The Spirit-filled Church

Amen.

Well, good morning, Sacred Mission.

Hey, for those of you who don't know, my name is Justin.

I'm one of the pastors here, and it is my joy and privilege to be able to bring God's word to you this morning.

As we just read, we're going to be in Acts chapter 2.

Acts 2 · chapter mention

So if you have your Bible or an app, make sure that you open that up.

We're going to be going through this verse by verse together.

Man, I can't tell you what a joy it is to be with you guys this morning.

I woke up just excited to be in your presence, to be together as God's people, being able to sit under the preaching of his word, to exalt his name together.

And just I'm excited for what the Lord has for us this morning.

I believe that the Spirit is going to be transforming us even here and now to be more conformed to the image of Jesus, which is what our purpose of glory is, right?

When we see him, we will be like him and we will be in this completion of joy, as Jude says.

I think that's an awesome vision to behold, this completion of joy in Christ.

Amen?

Amen.

So here's what we've been talking about.

There's this rhythm that takes place as we witness and observe the inbreaking of the kingdom of God.

And that rhythm looks like this the Spirit moves, the gospel is proclaimed, and a community is formed.

Right?

This is the rhythm of the inbreaking of the kingdom of God.

And in these last days, God is establishing his covenant people through the presence of the Spirit and the power of the gospel.

And these covenant people would be known first and foremost through the spirit-filled community that they formed because of that.

You see, we work to remind ourselves of this truth at Sacred Mission when we say that a healthy disciple is someone who is reconciled to God, reconciled to his people, and reconciled to his mission.

This is the fullness of reconciliation that the work of Christ does by the Spirit through the preaching of the gospel.

And so in this passage, what we witness is this description of what the spirit-filled church looked like.

And we observe all three of these realities in these sequences of events.

We see their redeemed existence, we've seen their family identity, and we see their cultural influence all here in these five verses together.

God, people, mission.

So at the very end of Peter's Pentecost sermon that we preached through last week, he exhorts this crowd before him after they've had this existential crisis of, okay, they hear the preaching of the gospel, they say, What shall we do?

Peter says, Repent, be baptized, and then he says this this imperative command he ends his preaching with save yourselves from this crooked generation.

You see, Peter's not just calling them to some individual spiritual conversion.

It's not an altar call where every head is bowed and every eye closed, and you just kind of raise your hand and then get fire insurance, right?

No, what he's doing, he's calling them to an exodus.

Think about this for a moment.

He says, save yourself from this crooked generation.

He's calling them to an exodus.

To be extracted from one social order and placed into another.

So an essential part of their repentance was that they were being called into this counter-cultural, alternative community that embodied kingdom values in stark contrast to the world around them.

This is why Luke immediately describes their common life together.

It's not an addendum to salvation, it is the proof and expression of salvation.

To be a Christian, hear me say this, church, to be a Christian is to belong to a people whose life together looks radically different from this crooked generation we find ourselves in.

It is essential to our faith.

And so the formation of this new community was the very public evidence of the Spirit's presence and the gospel's power beginning to make all things new.

So what's what we're going to dive into this morning?

Verses 42 through 47.

As we first engage with this passage, Luke is describing their redeemed existence, their redeemed existence, verses 42 through 43.

And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers, and all came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles.

That word devoted that Luke starts this passage with, it literally means to exist for something.

To exist for something.

This wasn't a hobby that they picked up on the weekends.

It wasn't a religious elective that they took when it fit their schedule.

Nor was it something that they squeezed into the margins of their very real and busy and youth sports-filled lives.

There was a total reorientation of their existence.

There was a total reorientation of their existence.

They had been captured by something more glorious than anything else that they could have lived for.

And so their existence had been redeemed and rescued from emptiness, and it had been redirected now toward eternity.

And so everything got restructured.

Everything got reordered in their lives, their time, their money, their homes, their relationships, all of it from this point on bent toward one pursuit.

More of Jesus.

More of Jesus.

Teaching, fellowship, breaking bread, prayer.

These became these essential rhythms and elements of a redeemed existence.

The apostles' teaching was showing them Jesus.

Right?

How every thread of scripture pointed to him.

How the law, the prophets, the psalms, all of them found their fulfillment in Christ, his person and work, and how his death, resurrection, and lordship changed everything about how they should now live.

The gospel had truly changed everything for them.

You see, they were simply continuing what Jesus Himself had done throughout his ministry, and specifically in Luke 24, when Jesus, after resurrection, opened the scriptures and opened their minds to be able to see how all of the Old Testament was pointing to him.

