galatians two verse 21 tells you, Christ would have died needlessly, but the fact that Christ died is declaring to you just how significant he is for your life and mine. And so the early church and and walking in that they declare it to the world. And in one day 3000 people come to know the Lord. But it doesn’t end there if you if you skip to the very last verse of the section, it says this. They were praising God and having favor with all the people, and the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved. So not only do they see this one opportunity where so many people come to know the Lord, which is incredible, but the church continued to live in light of that, and they were daily making an impact in this world. And so looking at a passage like that and maybe like me and you think, man, I want to, I belong to this. I, I’m a part of the church. And throughout the centuries God’s moving here I am in this time, in this place. How do I do that? Right? Or how does this church do that? How can we be a part of of what God has created his church for, to to see this kind of impact? And, you know, I’m saying this realizing as a church, I think we we are seeing that right.
Like we continue to grow every year and it’s wonderful. But how do we continue to to do that. And the first couple chapters of Acts laid out for us. Right. We have the mission of the church. Acts one eight we have we have the the means by which it happens to the power of the spirit. And we have the method which is the church, God’s Spirit, working through God’s people to accomplish his will in this world. So so how do we continue to be that kind of an impactful church in this, in this world? And and I think this is what this, this particular section, verse 41 to 47 is explaining to us. But can I tell you when I, when I first became a Christian, I was in college going to Marshall University. They one yesterday go heard right. But they played a team no one cares about. But. But unless you’re from Middle Tennessee. So the six of you that may even know what that is. But. But when you. When I was in college, I remember I came to the Lord. And up until that point, like, I really didn’t care about reading, you know, like, I’m like, I’ll do it when I’m told to do it. If there’s a grade attached to it, but I don’t want to read.
But then I when I came to know Jesus like that, that desire to want to just read and consume and learn about the Lord and grow in him. It just it didn’t end. It’s still not ended. But I remember when I first came to the Lord, I had some mentors that I respected and, and and I was I was thinking about it this week. I really didn’t, like, sit down a whole lot with him and say, okay, tell me everything. Like I’m just sitting below them as there’s some sort of guru. They just kept throwing books at me and I would just consume, come back like another, please. Another, please. And I remember one of the first ones they threw at me was a book called Through the Gates of Splendor. Elizabeth Elliot wrote about her, her family and some other families that were missionaries in South America. And, and the men of those families ended up giving their lives. Her husband, one of them named Jim Elliot. And I remember in that book as coming to the Lord and God doing this change in me. I read this one simple quote from Jim Elliot, and I thought, this is it. This is what I want my life to be about. And Jim Elliot Elliott said this. I don’t want a long life. I want a fool one. And I thought, man, like longevity of life doesn’t speak to the quality of life.
You can live forever and really live a meaningless life. But however long my life might be in this world, I just want it to count. God, whatever I can do for for your glory, I just. I just completely surrendered to him. I thought, man, this is this is what I want my life to be about now. I don’t know anybody. Maybe there, maybe you might know someone, but I don’t know anybody that wakes up every day and is like, I’m, you know, I’m glad I’m here. I just want to wake up and waste my day and perhaps my life. Right? Like nobody does that. We we we want to make our life count. We’re attracted to things that have life. We want the things that we do that matter. But can I just tell you there’s there’s no greater place that you can center yourself in that than in than in Christ, because he’s the one that created you. And so when you look at the early church, you think, okay, how do we how do we be an impactful church? Let me give you a point, number one in your notes, and then we’ll read this verse together. But it’s it looks like this. Be collectively devoted. Be collectively devoted. If you want to know the secret to the early church and how they made a difference, that’s that’s exactly what verse 42 starts off with.
