"What Does the Church Look Like?" Sermon: Acts 2:42-47

“What Does the Church Look Like?”
[Acts 2:42-47]
July 5, 2009 Second Reformed Church

What does the Church look like?

“Well, a church has a Sunday School for the kids, a day care program, and after school program, AA meetings, flea markets, and all kinds of groups for the adults to join – book discussion groups, cooking classes, financial management classes, choir – that kind of stuff.”

When I tell people I am an ordained minister, they usually ask me two questions: how big is your congregation? And, what programs do you offer? Do those questions really get to the point and purpose of the Church? Is that what makes a church a church? Is that what a church looks like? Or do we moderns have the wrong idea about the Church?

After Luke records the events of the first Pentecost – the proclamation of the Gospel of repentance and forgiveness, the cutting to the heart of many in the crowd by the Holy Spirit and His Gift of salvation, the indwelling of God the Holy Spirit in all those who believe in Jesus Alone for salvation, and the record of about 3,000 people believing in the Gospel that day – Luke gives us a picture of the early church and he defines what a church is.

Luke begins by telling us that there were and are four things that define a church – four things that must be present to make a church a church: preaching and teaching, fellowship, the sacraments, and prayer.

First, Luke says that a church will devote itself to the apostles teaching – that the church, first and foremost, will devote itself to teaching and preaching the Word of God, in its entirety, as it has been recorded by the apostles and prophets. The first question that should concern a person looking for a church is whether or not that church teaches and preaches God’s Word – all of it – and God’s Word Alone.

I have been shocked and pleased when I have preached at other churches and the comment has gotten back to me that I actually preach what the text says. The minister has no authority or right to preach or teach anything other than what God has said. What the minister thinks is of no importance when it comes to the preaching and teaching of the Word of God. We are to preach and teach, “Thus says the Lord” – nothing more, nothing less. If something is being left out, if the minister never preaches from the Old Testament, or Paul’s letters, etc., there is something wrong. If the minister doesn’t do much with the text, but tells great stories about moral living, there is something wrong.

The Word of God Alone must be preached and taught for a church to be a church. And for you to know if that is what is happening, you must be here. As the author of Hebrews wrote, “[do] not neglect[] to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near” (Hebrews 10:25, ESV).

There are valid reasons why we may miss a worship service – back in February, I had the Flu and couldn’t be here with you one Sunday. But under normal circumstances, we, Christians, are to be in worship with our brothers and sisters – for all of our good – to encourage one another in the faith, to receive Christ’s Grace through the preaching and the sacraments, to be strengthened and encouraged to live for Christ in a world that hates Him. Worship ought to refresh and restore us and make us ready for the work we have been called to do the rest of the week.

Understand, that does not mean that every time you come to worship you will be happier and healthier than when you walked in. I am an introvert, and I find leading worship and preaching and teaching physically exhausting. But I wouldn’t miss worship unless it was absolutely necessary, because God is worthy of my worship and I am spiritually better off after worship. That’s one of the reasons I worship at a friend’s church on Sunday evening whenever I am able. I enjoy seeing him, but I know it is right and good for me as well.

That leads us to the second mark of the Church: fellowship. And when Luke talks about the fellowship involved in the Church, he is not merely talking about eating cake together after worship. In fact, as we go on through the book of Acts, we will see that the fellowship that Luke is talking about is primarily the giving of gifts and tithes – that minimum of ten percent of our gross income that God requires of us – and the distribution of gifts – meeting the needs of those in the Church.

So, one of the marks of a church being the church is that there is an offering collected from the people who willingly, cheerfully, thankfully give for the work of the Church and for meeting the needs of their fellow Christians. When we give and collect the offering, we are being the Church. When we give to the Food Pantry and missions, we are being the Church. When we help out a member of the Church who cannot meet a need, we are being the Church – and that’s not merely financial. We are the Church when we give people rides to the doctor or the grocery store, when we call or send a card to see how someone is, and so forth.

The third mark of the Church, Luke calls “the breaking of the bread” – and by this he means the Lord’s Supper. He doesn’t mention baptism at this time, because he has just told us that all of those who believed were baptized. So, he focuses on the Lord’s Supper here – and we know it is the Lord’s Supper and not just any meal, because he uses the definite article, “the,” and the word, eucharistia, from which we get the word, Eucharist, which is another term for the Lord’s Supper.

