Miracle Grow Christian Restoration Formula
Acts 2:36-47 (ESV)
Let all the house of Israel therefore know for certain that God has made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you crucified. Now when they heard this they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “brothers, what shall we do?” And Peter answered them, “repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to Himself.” And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them saying, “save yourselves from this crooked generation.” So those who received his word were baptized and there were added that day about 3000 souls. And they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching and 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. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing to all as any had need. 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 the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.
The word of God for the People of God. Thanks be to God.
Luke portrays quite a remarkable portrait of the early church after Pentecost. This was as close to a perfect Christian community of utopia as you could get. This would be the ideal place to spend your life, raise your family, worship God, and be thankful for your blessings. This would be the greatest place ever to live in peace and harmony with other believers. Why would anyone ever want to leave? The answer to that is the same as why am I here today, and why are you here today. The answer is God.
Remember Jesus’ last words to His disciples. Turn back a page to Acts chapter 1 verse 8:
“And you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
The Christian movement was flourishing in Jerusalem, new Christians were being added to the church daily. Imagine that happening to us today; imagine new Christians joining our church every day. Imagine the excitement, imagine the comraderity, imagine how easy it would be to get everyone in the church involved, serving on committees, I mean you would have more volunteers to do God’s work than you could think of work to be done. What better place to be, right? Wrong.
God said, OK, now you’ve got this started. You’re doing well, now preserve the key elements of my church, and move on to all Judea and Samaria. That was about 35 miles from Jerusalem to Sebaste (Samaria), which was the center between Judea and Galilee. Now that 35 miles was a little harder to travel 2000 years than it would be today, but the mission was already set. The marching orders had already been given: finish your work here, then move on, don’t get comfortable, I’ve got more work for you to do. After Samaria there is about another 250-mile north journey to get to Antioch, which is where the term “Christian” was actually used for the first time to describe this group of believers. And though it would have been a rough journey to get even as far north as Antioch, Antioch was by no means “the ends of the earth”.
So what exactly was it that caused the early church to be so alive with enthusiasm and grow so vigorously and to respond so vitally to the words of Christ to spread His gospel to the ends of the earth? The main component is of course, the presence of the Holy Spirit, as we are reminded that Jesus said that where 2 or more are gathered there He is also. But the Spirit expected some work to be done by human hands also to get this new church going.
In the 2nd chapter of the Book of Acts, Luke gives us an explicit account of 5 key areas that are needed for any church to thrive. Now notice that I did not say, “survive”, I said “thrive”. There is a big difference here that must be understood before we even look at what these key areas are.
The definition of the word survive is “to continue to exist”.
The definition of the word thrive is to “to prosper; to do well”.
Where are we today? Are we surviving, or are we thriving?
I saw a commercial last week that showed a completely dead lawn. In fact, I think it could have been my lawn this past summer, but I am not 100% sure about that. There was as much dirt as grass, and what little grass there was in the yard was a dingy faded yellowish-brown. There was a woman walking barefoot (well, trying to walk) in this poor dead lawn. You could tell by the grimaces of pain and exasperation on her face that simply walking was painful and difficult as the briar patches that had choked almost all of the life out of the seemingly dead grass were catching her heel almost every step. “Does your yard look like this?” the TV commentator asked, “then you need Miracle-Grow Lawn Restoration and you will be on your way to a healthier happier lawn that will be the envy of the neighborhood.” The picture then changed to a lush, healthy, vibrantly green lawn where the same woman was rubbing her barefoot through the grass, enjoying the feeling of having a healthy lawn as her children rolled around in the yard playing with their dog. It looked like simply having that lawn would make your life better and more relaxing. I started to think negatively of this stereotypical ad of human creature comfort, and then I realized that a healthy lawn does make the average person more relaxed and reduces some stress of day-to-day life.
Some of us, at least some of the time, are like that first lawn. So let me propose this, I say that we may need a little shot of that miracle grow, a little miracle grow Christian restoration, something to help revitalize us, keep us going, offer us support and encouragement on those days we need it most.
