A Devoted Church

Good evening. Excited to be with you guys tonight. Before we start, I just want to be transparent

because I realize that you guys aren't all in our community group. So my name is Matt and I'm a

pastoral resident here. We have been coming out to Hope for a while. We've been at home participating

in church virtually for a month, a month and a half. I don't know, I'll lose track. But

the reason why is because we as a family, we have five, almost six adults, and we all have

different feelings and thoughts and concerns about COVID. And so we work through that. We've been

working through that just like you guys have here and those who are online. It's something that we

all struggle with and there is no right answer. And so I share that with you just so you know that

we are in it and we struggle with it together. And if there's anything that I do that causes someone

to struggle or if you have questions or you want to talk about it, please don't keep it to yourself.

Whether you're here or especially online, talk to someone about it. In your community group, talk to,

email me about it. Matt at Trinity Cambridge. Send me a message on Slack. But if you're struggling with

something related to that, please reach out to somebody because I wouldn't want you to stay

that way. And it's, I know the difficulty, especially when you're disconnected physically,

the struggle in that and what it does to church life. And so I just want to, I just want to say that

before we start.

Hopefully that's an encouragement. I don't know, but that's where things are. And my prayer,

hopefully your prayer, is that things will continue to get better. And at some point in the future,

whenever that is, we will be more unified physically together. I don't know when it is,

but hopefully that will happen and it won't be too long into the future.

Let's, let's pray together before we open up the word.

God, we thank you for this time you've given to us. We thank you for your word. And particularly

tonight, we thank you for this passage. We pray that you would help our hearts to be open and our

ears to be open to what you have to say. Lord, I pray that, that I personally would, would preach

the words that you would have me preach and not my own personal thoughts, that they would not cloud

and get in the way of your word, what you would have us to grab onto, to be encouraged with and to be

taught and sharpened. Lord, we pray these things in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

So Acts chapter 2, we'll be reading the last several verses of this chapter, verses 42 to 47

Acts 2 · chapter mention

of Acts 2. 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. 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, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their

number day by day, those who were being saved. It's helpful to remember that what we see taking place

here at Acts is not the birth of God's people. We see the birth of the New Testament church, but

still the people of God that he is calling out to himself. The same group of people he began to call out

4,000 years ago when he started with Abraham. The reason why that's helpful for us to remember is

because we need to not disconnect what God started in the Old Testament to what he's doing here in this

passage and for us now on this side of the cross. We are witnessing here the remnant of God's people

becoming the spirit-filled body of Christ. Before, in the Old Testament, sacrifices were needed

regularly to cover people's sins. Now, at this time, Christ has died and has covered sins once and for all.

Before, God dwelt physically in the temple most of the time. Now, we see the Holy Spirit being poured

out on God's people and coming to dwell in them daily, all the time. And this passage that we're

going to look at tonight gives us a brief window into the lives of this early New Testament church

and shows us how their lives were changed by God. In verse 42, we see that our passage starts out and it

says, and they devoted themselves to. We're going to dig into what they devoted themselves to in just a

minute. But before we start out, I want to ask you a question, and that is, what are you devoted to?

Many people see church or religion as something that they just add to their life, kind of like a

secondary thing, like a sport or maybe a humanitarian activity that gets added to their resume at the

bottom to help them to help them look better. So how about if we change verse 42 to kind of match the

tendency that people have towards God and their own Christian way of life? If we do, it might sound a

little bit like this. And they attended church once a week, connected with their community group if they

weren't too busy, shared meals with others, when it included doing something fun. But we try to avoid

getting too personal and too deep. And for prayer, well, we do that sometimes, at least before meals.

Now, if that was verse 42, you would say, there's not a people devoted to a God here that I can see.

And that's not the passage we see here before us. It's not what's happening to this church that is

called out by God. And it's not what this Bible teaches for his people. If you've been called out

by God to be part of his church, his fellowship of believers, then he has called you out of the world

to be different from the world. Not just a nice moral version of those who are in the world,

but to be devoted to what God calls us to be devoted to.

In October of 1994, I, as a 21-year-old kid,

made a promise,

a vow,

to my then 21-year-old wife.

