Back to Basics

This is a football.

At the last service, I think it was the first time in the history of St. Albans

somebody brought a football to the pulpit at the 8 o'clock service.

But there was a young man present who kept waiting for me to throw it into the congregation.

And I told him that I don't trust my arm and that I would probably hit some elderly person in the face with it,

which would destroy any attempt at good teaching from the illustration.

But this is a football.

And many of you know that I'm a big football fan.

I watched parts of both of the playoff games last night.

And I don't do church services in the evening on Super Bowl Sunday because I watch the Super Bowl.

You can have a service, but as long as I can get home by about 4.30, I'll come to it.

But after that, I'm not going to do the service because I watch the Super Bowl.

There's a famous story about, I think it's Vince Lombardi, who was one of the greatest football coaches who ever lived,

that his team had been on a losing streak.

And one day when the team came after its loss and they came to gather into the room to begin their practice for the week,

Vince Lombardi said,

Men, this is a football.

And then he proceeded to teach them the basics of football.

They'd just reached the point in time he'd realized that they weren't doing the basics of football properly.

They weren't doing the fundamentals properly.

And he said, we're going to start right at the beginning.

And right at the beginning, if you want to teach somebody football, as you say, this is a football.

My sermon this morning is a this is a football type of sermon.

It's because not only do bad teams need to remember the basics,

but good teams need to remember the basics.

Those of you guys and probably some women as well.

I know.

I don't know how many here remember Audrey Foster.

Audrey Foster was the head of the altar guild in this church for half a century.

She was also season ticket holder for the Rough Riders for half a century.

And so I know there are women who like football.

And, you know, one of the things they talk about when they're talking about football is that it's a team that does the fundamentals and the basics well.

So good teams need to do the fundamentals and the basics and bad teams need to relearn them.

And churches can get confused about what the fundamentals and the basics of a church is.

This is not just speaking.

I know many of you here aren't lifetime Anglicans, but Anglicans in particular are profoundly confused nowadays about what the church is.

We think it's a name.

You know, the Anglican church is fighting people over the use of the word Anglican here in Canada.

Or we think it's the presence of a bishop.

Or we think it's the presence of a building.

Or, you know, or we think that if we want to get back to basics, we go to the third century.

Or we go to the twelfth century.

Or we go to some century or another.

And churches, the Anglican church in particular, and I'm speaking as an Anglican clergyman,

the Anglican church in particular is profoundly confused about what is a church.

And the reading of scripture which Janice read this morning is something which is going to be in our minds

over the next, this week and the next three weeks.

As we, in a sense, look again at what are the fundamentals.

What is the basics of a church?

What makes a church a church?

What makes a church a church?

So take your Bibles and turn in them to page 944.

Those of you who've brought your own Bibles, it's Acts chapter 2 verses 44 to,

Acts 2:44

sorry, Acts chapter 2 verses 40 to 47.

Acts 2:40–47

And the first thing we're going to look at is verse 42.

And this, throughout the ages, has been recognized as a text.

This one text gives the four marks of what a real church is.

I think it was two years or three years ago.

Well, it was 2003, so I guess it's now almost three years ago.

I went to Amsterdam for the first time.

And if you go to Amsterdam and you get any of the touristy type of map stuff,

you'll see that there are churches listed.

Like here you have this secular Dutch government advertising churches.

Now, I wasn't taken in for a moment.

Because if you go to them, all it is is a building.

It's a really nice building.

It's a really dramatic building.

And if you want to pay several euros, you can go into it and have a tour.

And at least in one of the ones that I was in, which was the really dramatic building,

there hasn't been worship in that building for decades, decades and decades.

It's a museum with the odd classical music concert and the odd lecture.

But it's not a church, even though it has church on the outside.

And even though the Dutch government calls it a church.

And even though the advertising calls it a church, it's not a church.

It's just a building.

It's a building that used to be owned by a church.

Acts 2, verse 42.

Acts 2:42

And one verse gives the four marks of a real church.

Listen.

And they continued.

Another way to put this as they were devoted.

They continued, or were devoted, in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.

Now, over the next couple of weeks, we're going to sort of, you know, look at this in some depth.

But just sort of to give you the big picture of these four simple marks of what makes a church a church.

The first thing is that the church, a true church, a real church, is a group of people devoted to the apostles' teaching.

In fact, in this version, it says it is a group of people who are devoted to the apostles' doctrine.

And we now understand that that means the New Testament.

