The Visible Church - The Place of Salvation

The Blessings of an "Extended Family" Congregation
The Lord’s Church
Four Expository Sermons on Acts 2:36-47
With Particular Applications for Smaller Congregations

MESSAGE FOUR: The Visible Church as the Place of Salvation

47 … And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

Introduction: What Troubles the Redeemed Heart?

The redeemed of the Lord ought to be troubled by some things. We are not to be consumed by worry or fear, but there are things that troubled Jesus that also should trouble us. The Bible tells us that Jesus looked on the crowds with compassion, and earnestly instructed us to pray concerning God’s provision of those who would proclaim His Word.

Matthew 9:35 - 10:1 35 And Jesus went throughout all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every disease and every affliction. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; 38 therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest."

Especially His heart was moved for the Old Testament city of the worshipping people of God. He was moved to tears for the spiritual plight of those who lived there. The judgment of God would come upon them soon.

Matthew 23:37-39 37 "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not! 38 See, your house is left to you desolate. 39 For I tell you, you will not see me again, until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'"

Luke 19:41-44 41 And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, 42 saying, "Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. 43 For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side 44 and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation."

John Calvin writes that as the world faces God’s just anger and eternal punishment against us for our sin, there are two awful plagues among men that must be removed if we are to see the provision of mercy for us in Jesus Christ. The first of these plagues is “a sense of security when faced with his retribution.” The second is “false confidence in ourselves.” Somehow we think that we are safe in sin, and even if we turn out not to be safe, we foolishly believe that we can solve our problems without the Lord’s sovereign mercy.

Through the response to Peter’s preaching in Acts 2 we have seen a door of life opened up to a dark community of rebellion and guilt. We have seen the great plan of God through Christ and His church – a powerful word of hope from the Lord of glory for all who will repent and be baptized.

Fact: People were being “saved” every day.

Our text tells us that the Lord was adding to this group daily those who were being saved. Acts 2:41 speaks of three thousand souls. By the beginning of Acts 4 we read this:

Acts 4:4 But many of those who had heard the word believed, and the number of the men came to about five thousand

I don’t know how long it was between the end of Acts 2 and the beginning of Acts 4, but I do not imagine that it was a very long time. The growth was marvelous, and we are told that people were being saved every day.

What does it mean to be saved?

What exactly is this salvation? What were people saved from, and what were they saved for? If we look at how the word “saved” is used in other biblical passages, we find that this was the word that Peter had used after he had preached to them.

Acts 2:40 And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, "Save yourselves from this crooked generation."

There was apparently great danger in simply being associated with the larger group called “this crooked generation.” In Peter’s preaching He had quoted from the Old Testament prophet Joel:

Acts 2:21 And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

In the book of Joel, the people of God were suffering from grave difficulties, and the prophet commanded them to call upon the name of the Lord. That meant that they should gather for what Joel called a “sacred assembly.” This cry to God for mercy as worshipers of the Lord is “calling upon the name of the Lord” by which people are “saved.” Peter has quoted this passage from Joel and instructed the people of His day to repent and be baptized in identification with Jesus who is both Lord and Christ. We are told in Acts 4:12, “there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

Paul tells us that it is the wrath of God that we need to be saved from, a wrath that stands against us because we are sinners:

Romans 5:6-10 6 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. 7 For one will scarcely die for a righteous person- though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die- 8 but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. 10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.

We have two massive problems that must be solved if we are to have peace with God. First, the guilt of our sin must be taken care of. Secondly, we do not have the righteousness that God requires. Only through Christ are these fundamental needs addressed. By His life and death the foundation of our salvation is established. As Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5:

2 Corinthians 5:20-21 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

But how can we come to be a part of the community of those who have been saved? Paul tells us more about the process of being saved from the wrath of God, for we must respond to the word of God with true faith. The message of the Lordship of Christ and His great work of salvation made known through His resurrection must be believed with the heart and confessed with the lips among the worshiping assembly of God’s people.

Romans 10:9-15 9 … if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. 11 For the Scripture says, "Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame." 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. 13 For "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." 14 But how are they to call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? 15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!"

This saving work of God is not only for this life. We are granted eternal life, and we live in the hope of that life now.

Titus 3:4-7 4 But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.

Who saves us?

Peter had earlier told the assembled crowd on the day of Pentecost, “Save yourselves….” There is also a sense in which God uses the ministers of His Word to save people (1 Timothy 4:16). Yet it should be clear that in every way from beginning to end it is God who saves us, and not we ourselves. It is also only God who can bring about growth in the community of the redeemed.

1 Corinthians 3:5-7 5 What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. 7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.

It should not surprise us then that it is the Lord who added to the number those who are being saved, as our text clearly says.

What does added to “the number” mean?

If you are reading from a KJV or NKJV translation of the Bible, you may notice that those translations say that the Lord “added to the church” daily those who are being saved. The best and earliest copies of this verse that we have in existence today do not contain the word “church” here. Apparently an early scribe added the Greek word for church in place of the original words used. Those original words from Luke, the author of Acts, are very intriguing. He used an idiomatic expression (evpi. to. auvto, epi to auto) which literally means “on the itself.” In order to see how this strange expression should be translated – three words that made sense in that language and culture, but makes no sense immediately to us now, we need to look at other biblical uses of this little phrase.

When we do this we see a consistent pattern of a group gathering together away from a larger crowd. This “epi to auto” is not always a positive thing.

Matthew 22:34 But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together

Acts 4:26 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers were gathered together, against the Lord and against his Anointed

But it was frequently used to describe the church, as in these passages:

Acts 1:15 In those days Peter stood up among the brothers (the company of persons was in all about 120)…

Acts 2:1 When the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all together in one place.

Acts 2:44 And all who believed were “epi to auto” and had all things in common.

Acts 2:47 … And the Lord added to “epi to auto” day by day those who were being saved.

1 Corinthians 11:20 When you come “epi to auto” (speaking of a worship gathering of the church where the Lord’s Supper was celebrated).

1 Corinthians 14:23 If, therefore, the whole church comes “epi to auto” (again, a worship assembly of the church).

The last use I just quoted is quite interesting, since Paul uses both the word church and the phrase “epi to auto.” What then does this expression “on the itself” mean as a description of the church? It is speaking of the gathering together of the church as an assembly separate from the larger mass of humanity – the world that does not yet have this new life in Christ.

I find it helpful to think of it in terms of these two brief phrases: 1) apart from the world, and 2) together with God and His worshiping people.

The scribe who used the word “church” had the right idea, and I suppose he was just trying to state clearly what everyone on the “inside” knew. But I am so glad that the original words have been preserved for us from the earliest manuscripts in existence today.

We all think we know what a “church” is, but “epi to auto” forces us to stop and think. These brothers and sisters were living life together in the presence of God Himself, and their life together was powerful. Their possessions were in some sense not entirely their own. They had allowed their daily schedules to be altered so that worship together would be their priority. They had a new extended family – a new faith, a new hope, a new love. In a word these people were obviously SAVED, and more people were being saved every day, because God was adding many people to the “epi to auto” reality.

POINT: We all need to be saved, and those who are being saved by the Lord are added to the visible church.

There is no such thing as an independent Christian with no connection to the visible church. Christians live “epi to auto.” Christians live together as the church. People who are being saved are added to the number. Does that sound like a strange opinion to your ears? It is an important part of the historic understanding of the church that must be recaptured in our individualistic age of personal, all-by-myself religion.

Listen to these carefully considered words of the church from prior generations:

Westminster Confession of Faith 25-2
The visible Church, which is also catholic or universal under the Gospel (not confined to one nation, as before under the law), consists of all those throughout the world that profess the true religion; and of their children: and is the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ, the house and family of God, out of which there is no ordinary possibility of salvation.

The Belgic Confession – Article 28: The Obligations of Church Members
We believe that since this holy assembly and congregation is the gathering of those who are saved and there is no salvation apart from it, no one ought to withdraw from it, content to be by himself, regardless of his status or condition.

Don’t get confused here. You are not saved by being a church member. You are saved by grace, through faith, as our forefathers have well known:

Heidelberg Catechism 60. Q. How are you righteous before God?
A. Only by true faith in Jesus Christ. Although my conscience accuses me that I have grievously sinned against all God's commandments, have never kept any of them, and am still inclined to all evil, yet God, without any merit of my own, out of mere grace, imputes to me the perfect satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of Christ. He grants these to me as if I had never had nor committed any sin, and as if I myself had accomplished all the obedience which Christ has rendered for me, if only I accept this gift with a believing heart.

Heidelberg Catechism 61. Q. Why do you say that you are righteous only by faith?
A. Not that I am acceptable to God on account of the worthiness of my faith, for only the satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of Christ is my righteousness before God. I can receive this righteousness and make it mine my own by faith only.

