With that, we're going to turn now to Acts 2:42. Acts 2:42, we're continuing our series called Devoted, becoming a fully engaged follower of Jesus Christ. So here we are, the onset of the church.
Let's begin by reading our passage. Hear God's holy and authoritative word. And they, the believers, devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. Skip down to verse 46. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And God the Lord added to their number day by day, those who were being saved.
Let's bow our heads. Lord, there is no day that passes where you are not extravagant in your grace to us. You overwhelm us with your mercy, and Lord, to our shame, we are often unaware of it. We are gathered here right now to, to hear your word preached because we want to be aware of your mercy. We want to be amazed by your grace. We want to react to the reality of Jesus Christ and the gospel and the coming and inauguration of the kingdom in the way the early church did. We want to be captured by your glory in Christ. We want to be in awe. Lord, we want to be devoted. And so we ask now that through the power of Your Spirit, You would do that. In Your name, Jesus, amen.
Well, there's something called Sunday Assembly, and there's actually an article in a national publication about this Sunday Assembly that's gaining traction in California. And it's a group of people that are coming together from all walks of life, gathering together to meet and to sing songs passionately and to hear teaching. And when they describe it, as you read the article, the Sunday Assembly, you get the clear sense the reason why these people are coming together is they want community. They realize there's a lack of community in their lives. A really remarkable thing happening. And it started actually in the United Kingdom, and now there are chapters growing in California and sort of spreading across the United States. Sunday Assembly is picking up steam. People coming together, setting apart time out of their busy weeks to gather and to sing, to joyfully raise their voices. To be taught and to build relationally. These people coming have realized there's a gap in their lives relationally they need filled.
As remarkable as Sunday Assembly is, it's also tragic. Sunday Assembly is a church for the godless. The entire point of Sunday Assembly is to have church completely divorced from any notion of God. So they sing songs, pop songs, popular songs, exciting upbeat songs. It starts out like a rock concert. They hear teaching, self-help gurus, people telling them how to have a happier, fuller life, and they gather together because they want relationship. And when you read the article, sadly, the thing they love the most about it is, 'We get to have community. We get to be around people and we don't have to hear anything about God.' It's a sad state of affairs.
Equally as sad is that what they do when they gather, this community they're seeking, is really in some ways all that a lot of people think about when they think about fellowship. When they throw out the word fellowship, all they mean is that it's Christians just getting together to sort of be in proximity, to be around each other. This idea that community is just sort of being around people and having friendship. What we see in Sunday Assembly is that there is something missing from our definition of of fellowship and of community if people can completely divorce God from the picture and still be carrying out and walking out what we would think of fellowship.
6 · States the sermon's controlling thesis: vertical fellowship with God in Christ is the necessary foundation that calls believers into horizontal biblical fellowship with one another
What we see in Acts 2 is that our individual fellowship with God in Christ calls us into fellowship, biblical fellowship with one another. Our individual fellowship with God in Christ Jesus calls believers into a deeper fellowship, a broader fellowship, a biblical fellowship with each other.
7 · Unpacks the Greek word koinonia, establishing that biblical fellowship is not mere association but sharing a common life together in Christ — a definition that will govern the sermon's understanding of Acts 2:42
Now fellowship comes from the Greek word koinonia. Now if you don't know Greek, that might be one Greek word you know, right? Koinonia. That's a cool word. I like to drop it because it sounds like I know Greek. People know that word. What does koinonia mean? It's translated fellowship here in Acts 2. It says they were devoted to the fellowship, to the koinonia. Well, it can mean partnership or participation. Literally, and some translations do this, koinonia means sharing a common life together. Koinonia means sharing a common life together. Now that paints a compelling picture of what fellowship is. What does it mean to fellowship? It means in Christ, we share a common life.
8 · Establishes the first major movement of the sermon: sharing a common life is fundamentally sharing a common life in Christ
Now, what do we see from that in Acts 2? What does it look like to read Acts 2:42? And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship. How do we fill in what the fellowship, the sharing of a common life, looks like? That's what we're going to do this morning. The first thing we need to recognize is that sharing in a common life is fundamentally sharing a common life in Christ. There's a background, there's something that goes prior to this idea of community. It's the inherent thing that's completely missing from the Sunday assembly. You can't have fellowship in the biblical sense with each other horizontally before you have fellowship in the biblical sense with God vertically. Our relationship with God is the source of our relationship with each other. But this way, because we are in Christ, we are able to share together the uniqueness and power of believers living in community. This idea you see in Acts 2— everybody reads Acts 2 and you think, wow, wouldn't that be cool? Well, the uniqueness and power of that is only possible because of the uniqueness and power that these brand new baby Christians have in union with the risen Christ.
9 · Expounds 1 Corinthians 1:9 to demonstrate that believers are called first into fellowship with Christ — sharing in His very life, benefits, blessings, and inheritance
Paul writes this in 1 Corinthians 1:9: God is faithful by whom you were called. What were you called to? You were called into the fellowship of His Son. You were called into the sharing of a common life, not with each other, but with Jesus. Think of that definition of koinonia. What a stunning idea. What clarity it gives us to 1 Corinthians 9. To be in fellowship with God is to share in the very life of Christ. That means all the benefits that Christ knows All the blessings, all His inheritance, Scripture says, is ours. In fellowship, our sharing of a common life with Christ, we find both union with Him and communion.
