Life Together

Amen. So good to see you this morning. It's an honor to be opening up God's Word with you and grateful we get to do that together in this fellowship. I want to tell you about a experience that I got to have this past week, and it was one that I didn't think I would ever have, although I was interested in it. I went skydiving. Has anybody else been skydiving? Yeah, I had heard all about it and, you know, a couple barriers, a couple hesitations. You know, really the biggest one is it took a lot of time. You know, that was my main reason for not ever wanting to do it. It's a little expensive. And then there's that jumping out of the airplane part that maybe got in the way from time to time. But I had somebody come and offer this to me, you can experience skydiving and it would be free to me, all right. It wouldn't take a whole lot of time, and they guaranteed that it wouldn't be risky or concerning at all. And I was like, "All right." And I had heard that skydiving is exhilarating, that it is, you know, life-changing potentially, that it's one of those things that you have to experience for yourself and it's hard to describe. And I gotta tell you, in doing this, this opportunity to experience skydiving, it was all right, it didn't live up to the hype that I had heard. Like, it was enjoyable. You know, the view was pretty good and some things I have to see, here's some pictures that you see here. That's kind of my view looking out there. And you can see the ground below me here. And then if you look kind of at the hand, it was really realistic, but it just didn't really lead up to the hype. And so tonight I'm gonna try space walking and see if that's a little bit more realistic of the hype that I've been hearing. So yeah, you know, I think some of you were like, "You didn't go skydiving." I could tell you were skeptical from the beginning. The truth is that many people have this same experience related to Christian community, related to the church. You know, they've heard all the hype, they maybe have a friend or some friends who they love being part of the church. They feel like their small group is so meaningful and impactful, they don't know what they would do unless they had their brothers and sisters in Christ. And others hear that and they're like, "Oh, I just, I've been to church, I've listened to 100 sermons on YouTube, I've been a part of a small group before, and it just doesn't live up to the hype." Their experience doesn't live up to the hype that they've heard. Maybe that person's you today, and if it is, I have good news for you, we're gonna examine the true living and vibrant reality of life in Christian community. And I promise you it does live up to the hype. But we're gonna examine today the difference between that and a lesser reality, a virtual reality if we could say it that way. And I want us to examine what makes the difference. And I want you all, and me as well to ask the question, am I experiencing the true and vibrant reality of Christian community? Or am I experiencing a lesser virtual reality of it? Now maybe you say, "John, isn't this what you're talking about? Isn't this Christian community? I mean, here we are together, we're having teaching, we're singing, we're in fellowship with one another. Isn't this Christian community?" Well, yes, and maybe. Yes, some of the things that we're doing today are important and valuable components of a healthy Christian community. And in fact, we're gonna open up to Acts 2, that's our text for today. You can turn there. I wanna just peek at verse 42 where it describes some of the same things that the early believers were participating in. Acts 2:42 says this, "They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer." So, many of the same things that we're doing today, many of the same things you would think of are described right here for early believers. And we're gonna dig into that in just a moment. But I think the question is, if that's what defines Christian community, then why do so many people approach it, do those things, and are left lacking, left with a hollow let down experience? Well, I think for us to understand that, I wanna back up a little bit from that passage and understand not just what it is that the early church was devoted to, but why they were devoted to that. Why these early believers who we're reading about, why they got to that place. You don't have to turn here, but in John 14, before Jesus' death and burial and resurrection, He told His disciples that when He went back to the Father, when He returned and ascended to the Father, He was gonna send the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, to be with them, to remind them of everything that He taught them, to help them. And in Acts 2, where we're gonna be today, this happened. At Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came, we read that it came with a sound like the blowing of a violent wind, and the disciples were all filled with the Holy Spirit and they began to speak in other languages. The scripture says that there were God-fearing Jews from every nation under heaven who were in Jerusalem at the time. And they heard this sound, and they heard these people talking and it got their attention. They were trying to figure out what was happening, especially as they got over there and started to hear a language that is their heart language, their hometown language, that these guys shouldn't know how to speak. This is how they responded. Look at Acts 2:7-12. "Utterly amazed, they asked, 'Aren't all of these who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, and Elamites, residents of the Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontius and Asia, Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, and the parts of Libya near Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and converts to Judaism, Cretans and Arabs, we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!' Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, 'What does this mean?'" I love that question because these people were, their attention was got by the sound of a violent rushing wind, which was God, the Spirit coming to indwell the apostles of Jesus. And then they heard this commotion of these guys who were speaking in other languages that were their languages. They're standing there hearing their native tongue being spoken by a Galilean. And the guy standing next to them who's from a different part of the world altogether is also hearing his home language and they're declaring the wonders of God. So they're amazed and they say, "What does this mean?" And the apostle Peter says, "Hey, glad you asked." And filled with the Spirit, he begins to declare the truth of the gospel. Let's read in chapter 22 and beyond. The apostle Peter says this. "Fellow Israelites, listen to this: Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs, which God did among you through Him, as you yourselves know. This man was handed over to you by God's deliberate plan and foreknowledge, and you, with the help of wicked men, put Him to death by nailing Him to a cross. But God raised Him from the dead, freeing Him from the agony of death because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on Him." Peter speaks of humanity's complicitness in Jesus' death, of their understanding of what was done to Jesus. But he also tells them that this was promised long ago and that Jesus was the fulfillment of those prophecies. He tells them that he, Peter and the other disciples are personal witnesses to these things, that they saw Jesus teach, they saw Jesus do miraculous things. They saw the resurrected Jesus after He was dead and buried and raised to life in power. And Peter also says that certainly Jesus is Lord and Messiah. Look at verse 36 where he says this. It says, "Therefore, let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah." And so he invites them to understand the truth of the gospel. And what's awesome is they respond in belief. Look at verses 37 and 38, "When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, 'Brothers, what shall we do?' Peter replied, 'Repent and be baptized, every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and you'll receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.'" Peter invites them to be a part of the life that he's already living, that the apostles are already living. He gives them an answer to respond because they responded in belief. They responded in understanding the truth of the gospel and wanting to do something with it. And so he invites them to repent of their sin, acknowledge Jesus as Lord and be made new. And he said that the Holy Spirit would come on them and they would be made new, have a brand new life. And in verse 41, we see that many did. "Those that accepted his message were baptized, and about 3,000 were added to their number that day." Isn't that a beautiful, amazing story? What a wonderful account of the truth of scripture here, that we see that 3,000 people were made new in Christ on this day. It's amazing. This group who moments before were from every nation under heaven. They were Medes, and Elamites, Arabs, Judeans, Libyans, Romans, Asians, Cretans, Parthians, Mesopotamians, Cappadocians, Pamphylians, Egyptians, now all Christians. In a moment, God gave them a new identity, gave them a new life, gave them a unified understanding of who they are in Jesus. I wanna just look through how that took place just so we understand the progression, 'cause a lot happened in those verses. The believers in Acts 2 had a new identity in Christ because one, they heard the message of the gospel. They heard the message of the gospel. Peter had the opportunity, filled with the Spirit, to preach the truth of Jesus in certainly a concise way, but in a clear and true way. He presents the message of the gospel to those that were listening. Two, they believed the gospel and responded in surrender. When you hear the statement, "Brothers, what shall we do?" It says they were cut to the heart. God was doing something in their heart. They were receptive to the truth. And they responded by saying, "What shall we do? We wanna do something with this." They were receptive and surrendering to the gospel. And then three, they renounced their old identity and received a new identity in Jesus. Verse 38, look at it again here really quickly. Peter says, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins and you'll receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." He says, "Repent, brothers, repent. Renounce the life of sin that has marked your life so far. Set aside the old things, the old patterns, the old habits, the old priorities. Repent of your life of sin. Reject those and instead put your faith in Jesus. Be baptized in the name of Christ, publicly identify with Jesus declaring that you believe this truth, that you've been made new in Jesus and your allegiance and alignment and identity is now with Jesus instead of with the former things of your life and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." He says that they need to understand this is a gift given to them, that God in the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity will come and indwell them and empower them and animate them. It is God who has done the saving, God who has done the new work and their animation and indwelling of the Spirit is proof that they are now living life dependent on the Spirit. And so, they have a new life in Jesus. This is nothing short of a miraculous holistic transformation of a person, of people. They were transformed by Jesus and became devoted to Jesus. And in doing so, they found an entirely new life in Him. And not only a new life for themselves personally, but a shared reality, a shared identity being grafted in with other believers who have already been walking out this new life in Christ, and this new life reordered everything for them. It