It means that the mark of a real church is a church which is completely and utterly, wholeheartedly devoted to understanding what the apostles taught about the person of Jesus Christ,

about the meaning of life, about what happens after we die.

It means a group of people completely and utterly devoted to hearing the witness of the apostles,

which means a church is a people devoted to the New Testament and through the New Testament to read the Old Testament.

It is a church devoted to the Bible.

And you know what?

It doesn't matter if, you know what?

It doesn't matter if we have, we could have 20 bishops in here.

We could have five primates in here.

We could have 10 learned professors, emeritus here from divinity schools.

But if they all gathered here and they weren't committed to the New Testament,

to having, to being a group of people who are formed and reformed by the New Testament,

then there's not a church here.

Doesn't matter if they own the name Anglican.

Doesn't matter if they're all of those people.

A church is a group of people who are devoted to being a New Testament people.

A people devoted to apostolic teaching.

Listen again to the words of Acts 2.42.

They continued steadfastly, or they were devoted, in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship.

And that second word, fellowship, is a hard word to translate.

The Greek word is koinonia.

And it could really also be translated as communion.

And so what does it mean to be a people devoted to communion?

The word koinonia points us that, first of all, we are to be a people devoted.

Like, you could have a group of people devoted to Shakespeare's writings.

You could have a group of people who are devoted to maybe Jane Austen's writing.

I know there's piles of people every year who go to Prince Edward Island because they are devoted to Anne of Green Gables.

And they read the book over and over and over again.

And if all the church was was a group of people devoted to the New Testament,

there would be maybe nothing different than us in the university down the road

who have professors devoted to different writers or different topics.

But the second one points to something deeper.

Remember, we are a group of people devoted to communion, to koinonia.

And first and foremost, that is a word that points us to being devoted to communion with God,

the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

That's what this word is pointing us to.

Not just a group of people devoted to intellectual mind games

and academic discussions about curious things about the New Testament.

Maybe read the New Testament to see what it does to reflect upon the changing roles of women

in first century pagan culture as they clash with Latin and Greek culture and things.

It's not like that, folks.

It is a group of people devoted to New Testament teaching, to the apostolic teaching,

and a group of people devoted to communion.

And that means first and foremost, communion with God.

And secondly, communion with other people who desire communion with God.

You see, the Christian life is never the life of the Lone Ranger.

It's always a life of communion and community.

And so we are to be devoted first and foremost to communion with God.

And as part of our devotion to communion with God, it means communion.

Well, look to your left and look to your right.

It's devotion as well, a complete and utter commitment to other people who also desire communion with God.

Acts 2.42, the third mark of a church.

And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, koinonia,

in the breaking of bread.

And here, the definite article, the, belongs there.

And it's referring to the Lord's Supper.

And it's referring to the Lord's Supper, not just as a ritual which we happen to go to.

And, you know, a church which never has that ritual isn't a real church.

You know, you have to have the ritual.

But it's more than the ritual.

It's what the ritual is about and what it allows us to enter into.

Remember, we're to be a people devoted to apostolic teaching,

a people devoted to communion with God and communion with others who are in communion with God.

And we are to be a people who regularly gather to remember Jesus.

Regularly gather to remember that Jesus is the Messiah of God,

the anointed one, the mighty savior, the mighty deliverer,

that he is the one who died on the cross for you and for me,

bearing all of your sins in mind,

tasting all there is to taste of sin and of death,

and on the third day, rising from the dead,

and defeating sin and death and hell and the evil one,

and all things that keep us far from God.

And we are to gather daily.

We are to gather regularly to partake of the Lord's Supper.

And more than that, to remember Jesus.

To remember Jesus.

The fourth mark of the church.

And they continued steadfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship,

in the breaking of bread, and in,

and here if it was to be translated literally,

it would say, and in the prayers.

And the prayers is a wonderful term.

It means that we are to be a people devoted to prayer in two types.

That we are, on one level,

it describes that we are to be devoted to this type of the prayers,

gather together to say and to do and to live the prayer of the church.

A public gathering.

That once again, we're not just to be solitary,

individual lone rangers,

but it also means,

it also means those of us who get up in the morning

and kneel by the side of the bed,

or before we go to bed at night,

kneel by the side of the bed and pray.

Or those who gather in coffee shops,

or in living rooms, or in kitchens,

and pray with other people,

or pray by themselves.

It is a commitment to a life of conversation with God.

Because that's what prayer is.