10 · Defines union with Christ as objective relational participation — believers are literally made a part of Christ spiritually
Union is this objective relational participation. This is a stunning thing. We now become literally a part of Christ. Spiritually, we're made a part of Him. You know how Paul, if you read his letters, what's one of his favorite phrases? 'In Christ.' He uses it all the time. And we can kind of just throw it around without really thinking. What is Paul talking about? When Paul talks about the fact that you are in Christ in this way and in Christ in that way, every time he's bringing that phrase to bear, what Paul is talking about is the fact that you are in Christ. You are united to Christ. You have union with the risen Lord. You, believer, who once were far off, are now not just brought near, You are made a part of Jesus. By faith, believers are joined to Jesus. That's a sweet phrase. We find participation with Him in His life. We find approval before the Father in the same way that Jesus is approved. We're a part of His body.
11 · Places the Acts 2 fellowship in its redemptive-historical context: Peter's sermon indicts the crowd as those who crucified Jesus, the Spirit cuts their hearts, and baptism symbolizes their new identity, loyalty, and union with the risen Christ they once rejected
Now think of that in the context of Acts 2. Acts 2:22, Peter in his sermon says this: 'Men of Israel...' If we're applying it to ourselves, we should include ourselves. 'Men of Israel...' Men of Johnson County. Men, women, brothers, sisters, children. '...hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth...' delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, this Jesus you crucified. You killed Him by the hands of lawless men. You're thinking, I wasn't there. I wasn't standing out in Pilate's courtyard yelling that out. I wasn't even a twinkle in my daddy's eye. We were there. Our hand that held the nail, one hymn says. When the crowd hears this, there's this amazing description in Acts 2. When they hear this accusation, you can kind of— this is a risky deal, right? Thousands of people around Peter and he stands up from them. These are the crowds. He's saying, you just called for the death of my Master. And I'm going to stand up in front of all of you and say, All of you, you crucified Him. And the Spirit drops on their hearts and it says they're cut. They sense the enormity of it. Remember last week we said they turn and they're baptized. If you weren't here last week, we talked about Baptism, it's a crazy thing that a Jew would be baptized. Gentiles are supposed to be baptized. You get cleansed of your former unclean pagan life. You get baptized, washed. It symbolizes a new start. They hear this word, we crucified Jesus, He's the risen Lord, He's the Messiah, He's now enthroned above. They're cut to the heart and they baptize. So there's a new identity. There's a new loyalty. It's also symbolic of a new union.
12 · Connects union with Christ to Acts 2 fellowship: the people devoted to gathering daily are first and foremost members of Jesus, not merely members of a church
What Acts 2 is describing is the fact that these early believers are now a part of the body of Christ. First and foremost, that doesn't mean we're members of the church. It means we're members of Jesus. Essentially a part of Him. Now, consider the reality of that in light of Peter's indictment. These people who are gathering every day. Devoted to the word, devoted to prayer, devoted to breaking bread, devoted to generosity. These people are now devoted to fellowship. The people who crucified Jesus now enjoy fellowship because they've been joined with Him. That's what the gospel does.
13 · Applies union with Christ eschatologically: at the final judgment, the believer's hope of assurance is not being counted among those who crucified the Lord but being counted as those who are part of Him — partakers in union with Christ
When the final judgment takes place, when Christ returns, what's our hope going to be? When that awesome day occurs and Christ descends and everyone has to stand before the judgment, That passage we just read from 1 Corinthians 1:9, it's in response to verse 8 where he says, 'What's your hope of assurance? This is your hope of assurance: that you aren't counted among those who crucified the Lord, but that you'll be counted as those who are a part of Him.' Partakers. Of Him, in union with Him, sharing, participating, fellowshipping with Him. That objective reality is our union.
14 · Distinguishes communion from union: union is objective (we are united to Christ), but communion is subjective (we experience and enjoy that union)
Now, the subjective reality is our communion. Objectively, we are united to Christ. The extent to which we actually enjoy and flourish in the reality of that That depends on our communion. Our fellowship with Christ includes both objectively united to Christ, and you can go about your day a sourpuss from the time you wake up to the time you go to bed, united to the King of Kings. Why? Because you're not communing with Him. You're not living in light of the goodness of your union. Communion with Christ is this aspect of our fellowship with God. It's the part that warms our soul, that stirs our faith and our belief. It's about that great evangelical phrase: knowing Jesus in a personal way.
15 · Illustrates the union/communion distinction through marriage: a man may objectively know the woman is his wife (union) but fail to love, embrace, long for, and stir affection for her (communion)
It's the difference between a man knowing a woman is his wife— yeah, I objectively know that's the woman I'm married to— and a man loving her. A man embracing her when he sees her. A man longing to be near her and to spend time with her. A man doing what he can to stir his affections for the wife of his youth. The difference between union and communion.
16 · Defines communion as experienced fellowship — delighting in God
Communion is the aspect of our fellowship that is experienced. To have communion with God is to delight in Him. This is what C.J. Mahaney says, speaking of fellowship. The depth of our personal relationship with God, the depth of our personal relationship with God determines the degree of fellowship possible with each other. Thus, in order to know true fellowship, what's going to separate providence from Sunday assembly, one must maintain a passionate relationship with and experience of God.
