Being the Church Part 1 "Gathering"

They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles.

All the believers were together and had everything in common.

They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who was in need.

Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts.

They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people.

And the Lord added to their number daily those who are being saved.

Thank you, worship team.

In the mid uh 1800s, there was an African American man uh named Anderson.

And he he was enslaved here in this community of Stanton.

And church records describe Anderson as devotedly pious, who prayed continually that he might live to see a Baptist church in Stanton.

So we don't use that word pious very much anymore.

I don't know if you do, uh, but the word means that Anderson was genuine in his faith, that he was someone who lived what he believed.

It was like when Jesus' little brother James said he was a hearer and a doer of the word.

So Anderson was his reputation among the community was devotedly pious.

Anderson was one of the enslaved brothers and sisters in the Stanton community who desired to see a Baptist church established because there wasn't one.

And so by 1853, a gathering was formed of black and white people, and the first Baptist Church of Stanton was born.

So you and I are gathered right now in this space because of Anderson's faithful prayers.

That's wild.

So shortly after the Civil War, uh the black members of the community of First Baptist desired to begin a church of their own, uh separate.

And so uh what sits today now as Mount Zion on Augusta uh is what it was formed after that, um, which is pretty remarkable.

And they are continuing to meet this morning uh in the service.

Then in 1953, during a hundred-year anniversary in 1953, a man uh by the name of Dr.

Taylor imagined aloud what though with those who were gathered in the room, he began to imagine, and he says, What will the story be in 2053?

What will it have to tell about First Baptist Church?

Which really isn't too far away.

Don was telling me uh that the students who start ninth grade this year will graduate in 2030.

My my granddaughter started will start school this week, and she will graduate in 2040.

And so 2053 is really not that far from now.

Uh but he was imagining like, what is the story of First Baptist in 2053?

And he considered this as he hoped.

It was written that he hoped the pious efforts of the gathered church will bear fruit not only for that moment that they were gathered, but for future generations, which would be you and me in this space.

So, what I want to do, I want to once a year return to the origins of the church, to begin to just kind of talk about what did Jesus intend for us who are gathering in 2026?

What was Jesus' intention of the church?

So for the next few Sundays, I want to I want to consider what it is to be the church.

What does it mean to actually be the church?

Not to go to church, uh, which kind of has a consumeristic kind of feel to it.

Uh and it's okay to say if you're if you said this morning, we're gonna go to church, that is okay.

I'm not I'm not harping on you.

But I but I think the mindset of going to the church versus being the church is significant.

And so I want to just focus a little bit on the a couple next next couple weeks on what it is to be the church, that it's not summed up by an hour and 15 minutes or so on a Sunday morning, but it is but it is a a vibrant community gathered around King Jesus at the center.

So let's zoom on in on this phrase here.

Uh they devoted themselves.

So that word devoted, it means to be persistent, to be to be intently engaged in.

So this isn't some side hustle that they were in, this isn't some I'm gonna dip my toe into, this isn't something that they just did occasionally, this was something that that had a cost to it.

This couldn't have been a hobby or a club.

This was a decision that was do I want to be a part of this community?

And and it was a decision that had to be formed out of real trauma that was going on around with the church, that first century church who was persecuted for following Jesus.

So to decide I'm gonna follow Jesus was a costly decision for this first century church.

And so they gathered together and they chose to be like Jesus together.

The description of the first church was that they embodied what they believed about Jesus.

So to follow Jesus is done within a community of believers, of brothers and sisters.

It wasn't meant to be about a solo act.

You've heard me say that a couple of times.

It wasn't meant to be like an individualistic thing.

When we see this phrase here, they devoted themselves, we right away see it is a gathering of people.

This this plural word, they and themselves, shows us that the apprenticeship of Jesus is to be done among apprentices, that we are to do this all together.

So fast forward 300 years from when this is written, and it is can this mindset continues to be the way that we would do this together.

It can't be done alone.

And so was formed the Nicene Creed that was written.

And uh, if you want to join me in the words on the yellow, this was part of the Nicene Creed.

We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is seen and unseen.

We believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, light from light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one being with the Father, through him all things were made for us and for our salvation.

There's a lot in that we could teach on each of those lines.

But did you notice it said we and not I?

That it's that it's this collective us.

The church is a body of believers, a collective.

Eugene Peterson, author and pastor, said, no Christian is an only child.

He goes on to say, Scripture knows nothing of a solitary Christian.

So this communal faith can be summed up in the word church.

So we get the word church from a Greek word ekklesia, which simply means a gathering.

Like this a gathering of people coming together, and so we begin to use this word church because church means a gathering.

So there are a lot of metaphors used in scripture in scripture about the church.

Can you think of them?

If you grew up in church, what are some metaphors used to describe this gathering?

The body, okay, the body of Christ.

Anything else?

What'd you say?

Brethren, like this this brother and sister, this family of God.

Yeah.

The bride.

So this bride of Christ.

We are collectively the bride of Christ.

Any others?

Can you think of it like any uh uh any kind of farm kind of reference?

What'd you say?

The flock, that we are a sheep, group of sheep following the good shepherd.