changed their priorities. It realigned the things that they cared about. It made them understand differently what they want the most and who they had the most in common with. So this wonderful miraculous transformation takes place for 3,000 people on one day. And then we get to verse 42. Let's look at Acts 2:42 and beyond. We read this before, but let's continue in it. It says, "They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 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, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved." Isn't that beautiful? I mean, what a beautiful picture of believers living in community together. And I'm gonna tell you, they didn't set out to curate this new life. They didn't scroll an Instagram reel and go, "I'm gonna try this 30-day challenge. I'm gonna see if these new habits are gonna help me to feel a little better and feel a little more disciplined." No, they didn't curate a new experience. They received a brand new life. They were made new in Jesus. Their whole life was changed. And as a result of that, everything that they did became a devotion to Jesus and an outflow of those things. They didn't set out to put disciplines in their life because they were new, because they were now devoted to Christ. These things were natural and obvious and an overflow and outcome of what they had received. I mean, think about some of the things we just read about. They were devoted to the apostles' teaching. Of course. Wouldn't you be? You're hanging out in Jerusalem, you hear the sound of rushing wind. You come and hear someone speaking in your own native language, you hear the powerful truth of the gospel proclaimed, and God changes your heart, and makes you new in an instant and you're baptized, and now you're with all these believers and you're going, "I wanna know more. I wanna know what Jesus said, what Jesus did, who Jesus is." And you get to do that alongside the apostles of Jesus, the ones who were there, the ones who were eyewitnesses, the ones who saw Jesus open the eyes of the blind and heal those who were lame, and help people to understand the truth of the kingdom of God. The one who was dead and is now alive. They get to stand with the apostles who saw the firsthand account of the miracles and the teaching of Jesus. Wouldn't you wanna be devoted to the teaching of the apostles? Of course you would be. They were devoted to fellowship. Of course they would be. They all of a sudden had a brand new life and a new identity. The things that they were prioritizing didn't make sense to their friends anymore. Can you imagine? All of a sudden you're going back to your boss or you're going back to your friends and you're saying, "I've decided to sell every possession I have and give it to everyone who has need." And they're going, "What? What are you talking about?" But being devoted to fellowship, other believers in Jesus who also shared in this identity, who understood the truth of the gospel, now they're growing together with those who had everything in common with one another because this is the gift of Christian community. They took care of one another and shared with one another. They were devoted to the breaking of bread. Of course they were. Can you imagine how awesome it would be for 3,000 people to have this experience of gospel transformation? And now you have the chance to invite some of them to your home and say, "Tell me. Tell me who you were before this. Tell me what God saved you from. Tell me your testimony of faith. How are you growing in the Lord? What are you noticing the Holy Spirit doing in your life?" Of course, they would be interested in fellowship and breaking of bread and hospitality. Also, of course they'd be devoted to the breaking of bread through the Lord's supper because they know that their fellowship, that their new life is only found in Jesus. They remember the enormous sacrifice that Christ gave on our behalf that He really did die. He really was crucified on our behalf. And so devotion to the breaking of bread, the sacred and solemn remembrance of that sacrifice was central. They were devoted to prayer. These people were now indwelled with the Holy Spirit. God was living inside them. So, of course they would be devoted to regularly communing with God. Of course they would be regularly devoted to, depending on God. They already know they weren't saved on their own. They can't do it on their own. It's only by His power. So of course they would be devoted to prayer as a part of this new life. Listen, they didn't craft a new life, they didn't set out to create new disciplines, they received a new life. And in receiving new life, they overflowed in a devotion to one another and to Christian community. Church, this is so important to understand and we're gonna walk through some practical applications of it. I want you to write this statement down though. This is kind of our anchor statement for the day. Christian community isn't an experience to pursue, but a shared reality to be devoted to when we find new life in Christ. Christian community isn't an experience to pursue, but a shared reality to be devoted to when we find new life in Christ. If you've heard the gospel, if you've surrendered to it, if you believe that Jesus is who He says he is, and you have received the truth of the gospel in your heart, if you've renounced your old identity, set aside your old ways of sin and stepped into a new life, then you have been given the same life and shared identity with other believers in Jesus. God has given you this and not only as a bonus, not only as a blessing, this isn't just something that, "Oh wow, that's nice. Now I get to have some people who also are interested in Jesus." No, this is the design. God has made us a body. God has made us a people. He's designed us to be in shared community with one another. There's loads of places in the New Testament we can go to to see this teaching, but I'm gonna give you