We read this together in Luke 24, 44 through 47, paraphrasing this extensive passage.

Everything written about me, Jesus speaking in the law of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.

The Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations.

Here's the connection to their devotion.

The more they saw Jesus in Scripture, the more their lives changed.

The more they beheld his beauty, the more they surrendered their possessions.

The more they understood the gospel, the more their very existence was reordered.

Because beholding transformed their being.

Beholding Jesus transformed their very existence.

This is why they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, not to gather information, but to see Jesus more clearly, more beautiful, and seeing Jesus more clearly mean to them that they could not live the same way anymore.

But they weren't just devoted to the apostles' teaching, they were also devoted to the fellowship.

The very word fellowship means common or shared.

And Luke uses it to describe two movements of their common life.

The first one is the fellowship that they shared in.

The fellowship that they shared in.

They shared in the very life of God Himself.

The Father through the Son by the indwelling spirit.

This wasn't a social club.

This was communion with the living God.

And that vertical fellowship with him created a horizontal fellowship with one another.

In fact, it was bigger than a fellowship.

They would adopt with joy the language of brotherhood.

This new life in Christ that caused a common life to be formed together as they experienced the communion and the brotherhood of a spirit-filled people who have been reconciled into right relationship with God.

But it wasn't just the fellowship they shared in that was common, it was also the fellowship they shared out that became common for them also.

In just a moment, Luke will say these words that they had all things in common.

Verse 44.

Because they had received the Spirit, the ultimate treasure, what did they do?

They held their possessions with an open hand.

They knew that nothing they could possess within this world would ever be more glorious, more valuable, or more to be treasured than what had been imparted into their very chest.

And so when they used to walk around with closed fists, now they live life with open hands.

And everything they had, they held in common.

You see, generosity flowed naturally from grace that had been received and what God had poured out onto them, they began to pour out onto one another.

This is the heart of the fellowship that they now existed for.

A fellowship that was both in God and for one another.

This is the fabric of a spirit-filled community.

But they were also devoted to the breaking of bread and the prayers, Luke says.

These weren't random activities that they participated in, these were liturgical rhythms that shaped their life together.

And so the breaking of bread, the Lord's Supper, the new Passover meal that's pointing to Jesus' body broken and blood poured out.

They gathered regularly around the table, remembering and proclaiming his death until he comes.

But also the prayers, not just spontaneous prayer.

It wasn't just that they had these wild, lavish prayer gatherings all the time, but there was this semblance of structure, of corporate prayers that they lifted together with one voice.

Ancient words that bound them together and it unified them in worship to the Lord.

These liturgies were working together to shape a people into the one they were now beholding.

And so their very lives were being completely reoriented around this redeemed existence.

Every aspect of their life had been impacted and transformed by the gospel of Jesus.

Their minds devoted to the apostles' teachings, their relationship devoted to the fellowship, their worship devoted to the breaking of bread and prayers.

You see, they had been called and captured by someone infinitely more glorious to live for.

And it changed their existence.

The final aspect of their redeemed existence, Luke shares, is that all came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles.

What was happening within this community?

It was creating this strong sense of all around them to take this careful, respectful, even a bit of nervous notice of this new community.

Because it was so counter-cultural in its essence.

And its new existence caused the people around them to be in a sense of fear.

Here's what we have to understand.

Well, think about this for a moment.

What we don't understand, we fear, and what we fear, we hate.

So there was fear that gripped them.

There was that fear, though, would actually be fostered into hate.

And this would become the root of hostility and persecution later in the life of the church that we'll read through as we continue in Acts.

Let's go on to verses 44 through 46.

In this, we see the unpacking of their common life as Luke goes into detail about their new family identity.

Family identity.

We'll read this together.

And all who believed were together and had all things in common, and they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all as any had need.

And day by day attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts.

I think the defining statement of this new family identity is this.

There is no ability to white knuckle our possessions.

What is mine is now ours, because that's one of the aspects of a healthy and flourishing family.

When we begin to live for the ultimate good of others, rather than continue in the selfish pursuit of our own ultimate good, we begin to understand both our possessions and our needs very differently.

The things I thought I needed as a young 20-something year old is radically redefined in light of the family that I now have to provide for and protect and I'm responsible for.

You see, when you truly love people, you give up the things you love for the people that you love even more.

Their good, their well-being, it becomes worth living open-handed for.

