Be The Church: Be A Fully Devoted Church
January 31, 2020
Are we an average Church, a good Church or possibly even a great Church? That’s a hard question for us to answer unless we have some kind of criteria to measure what makes for a good Church. And that’s exactly what we’ve tried to do these past few months by trying to answer the question: What is God looking for in His Church? In digging into Romans 12, here’s what we’ve discovered so far:
God wants us to be a worshiping Church. That is that we might be a people who give our all to God because God gave His all to us. That’s the starting point for being His Church. As we surrender ourselves to God day after day, moment by moment in every conversation and every encounter, God will be worshiped, and people will be blessed.
God wants us to be a transformed Church. Once we give ourselves to God, then God can begin to renew our minds by the transforming power of the Holy Spirit through His Word. And as God renews our minds, He changes us from the inside out so we can begin to think and live like Jesus. God wants us to be a transformed Church.
God wants us to be a humble Church. The first mindset God wants to change in us is how we think about ourselves. Not too highly of ourselves and not too lowly of ourselves. He wants us to have the same mindset as Jesus – a mindset of humility where we treat others as better than ourselves. So that we might serve others with the same humility as Jesus. God wants us to be a humble Church.
God wants us to be a serving Church. With the proper mindset we can now serve others by allowing the grace God gives us to flow through us to build up another.
God wants us to be an authentic Church. God hates hypocrisy just as much as anyone. So, God wants us to hate what is evil and cling to what is good, so that our love for one another would be real, not fake. God wants us to be an authentic Church.
God wants us to be a passionate Church. He doesn’t want us to go through the motions, but to develop a passion for Jesus that will fuel our enthusiasm for Him and our love for others. God wants us to be a passionate Church.
God wants us to be a steadfast Church. God wants us to go the distance. So, He calls us to be joyful in hope, patient in suffering and faithful in prayer.
God wants us to be a compassionate Church. To be a people who open our hearts and hands to help God’s people. And to initiate hospitality to strangers so all might know the love of Jesus. God wants us to be a compassionate Church.
God wants us to be a gracious Church. God wants us to be dispensers of grace in a graceless world so that we might bless them with a love they don’t deserve.
God wants us to be an overcomer Church. God wants us to win the daily battle against evil by overcoming evil with good. Now, if you missed any of those messages or would like to go back and learn what God is looking for in a Church, you can go to our website: www.rockspringsrr.org and listen to the messages you missed. For I’m convinced that we want to be the kind of Church God is looking for: a church that’s not just making a difference in your life but a Church that’s turning our world upside down for Christ.
So today we’re going to unpack one last quality God is looking for in His Church, and that quality is found in Acts 2:42-47, where Luke describes how the early Church turned the world on its head. What is that quality? It’s being a fully devoted Church.
In this passage, God gives us Five Marks of a Fully Devoted Church. Five habits that can help us turn the world upside down for Jesus. But before we look at the first habit, I want to unpack what this word “devoted” means. It means to “steadfastly continue in” “to be busily engaged in,” or “to busy oneself with.” What you are devoted to is what you constantly think about, regularly give your life to, or continually make plans for. When you retired, this is what brought you to Robson – you came to devote your life to making new friends, doing activities you couldn’t do while you were still working: stuff like traveling, playing pickle ball or golf, or exploring new talents like wood-crafting, or pottery, hiking, quilting. I’ve got to say that sometimes it’s tough living in an active-living community because one can get so busily engaged in doing so much great stuff, that we can be tempted to give God the leftovers. But I don’t think we want that. Rather we want to be a kind of Church that truly makes an eternal difference. So, what’s that going to take? Well, let’s look at the first of those five marks:
A Fully Devoted Church Learns Together They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. The first mark of a fully devoted Church is being committed to learning together. It’s having an intense desire to learn everything we can learn about Jesus. This was the passion of the early Church. They had a hunger to know Jesus. They wanted to learn how He lived, what He taught, and what He did. So, the apostle’s taught them continually about Jesus.
