The Church

RIVERSIDE INDONESIAN FELLOWSHIP
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The Church

Riverside Indonesian Fellowship
Published by Stanley Pouw in 2022 · 24 July 2022
We are studying Peter’s sermon on the day of Pentecost, and in verse 38 Peter said, “Repent and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” Then in verse 40, “With many other words he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying, ‘Be saved from this perverse generation!’

So then, those who had received His word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls.” Let us now look tonight at verses 42 to 47, “And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers. 43 Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles.

44 Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, 45 and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need. 46 So they continued daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.”

A week or so ago, I looked at a copy of Table Talk, a devotional magazine that’s produced by Ligonier Ministry, and the theme was ‘ordinary’. There was an article by Michael Horton called “The Ordinary Christian Life.” Michael says this, “Whatever happened to ordinary?” He says, “There is this constant call for more experiences that are highly emotional, radical, edgy, relevant and trendy.”

I also read an article written by an evangelical Christian who said, “There is beginning to emerge a longing in the lives of 20 and 30-year-olds for ‘real’ church. This is a culture of extremes, but that’s not the original fountain for this, and in an effort to be extreme and impactful and relevant, et cetera, the most bizarre elements of the culture are imported into the church.

It was Charles Finney, 1792-1875, who decided that religion, to be valid, had to have some kind of high impact, high energy emotional element. It was about methods, feelings and experiences, and it all trumped sound doctrine and theology. Gradual growth, by the normal means of grace, prayer, the study of the Word and fellowship was exchanged for a radical experience.

The Church is simply living out a form of that today, the church has become mired in restlessness impatience and selfishness. And that is characteristic of being childish. The church is an adolescent wanting to be indulged and entertained, the church has become largely superficial and immature and experiences are designed for impatient, selfish, shallow adolescents.

The God-ordained ordinary patterns of slow, faithful, thoughtful study and absorption of the Word of God and slow, steady growth in grace and the knowledge of Christ in the midst of a faithful congregation is far too ordinary for the salesmen of adolescent extreme radical experience. There seems to be an endless supply of adolescents to entertain, and ready to be fooled.

God is not ordinary. But God works through ordinary means, regular people in normal churches, doing regular things. God uses real language and simple people as his instruments to move his church to impact the world. Simply stated, Jesus, God incarnate, stayed nine months in His mother’s womb and was born in a normal way and “grew in wisdom and stature, in favor with God and man.”

People today are like adolescents chasing a wild experiences. And, there are lots of places willing to offer it. As we come to this section, we’re introduced in a fresh way to an ordinary church, a church. This is the church that was born at Pentecost. And because the apostles were there, in verse 43, there were “many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles.”

We don’t expect that now because that was associated with the apostles, and there are no more apostles. That first church was an ordinary church. Jesus had ascended, sent the Holy Spirit, and placed all believers into the body of the church. They were filled with Spirit power, the gospel was preached by Peter, Jesus declared as Lord and Messiah and 3,000 people believed, were baptized, and the church was born.

What was that first church like? Verse 42, “They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” Dear friends, those are the means of grace. Those are the ordinary things that every church should be engaged in. This is the life of the church. There’s nothing in there about entertainment. Nothing in there is spectacular.

So the first thing to say about this church is that the people were saved. The ordinary church is made up of true believers. Those of you who may be non-believers who are here, we are so grateful that you are here, but you’re not a part of the church yet. We invite you to become a part of the church. But the initial action in the church is that God takes is to give spiritual life to that individual through faith.

There are many churches today who would like to make unbelievers feel like they’re a part of the church. But an ordinary church is a church like in 1 Thessalonian 1:2-6, “We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers, 3 remembering without ceasing your work of faith, labor of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of our God and Father.

4 knowing, beloved brethren, your election by God. 5 For our gospel did not come to you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance, as you know what kind of men we were among you for your sake. 6 And you became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit.” That’s who we must be to be the true church.

Revelation 2 church at Pergamum says in verse 14, “I have a few things against you, because you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam, who kept teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit acts of immorality. Therefore repent; or else I am coming to you quickly, and I will make war against them with the sword of My mouth.”

That’s a compromising church. This church had blurred the lines between the saved and the lost, the regenerate and the unregenerate. The second thing we say about a church is that it is a church committed to the Word of God. Verse 42 says, “They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching.” The apostles spoke divine revelation which was authenticated by the miracles they did.

And it was their teaching that was the substance of the study of the early church. An ordinary church is a church that is completely involved in the study of biblical truth. It was the apostles and their associates who eventually wrote down their doctrine and it composed the New Testament. Some people are skeptical about the word “doctrine.” It’s just the word “teaching.”

