A PEOPLE WITH PURPOSE:
GIVING UP ON BEING GOD
Acts 2:42-47
S: Church
C: Purpose of the Community
Th: A People with Purpose
Pr: WE ARE DEVOTED TO THE TRUTH.
?: Why?
KW: Reasons
TS: We will find in our study based on Acts 2.42 three reasons why we should be devoted to the truth in Scripture.
Type: Propositional
The ____ reason is its…
I. AUTHORITY (II Timothy 3.16)
II. LIFE (Hebrews 4.12)
III. MESSAGE (John 3.16)
PA: How is the change to be observed?
• We are to be diligent in its study.
• We are to be obedient to its command.
• We are to hear God speak.
Version: ESV
RMBC 22 January 06 AM
INTRODUCTION:
How well do you know the Bible?
ILL Bible: quiz
Let’s start with a multiple choice…
The book of Hezekiah comes before…
a) Isaiah
b) Jeremiah
c) Zechariah
Well, the answer is (d) which is none of those, because Hezekiah is not a book in the Bible.
Which sport is mentioned first in the Bible?
a) Baseball
b) Tennis
c) Shuffleboard
It is (a), for in Genesis 1.1 it states, “In the big inning…”
Who is the first person to play tennis in the Bible?
a) Noah
b) Jacob
c) Joseph
Well it was (c) Joseph because he served in Pharaoh’s court.
How about some short answer…
Which Bible character had no parents?
Joshua, son of Nun.
And…what kind of man was Boaz before he got married?
Ruth-less
TRANSITION:
Our theme for the year is “A People with Purpose.”
And I hope that you have noticed that our theme verse for the year is Acts 2.42.
It is in Acts 2.42 we discover that…
1. The early church was characterized by devotion and purpose (Acts 2.42).
They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. (NIV)
Last week, we considered the phrase “to the fellowship,” and discussed the importance of community in the church setting.
This week, we are studying an earlier part of this verse – the apostle’s teaching.
As we noted two weeks ago, the apostles taught from the Hebrew Scriptures, probably a Greek version that scholars call the Septuagint.
But they had much more to go on.
They had lived with Jesus, so they shared His sayings and stories about Him.
They taught the importance of His death and resurrection.
And they explained the priority of godly living.
Of course, they began to record these matters.
They wrote them down.
And all these writings were gathered together in what is now called the New Testament.
As the church progressed, they possessed the conviction that the writings o the apostles carried the same weight of the Hebrew Scriptures.
That is an understanding that we share today as well.
When it comes to having a devotion to the apostles’ teaching, this is something that is true for every Christian.
You know, I understand that I have a wonderful calling and a terrific job.
I have the opportunity to study the Bible for a living and teach it to you and encourage you to live it.
But the study of Scripture is not just for teachers and pastors.
It is essential for every Christian to devote themselves to the study of God’s Word.
That is a strong statement, and I hope you understand that…
Let me repeat that…
It is essential for every Christian to devote themselves to the study of God’s Word.
You see…
2. The Word needs to get into us (Colossians 3.16).
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
I have been working on some memory verses lately and this is one of them.
I tell you, this phrase, dwell in you richly, has captured my heart
God wants His Word dwell inside of us, to live in us.
And He wants us to live there richly – a lot – abundantly.
But here is the problem, if you and I are not spending time getting the Bible in us, we will never know its truth.
ILL Bible: Barna
According to a Barna Research Group survey, less than 50% of Americans open the Bible in a given week. 82% think that “God helps those who help themselves” is directly from the Bible; 63% cannot name the four Gospels; 58% do not know that Jesus preached the Sermon on the Mount; 52% do not know the book of Jonah is in the Bible.
Those are kind of scary statistics.
But, as Christians, here is where we must stand…
3. WE ARE DEVOTED TO THE TRUTH.
This morning, the question we want to ask is “why”?
Why are we devoted to the truth found in the Bible.
