The Church (Part one)

The Church

Acts 2:41-47

So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls. And they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe 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, breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

Introduction

Have you ever thought about the definition of church? When you hear someone mention their church, what do you think of? The building? That’s fair…isn’t it? The people? Fair as well…yes? In all sorts of church documents and writings, there are many references to “church”, but what is the essence of church? Reading Mark Driscoll’s book “Vintage church” he comments that he asked his pastor friends for their working definition of church. Not one could give him an answer.We have somewhere between 20-30 thousand Protestant denominations in the world today, depending who you ask. Today, we’ve added one more, as we aren’t currently affiliated with any group. We are an independent Reformed Baptist denomination. Some have asked the question “How do you just make a church?” Some have gone so far as to ask if we’re some kind of cult because we’re starting a church with some believers and aren’t affiliated with anyone. I’m not even kidding. There are now anywhere between 20 001 to 30 001 churches. This of course doesn’t count any of the other groups out there that count themselves as a church. There are those that fall within orthodoxy and others that are not. To a lost world, we’re all part of the church. If you have a cross somewhere on the building and you call yourself a church, the world just shrugs and moves along. The problem isn’t with a lost world that doesn’t understand what a true church is, the problem is that far too many Christians don’t know what a true church is. Like anything in today’s western and civilized society, nothing is certain, nothing is true in its traditional sense, so words can change meaning quickly. Do you remember when “cool” meant not hot? “Wicked” meant the opposite of good? Our words are difficult to nail down anymore because it has become common practice to change the definition of words to mean whatever we want them to mean. It used to take many years, decades and centuries for language to change. We’ve managed to change language at an alarming rate due to the new media and cultural changes. What hasn’t changed is the biblical definition of what church is. Today’s passage gives us a clear definition and understanding of what makes a church. We here at Hill Country endeavor to be a true church, following in the paths of our brothers and sisters in Christ from Pentecost up to today.

Acts was written by Luke, a doctor and historian writer who was a friend and missionary who accompanied the Apostle Paul in his mission field. The context of today’s passage comes at the conclusion of Peter’s sermon in Jerusalem at Pentecost. Luke writes in chapter 2 verse 41: So those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls. The first aspect we see from scripture is that those that are a part of the church have received the word. In some translations it reads “willingly embraced his words” a clear desire or drawing to the word of God by the preaching of Peter. The gospel message was proclaimed and accepted as true. Those that accepted the gospel as true were saved that day, 3000 as the scriptures tell us. The Holy Spirit came upon them and they were saved. There is some argument about whether or not the baptism mentioned involved immersion and the massive difficulties that that would’ve involved in a parched land and city such as Jerusalem, but what we can determine is that with the proclamation of following Christ, 3000 people were baptized. The church is one that carries out the ordinance of baptism. If you are a professing believer, you have been called to be baptized as a public declaration of your allegiance to Christ. These 3000 were not baptized in private, in a place where no one would see or know. These people heard the word in the public square, and were baptized. Earlier in verse 38 Peter exhorts his hearers to “repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of sins.” Titus 3:5 states “he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,” We are saved according to the person and work of Christ, not by any actions of our own, including baptism. Baptism does not save you, it is an act of obedience to the Lord, but it is an act which the church needs to carry out according to numerous scriptures in our bible. Acts 8:12 “they were baptized, both men and women.” Acts 9:18 “…then he rose and was baptized.” Acts 10:48 “…and he commanded them to be baptized.” Baptism is all over the New Testament, and the true church carries out this commandment.

Verse 42 states “And they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.” This scripture is full of what makes a church. Firstly, they “devoted themselves.” Other translations use the term “continued”. 3000 people that day were baptized, given the Holy Spirit and continued in faith in the apostles teaching. John 15:6-7 states “ 6 If anyone does not abide in me che is thrown away like a branch and withers; dand the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. 7 If eyou abide in me, and my words abide in you, fask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. If you do not devote yourself in the apostles teaching, you are not a disciple of Christ. This presents a problem for both churches and pastors that do not preach the word of God, but preach worldly philosophy, cultural stories and applications, and a variety of other stage shows that has little or nothing to do with the gospel and scripture. Jesus tells the apostles to “teach them to obey everything that I have commanded.” (Matt. 28:20). If the church isn’t preaching the entire word of God as given by Christ, they are not acting as a true church. The teachings of Christ compels us to open up our bibles and exposite them fully so that we may have a most correct understanding of who we are, who God is, and what is required of us to be saved. We get all kinds of heresy and proof texting, the twisting of scripture by only having a partial understanding of our bibles. We need to have a complete devotion to the teachings of scripture.

The text also denotes a devotion to the fellowship of believers. There is a recent move within the church and those that call themselves Christian toward a “Lone Ranger” mentality, one that doesn’t require those that are believers to belong to and fellowship with other believers. This “go-it-alone” attitude is predicated on the very individualistic society we come from, one that doesn’t want to be answerable to anyone, one that doesn’t want to be around others due to their behaviors or attitudes that can sometimes drive us crazy. You can see this attitude in our family life and working environments can’t we? Rather than loving our neighbor and fellow Christian like God calls us to, we’d rather hide in our homes, our trailers, our excuses. We like to love from a distance, and sometimes that’s a good thing. We can avoid assault charges that way can’t we? But if we constantly avoid those that are our brothers and sisters, are we really loving them? Are we getting the practice of patience that we keep praying about? How can we learn patience and kindness if we’re never around anyone that drives us up the wall? We are called to be in fellowship with one another, and devote ourselves to being a part of the body of Christ.