The four marks of a real church.

It is a group of people devoted to knowing the apostolic teaching

so we can be formed by it.

It is a group of people who are devoted to be in communion with God,

and in communion with others who are in communion with God.

A group of people who are devoted to gathering together to remember Jesus in the Lord's Supper,

and a group of people who are committed, devoted to conversation with God.

These are the four marks of the church.

They answer the question,

how do I recognize a real church?

How do I know when I go to Amsterdam

that even though the brochure says it's a church,

the government says it's a church,

the sign says it's a church,

it's just a building?

We know this by Acts 2.42.

Pray for us that we will be a people devoted to these basics.

Pray for us that we will be a church,

a group of people,

a community devoted to these things.

Now this text,

which Janice read,

touches on two other questions.

The first one is,

how do you enter a real church?

And secondly,

how do you live in a real church?

We're going to look at the first one,

how do you enter a real church?

And here,

we're not just talking about a building,

although, you know,

it's really important for us to be always sensitive

about how hard it is to enter a building.

I have a friend,

or I had a friend many years ago

who was into anthroposophy.

I don't know if there still are many people

who are into anthroposophy.

I hope I pronounced that correctly.

And I went with her once

for one of their services.

And I had been going to churches for a long time,

but it was just very, very unnerving

to go into a building devoted to anthroposophy.

Like, you know,

how am I supposed to act, you know?

Like, what am I supposed to do?

I went to a Buddhist wedding once.

And, you know,

when I first got the invitation

to go to a Buddhist wedding,

it was a cousin

who was marrying somebody who was a Buddhist.

And I was a bit apprehensive about,

well, how do you enter

into a Buddhist wedding ceremony?

How do you enter into a Buddhist building?

And one of the things

that we have to pray about

is that, you know,

there are many people in our culture

that the idea of walking through that door

is very scary.

They don't know how to do it.

And you know what?

That's not their fault.

Like, you know,

we can't stand at the door

and say,

shame on you

for not knowing

how to enter this building.

But, you know,

and for many people in our culture,

what they think is in this building

is a combination

of interesting things

about the past

and toxic waste.

You know,

because there's many people

in our culture

who believe

that we're a repository

of everything that is bad

about Canada and the West.

And once again,

that's not their fault.

And one of the things

we have to do

is we have to pray

and pray and pray

that as people pass that door

and as they maybe

even consider that door

that there's something

welcoming about it

and that we can do

whatever we can

in our power

to make coming

into this scary place

a welcoming experience.

But that's an aside.

The text here talks about

how do we enter

a real church.

We're going to look at

still on page 944,

we're going to look at

verses 40 to 41.

And with many other words,

this is Peter.

Luke is summarizing

what Peter has just,

how Peter's ended

the first Christian sermon

that took place 50 days

after the resurrection

of Jesus

and the Holy Spirit

has fallen upon

the 120 people

Peter has got up

and preached.

Luke has given a summary

of this first sermon.

On one level,

this is the birthday

of the church

and here's what Peter,

this is how it sort of

closes up.

And with many other words,

Peter testified

and exhorted them saying,

be saved

from this perverse generation.

Then those who were,

those who gladly received

his word were baptized

and that day

about 3,000 souls

were added to them.

verse 41 shows

that there's two things

involved in entering

a real church

because remember,

a real church

is not a building

but people,

a community of people.

There are two things involved.

First,

that we receive

the word of Peter

and secondly,

that we are baptized.

Now,

the receiving

the word of Peter

means,

it means receiving

his witness

forgiveness

to Jesus,

his death upon the cross,

his resurrection,

the fact that he is

the Messiah of God,

the fulfillment

of all of the promises

which God has been making

for centuries

and centuries

and centuries.

It is a message

to turn to him

in faith,

to surrender to him

in obedience.

It is a message

that Jesus is the one

that opens the way

to God

and that when we

turn to Jesus,

he turns no one away

who comes to him

and we receive

the forgiveness

of sins

and the gift

of the Holy Spirit

and the way

that we enter

into a real church

is to receive

this word,

to say yes

and in saying yes

to say no

to whatever

is not in keeping

with that word

and is to say yes,

Jesus,

thank you,

thank you

and the second thing

is to be baptized.

Now,

completely

and utterly

godly people

in different churches

debate the order

that these two things

have to happen in.

Baptists,

I was a Baptist.

I was a member

of Alta Vista Baptist Church.