Any others?

What'd you say?

Children of the Most High, we are adopted sons and daughters of the king.

So all of these reference a collective group, that we are a body.

So when we follow Jesus, we choose, we also choose to be with the church.

We choose with to be with other brothers and sisters.

So they gathered regularly to know who Jesus is, to learn what he taught, and to understand the life that he calls us to.

So what I want to do over the next couple weeks is what did this group of believers devote themselves to?

Like when they gathered, what were they devoting themselves to?

And the first one, if you'll read this with me, they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching.

So one of the things they focused, the center of their gathering was who is Jesus?

What does he have to say to us?

And how does that get lived out in our lives?

So Jesus becomes the center of this gathering.

There are a lot of reasons why we gather, but but for the followers of Jesus, they gather together to understand what Jesus has to say and to learn how to live it out.

So just a quick uh commercial.

Um if you need to get a snack, go ahead and grab one.

Uh so Wednesday nights, starting in the end of September, we're gonna gather to learn about Jesus and to understand how he's called us to live.

And so we've got two paths that we're gonna teach on Wednesday nights.

One is we're gonna study the book of Philippians together.

Uh, and then the second one is what does it mean to have a prayer life?

And so you could choose one or the other.

We also do Tuesday mornings, we're gonna study the book of Philippians too.

But kicking off on Wednesday nights, 6:3745, side note, uh um, we we invite you to gather with us.

Okay, back to the uh the program here.

Um I gathered, uh, I have gathered with the church um for over 50 years now, which is a long time.

Um my earliest memories are from being are are being in a space kind of like this, and then being in spaces, uh homes all throughout uh um different cities and towns that I grew up in.

And I've been full of joy and gratitude in those gatherings.

Uh there have been times of real confusion and hurt in those gatherings.

Uh the church is really where the messiness of humanity and the mystery of God come together in one space.

Um, and I know that church experiences aren't always great.

But I've been in several spaces.

I've been in trailer parks in Utah growing up in trailer parks uh and gathering with other believers uh to worship Jesus.

I've been in under the open sky in the Andes Mountains in South America worshiping with followers of Jesus.

I've been in Romania working with brothers and sisters, uh, building a church sanctuary where they are probably gathered today worshiping Jesus, just shortly after uh communism fell in Eastern Europe.

And I heard first account stories of people who were persecuted for their faith under that regime.

I visited megachurches with 10,000 gathered in California.

I've been in spaces where there was just a handful in the dusty hills of Baja, Mexico.

I sang and I've danced, not real great at dancing, but I sang and danced with brothers and sisters in Zambia.

I will never forget the phrase, I've shared this story with you before, but I remember gathering and we were about to sing, and the worship leader gets up and begins to lead us in song.

And she says, before we started, she says, I know that many of you don't have any food in your cupboards.

I know that some of you have family members who are dying from AIDS in your homes, but we are gathering here to worship King Jesus.

From her very infant days, the church has always been a multilingual, multicultural, multi-ethnic, multi-class, global community.

As soon as the Holy Spirit descended on the first disciples in the upper room, people from all parts of the world heard God speak.

Look at Acts chapter 2, verses 6 through 12.

Acts 2:6–12

When they all heard this, there's a crowd that comes together bewildered because each one could hear their own language being spoken.

Parthians and Medes and Elamites, residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt, and the parts of Libya near Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and converts to Judaism, Cretans and Arabs, we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues, and the Holy Spirit has been a consuming fire from that moment and has moved all around the globe for 2,000 years.

A secular historian, a non-Christian, said the church went from a thousand people in AD 40 to 33 million by 350.

So there are there are over 8 billion people in the world today.

I was thinking as I wrote that this week, uh about half of them are at Bucky's at any given time.

Like, gosh, how many anybody else get anxiety just thinking about going in Bucky's?

Okay.

Come on.

Yes.

We'll have to form a little support group.

Uh man.

Some encounters though are small, like grabbing coffee, some are big, like celebrating the World Cup, like these gatherings that happen around the world.

There are annual gatherings with your family.

Anyone know how how far uh uh Christmas is, how many days left?

Almost.

Almost.

So so we're we're anticipating gathering.

We were talking last night about Thanksgiving, gathering our family at Thanksgiving.

Uh there are celebrations that people gather, like a wedding.

There are celebrations like Richie and Allison about to have a their first grandbaby uh coming up in the fall.

Yes, heck yeah.

Uh you know, uh but what if what if what if gathering is a real struggle for you?

Like there are many today who who to gather is a real difficult effort.

Like the anxiety that comes up in you that it comes up in me.

I sometimes will look like an extrovert, but I feel it when we gather together.

Um and not only is anxiety on the rise, but loneliness is on the rise too.

Kara Powell, she's a director of the Fuller Youth Institute, and she shares that 61% of Gen Z young adults report feeling lonely or isolated, often in their teen years, more than any older living generation.

Pastor and author John Ortberg says, if there is no someone to make me feel known, then we'll turn to something.

Between 30 and 70 percent of our younger generations are turning to AI for personal support.

And this isn't to bash on AI.