You see at the heart of every Christ follower is this driving passion to know Jesus, to learn His teachings, and embrace His gospel. These first believers didn’t just add Jesus to their already busy lives, Jesus became the center of their lives. They went to the Temple courts to hear messages about Jesus. They met together in their homes to memorize the stories of Jesus. Everything in the early church was founded on their passion for Jesus… They couldn’t get enough of Jesus!
Can that be said of us? Can that be said of you? This is why we have Journey Groups. Journey Groups are designed to help you learn to know Jesus; to help you develop a habit of following Jesus, learning His commands, His ways, understanding the gospel of the kingdom that He wants us to live with Him. And we are to do this together! A fully devoted Church learns about Jesus together.
You see if we’re going to be a worshiping, transformed and compassionate Church; an authentic, humble and serving Church; if we’re going to be the kind of community that turns the world upside down it starts here! Becoming a great Church starts when we continually give ourselves to learning about Jesus. That’s what fueled the first church. That’s the first mark of a fully devoted church.
Now, the second mark: A Fully Devoted Church Shares Together They devoted themselves to the apostle’s teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer… All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Acts 2:42, 44-45
Out of their devotion to Jesus sprung this unbridled devotion to one another. They were devoted to the fellowship. They were devoted to what they had in common with one another. They shared the same faith in Jesus. Every one of them knew Jesus as their Savior. Every one of them had experienced the same forgiveness of sin. Every one of them experienced the new life in Christ. They shared the same repentance. Every one of them had turned to Jesus as their Lord. They had turned from living for self, to living for God. So now they shared the same freedom that’s found in the grace Jesus gives. They also shared the same Spirit. They shared a common bond in the Holy Spirit and that led them ALL to call on the same Father. They understood now they were ALL part of the same family – God’s forever family; and that radically changed how they ALL saw each other. And so, when they Saw one of their new brothers or sisters in need, they did whatever it took to meet that need.
This is the kind of sharing that breaks down barriers and fills God’s people with tangible expressions of God’s love. These last few weeks since Courtney had Hudson and little Hudson had to stay in the NICU have been so good for our family. Primarily because we have been the recipient of your sharing. You’ve shared your prayers, your encouragement, and even your meals. We have known we are not alone in this. And Courtney and Austin are both blown away by your support and love. We’ve been blessed because you have shared this journey with us. That’s what a fully devoted Church does.
And this is why we are moving to reestablish Neighborhood Groups. For in order to truly share with one another, to experience the fellowship of the Spirit, the encouragement of God’s love, we need to be together. And the more we’re together, the more we learn the needs of one another, and the more we can meet those needs together. This is God’s design. And when we live out God’s design as God’s people then even those who don’t know God will be drawn to what we have in Jesus. God wants us to be fully devoted to one another in His family. He doesn’t want anyone going it alone. A fully devoted Church shares together. That’s the second mark of a Church that turns the world upside down.
Now the third: A Fully Devoted Church Worships Together They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 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, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. Acts 2:42-43; 46-47
We see all kinds of great stuff here. They were devoted to the breaking of bread. This is the term for the Lord’s Table. They centered their worship around what Jesus had done for them. They were committed to remembering the work of Jesus on the cross. From the very beginning, they kept the cross central to their worship.
With that, they were committed to prayer. Literally, they were devoted to “the prayers.” They were students of the Old Testament prayers. But they were also taught the prayer that Jesus taught the disciples: The Lord’s Prayer. By praying the Lord’s prayer, they kept their focus on glorifying God. They kept their focus on seeing God’s Kingdom become reality around them. They understood early on that this earthly kingdom was not their true home. But that God’s invisible kingdom – the reign and rule of Christ in the hearts of every man, woman and child was paramount. They were a praying church. They knew that if God had the power to raise Jesus from the grave, then God had to power to give new life in Christ. They were faithful in prayer.
And then we see this: Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. Awe filled their hearts because they experienced God at work amongst them through the miracles performed by the apostles. We don’t know all the signs and wonders they performed. They aren’t listed here. But the point here is not the specific miracles – the point was that God was working among them. And because God was at work and changing lives daily – this created a sense of awe among them. For there is nothing greater than to see God take a hard and angry man and transform him to a gentle servant. There’s nothing greater than to see God take a sin-scarred woman and transform her into a miracle of radiant joy.
