Working together as a Church
Acts 2:37-47 When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?" 38 Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call." 40 With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, "Save yourselves from this corrupt generation." 41Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day. 42 They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
To God’s elect, strangers in the world but children of God, grace and peace be yours in abundance. Amen.
In a classic Peanuts cartoon, Lucy demands that Linus change TV channels and then threatens him with her fist if he doesn’t. "What makes you think you can walk right in here and take over?" asks Linus. "These five fingers," says Lucy. "Individually they are nothing, but when I curl them together like this into a single unit, they form a weapon that is terrible to behold." "What channel do you want?" asks Linus. Turning away, he looks at his fingers and says, "Why can’t you guys get organized like that?"
Organized, edified, unified and evangelized. Four words that summarize the beginnings of the Christian Church as recorded in the book of Acts. Christ loves His Church. He also has expectations of it. He wants us to organize. He wants us to grow in our knowledge of Him. He wants us to reach out into our community. He wants us to work together.
I’m going to guess that most of you have not heard of a company called Vivos. Vivos is not a big company, but it is a firm that has done very well for itself during the present financial downturn. Indeed, the president of the company says business has doubled every year for the last five.
And what does Vivos manufacture?
Vivos builds doomsday shelters. That’s right, if you’re afraid of asteroids, nuclear attacks, tsunamis, earthquakes, political unrest, holy war or the predictions of the Mayans, then Vivos says it is the place for you. Their shelters claim to sustain life underground for an entire year.
And it’s only $25,000 a person.
Jason Hodge, a man who recently bought a Vivos shelter, says, “It’s an investment in life. I want to make sure I have a place I can take me and my family if that worst case scenario were to happen.”
While I most certainly hope the shelter is never needed, I wonder if Hodge and other shelter owners are equally conscientious in making an “investment for life” in regard to the day of humanity’s judgment.
When Jesus returns to judge the living and the dead, a Vivos shelter – no matter how destruction-proof it may be – won’t do any good. On Judgment Day, the Vivos shelter will just be an expensive underground white elephant.
Indeed, no man-made facility will be able to provide a safe haven from the moment when Jesus separates believers from unbelievers. That is why Peter pleads with the Pentecost crowd and with us, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” Peter wants us to heed his message and be saved from the judgment of God that falls on the unbelieving world. And He wants those of us who are saved, who are members of God’s household, who are protected by the Lord Jesus’ prayers, to speak out and reach out to those who remain aliens and foreigners, who are not yet one with Jesus, who are part of this corrupt generation.
Working together as a church means that we have a constant, consistent message. It is a message that changes lives. It is a message that changes addresses for an eternity. It is a message that saves. It is the Apostle’s message: “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”
Together we turn our lives over to God. Together we bow our heads in shame for crucifying the Christ with our sins. Together we humbly approach God’s throne of grace in repentance, seeking His forgiveness and pleading for His patience. Our guilt cuts us to the heart so together we repent, “Have mercy on me according to your unfailing love, according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions.”
Forgiveness is for you and your children through the sacrament of Baptism. Forgiveness is yours at the beginning of our worship services. Forgiveness is extended to you through the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. Forgiveness is yours any time you come to God in humility and admit that you are damned without Him. You confess your failures and failings. You renounce your wicked ways. You repent. And you receive forgiveness through Christ.
That is how you are saved. That is what protects you from God’s wrath on Judgment Day. You are brought into the safety of the Holy Ark of the Christian Church.
Peter’s message of salvation on Pentecost was powerful and effective. The Holy Spirit added 3,000 believers to His Church that day. 3,000 were spared God’s judgment.
Our church can learn something from this early Christian church. They continued steadfastly. They never relaxed. They were unrelenting in their quest. They were incessant. They were devoted. To what? “They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.”
A church that works together devotes itself to the apostles’ teaching. We stay in God’s Word daily. Because God’s Word persuaded and changed us, we devote ourselves to God and the study of His Word. Everything we encounter in life, in the classroom, in the workplace, in the voting booth, is filtered through God’s teachings.
A church that works together fellowships together. Fellowship is sharing. We share a common faith, a common ministry, a common eternal destination. We share in worship and in the Lord’s work. We share our joys and woes, our needs and opportunities with each other.
