Live Large and Live Little

A good church is always learning to live large and live little.

A good church is always learning to live little and live large.

A few years ago, I don't know, four, five, six years ago,

an organization that I am a part of,

we organized a group of bishops from the Anglican Church of Canada

to meet with me and a couple of other people before,

no, I guess it was after the House of Bishops met.

And so there were 13 bishops, if memory serves me correctly,

that were going to meet with me and with a professor who teaches at Regent College

and two other people, all far more important and smart,

smarter than me and all that stuff.

And there were some problems getting cabs in Quebec City,

which is where the meeting was taking place.

And finally, I came in the very last cab.

I was making sure that everybody got there.

And so I came in the last cab with two bishops.

And I get in the room and I come in and sit down.

And as soon as I sit down, these 13 bishops and this learned theologian

and these other important people, they all get silent and they look to me.

And I have this moment of stark terror when I realize that they're waiting for me to say something

and that I've gathered them together.

And I'm just really used to those types of people telling me what to do.

And it was just this moment of complete and utter stark terror.

And then I realized, well, at least I do have an agenda.

And we were able to go on.

Many of us have been parts of groups where the very first thing that they do

when the group gets together is somebody asks the question,

what should we do?

And if you've ever been a part of that type of group,

you all sort of look around and say, well, I don't know what on earth we're going to do.

And the church, if it's to be a good church and a healthy church,

not only has to provide times when a large number of people gather like this for public worship,

but it also has to provide times when smaller groups of people gather together to do things.

And let's say we were just to understand that and try to get together.

We'd say, okay, well, now we're together.

What on earth do we do?

Well, today we're going to look and see what the Bible tells us that we should be doing.

Please turn in your Bibles to page 944.

Page 944.

And some of you who are guests this morning,

in some ways the month of January is focusing,

for four weeks we're really focusing,

on Acts chapter 2, verses 40 to 47.

Acts 2:40–47

And in particular, a couple of aspects of this.

Because these texts show,

this text shows sort of in a very brief form,

sort of the very, very heart of what the church is to be.

And so it's really important for us time and time and time again

to go right back to the scriptures,

to a key text like this,

that we can be, in a sense, formed and reformed and corrected and deepened

in the fundamental things that we should be about.

Peter has just preached the first Christian sermon,

and it goes like this.

And with many other words, he testified and exhorted them, saying,

Be saved from this perverse generation.

Then those who gladly received his word were baptized,

and that day about 3,000 souls were added to them.

And here in verse 42 are the four of the key marks of the church.

They continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine

and fellowship,

in the breaking of bread,

and in the prayers.

Then fear came upon every soul,

and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles.

Now all who believed were together

and had all things in common,

and sold their possessions and goods

and divided them among all as anyone had need.

So continuing daily with one accord in the temple

and breaking bread from house to house,

they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart,

praising God and having favor with all the people.

And the Lord added to the church daily

those who were being saved.

So we see that there are four marks of the church in verse 42,

that they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine or teaching.

They continued steadfastly in koinonia or fellowship,

which is what I'm going to look at next week,

in the breaking of bread,

and in the prayers.

So what does it mean that every sort of daily,

look at verse 46.

You know, I began the sermon by saying,

a good church is always learning to live large and live little.

That's verse 46.

So continuing daily with one accord in the temple

and breaking bread from house to house,

they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart.

They continued daily with one accord in the temple,

that's living large,

and breaking bread from house to house,

that's living little.

You see, they both had big public worship,

and they had smaller gatherings where they met in house to house.

And what do you do when you gather in a house?

Like, what should we be doing?

Well, we should be trying to do, even there,

the marks of the church.

We should be gathering around apostolic teaching.

It's one of the things which should mark our little gatherings.

Some people from this church

have moved to another city for a period of time,

and they were talking to me.

They've been talking to me several times since they've moved,

and one of the problems they've had

in finding the church in their new city

is the church has some small groups and fellowship groups.

In fact, they were very, very friendly in inviting them.

I might get some of these analogies a little bit,

some of these examples a little bit wrong,

but, you know, one of the groups goes to a spa on a regular basis.

You know, another one sort of listens to music.

Another one tastes wine or does that.

