Making an Impact:
Determined by Devotion
I had the opportunity this week to play softball with the church team. I guess they were hard up for players. I started the game OK but ended up dropping a couple fly balls and striking out. I think they’ll think twice about inviting me to come back…
Now that we’re moved into our house, we’ve been taking time to figure out how some things work. It’s amazing how many instructions come with household items. Some things, like a garden house, are pretty easy to use though I did forget to put a washer in the fitting and got sprayed with water when I turned it on! A washer and dryer, on the other hand, come with Owners Manuals that look like phone books we’ll be lucky to finish reading them by Christmas!
Have you ever noticed how unnecessary some product labels are?
On a Sears hairdryer:
Do not use while sleeping.
On some frozen dinners there was this serving suggestion:
Defrost.
On a Bread Pudding label:
Product will be hot after heating.
On Children’s cough medicine:
Do not drive car or operate machinery
I guess that’s one way to keep kids off fork lifts…
On Nytol sleep aid:
Warning: may cause drowsiness
Gee, I hope so…
On Sainsbury’s peanuts:
Warning: contains nuts.
On an American Airlines packet of nuts:
Instructions: open packet, eat nuts.
On a Swedish chainsaw:
Do not attempt to stop chain with your hands or any other body part.
God’s Instruction Manual
Fortunately, not all the advice we receive today is as useless as the directions on these labels. Some information we receive is actually quite helpful like keep your eye on the ball and remember to close your glove once the ball hits it.
Likewise, in the Bible, God put together a little instruction tag that should be attached to every church. If our church wants to operate correctly, run smoothly, and make the right plays, then it’s imperative that we follow God’s directions. This tag is found in Acts 2:42-47. If you have your Bibles, please turn there.
Read Acts 2:42-47
We’re launching a series today based on this passage called, “Making an Impact: Snapshots from the Book of Acts.”
We need God’s instructions, don’t we? Without them, we’re left to flounder and experiment. If there was ever a church growth plan that worked, it was the one used by the first-century church. Why? Because the believers knew why they were there and what they were supposed to do. You see, they were firmly committed to this truth: That the depth of their devotion would determine their impact.
When God set up the first church, He did it right. As we strive to consistently prioritize 6 key areas the same way the first church did, we’ll make a lasting impact in this church, in the community, and around the world. These 6 areas follow the acrostic IMPACT and will serve as our preaching themes for the next several weeks.
Let’s look again at verse 42: They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching that’s the “I” - Instructing in God’s Word. We’ll learn more about this next Sunday.
Now, drop down to verse 45: Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need that’s the “M” in IMPACT - Mobilizing for Ministry.
Look at the last phrase in verse 42: They devoted themselves to…prayer. The “P” stands for - Praying with Faith.
The next item on the instruction label is found in verse 43: Everyone was filled with awe; and in the first part of verse 47: praising God. That’s the “A” - Adoring God in Worship.
The next ingredient is found initially in the middle of verse 42: They devoted themselves…to the fellowship. This is also fleshed out in verses 44-46: All the believers were together and had everything in common…every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts. The “C” of IMPACT is - Caring Community.
Finally, in verse 47, we see the “T” of Impact - Telling Others the Gospel: …enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
Which Way to Grow?
I really like this passage of Scripture because it helps me keep things in perspective. God’s instruction manual contains 6 key ingredients, not just one or two. If we want to be impact believers and if we want Pontiac Bible Church to be an Impact Church, then we must devote ourselves to all 6 of them.
You see, some people say that the church should focus primarily on evangelism. We should be reaching out more than reaching in. As we do, the church will grow.
Others believe that we should be concerned about growing upwards by diligently studying His Word, adoring Him in Worship, and spending time in prayer.
Another view is that we need to grow within. What we need is more fellowship by building a loving, sharing community. Our concern should be for our fellow church members and our ministry to each other.
Well, which one is it? Should PBC seek spiritual growth, fellowship growth, or conversion growth? Which area should we concentrate on growing upward, growing within, or growing out?
