08 Feb

2/10/19      Acts 2:42-47        “Building a Contagious Faith!”

Several years ago I met with a very interesting man.  He was from Pakistan and had been raised a Muslim.  Somewhere in his twenties, he came to know Jesus Christ as his personal Savior.  But the cost to him for doing this was a lot.  He was beaten and jailed many times.  But the one thing that he held on to was the truth of Jesus Christ.  As a matter of fact, he told us that Christians in this country need to grab onto this truth as we are being bombarded by so many lies.  The United Methodist Church is about to split because of lies started by those who want to change the Bible to reflect the society.  We need to remember that God’s word is not changeable just because it doesn’t seem politically correct or when some say something is right but it’s actually so very much against the Word of God.  Anyway this was something that we talked about last week in our sermon.  In order for us to build the church we have to be telling the truth.  And there is only one truth and that is Jesus Christ. It was almost as if this man from Pakistan came along to tell me that I was doing the right thing and to keep at it.  Jesus works in many ways including through a man from Pakistan.  This came at a time when I really needed a boost and this man gave it to me.  Today I would like to continue to look at church building as we look at a wealth of information in 6 short verses.  Hopefully, we can see where we may need to make some adjustments on our road to church building.

Before we begin today I would like to ask the gentlemen if you have ever gone someplace new without a map.  You can be honest here because we are in church.  I have and there is always someone nearby asking why I don’t stop and ask for directions.  Personally, I think that takes the fun out of finding something new without a map but we do need direction.

Mike Gilbert tells the story of a football team that I think is appropriate because we just had the Super Bowl last Sunday.  And what a game that was if you like a good defensive battle! Anyway, it is time to look at the conference championship teams.  The first team is huddled on the sideline and finally they break and send the coach out to play.  Their reasoning is that he has all the experience and training.  The players will be cheering for him. Of course, the other team just creams the coach.

Often time’s churches are the same way.  They send the pastor out to do all of the work.  And of course he cannot do everything.  The true role of a pastor is to equip the people so they can do the job with the pastor in a support role.  Successful churches are those that can change pastors and keep ministries moving.

The second team huddles up and huddles up and huddles up.  The referee comes over and calls several penalties on them but they remain huddled.  They are such good friends and they are having such a good time, why spoil it by going out and playing the game.  Some churches do so well in committees and meetings and that is all they do. They forget to minister to others.  I have seen this many times.

The third team breaks the huddle and goes out on the field, forms small groups and they begin to argue with each other.  They are squabbling about anything and everything.  The other team beats them soundly.  This is not a good way for churches to be either.  I have also seen this many times.

And finally the fourth team is the New England Patriots and they break the huddle and play together.  They do everything like a well-oiled machine and they have fun doing it.  They win the championship.  They have the right direction.  They have the map.  I should praise the Lord because I have also seen this many times.

Churches can be doing all of these scenarios.  You can see this when you look in Revelation and the seven churches.  Only one did things right.  Anyway today’s Scripture is absolutely packed with directions on how to have a church.  Let’s look at verse 42 and we find that these people devoted themselves to the study of the Lord, to fellowship and worship, to the breaking of the bread and to prayer.  These people were totally devoted to the Lord.

I don’t know how many meetings I have been to, and some of them led by clergy, where they didn’t even pray.  I don’t know how many places I have been and tried to start a Bible study only to find no one is interested or has the time.  I don’t know how many times I have called people to begin a prayer life, only to have it fall on deaf ears.  Brothers and sisters in Christ, these are the building blocks of your faith.  Last week we talked about how we had to believe first before we could build a church.  This week we read on how to build that belief.  Many of you today are involved in these things.  But there may be some who aren’t.  For those of you, who are kind of stuck in your spiritual life, apply these verses to yourself.  Try some of these things out and then note the difference.  You will probably end up by saying, “Why didn’t I do this before?”  And the reason would be that Satan had you occupied.

As we move to verse 43 we see that everyone was in awe and many wonders and miracles were done by the apostles.  Now you may be saying to yourselves, “Pastor John, I’m not going to be able to do any miracles.  I’m not special.”  If we go back and review the story of Jesus, we find that these apostles were far from being special.  They were fishermen, farmers and just plain common folks like we are.  There was even one who was one of those crooked tax collectors.  The only difference between them and everyone else was their faith in Jesus Christ.  That is probably the only difference between you and your neighbors.

So now I ask you, “Do you still think that you cannot do miracles?”  I was up in the hospital a while back and I visited someone who was going to have surgery.  Before I left, we prayed.  She was so thankful and grateful because her last pastor didn’t pray for people as he left them in the hospital.  This was a miracle for her.  This is something I do every time I visit people in the hospital or just about any time.  Do you fill shoe boxes at Christmas for children that have absolutely nothing and create a miracle in their hearts?  Do you go in the name of Jesus to a friend who has lost a loved one and create a miracle?  When there is a stranger in your midst that is unlovable, do you go to him with the love of Christ and make a miracle?  I want to tell you that you, with the help of the Holy Spirit, can help to make miracles every day.  Your job is to try to recognize these situations and give thanks to the Lord.  I pray that every one of you will do this and find yourself pleasing in the eyes of the Lord.