Well…
4. We will find in our study based on Acts 2.42 three reasons why we should be devoted to the truth in Scripture.
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 the proceeds 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.
OUR STUDY:
I. The first reason is its AUTHORITY (II Timothy 3.16-17).
ILL Bible: Scripture comes in handy
Michelle consistently attempted to teach her children the "please and thank you" of polite society. She also helped them memorize Scripture.
So one day, her 4-year-old son, John, was tussling and wrestling with her in a good-natured contest. Losing the battle, he wanted to be released.
"What’s the magic word?" encouraged Michelle, ready to comply with his wish.
"Let my people go … (Exodus 8:1)," came the reply.
Thelma Baddorf, Dillsburg, Penn. "Lite Fare," Christian Reader.
See…
Knowing Scripture can be handy!
It has a certain authority to it, doesn’t it?
Well, we do believe this…
We believe God’s Word is superior to our word.
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.
This verse demonstrates the superiority of Scripture.
And it challenges us to give up on being God.
You see…
What we say is not equal to what God says.
What we have received from him is a true authority in our lives.
This is reinforced by our own doctrinal statement…
THE HOLY BIBLE: We believe that “all Scripture is God breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.” We, therefore, believe that the very words of Scripture are the only complete and final revelation from God and are the supreme standard of all faith and practice. We further believe that Scripture “never had its origin in the will of man but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” (II Timothy 3:16; II Peter 1:21)
Although the concept of absolute truth is not a popular concept in today’s world, we understand that Scripture is the truth, speaks the truth, and contains the truth we need to know about God and how to live.
Which brings us to…
II. The second reason is its LIFE (Hebrews 4.12; Jeremiah 15.16a).
We believe God’s Word guides us to the good life.
For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart…
As human beings, we have a tendency to make light of things that are dead serious (I know to my own shame that I do this too often!).
We try to rework something to not be sin when it really is.
But when we read God’s word, it reaches right down into us.
It tells us the truth.
It convicts us.
It is able to get into our very heart, where we make our decisions.
It challenges us to be right with Him, to delight in what He says, and enjoy life – the good life that he offers to us.
ILL Bible: Warren
I like how Rick Warren has described the Bible is The Purpose Driven Life:
“The Bible is far more than a doctrinal guidebook. God’s Word generates life, creates faith, produces change, frightens the Devil, causes miracles, heals hurts, builds character, transforms circumstances, imparts joy, overcomes adversity, defeats temptation, infuses hope, releases power, cleanses our minds, brings things into being, and guarantees our future forever!”
You see…
When you open the Bible you open a guidebook and an encyclopedia on how to live life at its best.
It steers us in the right direction, directing us to a full and satisfying life.
III. The third reason is its MESSAGE (John 3.16).
We believe that God loves us passionately, deeply and personally.
Hear the very core of what we call the “good news”!
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
Do you know why we invite people to the Super Bowl Party?
It is so much more than football.
I invited my neighbor, not because he is a project.
But because I believe that God loves him passionately, deeply and personally.
We serve a good God!
We serve a good God who wants us to give up on trying to do a better job at life than He does.
We have a good God who wants us to know a good life.
ILL God: Lucado
I like how what Max Lucado communicates this thought…
“God loves you just the way you are, but He refuses to leave you that way. ¬ He wants you to be just like Jesus.”
God doesn’t want us to stay just the way we are.
He’s in the business of changing lives.
And He uses His Word to do that.
APPLICATION:
ILL Listen: Pig!
A man is driving up a steep, narrow mountain road. A woman is driving down the same road.
As they pass each other, the woman leans out of the window and yells "PIG!!!"
The man immediately leans out of his window and replies, "WITCH!!!"
They each continue on their way, and as the man rounds the next corner, he crashes into a pig in the middle of the road.
If only men would listen.
Actually, regardless of gender, we need to…
1. Be a listener.
We need to get the discipline of getting the Word of God in our head.
