Lessons From the First Church: Unity
Lessons From the First Church • Sermon • Submitted
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Lessons From the first Church: Unity
Lessons From the first Church: Unity
32 Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common. 33 And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. 34 There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold 35 and laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need. 36 Thus Joseph, who was also called by the apostles Barnabas (which means son of encouragement), a Levite, a native of Cyprus, 37 sold a field that belonged to him and brought the money and laid it at the apostles’ feet.
2 weeks ago I began a series which was entitled, “Lessons From the First Church”. And we talked about the importance of corporate prayer. That over and over again we see the church coming together, and praying corporately for the various crisis’ that arise. The theme we see is, prayer goes up, power comes down, and the people go out. Over and over.
And so we saw how in verses 23-32 they prayed for boldness, the Spirit comes, shakes the place they are in, and empowers them to preach the gospel.
Today, we see the next lesson: The People Had Everything in Common. We are going to talk about what this means..but put simply, it is unity!
Remember, the church
A biblical theology of corporate prayer teaches us that God’s people will become what they are—united in Christ—as we learn to speak to the Lord together. Speaking together, after all, trains the desires of our hearts to be united in faith, united in hope, united in love. Corporate prayer in the church requires the church to agree, to be without division, to be of the same mind and judgment (1 Cor. 1:10). It’s one way the church “stands firm in one spirit” and “with one mind strives side by side for the faith” (Phil. 1:27).
So as the people cry out to God together, the Spirit unites them in a way which is difficult to envision in a world so divided today.
32 Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common.
“Full Number”- thousands of people. 3000 souls were added right after Peter preached, and numbers were being added every day.
“Those who believed”- believers, those who were disciples of Jesus.
“Of one heart and soul”- It implies both friendship and unity of purpose.
Here is the question: How do thousands of people, distinctive and different, become so united, that they are of one heart and mind. It says that they had everything in common.
Everyone was different, but they had everything in common.
Church Unity Comes From Undivided Hearts and a United Purpose
Church Unity Comes From Undivided Hearts and a United Purpose
21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.
Whatever unity Jesus has with the Father is the same unity He wants us to have with each other.
The Father, Son and Spirit, are distinct, different persons within the trinity, but each is God. Unity in Diversity..which we call the Trinity. And so the secret to understanding this unity in diversity is going to come from understanding God.
The word university..literally means finding unity in diversity, and in one stage of history theology did that. We see the diversities around us and so how do we find unity. Well it is only in the Christian faith that we find the answer. Only in the Christian faith do you have a unity, diversity, community..in the trinity!
So the secret to understanding how we are to be united as different people must be seen through understanding God, the trinity, and how the father, son and spirit relate to one another.
So heres what we learn!
Unity is not sameness. It is distinctiveness, headed in the same direction for the same purpose. -Dr. Tony Evans
The Father, Son and Spirit, are distinct, different persons within the trinity, but each is God. Unity in Diversity, a community..which we call the Trinity. This oneness is revealed is how we see the Father, Son, and Spirit. all work to accomplish the same goal, namely the glory of God in the world.
9 “For my name’s sake I defer my anger; for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you, that I may not cut you off. 10 Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tried you in the furnace of affliction. 11 For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another.
God is after His own glory! And everything God has done is for his namesake!
So A church is unified, not by the sameness of the people, but by the clarity of their purpose..seeking after the glory of God.
The church today is divided because we have lost a clear sense of purpose among the people. Its about what we want, what we think, rather than what God wants!
We have churches fighting and dividing over preferences in music, clothes…the three b’s we call them “budgets, buildings, and buses.” And it comes down to pride, and we are a people that collectively are aiming at different things besides the glory of God.
Divided hearts make divided churches.
Divided hearts make divided churches.
We have indecisive hearts…halfway in, halfway out. Compartmentalizing God to part of our life..when God is after undivided hearts.
And so, corporate prayer as we talked about last week, brings our hearts and purposes in line with God, and in doing so..unites the people.
So Church Unity is not about the sameness of the people, its about the unity of purpose. The goal in unity is not to make everyone the same, but for everyone to have the same purpose. Namely, the glory of God. .
Illustration: Triangle. God as the point, Husband and Wife as the two base edges.
The church is united not by trying to change each other to be like we want them to be.
We are all different. We all have different preferences, backgrounds, social, and political views..but outside of sin, our diversity is a good thing. And so we don’t want to become robots and lose all sense of personality or individuality, that is not unity. But in our distinctiveness we should be humbly seeking to honor and bring glory to the Lord with our lives and all that we do.
Seek Unity and you will find neither Unity nor Truth. Seek the light of truth, and you will find Unity and Truth. -C.S. Lewis
The world will propose that if you remove all sense of objective truth, all sense of right and wrong, everyone can get along and be united. If you do what is right to you, and I do whats right for me…we can get along. But it has made us more divided than ever. Its like setting out on a journey and everyday waking up and changing the destination. We get nowhere. People are lost, and a changing person can’t be the basis of unchanging unity. You need the consistency and anchoring that comes from God.