A church that works together communes together. When we kneel at the Lord’s Table, we enjoy our vertical fellowship with God, eating His Son’s very body and blood. But we also enjoy a horizontal fellowship with every communicant. We are proclaiming our unity with Christ and a unity of faith and doctrine with each other.
A church that works together prays together. God invites believers to join their hearts and voices in approaching His throne of grace in prayer. God is loaded with good things to give us and He is intentionally waiting to be asked for them.
The early Christians grew together as a church so they could work together as the Church. The Christians in the early church were united in a common cause. They were united in mind, in faith, in doctrine. “All the believers were together and had everything in common.” It was “all for one and one for all.” They came from many lands and many cultures, but they were united by faith in the Savior.
Since they were united in faith, they sold their possessions and met needs as they arose. Not in a cult-like act of foolishness, but in sincere concern for others, in anticipation of the return of Christ. They enjoyed the fellowship and company of each other. Their strong relationships held them together in good times and bad times. They grew closer to Christ and each other as the persecutions increased by the Jews and later by the Romans.
On Saturday, Jeremy went to the beach with some friends from church, just hanging out. As usually happens with most people, he mentioned something that was worrying him - he couldn’t make his rent that month. The next day, during the fellowship time after the Sunday worship service, his friend Heather began telling people, “Jeremy can’t make his rent this month and I think we all should give him whatever we can spare to help out.” Jeremy broke down weeping – not out of embarrassment, but out of gratitude. “I’ve never had anybody do anything like that for me before,” Jeremy said. After the service, friends and strangers came by and pressed money into his hand. Not only was he able to make that month’s rent, they gave him enough to pay the next month’s rent and a DMV bill that was due.
That day Jeremy experienced community. Community isn’t a group of people hanging out and it isn’t a program – it is a process of members of the body of Christ rubbing souls with one another, entering into each other’s pain and celebrating one another’s victories.
It is so very easy to become wrapped up in ourselves, in our own little worlds, in our own little problems. Being a part of a church, forces us to care about other people in our community of faith. We are compelled to care about someone else, besides ourselves. We may not always get along. Our personalities will clash, our opinions will differ. We are of different ages, different backgrounds, different mindsets. Yet, we are all united in this church for a reason. That reason is to grow in love and harmony with each other.
That means we care for each other. We go on hay rides and picnic together. We play games and eat chili and barbecue together. But it is even more than that. We have a deep love and concern for each other. That means that we pray for one another. We call each other just find out how people are doing. We go to the hospital to visit each other. We cry and hug one another. We post on each other’s Facebook walls.
In a bombed-out city in Germany at the end of World War II, there stood the remains of a church building. Only a bit of the walls stood here and there. The sky served as the only roof. Yet the bombs had left the altar untouched. On the altar stood a statue of Jesus with His arms extended in love. The statue too had been untouched except for one thing: the hands of the statue had been blown off. The members of the congregation considered plans for renovation. When the question of the statue arose, there were differences of opinion. Some felt that a new statue should be purchased. Others wanted to find a sculptor who could repair the statue. But the desire of the third group prevailed. They said: “Let us leave the statue as it is. It will remind us that we are to be the hands of Christ.”
The Church is the hands of the body of Christ. Through the Church the Great Commission of making disciples of all nations is carried out. Through the Church the gospel of the Savior is to be proclaimed, which alone can save immortal souls from eternal destruction in hell. In the Church, the weary and oppressed find refuge in the Savior’s loving arms. The Church, the spiritual body of Christ, is a wonderful fellowship in which we will bear one another’s burdens by showing love and compassion to each brother and sister in need.
Sadly, a common misconception exists today that one can have a proper relationship with the Savior without any connection to His body, the Church. “We can worship Jesus by ourselves,” people say. “We don’t have to be part of a local congregation of Christians, where there are many self-righteous hypocrites anyway. We don’t need public worship; we can watch the TV preachers.”
The Bible, however, does not view believers as rugged individualists scattered here and there. Rather, we are the body of Christ gathered together, devoting ourselves to the apostles’ teaching, fellowship, the Lord’s Supper and prayer. For it is through these means that the body is made alive and kept active through the Holy Spirit. We are all members and parts of that one body. We are to be functioning together under the direction of the one head, Jesus Christ. He is the head, we are the hands and the fist, if need be – organized, edified, unified and evangelized. United in Christ, His Body, working together as the Church. Amen.
