Trinity Baptist Church

ReConnect

Connecting with Community

Acts 2:41-47

 

I want to take you back 2,000 years to another Kodak moment.  I want to show you the earliest picture of the very first church in history.  It is found in the book of Acts.  Here in the second chapter we see the maternity ward where the first church was born.

 

Three thousand people had just connected with Jesus. They had become followers of Christ and had followed in believer’s baptism. They were the charter members of the Jerusalem Baptist Church. Here we see the church in its purest form. Eventually troubles would set in, problems would crop up as they do in all churches, but in Acts 2:41-47 we see God's ideal for the church.

 

In a moment we're going to read Dr. Luke's description of the church, but before we do, I wan to ask you a question. How do we want people to describe Trinity Baptist Church when they talk about us?  What do we want them to see and hear?  What do we want them to feel and experience?

 

I read a story about an elderly lady who was very cultured and very refined.  She and her husband were planning a week's vacation in Florida, and they wanted to find a campground that was suitable for them to bring their RV.  She wanted to make sure the campground was fully equipped, but she didn't know how to ask about the toilet facilities.  Being such a refined lady she just could not bring herself to write the word "toilet" in her letter.

Well, after much deliberation she finally came up with the term "bathroom commode."  But after writing that down she still thought she was being much too forward, so she rewrote the entire letter and referred to the "bathroom commode" as merely the "B.C."

 

When the campground owner got the letter he couldn't figure out what this woman was talking about.  He showed the letter to several of his employees, but they couldn't imagine what "B.C." meant.  Finally, the campground owner came to the conclusion that the lady must be asking about the location of the nearest Baptist church.  So he sat down and wrote the following reply:

 

Dear Mrs. Smith:

        I regret the delay in answering your letter, but I now take the pleasure of informing you a B.C. is located 9 miles north of the campground, and is capable of seating 250 people at one time.  It is located in a beautiful pine grove and is open only on Sundays and Wednesdays.

        I admit it is quite a distance away if you're in the habit of going regularly, but no doubt you will be pleased to know that many people take their lunch along and make a day of it.  In fact, they usually arrive early and stay late.

        My daughter met her husband in the B.C.  Sometimes it is so crowded there are five to a seat.  It may interest you to know that right now there is a supper planned to raise money to buy more seats.  They're going to hold it in the basement of the B.C.  It pains me very much not to be able to go more regularly, but it is surely not due to a lack of desire on my part.

 

As we grow older it seems to be more of an effort, particularly in cold weather.  If you decide to come to our campground, perhaps I could go with you the first time you go and sit with you and introduce you to all the other folks.  We will be sure to get a seat up front where you can be seen by everyone.  Remember we are a very friendly community.

                        Sincerely,

                        The Campground Owner

 

Well, I don’t know for sure how people describe our church, but I can tell you how I would hope they would describe it and that is by using the definition found in

 

Acts 2:41-47

 

We are told this church devoted themselves to four things. And I would hope that on any given Sunday, anyone who shows up at Trinity Baptist Church would be connected to these same four things.

 

For instance, when people connect to the community of believers they should be connected to

 

 

Verse 42

 

When you walked into the early church you were going to get a seven-course meal on the word of God.  There is one thing I want to promise you and that is when you come to Trinity Baptist Church you will hear the word of God. We’ve already talked last week about the importance of connecting people to the Truth and I don’t want to re-preach that material.

But I don’t think we can underemphasize the importance and necessity of the centrality of the Bible to all we do. We need to be Bible-built and Bible-based so we can be Bible-blessed.

 

When you turn on the television you can hear what the network has to say.  When you buy a magazine you can hear what a journalist has to say.  When you buy a newspaper you can hear what a reporter has to say.  But I believe when you come to church you should hear what God has to say.

 

At Trinity we will do our very best to assure that you always hear a man of God who is going to preach the word of God.  It breaks my heart to realize that most Americans who attend church today will not hear a biblical, expository, authoritative message from the word of God.  I really believe right here, even in the Bible belt, there is a famine for God's word.

