2002: The Paradigm of Spiritual Passion ¡V Part Two
¡§Our Window of Opportunity¡¨
Acts 2:42-47
„¦Larry L. Thompson (1-27-2002)
Introduction:
This great country that we love has been given what I believe is one more chance, one more window of opportunity, to return to our spiritual heritage and reclaim this land for the glory of the Lord. However, the window of opportunity is closing quickly and if there is to be a change it must come from the Christians of this land. Therein lays our problem. We have created a culture of Christians who are program driven but not driven by spiritual passion. Thus, since the tragic act of terrorism of September 11, 2001 the change is there for the taking and yet the church remains status quo, business as usual.
„X We rejoice that our nation has a strong military but we live with a foundation of weak morality!
„X We take pride in the practice of our religion but there is no evidence of passion or maturity in our relationship with Christ!
„X We are apathetic to the fact that there is no distinguishable difference between the believers and the non-believers!
„X We pride ourselves that we can produce a pageant that is viewed worldwide but we can¡¦t find a place in our schedule to ask the people next door to join us for worship!
„X We can talk of building better buildings but we have yet to consistently build and mature the Christian to grow into a biblical believer that impacts this culture!
„X We spend years and millions of dollars to design programs that will stimulate the growth of the church instead of intentionally developing and equipping disciples with a spiritual passion to do use their gifts and talents.
„X We desire that the world respect us as a church instead of seeking the respect of Christ by building radical relationships with Him and with one another.
Yes, we have a window of opportunity but we must act now. We must make a conscious shift from the program driven paradigm to the passion driven paradigm in which we study the Biblical process by which we use our spiritual passion to grow in Christ and become mature disciples of the Messiah. Only through spiritual growth in maturing the disciple will the spiritual passion be evident and measurable. Only when the passion is evident will the church, which made a commitment to the spiritual development of the believer, begin to see that spiritual passion touch every aspect of our society.
Last week we had near unanimous consensus that spiritual passion is a biblical principle. What we need today is to begin to understand how to allow the Spirit of God to provide the spiritual conviction through the study of His word that this is the course of action that we must take. There is a difference between consensus and conviction.
Only when the believers in the Body are convicted that we must participate in a biblical process that will result in spiritual maturity will the church be the church that we have read about in Acts 2:42-47!
¡§They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. [43] Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. [44] All the believers were together and had everything in common. [45] Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. [46] 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, [47] praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.¡¨
Can we make that paradigm shift from program to passion, from consensus to conviction? Can the evangelical church in America once again impact and influence our culture? The answer is YES, we can make the shift but the window of opportunity is closing the work ahead will take nothing short of radical commitment to change direction and fulfill the Godly expectations that we read from His Word.
In today¡¦s message I will look at two areas related to this, ¡§Window of Opportunity¡¨ that is before us:
I. OUR REASONS FOR COURAGE [ACTS 2:42-47]
a. THE HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE: IT¡¦S HAPPENED ONCE, IT CAN HAPPEN AGAIN.
Acts 2:42 ¡§They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.¡¨
The word ¡§devoted¡¨ is the Greek word, ¡§Proskartereo¡¨, pros-car-ter-eh’-o; Originates from two Greek words (pros) and (kartereo); ¡§To be earnest towards, to persevere, be constantly diligent, or (in a place) to attend assiduously all the exercises, or (to a person) to adhere closely to (as one who serves), to attend (give self) continually, to wait on (continually).¡¨
What we must understand is this: The FIRST CHURCH of JERUSALEM did not meet and vote to get a consensus that this was the direction they were going to take in the building of God¡¦s church on this earth. They were acting out of spiritual conviction that this is what God was directing in their lives. They had the example of their spiritual leaders such as Peter on the day of Pentecost. Their leadership was prepared to lead¡Kbut how?
Notice what Christ did not do in preparing the 12 disciples to turn this world upside down with the Gospel¡K
„X He didn¡¦t have them focus on the politics of the day
„X He did have them attempt to compromise with the religious structure of the day.
„X He didn¡¦t tell them to develop a focus on programs to instruct people.
So what did Christ do to get His followers to this place of maturity that we read about in Acts 2?
„X He poured HIS LIFE into these men and gave them His life and His message so that they could infiltrate their culture with a transformed life and a passionate desire to serve God and to build others to serve God. It was done by CONVICTION and not by CONSENSUS. They were not only willing to die in the process, they did give their lives. It was an improbable strategy but it worked and we have this historical perspective as an encouragement that if God has done it once through a surrendered life then He can do it again.
In Acts 2:42-47 the Church, operating under spiritual conviction, devoted themselves to four areas of spiritual disciplines:
1. DOCTRINE: This is the teaching of the disciples who were convicted by the Word of the Lord (Matt. 28:19-20) to go and make other disciples. Their teaching would be no different. There is only one message, only one Word that saves and roots and grounds people in the Lord¡Xthe Word of God Himself, the message of the New Testament. On the day of Pentecost, the persons who were saved needed to be grounded in the faith, the exact same way we who commit our lives to Christ need to be grounded in His word. And the only message that could ground them was the message found in the Word of God. It was that message, that doctrine they were taught.
2. FELLOWSHIP: The fellowship brought by the Spirit of God means more than the association existing in secular groups such as civic clubs and community bodies. There is a vast difference between secular or social participation and spiritual participation. Secular participation is based upon neighborly association. Spiritual participation is based upon a spiritual union that has been brought about by the Spirit of God.