Last Judgment at Epiphany on November 7, 2010
To God’s elect, strangers in the world but children of God, grace and peace be yours in abundance. Amen.
In a classic Peanuts cartoon, Lucy demands that Linus change TV channels and then threatens him with her fist if he doesn’t. "What makes you think you can walk right in here and take over?" asks Linus. "These five fingers," says Lucy. "Individually they are nothing, but when I curl them together like this into a single unit, they form a weapon that is terrible to behold." "What channel do you want?" asks Linus. Turning away, he looks at his fingers and says, "Why can’t you guys get organized like that?"
Organized, edified, unified and evangelized. Four words that summarize the beginnings of the Christian Church as recorded in the book of Acts. Christ loves His Church. He also has expectations of it. He wants us to organize. He wants us to grow in our knowledge of Him. He wants us to reach out into our community. He wants us to work together.
I’m going to guess that most of you have not heard of a company called Vivos. Vivos is not a big company, but it is a firm that has done very well for itself during the present financial downturn. Indeed, the president of the company says business has doubled every year for the last five.
And what does Vivos manufacture?
Vivos builds doomsday shelters. That’s right, if you’re afraid of asteroids, nuclear attacks, tsunamis, earthquakes, political unrest, holy war or the predictions of the Mayans, then Vivos says it is the place for you. Their shelters claim to sustain life underground for an entire year.
And it’s only $25,000 a person.
Jason Hodge, a man who recently bought a Vivos shelter, says, “It’s an investment in life. I want to make sure I have a place I can take me and my family if that worst case scenario were to happen.”
While I most certainly hope the shelter is never needed, I wonder if Hodge and other shelter owners are equally conscientious in making an “investment for life” in regard to the day of humanity’s judgment.
When Jesus returns to judge the living and the dead, a Vivos shelter – no matter how destruction-proof it may be – won’t do any good. On Judgment Day, the Vivos shelter will just be an expensive underground white elephant.
Indeed, no man-made facility will be able to provide a safe haven from the moment when Jesus separates believers from unbelievers. That is why Peter pleads with the Pentecost crowd and with us, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” Peter wants us to heed his message and be saved from the judgment of God that falls on the unbelieving world. And He wants those of us who are saved, who are members of God’s household, who are protected by the Lord Jesus’ prayers, to speak out and reach out to those who remain aliens and foreigners, who are not yet one with Jesus, who are part of this corrupt generation.
Working together as a church means that we have a constant, consistent message. It is a message that changes lives. It is a message that changes addresses for an eternity. It is a message that saves. It is the Apostle’s message: “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off—for all whom the Lord our God will call.”
Together we turn our lives over to God. Together we bow our heads in shame for crucifying the Christ with our sins. Together we humbly approach God’s throne of grace in repentance, seeking His forgiveness and pleading for His patience. Our guilt cuts us to the heart so together we repent, “Have mercy on me according to your unfailing love, according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions.”
Forgiveness is for you and your children through the sacrament of Baptism. Forgiveness is yours at the beginning of our worship services. Forgiveness is extended to you through the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. Forgiveness is yours any time you come to God in humility and admit that you are damned without Him. You confess your failures and failings. You renounce your wicked ways. You repent. And you receive forgiveness through Christ.
That is how you are saved. That is what protects you from God’s wrath on Judgment Day. You are brought into the safety of the Holy Ark of the Christian Church.
Peter’s message of salvation on Pentecost was powerful and effective. The Holy Spirit added 3,000 believers to His Church that day. 3,000 were spared God’s judgment.
Our church can learn something from this early Christian church. They continued steadfastly. They never relaxed. They were unrelenting in their quest. They were incessant. They were devoted. To what? “They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.”
A church that works together devotes itself to the apostles’ teaching. We stay in God’s Word daily. Because God’s Word persuaded and changed us, we devote ourselves to God and the study of His Word. Everything we encounter in life, in the classroom, in the workplace, in the voting booth, is filtered through God’s teachings.
A church that works together fellowships together. Fellowship is sharing. We share a common faith, a common ministry, a common eternal destination. We share in worship and in the Lord’s work. We share our joys and woes, our needs and opportunities with each other.
A church that works together communes together. When we kneel at the Lord’s Table, we enjoy our vertical fellowship with God, eating His Son’s very body and blood. But we also enjoy a horizontal fellowship with every communicant. We are proclaiming our unity with Christ and a unity of faith and doctrine with each other.