Like, they all just do all of these social types of things,

but none of the groups there do any of the four things

which should mark the life of a healthy church,

which is gathering around apostolic teaching,

being involved in fellowship or koinonia,

the breaking of the bread, and in the prayers.

So the first thing that,

when we're learning how to live little,

one of the first things that little groups have to do

is that they have to open the Bible.

What we're going to do today is,

look, you still have page 944 and 945 open,

and at the very, very top of page 944,

we get the beginning of Peter's sermon.

And we're going to read that

as a way for us to understand

what exactly apostolic testimony or apostolic teaching is.

Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem,

let this be known to you,

and heed my words.

For these are not drunk.

Just sort of pause there.

The Holy Spirit has just fallen upon the 120 disciples,

and they've started to engage

in this really, really odd behavior

of speaking out loud

and sort of praising God out loud

and seeming to speak in all sorts of different languages.

And so the crowd has thought that they're all drunk.

Peter says,

These are not drunk, as you suppose,

since it is only the third hour of the day.

But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel.

And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God,

that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh.

Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy.

Your young men shall see visions.

Your old men shall dream dreams.

And on my menservants and on my maidservants,

I will pour out my Spirit in those days,

and they shall prophesy.

I will show wonders in heaven above

and signs in the earth beneath,

blood and fire and vapor of smoke.

The sun shall be turned into darkness

and the moon into blood

before the coming of the great and notable day of the Lord.

And it shall come to pass

that whoever calls on the name of the Lord

shall be saved.

Now, one of the four marks of the church

is that they gather around a gospel church,

a good church gathers around the apostolic teaching

or the apostolic testimony.

This sermon is the very first example we see

of the apostolic testimony or the apostolic teaching.

And the really remarkable thing about this

is that the very first thing that we see

is that the apostles open the Bible.

The apostles open the Bible.

They could have talked about how

they could have gotten up there

and just strutted their stuff.

They could have said,

well, folks, now that we've got your attention,

we want you to know

that we are one of only a very select group of people

who've actually seen Jesus rise from the dead.

Or they could have gotten up

and talked about their profound mystical visions

or their profound times that they'd had with Jesus.

Or they could have gotten up and talked about philosophy

or they could have talked about tradition.

Or they could have done all sorts of things.

But the very, very first time

when we can see what the apostles testified to,

we see that almost immediately what they do

is open the Bible.

Because that passage,

when I was just reading Acts chapter 2,

Acts 2 · chapter mention

the very, very first thing they do

is they go to the book of Joel.

And as we read through the rest of the summary

of Peter's sermon,

we'll see that Peter not only looks to Joel,

but he looks to two different passages in the Psalms.

This is really, really important for us.

At the very, very first thing

that the apostles do in their testimony

is open the Bible.

That's what they do first.

They don't do anything else

other than have them all, in a sense,

figuratively speaking,

because they wouldn't have had Bibles there.

The people would have just memorized it.

They, in a sense, immediately open the Bible.

And the second thing they do

is they explain it

and they understand it.

Now, we, many, many years after the apostles,

have another advantage over them

because we now understand

that, in a sense,

the summary of the teaching of the apostles

is what we now call the New Testament.

You see, the New Testament itself

is an interpretation.

The New Testament itself is an explanation.

God wrote, had it written

so that we would understand.

He doesn't want us to be ignorant.

He doesn't want us to be foolish.

He wants to speak to us.

And so the New Testament itself

is apostolic testimony,

and it is apostolic testimony,

which explains.

It explains itself.

It explains Jesus.

It explains the Old Testament.

So the first thing the apostles do

is they point us to the Bible.

And one of the things

which is so wonderful

about being part of a small group

when a church learns how to live little

is one of the wonderful things

about being in a small group

that studies the Bible

is that's where you can get

the real questions.

Like already today,

probably some of you

might have some questions.

Is that really the way

that this should go

or that should go?

And that introduction

wasn't very good.

And how would you deal with this?

And what exactly does blood and fire

and towers of smoke mean?

And some of you might have

all of those questions,

but you don't have any opportunity

to ask me any of them.

One of the wonderful things

about having a small group

that gathers around the Bible

is that the real questions

of the people

who are gathering around

to study the Bible

can come out.

Somebody can share.

I remember so much.