We need to expose ourselves to the truth.
Now, we have been doing that during this time this morning, right?
We have been hearing Scripture spoken.
During this time now, we have been hearing it explained.
And there are other opportunities as well…
…Sunday School
…Evening Services (note Praise and Worship)
…Small group and Bible study opportunities
We need to use these occasions to expose ourselves and be devoted to the truth.
When we do this, we will…
2. Find out the life-giving change it brings.
We can never settle for hearing it though.
God does not want us just to fill our heads with knowledge about Him.
It needs to move from our heads and into our hearts.
This is important because when it is in our hearts, we are moved to action.
Now I realize that there may be some here today that are skeptical about all this.
You may be thinking that we have taken a huge leap of faith to believe in all this stuff, to accept this book as God’s words to us.
Perhaps you think that we are even a little bit nutty (I can understand this).
If you are thinking this way, may I place a challenge before you…read the Bible (start with the shortest biography about Jesus called Mark)…and obey it.
Whenever you read something that you know is an example worth following…dare to obey it.
And here is what I believe will happen…
I believe these words are so powerful, that you will see a change in your life that you will have a hard time explaining away, except to say that these words have their source God Himself.
Finally I want to encourage us all (including myself) to go beyond being a listener and…
3. Be diligent in its study (II Timothy 2.15).
Study and be eager and do your utmost to present yourself to God approved (tested by trial), a workman who has no cause to be ashamed, correctly analyzing and accurately dividing [rightly handling and skillfully teaching] the Word of Truth. (Amplified Version)
One of the privileges that I have had over the last five or six summers is to spend a week at Camp Hickory Hill.
One of the greatest phenomena you will observe when you are there is how many of these young men doing their “devos” before the day is starting.
It is so encouraging to see young men, unhurried, in reading and studying Scripture.
It reflects to me a devotion to God.
And that is what it is really all about…
You may remember a couple of weeks ago, that I spoke to you in a change in my understanding about devotions.
I wanted to move away from the requirement of doing devotions (reading, praying and journaling) and move to a time of devotion, reflecting a desire to be with God, not just a daily requirement to check off the list.
And this is where we want to go…from a “have to” to a “want to.”
In other words, I want to transition from “I am required to spend time with God” to “I want to spend time with God.”
It is a subtle, but powerful difference.
But in the midst of all this, remember what the time of devotion is all about…what the study is really for… (you may want to write this down).
We need to transition from head to heart to hands…
For information is not enough.
We are to move from information to inward transformation.
And then we move from inward transformation to outward reformation.
In other words, we move from the head to the heart to the hands.
And it is then, we truly live and enjoy a good life.
BENEDICTION: [Counselors are ]
Let’s be devoted to the truth…and get it into our heads…let us put forth the wonderful effort of reading, studying, memorizing and really knowing His words to us (but let’s not stay there)…
Let’s be devoted to the truth…and get it into our hearts…let us know His Word with understanding and reach into the depths of our beings…opening our souls the truth about us, even the ugly parts…
Let’s be devoted to the truth…and get it into our hands…because then we know that we truly have been changed…for information leads to transformation which leads to reformation…and we become more like Christ and act like it.
Now may the God of peace equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
RESOURCES:
Books:
Barclay, William. The Acts of the Apostles. Revised ed. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1977.
Bruce, F. F. Commentary on the Book of the Acts The New International Commentary on the New Testament, ed. F. F. Bruce. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1975.
MacArthur, John, Jr. Acts 1-12 The MacArthur New Testament Commentary. Chicago: Moody Press, 1994.
Stott, John R. W. The Spirit, the Church, and the World. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1990.
SermonCentral:
Bill, Brian “Instructing in God’s Word”
Brownworth, Russell “Teach One Another”
Cole, Jason “Are You Devoted to the Apostles’ Teaching?”
Ellis, Ray “People of the Word”
Huss, Davon “The Word of Christ”