17 · Applies the union/communion distinction to Acts 2: the early church is devoted to fellowship because they are aware of their union with Christ at Pentecost and go about their days stirring up communion with Him
You want to know why the early church is devoted to the fellowship, devoted to each other? Because they are aware. I didn't just believe the Gospel last week or last month or last year. At Pentecost, I believed the Gospel and I was united with the Christ. And now I go about my day stirring up affection and communion for Him. So the first aspect of our fellowship is that we share a common life in Christ. We share in Christ.
18 · Signals the second major movement of the sermon: after establishing that fellowship is rooted in sharing a common life in Christ, the focus now shifts to the spiritual dimensions of that shared life
Second thing is we share a common life spiritually. We share a common life spiritually.
19 · Negatively defines fellowship by contrasting it with secular activity: fellowship is not merely Christians doing recreational activities together (Mario Kart, scrapbooking) unless spiritual realities are intentionally brought to bear
To think of fellowship and to talk of fellowship as if it has nothing to do with spiritual things is to have a totally secular vision of what fellowship is. I've said this before. Fellowship is not me and my buddies, sophomore year of college, playing Mario Kart in the living room. We called it fellowship. Yeah, bro time, fellowship, Knuckles. Mario Kart is not fellowship. You can make Mario Kart fellowship if there's strategic things you're doing to make it spiritual and to bring God to bear. But in and of itself, that's not fellowship. Scrapbooking? Is not inherently fellowship. No offense to scrappers.
20 · Expounds the spiritual dynamic at Pentecost: the Spirit forms the church by filling Peter, filling the crowd, and pulling individual hearts together
Acts 2 shows us a body living together spiritually in Christ. They're spiritually tied to each other. From the moment the Spirit starts forming the church, that's what's happening at Pentecost. There's this whole crowd of people. Remember we said last week, it's not like Peter's up there and it's like, whoa, what a sermon. It is what a sermon. Better sermon than any of us have ever heard. You know why it's better? Peter didn't have some amazing homiletics class. He hung around with Jesus for 3 years. That's probably pretty good preaching experience. But the reason it's amazing is because he's filled with the Spirit of Christ. And as he delivers the Word, the crowd is filled with the Spirit of Christ. And what happens is the Spirit goes out and grabs the hearts of these individuals and pulls them together.
21 · Connects devotion to the apostles' teaching (Acts 2:42) to Jesus' Great Commission and His post-resurrection teaching on the vine and branches
It says they're devoted to the apostles' teaching. What's the apostles' teaching? It's Matthew 28. It's the Great Commission. Go therefore and make disciples. Doing what? Teaching them everything I've commanded you. One of the— part of the reason Jesus comes back for 40 days All right, let's give you a refresher before you go out and start actually teaching this stuff. Let's go back through the Scriptures and show how it all connects to Me. Well, one of the things He taught them is this idea of the vine and the branches, right? Jesus is the vine. He's the source of life. We are branches. Left to ourselves, we will perish. Connected to the vine, abiding in Jesus, abide in me, will flourish. To be healthy, we have to abide in Jesus. We need to draw sustenance, not just occasionally, not just every once in a while, not just when things really get bad. But continually. Branches aren't constantly clipping themselves off from the vine and then clipping themselves back on. A good healthy branch lives connected and abiding in the vine. One of the ways they sought, the early church, to abide in Christ, Acts 2 tells us, is the fact that they pursue spiritual fellowship with each other.
22 · Expounds Acts 2:46 to show the organic overlap between devotion to God's word and devotion to spiritual community: they attend the temple together (teaching), scatter to homes together (fellowship), and share meals with glad hearts
Verse 6 captures this. It captures the overlap between devotion to hearing God's word and devotion to being a spiritual community, to sharing a common life together. Verse 46 says, 'And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts.' There's just an overflow. There's an organic connection day by day. They're attending the temple together. There's teaching happening and there's fellowship happening. And when they leave the temple, they go to homes together and they share meals together. They don't just know they're all connected to the same vine. They're all sort of part of the same body. They don't just know that, right? Acts 2 shows us they express it. Yeah, I know, body of Christ. Yeah, Jesus is the head, we're the body. You're a hand, I'm a foot, wish I was a heart. Great teaching, see you again in 7 days. No, Jesus is the head, we're the body. You hand, me foot, ear, together we function. And they express it and they live it out.
23 · Reframes the vine-and-branches metaphor corporately: abiding in Christ is not an isolated individual bear-hugging the vine, but believers linking arms around the vine together — each held to Christ by the grip of others, and holding others to Christ by our own grip
They come together so they can cling to Christ. I tend to think of this image of Jesus as the vine as like, here's the vine and then I think of this one branch—me, right? And I maybe think of like, what does it look like to abide in it? Now there is this sense in which true branches abide by the power of God. That is the foundation of abiding in Christ. The power of God and the Gospel, the assurance, that those whom He claims He will never lose. But there's also a call Jesus gives us: 'Abide in Me.' And I tend to think of that as, here's this big vine and I'm kind of trying to bear hug it. 'Abide!' Hopefully it's not blowing because if it blows too hard I might fly off. The image is, 'Abide! Find the other branches and link arms.' It's a big mondo vine. And link arms and get around it. And grab it together. And as I'm grabbing it firmly, here's this knucklehead, and he's pinned to it because I've got it. And this one over here, pinned to it because I've got it. And I'm pinned because they've got it. Abiding in the vine together.