Now notice what this isn't, or what this wasn't.

It wasn't a program.

It wasn't a budget line item, nor was it some structured benevolence ministry.

It was simply a spontaneous expression of genuine brotherhood.

Anyone who had need.

Nor was this some spiritual monasticism where everyone sold everything to prove their devotion.

No.

At the heart of this was the stewardship.

It was realizing I have more than enough and I can live open-handed for the ultimate good of the people around me.

You see, here's the truth that you and I need a constant reminder of.

We own nothing, we steward everything.

My marriage is not mine, my children are not mine, my home is not mine, my possessions are not mine, nothing I have is mine.

It has all been given to me as a gift, and I have an obligation to steward that for the glory of God and the good of others.

When I send my children into culture, my labor and work now is that they are sent to live a life for the glory of God and the good of people around them.

I need to steward their presence to that end.

We own nothing, we steward everything.

Everything I call as mine is this gift.

My house, it's God's house, entrusted to me for hospitality.

My money, it's God's money, entrusted to me for generosity.

My time, it's God's time, entrusted to me for service.

And since I have experienced and known the lavish grace of the gospel of Jesus, then I am unable to continue in a life with a posture of closed fists.

You see, Jesus' nail-pierced open hands on the cross demand that I live with open hands for the good of my spiritual family.

Now, another aspect of their family identity was that they continued going to the temple.

They maintained this sense of public worship.

Perhaps they went out of tradition, perhaps they went there for evangelism, but corporate gathering remained essential to their rhythm.

But Luke actually emphasizes I would submit to you where the real heart of community happened.

And it happened in their homes.

Day by day, he says, they broke bread in each other's homes, sharing meals with one another and having their hearts filled with gratitude and Joy.

The table became the center of their family identity.

I've said this many times here at Sacred Mission that the dinner table is one of the central expressions and symbols of family.

Think about it.

Where does family happen?

It happens around the table.

Where do we linger for hours on end?

Around the table.

Where do stories get told and laughter fill the room?

Around the table.

Where do we feed each other, both literally and spiritually?

We do this around a table.

This is deeply Christian.

Because every week here at Sacred Mission, we gather what?

As a family.

And we gather where?

Around this table to share this meal of bread and wine.

This is central to who we are as a family of believers.

But that rich and beautiful symbolism, it doesn't stay in these four walls.

Church, it's supposed to follow us home.

Where the very table in your dining room is an extension of this one.

Where communion and fellowship and family is being shaped and formed.

You see, the bread you break at dinner, it echoes the bread broken at communion.

The fellowship, the gratitude, the joy-filled hearts, these are all evidence of grace that define us as a family.

And in Jesus, a table and a meal beautifully and mysteriously become central to that identity.

Finally, Luke describes the spirit-filled church as having cultural influence.

Verse 47, cultural influence.

Praising God and having favor with all the people, and the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

Their life together, this new formed community by the Spirit's presence and the gospel's power, it did begin to attract positive attention to those around them.

Luke describes this as having favor with all the people.

The word that he uses for favor, it communicates charm, beauty, and grace.

Here's what it does: it tells the story of a people who did not live hostile to the culture, their new community now resided within.

But they were servants to the culture as they began to embody and live out the very servant nature of Jesus.

We find ourselves in a point of tension today.

You have voices with inside of Christianity that is trying to get you persuaded to live hostile to the culture around you.

That we should see everything around us as some war that we have to fight against.

I can't find that anywhere within the scripture.

I can't find that anywhere in the descriptive narrative of the church and how they function, nor in the prescriptive epistles that instruct us and shape us on how to live.

Here's what I see.

My hope is never in governmental powers, my hope is never in economy, my hope is never in what's happening in the culture around me.

My hope is in Christ who reigns victorious and is seated at the right hand of the Father, making all of his enemies his footstool.

And in response to that, we simply get this joy-filled privilege to serve the culture around us in loving, radical, merciful ways.

And we heap burning coals of ember on their head because of the radical kindness we show them.

That's what I see.

And I can tell you from this pulpit, we will contend against any voice speaking differently.

You see, though they were in the midst of a crooked generation, they would never seek to overthrow it by power or by force, but they would seek to overwhelm it with love, kindness, generosity.

Because here's what the church did they didn't act like the culture around them.

You see, the voices some of us are listening to, they're tempting us to act just like the world.

This new community was counter-cultural that caused all around them to gaze inside of it with envy.