And they devoted themselves. I love the way the NASB translate this, translates this the New American Standard Bible. I actually prefer that translation over any other English, but the way they translate it is this they continually devoted themselves, meaning they had determined that this was going to shape who they were as individuals at the end of their life. If someone had to describe, you know, who they were, the type of people they were, it was that identity they had in Christ that was going to supersede all things. I mean, even Jesus tells us in the Gospels, he says, you can’t serve two masters. You end up hating the one because they’ll compete with each other, right? You’re really only going to make your life primarily about one thing. You might have a lot of different things you appreciate, but at the end of the day, your life is going to be about one thing. And what is that thing about? And the early church is saying this, this is this is why God created the church. This is what I’m called to belong to. This has given me identity as a human being. It’s speaking to the value of who I am, not because of what I’ve done, but what Christ has done for me. And it gives me ultimate purpose like nothing in this world, because everything in this world is passing away. But what I have in Jesus is eternal.
So there’s no greater thing that I could live for than what I have in Christ. And no matter what this world throws at me, it can’t take it away. Because what I have in Jesus endures, which gives me hope. It gives me peace, it gives me joy. And so they they rooted themselves in that so that no matter what, what came their way, that that beauty in Christ is what shaped them. They were devoted not not as islands unto themselves, but collectively as a community. God, what do you want to do among us? The power of the early church was seen in the identity that they carried in Jesus together. I mean, maybe we could say it to ourselves this morning. Just just reflect on our own relationship. Is this something I just treat casually, or is this really become the the center of who I am? In Matthew chapter nine, Jesus taught us. He said this. He was he was quoting from the book of Hosea, chapter six, verse six, but but he said this, go and learn what this means. I desire mercy and not sacrifice. For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners. I came, I desire mercy and not sacrifice. And and really, in saying that Jesus is is helping us go through this paradigm shift in our mind between identifying with a religion and walking rather in relationship with him, because Jesus noticed in his day and even in Hosea when people were sharing this.
But but people would show up to show up to church, right? They didn’t necessarily identify themselves as the church, but rather they would just show up to it as this thing. And they would they would perform this act because, well, they were obligated to, but if they just did that thing, then it would make God happy. It’s like, oh, I gotta go to the church and I better do this. So that way someone’s not frustrated with me. Okay, God, I did my thing right. It’s this religious way of thinking. You make your sacrifice, but there’s no true heart in that. You’re just simply doing it out of guilt or feeling like it’s obligation. What Jesus is saying he desires a heart of mercy. Rather, what he’s pointing to is the thought of compassion. As you’ve as he’s given his life for you, you’ve gone all in for him. The greatest thing that you could offer to God this morning is yourself. So Jesus saying, that’s that’s what I would rather you discover. That’s the point of your existence is not based on your performance, but it’s based on who you are in light of who he is And then God walks with us through the rest, that we may do things in light of that, and we should do things in light of that.
But our identity in Christ becomes paramount to all things, and it should take precedence, right? We we are devoting ourselves, you know, one of the one of the things that is interesting about the body of Christ is the people that make up the body of Christ. There’s oftentimes you might find yourself within a church community when you’re talking to people, you realize, man, if it weren’t for Jesus, I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t be friends, right? Because the things that you like are different than the things that I like. And what you really meant by different was weird. But you didn’t say that, right? Like, we, the body of Christ, we just. We just make up a unique group of people sometimes come from different backgrounds, different interests, different things. Right. And I’m not saying I’m excluded from the weirdness label. I’m just saying sometimes in the body of Christ, we just got some characters, right. But but here’s the thing. We understand within the Christian community that there’s something else that takes a greater precedent that unifies us all, and walking in light of that is far more important. The devotion to this takes precedent to all other things. This is who we are, and this matters more than the temporal. This. This makes an eternal difference in the opportunity we have to share that with other people that they can know Christ to. The early church was devoted. During Covid, there was an interesting article I read during Covid, and there was a part of me like, I don’t want to make it sound like I wish Covid would come back.