And these real questions

can be ones

that completely surprise us.

In my first church

where I was the pastor,

not an assistant,

but the pastor,

I was taking a couple of men

through the Gospel of Mark.

And there's a story in Mark

of Jesus being asleep in the boat

in the midst of a storm.

And one of the men

in the Bible study

had become a Christian

just about a year earlier

and he was really,

really, really growing.

And he accepted the Bible.

He believed in the resurrection.

Like he believed

it was God's word written.

And it was a delight

to teach him the Bible

and to study the Bible with him.

But as soon as we came

to that story,

he said to me,

George, I don't believe that story.

And I was completely,

utterly shocked.

He was an old Navy guy,

a retired Navy guy.

And he said,

George, I've been out in the water

when there's a big storm.

And I just don't believe

that anybody could stay asleep

in the midst of a big storm

in a little boat.

And the question completely

and utterly floored me.

And that's good.

Because his question

forced all of us

to look at the text

far more concretely

and to think about

who Jesus was

and what was going on

in that story,

it forced us to look

far more deeply

into the text.

And it came

because we were gathered

around the scriptures

and we were in

a little group

where people

can ask questions

and that we can

all together

try to figure out

what the answer is.

When we gather

in large groups

like this,

part of my job

is to try to equip you

to understand the Bible.

If five years

or after you've been

coming to the church

for several years,

if you are

more ignorant

of the Bible

than when you came,

I have completely

and utterly failed.

If you feel

after you have been

in this church

for a while

that you can't possibly

ever understand

the Bible,

that you need me

to explain it to you,

then I have failed.

But if after you've been

in this church

you have a sense

that the Bible

is God's word written

and that he has

written it for you

and me

and for ordinary people

and that God

delights in us

coming to his word

and reading it

and that he trusts

ordinary people

to come to his word

and learn from it.

If you have learned

these things,

whether you can put them

into words or not,

then I have been

doing my job.

And one of the things

that you can pray for me

is that

not only me

and other people

who preach in public

like this

in this pulpit

is pray

that as we

open the scriptures

together

in this large setting

that you will not only

grow in love with Jesus

but grow in confidence

of God's word

and a confidence

that you yourselves

can plunge into it

and can know.

So,

many people

are gifted

to open up

the Bible

and to teach it.

It's not dependent

only upon clergy

like me.

You see,

as our church

learns to live large

and live little,

part of what it means

to learn to live little

is that there's going

to be,

and hopefully

as a result of this sermon

some of you will say,

you know what,

maybe I should be

starting a Bible study group

in my neighborhood.

Maybe I should be

talking to Nat

over the next week

and trying to gather

a couple of people

that I've met here

in this church

together

so that we can

open the Bible

and we can study it together.

And the fact is

that I can't go

to all of these groups

and I shouldn't go

to all of these groups

because God,

through His Holy Spirit,

has gifted many people

with the ability

to teach.

And God desires

that the Bible

be opened

and He desires

that we,

in a sense,

look at the text

of Scripture

and we come to Scripture

and we read

and we learn together

and it's not

dependent upon me.

When the Communists

took over China,

there were

one million Christians

and when they took

over China,

they persecuted

the church

quite strongly

and they put

many of the leaders

of the Christian church

in China

into jail

and they cast

all of the foreign

missionaries

and seminary professors,

they kicked them

all out of the country.

And humanly speaking,

we would then think

only a million Chinese Christians,

great persecution,

all of the leaders

and all of the pastors

and ministers

put in jail

or kicked out

of the country.

The church has no hope.

Today,

there are

over a hundred million

Christians in China

and it all came

because ordinary people

would gather

in small gatherings

and they would

open the Bible

and they would

desire to know Jesus.

And so we see

that the very first thing

about living large

and living little

is that when we gather

together,

we gather to open

the Bible.

Let's just continue

very briefly

with this sermon,

verse 22.

Paul has just,

I mean,

not Paul,

Peter has just quoted

the book of Joel.

He then says,

Men of Israel,

hear these words.

Jesus of Nazareth,

a man attested by God

to you by miracles,

wonders,

and signs,

which God did

through him

in your midst,

as you yourselves

also know.