Corporate Prayer Unites the Church In Heart and Purpose
It is hard to be talk about your brother if you’re praying for them. If we can collectively fix our eyes on Jesus, and live for the glory of God..individually and corporately, we are united as we draw closer to Him.
Church, we are aiming for the glory of God. And this will start from the leadership, to deacons..and families this is our aim. But we can not change our purpose and mission to accommodate those who are comfortable playing church.
If we aim for God, individually, we will collectively be united even in our differences. If we aim for unity at all costs, and compromise truth or purpose..we will lose both.
Application:
Make the glory of God the aim of your life!
Pray for your church, pray with your church
Humbly ask God what the aim of your life is. And Him to shape you and make your heart after His.
Divided hearts make divided churches.
It is almost as if it is one person, one body. That though they are individual, they in Christ, are so united in their affections, thoughts, and person. That the needs of one are the needs of all.
A Church United in Heart and Purpose is Clothed in Humility and Radically Sacrificial
A Church United in Heart and Purpose is Clothed in Humility and Radically Sacrificial
33 And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all. 34 There was not a needy person among them, for as many as were owners of lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold 35 and laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need.
What they had, they shared, so that all needs would be met. They acknowledged that each and every thing they owned was not theirs, but belonged to God. He had only placed it in their care. So instead of socialism, controlled by the government, they practiced stewardship, controlled by their devotion to and love for Jesus.
This unity of purpose not only changed the way they looked at each other, but changed the way they looked at their possessions.
It says that there was no needy among them, and that those who had house and land were willing to sell it whenever they had a need.
Now, I don’t know what would convince you to sell your house or land, but we have a group of people here who have made this sort of radical giving, not just a singular instance, but a genral characteristic.
To us, in America…this sounds crazy. It sounds unwise and reckless. But this is the biblical understanding of money and sacrifice in the church.
And you may say, RJ well thats socialism..people giving all thier money, putting it in a pot, and distributing it..but its not, and thats actually not what is happening here.
Notice some key factors here, this was not forced.
They chose to give it, not by guilt or force, but they were so united with one another, that the needs of one became the needs of all and they willingly gave!
7 Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.
Also, what they gave was their possession to give. It wasn’t as if they renounced all possessions and gave it to the church, it was theirs, and they chose what they gave.
The Spirit was so powerfully working in them that they gave it willingly, radically, and cheerfully. The needs of one became the need of all, and they knew what they had wasn’t theirs anyway.
The church is not a communal society. Gareth Reese concludes appropriately, “Now both communism and fellowship (koinonia) have a root idea of ‘common.’ But after that, the two ideas go their separate ways. Communism says, ‘What is yours is mine, and I’ll take it!’ Fellowship says, ‘What is mine is yours; I’ll share it!’ The one forcibly invades the right of private property; the other voluntarily relinquishes the right of private property where it sees a need” (New Testament History: Acts, Joplin: College Press, 1976, p. 193).
I get it, you are looking at me crazy..and you saying but RJ, I earned this, I have the right to keep it. Again, lets look to Jesus’ example.
1 So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, 2 complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. 3 Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.
Paul calls the people in Philiipi to unity, and tells them to look to Christ’s example.
5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
The bible says have the same mindset of Jesus, who gave up his divine rights and privileges.
What Jesus had, were His, but he gave up His rights and privileges…what was His, so He could serve us, become a man, the lost could know the Father through Him.
Father Son and Spirit, one purpose..and so there was radical sacrifice.
8 Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind.
There is unity of mind and humble heart, which creates a radcially sacrificial people.
A Heart Given To God Without Reservation, Will Give to God without Hesitation
A Church United in Heart and Purpose is Clothed in Humility and Radically Sacrificial
What you have in your posession belongs to God, and you are merely a steward of. God will hold you accountable for everything you have.
Since the church is one body, the needs of one are the need of all. When one of us is in pain, we should all feel the hurt with them.
You should be able to give everything for God and for your church community knowing that we love you and if and when you are in need the fellowship longs to help you too.
Your money is God’s, and should be given as freely as God’s grace has been given to you.
16 By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. 17 But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? 18 Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.
“In the early Church, the practice was that the disciples gave up their claim on their possessions and shared that which they possessed (32). Specifically, they shared their resources with others as they had a true need. And this sharing was not without sacrifice, for when the need arose (from time to time), the members who owned lands would sell them and give the proceeds to those in need (34-35). In doing so, the members demonstrated that they considered their possessions to be good gifts from God to be used to provide for his people. This was a demonstration of the concept of proper stewardship, rather than the legalistic redistribution of wealth.” Stmattsrva.org
4 But there will be no poor among you; for the Lord will bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance to possess—
We see that it is a biblical ideal that the needs of his people be net. Part of the fulfillment of God’s promise, and the realization of it in the NT Church, is that God will meet the needs of his people, through His people.