While some people hitch their wagons to just one of these areas and ride it forever, the correct answer is “all of the above.” The early church in Acts made an Impact because it focused on all three. It was growing upward and seeking spiritual growth. It was growing within and building community growth. It was growing outward and experiencing numerical growth.
By the way, I think it’s healthy that we differ in our passion about these areas. If I were to ask you to rank these as to their importance to you personally, I think we’d see that we have a mix in the congregation. Some of you are really concerned about discipleship. Others of you long for deeper fellowship. Still others of you are pumped up about evangelism. This isn’t necessarily bad, because our diversity will enable us to work in each area, without neglecting any one of them as a church.
Often the areas we want to see emphasized in the church correlate with our spiritual gifts. For many years I focused almost exclusively on evangelism. In fact, I thought it was the most important of the church’s responsibilities many times to the neglect of the other instructions God put on the label.
But, then I realized something. If I just focus on the lost without cultivating a worshiping, growing heart, and if I don’t strive to build authentic community with other believers, I will short-circuit what God intended.
I am now committed to a more balanced approach. I long to worship God in the splendor of His holiness, to be transformed by the life-changing power of the Word of God, to cry out to God in believing prayer, to live in real community with other believers, to minister and serve using my spiritual gifts, and to boldly tell others the gospel.
Jesus teaches the same thing when He challenges us to live out both the Great Commandment and the Great Commission. The Great Commandment in Mark 12:30-31, says this: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: Love your neighbor as yourself.” The Great Commandment correlates with the middle 4 letters of IMPACT:
Ministry
Prayer
Adoration
Caring
In the Great Commission, as found in Matthew 28:19-20, Jesus challenges us to “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you…” The Great Commission speaks to the first and last letters of our acrostic:
Instruction
Telling Others
It’s my prayer that PBC will grow
Up through Adoration and Prayer
In by Caring and Mobilizing for Ministry
And Out by Instructing and Telling Others the Gospel.
Who Makes an Impact?
As I’ve been thinking about the early church recently, it strikes me how ordinary each of the first members were. They certainly were not superstars. Unfortunately, many of us tend to see them as superhuman. We imagine saintly figures in stained glass, people who were somehow different from the rank and file of humanity.
Scripture reveals just the opposite. They were ordinary people subject to the same weaknesses and shortcomings we all experience. Jesus appeared to go out of His way to find a group of followers who had little claim to greatness apart from their willingness to believe and obey Him.
If you were going to pick a dozen guys to change the world, would you have picked this team of people? Imagine what would have happened if Jesus had submitted the resumes of His staff to a modern management group. The results might read something like this:
Thank you for submitting the resumes of the 12 men you’re considering for management positions in your new organization. All of them have taken our battery of tests.
It is our staff’s unanimous opinion that most of the nominees are lacking in qualifications for the type of enterprise you are undertaking.
We find that Simon Peter is emotionally unstable and given to fits of anger. He seems far too impulsive to be put in a position of oversight. Andrew has absolutely no qualities of leadership. The brothers James and John place personal interest above company loyalty. And they seem to be impatient with others.
Thomas demonstrates a questioning attitude that could tend to undermine morale. We feel it is our duty to tell you that Matthew has been blacklisted by the Greater Jerusalem Better Business Bureau.
In closing, one of the candidates shows great potential. He is a man of ability, resourcefulness, and ambition. We recommend Judas Isacariot as your Chief Financial Officer and right-hand man. All the other profiles are self-explanatory.
If you were to look at the people God used in Scripture and in contemporary history, you would discover that God has always gone out of His way to find individuals who didn’t look as though they would amount to much. This is great news because it gives you and me the assurance that God can use us just as surely and as powerfully as He used those men and women.
So, what’s the key? Who does God use to make an impact? Supersaints? Heroes? Pious religious people? No. Listen to the words of 1 Chronicles 16:9, “For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him.”