Baptism is received once by each believer, but the Lord’s Supper is to be received often. How often? Our Book of Church Order says that we must receive it four times a year. In this church, we presently receive it fifteen times a year. The Bible does not tell us “you must receive the Lord’s Supper this many times.” But I think – and as I just said, you can disregard my opinion if you can present a better argument from the Scripture – I think there is good reason to receive the Lord’s Supper frequently. Why? Because when we receive the Lord’s Supper, Jesus meets with us spiritually and gives us grace – the strength to do all that He calls us to do. And as we receive the sacrament, rightly, with greater frequency, we continue to be strengthened, and we mature in the faith. Also, although it is not explicit in the Scripture, both Luke and Paul, in I Corinthians 11, talk about the Christians receiving the Lord’s Supper when they gathered for worship.

In order for a church to be a church, baptism must be received and the Lord’s Supper must be received with some frequency, though we cannot mandate what the frequency ought to be. However, consider what John Calvin wrote, “One of our great faults is that we do not celebrate the Lord’s Supper with the zeal of the primitive church. They did not limit their practice to four times a year, but they served it every Sunday, and sometimes even every day. The faithful wanted so much to follow the evangelical teaching that when they were assembled, they served the Supper at least every Sunday. But since then, the world has become so corrupt
and depraved that they came to disregard that institution” – John Calvin, Sermons on the Acts of the Apostles, Chapters 1-7, 69-70.

The fourth mark of the Church is prayer, and specifically, praying the prayers. Again, Luke uses the definite article, so he is referring to praying, but also to certain specific prayers – probably unison prayers that the whole church would pray together, like we pray the Lord’s Prayer each Sunday.

If a church is to be a church, we must gather together to pray for each other, for the world, for the mission of the Church. And remember, we do not pray because God doesn’t know what we need – God knows everything. He knows what we need. The reason God calls us to pray is that we would increase our faith and trust in Him and become aligned with God in the things that He desires. Prayer is about our confessing that we have faith and trust that God will provide for our needs – and we name specific ones, specifically grounding our faith and trust. And as we continue to pray and learn to pray, we learn more about Who God is and what He desires, and to those prayers, He answers with a resounding “yes.” Jesus said, “Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in my name, I will do it” (John 14:13-14, ESV).

Now, if we ask, in the Name of Jesus, that God would not exist, will Jesus answer that prayer with a “yes”? If we ask, in the Name of Jesus, that God give us a million dollars, will Jesus necessarily answer that prayer with a “yes”? We need to understand that prayer is about our coming in line with the Mind of God: if we pray for anything in Jesus’ Name that Jesus wants – that He has planned – that He desires – that, He will do. I hope that’s clear – the Name of Jesus is not a magic slot machine – we are being told that if we pray for what Jesus intends, He will do it.

If a church is to be a church, it must engage in prayer.

If a church is to be a church, the Word of God Alone must be preached and taught – and all of it. There must be fellowship is the sense of giving for the work of the Church and the needy in the Church. The sacraments must be observed rightly and regularly. And there must be a joining together in prayer. That is what a church of Jesus Christ looks like. Many other good and enjoyable things can occur in the church and her buildings, but these four must occur for a church to be a church. These are the marks that a person ought to be looking for when looking for a church to worship and fellowship in.

Beginning in verse 43, Luke gives more details about the life of the apostolic Church:

While preaching and teaching the Word of God Alone, and fellowshipping, and administering the sacraments, and joining together in prayer, the apostles did many wonders and signs that left the people – all the people – Christians and non-Christians in awe. For the Christians, these things affirmed their faith; for the non-Christians, it caused them to wonder if this Jesus might really be the Promised Savior.

Well, what sort of things did they do? Listen to what Mark records, “Afterward [Jesus] appeared to the eleven themselves as they were reclining at table, and he rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they had not believed those who saw him after he had risen. And he said to them, ‘Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover’” (Mark 16:14-18, ESV).

Without going into an apologetic on whether such gifts are for today or not, let us understand that God empowered the Church to do the works He called them to do in order that people would turn and believe in Him. The point of the gifts of the Holy Spirit is not for us to show how great we are, but to use them to point others to Christ and His Salvation and show how great He is.

Then Luke says “And all who believed were together and held all things in common.” Understand, we need to understand Scripture in the light of the rest of Scripture. With the three thousand new converts, there were probably between four and five thousand believers in Jerusalem. Surely, Luke is not telling us that they all lived in one house. He is also not telling us that the first Christians were socialists – they didn’t set up a commune, as some have tried to prove from this text, because we see that Christians still owned individual properties and such. No, in the context of the rest of Scripture, we must understand Luke to be saying that all who believed were united in their belief and in the inheritance they receive through Jesus Christ, and, that everyone was willing to do and give what they were able to help the needy brothers and sisters in the Church. There was, as we see later, a treasury of gifts from which the needs of the poor were met.