24 · Establishes the corporate nature of the sacraments from Paul: baptism and communion are not individual acts but corporate participation (koinonia) in the body and blood of Christ
Paul argues for our spiritual fellowship when he talks about the sacraments. Communion and baptism. Those are not individual things. You shouldn't go get baptized with your buddies down by the river just because, well, we were kind of hanging out playing basketball and they're like, hey, you never been baptized? Let's go down to the river and do it real quick. No, you do it corporately with the body. Communion is not just something you do when you got leftover club crackers and a little grape juice in the fridge. Oh, let's have a little communion. No, you do it. It's a body. You want to know why? 1 Corinthians 10:16, 12:13. The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not participation? Koinonia, sharing a common life in the blood of Christ. The bread that we break, is it not a participation? Koinonia, fellowship, sharing a common life in the body of Christ. 1 Corinthians 12:13. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body.
25 · Cites J
I love how J.I. Packer puts it. We should not— I would make it stronger— we must not think of our fellowship with other Christians as a spiritual luxury, an optional addition to the exercises of private devotion. We should recognize rather that such fellowship is a spiritual Necessity. For God has made us in such a way that our fellowship with Himself is fed by our fellowship with fellow Christians and requires to be so fed constantly for its own deepening and enrichment. In layman's terms, if you think you don't need spiritual fellowship, you'd be dumb. You need it. Your communion, your living in the goodness of being united to the risen Christ, your communion, you're having your soul warmed when you think of Jesus. Jesus and the gospel, that depends on the people sitting next to you, sitting behind you, sitting in front of you. The people who might not be here this morning. Why aren't they here? Oh, they were sick. They didn't just sleep in. Because if they slept in, I want to pursue them. My communion depends on them. And if they're drifting, It affects all of us. We need each other for our spiritual health.
26 · Asserts the organic connection between devotion to the Word and devotion to fellowship: you cannot be devoted to one without the other
Fellowship, biblical fellowship, has undeniable spiritual dimensions. We need communion. We need spiritual intimacy with each other like we need air. There's an organic connection between their devotion to the Word of God and their devotion to fellowship. Put it this way: what Luke is saying in Acts 2 is you're not really devoted to the Word of God if you're not devoted to the fellowship. And if you think you can be devoted to the fellowship and not be devoted to the Word of God, you don't get the way that fellowship has spiritual dimensions. That's a powerful thing to think about.
27 · Describes the Acts 2 pattern: scattering from the temple into homes to process, discuss, and marvel at God's word together
When they scatter from the temple, they go gather in homes. Every day, church every day. And they leave it and they think, 'That wasn't enough. Hey, where are you going after church?' 'I'm going to your house.' 'Let's get Sally and Joe and have them join us too.' 'Let's talk about this.' 'Let's celebrate.' Man. They get together and they process. Their devotion to God's word is expressed in this scattering into smaller groups. They get into homes and they process God's word. They discuss it. They marvel at it. It says they are in awe. I'm seldom in awe in the most significant ways when I'm all by myself. Now there are times when I'm in awe at the gospel in personal devotion, and it is sweet. You know what's sweeter? When 150 saints gather together devoted to the word of God throughout the week, coming into church on Sunday, every heart in awe of the risen Christ. And the synergy of the Spirit builds and swells. And it's like we're worshiping and it's like the guy in the back is reading the decibels like, 'I don't want to make the speakers too loud.' It doesn't matter. The decibels are off the chart because the people are singing. 'Boy, I couldn't hear the person leading worship today.' And it's not because they needed to turn him up. It's because the people weren't loud enough. Are in awe.
28 · Expounds 1 Peter 2: believers come to Christ the living stone (rejected by men, chosen by God) and are themselves built up as living stones into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood
I love the picture Peter paints. 1 Peter 2. I love 1 Peter. You could live in 1 Peter. As you come to Him, Jesus, the crucified and risen Christ, as you come to Him, a living stone, rejected by men, but in the sight of God chosen and precious. That sounds like the sermon in Acts, doesn't it? He's the cornerstone. You rejected Him, but He was perfect for God's purposes. This living stone rejected by men in the sight of God chosen and precious. You yourselves like living stones are being built up into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. You are united to the living stone, and in that union, you are spiritually being joined together in fellowship and built up as living stones into a spiritual house for the glory of the cornerstone.
29 · Applies the necessity of spiritual fellowship with urgency: avoiding it is starving ourselves
Devoted to fellowship. Spiritual fellowship is essential to devoted discipleship. It's not optional. It's indispensable. When we downplay it or we duck the opportunities, I don't think it's an exaggeration to say we're starving ourselves. I was kind of thinking of how do you describe that we're starving ourselves when that happens? I think of it this way: you avoid preaching and teaching and time in God's Word, and it's like you're on a hunger strike as a believer. That's what's happening to you. You're becoming emaciated when you're not devoted to the Word. But avoiding spiritual fellowship, that's like being on a digestion strike. That's what Acts 2 is saying. Why is fellowship important? Because it takes a devotion to the Word and it brings it into community and the Spirit is there and we're stirring each other up. We're exhorting each other. We're rebuking each other. Admonishing, encouraging, edifying each other up into a spiritual house. Healthy. Exhibiting what the Word of God intends to complete in our midst.