I don’t, I don’t want I don’t want that again. But there was a part during Covid where like a week or two. It took a minute to get your bearings right. Like like okay, now what do we do? But after about a couple of weeks, you start thinking as a as a pastor, you’re like, well, God calls us to gather. We just we’re just trying to figure out how to. I mean, jail could be a thing, right? Like, we got to figure out how to gather, but we want to do this wisely. That’s a blessing to people. So how how are we going to do this? And you guys, if you were here, you know, we met in the park and we remodeled our building during that time. And it was fun. People just say people said, coming back, I don’t want to go back to the building. Let’s do it in the park. And then other people didn’t want and but anyway, it doesn’t matter. But during Covid we had you know, just thinking about that moment, one of the things that I loved about it, you got to think, okay, as a church planter, you get to kind of pivot and looking at a new way of how God’s people can still be a gathering honoring Jesus together.
I love that. I love that about church planting. It’s just you kind of get to be a ragtag group of people grinding it out for the glory of God in your valley and not established church yet. And and just thinking through all that. And how do we do that? But but during that time period, I also read an article and an individual said, you know, Covid was a telltale sign to the health of your church. And he said, you know, for some churches, it really rocked them. And for others, they thrived in it. And I don’t know that I would say we thrived as a church, but we definitely grew. And that was cool. It was cool to see that. But but they said this and they said, here’s what it did. It exposed for us is, is why people participate in a community. Because there’s all kinds of reasons. People go to a church sometimes they’re personality driven. They like an individual, right? And so they just want to focus on that personality. And that’s why they go. That’s why sometimes if I go out of town, I don’t tell people like it’s personality driven, right? Sometimes it can be it can just be people driven there, there because, well, their friends are there and they don’t. They’re not really all in on Jesus, but they just like their friends.
Sometimes it can be it can be program driven. They’re not necessarily all in Jesus, but there’s one particular program they really like, and that’s why they’re there. Sometimes it can be property driven, and that’s not us because we don’t have a lot of room on our property. So I know you’re not here for that reason, right? But but sometimes it’s just property driven. They enjoy the amenities that are there. But they said, but you know what? When when trouble happens, guess what takes place suddenly, in the midst of a difficult time? Those things don’t take prominence over the lives of people anymore. And when trouble happens, they they disperse. But there’s one thing the individual said That will motivate people to be a part, no matter what the day may bring, good or bad. And that is purpose. If you can discover your purpose, the hope that you have in Jesus, it helps you endure and even in the difficult situations, purpose matters. And here the early church is devoted and I gotta I gotta tell you more about how that devotion plays itself out. So it’ll keep wasting time here. But but let me just tell you, as we think about this early church being devoted guys, can can I just be honest in saying, man, our goal in looking at this is not about putting butts in the seat. We’re not about let’s just grow to grow so we can pat ourselves on the back and feel good about our numbers.
Let’s let’s count people so we can just, you know, build ourselves up. And being able to create a crowd, that’s not what we’re after. In fact, we really don’t have much room. So so it’s not it’s not primarily about numbers though. People matter. Right? So we’re not we’re not what we want is a healthy church, right? So regardless of the size, what we want to be is a healthy group of people. So it’s not about numbers. And at the same time, we also have to be mindful of how the church exists when we’re getting ready to read some of the things the early church did right. But when you read the New Testament, there’s no verse in the Bible that you can go to that says, when you show up to church, this is how a church service should look. You got to do this at this time. You got to do that at that time. This is the specific way that worship needs to be expressed, that you don’t find that you find different components of, that. There’s certainly elements that should be involved in a gathering as God’s people. That’s all true. But there’s not one verse in the Bible where you just show up and and this is exactly where the church, the way the church should look, which I find incredibly liberating and really awesome, because what it’s saying to us about God, God is a creative God.
He’s not interested in uniformity. That’s why he’s made us all different. But he is interested in unity. Meaning we’re not going to compromise on our identity. Like if we were just interested in collecting people for the sake of collecting people, we would lose focus on the heart that drives who we are. So if you’re here, you’re new. I love that you’re here, and I’m thankful that you’re here. But but at the at the same time, we’re not going to lose focus of what we’re about as a community. It’s what enriches the depth of who we are. And so there’s the theology of what we practice significant. But then there’s also this methodology. And methodology is why I can go to a different country in this world and worship with a body of believers, because we could be united in theology, but it can look different and its structure because they’re different, right? I mean, I when living in Utah, was a little, a little different for me because I have found here in Utah our our worship style, especially in Utah County, is a little more reserved. Right? And I like a little more movement, you know, and and so just look at the context. You’re like, you know what? But I want to minister to people, right? I love people, so let’s just let’s figure out what best ministers to people, because it’s not about the method.