What then is the relationship between salvation and the church? The visible church is the place for saved people, and the person who stands outside of the church, however admirable his life or outspoken his claim of connection to Christ, should not consider himself to be safe. No one has the right to keep his distance from the Lord’s church. No one has the right to consider himself saved while excusing himself from the “epi to auto” life.

It is time for us to be clear in our thinking and our words. The Bible teaches that the world is headed toward hell. A man who is not in the visible church is in the world. Jesus did not leave us in a fog of confusion on these matters. It is His church. The man who stands outside the church is, well…, outside the church.

Have you been saved?

I want to press this point further lest we miss the obvious moment of urgency that God would have for us this morning. I have a friend in our town who has been an exemplary citizen. She has shown great kindness to many people and has organized others to work together for many charitable endeavors for many years. She lives her life according to standards of integrity that are exemplary. She has shown great respect to our church and to me personally as a minister. She has told me on many occasions that she has thought about coming here, and intended to do so, but it has not yet happened. She is a fine person, but is she saved? If she is saved, then it is something extraordinary only known in the secret counsels of God. In terms of what can be known on earth, she is not living “epi to auto.” She is not in the church. Sadly, she can have no reasonable biblical expectation of heaven.

I think of another pillar family in our town. Again, they are very respectful and kind in their attitude toward this church. They came here once some years ago. At the time they were practicing Roman Catholics, but since then, apparently discouraged by the scandals that have been in the news in recent years, they entered the ranks of the non-practicing Roman Catholics, the largest religious group in our region. They are a fine family in so many ways. They worship at home now. I invited them to come visit us again, but they have not yet come. How I wish they were here with us this morning living the “epi to auto” life! But they are not here today. Their eternal situation is not at all good.

Brothers and sisters, this is not just about other people. You need to be “in the number.” If you are not, then you need to be saved. You need to spend some priority time clarifying your commitment to Christ and your life within his church. Do not be satisfied with a life on the fringes of blessing. We need biblical clarity here. There is a lost world and there is the Lord’s church. Give yourself to Christ without reserve. Then show your faith by your life with this extended family and together we will have a door open to the world all around us.

Do you care about others being saved?

When we came to Exeter some years ago, one of our sons made a friend in school. Within months the boy’s father died of cancer. It was a tragic loss. The other day we read in the paper that his mom died in a motorcycle accident. Ecclesiastes 9:12 says, “Man does not know his time. Like fish that are taken in an evil net, and like birds that are caught in a snare, so the children of man are snared at an evil time, when it suddenly falls upon them.”

On the way to church this morning I passed a granite memorial bench that I had not noticed before in front of the Baptist Church. Carved into the stone were these simple words “Margaret Pearson Tate – 1904-2001.” Margaret seemed to have such a strong faith in Jesus Christ. She was very encouraging to me in the first years of this ministry. She was there in Swasey Park when I preached to six souls one morning in the same town where Whitefield once addressed 6000 hearers. She was a great woman who lived a long and fruitful life.

Who can say how long the people all around us will live? One is taken away in an ugly moment of unexpected loss. A second one lives out 96 years. Who can say? We can not be content that so many live as sheep without a shepherd. We must live the “epi to auto” lifestyle – in part for them, for as the people of Jerusalem saw so long ago, it is a way of living that is hard to ignore. Of course God commands it. Of course it is the only reasonable way for saved people to live. But it is also a massive open door to the wandering and lost. It says, “There is another destiny. Come and see. There is a reason for the hope that lies within us. You can know this hope. There is a Way to heaven. He is Jesus the Christ. It is not safe to say no to Him.”

Conclusion: Will the door always be open?

It was so many years ago. The preacher had warned people all around Him. They thought his words were foolishness. He built an enormous ark according to God’s command. There was a time when the door was open. But one day God shut the door. Then the flood came.

Genesis 7:15-24 15 They went into the ark with Noah, two and two of all flesh in which there was the breath of life. 16 And those that entered, male and female of all flesh, went in as God had commanded him. And the LORD shut him in. 17 The flood continued forty days on the earth. The waters increased and bore up the ark, and it rose high above the earth. 18 The waters prevailed and increased greatly on the earth, and the ark floated on the face of the waters. 19 And the waters prevailed so mightily on the earth that all the high mountains under the whole heaven were covered. 20 The waters prevailed above the mountains, covering them fifteen cubits deep. 21 And all flesh died that moved on the earth, birds, livestock, beasts, all swarming creatures that swarm on the earth, and all mankind. 22 Everything on the dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died. 23 He blotted out every living thing that was on the face of the ground, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens. They were blotted out from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those who were with him in the ark. 24 And the waters prevailed on the earth 150 days.

Friends, today the gospel door is open. But the day is coming for each of us when that door will be forever closed. For many, that day comes when they breathe their last. For some future generation it will come with the return of the Lord of the Church. Do not presume upon His patience. Embrace the Lord.

Therefore kings, be wise, give ear,
Hearken judges of the earth.
Serve the Lord with godly fear.
Mingle trembling with your mirth.
Kiss the Son His wrath to turn,
Lest you perish in the way,
For His anger soon will burn.
Blessed are those that on Him stay.

Psalm 2:10-12

Welcome to the Family of God - the Visible Church

The Blessings of an "Extended Family" Congregation
The Lord’s Church
Four Expository Sermons on Acts 2:36-47
With Particular Applications for Smaller Congregations

SERMON THREE: The Visible Church as the House and Family of God

Introduction: Remembering the context

In these messages on the Lord’s church, I am making the case that the church as an institution is something more than just the voluntary plan of human beings. What theologians call the visible church (by which we mean the baptized church) is to be the Spirit-empowered kingdom of God. It has a history and a destiny. We are looking together at a very important account of its early New Testament history, and trying to understand the place of that history in our lives as Christians today.

Commentators from another generation have looked at this passage, along with many other biblical texts and have concluded that being a Christian is about more than your personal relationship with Jesus as one of His beloved chosen disciples. It is about more than the fact that you believe that you personally have the sure promise of eternal life in heaven through the work of Christ on your behalf. Of course these are absolutely crucial truths at the very center of the faith, but we are to know these truths as we are a vital and active part of the baptized church, and not merely as isolated individuals.

We have seen that the 3000 or so who received Peter’s preaching at Pentecost responded to that message by being baptized and then by devoting themselves to the exercises of gathered worship. Is that kind of corporate life an essential part of the Christian life? Was the 17th century Westminster Assembly right when they said that the visible church was the house and family of God? How is a true Christian life to be lived, according to the evidence of the Bible? I think that we will see from today’s text that the Christian life that the earliest New Testament church lived was a common life, a daily life, and a public life – three things that are no small challenge to the Christianity that we are accustomed to living and observing today.

TODAY’S PASSAGE
44 And all who believed were together and had all things in common. 45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people….

A Common Life
When I have taught on this passage in the past, by far the great majority of questions and concerns that people express on this text center around the first two verses. Is this some sort of communism? People still have the right to private property, don’t they? Is this just some special thing for that day, or are we really being told to sell everything we have? Is this text demanding that everyone live the same way economically? In short, these verses don’t mean what I think they mean, do they?

There can be little doubt that this first group of churches in Jerusalem lived a deeply common life that is not the customary experience of Christians today. Many seek some measure of anonymity in the midst of a Sunday morning congregation, while pastors are routinely urging them that they need something more.

I listened to some sermons on the Internet the other day. It was quite an experience. I was all alone in my office. Moment by moment I had to decide whether or not this was the point when I should click on the “X” in the upper right hand corner of my monitor. I went through a couple of X-clicking experiences when I came upon a sermon based on this text preached by Matt Chandler, a young pastor I had never heard of before. Judging from the echo I heard and from the way he spoke to his audience, Matt preaches to a very large congregation, and he seems to have a sense of the limitations that can come with that.

In the beginning of the message he quoted approvingly these words of John Calvin: “To have God as your father, you need to have the church as your mother.” That got my attention, so I did not click the X just yet.

He went on to say something that I have heard other pastors of very large churches say, almost as a motto. “If you are not in a small group, then you are not in this church.” His point was that that there are some very significant and even essential things that you need as a Christian that are really impossible to get within a large anonymous assembly. They boiled down to these two categories that I think are related. 1. You can’t grow as well as a Spirit-empowered God-experiencing Christian if you are not in a small group. 2. You can’t as readily perform the biblical duties of mutual care for your brothers and sisters in Christ if you are not in a small group. Some things just cannot easily take place very easily in a group several thousand people

There were certainly large group meetings that were taking place in the Acts 2 church, but these verses show that a common life also included a smaller group Christian life that was important. Don’t miss the fact that the “homes” in the Jerusalem Church were individual extended family sized churches, much like the size of most American churches today. Acts 2 is the story of many churches that met in homes and had a connection with one another particularly through the apostolic ministry. This was a regional church comprised of smaller worshipping bodies.

There are several reasons why I am persuaded that the “homes” mentioned here and in so many places in the New Testament were used as worship locations.