I know some of you might want me to, uh, but but just as so, but but to consider one in four teenagers say AI knows them better than the people closest to them do.

Although AI may have some really great benefits, it will not be able to heal loneliness.

It will appear like it will, but it won't be able to.

This is the time for the church to embody the presence of God by practicing being present with one another.

This is when the church who worships a God who knows us before we were even born, that we would show that God desires to know them and to be known by them.

This is a time where the church must practice the ministry of presence to know one another and to make our God known.

This isn't a time for us who uh, I don't know if you've ever said anything like this, but for the us who are part of the older generation to tell the younger generation, well, back in my day, we were never lonely or anxious or or depressed.

Rather, this is a time for us to listen well to the youngest generations.

To listen without judgment, to lean in and be the warm, welcoming community that we are as a church.

To welcome people who might struggle even making their first step into the door.

Because gathering is difficult.

So just to close, I wanna I want to just highlight a few things.

I want you to consider the first people who made up the church.

Who did Jesus invite to kick this thing off?

So let's go back to the Matthew passage in Matthew chapter 16 that uh that Josh read earlier.

Matthew 16 · chapter mention

Jesus is speaking and he tells Peter, I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.

And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven.

Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

This young man that Jesus is talking to, this one that Jesus said, I'm gonna give you the keys to the kingdom.

His name is Peter.

And if you grew up in church, you know a little bit about Peter.

He's the guy that always sticks his foot in his mouth.

This is the guy that in one moment he's trying to defend Jesus and cut somebody's ear off, and then in the next moment he denies even knowing Jesus.

Not just once, not twice, but three times he says, I have nothing to do with Jesus.

I've never even been around him.

He denies even knowing Jesus.

This is the guy that that later he gets called on the carpet for not eating with others of his own ethnicity and nationality.

Peter had to confess a deep prejudice and repent from it and turn from it.

This is just one example of the kind of people that Jesus invited to start the church.

He also invited a tax collector who were known for stealing money.

He invited a woman who had who had demons cast out of her.

He invites fishermen who have who were not educated in any way.

He invites a zealot who wants to take down the government by violence and force.

He invites an educated religious leader who personally was responsible for for the deaths of Jesus' followers.

And Jesus radically transforms each of them.

Man, isn't that encouraging?

That the gathered church is made up of people who needed the grace and mercy that God offers freely.

A group of people who have made serious mistakes and were not perfect.

That these are the people Jesus invited to be the origin of what we're doing here right now.

That these are the people Jesus continues to invite.

And did you notice, uh, can you go back just one?

Did you notice who is building the church?

Who is it?

Jesus.

Which means that can like the onus is not on me, a imperfect guy who can who, even though I'm a pastor, I'm a follower of Jesus, I'm not gonna be able to build the church.

The onus is not on you, the responsibility is not on you to build the church.

We Jesus could build the church with or without us, but you know in his grace, he invites us into the activity of building the church.

But he and his spirit is going to build the church, and we just get to be invited into it.

And he says the gates of Hades, or in the other words, the power of death, will not be able to stop him from doing this.

I love how Dallas Willard says, God's kingdom has never been in trouble, and it never will be.

Sometimes I think, and I'll I'm guilty of this, sometimes I think we Jesus followers will talk with fear about what the state of the church is in this current situation.

The that there's trouble in the kingdom of God and that it might fail.

We are the community that can speak with the reality of hope no matter what the circumstances are.

Because that's how the church started.

Sometimes the circumstances around us feel really bleak.

Sometimes stories both of like wars and oh the situation in Nepal and Tibet and just some of the things that we are hearing in the news.

But not only that, like to hear, I am grieved, I I am grieved when I watch another documentary about how a church has failed to care well for people.

And so it's like, oh my goodness, what is going on around us?

But the hope of the resurrected king, the hope that the king is still on the throne, that's what continues to drive the church.

The gates of hell will not prevail against her.

Because King Jesus is the one who builds it.

Oh so right before uh Jesus um tells Peter, who probably thought, who me?

Like me.

Um right before he says, Hey Peter, I'm gonna build the church and you're gonna be a part of it, um he has a really powerful, important, fundamental conversation with them.

Let's go back to verse 13 in Matthew.

When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, Who Who are people saying the Son of Man is?

What are people saying about me?

They replied, Some are saying you're John the Baptist, others say Elijah, still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.

And then he pointedly asks them, but what about you?

Would you say this with me?

Who do you say I am?

Then Simon Peter answers You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.

This is the fundamental question for the church.

Who do we say Jesus is and how does that impact the way I live?

The answer to the question will change or transform what I how I live daily, or it won't.

And Jesus is gonna ask us over and over, who is this, who am I, who you say I am?

And that's one of the reasons we gather together to be reminded of who Jesus is, and we will continue to go.

There will always be a remnant of the church that is faithful to Jesus.

Church, I'm so thankful that we get to do this thing together.

It is a joy to serve this kingdom with you.

And we gotta see what will happen in 2053 together.

Well, maybe.

Maybe some of us will.

I'm oh yeah.

Um how old will I be?

Oh yeah.

Oh, what a joy.

Would you pray with me?