We are to break bread together. This is the second sacrament that we are called to do. The breaking of bread, which we’ll do here today and every Sunday service, is done in accordance with the teaching from Jesus from the Last Supper. Let’s listen to his words from Matthew 26. We pick it up in verse 26 that says “ 19 jAnd he took bread, and hwhen he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, k“This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 20 And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying,k“This cup that is poured out for you is lthe new mcovenant in my blood.3 Jesus commanded the disciples to “do this, in remembrance of me.” Some churches partake of the Lord’s Supper every Sunday, others do it only every few months. Some practice what’s called open communion, whereby any that are in attendance that day at the service can partake if they are believers, while other churches practice closed communion, whereby one must be a member of that particular church in order to partake. Here at Hill Country, we partake every Sunday and it is open to anyone who is of good conscience and believes themselves to be a part of the Kingdom. This is a sacred time to remember the sacrifice our God made for those who were his enemies, but are now reborn in the Spirit.

The last aspect of what constitutes a church is not mentioned in this particular part of scripture, but is listed in numerous other locales which we’ll cover today, namely that of church discipline. This is not generally done in many churches today as it is difficult to do in a body that doesn’t want to submit to godly authority. Pastors are called to shepherd the flock, and sometimes that requires correction and a call to repentance to individuals that are not living according to the teachings of Christ. Matthew 18:15-17 states “15 m“If your brother sins against you, ngo and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have ogained your brother. 16 But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established pby the evidence of two or three witnesses. 17 If he refuses to listen to them, qtell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, rlet him be to you as sa Gentile and sa tax collector. We can see here the proper method of church discipline, starting with a one-on-one conversation between you and the person who is being called to repentance. This, you will notice, is done with those inside the church family. When dealing with those outside of the faith, I would suggest you stop church discipline at stage one. But inside the church, if we love our brothers and sisters, we will look out for their well-being, we will walk with them in a loving and caring way. This requires a conversation that can be difficult. What many of us want to do when faced with this is to ignore the problem, gossip about them, or simply slander them without getting any input from them at all. All of these are not only not helpful to the one sinning, but is quite destructive to those in the body. To ignore the issue, using proof-texts like Matt. 7:1 which says “Judge not lest ye be judged” is to hate your brother. Let’s put this in a parental context. Your child steals. Do you ignore the issue with that verse? Of course not! You talk to your child, preferably one-on-one to find out what the situation is, but discipline is coming one way or another isn’t it? We don’t brush that under the rug and call it loving do we? Only if we want to raise a future kleptomaniac. So when we see someone in the church body sinning, we take them aside lovingly to find out the situation, then we deal with it appropriately. It goes on to say “If he doesn’t listen, take one or two others along with you.” Essentially, you’re going to try again, but this time you’re bringing others to back your claim and to help convince that person in sin to cut it out. If that doesn’t work, then it’s time to bring it before the elders of the church. If he refuses to heed the warnings of the elders, he doesn’t repent of his sin, then at that point he would be removed from the membership, and possibly the congregation as a whole depending upon the severity of the sin and how that directly affects those inside and outside the body. This requires much prayer and wisdom on behalf of the elders and is never taken lightly. These are never black and white issues, each situation demands love and grace and kindness in different methods and manners. The other issue we need to keep in mind is that just because you think there is no discipline going on doesn’t necessarily mean that the church is being lax in its mandate to discipline those in the fold, it may just be in process. Instead of being quietly frustrated or openly hostile, first give the church the benefit of the doubt, and pray that the issue is being resolved. If it is something that isn’t your business, don’t make it your business.

We need to keep in mind the reason behind church discipline. 1 Cor. 5 states “It is actually reported that there is wsexual immorality among you, and of a kind that is not tolerated even among pagans, xfor a man has his father’s wife. 2 And yyou are arrogant! Ought you znot rather to mourn? Let him who has done this be removed from among you.

3 For though aabsent in body, I am present in spirit; and as if present, I have already pronounced judgment on the one who did such a thing. 4 When you are assembled bin the name of the Lord Jesus and my spirit is present, with the power of our Lord Jesus, 5 you are cto deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so dthat his spirit may be saved ein the day of the Lord.1 Church discipline is designed for the saving of those being disciplined. We do not remove people out of vengeful spite or retribution, but out of love for that person that they may come to repentance and be accepted back into the fold. We pray for God to convict them of their sin so that we may have fellowship with them. We are into saving and sanctifying souls, not to prevent repentant sinners from entering the Kingdom.

A church that doesn’t practice discipline is nothing more than a country club. Everyone comes to church for fellowship, to hear a message, then leaves and lives life however they want. How is this different than a golf membership? You come, you play (and if you play like me it’s badly), then you go home and live your life, where no-one else from the club comes to bother you about how you treat your spouse or your kids, or your greediness or whatever else you’re guilty of. The bible says in Proverbs 12:1 “ Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge,

but he who zhates reproof is astupid.

This proverb is handy and good when you’re on the giving end, but how do we handle it when we’re on the receiving end? If we get angry and hostile, the bible calls us stupid. How can we learn, how can we grow without discipline? We as a church body need to be challenged, we need to be disciplined by one another in a loving way that enables us to grow together, to live and love together. If we don’t have discipline, we have a group of individuals that come to church to be fed or entertained, to be made much of, but not to grow, not to be a part of the body, not to learn to love God more and one another more.

So, there are three identifiers of a church; 1) the preaching of the word, 2) the offering of the sacraments of baptism and the Lord’s Supper, and 3) church discipline. You must have all three to be considered a true church. At Hill Country we want desperately to follow the scriptural teachings and to be what the Lord makes us. We will do so by ensuring that all we do will be to the glory of God via the methods He has set out for us.

Next week we’ll finish this text by showing the 4 fruits of the church that should be produced if the first three identifiers are accomplished.