You see, whenever historians struggle to understand how in the world Christianity would radically transform the entire Roman Empire within just 75 years of this Pentecost moment, there are two things that they can consistently point back to.

The first was this the Christians loved everyone better than the Roman Empire did.

The Christians loved everyone better than the Roman Empire did.

And the second thing, they died better than everyone else, also.

They loved and they died better.

And in many parts throughout history, their love for others and their better deaths, they were inseparable realities from one another.

I want to point us to this event in 260 AD.

Pope Dionysius, the Bishop of Rome, he wrote a tribute to the heroic nursing efforts of local Christians in the great epidemic of the plague of Cyprian.

I want you to listen to the contrast between the Christians and others.

He says this.

Heedless of danger, they took charge of the sick, attending to their every need and ministering to them in Christ, and with them departed this life serenely happy.

For they were infected by others with the disease, drawing on themselves the sickness of their neighbors and cheerfully accepting their pains.

Many in nursing and curing others transferred death to themselves and died in their stead.

The best of our brothers lost their lives in this manner.

The heathen behaved in the way in the very opposite way.

At the first onset of the disease, they pushed the sufferers away and fled from their dearest, throwing them into the roads before they were dead and treated, unburied corpses as dirt, hoping thereby to avert the spreading contagion of the fatal disease.

But do what they might, they found it difficult to escape.

You see the contrast of the way the Christian was so committed to loving others better.

And so committed to dying better also.

You see, the spirit-filled church was a people who found favor with all because they loved and died for the glory of God and the good of all people.

Because of the radical way the spirit-filled community was living, something remarkable happened.

The Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

This is the sign of a healthy family.

It grows.

Man, a sacred mission.

We've been growing like crazy.

We've been talking about doing a building edition and adding a third gathering and all these things, and I've heard murmurings of people saying, Man, I just feel like we were gonna be a small church.

What in the where have you been living?

You haven't been here.

We're not trying to be a small church.

We're trying to reach as many people with the gospel of Jesus as we possibly can.

That means us being radically uncomfortable.

And then, second, I've heard this murmuring of like, I think we're just too focused on growth.

What in the world do you mean we're too focused on growth?

I don't have radio ads.

I'm not out there like, oh, you should.

I'm not on social media.

I'm like, I'm like, I like I do social media harm by my presence on it.

I just it's ineffective.

Here's what's happening: we're preaching, you're living on mission, the church is growing.

Praise God.

And our prayers that that just keeps happening.

And we plant churches and we begin to reach other areas of greater Cincinnati with the gospel of Jesus, and more and more stories start to pour forth of people who were saved from this crooked generation, and they were brought into a family of people who loved them and cared for them and served them.

That's what we're about, fundamentally.

A healthy family grows.

That's a good thing.

Here's what we have in our culture.

We've flipped it and it's started to work its way inside of even the church, where we think somehow that families with no children or very few children are somehow healthy families.

We've convinced ourselves of this, that having more children is somehow unhealthy.

You think that that doesn't correlate here into the church culture as well?

That somehow having more humans and people and image bearers is somehow unhealthy.

No, we need to have as many kids as we can.

We need to have large families because families that are healthy are families that grow.

But notice how this church grew.

Growth was organic, it was not programmatic.

Because mission became a natural outflow of their very redeemed existence.

To share the hope of the gospel that had pierced them through, delivered them from judgment, and brought them into a family.

They desired others to experience the same radical transformation.

And so the gospel compelled them to go back into the culture and call out others to be rescued and redeemed.

Man, the church was living on mission.

And what was the Lord doing?

He was producing the harvest.

He promised that to us.

The church was living on mission, the Lord was producing the harvest, and they continued to labor in the fields of culture.

You see, this is what the spirit-filled church looked like.

But more importantly, for us, this is what a spirit-filled church looks like even today.

A people with a redeemed existence, their entire lives restructured around beholding Jesus, devoted to his teaching, his fellowship, his table, his prayers, a people with a family identity, living with open hands because Jesus stretched out his for them, stewarding everything for God's glory in each other's good.

And a people with a cultural influence, so compelling in their love, so counter-cultural in their service, so beautiful in their unity, that the watching world cannot help but be envious of them.

And here's the hope.

This isn't just ancient history.

We're not just studying this as some historical examination.

This is God's design for his church and every generation, including this one.

Because the same Spirit who filled them at Pentecost indwells you.

And so let's be a people that God has called us to be: a people with a redeemed existence, a family identity, a cultural influence, all for the glory of God and the good of all people.

Let's pray.