three, very briefly, just to prove that point and help us to see how intentional God is in knowing that we are made one, we are united in Christ, and we are meant to operate that way. Hebrews 10:24 says, "Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another and all the more as you see the day approaching." Romans 12 says, "For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ, we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others." Or how about 1 Peter 4, "Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God's grace in its various forms." We're meant to be together, to work together, to be unified in Christ. We need each other. This is the design of community together as believers. And I want us to recognize that Christian community is different than any other kind of community. That there are other community types, but Christian community is unique, distinct. And although we can get tripped up sometimes because they look the same from the outside, they have similar attributes from time to time, at their core, their essence, their foundation, they're fundamentally different. Okay? Christian community is built on Christ. Christian community is built on Christ. It's a spiritual community, a supernatural community, a community formed by Christ consisting of those who are in Christ grounded in the truth of Christ, and for the purpose of growing in Christ-likeness in each of us. And we realize that we can't manufacture this on our own, but it is the Holy Spirit indwelling us and filling us that allows us to have this unity in Christian community built on Christ. On the other hand, human community is built on self. It's built on self, it's built on desire, it's built on self-interest. Its motivation is what can I gain? What can I experience? What do I lack that I can fill? It's built on self. It's formed by personal preferences. It's formed by pleasure. Its value is for some sense of accomplishment or some sort of nobility. A lot of times human community is formed around that, a noble cause that we can get our arms around together. Or maybe it's built around a shared sense of need, or a shared sense of loss, or a shared sense of a gap. Again, those things aren't wrong in themselves, but they are, at their core, human communities. And if we're not careful, we don't realize that those things are built on self and they can masquerade as something else. I want you to look at this picture. This is a picture of the Sunday Assembly. Two people, Sanderson Jones and Pippa Evans launched the first Sunday Assembly in 2013 in London. And today they have over 20 locations all around the world. And you see here, some of their gatherings, they spend time on Sundays sharing, teaching, singing songs, connecting with one another, gladly welcoming guests to come and participate. They have small groups. And listen, I say this hesitantly because I don't like shortening things. It gets annoying for me. They call 'em smoops. Let's not adopt that for us, okay? Their small groups are called smoops, they're centered around experiences together. They're even on a mission. They have a stated mission which says this. It says, "Live better, help often, wonder more." That's their mission. They offer support groups of various kinds to people in need. They volunteer in the community, they give to trying to help some things that are happening around them. So is this, is the Sunday Assembly Christian community? It is not, it is not. What they have is a virtual, counterfeit, lesser reality. This is what they say on their website, how they describe themselves. "Sunday Assembly is a network of secular, non-religious communities who gather to celebrate this one life we know we have. We're a global movement for wonder and for good." There's an FAQ section on their website, and one of the questions that they pose is, "Why do you run a secular congregation?" Here's their answer. "Because there are lots of benefits from going to church-like gatherings, meaning a broad variety of other people, singing together, hearing inspiring talks and readings, reflecting on how we live our lives, helping others, eating cake, and so on. We don't think these benefits should be restricted to those with religious faith. So we offer the Sunday Assembly as an alternative way to do these things without any religious baggage." When I first read about this, it made me really sad to read about people who were pursuing the things, who were longing for the church-like experiences, who are trying to create for themselves a community in their own image that could serve their needs without having an embracing of faith. And I think it should make us sad, but I also think it should cause us to pause and to ask, are we tempted in the same way? Are we tempted to pursue the benefits of a church-like gathering? Are we tempted to come and consume the experiences of the church but not really embrace the life of Christian community? Or are we devoted to actually following Jesus and pursuing Him and letting this life that we're devoted to be an overflow or an outcome of something greater, a greater identity? So I think it's sad. I think there's a pervasive misunderstanding of Christian community and I think some people just have never actually taken time to understand it and to embrace it. They've been convinced in some way, shape, or form that doing the things is Christian community, attending church on Sunday is Christian community, being a part of a small group is Christian community, doing some other things, serving and being engaged is Christian community. And by the way, it is, we'll get to that. But you can't just do the things and expect to feel that it's authentic and real. It has to be built on Christ. And we have to understand the difference between real, authentic, true Christian community and what I would say human community that masquerades as a spiritual one. This is a quote from Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a pastor