1. The pattern urged by Jesus: I find it interesting to consider the situation of “the 72” that Jesus sent forth to preach and to heal in Luke 10. While this evidence does not conclude the matter, I find it easier to imagine these houses as temporary centers of kingdom ministry, rather than safe homes to come back to after a busy day of outside preaching and ministry.

Luke 10:5-7 5 Whatever house you enter, first say, 'Peace be to this house!' 6 And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest upon him. But if not, it will return to you. 7 And remain in the same house, eating and drinking what they provide, for the laborer deserves his wages. Do not go from house to house.

2. Clear New Testament House Churches: There are other passages in the post-Pentecost life of the church where a house as a local stable worship place is undeniable. At the end of Romans, Paul says this in his greetings for specific people that He knows in the Roman Presbytery.

Romans 16:3-5 3 Greet Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus, 4 who risked their necks for my life, to whom not only I give thanks but all the churches of the Gentiles give thanks as well. 5 Greet also the church in their house.

Paul also writes a letter to Philemon, who apparently has a large place where a church regularly meets for worship.

Philemon 1:1-2 Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, To Philemon our beloved fellow worker 2 and Apphia our sister and Archippus our fellow soldier, and the church in your house:

3. Common Sense: Given the dramatic spread of the early church in urban and rural settings, it seems only natural that houses were regularly used as worship gathering points out of necessity. It would be many, many years before large Christian churches would be built. The apostles certainly used public spaces for large group apostolic instruction when these were available (the temple in Jerusalem, synagogues until they were thrown out, and the Hall of Tyrannus in Ephesus). But converts who had large homes and open hearts would have normally provided the only possible indoor settings for church meetings.

With that in mind, many passages in the New Testament that use home and family language now make sense, since the normal location for a first century particular church was a larger home that could welcome an extended family. Listen to these words from 2 John, easily misinterpreted as John’s instruction to an individual woman who has a sister that John knows, where that woman should be careful who she entertains in her home, etc… Isn’t it now obvious that John is writing to a church, sending greetings from the members of a sister church, and warning about those who would come as false teachers and be dangerous to the spiritual health of a local congregation?

2 John 1:1-13 ESV The elder to the elect lady and her children, whom I love in truth, and not only I, but also all who know the truth, 2 because of the truth that abides in us and will be with us forever: 3 Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us, from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Father's Son, in truth and love. 4 I rejoiced greatly to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as we were commanded by the Father. 5 And now I ask you, dear lady- not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but the one we have had from the beginning- that we love one another. 6 And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in it. 7 For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist. 8 Watch yourselves, so that you may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward. 9 Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. 10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, 11 for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works. 12 Though I have much to write to you, I would rather not use paper and ink. Instead I hope to come to you and talk face to face, so that our joy may be complete. 13 The children of your elect sister greet you.

We can now return to today’s text and observe this important principle. Christianity in the baptized church is more than a media event, it is a way of life – a common life lived among those who come to know one another and to share with one another in ways that are always counter-cultural to the larger world around them.

How is it that these early Christians would have been so free with their possessions? First, they knew God as the Owner of everything that we have and everything that we are. When we give, we give what belongs to Him.

Psalm 50:10-12 10 For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills.11 I know all the birds of the hills, and all that moves in the field is mine. 12 "If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine.

But secondly, man has been chosen by God to have an important role in the stewardship of His possessions. He has given us dominion over everything in creation, and we must answer to Him for the way that we use what He owns.

Psalm 8:3-9 3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, 4 what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? 5 Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings and crowned him with glory and honor. 6 You have given him dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under his feet, 7 all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, 8 the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas. 9 O LORD, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Finally, the needs of the poor within the body of Christ must be addressed. The people in the Jerusalem churches expressed God’s ownership and their stewardship by selling and providing for the needs that existed in these extended families. This was not mandated. It was not a part of the civil government backed up by the power of the sword. This is clear from the later case of Ananias and Sapphira recorded in Acts 5. Listen to what Peter says to this couple who sold their house, gave a portion to the church, but then told everyone that they gave the full amount to the church: Acts 5:4 “While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal?” Do you see the point? The gifts that we give are not mandated upon pain of some sanction if we don’t give enough.

Yet people gave with extraordinary generosity. Why? They knew the gift of the One who was perfectly exalted eternally, and yet came close enough to touch us and know us by name. The God of all creation knows the number of hairs on your head. He sent His Son to be born of a woman and to die the death that we deserved. He has saved His people from their sins through His own precious blood. This kind of generosity simply must not be ignored. God is with us. If we know the cost of our redemption, then we can not tolerate it when people within the church have no food or clothing.

There were two things about Jesus that drove the religious observers crazy. One was that he had a way of stopping everything in order to celebrate with one of His friends. This offended many people. But there was another thing that He did that was infuriating to some. When one of His loved ones was hurting He stopped everything in order to help. Luke 13 tells the story of a woman that everyone else would have ignored. Luke tells us that she “had a disabling spirit for eighteen years” and she could not stand up straight. It was as if Jesus said, “Stop everything. One of my friends is hurting.” Here’s how Luke puts it: Luke 13:12 “When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said to her, ‘Woman, you are freed from your disability.’” Maybe that’s why you are here today. The Lord knows your need, and He has brought you into a place where you can experience something of the common life that is a part of being connected to a Savior who gave himself for the lost.

A Daily Life

There is sense in which I am surprised that people are so troubled in our day about the common life aspect of this passage that we read of in verses 44 and 45. I say that, because it would almost suggest that they think that there is no real difficulty with the remaining verses of this text. After all, with the increased role of government in our day in providing programs for the poor, it is more inconvenient than expensive for us to care for the poor members in a congregation like this. Normally we do not have to sell our homes to do that, although we would receive the grace to do so if that ever became necessary.

But do we really think that we live the kind of daily life that is described in this passage? Listen to verse 46 again. “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….” Is the essence of this verse truly expressed in your daily life?

What seems to be going on here? There was some corporate instruction by the apostles in what would be large group classes. But there were also many smaller gatherings of worship in homes. Some parts of worship that could not really be done in the temple, especially the celebration of the Lord’s Supper. A strong case can be made that this was happening in the particular churches that met in homes. After all, earlier in verse 42 we heard that “the breaking of bread” was one of the things that they devoted themselves to. Remember that we concluded that it would be more than a little strange if God’s point was to tell us that the early church was really passionate about eating. Yes they ate together, but they also celebrated the Lord’s Supper, and that’s the part that they were devoted to. I Corinthians 11 helps us to put all that in perspective. It is the celebration of the Lord’s death whereby we proclaim our faith and enjoy our communion in the “body” and “blood” of the Lord.

This is the way Matthew Henry understands verse 46. He is quite sure that the “breaking bread in their homes” was the celebration of communion in daily worship services in what he calls house “chapels.”

“They broke bread from house to house; kat oikon—house by house; they did not think fit to celebrate the eucharist in the temple, for that was peculiar to the Christian institutes, and therefore they administered that ordinance in private houses, choosing such houses of the converted Christians as were convenient, to which the neighbours resorted; and they went from one to another of these little synagogues or domestic chapels, houses that had churches in them, and there celebrated the eucharist with those that usually met there to worship God.”

But he also writes this:

“They were very cheerful, and very generous in the use of what they had. Besides the religion that was in their sacred feasts (their breaking bread from house to house) a great deal of it appeared in their common meals; they did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart. They brought the comforts of God's table along with them to their own,…. [My emphasis]

While John Calvin acknowledges that many see the Lord’s Supper here, he does not. I tend to agree more with Matthew Henry on this point for two reasons. 1. It seems to me that they could not have celebrated the Lord’s Supper in the temple, and yet we know that they devoted themselves to this (Acts 2:42). 2. Why do we need to view this as an either/or question? Could it not be that they celebrated the Lord Supper and they also had enough food for people to eat and be satisfied?

The point for us right now is this: This was something they did daily.

One might reasonably object that this could not have possibly happened in an orderly way. My guess is that the apostles were busy going house to house at these smaller worship gatherings. These were events of the highest priority to them. Later in Acts 6 they insist that others be chosen to handle an issue of caring for the poor. They were busy with public prayer and the ministry of the word. Acts 6:2-4 “And the twelve summoned the full number of the disciples and said, ‘It is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables. 3 Therefore, brothers, pick out from among you seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we will appoint to this duty. 4 But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.’”

A second objection might be that this was just something for the early church in Jerusalem under the powerful move of the Holy Spirit. The contention would be that over the history of the church such daily devotion would be very unusual. The evidence from church history actually shows a different picture. We, with our Sunday morning only corporate devotion, seem to be the unusual ones. This is well documented in an excellent volume by Dr. Hughes Oliphant Old, entitled Worship. Dr Old looks at the Old Testament pattern of daily worship. He goes on to say this, “By New Testament times the Jews had well established customs for daily worship.” The evidence from early church history is also very strong. As the years moved forward, unfortunately there was an elaborate development of a complicated and even more frequent system of devotion, that Dr. Old calls “almost a monastic prerogative.”