Him,

being delivered

by the determined

counsel

and foreknowledge

of God,

you have taken

by lawless hands,

have crucified

and put to death,

whom God raised up,

having loosed

the pains of death,

because it was not

possible that he

should be held by it.

Just want to pause

there and draw

two things

to our attention

about the apostolic

testimony.

Remember,

when we live little

and we live large,

we gather around

the apostles' teaching,

which means that

we gather around

the New Testament,

we gather and

we open the Bible,

and when we open

the Bible,

what we fundamentally

want to do

is we want to

focus on Jesus.

We want to know

Jesus.

You don't want to know

what John Maxwell

has to say.

You don't want to know

what,

oh,

I can't think of

famous,

you don't want to know

what Billy Graham

has to say.

You don't want to know

what George Sinclair

has to say.

You want to know

Jesus.

That's the whole point

of gathering together.

That's the whole point

of church.

It's the whole point

of gathering together.

Yesterday,

I did a funeral,

and some of you

have been to some

of the funerals

that I have led,

and this was a funeral

in a funeral home,

and every time I do

a funeral home funeral,

I say something

along these lines

in my very brief sermon.

I say,

I know,

after the scriptures

have been read,

I say,

I know that there

are many people here

who maybe aren't Christians.

Maybe you're a member

of some great faith

which is not Christian,

maybe you are

inventing your own

or seeking out

your own particular way,

but I would just like

to take a few moments

to share with you

what my faith is

as a Christian.

I would just like

to share with you

personally

what my faith is

as a Christian

in the face of death.

And then I go on

to tell them

about Jesus.

I go on to tell them

about how he died

upon the cross,

how he tasted

all there is

to taste of death,

and how on the third day

he conquered death

and conquered sin.

And I even do this

in a modern culture

and I say,

and he conquers

all the hostile

spiritual powers

which bind us

and keep us from God.

And that it really happened.

And then I say,

you know,

my hope

in the funeral

that I did yesterday,

it was for Desiree Jirawar.

Some of you know her.

She was a wonderful woman.

And I can easily say

that she was,

you know,

in fact I began

the sermon by saying

that, you know,

when I'm 95

I hope I'm as nice

as she is,

she was.

You know,

I hope I don't get

grumpy and crotchety

as I get older.

I hope I get

slow to anger

and gracious

and gentle

like she grew

as she got older.

And I shared,

you know,

my hope in the face

of death

isn't that I will

someday be

as nice

as Desiree was.

And Desiree's hope

in the face of death

wasn't that she was nice.

Our hope

in the face of death

is that we have said

yes to Jesus' invitation

to come to him.

And by coming to him

we share

in his triumph

over death

and sin

and hostile

spiritual powers.