Again, Luke writes, “And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.” It was likely that most of the people that sold things and gave money to the treasury were the wealthy in the Church. Luke is not saying that everyone sold their property and gave all of the money to the Church, nor that they had to. We will see, Lord willing, in chapter five of Acts, that Peter told Ananais and Sapphira that Christians have the right to own property, to sell property, and to give some or all of the proceeds to the Church.

Luke then tells what they Christians did each day:

They worshiped in the temple daily. God requires one day in worship out of seven, but those first Christians worshiped together every day. Do these facts suggest anything to us about our worshiping one hour out of seven days? What might we do?

They shared meals in their homes – and even celebrated the Lord’s Supper together in their homes – remember, there were no churches yet. This is the motivation behind our coffee hour and our pot-luck lunches. We ought also get together with each other for meals now and then that we might fellowship together and gives thanks for God’s Provision of food for us.

They received their food thankfully. They fellowshipped together thankfully. They gave thanks to God when they gathered to eat together. Why? Because every Christian was best buddies with every other Christian? Because every Christian was the best cook in Israel? No, because we, Christians, are joined together in Jesus Christ and being thankful to Him for Who He is and what He has done, for the food He has provided and for the Salvation that He has granted to every Christian. We must find a way – in Jesus – to get over our differences – literally, for Jesus’ Sake. It doesn’t matter if you or I are exactly the type of person we would want to spend every day with, for the sake of the Gospel, all Christians must work together and give thanks for our enormous blessings.

They praised God. We come together to worship – to praise God. We gather to know Him, to love Him, to serve Him, to be met by Him, to join together as His people. To live for Him and love each other and our neighbors – because of the miraculous thing He has done for us through Jesus.

And because the people in the Church believed these things and acted in the way that Luke described, they had favor with all types of people – not just with other Christians, but with the Jews and the Romans and the Samaritans and the pagans of all types. For a time, the world looked at the Church – the world was confused by what she said she believed about Jesus – that He is the God-Man, the Only Savior – but they saw the way the Christians lived and worshiped and dealt with others, and the world said, “These are good people.” Maybe they didn’t all come to believe in Jesus, but they saw something in Christians and the way they lived out their faith and they respected that.

Understand, the Church quickly came under persecution. We are promised that if we are faithful, we will be persecuted. Jesus promised that those who follow Him will suffer. However, as we saw in Peter’s letters, if we suffer for Jesus’ Sake, for the Sake of His Gospel, for letting others know that He is the Only Salvation, that’s alright. But if we suffer for our sin, that’s our problem. And our lives ought to be blameless before the world, as the first Christians were – not that they weren’t sinners, they were – but the overall impression that the world got was of something good and loving, which ought to have directed them to Jesus as the Cause.

I’m a sinner; I’ve got some rough edges. But I’m trying, through the Holy Spirit to live like Jesus wants me to live and to love as Jesus wants me to love. And I will continue to stand up and tell others that there is Only Salvation in Jesus Alone. I don’t want people to be turned off to that message because of me, so I desire to do everything I can to look good to the world, so they will look past me to Jesus. That’s how we are all to be – as the Church. Some of you have rough edges, too. But we love each other for Jesus’ Sake and for the Sake of the Gospel.

Luke ends this morning’s text with something that many Christians don’t believe any more: “And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.” Our denomination talks about Church Growth and plans and methods and stuff, but the Bible says the only Church growth method is Jesus. We can fill our churches with people, but only God can fill them with Christians. We can and should tell others about Jesus and invite them to worship, but only God can make them believe and cause them to stay with us.

What ought we to do? We ought to learn to recognize a church of Jesus Christ. A church of Jesus Christ is one where the whole Word of God Alone is preached and taught. It is a place where Christians support each other and the work of Christ in every way possible. It is place where the sacraments are received. It is a place where prayers are lifted up to our Almighty God.

Is this a church? Are we a church? Are we believers in the Lord Jesus Christ? If you say, “no,” you should look for a real church somewhere else. If you answer, “yes,” then let us make sure our focus, in all things, is on Jesus and His Salvation.

Let us pray:
Almighty God, we thank You for making us the Church, for giving us blessings upon blessings that we can share with each other for Your Sake. We thank You for meeting us in the Lord’s Supper, and we ask as we soon receive the elements, that You would minister to us and renew us through Your Grace, enabling us to do all You have called us to do. And let us be in prayer, after the petitions of the prayer You taught Your disciples. And may You receive all the praise. For it is in Jesus’ Name we pray, Amen.