The distinctiveness is this: the Holy Spirit is within the Christian believer. The Holy Spirit creates a spiritual union by melting and molding the heart of the Christian believer to the hearts of other believers. He attaches the life of one believer to the lives of other believers. Through the Spirit of God, believers become one in life and purpose. They have a joint life sharing their blessings and needs and gifts together. Notice several things about fellowship that are taught by this passage.
a. Fellowship is being experienced by the believers as they join other Christians in learning the Scriptures (apostles¡¦ teachings) and in worship (prayers and celebrating the Lord¡¦s Supper, Acts 2:41-42).
b. Fellowship forbids an unattached Christian life. Their fellowship is maintained because they ¡§continue steadfastly¡¨ in the Scriptures and in worship. An unattached Christian life is impossible.
c. Christianity is first an individual matter, but then it becomes a spiritually corporate matter. The Christian is attached to Christ individually, but then he is also attached to other believers. He walks with other believers in the Scriptures and in worship.
d. Christianity makes the true believer a saint (one who is set apart unto God), but Christianity is made up of saints¡Xplural. Christianity is not just one person; Christianity is a plurality of many persons¡Xsaints. The word is often used in the New Testament, but it is never used in the singular. Christianity is Christianity because the saints study the Scriptures together and worship together.
3. COMMUNION: The phrase ¡§breaking of bread¡¨ means the early believers observed and remembered the Lord¡¦s death. They set aside some time to observe what churches call communion, or the Lord¡¦s Supper, or the Eucharist. Notice they observed the Lord¡¦s Supper daily (Acts 2:46). Why did they observe it so often?
a. The Lord¡¦s Supper was the one ordinance Christ had given to symbolize His death. And it was His death that had saved them. Because of His death, they were now...
„X Reconciled to God.
„X In fellowship with God.
„X Made new creatures in God.
„X Infilled with the Spirit of God.
„X Bearing all the fruit of God (Galatians 5:22-23).
b. All they now were and had was due to the death of Christ. They wanted to remember and thank God for His great love demonstrated in the death of His Son, and to do it often. The Lord had also commanded His followers to observe the Lord¡¦s Supper often!
4. PRAYER: The early believers were a people who persevered in prayer¡Xthe idea is the church joined in prayer, united prayer with the whole body of believers. Through prayer they were brought into the most intimate fellowship and presence of God. They could get no closer to God than when they were drawing nigh to God through prayer.
Psalm 145:18 ¡§The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth.¡¨
Through prayer they received what they needed from God. They received His provision for both their souls and lives; and they received His direction for the church.
b. THE HEAVENLY PROVISION: GOD LOVES US AND HAS PROVIDED THE TOOLS NECESSARY TO IMPACT OUR WORLD
We only need to look at Acts 2:1-4 to understand what the Heavenly Provision that is necessary for us to act on the spiritual passion that Christ has given us to then participate in the Biblical process of becoming a fully devoted follower of Jesus Christ, a maturing disciple. The Spirit of God filled them individually and filled their church corporately.
A critical point is often ignored and neglected. The command to be filled with the Spirit is still God¡¦s command to every believer, both individually and corporately (the church). ¡§Be filled with the Spirit¡¨ (Eph. 5:18).
II. OUR RESPONSE TO CONVICTION
When we have responded to the Spirit of God and we are directed by spiritual conviction to act as a result of the spiritual passion that dwells within us then there will be two very obvious commitments that come about as a result to this conviction.
a. A COMMITMENT TO GOD¡¦S WORD: WE MUST TRANSFER OUR TRUST FROM OURSELVES, OUR INGENUITY AND TRUST IN HIM, IN HIS INSTRUCTIONS AND IN HIS STRENGTH, POWER AND PROVISION! Again, we go back to Acts 2:42 and we find the believers committed to the teaching of the Word of God and to acting in obedience to the teaching of God¡¦s word. THEY RECEIVED THE WORD.
b. A COMMITMENT TO GROWTH: BOTH AS INDIVIDUALS AND AS A CORPORATE BODY WE AS THE CHURCH MUST ACKNOWLEDGE WHAT IS MISSING AND WE MUST SUBMIT TO A BIBLICAL PROCESS TO SPRITUAL GROWTH WHICH WILL MEAN SPIRITUAL CHANGE IN OUR LIVES AND GOD WILL USE THE SPIRITUAL PASSION TO MATURE US AS HIS DISCIPLES. As the early church submitted to the teaching of the apostles and received the word they then acted in obedience to the word and the end result was that the church began maturing in spiritual and numerical growth.
THE END RESULT IS THAT THE CHURCH WAS PRODUCING SPIRITUAL MATURE DISCIPLES FOR CHRIST THAT WERE LIVING IN RADICAL RELATIONSHIP WITH HIIM AND WITH ONE ANOTHER. AS A RESULT OF THIS LIFESTYLE THEIR CULTURE AND THEIR WORLD WAS CHANGED. EVERYWHERE THEY WENT, THEY IMPACTED THEIR CULTURE FOR THE GLORY AND HONOR OF CHRIST.
CONCLUSION:
If we are serious about really reaching people and seeing God¡¦s church make a similar impact on South Florida that the church of Acts 2 made on Jerusalem then we must join together and know that it can be done and it must be done. There has never been a greater window of opportunity to influence our culture than at this time and at this place in our history. We can make a difference! We can see the vision that Christ has given to us become a reality. We can become:
¡§A BIBLICALLY BASED INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY OF BELIEVERS GLORIFYING JESUS CHRIST TOGETHER BY BUILDING RADICAL RELATIONSHIPS FOR LIFE.¡¨
The window is open for what I believe could be one last time and NOW is the time to act, now is the time for a new paradigm of spiritual passion that leads to the mature development of disciples in the Body of Christ! I am so convinced of this missing piece that I will spend the rest of my days in ministry working toward the establishment of this biblical process¡KI would ask, by the conviction of the Spirit for you to join with me.
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