It became one of the wonderful developments of the Reformation that the service of daily worship was again simplified and returned to the whole church. In later years the church moved in the direction of individual and family devotions. As wonderful and necessary as these are, they become a substitute for the frequent gathering of the church for the worship of God. Add industrialization, advances in transportation, and the further privatization of religious faith, and we end up with the unusual pattern that we have today of Sunday morning only church services. We are so used to this that we can barely imagine how anything other than that is even possible.
Listen to Dr. Old’s description of the daily service of the reformed church in Strasbourg in the 17th century, which was held at morning and evening. “Each service began with the singing of one or more psalms…. The daily prayer services in Strasbourg included a program of daily preaching. There were two main prayers. At the beginning of the service was a prayer of confession and supplication. After the sermon was a comprehensive prayer of intercession for the needs of the church…. The service was concluded with another psalm and the giving of a benediction by the minister.” Impossible? I don’t know why? Yet to busy moderns and post-moderns where everything else is a necessity and the life of worshipping God is a question of one thing to balance among many, it seems like it can’t be done. Or perhaps it just seems extreme. In that way it is like verses 44 and 45. To sell your possessions to care for the poor among you and for the support of the ministry seems very extreme. How we thank God for the willingness of Christ to give His all for us and for our salvation!

Though the church historical evidence is interesting, we do not need to derive our authority for this daily use of the means of grace from church history. Listen to these three passages and consider that the Lord knows our weakness and appointed a daily practice of worship, instruction, and service for His people. Or are we so strong in the Christian church today that we can afford to ignore this pattern?

Proverbs 8:32-36 32 "And now, O sons, listen to me: blessed are those who keep my ways. 33 Hear instruction and be wise, and do not neglect it. 34 Blessed is the one who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting beside my doors. 35 For whoever finds me finds life and obtains favor from the LORD, 36 but he who fails to find me injures himself; all who hate me love death."

Exodus 29:38-39 38 "Now this is what you shall offer on the altar: two lambs a year old day by day regularly. 39 One lamb you shall offer in the morning, and the other lamb you shall offer at twilight."

2 Corinthians 4:13-18 13 Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, "I believed, and so I spoke," we also believe, and so we also speak, 14 knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence. 15 For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God. 16 So we do not lose heart. Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed day by day. 17 For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 18 as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

And of course, Acts 2 that we are looking at now:

Acts 2:46-47 46 And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, 47 praising God….

In any case this daily enjoyment of God and His people in Christian worship was perhaps one of the reasons why this Jerusalem Presbytery was so obviously praising God and blessing His church with such glad and generous hearts. It is a little hard to sort out the chicken from the egg here. When you enjoy God, you want to be with Him and His people every day. But also, if you see it as normal to live the common life and the daily life in the church, it is not surprising if all that attention to the means of grace is actually used by God in a good way in the lives of His people. The result is a great system of positive growth in the hands of the Lord, so that the church continued to grow even more in their enjoyment and service of the Lord and His people.

A Public Life

There is a final part of the passage that we have not yet addressed. Luke tells us that they were “having favor with all the people.” Who exactly are “all the people?” Most see here a reference to the larger watching world in Jerusalem, although not meaning each and every individual person. We know that there were those who hated them and we can read about what they did in the chapters that follow this account. The other alternative is to consider this “all the people” to be a reference to the church rather than to the neighbors around them. This is not likely since it would leave us with a statement of how they had favor with themselves – a strange point to make. It is far more likely that the reference is to those beyond the church who had not yet been baptized. By the beginning of Acts 4 the number of men in the church had gone from 3000 to 5000. People were being added daily. It must be that there were many, many people who saw something in this group that they had to admire.

Before you can have favor with those around you, you need to be known by those around you. Despite the fact that a significant part of church life was happening in private homes, and despite the fact that the King of the church had just weeks before this been put to death on a Roman cross, the church was no secret society. There were marvelous signs and wonders being performed. The word of grace was being boldly proclaimed. The centrality of Christ and the cross could be known by the frequent celebration of the communion meal. Many were hearing and believing. People were giving all that they had to this new life. The prayers of the people were heard coming from private homes throughout the city on a daily basis.

They were surely known, just as Jesus had been known. Just as surely the crowds saw at least something that they had to admire. There must have been a moral integrity in the church without the ugliness of hypocrisy and self-righteousness. This was something new – something different from the Pharisees or the Esseenes. There was something here that was so true that it was worth dying for. Again, this was a new thing – very different from the Sadducees or the Herodians who did not believe in the resurrection of the dead. This was a new agape life of generous love that provoked admiration. And all of this resurrection life was flowing from the ironic and surprising victory of the cross.

In all of this, these people had the courage to live the life that they lived in a public way. The doors of these homes were open. I saw a picture recently of some government agents standing outside house churches in a foreign land where people face much persecution for living this Acts 2 kind of life today. The agents pose as interested people according to the story I read, and then they find out the leaders of the house churches and add to their files more information that may be useful in the future. How do they know that such a transparent plan will give them fairly easy access to Christian leaders? Even the enemies of the church know that a real Christian church has an open door. Our Father has an open door for us through Christ, that we might be called the children of God, members of His household and a part of His family. For this reason the doors of the house chapels of Acts 2 were opened to new people who would see something they liked and desire to be a part of something that was real.

Through the extended family congregations in the Jerusalem Presbytery and through the public teaching ministry in the temple, the message was communicated that the assembly that preached the mercy of God through Jesus Christ the Messiah was opening the door to anyone who would come in. That door has been open for many centuries. The door is open to you today – whoever you are, whatever you’ve done. You don’t need to stay in the bondage of sin. You can be freed by the power of the Spirit. This is a family gathering, and God the Spirit and the church say, “Come!” Your guilt can be taken away as you surrender to God. You can have a new name, His name, the name of Christian. It is a family name, a household you belong to.

POINT:
The Visible Church is the House and Family of God. This is not merely a courtroom where we hear the words “not guilty,” and then go about our business. This is a growing family where we care for one another and celebrate God together day by day.

APPLICATIONS:

1. To live as a child of God is the privilege and duty of everyone in our Father’s house.

The God who is high and mighty came as close as can be to us and He knows us. His family is not an anonymous enterprise. If you are part of a church that is so large that you can’t really do the things that are described in Acts 2, then you really do need to be a part of a small group. Don’t make it so small that your tempted to just be self-centered. Make sure that it includes people who are as diverse as the people around you here this morning. God wants your extended family church experience to include old people and young people, and all kinds of people that are part of the variety that will populate heaven one day.

If you are a part of a congregation like this, about the size of most churches, then you already have a small group. You are in it now. This church life is a common life. Don’t be satisfied with anything less than that. The pastor I quoted at the beginning of this message said that if you are not in a small group then you are not a part of the church. Why? Because it is in that extended family environment that you will grow in Christ and care for one another. There is one thing that he did not mention. Even if you attend a small group every week, there is no guarantee that you will grow in Christ and open your heart to the service of others. The same thing, of course, can be said about this extended family congregation. You need to open your heart to the work of the Spirit of God in the midst of this group of people to which God has brought you. You need to love God with them, and love one another as the Lord’s household and family.

I visited someone from this church the other day in the hospital. She feels so alone and she is hurting. Sometimes she cannot get out of bed because of her pain, and she can easily feel that there is no one there for her. In the somewhat public setting of her hospital room I went to visit her. I listened to her. I prayed with her. What was I being to her? Was I being her pastor? I guess so, but I honestly think I was just being a Christian. This is a family thing. One of our friends is hurt. Like Jesus, who looked at us in our need and visited us, we stop what we are doing and we go.

2. The daily life of communal Christianity needs to be recaptured in our isolated world.

I hardly know where to begin on this one. Those of you who have been here for some time know that we have been convinced by Dr. Old’s argument that the church ought to offer daily opportunities for worship. Every weekday morning from 7-7:30 or so we do something very much like the Christians did in Strasbourg in the 17th century, and something like people did in Jerusalem in the 1st century. That door to a daily life of worship is open to you.

You may choose to do this in your own homes rather than here. How wonderful! Can you invite someone else to be around your table? Make it family devotions “plus,” where the plus is someone who might be alone if your door was closed. Use your gift of hospitality. Have people over for a meal and spiritual discussion and prayer. Talk to one another on the phone. Check out the pastor’s log every day from the web site to see what thoughts I’m sharing with this family. Find ways of serving one another, and do that service with one another. Enjoy Christ together in everything that you do.

3. Welcome to the Family of God – the Visible Church

Finally, don’t be satisfied with anything less than the true community of salvation that the Lord has written about in this book. This is the household and family of God and the door is open. In Luke 15, the father was waiting on the front porch for his wayward son to return. You know how we know? It says so in the Bible.