As I said, the second chapter of Acts gives us an account of the key ingredients involved in this Miracle Grow in regards to the early church. Now I said “early” church, as this is whom Peter was talking to during this chapter, but after we take a look at what grows us as Christians, which in turn grows our faith, which grows our churches, which grows and furthers the Kingdom of God, we can remove the word “early”; as I think all 5 of these elements are still needed today for the church and for the Christian to really “thrive”.
· Preaching
o Verse 36 of our selection today was actually the ending of Peter’s sermon. Preaching the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ was the central theme to the apostle’s teachings. Verse 37 tells us that when the people heard this they were cut to the heart and said, “what shall we do?”
o Do you remember hearing a sermon, or a story, or reading an article that impacted you so much that you felt the need to do something? That was a day when you were open to the Holy Spirit and he stirred in you and you reacted. That’s what the apostles got going here after Pentecost. Through the power of the Holy Spirit working through them they were able to get the hearers moving and doing.
o 2 Timothy 4 Paul urges Timothy to preach the word, be ready in season and out. This command is not just for those standing behind a pulpit on Sunday morning, it is for all of us. We are all called to preach the gospel!
o As Paul reminds us again in Romans 1:15 “I am eager to preach the gospel”, so should we be, at any given opportunity.
· Profession
o Verse 41 shows us the second principle of a thriving church, profession of faith. Those who received his word were baptized.
o Romans 10:9 tells us to confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in our heart that God that raised him from the dead and we will be saved.
o Profession of faith is an outward expression of an inward confession. It is how we show the world that outwardly what we believe inwardly. Actions speak louder than words, our actions, as Christians should reflect this profession and our love for Christ and one another.
· Prayer
o Verse 42 shows us the believers were devoted to the breaking of bread and the prayers.
o Prayer is a cornerstone of a thriving church.
o Proverbs 15:29 states that the Lord is far from the wicked, but he hears the prayers of the righteous. What does it mean to be righteous? Are we righteous? Romans 1:17 says that the righteous shall live by faith. So to be righteous in the eyes of God we must live by faith. So how do we live by faith? Hebrews 11:1 shows us what that is: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen”. Through our prayers we strengthen our faith.
o How important is prayer in our daily lives and in our thriving churches? I Thessalonians 5:16-18 tells us to “rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you”. The will of God for us is to give thanks and pray all the time. Now that should put the importance of prayer in perspective.
· Participation
o Verses 44-46 show the participation of the believers. Participation is needed to grow the church, and we, as Christians need that participation within the church to grow ourselves. This is the fellowship of all believers, living in love, giving to others, and showing the grace of God that abides within us as a gift of the Holy Spirit.
o Ephesians 4:2-6 states that “with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one spirit-just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call- one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” We are all in this together; we are all the body of Christ. It takes all of us to further the kingdom through participation, the 4th key element of the miracle grow of the church.
· Praise
o Verse 47 shows us that after we have a glad and generous heart we should praise God and have favor with all people.
o Giving thanks is giving praise, and we already talked about that in I Thessalonians that this, along with constant prayer, is the will of God for us. We are made to praise God, and through this praise we can grow as Christians and grow our church.
o Psalm 34:1 “I will bless the Lord at all times, his praise shall continually be in my mouth”. I love this verse. I think so often of how God has blessed me, but I can bless God! How awesome is that, the creator of the universe, the One who has been before anything existed, I can bless. How can I do this? I can bless God with my praise! That is how we, as a church, can bless God, through our praise!!
o Hebrews 2:12 “I will tell of your name to my brothers in the midst of the congregation, I will sing your praise”. Are we telling of the name of God and praising him within our congregation? That is the first step to being able to praise His name to the ends of the earth.
5 Key elements of ensuring we are thriving as a church: Preaching, Profession, Prayer, Participation, and Praise. Are we thriving in our church today or are we surviving in our church today?
Today is the last Sunday of 2007. We could all spend hours talking about, giving thanks and praise, and professing of all the many blessings that God has given us over the past year. Now is the time to ready ourselves for God’s new blessings as we prepare for a new year. Will there be difficult times ahead? Yes. Will there be hardships, trials, and tribulations in 2008? Probably. But through the grace of God we will endure these, and receive the rewards that God has in store for us also, provided that we follow his words and spread the gospel of Christ to Judea, Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.
Amen.