Sorry, it's still

crazy to think about.

I made

a promise to her,

and she made a promise to me

before God and before others

that we would love and be devoted to one another for life.

Now, if we went into that promise of devotion,

and afterwards,

there was no life change.

We shared things together,

but our lives didn't change.

We didn't come together as one,

like God calls us to,

that wouldn't look like much of a devotion.

You would say,

that's not true love.

That's easy, convenient love.

That's convenient devotion,

because it works out for you.

But that's not the devotion

that marriage is based on.

That's the closest

example I could think of

to the devotion

that we're called to

as the people of God.

Our outline

for tonight's message

is taken right from verse 42.

It lays out what

the people of God

are called

to,

and then the remaining

verses

go into detail

as to what that looks like.

So the first one is,

they devoted themselves

to the apostles' teaching.

They were devoted

to learning more

about this Jesus

whom God had sent

and they had crucified,

the one who gave up

their life for them.

And their eyes had been opened,

we saw last week,

by the Holy Spirit,

and they wanted more.

They were hungry

for the word of God.

They submitted to

and they wanted more

of the teaching

of the apostles.

Why the apostles?

Why them?

It was from their teaching,

we saw last week again,

specifically from Peter,

that's the sermon

that the Holy Spirit

used to open their eyes.

We also know that

Jesus had been preparing

the disciples

for this time.

the great commission,

if you remember,

in Matthew 28,

go and make disciples

of all nations,

baptizing them

in the name of the Father

and the Son

and the Holy Spirit,

teaching them

to observe all things

that I have commanded you.

At the end of Luke,

Luke 24,

Jesus said to them,

these are my words

that I spoke to you.

This is after

he was resurrected.

These are the words

that I spoke to you

while I was still with you,

that everything written

about me

in the law,

in the prophets,

in the Psalms,

they all must be fulfilled.

And he opened their minds

to understanding

the scripture.

The Old Testament

is God's word.

Jesus taught

from the Old Testament.

He taught them

about himself

and how the Old Testament

was all about him

and how it was

to be fulfilled.

And Jesus taught

how they were all connected.

If we are called by God,

then we,

like this early church,

are called to be devoted

to the apostles' teachings.

This is one of the places

in the Bible,

in the New Testament specifically,

where we see

that authority

is confirmed by God.

It says in verse 43,

And all became upon every soul,

and many wonders and signs

were being done

through the apostles.

God is working

through the apostles

as confirmation

that his word

is being taught

and that his word

is true.

John Stott says this,

The Spirit of God

leads the people of God

to submit to the word of God.

That means that we,

as a continuation

of this New Testament church,

called by the same God,

spreading of the same gospel,

we should also devote ourselves to

and be under the submission of.

After that,

we see that they were devoted

to the fellowship.

This word gets a little,

gets a little fuzzy

because it's used a lot in church.

It's not a word

that you would use

outside of church, really.

You don't,

you don't use it

in the workplace

after a company dinner.

Hey guys,

let's go back

and have some fellowship together.

Kind of sounds funny.

It's specific to the church.

The word used here

for fellowship,

the Greek word is

koinonia.

And it's not always

translated fellowship.

And the reason for that

is because this word

koinonia is dynamic

in that there isn't just

one English word

to describe it.

So depending on the text,

it gets translated

a little different.

But koinonia describes

a relationship

which includes being

active in Christian community.

It's sharing and enjoying

the spiritual blessings

that we have with one another.

And it's the giving

of material blessings.

It's a fellowship

that's about participation.

It's a sharing

what we have in common

that is Christ.

So it's much bigger

than what we think of

when we just hear fellowship.

Paul says in 1 Corinthians,

God is faithful

through whom we are called

into the fellowship,

the koinonia

of his son,

Jesus Christ.

that's a deep version

of the word fellowship.

That's got depth to it

that we can hang on to.

The fellowship of Jesus Christ

that we've been brought into

is what brings us together.

New life in Jesus Christ.

For the new believers

in our passage

and for us,

Trinity Cambridge,

our commonality is Christ.