I was baptized

when I was 17 years old.

I survived

the interview

by the deacons

of several hours

to allow me

to membership

in the church

which given that

I had hair down

to my belt

was quite a task.

And I was a member

of a Baptist church

and Baptists,

God loved them,

they believed

that first you received

the word about Jesus

and then you were baptized.

Anglicans,

Presbyterians,

Lutherans,

Roman Catholics,

Eastern Orthodox,

say that the order

doesn't matter

as long as you do both.

And some other time

I can talk more fully

about why we Anglicans

in particular

believe that it's appropriate

that baptism happens

for godly parents

of their children.

That's another topic.

But whether you're a Baptist

or whether you're Anglican,

you should believe

in both.

In fact,

one of the tragedies today

is that while it's

understandable

that Christians of goodwill

can debate

the order of receiving

the word

and being baptized,

it is terrible

that there are many

who think

that both are not needed.

There are many Anglicans,

once again,

unfortunately,

who only think

you have to be baptized.

That, you know,

you can come to

St. Swithin's

in the swamp

as long as you're baptized

you can receive communion

and one of the wonderful things

about St. Swithin's

in the swamp

is it doesn't matter

what you believe.

That anybody,

no matter what they believe,

are completely and utterly,

well, folks,

that's not Christian.

You know,

I had a hard time

for many years

when I was an Anglican

after I'd been ordained

in Anglican Church

to be able to say that,

like, you know,

come out in public

and say,

that's just not Christian.

And Anglicanism,

of course,

does believe

and teach

that you have to have

receive the word

about Jesus

and give your life

to Christ

and be baptized.

Both of them

have to happen.

Whether baptism

happens first or second,

well,

that's just sort of,

there's a whole sorts

of reasons

why things might happen

in that order,

but both are important.

The church is a people

who have received the word,

the message of Jesus,

responded with faith

and obedience,

and have been baptized.

As another aside,

sometime within the next

couple of weeks,

I would like to provide

an opportunity

for people in this congregation

who haven't been baptized

or for people

who would like

to publicly reaffirm

their faith.

Maybe they were baptized

as infants,

came to faith far later

and would like to mark

that somehow publicly.

And also for those

who would like to be received

into the Anglican Church.

And I'm going to provide

some means of

some sort of teaching

for that.

And I will be making

some announcements

about that

in a couple of weeks' time.

So, the marks of a true church,

a real church,

how you enter a real church,

and finally,

how do you live

in a real church?

Once again,

we go to this classic text.

Remember, Acts chapter 2,

Acts 2 · chapter mention

40 to 47,

is a,

this is a football text.

It's one of those things

we have to sort of look at

time and time and time again

to make sure

that we're in the right direction.

And how do we live

in a real church?

Look at verses 43 through 47.

I'll just read them briefly.

Then fear, or awe,

came upon every soul,

and many wonders and signs

were done through the apostles.

Just want to pause here.

The first thing

about living in a real church

is that we are learning,

we are a people learning

to be open to God.

Learning to just be open to God.

I mean, you know,

so many of us go through times

in our life

when our relationship with God

is sort of like this,

and we're maybe in a fetal position,

you know, curled up,

and the goal of the Christian life

and the goal of the people of God

is to learn to be,

not in a fetal position,

but to learn to stand like this

and be completely

and utterly open to God.

And here in this simple verse,

we see two of the three things

that are mentioned in this text

about how we're learning

to be open to God.

First, to be open to God

is to learn awe.

Like, the more you know about God,

on one level,

the more we know about God,

the more we know

that he is the kindest being

you will ever meet,

the most merciful,

the most faithful,

but he's also the most different.

He is God.

And so it's appropriate

that we learn a sense

of the awfulness of him

and his difference.

And to be open to God

means to be open

to the supernatural.

It means to be open

to the gifts of the Holy Spirit.

It means to not quench

the Holy Spirit.

It means to be open

to praying for miracles,

to pouring out our heart to God

for the needs of the world

and for God to work miraculously

and powerfully

in and through the church

and his people.

It means learning

to be open to this

and also means to be open

to God in such a way

that other people

come to saving faith

in Jesus Christ.

It's the last verse

of the chapter.

Praising God

and having favor

with all the people

and the Lord added

to the church daily

those who are being saved.

Like the part

of the dailiness

of learning to be the church

is expecting

and being open to God

in such a way

that we learn

to have a sense of awe

in his presence.