And I can’t help but think that’s what was happening here. For as they worshiped together, not only were they filled with awe, but they ate together with glad and sincere hearts – and continually gave praise to God! This church loved being together and worshiping God, and because of that they enjoyed the favor of all the people. Something good was happening and unbelievers wanted in on it. They saw a genuine devotion to God and wanted in on that. Wouldn’t you like to see that happen here? People are looking for genuine faith. They want to experience awe. They want to believe there is something greater than themselves. And we have the potential to show them – by hearts fully engaged in praise of our God. That’s what a fully devoted Church does. We continually give praise to God for His work among us. That’s what we’re going to celebrate next week. And I can’t wait.
Now as we’ve already noted in our worship: A Fully Devoted Church Prays Together One thing that we often overlook is how the early church was birthed out of a continual prayer meeting in the upper room. The first followers of Jesus met together for 40 days until the coming of the Holy Spirit to birth the Church. And what happened is that God bonded them into one common body through their praying together. This bond was the mark of the early church and should mark the church today.
God wants us to be a praying Church. For a praying church will not just be a bonded church, but a powerful church. This is one area where God has been moving in my heart through this whole series. For in prayer we invite the One who created the Church, to empower the Church to Be the Church. So, one of our focuses over the next few months is to amp up our prayer life together:
- Establishing a monthly prayer gathering where anyone can come and pray
- Making prayer an essential component of our Neighborhood Group Gatherings
- Contacting everyone who’s been part of Rock Springs so we might learn how to pray for you more specifically.
God wants us to be a praying Church so we can invite Him to work in our midst. So, we’re going to fan the fires of prayer in our Church! We’re going to pray the Lord’s Prayer. We’re going to seek His Kingdom. We’re going to ask Him to change lives. We’re going to ask Him to work in our midst, so we might be the kind of Church He’s looking for: A fully devoted Church is a praying Church.
And finally: A Fully Devoted Church Unleashes Compassion Together All that we’ve looked at: learning Jesus, sharing life together, worshiping God, and seeking Him in prayer – unleashed a compassion in them that literally began to turn the world around them upside down. And what we see here is they turned their world upside down…
Through Their Good Deeds They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Acts 2:45 The reality of God giving His all to them, unleashed them to give of their resources to help anyone in need. And when they did there was an incredible response to their outpouring of generosity and love…
That Resulted in Good Will 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, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. Acts 2:46-47
All the people in Jerusalem had good will toward those first Christians. They thought well of them, they held them in high regard. If there were ever a time when Christians are not held in high regard it’s today. But doing good deeds to those in need is what created their good will. And their good will fostered by their good deeds…
Created a Climate for Good News And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. Acts 2:47 Jesus Christ builds His Church, but he does so by creating an openness for the gospel through the good deeds of His people. This is what makes for a great Church. When God unleashes the compassion of His people together through good deeds, then people become open to the gospel and are saved.
And all I can say is, this is what we’ve got to be all about. This is what we need to learn. This is what we need to pray over and be committed to living out. For when I look at what God can do through a people who are fully devoted to Him, it gives me goosebumps to think that we won’t just enjoy good will of our neighbors, but that God can’t wait to add to our number daily those who are being saved.
And the good news is this: This is our potential. And I’ll tell you why this is our potential: The same Jesus who added to their number daily those who were being saved, is the same Jesus who saved you. And the same Jesus who saved you is still building His Church today. And the same Jesus who is still building His Church builds it the same way He did then – through the power of the Holy Spirit working through His people who are fully devoted to Him.
So this is my prayer: That the Holy Spirit who empowered those first Christians would fill us with the same love for Jesus, the same bond for one another, the same passion for praise, and the same dependence in prayer – so that He would unleash His compassion through us, so that we might truly be a Church that turns the world upside down for Jesus, so that Jesus would add to our number daily those who are being saved! May God empower us by His Spirit to be a fully devoted Church Together.
May that be our prayer. Let’s pray.
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