The key is devotion. We need to remember that the depth of our devotion determines our impact. God is not looking all over the earth for strong people, for great people, for perfect people, or even for religious people. This morning, as He scans the congregation at PBC, He’s looking for devoted disciples, for men and women, and boys and girls who are fully committed to Him. A regular person who He can pour His strength out on.
In order for that to happen, we need to be completely committed and dangerously devoted. We need to be exactly like those first believers in the early church.
They Devoted Themselves
Look with me at the first three words of Acts 2:42. These are important words because they serve as the foundation for everything that comes after: They devoted themselves.
First of all, who are they? Look up at Acts 2:41 for our first clue. This group was made up of 3,000 brand new believers who devoted themselves immediately after conversion. They joined the original 11 disciples, plus Matthias who took Judas’ place. Acts 1:14 tells us that several women, Mary the mother of Jesus, and the brothers of Jesus were also in this first church.
The early church included men and women in various stages of spiritual growth much like in our churches today. Disciples like Peter and John were drinking coffee and eating donuts with brand-new believers from Crete and Egypt. Older saints with mixing it up with teenagers. Fishermen with farmers. Merchants with wholesalers. Shepherds with salesmen.
They were an amalgamation of regular, ordinary people from all walks of life. Men and women with families to support, work to pursue, and personal matters to attend to. And, most of them had only one thing in common Jesus.
People who had been followers for awhile made a decision to devote themselves. Others who had just recently come to Christ joined them. Let me pause here to make an application.
It doesn’t matter if you have been a Christian for many years God wants you to become fully devoted. It’s not too late. Maybe you remember a time when your walk with Him was closer than it is now. Don’t allow guilt to keep you from Him.
If you’re a relatively new Christian, don’t slide into casual Christianity. God wants you to be completely committed. Don’t put it off. There’s an act of the will here it didn’t happen automatically. These Christ-followers decided to become sold-out, to give it their all to the one who gave His all for all people.
Now, what did they do? The NIV says that they devoted themselves. The NASB renders it continually devoting themselves. Literally it means that they were continuing steadfastly. The idea is to give “one’s self continually…to be steadfastly attentive unto.”
This phrase is captured and clarified in other Scripture references.
The word is used in Ruth 1:18, after Ruth makes her famous speech to Naomi, “Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me.” After hearing Ruth’s determination, verse 18 says, “When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.” The idea here is that Ruth was so devoted to Naomi, that there was no way anyone could change her mind. That’s the thought in Acts 2 as well these Christ-followers were so completely devoted to being Impact players, that there was no way anyone could talk them out of it.
This idea is further developed in Luke 10:51 where we read of Jesus’ determination to head to Jerusalem, “As the time approached for Him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem.” The KJV reads, “He steadfastly set His face.” Just as there was no stopping Jesus from what He came to accomplish, so too the early church was resolutely steadfast in their devotion.
After Jesus appeared to his followers for 40 days after His resurrection, it was time for Him to head back to heaven. Jesus was taken up before their very eyes. Acts 1:10 reads like this, “They were looking intently up into the sky as He was going…” The picture here is not one of a half-hearted glance but rather a full-blown stare that captivated their total attention.
Now, let me see if I can put this together. When Acts 2:42 says that these first believers devoted themselves it means that they were intently steadfast and resolutely determined like Ruth was with Naomi, like Jesus was about going to the Cross, and like the disciples were as they stared up into Heaven. This was no casual Christianity. They were drop dead serious about their faith. They were deeply devoted. Completely committed. Sold-out and Fired-up. They knew that the depth of their devotion would determine their impact.
These guys had to be radicals, right? Maybe they were. But, maybe they weren’t.
Here’s a truly radical thought. The early church leaders were simply living their Christian lives according to what Jesus taught. What you and I consider to be radical behavior was nothing more than a sincere attempt to live obediently. What many of us consider normal Christian living today compared to what the first church experienced is not normal at all. It’s woefully inadequate and, as a result, pitifully ineffective.