That's what we share together.

So in verse 44,

when it says,

and all who believed

were together

and had all things in common,

that was the unity

around their commonality

was Jesus Christ.

That's what they shared in.

What they now believed

is what brought them together

and gave them unity.

Unity of the spirit.

Witnessing what God

was doing around them.

There was a reverent fear,

it says,

that took place

because of what they were part of

and what they were witnessing.

That's what they had in common.

That's the fellowship

that they were sharing in.

But that's not all.

Secondly,

it's also about

what they shared out.

So it's about

what we have in common,

what we're sharing together,

and also what we share out.

The same word,

koinonia,

Paul uses to talk about money

that he collected

from the Greek churches

for those who were struggling

in Jerusalem.

They were sharing

what they had in common.

If I had wealth

and another brother had need,

then it was shared

as if we all had it in common.

As we read through these verses

and we hear about

how they had things in common

and they sold their possessions,

I want to make sure

that no one gets the wrong idea.

Luke is not describing

some type of a religious communism.

I was,

I'm a Star Trek fan.

At least I was when I was younger.

Just so I don't date myself.

Not the old original Star Trek.

So that was like in the 60s.

It was a little hokey.

I couldn't connect with it.

But the next generation,

that,

that I could,

that I enjoyed.

That was the good stuff.

But the thing I liked

about Star Trek

is there was this world

where everybody just got along.

You never saw paychecks.

You never saw people

complaining about their job.

Like everybody did their job.

Everybody got taken care of.

And there was just this commonality

that was there.

But that wasn't real.

I understand.

It was fake.

And as cool as that would be,

it wouldn't work in real life.

But here we,

there is no religious requirement

to sell what is owned.

We'll see it later in Luke

as we run across another passage

that's similar to this.

But there was no requirement

to sell their own home.

The desire that they had

was bigger

than that default desire

to acquire more for ourselves.

That one that we want to collect

and get enough for us

to be comfortable

into the future.

And then once we feel comfortable enough,

then,

then I can give past that.

Then I can give to someone else.

But let me protect myself first.

That's not the heart of God.

That's not the love of Christ.

While there is nothing

against saving for the future,

God has overflowed us

with blessings.

Jesus didn't come

and give a little.

He gave everything.

And it's,

it's that posture

that we should be

as a church

overflowing

with what we've been blessed with

for those who are in need

around us.

It's why as a church,

we do specifically

set money aside

for when people are in need.

Specifically in the church,

but there could be times

where we give outside of that.

We also give towards

Sovereign Grace churches.

It's a family of churches

to which we belong.

And we pay money to them

regularly

because they give to other

Sovereign Grace churches

that are struggling,

that are in need.

They also send to

other parts of the world

where there are

like-minded brothers and sisters

that are doing work

that need money.

They also use it to start

new Sovereign Grace churches.

And Lord willing,

in our future,

our prayer

is that we would be able

to send out

a church ourselves

and be able to help

support that church.

In verse 42,

after the apostles' teaching,

after the fellowship,

we see that we're devoted

to the breaking of bread

and prayers,

or the prayers,

specific prayers,

corporate prayers.

Let's look at verse 46 and 47

because it gives us

a little bit more detail

about that.

And day by day,

attending the temple together

and breaking bread

in their homes,

they received their food

with glad and generous hearts,

praising God.

They attended the temple together.

Even as God was moving

among them

and changing

their definition

of what church was like

and taking out sacrifices

because of what Jesus did,

the temple was still

the established

central institutional church

at the time

where they went

corporately to worship God

and they didn't neglect that.

They didn't abandon it.

They still went to that.

Day by day,

they attended the temple together.

They also broke bread together.

And this phrase,

the breaking of bread,

can be a reference

to the Lord's Supper,

communion,

that we're going to take

part of tonight.

It can also be

just sharing a meal together.

So,

as we see this passage,

are they celebrating

the Lord's Supper?

Are they doing communion?

Are they sharing a meal together?

And the answer to that is yes.

They're doing both of theirs.

They're sharing meals together.

They're breaking bread.

They're remembering

what Jesus had done for them.