 

I read a story about a man who wanted to buy a parakeet.  So he went down to the owner of the pet store and told him what he wanted, and the owner said, "Well, I have two parakeets.  I have one for $100 and one for $2The man said, "They look alike, what is the difference?"  He said, "Well, the $100 parakeet sings and talks all the time; the $25 parakeet just doesn't talk quite as much."  The man said, "Well, I think I will save money and buy the $25 parakeet."

 

Well after a week he came back and said, "That bird hasn't said one word."  The owner said, "Did he peck the little bell?"  He said, "You didn't say anything about a little bell."  He said, "Oh, he has to peck the little bell before he talks."

 

He said, "Well, how much are bells?"  He said, "$15."  So he bought one.

 

A week later he came back and said, "That bird still hasn't said one word."  He said, "Well, did he run up and down the little ladder?"  He said, "You didn't say anything about a little ladder."  He said, "Oh, he has to have a little ladder to run up and down before he will talk."  The man said, "Well, how much are the ladders?"  He said, "$20."  He said, "I'll take it."

 

A week later he came back and said, "Look, that bird still hasn't said anything."  He said, "Well, did he look in the little mirror?"  He said, "What little mirror?"  He said, "Oh, he's got to see himself in the mirror before he'll talk."  He said, "We'll, how much is the mirror?"  He said, "$25."  He said, "All right, I'll take it."

 

Well three days later he came back and said, "The bird still won't talk."  He said, "Well, did he swing in the little swing?"  He said, "What little swing?"  He said, "Oh, he's got to swing before he'll sing."  The man said, "Well, how much are the swings?"  He said, "$30."  So he bought the swing.

 

Three days later he came back and said, "I want to tell you what happened to that bird.  He pecked the bell, ran up and down the ladder, looked in the mirror, got on the swing, went back and forth, and then just kind of trembled and fell over backward and put his little feet up in the air, but he did finally speak."  The owner said, "What did he say?"  He said, "Don't they sell any birdseed in that pet store?"

 

 

 

We have churches that are trying all kinds of ladders, bells, mirrors, swings, and whistles to reach people when what they really need is to be fed from the Word from God.

 

If this church is going to be a community of believers, connected together, we must preach the Word of God.

 

Secondly, when people connected to this early community of believers they were connected to

 

2. Fellowship with Others 

 

Some of you may be familiar with that word in the Greek language koinonia. It's the first time the word is ever used in the New Testament, and it literally means "to have in common."  It may be one of the most misunderstood words in the Bible.

 

You see, fellowship is not just standing around talking or reminiscing over a can of coke or a cup of coffee.  Biblical fellowship is a relationship that is rooted in the resurrection of Jesus Christ and expressed through ministry to one another.  One of the reasons why Christianity spread like wildfire in the early days of the church is because, driven together by outward persecution because of their faith in Jesus, they stood by one another and loved one another.

 

This world will never care how much we know until they know how much we care.  We are to be a people who are connected to one another in the vitality of our faith and intimately caring for one another in thick and thin.

 

That's what the early church did.

 

Notice verses 44-45

 

The church was never meant to be a building where you come to sit, sing, listen, learn and leave.  The church was meant to be a family that cares for each other, shares with each other, ministers to each other.

 

Think about that:  For those of you who’ve been in church most of your life, think about what it’s meant to you down through the years.

 

It was there you were first taught to memorize Scripture verses and learn songs you still know today.   It was there you witnessed your first wedding and attended your first funeral.  It was there where you were baptized and sang in the choir and participated in the Christmas plays.

 

There was your first experience with God’s people. You saw them every week because you “went to church together”.  They laughed and cried with you and celebrated your happy times and grieved with you when you were hurting.

 

It may have been just a little group of people, but because of them life was different.  You spent Easter and Christmas and Thanksgiving with them, and all of that has special significance and memories because of the church. 

 

And the reason that our fellowship with each other is so special is because it is a reflection of our fellowship with God.

 

In fact, it is to be an earthly demonstration of the kind of relationship that Jesus and God share with one another.

 

Listen to 1 John 1:3

 

The key to Biblical fellowship with others is fellowship with God.  The key to horizontal fellowship is your vertical fellowship.  The closer we are to God the closer we will be to each other.