Luke 15:20-24 While he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. 21 And the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.' 22 But the father said to his servants, 'Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. 23 And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. 24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found."

Where do we go from here? Tomorrow we worship God. And then next Sunday morning we look at these final words in our passage: “… And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.” May the Lord use this open door for the saving of the lost, to the glory of His holy name. Amen.

The Visible Church as the Kingdom of Jesus

The Blessings of an "Extended Family" Congregation
The Lord’s Church
Four Expository Sermons on Acts 2:36-47
With Particular Applications for Smaller Congregations

Message II. The Visible Church as the Kingdom of Jesus

Introduction: Acts 2 Background

Our passage this morning is only understandable if you are aware of the extraordinary events of Acts 2. Let me review those for you in brief. Jesus has by this point ascended into heaven. He has instructed His disciples to pray and wait. There are about 120 of them gathered together when suddenly they hear a great sound like a rushing wind and see tongues of fire somehow resting on their heads. They begin to speak and a big crowd gathers. The crowd includes Jews from many nations, but they are hearing the messages proclaimed in their own languages, and they are amazed. Some people don’t seem to hear the message and scoff at the disciples, concluding that it is some early-morning drunken party.

It is at this point that Peter speaks above the rest of them and proceeds to give a message from the Old Testament explaining the strange events that they see happening before their eyes. He says that this a fulfillment of Joel 2:28-32, and that Jesus Christ is the one that Joel referred to as “the Lord” so many years prior to this event. He also points out to them that they had a hand in the crucifixion of Jesus, but that He has risen from the dead in fulfillment of Psalm 16, and is now ruling from heaven in accord with Psalm 110. In short Peter preaches Jesus Christ using the Old Testament Scriptures, and then makes a very pointed application to those hearing his message.

The result of this is that 3000 or so of them are “cut to the heart.” They receive his message gladly and are instructed to repent and be baptized, which they do! The group that responds in this way are added to the body of disciples that Jesus called His “church” back in Matthew 16, a term that will be increasingly used throughout the book of Acts to refer to the baptized worshipping community of people that are followers of Jesus Christ.

Then what happens? That is where the two verses that make up our text for this morning come in. Here we continue to discover the captivating and important story of the Lord’s church – which is the outpost on earth still today of what Jesus called in the gospels “the kingdom of heaven” or “the kingdom of God.” In verses 42 and 43 Luke records what this first assembly of New Testament worshipers devoted themselves to. They obviously had received the promise of the Holy Spirit. They had been touched by Him and filled with Him in a remarkable way. So what did they actually do?

Before I answer that question, I think it is important for us to address the issue of why we even care about this. Is this just a matter of historical interest? Once we find out what they devoted themselves to, will we be free to conclude that what they did was for their day and time and not particularly determinative for us as the church today? Let me suggest to you an important principle of biblical interpretation. An account of the worship and ministry of the New Testament church with clear apostolic approval has the force of a command for us and for the church in all ages and all places, unless we can make a winning biblical case as to why it is no longer in effect. With that in mind, let us hear the word of God from Acts 2:42-43.

TODAY’S PASSAGE
42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. 43 And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles.

As we first take a closer look at the words that God gives us here, I will organize my remarks under three headings. First, I want to look at the word “apostle” and think about the importance of this title for our understanding of the nature of the church. Second, let’s consider together verse 42 under the title of “The King’s Plan.” Finally, we’ll examine verse 43 as evidence of “The King’s Power.”

EXPOSITION

The King’s Word

The word “apostle” is one of those religious words that we use without thinking much about what it means. It certainly was a very important word to Jesus and the New Testament church. Jesus chose this term. Luke 6:13 says, “And when day came, he called his disciples and chose from them twelve, whom he named apostles.” Paul and Peter refer to themselves as apostles of Jesus Christ 11 times in their letters. This was an important word for their own understanding of who they were – particularly as leaders of the Lord’s church.

Though Jesus, Peter, and Paul were clearly committed to this term, they did not invent the word. It had a meaning before they used it. It meant “one sent forth with orders” or “he that is sent” and it was derived from another word that meant “I order (one) to go to a place appointed,” or more simply, “I send.”

The important thing for us to see here this morning is that the word “apostle” used twice in these verses makes no sense apart from the authority of one who sends. The sender is very clearly Jesus Christ. The apostles are those who have been sent out by Him and for His purposes. He is the Captain, and they are His high-level servants – His “ambassadors” if you will.

That word “ambassador” gets across the point I want to make here very well, and it has the benefit of being a non-religious term, so we see the underlying meaning more readily. In fact, Paul in one of His most detailed discussions on the ministry of an apostle uses the word “ambassador” to describe the office. He says in 2 Corinthians 5:20, “Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.” This is an apostle speaking a message given to him by the one who sent him. This is an ambassador speaking the word of the King.

But is Jesus really a King? Apparently He is, since He is the one who said to Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this world.” (John 18:36) That text clearly implies that He is a king. But there is something else that is important in these words. They prepare us to recognize that this church that He has promised to build is His kingdom. For He is the Head of the church, and the church is not of this world. Wherever He was in the gospels, there the kingdom of God was at hand. He came preaching the kingdom, and the church is both the “place” of His presence through His body, and the entity that has both an earthly expression and a heavenly fulfillment. It is the kingdom of heaven that invaded the earth in the ministry of Christ and through the pouring out of the Holy Spirit, and it will be perfected for the eternal destiny that the King died to secure.

That is not at all to suggest that the authority of our King is somehow limited to the church. Listen to what Paul says about this great Christ in Colossians 1:15-20:
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities- all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

Clearly if the great apostolic leaders of the church are bound by the message of Jesus, all of us are also called to hear the King’s word. In fact this is a part of His plan for the progress of His Kingdom, not only that we would be committed to what our King says we must believe, but also that His church would be committed to what He indicates that we must do.

The King’s Plan

What is the King’s plan for His kingdom? Historically, verse 42 of the second chapter of Acts has been very important for those who were seeking answers to this question from the Bible. This verse indicates that there were certain things to which the Spirit-filled church “devoted themselves.” Incidentally, this word that is translated “devoted themselves” is a very powerful word. It has two parts. One part is “to be steadfast”, and the other is do this “towards” someone or something. We could say that they “enjoyed” certain things. We could say that they “chose” or “took advantage of” or “appreciated” certain things, or that they “focused” on certain things. All that, I am sure, is true. But this says something more – that they were “steadfast towards” certain things. The translation “devoted themselves” is appropriate. There is nothing casual about the interest of the church on these matters. In another place (Acts 10:7), the same word is translated by the King James as “waiting on (him) continually.” Maybe the picture of a devoted servant always ready for the command of his superior can help you to see what the attitude of this new church was to the items that are listed in verse 42.

What are those items, so that we too can be devoted to them?

First, the teaching of the apostles is on the list. Given what we have already said about the word “apostle,” we know that the teaching of the apostles can be nothing other than the teaching that first came from Christ. There are two essential things about this teaching. It must be 1) the “all things whatsoever that I have commanded you” that Jesus speaks of in Matthew 28:20, and 2) all those things must be understood through the lens of the cross, the central defining act of all apostolic teaching. But before we go any further in defining what the “apostles’ teaching” is, isn’t it more than plain from the context? After all, wasn’t this what Peter had just been doing in Acts 2? He stood among an assembly and presented Christ crucified to them from the Old Testament Scriptures, and helped them to clearly see what the message of God meant for their lives at that moment.

Second, they devoted themselves to fellowship. I will have more to say about this in my next message. Let me just mention now that the word that is used here has to do with the sharing of their lives and possessions with one another in the church. This “fellowship” is particularly expressed in worship when we give our economic resources to the Lord, in the confidence that they will be used for the furthering of His kingdom.

Third, they devoted themselves to “the breaking of bread.” This is a little more difficult, since the idea of “breaking bread” is employed in four different contexts in the Bible. As we examine these, however, I think that the meaning is very evident. In the New Testament the exact Greek expression translated here as “the breaking of bread” is used only twice. But a closely related expression is used more broadly, describing 1) the bread miracles of Jesus where thousands were fed, 2) the institution and later celebration of the Lord’s Supper, 3) the post-resurrection “road to Emmaus” experience of Jesus with two disciples, and 4) the common eating of a meal. Three of the four seem spiritual and mysterious, while the last is entirely common to all, regardless of faith. Let me read to you part of the Emmaus account as an example of something spiritual and mysterious:

Luke 24:30-35 30 When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. 31 And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight. 32 They said to each other, "Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?" 33 And they rose that same hour and returned to Jerusalem. And they found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together, 34 saying, "The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!" 35 Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he was known to them in the breaking of the bread.

In Acts 20:7 we learn that the church began to talk about their Sunday assemblies in terms of the breaking of bread.