And we can easily see

how this part

of sharing a meal together,

of breaking the bread together,

how it can easily be connected

to our fellowship

that we have with one another.

Some of the best ways

that we can fellowship

is by sharing a meal

with one another.

It could be sharing a meal

with someone

who is in need of a meal.

It could also be sharing a meal

with someone who doesn't need the food,

but needs the fellowship.

The last point

we're going to see tonight

is that they were devoted

to the prayers.

The prayers that were part

of corporate worship.

The prayers that we do

each time we meet

when we pray

for different areas.

They met at the temple

for prayers,

and they didn't neglect those.

They also prayed in homes.

Back in chapter 1,

we saw how they prayed together

before the Holy Spirit came.

We'll see them praying more

in chapter 3.

In chapter 4,

they were devoted to prayer.

They were devoted to prayer.

And so the question there is,

do we feel that same need

to pray?

Do we feel like we're

actually praying

when we come together

and pray all together

for different parts of the world

and for other churches?

Or do we just,

we go through it

like it's another thing

in church that we just do?

When you get in your community groups,

do you pray?

Do you pray like you need to pray?

Do you pray like you're talking to God?

And outside of that,

personally,

do you pray?

Jesus prayed.

Jesus was one with the Father.

If He needed it,

why do we feel

that prayer is not important?

How prideful and arrogant

to God

must it look like

for Him to see

Christians going through a life

not needing prayer?

So a couple things

in wrapping up.

In verse 46,

we see they were receiving

their food with glad

and generous hearts,

praising God.

This was epic Thanksgiving

that was going on here, folks.

Thanksgiving for what they had,

for what they had been given,

for what God had done with them.

It was changing their lives.

It was that thankfulness

combined with the devotion

fueled by the Spirit

that overflowed in their generosity,

their love for the community around them.

First,

first to the community of believers

because of the common bond

they had with one another,

and after that,

to the community

outside of that.

Verse 47

says,

praising God

and having favor

with all

the people.

This is people

outside of the church.

This is people

out in the community.

They had favor

with those people

because their generosity,

because their love

flowed outside the church

to them

and extended to them.

The people outside

felt that.

Lastly,

in verse 47,

it says,

and the Lord

added to their number

day by day

those who were being saved.

So first and foremost,

remember that it was

the Lord

that added

to those being saved.

They didn't add it.

The Lord is the one

that saves,

not us.

We can add numbers.

We can't add souls.

Only God

calls people

to himself.

We saw that verse

last week.

Only God

calls people.

It's only Jesus

who is able

to save

through his blood

and the Holy Spirit

that can change

people's hearts.

tonight,

if you are not part

of God's fellowship,

know that you can be.

If you don't know

his forgiveness,

then let me,

like Peter,

exhort you

to repent

and look to him

who can give you

the promise

of salvation

because no one else

can give you

that promise.

For those here,

for those

who are online,

who are already

saved,

I want you to see

something in verse 47.

There was a sharing

of the gospel

that took place

with the people

around them

as they lived lives

devoted to God.

It wasn't a devotion

that was left

inside a building.

It wasn't left

here in a church building.

It wasn't left

in their homes.

They were devoted

to the teaching.

They were devoted

to the fellowship,

the sharing of meals,

of praying together.

They interacted

with the world

around them.

And day by day,

people were being saved.

That means there was

also evangelism

going on.

They were reaching out

to those around them

and bringing them

into their fellowship,

into their generosity.

generosity.

So,

church.

If we,

Trinity Cambridge,

are a church

called by God,

then we are a church

devoted to God.

And just so,

sometimes we can get

lost in the corporateness

of the name church

and fall into that mindset

like the church

is responsibility

for that

or they'll take care

of that.

Each one of us

individually

make up the church.

So,

if you've been

called by God,

if I've been

called by God,

then each one

of us

individually

need to be

devoted to God.

I'm almost done.

I desire

to preach

the word of God

and do it faithfully,

but I also

fight hard

to try

and connect

things

practically.

So,

how do we,

with an example

like this

of a people

who are devoted

to God,

how do we,

knowing that God

is calling us

to that,

how do we

practice that?