God intends to use you to help meet the needs of your church family, and your church family to help and support you in your needs too.
Application:
Be sensitive to the needs of the church and pray that God would reveal to you the part you are to play. Financially, skills, time, prayer)
Leverage your resources for the benefit of the needy in this church and in this community
Along with tithe and offering, budget a line of generosity where you look every month for where and what needs God would have you to meet around you.
Find somewhere to serve in the church.
A Radically Generous Church is motivated by the gospel and empowered by grace
A Radically Generous Church is motivated by the gospel and empowered by grace
33 And with great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all.
None of this was forced but it was all compelled and empowered by grace.
And we see that the more grace they showed, the more grace they recieved. That as they repeatedly gave up themselves for others, God empowered them over and over with HIs grace.
The Pillar New Testament Commentary: The Acts of the Apostles 2. Their Impressive Generosity (4:32–37)
The grace that is mentioned here is ‘the divine favour and presence which rests upon the community and which is somehow tangibly manifest’. The sharing described in vv. 34–37 is a particular sign of this grace at work among them. But the remarkable point about this verse is the implication that it was the powerful preaching of the gospel that motivated the earliest Christians to such generosity, not specifically preaching about money or impassioned exhortations from leaders to share possessions! The gospel message about God’s grace in Christ inspired a culture of self-giving in love (cf. 2 Corinthians 8–9).
The apostles are preaching the good news and all they can do, all they know to do..is show this grace to others.
The gospel inspires a culture of self giving in love!
1 We want you to know, brothers, about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia, 2 for in a severe test of affliction, their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part. 3 For they gave according to their means, as I can testify, and beyond their means, of their own accord, 4 begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints— 5 and this, not as we expected, but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us. 6 Accordingly, we urged Titus that as he had started, so he should complete among you this act of grace. 7 But as you excel in everything—in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all earnestness, and in our love for you—see that you excel in this act of grace also. 8 I say this not as a command, but to prove by the earnestness of others that your love also is genuine. 9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich. 10 And in this matter I give my judgment: this benefits you, who a year ago started not only to do this work but also to desire to do it. 11 So now finish doing it as well, so that your readiness in desiring it may be matched by your completing it out of what you have. 12 For if the readiness is there, it is acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have. 13 For I do not mean that others should be eased and you burdened, but that as a matter of fairness 14 your abundance at the present time should supply their need, so that their abundance may supply your need, that there may be fairness. 15 As it is written, “Whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack.”
A Radically Generous Church should not surprise us when we serve a radically generous God!
It says thier extreme poverty and great joy from the gospel have overflowed in a great generosity!
This should be us Church!
A Church Commited in Prayer, United in Heart and Purpose, and Compelled to show grace through understanding the gospel.
We can not, and must not settle for something less than what Jesus has called us to!
We are aiming for Jesus. We must be united. We can not change our purpose and mission to accommodate those who are comfortable playing church.
Illustration: Tuning, symphony
Has it ever occurred to you that one hundred pianos all tuned to the same fork are automatically tuned to each other? They are of one accord by being tuned, not to each other, but to another standard to which each one must individually bow. So one hundred worshipers [meeting] together, each one looking away to Christ, are in heart nearer to each other than they could possibly be, were they to become 'unity' conscious and turn their eyes away from God to strive for closer fellowship. -A.W. Tozer
Dvorak: New World Symphony Sometimes it takes an outsider to point out what's great about a culture. That's exactly what Czech composer Antonin Dvorak was when he came to the U.S. at the end of the 19th century, an immigrant thrown into a new world and new sounds.
Out of that experience, he wrote a symphony for America: Dvorak's Symphony No. 9, subtitled "From the New World," has become one of the world's most beloved orchestral works. It also produced a melody that is a hymn and an anthem to what American music can be.
In the same way, God’s intention for the church is to be a melody and song of a different world and kingdom. God wants his people to be a picture of the new world and kingdom through Jesus Christ.
Prayer tunes our heart to the cares and voice of God so we can recognize and respond to His voice. Unity comes when we collectively are sensitive to the voice and mission of God.
Sacrifice, serving, giving what you have is like learning the notes. It is learning what note only you can play, and what God is trying to use you for.
But ultimately, just like the instruments can only play the song together when they look at the sheet music, so we can only do what God has asked us to, be united and sacrifice as we look to has is written in His word. Look to the gospel! Look to the good news of Jesus and everything will come!
Unity of Purpose, Undivided Hearts, Personal Sacrice…will come as you look to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
What part is God calling you play? We must be united first! We must sacrifice and give what God has called us to give..and we must corporately be motivated and moved by the gospel!
Then We Will Have Everything in Common, and demonstrate the sweet song of Amazing Grace to a world dying to hear it!