Teaching dominates a church where people are redeemed. An ordinary church is a church that is completely committed to the renewing of their minds through the Word of God. The Great Commission came to the apostles, what did the Lord tell them? To “go and make disciples of all nations, and teach them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.” The Bible is the source of that truth.

Verse 42 says further, they not only were “devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching but also to fellowship.” We have talked a lot about spiritual togetherness. The church is a partnership. The word ‘koinnia’ means “partner or teammate.” They were together. They were not spectators. They were not part time attenders. They lived out their life in a wonderful kind of fellowship.

A church is not an event for people to come and watch, it is a fellowship. It’s a shared life. It’s a practical, practicing fellowship. Hebrews 10 tells us not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together because we stimulate one another to love and good works. It’s where we use our spiritual gifts to build each other up. It’s where we love one another, pray for one another.

A church is marked by sound doctrine and vital life. Occasionally there are churches where the Word of God is upheld, and that’s always a joy. But so many times the Bible is misrepresented. So many times it’s an event and you feel lonely and isolated. And then, the breaking of bread. That certainly encompasses the Lord’s Supper and the memory of the sacrifice on the cross.

But before that was taken, there was generally in the early church a meal, a supper that culminated in a remembrance of the cross. Certainly, the Lord’s Table is critical to the life of the church. We know that only baptism and the Lord’s Table are ordinances left to the church. The early church gathered around to take the bread and the cup and remember His death. It’s a cross-centered church.

And there’s prayer in verse 42. The apostles had promises from their Lord way back in the upper room that whatever they asked in His name, the Lord would do. No matter how much you pray, you feel guilty most of your life for how little you pray. When they met, they all prayed. A church was not an event. A church was not a place where there was a platform for some striking figure.

It was just a place where the people of God who were genuinely converted, devoted themselves continually to the Word of God, and to fellowship, to the Lord’s Table, and to prayer. Verse 43, “Then fear came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles.” There was a sense that something supernatural was present. Many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles.

Even though the apostles have gone, in a church where the activities are the Word of God, fellowship, focus on the cross at the Lord’s Table and where we deal with the sin in our lives, and prayer, there is a sense of the divine presence. Not terror, but reverence. The awe comes from the work of God through the means of grace. People try to create that with lights and music, but that’s not awe.

The word “fear” or “awe” is reserved for times when people’s minds are stunned because of powerful divine reality. It’s not mystical. It’s the evidence of the working of God. In the way in which God saves, sanctifies and works his providence to bring Himself glory. It’s the real fear of the Lord. It’s an awesome thing to be in a place where the Spirit of God is moving in power.

Another attitude shows up in verse 44 – 45, “Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, 45 and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need.” It was as if no one felt he had a right to anything of his own. It means that they held whatever it was they possessed lightly in their hands and if anybody else needed it, they released it.

They began, if necessary, “selling their property and possessions and sharing them with all, as anyone might have need.” This did not happens again in the New Testament in any other church, which speaks against the idea that the church is supposed to be the fountainhead of social justice. Understand that there are thousands of believers in Jerusalem who can’t go home because they have only one church.

They were so all together in the unity and love of the Holy Spirit that they were willing to part with anything that they possessed to meet someone else’s need. And when you give like that and love like that, there is a joy in fellowship. Verse 46, “So continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart.”

The first attitude is the attitude of awe and wonder over what God is doing. The second is the attitude of love. The third is the attitude of unity. And the next is the attitude of joy at the end of verse 46 and simplicity of heart. This again, simplicity kind of is a word like ordinary. Your lives are knit together in one mind and you eat together from one house to another house.

There were still people who owned their own house. This is not communism. But they were “taking their meals together with gladness.” So another attitude in the church is joy, gladness, joyous unity, singleness of heart and caring for each other. And then in verse 47, “praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.”

We are a church that worships. We have an undivided purpose, the glory of God is the supreme reason for everything. We recite the wonderful works of God, which is worship. We recite the glorious attributes of God which is worship. And we praise and thank Him for both, which is worship. We saw the effect, “favor with all the people.” Let our light shine so that men would glorify God.”

But in the end, this church experienced extraordinary blessing. Verse 47 ends with this. “And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.” I don't know how to get this message across. The Lord builds the church, doesn’t He? He adds. He asks us to follow the ordinary means of grace and faithfulness to the Word of God and the Spirit of God.

And Jesus will take care of the extraordinary part. I want you to be an ordinary Christian. Don’t be chasing wild things. It is the slow, steady, consistent, faithful loyalty to Christ and obedience to His Word that honors God. And if spiritual growth is slow and steady, so is real church growth. The church can by the power of God have an extraordinary impact. Let us pray.



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