How do we start

to live that out

in this weird time

where we are

in 2021?

Here are just

some thoughts

that I came

to

while studying

this passage,

while praying

through it,

and I would

invite you

to take

an opportunity

to dig deeper

in your community

group

as you guys

discuss this.

First,

I would say

pray that God

would help us

be ready

for when the

smoke clears.

years.

Whenever this

is all done,

by the grace

of God,

we pray that

things will get

better,

and I think

that they will.

I'm not going

to give you a time.

I don't know.

I didn't think

it would be

this long.

But let us

pray that we

would be ready.

Let us pray

for our church.

Let us pray

for everyone

in our church,

regardless of

where we are

in the

pandemic

spectrum.

Because

like all

the churches,

most churches

spread across

the U.S.,

we are a

disconnected

church.

We know

this.

We are a

disconnected

church that

longs for

our unity

to be

restored.

And I mean

physically.

And when I

say these

things,

please don't

understand that

I'm saying

those who

are here

are in a

good place,

that those

who are at

home are

in a good

place,

or you

need to

fix where

you are.

That's not

what I'm

saying.

Because we're

all in

different spots.

We all have

to deal

with what

God has

laid out

for us

in different

ways.

And there

is no

wrong

unless we're

sinning in

it.

But let

us pray.

Let us

pray that

God would

bring us

together as

a church

in a way

that is

deeper than

we knew

before.

Begin now,

or if you

haven't,

or if you

have been,

continue on

finding ways

to grow in

fellowship with

one another.

That includes

people that are

here, that

includes people

who are at

home.

Find ways to

fellowship with

one another.

it's hard.

Fight for

it.

We are all

the same

members of

the same

body of

Christ.

If you

are a

totally

online

member,

then share

a meal with

somebody

online.

It's weird.

We know

that.

But fight

for the

unity we

have in

Jesus Christ

because we

need it.

Because there

are people

out in the

church who

need it.

You guys

feel it

here.

You guys

feel it

online.

Sometimes

we just

want to

hug people

and we

can't.

It's not

right, but

it's where

we are.

So fight

to be

devoted to

the church

of God.

And if it

means,

hey, will

you share

a meal with

me online

Friday night?

Because I

need to

eat and

you need

to eat.

And you

know what?

we can

have

fellowship

with one

another in

the name

of Jesus

Christ because

one of us

needs it,

if not

both of

us.

Don't be

content to

fall back

anywhere,

to hide

behind a

mask,

or to

hide behind

a screen

and just

get lost.

That's what

Satan would

want us to

do.

But fight

where you

are.

I'm not

saying fight

to get

back to

anywhere,

but fight

where you

are.

Fight for

that community.

And lastly,

plan for

the future.

Plan how

you might

engage with

those around

you whenever

the smoke

clears,

whenever

things ease

up,

whenever

everybody

feels

comfortable

to do

what we

used to

do,

whenever

that is.

Plan for

that.

God has

given us

this weird,

quiet,

time-out

period where

there's rest

and where

there's stress.

And so

look to

him.

And then

move,

plan to

move out

in bigger,

in newer

ways than

you did

before.

God has

to

go live

a life

that is

devoted

to God.

Let's

pray,

let's

pray together.

Lord,

I thank

you for

your word.

I thank

you for

the examples

that we

get to

see here

in Acts.

I thank

you for

the Holy

Spirit and

the work

that happens.

We thank

you that

you were

the one

that saved

souls and

not us.

We thank

you for

your promise

of salvation,

your gift

of Jesus

Christ,

and your

gift of

the Holy

Spirit.

God,

we pray that

you would

help us

to be a

devoted

church for

you,

to see

how we

need it

individually,

to see

how we

need it

corporately,

to see

how we

live in

a world

that needs

to see

it,

God.

So,

Lord,

we pray

that you

would help

us.

Help us

where we

are right

now.

Help us

to look

to you

and help

us to

plan for

the future,

what you'd

have us do

and how we

would be

devoted to

you,

God.

we ask

these things

for your

glory,

in Jesus'

name,

Amen.