It’s about your walk with Jesus. I need to I’ll share this one story and move on. There was even this, this time where I had a lady come to me. She’s not here. It’s just, you know. And she said to me, we were building this building, and she came up to me and goes, if you paint that stage black, I won’t come here anymore. And I have never driven so fast to Home Depot in my life. Right. And and found a paint called Black Magic. And I thought, that’s perfect. People disappear. I just and the headache went away. It was amazing. But but that’s. Let me just say this. It just sounds awful. I know, but, like, when we walk together as a community, there are certain things we just can’t take issue on. Good gravy. That is like that is not that is not the kind of demeanor we want to carry to one another here, because there’s something else that takes precedent. Like we want to do good hospitality, right? And we want to love people because people matter. But the identity of who we are in Jesus, devoted to one another, and that is significant. So let’s ask the question, well, has the church lived that out? What did that look like? And what what it’s one thing to say you’re devoted, but how do they represent that devotion? What were the and it lists for you for things in this verse I want you to see this.
It says they were devoted to the apostles teaching and to the fellowship, and to the breaking of bread and to prayer. And there’s nowhere in the New Testament you’re going to go that says, this is how a church service looks. But Acts chapter two really gives us the most detail that you really see in a gathering of God’s people. And they made these four things a priority to their life, to help them remain focused on that devotion as a community. The Word of God was preeminent with them, right? I mean, the apostles teaching like the apostles, aren’t alive today. They wrote the New Testament. You have the apostles teaching. You can read God’s Word. It’s why we as a church, we we tend to go through verse by verse through Scripture so that we’re learning and growing together. Right? God’s word is sacred to us. If you if you want to really see in your life, am I devoted to Jesus? Get this. It’s how much time are you spending in God’s Word? Can I tell you you’re here this morning? We’re in God’s word. Fantastic. But if this is the only time you’re in God’s Word throughout the week. You’re not even in the game. And God gave you his word for a reason, and we should let it just rest in our soul, shaping who we are.
And I’m not saying, look, you got to get all legalistic about this. You better read three chapters a day, three chapter. You want to get through the Bible 365 days in a year. You better read every day and three chapters a day. You gotta get through the Bible in a year. I don’t want to. I’m not. That’s not what I want to do. Here’s what we want to do. You want to wake up tomorrow and meet with Jesus and say, there’s no greater purpose. I could live for God. You have me here at this time in this world, and I want to know you and God. I want to live for you. I only one life to live and I want it to count. So God help me know you. I mean, you can get all kinds of mentors in your life, but if you’re not spending time in God’s Word, that is how God shapes you. And so for us, it could look like this. You could start in the Gospel of John. You say, God, I don’t know if I’m even going to read a whole chapter today, but I just want to read until a verse blesses me. And when I walk out the door, I want that verse to just turn over in my soul throughout the day, thinking about who you are and God’s Word. Their devotion was demonstrated through that and then fellowship.
And again, this is this is the idea. This is not just gathering for the sake of gathering. This is a communal identity in what they’re about together. They have this fellowship, this focus that is, that has helped them understand the core of who they are as a community before the Lord and and then the breaking of bread. This is not just eating, though. They had love Feast where they would have meals together. But this is the breaking of bread. This is talking about communion, and communion is the representation of what Jesus has done for us. So they’re being reminded in a very tangible way of how that fellowship is shaped. Because Christ, who gave his his body and his blood that was shed for you and for me. And so they’re constantly thinking about Jesus as as they’re walking together in the truth of God’s Word. And they’re praying. They’re seeking his face. God help us know you more. God help us honor you with our life. They didn’t just say they were devoted. They demonstrated that devotion. You know, it’s one thing to call yourself a Christian, but it’s another thing to stop and ask, is the evidence really there? And for the early church, this this is what fueled them. They were devoted to who Christ was. And then and then, you see, in light of that verse 43 and on the results, it tells you this, and all came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles, and all who believed were together and had all things in common.