That's the fundamental

Christian hope

that Jesus really

exists,

existed

and still exists,

that he lived

a human life,

that he walked

among us,

that he died

on the cross,

that he died

and tasted

all there is

to taste

of death

with nothing

left out,

that on the third

day he rose

triumphant

over sin

and death

and hell

and all hostile

spiritual,

evil spiritual powers,

and that he didn't

do that

in some remarkable

way just for himself

so that we could

all marvel

at one person

could do something

like that,

but that he does

it for you

and for me

and he does

it for you

and for me

not for himself

and he does

it for you

and for me

and he says

to you

and to me

he says it

to us

whether we're

gay or straight

old or young

well educated

or poorly educated

whether we're

good looking

or ugly

smart or dumb

he says

to every one

of us

come to me

all who labor

and are heavy laden

and I will give you rest

take my yoke upon you

and learn from me

for I am gentle

and lowly of heart

and you will find

rest for your souls

for my yoke is easy

and my burden is light

and Jesus defeats

sin and death

and hell

and all hostile

spiritual powers

not as some marvelous

thing that he's able

to accomplish

by himself

but he does it

for you and for me

and he invites

ordinary people

like you and me

to share

in his triumph

that's what I say

in funerals

and I say it

in funerals

because nothing

focuses the mind

like death

that is the basic

fundamental

Christian hope

and so

the heart

of the apostolic

testimony

is expressed

in the New Testament

and the apostles

when we're together

to understand

the apostolic testimony

we are to open

our Bibles

and we are to read

them confident

that God

wants to speak

to us

through his word

that he is not

sort of playing

some type of

peekaboo

game with us

but he desires

us to know

and that he

welcomes us

bringing our

questions to the

text of scripture

and as we open

the text of scripture

the first and foremost

thing that we want

to know

is we want

to know Jesus

and if you go

through all of

Peter's sermon

you'll see that

you see Jesus

is the one

who unlocks

it's because of

Jesus' triumph

that the gift

of the Holy Spirit

comes

it is because

of Jesus' triumph

that we can know

the Father

you know

and Jesus

is the one

who opens up

all of these

things

and so as we

open up the

scriptures

the second part

of the apostolic

testimony

and gathering

is focusing

on Jesus

and you know

and this

this is

this is so

wonderful

in a small group

I have learned

so much more

about being a

Christian

by being in

some small

gathering

where I'm with

other people

because you see

one of the

wonderful things

about the

Christian faith

and about

Jesus

is that it's

not just

what we're

taught

but what we

catch

Christianity

is not just

taught

it's caught

and you catch

it by being

in small groups

with other people

I don't have

the time

but one of the

turning points

in my life

when I was

in high school

and you know

I'm not sure

now in hindsight

whether I became

a Christian

when I was

in grade 12

or whether I

just reclaimed

my Christian

faith

and that's

something that

I might puzzle

about but God

doesn't care

the main thing

is that I

became a Christian

and I can tell

you that the

turning points

in my life

that were so

fundamental

was this aspect

of catching

Christianity

from others

in a small group

and seeing

Jesus in them

and that comes

as we open

the Bible

as we focus

on Jesus

the third

thing

and this

is a harder

thing

is that

as we

open the Bible

and as we

focus on

Jesus

the Bible

will convict

us of sin

listen to what

Peter is very

very bold

just look back

here at verse

23

he's just

talked about

Jesus

and then he

says

him

being delivered

by the

determined

counsel

and foreknowledge

of God

you have

taken by

lawless hands

have crucified

and put

to death

the apostolic

testimony

goes right

to the

sin

of the

hearers

let me

tell you

this

I'm very

Canadian

if I

had been

back there

with Peter

I probably

would have

said

oh Peter

don't say

that

okay

you're gonna

make them

upset

you're gonna

make them

mad

you're gonna

turn them

off

you're gonna

do all

of these

types of

things

like

Peter

just focus

on the

positives

okay

like

leave this

little

problem

of conscience

and what

they've done

just to the

side

and you

know

talk about

how wonderful

the Holy

Spirit is

and just

how wonderful

like

just do

all these

positive

type of

things

don't focus

on sin

Peter

is what

I would

have said

if you

go all

the way

through

the sermon

at the

end

of the

sermon

the summary

of the

sermon

3,000

people

come to

faith

3,000

if I

had been

there

and Peter

had listened

to my

advice

maybe

there

would

have

been

one

I

don't

know

maybe

there

would

have

been

nobody

you see

because

we

modern

Canadians

get really

uncomfortable

with this

idea of

being

confronted

about

sin

but you

see

the

apostolic

testimony

opens

the

Bible

points

us

to

Jesus

and

then

of

necessity

the

Bible

and