in Germany during World War II. He was martyred for his faith under the Nazis. And he wrote a book called "Life Together" where he talks about some of these stark contrasts between types of communities and priorities. And he wrote this in his book. He says, "The existence of any Christian communal life essentially depends on whether or not it succeeds at the right time in promoting the ability to distinguish between a human ideal and God's reality, between spiritual and human community. The life and death of a Christian community is decided by its ability to reach sober clarity on these points as soon as possible." And I think he's right, I think we have to be on guard. I think we have to discern, I think we have to grow in our ability to be discerning both of ourselves and of those around us in whether or not we're pursuing God's reality the way in which He's designed and defined life as a believer in Jesus grafted into the body of Christ, or whether we're pursuing the human ideal, whether we're pursuing our own selfish desires that are based on comfort and preference and making sure that no one's ever let in, making sure that we always get to keep our image up, making sure it's always based on what we need and what we want. That's what the world wants to sell us, but not so with us. So practically, what does this look like? Hopefully, we're tracking with the ideal of this, but practically, what does this look like? Well, first, I think it's dangerous to ask the question after all of that. So what should we do, right? Okay, should I attend gatherings on Sunday morning? Yes. Yes. Should you be in a small group, fellowshipping with other believers in a smaller setting? Yes, absolutely. Should you be living generously, and open-handedly, and living a life that is that way open-handed in every way? Yes, absolutely, you should be. But as you do those things, you also should devote yourself to them based on the real life that you have in Jesus and carefully distinguish between the human ideal and God's reality.
The human ideal and God's reality, community built on Christ and community built on self. And we have to be discerning in those things. I think what might be helpful, I'm gonna walk through a few of the devotions we read in Acts 2, and help us to see some distinguishing marks between Christian community built on Christ and human community built on self. Some of the markers that we might see in ourselves or see in the places we're engaged in so that we can know, so we can discern, so that God can speak to us in how to live authentically and real and not settle for this virtual reality in a let down type of reality we can find ourselves in. Let's look first at teaching, one of the things that the early believers were devoted to. For a community built on Christ, this community is gonna be devoted to truth in scripture. They're gonna uphold scripture as true and authoritative. They're regularly gonna read it both individually and collectively. And they're going to embrace it for the value of how God has actually and objectively revealed truth. They're gonna be devoted to truth in scripture. Second, they're gonna be devoted to value. They're gonna value teaching of sound doctrine. They're gonna see the value of teaching as an opportunity to know truly how God has revealed Himself, and they're gonna have the opportunity to know, how do I apply that, apply that objective truth to my life obediently so that I live under the Word as opposed to over it. And they're gonna grow together. They're gonna realize that teaching is not only valuable for me, but for us, that we do this communally together, we help one another. We share together, we speak the truth together so that it's soaking us in and helping us to understand and discerning. The words of Colossians 3 come to my mind, the Apostle Paul wrote, "Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms and hymns and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your heart." Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly. Let the message of Christ be a part of our conversations in the midst of how we commune with one another. Help us to soak in the reality of the truth that we know. But there's a contrast, teaching in a community built on self will be devoted to self-interpretation, self-interpretation. This is the kind of community that has a discussion that goes something like this. "Well, I heard on Sunday this from the Bible, but I listened to this really interesting podcast from somebody who said," or "I watched a daytime television show and they made a really good point too." And you conflate all those things together to have a self-interpretation. What is it that I want the truth to be? Second, they value teaching for how it feels. Is it inspirational? Is it affirming? Did it excite me? Did I enjoy it? We see teaching as entertainment and then we subjectively value that based on whether we liked it or not, which is not the point. And they see teaching as a personal, on-demand resource as opposed to thinking about communal living, communal teaching, how we share with one another, grow together. We think of it as just another one of many, many outlets that we can tune into whenever we feel like, you know, "I'm gonna catch that on Tuesday 'cause I'm pretty busy on Sunday." "You know what? I haven't had a chance to listen to that yet 'cause I was doing something I wanted to do." "You know what? I didn't get to make it to church, so I'm gonna watch online because really I can get the same information either way." Self, personal, on-demand resource. How about fellowship? A community built on Christ will live in fellowship with other believers because we understand the shared identity that we have in Christ. And let me just put a point on that. Living in fellowship with other believers doesn't just mean the believers I like, or the believers that I agree with, or the believers who also think all the same things I think. This is