7 On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his speech until midnight.

The other three terms in our list are about the activities of corporate worship. It stretches the imagination that God would want us to know immediately upon the momentous event of the pouring out of the promised Holy Spirit that his people devoted themselves to the common exercise of eating. Food is a wonderful gift from God to be received with thanksgiving, but it is also true that there is Scriptural warrant for us to reject the idea that it is OK for us to devote ourselves to eating. Paul in 1 Corinthians 11 makes a clear distinction between common eating and the celebration of the Lord’s Supper as an act of Christian worship. What is most interesting here in Acts 20 is that Christians are referring to the whole of Lord’s Day worship in terms of gathering together to break bread. The remembrance and proclaiming of the Lord’s death through the means that He himself appointed was evidently one of the things that the church devoted herself to. It is the Lord’s Supper that is being spoken of, and not common eating. It is the meal that the King of the church instituted, telling us, “Do this in remembrance of Me.”

Finally, the fourth item is prayers. This was an important part of the church’s work and delight when they gathered together. The rest of the Bible would help us to understand that this addressing of our hearts with all earnestness to God through Jesus Christ could be done through speaking or singing these prayers. We would also see that there could be a great variety of prayers that the church would do well to speak and sing in the presence of the Lord. But more important than the “how to” issues of prayer in corporate worship is the question of “why.” Prayer makes no sense without the continued existence and reign of the King of the kingdom. He has told us that He will be with us in the gathering of saints. We bring our praise and petitions to the ruler of heaven with the confidence that we have actually been claimed by Him as a part of His team.

All four of the things to which they devoted themselves tend to reinforce the truth that our worship together is a Kingdom meeting, where we are completely relying upon the power of the King to make these simple activities desirable to us and powerful for our growth in the Lord. Historically this list of four things has been seen as a brief summary of what we do together as a church in Sunday worship. The following note on this verse from the Geneva Bible of 1599 emphasizes the essential importance of these things:

The marks of the true Church are the doctrine of the apostles, the duties of charity, the pure and simple administration of the ordinances, and the true invocation used by all of the faithful.

And the Heidelberg Catechism, in an answer to a question about the fourth commandment says:

…that, especially on the festive day of rest [Sunday], I regularly attend the assembly of God's people to learn what God's Word teaches, to participate in the sacraments, to pray to God publicly, and to bring Christian offerings for the poor.

The strong influence of Acts 2:42 is evident.

What is all of this about? Christ the King has determined that the furtherance of His Kingdom will especially come through the corporate gathering of His people for worship, as they use the means of grace that He has appointed for their spiritual growth as the body of Christ. This was His plan, and He was prepared to back it up with divine power

The King’s Power

This power was evident in very extraordinary ways in the earliest assemblies of God’s people. Verse 43 says, “awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles.” The worship that we see described in this verse is not some forced act of superficial devotion. It was worship in the fear of God, with every expectation of the presence of the Holy Spirit.

If we look throughout the pages of the Bible at what Luke calls here “wonders and signs” we find a very interesting pattern. These miraculous manifestations are not uniformly or equally distributed throughout history. There are large sections of biblical history where there are few particular miracles recorded. Then there are other periods when there are large clusters of amazing wonders performed. These extraordinary times seem to coincide with the giving of whole new sections of the revelatory record, testifying to God’s approval of the new word being preached. Therefore the events of the Exodus and the Mosaic revelation contain staggering signs and wonders, as do the ministries of the early prophets Elijah and Elishah. This is obviously the case in the days of the establishment of the New Covenant community. The wonders and signs being performed by the apostles were a divine “Amen” to the New Covenant revelation of Jesus Christ, who is himself the final Word.

But do not miss the fact that the use of these simple means of teaching, giving, communing, and praying listed in the earlier verse (42) was attended by amazing divine power, working transformation through the ministry of the apostles in the church established by Jesus. As with miracles of healing, the simple act of touching someone with a hand and telling them to rise up and walk seems most unlikely to bring about divine results for a lame man. In the same way, teaching, giving, eating the Lord’s Supper, and praying seem most unlikely to cause people to know that they have been in the presence of God and His beloved people. And yet that is what God is pleased to do.

We are quite sure that the means of grace will only have an impact if God supplies the power. When change comes in the church, there should be no question as to where the credit should go. All glory to the King!

POINT

The visible church is the kingdom of the Lord Jesus. By the way, this statement about the church is precisely what the Westminster Divines concluded in WCF 25-2. For centuries God was preparing His people for a promised Davidic King. When He came for our salvation, He said, “My kingdom is not of this world.” Yet He surely did come preaching and teaching the Kingdom of God. That Kingdom is an institution in this visible world, but it is a heavenly institution in a world that is passing away. When we disobey the King in rejecting His plan of ministry, we do not negate the reality that the visible church truly is the kingdom of God. But we do err, and perhaps we even rebel against the King who has called us to observe all things whatsoever that I have commanded you.

What we must see is that there is a vital connection between what theologians call “Christology” and what they call “Ecclesiology.” Christology is reasoned biblical discourse about Christ. Ecclesiology is reasoned biblical discourse about the church. There is a vital connection between what we think about Christ and what we are to think about the church, for Christ is the King of the visible church, and we have no right to treat His church as our human institution.

APPLICATION

In particular, there are special dangers that most American churches face in our day – dangers that are worthy of further examination. When I use the word “most” this morning, I am talking about the very large number of churches that are small, having between 50 and 150 attendees or members. They face a special danger concerning the way they view the ministry.

National data tells us that 50% of the churches in America have less than 100 members. Last year in our denomination (PCA) the number among reporting churches was 52%, so essentially the same as the national data. The most common size church according to many observers has 50 to 150 worshippers on any given Sunday. This is true in more than one nation, and more than one era. My guess is that there is a reason for this fact that has to do with the things that humans are created to best handle within differently sized assemblies.

The beauty of Acts 2:42 is this: it is a plan that will fail without God the Holy Spirit. It seems designed to give glory to God and not man. Most American churches face a powerful temptation to turn away from the preaching-giving-communion-prayer plan in order to do something that will work. When we make that determination, we are not trusting God. We are acting like kings when we are called to be ambassadors.

One of today’s leading American pastors started as a newcomer to the place where he felt called to minister. He determined to plant a church “for people who hate church.” He spent 12 weeks going door to door taking an opinion poll in his target area. He identified people that had no active in-person involvement with any religious sect, and then asked them their thoughts on why most people don’t attend church. He asked them what kind of things they would be looking for if they were looking for a church.

Through that research he found the four biggest (self-assessment) reasons why people don’t go to church. 1) Sermons are boring and don’t relate to my life. 2) Members are unfriendly to visitors. I feel like it’s a clique. 3) Most churches seem more interested in your money than in you as a person. 4) We want quality children’s programs for our children.

As a businessman I have to applaud this approach, but as a minister of the Word who has just been expounding Acts 2:42-43, something feels funny.

Now I hasten to add that I think that there are things that we can learn from those four observations. Furthermore, I have to echo the comment of a pastoral friend of mine regarding the quality of our worship offering when he said, “Yeah, but it can’t stink.” He’s right. We can’t just embrace laziness, ugliness, and sloppiness and then call it “faithful” and snub our noses at people that are actually trying to do a better job.

But I find myself thinking of what the four or five items Acts 2:42 might be if the people of our world were voting on it today. What do adults and kids in our community actually want in a church?

I think that there is some evidence that adults might choose the following:

1) Inspirational musical theatre/video,
2) A variety of self-help/expression/esteem groups tailored to “my” perceived needs/desires,
3) Well-run community benevolence opportunities including some opportunity for travel, and
4) A good environment (with coffee) for meeting friends and contacts.

What about the kids:

1) Pizza,
2) Good videos (no particular need that they be inspirational),
3) Clowns, puppets, sports, crafts, or other activities,
4) A place to make friends and maybe even find romance.

There is one essential in all of this, and of course it is not the Holy Spirit. The essential is that all these things must be done well. If we did a bit of musical theatre here some Sunday, we might suppose that we would attract some interested observers. But I think that most of us would agree that the kind of production that we might put together every week would find little repeat business.

The list that the world chooses demands consumer-oriented excellence. This excellence issue is the trap for most churches – those churches with less than 150 worshipers. They may see this kind of responsiveness to what people seem to want as the only way to have the substantial growth that they long for, but the smaller church will generally not be able to do those things well, at least according to the standards of consumers.

That is a pragmatic concern. But there is a much bigger issue that we need to consider. Is it right to make our own list of what people want, and to turn that into our plan for our church? If we could die a death that would atone for someone than we perhaps would have the right to change the Lord’s plans for His church. Then we would be kings. But that cannot happen. We are the community of people that are motivated by this reality: that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of which I am the foremost. We don’t need the world’s plan. We need to follow and trust the King.

Something happens when we become captivated by the consumer demands of the world around us (and of the church-goer that sees the visible church as our institution where human methodology can bring success). Unless we are hopeless cheerleaders for our own abilities, we look back at our own little extended family here and say, “We can’t do what is necessary for the success of the church.” There’s not enough money, …people, …programs, …musical talent, …video resources.