So here’s what it looks like. And this idea of awe is really this place of worship, this reverence before God. They think to themselves, I can’t believe this. I can’t believe that God cared enough about me to give his life for me. To make my life matter because his life mattered. And he became a sacrifice for my life so I could find my life in him. That he took on my sin. That I could have his righteousness. I can’t believe that. Like what greater gift could be given? So what greater purpose could I do with my life than to live for him? Because what I have in him endures forever. And so they just they walked in this all every day, reminding each other of the beauty of what it means to wake up today and have opportunity to glorify God and bless others to the point that it says in verse 44 that they had all things in common. And what it means is like this, that apart from Jesus, we have this tendency of treating our life like a closed fist. We take the possessions of this world, and we try to find our worth and our value and the things that life offers, and we hold on to it.
We got this death grip on it. Because if it if it if it escapes us, well, it devalues us as human being because, well, we’re dependent upon that to make us feel like we matter. But then all of a sudden you discover that isn’t what matters. Who I am and Jesus is. And what Jesus has given me is now a gift to bless those around me that they would have the opportunity to know him too. And so they we in Christ, open our hand with those things and realizing I’m just a steward of the things of this world, because I’m just passing through and all things in common has this idea of their coming to one another with this open hand for the purpose of blessing one another to the glory of God, to the benefit of others. And then in light of that, it goes on and tells us in, in verse 45, 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. I know you’re waiting on that last point, and I’m going to give it to you in like five minutes, and then we’re going to be done. That is the last point. But but I want you to know, with with the church, what you’re seeing is they’re coming with this open hand is they have this this radical generosity, this radical care for people around them because they’ve been so cared in God that their life is just full.
They’re not dependent on other things to tell them they matter. They know they matter in Jesus. And because their life is just overflowing with the grace of God, they’re just pouring out blessing on others. And in so doing, they’ve become radically generous in the way that they they’ve lived their life. And, you know, anytime we think about the idea of radical generosity, one of the things that’s interesting about Western culture, we tend to think, well, yeah, you got to be radically generous because people are poor. And the reason people are poor is because they don’t have money. And so the poverty carries this idea of being monetarily weak in our culture. Right. And so you’re impoverished. You don’t have a lot of money. Therefore generosity becomes important. But can I can I just tell you the idea of generosity is important because the thought of poverty is far greater than just. I don’t have money. There’s a lot of people in this world with very little than what this earthly life has to offer, but have incredible joy and the same instance. There’s a lot of rich people in America that are just grumpy, unhappy people. So it’s not the idea of money, but the idea of generosity.
Let me say it like this. And in Matthew chapter five, verse three, Jesus preaching the sermon on the Mount, he said this blessed are the poor. In what spirit? Poverty is not just a lack of money. Poverty comes to us in all sorts of ways. And the early church, in discovering who they are in Jesus, filled them up radically. And every one of those areas, and therefore they poured themselves out as a blessing to the people around them. Get this. There’s spiritual poverty, which we just talked about, where we we lack the the confidence of of a relationship with God. We’re bankrupt before him and therefore we have no hope, no peace, no eternal life. There there’s a relational poverty where rather than experiencing the fullness of who we are and being connected to God and therefore a blessing to others, we. We struggle and loneliness and abandonment and and fractured family just wanting to belong. There’s there’s the idea of emotional poverty where we go through stress and, and trauma and without affirmation and love, we we have this emptiness in our in our soul needing to be filled. There’s opportunity, poverty because of injustice and corruption that we lack the opportunity for, for education, for employment or even safety. There’s there’s the thought of, of cultural poverty where it’s expressed in loss of dignity or identity and purpose as an individual because society devalues you and oppresses you.