30 · Establishes that walking in step with the gospel requires connection to the life of the church — there is no gospel fruitfulness disconnected from spiritual fellowship
There's no walking in step with the gospel— Paul loves that term, 'walk in step with the gospel.' There's a way in which you live your life that looks like the gospel is bearing fruit in it. And there's no walking in step with the gospel disconnected from the life of the church. To be devoted to discipleship is to be devoted to spiritual vibrancy. In the body of Christ. Put it this way: to be devoted to spiritual fellowship is to be devoted to spiritual vibrancy in seeing the body of Christ glorify the head. Want to know why Acts 2 ends the way it does? Verse 47, really cool phrase: 'Praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who would be saved.' The Lord adds to their number because they keep going to the temple and people keep seeing Man, this is amazing. And then they go into their homes and the neighbors are thinking, what is with these people? It's like, do they not work? It's 2 PM and they're gathering together again. And I kind of put my ear next to the wall. I kind of peek up. They're singing. They're singing songs again. They're singing songs that Jesus— hey, honey, wasn't that Jesus the guy they killed a couple months ago? Why are the neighbors singing to him? Hey, Bob, Julie, why are you singing to Jesus every day? Oh, come tomorrow, come see. And the Lord adds to their number day by day.
31 · Identifies the cultural opponent to biblical fellowship: Western individualism, which says 'I can survive on my own
Our culture rejects this notion. We breathe the air of individualism. It is pervasive. It's what it means to be a Western person. And there are good elements to that, but when it goes unrestrained, it is running opposite to the vision of the church Luke gives us. Individualism says, 'I can survive on my own. I don't need others.' Peter in Acts 2 and the New Testament say, 'No, left to yourself, you won't flourish, you'll flounder. You won't abide in Christ, you will drift from Christ.'
32 · Expounds 2 Corinthians 13:14: believers need the fellowship (koinonia) of the Holy Spirit
2 Corinthians 13:14, listen to this: 'The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship,' the koinonia, the participation, the sharing of a common life, 'of the Holy Spirit be with you all.' You need fellowship of the Spirit. Remember last week we talked about this unstoppable sense. You read Acts and it's like the word is just going forward. And the word goes forward and cities are toppling before it. Don't depart from this city, Paul. I have many people here. And how's it going to happen? The word is going to come. The spirit impacts people's hearts. That's what's happening. The local body plugs into this power when devotion to the word is combined with commitment to sharing a common life spiritually.
33 · Uses an African proverb to illustrate the necessity of community: a single stick may smoke, but it will not burn
There's an African proverb. A single stick may smoke, but it will not burn. A single stick may smoke, but it will not burn. It's meant to portray the need for community. It's a helpful corrective to Westerners. Here's how that works. Our union with Christ is unshakable, and it brings us into spiritual fellowship with each other. And through our fellowship with each other, We stir each other up to greater communion with Christ, to greater enjoyment of that union. And together, fellowship empowers us to blow the Spirit on the embers of our hearts. And when I'm feeling too weak, because I'm in spiritual fellowship, my neighbor blows the Spirit on the embers of my heart. I'm not a single stick. I'm a bundle that's burning with the glory of Christ.
34 · Expounds 1 John 1 from the New English Bible translation, which renders koinonia literally as 'share in a common life
The New English Bible translates 1 John. It says this: What we have seen and heard we declare to you, so that you and we together may share in a common life, that life which we share with the Father and his Son Jesus Christ. If we claim to be sharing in his life while we walk in the dark, our words and our lives are a lie. But if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, then, then we share together a common life. And we are being cleansed from every sin by the blood of Jesus his Son.
35 · Direct shepherding moment: the literal translation of koinonia as 'sharing a common life' exposes the foolishness of thinking we can enjoy union with Christ while separating ourselves from sharing a common life with the body of Christ
All they're doing is putting in a literal translation of fellowship in that passage, and you read it and you think, how foolish to think I could separate the enjoyment of my union with Christ from the sharing of a common life with the body of Christ.
36 · Signals the third major movement of the sermon: after establishing that fellowship is rooted in sharing a common life in Christ (first) and spiritually (second), the focus now shifts to the relational dimension of sharing a common life
Finally, sharing a common life Happens relationally. Acts 2 is a body living together, not just spiritually, but in community.
37 · Distinguishes Acts 2 fellowship from Sunday Assembly: spiritual vibrancy leads to relationality — not just people you study and pray with, but people you love and treasure
They're not going to Sunday assembly. There's a spiritual vibrancy, but that spiritual vibrancy leads to relationality, to friendship, to affections for these people. These aren't just the people I talk about God's words with. They're not just the people that I pray with. They're not just the people I go to care group with or the people I have a Bible study with. These are the people I love. These are the people I treasure in my heart. They live life together. They meet in their homes. They share meals. It's not a bunch of people who gather for worship and go their separate ways.
38 · Illustrates the relational clinginess of biblical fellowship through Jerry Bridges' billiards-balls image (negative) and the cocklebur image (positive): fellowship is not balls scattering after impact but cockleburs clinging together inseparably, grabbing onto each other and unable to be pulled apart
I love this illustration I read in a book on community by Jerry Bridges. He said, 'The image of fellowship is not of billiards balls.' That's an old-fashioned way of saying pool balls, right? It's not like pool balls where the cue ball is like the power of Christ and bam! It hits the balls and then all the balls fly their separate ways. No, that's not what community is like. So I'm thinking, what is the opposite of pool balls? You know what community and fellowship and koinonia, you know what that relationship is like? It's like a bunch of cockatoos. You know what cockatoos are, right? Those annoying, obnoxious things you walk through the tall grass. It's like, if you get a single cockatoo on your leg and you walk another 20 feet, there is no possible way you will have just one. You will have 20. And the more you try and take them off, the more they seem to grab onto you. They cling and you can't get them apart. That's what relational fellowship is like. You're not billiards balls, you're not pool balls, just boom, power, and now we're gone, off to our own things. Go to my pocket, go to my pocket. You're cockatoos.