Brothers and sisters, this is simply NOT SO. Christ apparently chose a plan for His church that can work wherever God the Holy Spirit sovereignly and graciously chooses to work. That plan can work very well with a church of ten families, and it can even work in a church that is much, much larger. A small group of people touched by the spirit of God, loving the king, and seeking first the kingdom can do what this text says as a part of the world-wide kingdom of God, if God will provide the power.

And this is what we must ask Him to do. We must pray that He will be pleased to visit us and awaken His assembly here and throughout the world. We must attend to the means of grace that the King has appointed for His glory and our good.

Conclusion

If Jesus were here and He told you to do something, would you do it? Of course you would. He is here today. Let us attend to every word of our Master. Let us believe the truth about the Savior of the church. His atoning death and resurrection life is everything for us. Let us also obey the Lord and King of the church, seeking the powerful work of His Spirit as we do what Christ commands.

Luke - Morning Worship Summaries

Luke's Gospel - Completed - as of 9/29/05:

1 chapter every morning. At the end of the message, I summarize the chapter in one brief remark. Below find those summary remarks for Luke’s gospel. The numbers refer to the chapters.

1. Jesus’ people are a family of faith, called to prepare for his coming through repentance.
2. How can we keep our head lower than such a King? We humble ourselves and are found in Him.
3. We are the people of the Son. What can men of power and position do to us? Put off fear of men, and of the day ahead.
4. Led by the Spirit of God, the Lord Jesus faces suffering and temptation and displays kingdom victory behind enemy lines.
5. Jesus is calling a community of faith, cleansing, healing, restoring, and forgiving sinners who will follow Him. This is something new and powerful and good.
6. The incomparable blessedness of our eternal destiny (through Christ) makes all the difference in how we are empowered to live now.
7. The community of faith has been forgiven much, so we shall love much. Our hope is not in our worthiness, but in the Word, who brings life to the elect.
8. Jesus calls us to a life that comes from His own divine power. We shall believe His word and be much more than we can be. There is something here that is much more than natural determinism.
9. This is a new kingdom that is not of this world. It is a kingdom of power, salvation, and glory. Yet it is also a kingdom of faith and humble service. We do not fully understand it, yet we are used in it.
10. What is the good portion for us? the Word of the Lord, the life of Christ-like mercy, and the truth that our name is written in heaven
11. Let us ask, seek, and knock with much prayer, that the Father and the Son would send forth the Spirit, and that we might hear the Word of God and keep it.
12. There is much good news and encouragement from God for those who love the Lord and who hope in the kingdom of heaven.
13. Jesus has made Himself the one door to life for us. He will perish in Jerusalem, that the new "Jerusalem" will repent and live.
14. The kingdom of life moves forward. We who have ears to hear the word of the Lord follow Him in viewing the kingdom rightly.
15. We are the children of a God who seeks and saves the lost.
16. Moses and the prophets tell us a story of the mercy of the Lord for us that goes beyond law. This mercy is known in our New Covenant relationship.
17. The life of the kingdom is in some ways quite different from the life of the world. The servants of the kingdom will suffer many things, but will keep their lives even though they lose them.
18. Faith in the mercy of God through His appointed substitute, the suffering Son of David, is the only way of life.
19. The one who grants eternal salvation to all who repent and believe is on the road to a most unusual and costly triumph.
20. The humble poor will hear the word and believe, but the proud will perish.
21. It is those who believe what the Lord says about this generation and age and who hope in the age to come who give the Lord all that they have.
22. The kingdom is inaugurated. A stone is laid in Zion, but many will stumble.
23. This is not over. This is the end of the humiliation of Christ. His exaltation will never end.
24. Here is eternal VICTORY for the companions of the Lord in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is amazing to see the Lord who was resting in the grave in the last chapter now calmly ruling in perfect accord with the Scriptures as the ascended Lord of the church.

The Identity and Destiny of the Visible Church

The Blessings of an "Extended Family" Congregation
The Lord’s Church
Four Expository Sermons on Acts 2:36-47
With Particular Applications for Smaller Congregations

SERMON ONE: The Identity and Destiny of the Visible Church

Introduction: An average American church in today’s missionary environment

I frequently take some time in September to consider together with you where we are as a church, and where we seem to be going.

I recently read a newspaper headline with these words: “Religion takes a back seat in Western Europe.” The picture below the headline showed the inside of a big cathedral in some European city with a small number of worshippers, mostly elderly women. A story like that always catches my eye because missionaries serving in Europe have told me that their situation in France or England is similar to ours here in the Northeast, where we are pretty well aware that we are not exactly the buckle of the Bible belt.

I must tell you that I am happy to minister here. And I find that I am not particularly impressed with any one part of the world as opposed to another. My hope is not resting in any one place on this globe, no matter how supportive that place might be of the Christian faith.

But about our nation, surveys suggest that 40% of Americans attend church in any given week. Those who have looked into the details more deliberately find that people tend to over-report their own attendance. When asked if they attended church this week, people who see themselves as regular church-goers often say yes for the purpose of the phone survey, even though they may not have actually been in church on that particular Sunday. Some analysts tell us that the real number is quite a bit less than 40%.

One thing is fairly clear. Most American churches are surprisingly small. There is another thing I have noticed. In our success-oriented consumer-driven world, many small churches feel like they are failing. If you put these two observations together, particularly in an environment where we are regularly being told that religion is taking a back seat in the world that we live in, it is not surprising that most churches look at their lack of growth and get discouraged.

On the subject of congregational size, I’m not sure that this one statistic can really bear the weight that we place on it. Is it really the best way for us to know who we are and how we are serving the Lord? One of the leading statisticians in the evangelical community, George Barna, has average congregational attendance at about 90 in 1999, the last year for which I can find data. These numbers are actually a little high because of the effect of the very large churches on the calculation of the average. (Imagine the impact of one 5000 member church on average attendance figures in a particular region.) National data tells us that 50% of the churches in America have less than 100 members. Last year in the PCA the number among reporting churches was 52%, so essentially the same as the national data. The most common size church according to many observers has 50 to 150 worshippers on any given Sunday. This is true in more than one nation, and more than one era.

I actually don’t think that’s an accident. I think it may have something to do with the number of people that you can at least know the name of and begin to relate to. The average church is, and I would guess always has been, about the size of a fairly large extended family reunion – about the number of people that could have each found a small spot in a large house where someone was talking and other people were trying to listen. That extended family connection is a very positive thing, helping us to begin to see the diverse group of people that we relate to every Sunday as a part of something eternal – something that is much larger, and something that truly is wildly successful. Individual churches that get very large have to find some way to create that extended family feel, or they end up being places where nobody knows your name.

So in some sense, I not convinced that things are all that unusual for us in the Northeast United States in the beginning of the 21st century. But here is the difference in our place and time. We live in a place and in an era where many people seem to choose increasingly isolated lives of quiet desperation. They do this even though their souls actually long for some connection that would make sense out of their lives. They doubt that there is any sense to be had anyway, and to live in true relationship with a community of people seems increasingly inconvenient and energy-intensive. Though they want something more, they also fear having something more.

It would seem that things would just keep on going like that – more isolation, more desperation, yet more unwilling to take the risk of knowing anyone. We cling to the familiar of our own small world. But then you lose something familiar that you had not planned on losing. And you feel like you absolutely must be with family. At a time like that you can again sense your great need for God, and once again desire to feel His work in the midst of this extended family of faith that we belong to.

September 2005 will be remembered for many years as a time of great loss. Thousands of people who lived in the path of a hurricane lost things that they were not expecting to lose. If we have been paying attention to anything outside of ourselves, the suffering of others has to shake us. That’s not a bad thing. It breaks down some of our hardness and isolation. When that happens, we may see something of the wonder of God and His people again in the midst of this world of trouble and loss.

Over the next four weeks we will be examining an event that took place some 2000 years ago. A message was heard by more than 3000 people in Jerusalem. It shook many people to their core, and changed their lives. It was the beginning of a great and winning institution that most of you are a part of, but that all of you are attending as you hear my voice right now. That institution is the visible church of the Lord Jesus Christ. We open our consideration of this passage from Acts 2 with the last verse of the Apostle Peter’s life-changing message to the people gathered there that day, and then examine what God did, and how the people there responded to it all. As we do so, I want to make the case that what happened there 20 centuries ago is of significant relevance to the purpose of your life as you hear my words this morning.

TODAY’S PASSAGE
36 “Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified.”
37 Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”
38 And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” 40 And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.”
41 So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.