 

Did you know that the more you fellowship with God, the more you will want to fellowship with God's people?  Did you know the more you fellowship with God's people the more you will want to fellowship with God?

 

When people walk into this church, they ought to immediately see and sense a church filled with people that love each other.  I will tell you why that is so important.  If people walk in here and see that we love each other, they will think to themselves "If they love each other like that, maybe they will love me like that." Then we ought to love them like we love each other. 

 

God help us to build here a hospital for the hurting and broken hearted.  We ought to be a shelter for those who are suffering, a place that is filled with caring people who will love you when you hurt and rejoice during the good times.

 

People need to connect with the community of believers for the preaching of God’s Word, for the fellowship and for the opportunity of

 

 

 

verses 46-47

 

It is very obvious that there was an atmosphere of enthusiasm and excitement in this early church.  To be very frank, the average church could use a little bit of excitement.  Too many churches remind me of a couple that was driving in an extremely remote section of Montana.  They got lost and they drove for miles without seeing anybody or anything until they came to a crossroad gas station.

 

The man got out, looked at the barren surroundings and went in. There was this storeowner sitting back in a rocking chair smoking a corncob pipe.  He looked at him and said, "Mister, what do you do around here for excitement?"  He looked at him and said, "Buddy, around here we don't get excited."

 

That describes most Baptist churches I’ve been in.  Now to be honest, I don’t think going to church ought to be like going to a ball game.  There ought to be a reverence and a holiness about going to church, but there ought also to be an atmosphere of liberty and life.

 

You may have heard about the little boy who went to church with his grandmother and there in the entrance was a big plaque with the names of men and women of the armed forces who had died while serving our country.

 

He asked what it was.  His grandmother responded by saying, “These are the names of people who died in the service.”  He said, “Morning or evening?”

 

Well, I don't believe in dead worship services.  I don't think there is anything wrong with a worship service full of joy, praise, and enthusiasm.  I've often said it’s easier to tone down a fanatic than it is to warm up a corpse.  I want our church filled with praise, because a church filled with praise is filled with God.

 

We are to be a place of preaching the Word of God, Fellowship with One another, Praising the Lord and  

 

 

Verse 41

 

At this church, being connected to the community started with being connected to the Gospel.  That is the one message that separates the church from every other organization and institution in the world.

 

In 1 Corinthians 15:3-4, the Apostle Paul said, "I pass on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me that Christ died for our sins just as the Scripture said.  He was buried and He was raised from the dead on the third day as the Scripture said." (1 Cor. 15:3-4) (NLT)

 

No one who doesn’t know Christ as Savior should ever leave this place without knowing how to become a Christian. On any given Sunday the gospel will be proclaimed, and people will have an opportunity to receive Christ and to respond to Christ.

 

But this must not be the only place, and I must not be the only person proclaiming the gospel. The community doesn’t exist only on Sunday.

When we leave this place on Sunday, we are to take the gospel with us into the world.  Maybe that’s why, as we read in verse 47, “the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved."  Everyday people were coming to Christ.  How did this happen?

 

Very simply. When the people left the church on Sunday they took their worship and witness with them on Monday.  With their relationships and divine encounters they were continuously doing all they could to share Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit and move people toward a relationship with Jesus Christ.

 

Now, don't miss two things about how the Lord did His work.  On the one hand, the Lord did not add people to the church without saving them. There must always be that clear requirement that salvation precedes church membership.  Anyone who has joined this church will tell you we always begin there.  It doesn’t matter much about anything else until we know that we know that we know we are saved.

 

But notice also the Lord did not save people without adding them to the church. The entry point into church membership and identification with the church was and is baptism.  That is why there must always be an emphasis on church membership.  Building relationships grows out of being members together in a common cause.  And membership in a church has a distinct connection with Scriptural baptism.

 

 

 

We baptize, first and foremost, as an act of obedience. God gave the command to the convert to be baptized.  But He also gave the command to the church to do the baptizing.  Therefore, there is a dual expression of baptism on both sides when a church baptizes a new Christian and they are inseparably linked together.

 

But baptism is also a public, visual testimony of our faith.  Those who witness baptism are given a front-row seat to a picture of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus.  We are buried with him in a picture of His death and raised up out of the water as a visual reminder of His resurrection.