A church that works together prays together. God invites believers to join their hearts and voices in approaching His throne of grace in prayer. God is loaded with good things to give us and He is intentionally waiting to be asked for them.
The early Christians grew together as a church so they could work together as the Church. The Christians in the early church were united in a common cause. They were united in mind, in faith, in doctrine. “All the believers were together and had everything in common.” It was “all for one and one for all.” They came from many lands and many cultures, but they were united by faith in the Savior.
Since they were united in faith, they sold their possessions and met needs as they arose. Not in a cult-like act of foolishness, but in sincere concern for others, in anticipation of the return of Christ. They enjoyed the fellowship and company of each other. Their strong relationships held them together in good times and bad times. They grew closer to Christ and each other as the persecutions increased by the Jews and later by the Romans.
On Saturday, Jeremy went to the beach with some friends from church, just hanging out. As usually happens with most people, he mentioned something that was worrying him - he couldn’t make his rent that month. The next day, during the fellowship time after the Sunday worship service, his friend Heather began telling people, “Jeremy can’t make his rent this month and I think we all should give him whatever we can spare to help out.” Jeremy broke down weeping – not out of embarrassment, but out of gratitude. “I’ve never had anybody do anything like that for me before,” Jeremy said. After the service, friends and strangers came by and pressed money into his hand. Not only was he able to make that month’s rent, they gave him enough to pay the next month’s rent and a DMV bill that was due.
That day Jeremy experienced community. Community isn’t a group of people hanging out and it isn’t a program – it is a process of members of the body of Christ rubbing souls with one another, entering into each other’s pain and celebrating one another’s victories.
It is so very easy to become wrapped up in ourselves, in our own little worlds, in our own little problems. Being a part of a church, forces us to care about other people in our community of faith. We are compelled to care about someone else, besides ourselves. We may not always get along. Our personalities will clash, our opinions will differ. We are of different ages, different backgrounds, different mindsets. Yet, we are all united in this church for a reason. That reason is to grow in love and harmony with each other.
That means we care for each other. We go on hay rides and picnic together. We play games and eat chili and barbecue together. But it is even more than that. We have a deep love and concern for each other. That means that we pray for one another. We call each other just find out how people are doing. We go to the hospital to visit each other. We cry and hug one another. We post on each other’s Facebook walls.
In a bombed-out city in Germany at the end of World War II, there stood the remains of a church building. Only a bit of the walls stood here and there. The sky served as the only roof. Yet the bombs had left the altar untouched. On the altar stood a statue of Jesus with His arms extended in love. The statue too had been untouched except for one thing: the hands of the statue had been blown off. The members of the congregation considered plans for renovation. When the question of the statue arose, there were differences of opinion. Some felt that a new statue should be purchased. Others wanted to find a sculptor who could repair the statue. But the desire of the third group prevailed. They said: “Let us leave the statue as it is. It will remind us that we are to be the hands of Christ.”
The Church is the hands of the body of Christ. Through the Church the Great Commission of making disciples of all nations is carried out. Through the Church the gospel of the Savior is to be proclaimed, which alone can save immortal souls from eternal destruction in hell. In the Church, the weary and oppressed find refuge in the Savior’s loving arms. The Church, the spiritual body of Christ, is a wonderful fellowship in which we will bear one another’s burdens by showing love and compassion to each brother and sister in need.
Sadly, a common misconception exists today that one can have a proper relationship with the Savior without any connection to His body, the Church. “We can worship Jesus by ourselves,” people say. “We don’t have to be part of a local congregation of Christians, where there are many self-righteous hypocrites anyway. We don’t need public worship; we can watch the TV preachers.”
The Bible, however, does not view believers as rugged individualists scattered here and there. Rather, we are the body of Christ gathered together, devoting ourselves to the apostles’ teaching, fellowship, the Lord’s Supper and prayer. For it is through these means that the body is made alive and kept active through the Holy Spirit. We are all members and parts of that one body. We are to be functioning together under the direction of the one head, Jesus Christ. He is the head, we are the hands and the fist, if need be – organized, edified, unified and evangelized. United in Christ, His Body, working together as the Church. Amen.
Last Judgment at Epiphany on November 7, 2010
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