39 · Extends the cocklebur illustration evangelistically: biblical fellowship is not cloistered inwardness but outward-grabbing affection
Now here's the beautiful thing. I kind of thought, I don't want to give this sense that it's like we're cloistered over here, cockatoos living in fellowship, but afraid of everything else in the world. No, and that's not what cockatoos do, do they? Cockatoos are greedy little suckers. They grab to each other and you can't pull them apart from each other, and they're constantly grabbing onto everything else and adding it. And the Lord added to the number every day who were being saved, because they're a bunch of stinking cockatoos in relationship with each other. That's what's happening. It's amazing.
40 · Applies relational fellowship through Chesterton's image (we are all in the same boat in a stormy sea and owe each other a terrible loyalty) and Paul's offering for Jerusalem: the Macedonians gave generously not out of pity but because they saw God active in the midst of Jerusalem's suffering
We are all in the same boat, G.K. Chesterton says. In a stormy sea, and we owe each other a terrible loyalty. That's good stuff. You kind of hear like an update on the finances, you're thinking, yikes, do I want to be here relationally? Yeah, because it's a stormy sea out there. You read in 2 Corinthians, Paul's taking up the offering for Jerusalem. He's commending the believers in Philippi. You generous Macedonians, people stirred by the gospel of grace, who out of your own lack gave generously to the lack in Jerusalem. Paul's not sitting there thinking, well, let's take up an offering for Jerusalem. These poor beggars stink to be a part of that church. No, he's going to these churches and telling Philippi, do you know what's happening in Jerusalem? They suffer. They're persecuted. They're expelled from their homes. They're being put to death. They need your help financially to even put bread on the table. And the word of God is active in their midst. Philippi is not giving to Jerusalem because it's like, oh man, Oh man, stinks to be them. It's just like a pity gift. They give generously because Paul tells them all this junk is happening and God is active in their midst.
41 · Cites Ray Ortlund to establish realism about the church: the leaders are idiots, our future is incredibly bright, and anybody can get in on this
Ray Ortlund says it really well. He describes his church in Nashville. He says, 3 things you need to know about this church: the leaders are idiots, our future is incredibly bright, number 2, and number 3, anybody can get in on this. That describes what happens in churches. The church in Corinth has serious issues. Super apostles that Paul says are really stupid guys thinking they're puffed up in self-importance, right? Philippi, generous Philippi. It's got these ladies who are just like toxic relationally, backbiting and going after each other. Place after place. Philemon, dude, you got a brother in Christ as your slave and you won't release him. You read of the 7 churches in Revelation. What's going on? Bunch of idiots. And their future is incredibly bright. Because these idiots, they're cockaburs, united to the risen Christ. And because they're cockaburs, anybody can get in on this.
42 · Pastoral aside and transition: signals that a story from the Latin-American church is coming to illustrate relational fellowship
We can learn from the African-American church and the Latin-American church. I'm gonna apologize for the time, our giving thing went long, I'm just gonna let the word of God go long. That's the last apology I'll give for that. I'm not gonna try and cut the notes anymore.
43 · Illustrates the depth of relational fellowship through the story of a self-taught worship leader in Chihuahua, Mexico, who turned down an offer from a wealthy church in Denver because 'these are the people he's in spiritual relationship with — we are his family
African-American, Latin-American church, they understand this sense of relational community. I remember going to Chihuahua, Chihuahua, Mexico, on a missions trip in college. Went down there. It was a cool trip. One of the things we got to do, we got to actually live with— we're helping them build a church. That's like a cool mission trip, right? Like, we're helping you build a church. It was a little scary. Like, it's a bunch of like meathead football guys like trying to jerry-rig. Like, how do we know if this wall is straight? And like our Mexican engineer is like, well, I look at the shadow of the sun and it's like— like, well, I think it's still standing. We're building a church and it was crazy the way we were doing it. Basically, they took me and gave me a pickaxe and just said, 'Ah, just go get sweaty and work over there.' We got to live with families though. I got to live with the mom of the pastor, Mario. We got to come together and worship with them twice over the time that we were there. Yeah, there's like the hot culture/cold culture thing where it's like cold culture, like you're really time-sensitive, hot culture you're not. They got together and they worshiped. There was this really sweet— they had this dude, this little skinny dude who would sit up there and play like this kind of ghetto piano that looked like it was about 20 years past its best days. And he'd play and lead in worship. And it was like, we didn't know what they were singing, but we knew the Spirit was there. It was like, 'Yeah! Hola! Yeah!' You know, we're kind of trying to sing along and they are singing and worshiping 2.5 hours. Mario gets up there to preach. The dude doesn't have notes. He's got the Bible. I don't know what he's saying, but the people are responding and the Spirit is there. He is taking the Word of God and he is throwing it at the hearts of the people. And they had this little skinny dude that leads worship. And I was like, 'He was amazing.' He would just get up there and everything was ad-lib and it was incredible. He was gifted. I said, 'Who is this guy?' And they said, 'You know what? He taught himself.' I'm like, 'Oh, that's really cool. He taught himself.' They're like, 'No, no, no, you don't get it.' He didn't have a piano, so he drew on cardboard what a piano would look like, and he taught himself how to play without ever being able to hear the music. He was amazing. And he got an offer— there's a reason I'm telling this story, it's not just a random Chihuahua story— he got an offer from a big, wealthy Hispanic-American church in Denver. They had some connection with the church in Chihuahua. This is a poor church in the poorest part of Chihuahua. And this big, rich, multiple thousands of people Spanish church says, 'Would you come and be our worship leader?' Little skinny Mexican guy, self-taught piano player, 'Come be our worship leader. You're gonna have a band. You're gonna have a pimped out keyboard.' It's gonna be sweet. There's gonna be sound like you've never heard and people singing. You're gonna actually make a wage. We're gonna actually pay you for this. He said no. And part of us was like, why? What was he thinking? And Mario just kind of looked at us like, what do you mean why? Because we are his family. What do you mean, why? This is the people he's in spiritual relationship with.