Christ

himself

will

point

out

to us

the

gap

between

being

in

Christ

and

not

being

in

Christ

like

that

just

comes

and

so

in a

small

group

this is

very

very

very

hard

in

in

many

ways

what

happens

in

a

larger

group

like

this

I

can

maybe

talk

about

sins

a little

bit

more

easily

because

it's

not

as

obvious

that

I'm

speaking

about

the

person

sitting

on

the

couch

right

there

whereas

you're

talking

about

certain

sins

and

there's

five

people

in

the

room

and

we

all

know

who

the

only

one

is

who

does

that

you

know

we

all

look

around

the

other

way

you

know

that

can

be

a

little

bit

awkward

and

uncomfortable

and

a

bigger

gathering

it's

a bit

safer

you

know

inwardly

a person

might

be

thinking

gosh

that

passage

of

scripture

just

hit

me

you

know

and

others

are

thinking

gosh

I

wonder

who

on

earth

would

ever

do

something

like

that

and

and

we're

all

blessedly

unaware

of

the

other

and

that's

part

of the

reason

why

church

is

to be

large

and

little

but

just

and

so

while

in a

small

group

we have

to be

very

careful

about

the

convicting

of

sin

but

by

the

same

token

just

as

the

scriptures

are

read

and

as

Jesus

is

pointed

to

the

scriptures

themselves

and

Jesus

himself

even

in a

small

group

will

prick

us

in

our

conscience

that

this

is

me

and

that's

good

apostolic

testimony

convicts

of

sin

the

fourth

thing

very

briefly

because

my

time

has

gone

out

is

let's

look

at

the

very

end

of

the

sermon

verse

38

then

Peter

said

to

them

repent

and

let

every

one

of

you

be

baptized

in

the

name

of

Jesus

Christ

for

the

remission

of

sins

and

you

shall

receive

the

gift

of

the

Holy

Spirit

for

the

promises

to

you

and

to

your

children

and

to

all

who

are

far

off

as

many

as

the

Lord

our

God

will

call

you

see

the

apostolic

testimony

says

you hear

all this

stuff about

the triumph

of

Jesus

over

sin

and

over

death

and

over

hell

whoa

is that

ever

dramatic

sound

effects

eh

the

snow

falling

off

the

roof

you

know

it's

like

the

light

of

God's

word

falling

upon

us

and

all

that

cold

yucky

snow

that's

in

capturing

our

covering

up

our

soul

and

making

it

frozen

and

hardened

shriveled

and as

the

light

of

the

holy

word

of

God

comes

and as

the

Holy

Spirit

convicts

us

all

that

ice

falls

away

I

just

thought

of

that

right

now

but

you

know

it's

pretty

true

that's

that's

what

you

know

you

know

the

Bible

itself

convicts

us

of

sin

Jesus

convicts

us

of

sin

not

to

make

us

grovel

but

to

make

us

know

that

he

loves

us

and

that

he

can

be

our

savior

and

wants

to

be

our

savior

and

this

part

at

the

end

that

I

was

reading

before

I

got

interrupted

by

these

dramatic

snow

slides

is

that

you

see

the

Bible

constantly

the

apostolic

testimony

constantly

calls

us

to

choose

it

challenges

us

to

choose

all

of

the

time

and

I

can

tell

you

this

that

Christ

only

wants

us

to

choose

one

way

he

never

said

I

hope

he

chooses

the

devil

today

or

I

hope

he

chooses

to

be

selfish

or

ungenerous

Jesus

that

for

us

he

is

always

desiring

that

we

be

more

open

to

him

more

open

to

the

Holy

Spirit

more

generous

more

able

to

love

more

able

to

forgive

and

one

of

the

wonderful

things

about

a

small

group

like

this

is

not

a

small

group

like

this

but

when

you're

in

a

little

group

that

people

can

love

and

can

encourage

you

they

can

know

your

struggles

and

in

a

big

group

like

this

you

might

sometimes

come

and

go

and

come

and

go

and

you

can

do

that

for

quite

a

while

and

there's

nothing

wrong

with

that

sometimes

we

need

anonymity

and

we

need

private

space

but

we

might

need

that

for

a

short

season

of

time

but

fundamentally

what

we

need

is

somebody

who

knows

our

name

and

we

can

know

in

our

soul

that

Jesus

knows

our

name

but

it's

love

you

and

they

can

encourage

you

and

they

can

help

you

to

make

the

right

choices

they

can

cry

with

you

when

you've

made

a

wrong

choice

and

you've

realized

that

you

need

to

repent

and

they

can

laugh

and

celebrate

with

you

when

they

watch

you

and

you

watch

them

making

those

wise

choices

and

that's

why

God

in

his

providence

has

said

that

in a

good

church

in a

good

church

gather

around

the

apostles

teaching

we

open

the

Bible

we

look

to

Jesus

we're

being

open

to

being

confronted

when

where

our

lives

are

in

contradiction

to

the

perfect

love

and

compassion

generosity

of

God

and

we

are

able

in

that

context

to

hear

the

word

of

God

constantly

asking

us

to

choose

God

choose

Christ

choose

the Holy

Spirit

choose

to allow

the snow

to fall

off

our lives

so that

the sun

will

warm

us

and

make

us

shine

let's

bow

our heads

in

prayer

father we

give you

thanks and

praise

that

that

you

love

us