Now we move on to verses 44 & 45.  These verses are telling us that they had a bond with each other.  I don’t think that they mean that they sold everything and lived as a commune.  Rather it means that they took care of each other.  This is a real important concept.

How many of you have gone to large churches?  We have, and this is the problem I find with them.  They are so big that they are missing this bond with each other.  Many people like to get lost in these churches and then they don’t have to do as much and maybe nothing at all!  But that is not our purpose.  Effective large churches have congregations within congregations.  What I mean is that they have one huge mass of people and these are divided into smaller groups where there is a lot of interaction and care.  These groups are probably the size of a congregation like yours.  It is pretty hard to do ministry if we don’t allow yourselves to become a caring part of the congregation.

Then we read in verse 46 where they not only loved each other but they moved beyond their walls and loved everyone around them.  Notice how they loved each other first, and then they loved the others.  Just as a little sidebar here, psychologists have telling us for years that in order to love someone else you have to love yourself first.  Well, here it is in the Bible. And to love yourself first, then you have to first love our Lord, Jesus Christ.

Anyway, we saw this in the opening story where we cannot be effective if we are fighting amongst ourselves.  I haven’t really noticed this too much in the churches where we visit on Sundays like this but it can happen.  This might be happening to you right now.  If it is, then solve it.  Now in order to get the job done you have to move beyond these walls. You need to be continually inviting people to church or this broadcast.  You are to be continually reaching out to your neighbors whether through coffee breaks, meals or just plain visits.  You are to be continually modeling the behavior of Jesus Christ in your everyday lives.  This early church is starting to look like a better and better church all the time.  It is no wonder that so many people joined that early church.

As we continue to move on in verse 46 we see that they did this in gladness.  It was a joy.  They were happy in what they were doing.  The famous Supreme Court justice, Oliver Wendell Holmes, once said, “I might have entered the ministry if certain clergymen I knew had not looked and acted so much like undertakers.”  I look out upon you today and I see that is not the case here.  But we have all seen it in other places and many of us have done it occasionally ourselves, and that includes me.  I am far from perfect.  But let’s make sure we don’t get stuck in this negative mode.

I would like to say that when I became a Christian about 25-30 years ago, many things happened to me.  One of these things was the total peace I had with myself because of what Jesus had done for me.  I have had my ups and downs over these past few years but there is nothing in this world that can take the smile off my face for very long.  This is because Jesus Christ takes all of my burdens from my shoulders and I am extremely grateful and happy that He does.  Please, let Him do the same for you.  Ask Him into your life today.

Then we read that these early Christians were sincere in their walk and worship.  Can you begin to see how this is all falling into place?  This is God’s wonderful plan on how to make a church work.  When you have Jesus Christ in your heart there is no need to put on any airs of any kind.  When you have Jesus then you have a servant’s heart.  When you have this sincerity, it leads us back to the other things we have been talking about earlier.

The reason is that when you are sincere and happy and all of these other things, then you will be praising God.  And when you are praising God, there is nothing else that matters because your hearts will be overflowing with His love.

I have seen many people come to worship on Sunday mornings with hearts that are heavy.  Our lives are like that.  We will have many trials and some of them may be very hard.  But you still come here and you worship in sincerity because you know, not you hope, but you know that God will take care of you, just like the song of the same title. (sing)  You come to meet with these people so that through them you can feel the gentle hand of our Lord.  I find it hard to believe that people still turn down this way of life.  There is no reason for anyone to be so miserable when the King of kings is right beside you.

And look at the end of this as we see that we will be favored by all the people.  You are known by who you are and what you do.  Your community knows that you will be there in an emergency.  The reason is that because we love Jesus, this is what we do.  We go and meet the people’s needs first, and then we minister to them when they are able to hear us.

And finally, when we put this altogether, we will grow.  I was in a Bible study one time and we spent 2 sessions on these 6 verses.  We did this because they are so important!  This is God’s formula to make His church grow.

Today we have taken a very quick look at how God made the early church and how you are to do the same.  We started by seeing how you are to worship, study the Lord, have fellowship and prayer.  You have seen how you can do miracles every day.  When you do this you are building a bond of love amongst yourselves and the community notices you.  This thing starts to snow ball on you and soon you find that you are praising the Lord with happiness and tremendous thanksgiving.  And as this grows you find yourselves in better worship and prayer and you do even more miracles.  You start to love each other even more and your fellowship is even better and you get happier.  As this church starts to explode with the joy of our Lord, you find yourselves in still better worship and praise.  And it just keeps getting better and better.  This becomes contagious.  Before you know it you have a church that is out of control in its desire to please the Lord.  Things cannot get any better than this!

These six short verses can change your lives and your church.  I know that you do a pretty good job but I challenge you to help to find even better ways of doing church and being a Christian.  Think about these things as you go about your business this week.  This is God’s plan for you and I have never known Him to be wrong.  If you let Him lead you, you will never go wrong.  I praise the Lord for His presence here and everywhere.  And thank you, Jesus, for first loving us.  Let’s pray.