44 · Applies the Chihuahua story: the worship leader's love for his church despite poverty reveals the relational depth of biblical fellowship
I don't say that to say it's wrong to go serve somewhere else, to get called to another job. I'm not saying anything of that. What I'm highlighting is this guy who has no money, lives in poverty, plays on a crappy little piano, doesn't have any band behind him, no resources, and a building that's made by a bunch of dumb jock football players and might fall down on its head at any time, doesn't want to leave to go to a big church with lots of resources and money because these people are the body that I'm in relationship with. I love them. I love Jesus with them. How could I leave? I want that for us. I want it for us. And I know it's gonna sound really cool on Sunday and it gets really hard on Monday to do it. We have to be committed to it. We have to believe what the Word of God says about the benefit that comes from it.
45 · Offers concrete application: relational fellowship is built in little ways — care group adding a first-Sunday-of-the-month gathering with no agenda, just being together (Settlers of Catan, watching ball games, chili feeds)
It happens in just little ways. This isn't because it's rocket science. I just got it from another guy. The best ideas are usually stolen. Our care group started saying, okay, we've got a men's meeting, a women's meeting, and a full group meeting. So 3 days a week that we meet just to gather together to try and live out this idea of fellowship. And it's like, you know what? That's excellent. There's spiritual stuff going on all the time. You know what's going to accentuate our spiritual gathering together? If we love each other more, you know how we're going to love each other more? We're going to play Settlers of Catan together. We're going to watch a ball game together. We're going to have a chili feed together. So we just said, look, let's do first Sunday every month, we're going to rotate around houses and just get together. No agenda, book we're studying, thing we're praying about. We are just getting together to be. We're going to watch the Chiefs break our hearts together. We're gonna descend on the Greenleys' house and watch our children almost tear it down on top of our heads. But we're together. I think we love each other more than we did 6 months ago. And it's my prayer 6 months from now, we'll look back on here and say, man, We thought that was affection for one another. Now, now we share a common life together.
46 · Signals the final movement: transitioning from exposition and illustration to concrete application
That's how I want to conclude. What does it look like to do that, right? What does it look like to apply that? In a study guide, Gospel in Life: Grace Changes Everything, Tim Keller gives us categories for thinking about how do we go about building a relational community? How do we give out, how do we walk out fleshing out this idea of koinonia, in love of one another? He gives 3 categories with kind of multiple pieces underneath them. What he's doing, all he's doing is, you talk to people, the easy way to go about this is to say, you know how we do this? The one anothers of scripture. You gotta do the one anothers. And it's like, Okay, and you go home and you think, I can only think of like 2 or 3 one anothers. So Keller just said, what are the one anothers? How do we look at them and structure them and organize them in ways that it's helpful just to get our minds around? Because if we can get our minds around it, we can start to get our lives around it.
47 · First category of application: affirm one another
First, we affirm one another. We build fellowship, we share in a common life by affirming one another. We affirm one another's strengths. And abilities and gifts. Romans 12:10, honor one another. James 5:9, don't grumble against each other. Romans 12:3-8, confirm the gifts of one another.
48 · Second sub-category of affirmation: affirm one another's equal importance in Christ by accepting, having equal concern, clothing with humility, and not showing favoritism — even toward the guy who got your promotion
We affirm one another's equal importance in Christ. Romans 15:7, accept one another then just as Christ accepted you. What happens if you're sitting in church next to the guy who got the promotion instead of you? I'm going to continue accepting him just as Christ accepted me. Christ accepted me, the guy who crucified him. 1 Corinthians 12:25, have equal concern for each other. 1 Peter 5:5, clothe yourselves with humility towards one another. James 2:1, don't show favoritism.
49 · Third sub-category of affirmation: affirm one another through visible affection — greet with a holy kiss, be quick to listen and slow to speak, be kind and compassionate, let love increase and overflow
Third way we affirm one another, we affirm one another through visible Affection. Guys, you're going to love this one. Romans 16:16: 'Greet one another with a holy kiss.' Craig Sharp's writing it down right now. 'Greet one another with a holy kiss.' His might be a little gristly. There might be a little stubble there. It might hurt a little. He'll probably make it hurt. James 1:19: 'Be quick to listen, slow to speak. Show visible affection.' I'm more concerned about hearing you than I am speaking. Ephesians 4:32: Be kind and compassionate to one another. 1 Thessalonians 3:12: May your love increase and overflow for each other. Affirm one another with visible affection.