 

Thirdly it is an act of identification.  Those who were saved and baptized were added to the church.  Our baptism is really not about what we believe as much as it is what the church that is baptizing us believes.  It’s our way of saying, “I agree with the teachings of the Bible as this church understands and teaches them and I am openly identifying with it.”

 

What we do here is important because it is in the community of believers we gather to preach the word of God, fellowship together as believers, praise the Lord and proclaim His gospel.  And when you connect with the community of believers, it is unlike any other entity or organization in the world.

 

I came across a very interesting article in a very unlikely place this week.  It was an article posted in the religion section of the Huffington Post, and I want to share it with you since we are thinking about how to connect people with church and what they should experience when they come.

It caught my attention because I was made aware of a situation that happened here recently when a young mother left one our services and said she wouldn’t be returning because when her young child was being noisy a couple of the older women in the congregation kept staring at her.

 

Now I don’t know the heart of those women.  Maybe they were looking for a way to help or give assistance.  But if they were aggravated and annoyed, compare that attitude with this: It was titled, “Dear Parents with Young Children in Church”.  Here’s what it said:

 

You are doing something really, really important. I know it's not easy. I see you with your arms overflowing, and I know you came to church already tired. Parenting is tiring. Really tiring.

 

I watch you bounce and sway trying to keep the baby quiet, juggling the infant car seat and the diaper bag as you find a seat. I see you wince as your child cries. I see you anxiously pull things out of your bag of tricks to try to quiet them.

 

And I see you with your toddler and your preschooler. I watch you cringe when your little girl asks an innocent question in a voice that might not be an inside voice let alone a church whisper. I hear the exasperation in your voice as you beg your child to just sit, to be quiet as you feel everyone's eyes on you. Not everyone is looking, but I know it feels that way.

 

I know you're wondering, is this worth it? Why do I bother? I know you often leave church more exhausted than fulfilled.

But what you are doing is so important. When you are here, the church is filled with a joyful noise. When you are here, the Body of Christ is more fully present. When you are here, we are reminded that this worship thing we do isn't just about bible study or personal, quiet contemplation but coming together to worship as a community where all are welcome, where we share in the Word and Sacrament together.

 

When you are here, I have hope that these pews won't be empty in 10 years when your kids are old enough to sit quietly and behave in worship. I know that they are learning how and why we worship now, before it's too late. They are learning that worship is important.

 

I see them learning. In the midst of the cries, whines, and giggles, in the midst of the crinkling of pretzel bags and the growing pile of crumbs, I see a little girl who insists on going two pews up to share peace with someone she's never met. I hear a little boy slurping (quite loudly) every last drop of his communion wine out of the cup, determined not to miss a drop of Jesus.

 

I watch a child excitedly color a cross and point to the one in the front of the sanctuary. I hear the echoes of "Amens" just a few seconds after the rest of the community says it together. I watch a boy just learning to read try to sound out the words in the worship book or count his way to Hymn 672.

 

Even on weeks when I can't see my own children learning because, well, it's one of those mornings, I can see your children learning.

 

I know how hard it is to do what you're doing, but I want you to know it matters. It matters to me.

It matters to my children to not be alone in the pew. It matters to the congregation to know that families care about faith, to see young people... and even on those weeks when you can't see the little moments, it matters to your children.

 

It matters that they learn that worship is what we do as a community of faith, that everyone is welcome, that their worship matters. When we teach children that their worship matters, we teach them that they are enough right here and right now as members of the church community.

 

They don't need to wait until they can believe, pray or worship a certain way to be welcome here, and I know adults who are still looking to be shown that. It matters that children learn that they are an integral part of this church, that their prayers, their songs, and even their badly (or perfectly-timed, depending on who you ask) cries and whines are a joyful noise because it means they are present.

 

I know it's hard, but thank you for what you do when you bring your children to church. Please know that your family -- with all of its noise, struggle, commotion, and joy -- are not simply tolerated, you are a vital part of the community gathered in worship.

 

That message is not just for parents with young children.  It is a message to us all.  May God help us to be the kind of church that works hard to connect people to it as the Community of God.

 

Let’s pray.