gonna cross generational lines, racial lines, geography lines. We're gonna be related to one another, and fellowshipping one another because we understand the shared identity that we have in Jesus. Second, you're gonna see fellowship as necessary partnership. When we are living in this way, we realize that we are both needed and we need one another, we are both needed and we need one another for wisdom, for correction, for encouragement, for working out the things that you're trying to be obedient to to understand the truth of scripture, to learn how to walk through difficult seasons with perseverance and with faith and with humility. We need one another and we are needed. So if you ever have the the temptation to think, "Well, I'm not needed." You are needed. And you're withholding yourself from the body of Christ if you're not engaging in those things. In contrast, a community built on self will often be isolated or hesitant. Relationships find themselves transactional, rarely vulnerable, always avoiding the deeper things because there's just no depth there. This person feels paralyzed trying to find the right community, the perfect group for them to interact with that feeds their comfort, and their self. And they'll avoid discomfort or personal sacrifice. I'd say it this way, whenever it's inconvenient, that informs their commitment. Whenever they find personal discomfort, it causes them to retreat. And they really only live sacrificially when they can get something out of it, affirmation, a feel good, some sort of acknowledgement that feels selfish and it feeds them. How about breaking of bread? In a community built on Christ, they're gonna practice loving hospitality. We invite people into our homes, we meet in smaller groups. We connect with one another because we are hospitable to one another. Not only from the sense of generosity, but also from the sense of getting to grow in relationship, grow deeper with one another because we're brothers and sisters in Christ. And so, we show loving hospitality to one another. And we remember Christ's sacrifice. We come to the Lord's table, which we'll do in just a few moments with reverence and with longing and remembrance of the idea that Jesus gave His life for us. And there's a sobriety to that. There's a heaviness to that, but also deep gratitude that comes with remembering Christ's sacrifice. We are united because of the sacrifice of Jesus. But community built on self is the opposite. Hospitality is really just entertainment. We make every effort to not show people the true us. We don't invite people to our houses 'cause it's not perfect, 'cause it's not ready completely. We have to put on the four-course meal. The table instead of becoming a place of building relationship becomes an entertainment venue. How can I impress the people who have come? How do I make an impression with those who are at my house? How do I make it? And what is that doing? It's elevating self, it's elevating us. And communion is routine. Celebrating the Lord supper becomes just a ritual we do every once in a while on Sunday, and the deeper meaning of the sacrifice of Jesus, really reflecting on that, passes us by. Last, I'll say, prayer in a community built on Christ puts prayer at the center. As Jesus people, we acknowledge that we are His people and that we commune with Him. That we invite Him into our fellowship, that we are speaking to Him, depending on Him, relying on Him, relating to Him in prayer. Of course we would, because we're Jesus people. We pray often and specifically because we see prayer not only as a way to commune with God, but as a wonderful ministry to our brothers and sisters as opposed to when someone brings up a need and your decision is to say, "I'm gonna tell you how to solve that and give you all the me, me, me and my, my, my. Here are all the ideas I have." I say, "Let's go to the Lord and pray on that 'cause He's the one we can depend on. He's the one who has the answers. He's the one who can actually solve this." Pray often and specifically for one another. But a community built on self sidelines prayer, prayer's an afterthought. Prayer is something we do at mealtime. Prayer is something we do 'cause we're supposed to, prayer's something that ends a conversation or transitions us somewhere else. But it's not deep, it's not meaningful, it's an afterthought. Oftentimes, in these communities, extended prayer feels burdensome or obnoxious. Like, "Man, can we get done with that? We're supposed to do something else." It feels like it doesn't belong because there's no value in the essence of it, and it's vague and infrequent. Specific prayer is avoided, and instead you're gonna hear these tones, "Hey, thoughts and prayers. Sending 'em good vibes," which is worthless. These are just some examples and I know there's a lot in there that we could unpack, but I hope that God speaks to you through it. I hope you see the contrast and even the subtle temptations that we can find in the ways in which we approach community because the self is always pulling at us, isn't it? The desires of the flesh are obvious, we read in scripture, and we have to walk in the Spirit and set aside those things in order to live in true spiritual Christian community. And I would encourage you, brothers and sisters, stop chasing experience, stop acting like consumers. Stop doing the things in the hopes that the things are gonna produce the authentic reality of Christian community. Pursue Jesus and step into the reality of a shared life He's already given you. We are already united in Christ, we already have this identity if we have Him, we have to just embrace it, we have to just realize it. But don't be tempted to curate human community 'cause when we find ourselves feeding the flesh, when we find ourselves building things that are conditional to my interests, my convenience, my preferences, we know that we've found ourselves on the wrong side of that. I want us to remember what I said before, this statement. Christian community isn't an experience to pursue, but a shared reality to be devoted to when we find new life in Christ. Now, I know that's a lot. Got a few more things to say and then we're gonna have the opportunity to receive the Lord supper together. But I wanna speak to some specific groups who are listening today. 