There’s all sorts of poverty, not just the the absence of money, but but the early church in that deep devotion, they came with this reverence for God that filled them up in such a way that they poured their lives out for the glory of God to the benefit of others, because they knew how richly they had been blessed in Christ. And when you look at the early church, people ask the question, how did they make such a difference? You know, for 250 years, 125, that it could cost your life for claiming to be a follower of Jesus. Yet the world was radically transformed by this 120 small band of Christians that were really weak. They ran away from Jesus in the beginning, but now they come back with such a fury it just overtakes the Roman Empire. How did they do that? Watching their lives transformed in Christ to this radical generosity made a tremendous difference. And I think within Rome, for the first time, women are given value in the idea of Jesus or or the thought of children. Infanticide was heavily practiced in Rome, where if you didn’t want a child, especially if it were a female, or there’s something about the kid you didn’t like, you would just throw it in the streets, leave it to the elements. The church moves in and in. They think, man, God gave us his word and people want to know they should know this word.
They could be transformed. That education shouldn’t just be for the rich. We need to offer education for everybody that they could find who they are in Christ. And so they they develop these educational centers for they they develop food homes, even even during first century Rome, there was this belief that when someone got sick, it was likely because the gods were mad at them. And so if you tried to aid them, you could anger the gods against you and you could suffer that ailment too. So rather than help someone, they would just leave them to their own devices. And whatever happened, happened. But it was the early church that stepped in and said, you know what? Every life matters. Every life matters. And so rather than leave people to their own devices in the midst of their sickness, we’re going to come in and we’re going to care for them. Every every person should be cared for. And so they started hospitals. They didn’t invent medicine, but they started hospitals for everyone education. They started teaching and and looking at children in the street, they thought, no, no, no, everyone matters to the Lord. And so rather than leave these children on their own to to the devices of this world to do whatever to them, we’re going to come in, we’re going to adopt them and we’re going to help them learn the name above all names so they can find their identity in who Christ is.
And the early church shaped the way that much of our civilizations operate today. What what became this grassroots movement became the institutions that we really ripped apart from God now. But these institutions that we enjoy in the sense of universities and hospitals and and orphanages and adoption centers and all that birthed out of the Christian community in the first century. Radical generosity. So let me give you the last point, because I need to close this this be radically generous. Be radically generous. How did the early church make a difference? Collectively devoted, radically generous. And look, I’m not saying, guys, you need to go out and be good for the sake of being good. I’m saying the most beautiful thing that you could attach the goodness of the things you do in this world is to Jesus Himself. Let it be known that what leads you is the incredible opportunity people have to know the same Christ that has shaped you. That the good we do isn’t good, for goodness sake. It’s for Christ’s sake, because we have found who we are in him, and we want others to discover that as well. When you look at the early church, there was an emperor named Julian who said this about Christians. He said, why do we not observe that it is their benevolence to strangers, their care for the graves of the dead, and the pretended holiness of their lives that has done the most to increase atheism? And Rome referred to Christianity as atheism because they were monotheistic and a Roman society that was polytheistic.
They looked at Christians and thought, how can you have one God that’s atheist, right? But they said, that’s what’s increasing Christianity, for it is disgraceful that when no Jew ever has to beg and the impious Galileans, they refer to Christians as Galileans support not only their own poor, but ours as well. All men see that our people lack aid from us. Amen. Christians, by the way they’re caring for people are are demonstrating the intrinsic value that everyone has because of who God is. And more than that, they’re leading people to Jesus. Guys, can I tell you the most powerful tool we have today is the same. The most powerful tool, honestly, in reaching the world, is a church devoted to the Lord and willing to surrender their lives for the benefit of others to his glory. That’s what transformed the first century. That’s what transforms the 21st century. And you look at our country today, and I need to be done. But look at our country today. And it is screaming with deep need. I need to know Jesus. And more than anything, it becomes this beautiful opportunity for you and I in the midst of darkness, to let the light of Christ shine forth in our life.