Exposition of the Text:

(Verse 36-37) What God has done

The people listening to Peter that day needed to know something “for certain.” They needed to know that God “made” this Jesus “Lord and Christ.” This was the same Jesus that was rejected by a crowd at Passover a few weeks before with the words “Crucify Him!” The judgement of Pilate, the religious leaders and the crowd was against Jesus. But God made His judgment known by bringing His Son back from the dead. Of course, Jesus has always been the eternal Son of God, but the resurrection of Jesus was a major declaration of something by God. As Paul says in Romans 1:4, Jesus was declared to be the Son of God “by His resurrection.” It is in that sense that God “made” Him “Lord and Christ.” What man thinks of Jesus counts for little. God has installed Him as the Master and Messiah of the church.

There is one other thing that God did in this passage. He worked in the hearts of the hearers to move them to a tender reception of this hard-hitting message. They were pierced by the truth. This does not always happen. Stephen in Acts 7 faces a very different reaction. He preached and they stoned him to death. It is a marvelous act of God when people are “cut to the heart” regarding their sin, and are willing to respond by turning to the Lord.

(Verse 38-40) What shall we do?

The expectation of the assembled crowd must have been that there was no hope for them. According to Peter’s preaching from Joel 2, they needed to call on the name of the Lord in order to be saved, and Jesus was that Lord. But they crucified Him rather than bowing in worship before Him. Now He was gone. How could there be any hope for them?

The gracious answer is that they could and must repent and be baptized. This was very good news. The word “repent” means to change your mind, but it is much more than a change in your opinion about something. The word I like to use to explain repentance is “surrender.” In fact, an ancient writer used this very same Greek word in a military chronicle to record the command of a victorious general as he spoke to a vanquished foe. He called them to repent. Anything less than surrender is not true repentance.

They were also called to be baptized. Baptism is an identification with the Lord Jesus, and with the community of His people the church – the only place where the forgiveness of sins is known. The promise is that the people of the Lord will receive new life through the Holy Spirit. This is nothing less than death to one master and resurrection life unto another, as in Colossians 3:3, “For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”

The summary of Peter’s instruction to them is that they should save themselves from this crooked generation! It is not that this one generation was so unusually wicked beyond all others. Peter was calling those assembled there to see themselves as dead to their former life – their love of self and lust for the world, and to find new life in Christ and the heavenly kingdom expressed on earth through the visible church.

(Verse 41) And so they did.

The message met its mark in the hearts of the people. We don’t know how many were there that day, but of the total that may have heard his voice, some 3000 “received His word.” Others may have scoffed, but these 3000 were baptized, and they were “added” to something, according to our text.

Key Question and Consideration:

What were they added to?

We know that the baptized were added to something? The text says so. But what were they added to? Remember that in Matthew 16:18 Jesus said, “I will build my church.” Not long after that we see the founder and cornerstone of the church alone, as he atones for our sins on the cross. Then after the resurrection (Matthew 28) He speaks to the remaining eleven disciples as the leaders of the church that He promised to build. He instructs them to make disciples through baptizing and through teaching people to observe what He has commanded. At the beginning of Acts we are told of 120 disciples who were gathered together. Clearly these 3000 were added to the 120 disciples.

Before long, the word that Jesus used becomes the word that we all would use to describe the disciples. In Acts 5:11 we read that “great fear came upon the whole church” and in Acts 8:1 we learn that there was a “great persecution against the church in Jerusalem.” The word that is used means “assembly” in the original Greek. It contains the idea of a group of people being called. They are called out of allegiance to the world that is passing away, and they are brought into a whole-hearted allegiance to Jesus and His church.

The identity of the visible church

What is this “church?” We can say this: Not everyone who has been baptized is necessarily part of the Lord’s elect. He has a perfect view of the fullness of His church that we do not yet entirely see. Otherwise, there would be no sense to what Paul says in Romans 8, that “the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.” If the elect church in its final form were perfectly visible to us, then we would not eagerly wait for the revealing of it. There are some that we baptize that end up not being elect. What we see today is the baptized church. God sees the baptized church perfectly of course, but He also sees the elect church perfectly. One day we will see that too. In the meantime, there is a distinction between the church of the elect and the church of the baptized. We call the baptized church the “visible” church. We call the elect church the “invisible” church.

Acts 2 is clearly talking about baptism, and it is through baptism that someone normally enters the visible church. There may have been some among that 3000 that would later turn away from Christ and thereby show that they were never part of the elect church. But all of the 3000 were added that day to the baptized visible church.

There is no true visible church without Jesus. Jesus is at the center of Peter’s preaching. His death is the atoning sacrifice that is our redemption. His name is the one upon which we are to call, “for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). He is the Head of the church. His Word rules it. The church where Jesus is, is a true church.

We must still do today what that first assembly needed to do in the day when Peter preached. We must surrender to Jesus and be marked as those who are identified by Him. Grasp this amazing truth, and I think you have something that our churches need to hear: What we are a part of today is in essence the same thing that those 3000 people became a part of in their day. We are a part of the visible church of Jesus, whom God has made Lord and Christ.

The destiny of the visible church

What has happened to that visible church over the centuries that have passed? In a word, it has grown – not uniformly and particularly not in every location and every time. But the whole of it has grown tremendously. From the 1+ of Matthew 16, to the 11+ of Matthew 28, to the 120+ of Acts 2, and to the 3000+ of the Jerusalem church at the end of the day after Peter’s preaching, the church has grown. But that 3000 was only a very small part of what has taken place over the centuries since that day. Facing extraordinary and numerous trials from without and within, the church of Jesus Christ has been on the move, and it remains very much alive.

Where is this visible church headed? One day the sons of God will be revealed. They will be openly acknowledged and acquitted before the judgment seat of God. The chaff of false Christians will have been cast off, and the wheat will be taken into the barn. Then the elect church of God will be the only church of God. There will be no distinction between the visible and invisible, for the sons of God will live together in the full enjoying of God to all eternity. This is the destiny of the church. If you are a part of this great Kingdom by God’s grace, then this is your destiny.

Two Concerns for Today:

1. The “spirituality” trap

The visible church is not merely a “spirituality,” but a community of life from the dead. We know that many people are confused on this point. They are very interested in “spirituality” and even in Christianity, but the experience that they are looking for is personal, private, and restricted to a portion of their lives. They have no place in their lives for the communal duties and privileges of an extended family congregation.

God has something else in mind for His loved ones. He wants them to live with one another. He wants them to learn from one another. He wants them to care for one another. He is preparing us for heaven, and heaven is not a place of private spirituality. It is a full life – a life that is lived communally, yet without sin.

While we know that many people want just a bare spirituality and reject the church, we don’t seem to recognize how much this kind of heresy affects all of us. Consider this question: Is your life with the Lord and His church one of “balance” where you have many important duties and you try to balance church with your other duties? If so, you may be more affected by this spirituality heresy than you realize. You may know all the correct doctrines of historic Christianity, but you are still living as if just a small portion of your life died and rose again with Jesus. Let me quote Colossians 3:13 again: “For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” The word for you needs to be “surrender” and not “balance.” All of your life is about Christ and His church, and not just a portion of it. The answer for you needs to be this: Whatever you do is to be done unto the Lord, or it is not to be done at all. This is the life of surrender. Anything less leaves us haggard in our untenable efforts to serve many masters.

As a side note, I think that some of our popular evangelistic phrases are potentially harmful here. Did you receive Jesus into your heart? Did you give your heart to Him? Did you accept Him and make a decision for Him and believe in Him? Do you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ? That is all very wonderful, unless you mean by these phrases something less than a complete surrender of your life and a complete allegiance shift away from Adam’s world and toward the new kingdom of the living God. The answer for us is not balance. The answer is resurrection life from the dead.

2. Your success is too small.

The size of a congregation has nothing to do with the success of the church. The view of the church that men tend to obsess on is a view that is far too small. Men may plant and water, but only the Lord gives the growth. It is the final fullness of the Kingdom of God that matters, and that is certain. Not one will be lost. The size of one piece of the enterprise at a given point in time is not particularly material. Don’t evaluate the church the way that people evaluate worldly competitive enterprises. See the church with the eyes of Jesus, who is Lord and Christ. View her throughout all ages and in all places as the Lord’s church with a view to the fullness of her destiny. Then do the part faithfully and with all your might that the Lord has for you in your place and time.

The Lord’s church is without question a grand success. Of course we want to see any particular congregation growing. “We long to see your churches full,” says the hymn writer. But he goes on to say, “that all the chosen race may, with one voice and heart and soul, sing your redeeming grace.” May this be our longing – for the fullness of the church of God! Whatever the size of our congregation today, may we be satisfied with this: that we are worshipping the Lord God through Jesus Christ His only-begotten Son, and being united with Him in His death and resurrection, we are united with all His church, which will most certainly be victorious forever. Amen.

THE WESTMINSTER CONFESSION OF FAITH

CHAP. XXV. - Of the Church.

Paragraph 2. The visible Church, which is also catholic or universal under the Gospel (not confined to one nation, as before under the law), consists of all those throughout the world that profess the true religion; and of their children: and is the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ, the house and family of God, out of which there is no ordinary possibility of salvation.