'Cause I'm imagining that there are numbers of each of these groups that were listening to this message this morning. First, I wanna speak to those of you who are devoted to fellowship, who are devoted to the true and authentic Christian community. Can I just encourage you, one, how important and necessary and helpful that is for this body of believers that you are devoted to this kind of a life? Do you know how helpful that is to setting an example to inviting other believers in? Oftentimes, someone is in a place where they want to but they can't because they've been rejected, because it's been difficult. So when you're walking in true, authentic Christian community, it's a blessing to our church. But can I also encourage you to keep that up, to understand today and be really rooted in the idea that Christian community is a blessing, but it can easily be lost. It can easily be overlooked. When you find yourself in a difficult season, when you find yourself in a new season of life, when life gets busy, when the schedule fills up, it can be so easy to just set these things aside and not continue in that. I wanna encourage you today, if you've gotten to a place where maybe you're saying things like, "Well, I used to." Come back, be devoted. And if you are devoted today, realize with real value how important and necessary your brothers and sisters living in authentic Christian community really is. If you're not participating in this true Christian community today, can I ask you to consider why? Maybe you came in here today and your answer would have been, "I just haven't found my people yet." I think you know how I'm gonna answer that, right? And in fact, I'm gonna encourage you, right now, look to your left, look to your right, look around. These are your people, most of the people in this room, I understand, I believe have made some sort of commitment to follow Jesus. These are your people. We have a shared identity with them. We have a shared reality with them. It's not segmented, it's not based on preference. So look around, you've found the people, you just need to be in fellowship with them. Maybe you're in a place where you've said, "I already have community in other places." Maybe it's the PTA, the kids' sports club, something related to local government, even extended family, community activism, whatever it is. I wanna encourage you that although those things can be good, they're helpful if we live in those spaces missionally. If we think about that as part of our mission to be the light of the gospel in those places, to be the example for Jesus in those places. But if it's a replacement for Christian community, you're missing out and we are missing out. If you've decided that your community, and maybe if you're honest, the community you just like better because we have more in common, because we enjoy that more. But what you're actually saying is your identity and your reality is more rooted in those things than it is in Christ. And you've gotta think differently about that. You gotta ask some questions related to that. Or maybe the truth is you're just holding out. You're holding out because you've created an ideal in your mind for what Christian community should be for you. You have an ideal for the types of people you wanna be connected to, the schedule you wanna run, the things you want to be involved in. And it's held you back from living in true Christian community. The Sunday Assembly folks were wrong when they said they're gonna enjoy the one life that we've got. This isn't the one life we've got. We have a new life waiting for us in Christ. And He's given us a new life right now, and this life is meant to be devoted to the things of Christ and to the understanding of how we grow in sanctification and grow in maturity together as believers in Jesus. That's the point of what we're doing together. So can I lovingly encourage you to change course today? If you know you're in a place where you've not engaged, where you've purposely withheld, or you've been isolated, can I encourage you to change courses? Can I also encourage you, if you, because of preferences, because of these segmentations, if you've made it difficult to be in community with other people, cut that out. Embrace your brothers and sisters, lovingly engage in fellowship. Open yourself up to relationship with one another, don't make it difficult, don't set a bunch of things in place that make barriers to you interacting with other believers. We're called to unity, we're called to togetherness. I wanna speak to those of you who've been listening to this message and you're thinking to yourself how much you long to be a part of community, but you haven't, you're not able to. Maybe you're watching online, you're watching through some other means and you actually can't, you're involved in some sort of physical ailment or issue and you just, you're physically unable to be a part of the fellowship. You can't get to places so you're not able to be engaged with believers. But you want to. Can I just encourage you, Christian community is still for you. To just sit on the sidelines is something you're missing out on and we wanna help you with that. You can just go to our website, thechapel.com, my ugly mug is on there, you can find my email address and send me a message or just call us. We would love to reach out and help you so that you don't find yourself disconnected. It matters that much. So if you're in a place where you can, do it, if you're in a place where you can't, let us help, we want you to find that place of Christian community you can be in together. Or maybe