We learn to be open

to the supernatural power

of the Holy Spirit

and the acting of God

in our lives

and we are open

to how God brings people

to saving faith

through fallen people

like us.

fallen, unworthy people

like us.

Secondly,

a church,

a real church

is learning

to be generous.

Look at verses 44

and 45.

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.

This is not a text

that teaches communism.

It's not part

of the sermon.

Some other time

I can show.

The whole text

assumes private property.

It assumes

their possessions

and in a moment

we'll see

it's their houses.

But the mark,

you know,

how do we live

in the real church?

Those of us

who are learning

to live in the real church

are learning

to be open to God

and we are learning

to be generous,

especially when

faced with need.

especially when

faced with need.

That when we see

real need,

whether it's a need

to send the gospel out,

whether it's a need,

a physical need

of somebody

in the congregation,

the first thing

that goes through our mind

is how can I

generously deal with this?

How can I deal

with this generously

with my property,

with my time,

with my money?

How can I deal

with this?

When we're learning

to do this,

we're not there yet.

But to be

a real church,

I mean,

to learn to live

in a real church

is to learn

to be open to God,

to learn to be generous,

especially when

faced with need.

And finally,

we're learning

to live large

and little.

Notice all those L's

in that sentence.

This is my Baptist roots,

you know,

learning to live

large and little.

Look at verse 46.

So continuing daily,

day by day,

the word daily here

presents a picture

of the normal life.

You know,

it's a homey word.

Like,

what's your daily life like?

Well,

you know,

your daily life,

you brush your teeth,

you know,

you get up,

you have coffee,

you go to work,

you know,

you say hi to your friend,

you go to your regular

place for coffee.

Like,

it's a daily,

homey type of word.

And so in verse 46,

so continuing daily

with one accord

in the temple

and breaking bread

from house to house,

they eat their food

with gladness

and simplicity of heart.

You see,

they're learning

to live large

and little.

And that means

that part of this

normal life

in a real church,

part of a real people

who are really committed

to Jesus Christ

means that

large gatherings

like this

are just part

of our normal life.

that's the word there

they met in the temple

daily.

It's just part

of their normal life

that we would come together

with larger numbers

of people

and that we'd worship

God together

and this is part

of the normal

Christian life.

But not only

are we learning

to live large,

but we're learning

to live little

because they meet

also daily

house by house.

And this is really

what we would now

call small groups.

And it would be also

those mentoring types

of relationships.

It's not only

Christian families,

but it implies

something beyond

the family

of a life

where we remember

Jesus

and we say

the prayers

and we study

the Bible

and we learn

about each other's

needs

and we use

our spiritual gifts

not only when we

gather in large

settings,

but also in little

sessions.

And if we as a church

only do the large

without the little,

there's something wrong.

And if we only do

the little

without the large,

there's something wrong.

Because part of what

it means to learn

to live in a real

church is that not

only do we learn

to be open to God,

not only are we

learning to be

generous,

but we're learning

to live large

and little.

Which means,

you know,

whether it's the

small groups that

are advertised

in the bulletin

or I don't know

if they are

advertised in the

bulletin,

Vi's been,

Vi is sick

and I don't know

if the bulletin's

all up to date,

but whether it's

one of the small

groups that we

offer,

whether it's a

small group that

we want to start

in our home

or whatever,

but learning to

live little

is part of what

it means to be

the real church.

Please pray

that St.

Albans

will never forget

the basics,

but that we'll do

these really,

really well.

Let's pray.

Loving Father,

we thank you

that you are

so patient with us.

We give you

thanks and praise

that you don't

look at us

and try to weigh

our merits,

but that you

pardon our offenses.

We give you

thanks and praise

that you don't

sort of look

down your nose

at us if we're

not doing as

good a job

as we should

be,

but that you

just day by day

and moment by

moment that you

smile at us

and look at us

with eyes of love

and desire only

the best for us.

Father,

we give you

thanks and praise

for your fatherly

care,

your gentle care,

your kindness

towards us.

Loving Father,

pour out your

Holy Spirit

with fresh power

upon us as a

congregation.

May these marks

be the marks

that characterize us

as a people.

may you help us

to help people

to enter

into your people,

people who are

learning to call

on your name.

And Father,

may you help us

to learn how to

live as your people.

Help us to learn

how to live large

and little

and to live

more generous lives

and to live lives

that are completely

and utterly

open to you.

Father,

this we ask

in the name of Jesus.

Amen.

Amen.