I read something just this week that relates to this point. It was written by a pastor:
Normal isn’t good enough. Normal isn’t what Acts 2 talks about. Normal isn’t enough to beat back the gates of hell. We are called to build a community of men and women who are in vital union with the Father. We are called to participate in the redemptive work of Christ.
Going South?
That leads to some tough questions, doesn’t it? Am I sliding spiritually? Have I been taking my Christianity too casually? Have I settled for “normal” living when God is calling me to be intently devoted?
Have you ever noticed that our human tendency is to go “south”? Left to ourselves, we don’t somehow just drift to greater commitment. If we don’t work at our marriages, we end up moving apart, becoming more like roommates instead of soul-mates. If we just coast as parents, our kids end up on the short end of the stick. None of us ever drift in a northbound direction.
We are always either drawing nearer to God or falling away. There really are no holding patterns. In fact, if you think you’re just holding your own spiritually, you’re probably starting to head south, you may just not notice it -- yet.
Friends, we’re all in this together. We want our church to make an impact. As individuals, we want to make a kingdom difference. And yet, without making a conscious decision to become fully devoted to Christ, it simply won’t happen.
Karl Heim paints a sobering picture of the church in America with these words:
The church is like a ship on whose deck festivities are still kept up and glorious music is heard, while deep below the waterline a leak has been sprung and masses of water are pouring in, so that the vessel is settling hourly lower, though the pumps are manned day and night.
What will keep us afloat into the new millennium? Better yet, what will enable us to go “full steam” ahead so that we can make an eternal impact? Devotion. Devotion. Devotion. An unwavering commitment to be sold-out to Christ and to His church. He’s looking for believers who understand that the depth of their devotion will determine their impact.
It was D.L. Moody who said, “The world has yet to see what a man or woman totally devoted to Christ can do.” Do you want to be that man? Do you want to be that woman?
Communion
As we transition into Communion this morning, I want us to use this time to do some business with God. Listen to the words of 1 Corinthians 11:27-29: (read passage).
One reason Jesus gave us this ordinance is because He knows all about our tendency to head south spiritually. He knows that we get lazy. He knows that sometimes we put our lives on cruise control. And, He knows that sometimes we just plain get busy and forget.
The Bread - 1 Corinthians 11:23-24
As the men distribute the bread, lets remember what Jesus went through for us his bruised body, His bloody wounds, His sacrificial life. It might be helpful for you to close your eyes. He gave His life so that we can be free from our sins. He tells us to take the bread to remember His body so that we don’t forget what He went through on our behalf. And, when He launched His church, He gave you and me 6 key lifestyle areas to focus on. Remember what He did for you right now.
The Cup - 1 Corinthians 11:25-26
He tells us to drink the cup so that we don’t forget about His blood that was shed to cancel our sin debt and to inaugurate the new covenant. As we think about His shed blood, lets Reassess how we are doing on the “Devotion” barometer.
Have you settled into a comfortable, casual Christianity? Be honest with God He already knows. If you were to put a % on the depth of your devotion, what number would you give yourself? 50%? 75%? 95%? I heard someone say once that if I’m 99% sold-out to Christ, I’m still 1% short. What about you? Take some time to reassess.
Having Remembered, and having Reassessed the depth of our devotion, I want to encourage you right now to Recommit yourself to be a resolutely determined follower of Christ. Do it right now. No holds barred. If you want to make an impact with your life, it’s absolutely imperative to become deeply devoted to Christ and to His cause.
This recommitment is deeply personal and yet it has a corporate element as well. Listen again to the first three words of Acts 2:42: “They devoted themselves.”
I’m wondering if we could demonstrate our corporate commitment to Christ and to His cause right now. I’m going to ask you to stand if you’re ready to recommit yourselves as a church to be steadfastly devoted and to seek ways to live out the 6 key ingredients on God’s instruction tag.
Stand right now if you are ready to make this commitment.