lastly, you've never before embraced Jesus as Lord, you've never actually gotten to the place that the believers in Acts 2 got to where they heard the message of the gospel and they believed and they were receptive and they were made new. Well, can I encourage you today? At the end of our service, in just a few moments, we're gonna have an opportunity for you to receive Jesus, for you to embrace that true life that we've been talking about all morning. And I wanna encourage you, if God's working on your heart, if like we heard in Acts 2, you're being cut to the heart, God's working in your life, we would love to help you embrace this life, find new life in Christ. We together have been united in Jesus. And we should not forget that there is a shared and true identity that we find together as believers. As we close today, I want to take an opportunity to participate in some of these devotions we've been studying this morning. We've already heard the apostles teaching, not me, the apostle Peter, and the truth of scripture is being told to us. That's a firsthand account of the things of God. The truth of scripture is a way for us to know how God's revealed Himself and how we should live our lives obediently. That's why the scripture has authority, because it is a firsthand account inspired by the Holy Spirit for us to hear and receive, and obey, and belong to, and be a part of. I also wanna take an opportunity to participate in the devotion to prayer and to the breaking of bread. In just a moment, we're gonna celebrate the Lord's supper together and I encourage you to find that cup if you received one, if you haven't, the ushers will be around. You can put your hand up, they'd be glad to bring one to you. But first, I want to give you an opportunity to just devote yourselves in the fellowship, in this corporate time to prayer. In a moment, there's gonna be a prayer prompt on the screen, I'm gonna give you just a few moments to pray by yourself, but together with other believers. Pray as you're prompted, read this as a prayer if you'd like, do business with the Lord. Maybe He spoke to you in some way through this message. But let's be devoted to prayer, remember that we are being indwelled by the Spirit and we are dependent on God for all things. Let's put prayer at the center as we continue in this. So I'm gonna give you a moment to spend some time in prayer and then I'm gonna come back and we're gonna observe the Lord's supper together. Take an opportunity to observe the Lord's supper. If you've never before put your faith and trust in Jesus, I'm gonna ask you to refrain from participating in this, not because we want to exclude you, because we want to take this seriously and understand the meaning of what we're about to do. If you're at a place where you've heard the truth of the gospel today, and although you've never before embraced Jesus, but you want to, that you're cut to the heart and you wanna respond in faith, you wanna embrace Jesus and find the new life that He offers. Then as soon as we're finished with this, our prayer partners are gonna be down front, men and women who have been waiting all day to pray with you, who would love nothing more than to help you have a deeper understanding of the truth of Jesus, that you could pray with them, find new life, be made new, that you'd have the opportunity to repent, to identify with Christ and find new life and receive the Holy Spirit. If that is you today, I wanna encourage you, do not sit in your seat and move past this moment. As soon as we're finished, come down and speak to these prayer partners. We would love for you to find the same meaning that we find in our time around the Lord's table. I also wanna encourage those of you who are believers that although for many this is something we do on a regular basis, that maybe today you would find a deeper meaning in it because God's been moving in your heart to not just see this as ritual, to not just see this as experience, but to remember deeply the sacrifice of Christ and let it be an overflow of our lives as a result. So I'm gonna invite you to peel back that first layer and take out the bread, which represents the body of Christ. And as you hold it in your hands, I want you to pause for a moment and remember Jesus enormous and brutal sacrifice on our behalf that He gave willingly so that we could have new life, be saved from our sins, transformed by the truth of the gospel. Lord Jesus, on the night He was betrayed, took bread. And when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, "This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me." Let's eat together and remember it. As you peel back the second layer, pause for a moment and hold it in your hand. Remember what it represents. Shed blood of Jesus, our Lord, who willingly went to a cross on our behalf, whose blood spilled out, was poured out for us so that we could find freedom in new life. In the same way after supper, He took the cup saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this whenever you drink it in remembrance of me." Let's drink and remember together. Would you pray with me, Father, we thank You for the truth of Your Word. We thank You for the gift of this new life that we have in Christ. God, thank You for making us new, for redeeming us from sin, for allowing us to not have to live according to the patterns of this world, but be changed, freed, given the opportunity not only to live a new life, but to do it together with all of God's people. God, I pray that You would grow the unity of this church, that we would see and know the value of our brothers and sisters in Christ, that we would learn together how to walk through difficulty and through wonderful times, that we would grow and be shaped be formed more into the image of Your Son. God, I thank You for what You've taught us today. And I pray that we would take it seriously and we respond in obedience. We pray this in Christ's name, amen.