50 · Second category of application: share with one another
Second category: share with one another. Share with one another. Share one another's space and goods and time. Romans 12:10, be devoted to one another in brotherly love. 1 Peter 4:9, offer hospitality to one another. Galatians 6:10, as we have opportunity, let us do good.
51 · Second sub-category of sharing: share one another's needs and problems by carrying burdens, encouraging each other, and encouraging daily
Share one another's needs and problems. That doesn't mean spread your needs and spread your problems. It means share, help those who are in need. Galatians 6:2, 'Carry or bear each other's burdens.' 1 Thessalonians 5:11, 'Encourage each other.' Hebrews 3:13 says, 'Don't just encourage each other, do it daily.'
52 · Third sub-category of sharing: share one another's beliefs, thinking, and spirituality by teaching and admonishing one another, speaking psalms and hymns, living in harmony, and agreeing with one another
Share one another's beliefs, thinking, and spirituality. Colossians 3:16, 'Teach and admonish one another.' one another. We are not living out what God calls us to as a church if the only teaching and admonishment happens when there's somebody standing right here, right? Teach and admonish one another. Ephesians 5:19: Speak to one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. Store up praise for God in your heart and encourage people. With it. There's a pastor I know, Jared Mellinger, Covenant Fellowship Church. Just encounter him and he'll be walking around and it's just like, 'Praise God.' He's just singing to himself all the time. And so you encounter him and he'll just stop and look at you and like, 'Praise God from whom all blessings flow.' And you're like, you walk away and it's like, 'Wow, I just got a mini worship service because I encountered Jared in the hallway.' It's encouraging. Especially if you have a good voice. Romans 12:16, live in harmony with one another. 1 Corinthians 1:10, agree with one another.
53 · Third category of application: serve one another
Finally, serve one another. Last category, serve one another. Serve one another through accountability. James 5:16, Keller says, we serve one another through accountability. James says, confess your sins to each other and pray for each other. You see that there's this confession of sin to each other. And then prayer for each other. Wow, you are messed up. I don't know what to say now. It's awkward you told me that. I think you're weird. Can we go in the kitchen and get something to drink? That's not how you go about confessing sin together, man. If it's a similar sin, I've been there. I've done that too, and that's not to pretend like it's common and not bad. It's just to say I empathize with your fight against the flesh. Let's go to God in prayer together. You are still my brother, and now that you've told me that, I can pray here, and when I go home, I can pray for you with real tangible ways. Romans 15:14, instruct one another. Ephesians 4:25, speak truthfully. It's not just saying don't lie, it's saying speak the truth of the gospel to each other.
54 · Second sub-category of serving: serve one another through forgiveness and reconciliation
Number 8, speak and serve one another. Serve one another through forgiveness and reconciliation. It doesn't just say confess your sins. Here's this amazing thing the New Testament says. Jesus says to disciples, You can forgive people in my name. That's insane. Only God can forgive. But Jesus says, you people called by my name, united to me, united to the risen Christ, you're now partakers in me. So when you go out there and people are dying and they're struggling and they've just got the ooze of their life flowing out and it comes to light and they confess it to you, you can extend forgiveness. Bro, cast those cares because Jesus says you're forgiven. If somebody confesses something they've done or confesses something they've done to you and you don't forgive them, you have failed to receive their confession. Forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Galatians 5:25, don't provoke or envy one another. James 4:11, don't slander one another. Don't slander one another. Don't speak things that aren't true about people behind their back. Don't speak things that you know or don't know. Or is it something like, I don't know if it's true, but somebody was saying it, so I'm going to pass on. That's slander if you don't know it's true. And it's gossip if you hear something and you know it's true, or you know it to be the case, and you're talking to other people about it and not to that person. Matthew 23-24 and 18:15, this is important. Reestablish broken relationships with one another. We are not clinging to the vine arm in arm. If I'm just kind of pissed at this guy, so I let that part of my arm come down and he reciprocates, and so it's like I'm kind of hanging only this part, and now we're not connected, and so division.
55 · Third sub-category of serving: serve one another's interests rather than our own — the definition of Christlikeness
Last one: serve one another's interests rather than our own. It's like the definition of Christlikeness. Serve one another's interests rather than your own. He being in very likeness of God did not consider equality with God something to grasp, but humbled himself and made himself nothing. Why? To serve our interests. Hebrews 10:24, spur one another on to love and good deeds. Romans 15:1-2, don't please yourself, please others. Galatians 5:13, serve one another.
56 · Closes the sermon with Bonhoeffer and Luther: let him who is not in community beware of being alone
Conclude with this quote: Let him who is not in community beware of being alone. Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together. Into the community you were called. The call was not meant for you alone. In the community of the called, you bear your cross, you struggle, you pray. You are not alone even in death. And on the last day, you will be only one member of the great congregation of Jesus Christ. If you scorn the fellowship of the brethren, you reject the call of Jesus Christ, and thus your solitude can only be hurtful to you. If I die, Luther said, then I am not alone in death. If I suffer, they, the the fellowship, the communion, the koinonia, suffer with me. Would you bow your heads?