And All Those Who Had Believed Were Together

Good morning. I am very thankful to be back this morning. Last week I had the privilege of preaching up in Battle Creek, Michigan at a church that's pursuing membership at Evangel Presbyterian. And, um, and while I was thankful for that time and the opportunity to preach, I missed you all very much. Um, you are my people, and I feel that very deeply. In a lot of ways, I feel like I grew up here, and so I feel tethered to you.

Which I think is a fitting sentiment for where we're going to be this morning. Today we'll be looking at Acts chapter 2, verses 42 through 47. And in this passage, we see what the early church was all about. We don't know all the details regarding the church, but we are told what the priorities of the early church were in this passage. And today I want to focus on fellowship.

As we will read here in a minute, we see that the church was devoted to fellowship. And as I think about this passage and us, I'm encouraged. Because generally, I believe w-we're good at that, that we're devoted to fellowship with one another. And so I hope this morning you're encouraged by the things that I say. And also, I think there are always ways we can improve. My hope for us this morning, as we study God's word, is that we, like the early church, would continue to devote ourselves to fellowship.

That we would continue to devote ourselves to one another. If you would, please stand for the reading of God's word from Acts chapter 2. This is the word of the Lord, and it is eternally true. They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone kept feeling a sense of awe, and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles.

And all those who had believed were together and had all things in common, and they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all as anyone might have need. Day by day, continuing with one mind in the temple and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people.

And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved. This is the word of the Lord. You may be seated. So, what is fellowship? Today, fellowship is a word that we often use without grasping its substance. In Christian circles, it's a common word. We use it to describe the time that we spend chatting together after worship service. Churches commonly call their monthly meals together fellowship meals.

And there's nothing wrong with any of that. Both of those things are great. But what I want us to think about is the importance of fellowship, and how our fellowship in the church differs from relating with people outside of the church. Fellowship is not just where we get together and talk about the football game, or the race, or our hobbies, or the new crochet pattern you're working on.

Those things can be included, but merely talking about and even connecting around those things does not constitute fellowship. Those are the surface level conversations that we can have at the water cooler, at the job site, book clubs, or play groups. We can have these kind of conversations with unbelievers all the time. And yet scripture tells us that light can't have fellowship with darkness. And so fellowship has to be deeper than just relating over things we mutually enjoy.

For Christians, our fellowship with one another is predicated on our fellowship with God. 1 John 1:3 says, what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us, and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. Also in 1 Corinthians 1:9, God is faithful, through through whom you were called into fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.

And so our fellowship as Christians with one another is founded on our fellowship and our union with Christ. Without fellowship with God, we won't be able to truly fellowship with each other, because he is the foundation on which we enjoy true fellowship. In Christian fellowship, we enjoy communion or community. The word used here for fellowship is in in Acts 2 is where we get our word for community and communion.

There's a togetherness. There's a joining. Verse 44 says, and all those who had believed were together. They bonded themselves. They joined themselves together. They enjoyed community with each other in a way that we wouldn't look at our co-workers, our unbelieving co-workers, and say that we have community with them. One of the things that drives me nuts today is that we live in a culture filled with influencers and content creators.

And if you know anything about that world, they often will refer to their, their, their pages or their clubs or whatever as communities. They call them communities. But there's no community there. The people that are watching the content creator are just watching him. And there's no, there's no true interaction. It's annoying and laughable to call something like that community, because in in their world, the community is watching them on a screen.

They're not truly interacting. You can't see them or hear them. They're not communing with you or anyone else who follows you. There's no intimacy. That's not community. True community, genuine fellowship requires a togetherness aspect. It requires intimacy. This is essentially the problem with the digital church movement or Zoom church. It's not true community or fellowship. You can't touch those people. You can't get to know your pastor or your brothers and sisters.

You can't have fellowship in those things because you're not together, physically together. And consider that in the book of Hebrews, we're exhorted not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together. We need to be together, and being together helps cultivate the kind of intimacy we should have in our fellowship with one another. Fellowship is intimate. Fellowship can be general in the sense that we as believers can experience a genuine fellowship with other believers from different churches.

You've probably experienced this when you meet someone and realize they're a Christian, there's a kind of excitement and joy of like meeting another Christian out in the wild, right? Right? There's excitement and joy. Oh my goodness, there's more of you. There's more of me out in the world than just what's in this room, right? There's something really sweet about that. And yet I want us to focus on the fact that fellowship is primarily particular.

What do I mean? We go to a specific church with particular members, particular people. And the fellowship that you enjoy here should be the sweetest. This is where intimate community happens. This is where true fellowship happens. If you're a member or pursuing membership here at Clearnote Church, this should be where you seek and find true community, true fellowship. True and deep fellowship takes place most often within the local church.

Look around you. These are the people that you do life with, that you see weekly, that you come together, and we unite ourselves together. Week after week on Sunday morning, we come together to worship the Triune God together. We come together often and we pray together. We hear the word preached together. We eat together. Fellowship is intimate. And it makes most sense for that intimacy to take place within the local body.

Think about the camaraderie that soldiers have talked about experiencing as they fought in wars together. On a slightly related but less severe note, I often think about the fellowship that I have with the four brothers I went through seminary with. I don't talk to them except at presbytery meetings, which is like three times a year. And yet, the fellowship I have with them is very sweet because we went through something difficult together.

We studied together, we were in class together, we saw each other tw-twice, sometimes three times a week for three years. And there's something sweet and rich about that fellowship because we've been through things together. The agony and the suffering, as it were. And it's even deeper because we have fellowship with God, right? So not only have we suffered, but we have fellowship with God, and so both of these things come together and they make the fellowship deep and rich.

And all those who had believed were together and had all things in common. The early church was together. They believed together. They shared a similar experience in coming to Christ. They were joined together, united together, and they had all things in common with each other. Did they have all things in common with each other? Most certainly not. But they had all things in common with each other, because Christ was the first and foremost to them all.

Because they shared their lives with each other. Their fundamental commonality was Jesus, and then they shared similar experiences as those who followed Jesus. They lived together, laughed together, suffered together, and probably dealt with the abandonment or rejection of loved ones together. Have you been abandoned or rejected by-rejected by your loved ones or your friends because of what you believe? Who did those in the early church have to support them?

When they were unquestionably abandoned for rejecting the Jewish heritage that they had and becoming Christians, who did they have? They had each other. They had true community, true fellowship. Fellowship is an intimate unity that we share with each other as Christians. In John 17, 21 through 23, Jesus in his high priestly prayer says, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.

The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one, even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. Jesus prayed for our unity. Jesus prayed for our oneness. What we see in scripture shows us how the, the, how united the early church was.

Verse 46 tells us, day by day continuing with one mind. In the temple, they were united. They were bound together by their love for Jesus and their love for each other. The early church was united in her mission. You husbands understand this, right? You want your wife and your children to be oriented towards your mission, right? You need your wife's support and help to achieve your mission, generally speaking, right?

If she fights against it, you're not going to get your mission because you're dealing with fights. Your home is divided. Everyone needs to be oriented to the same goal. And as the head of the home, that's what your goal is, your mission. Everyone in your home should be oriented to that. And it's the same in the church. Your wife and your children should be oriented to you, husbands, not to themselves.

You not, not you to them, not them to each other, but to you. And you children understand this too. When you want to help your dad with his work, there's a sense in which you and your siblings are more united when you're working and you're focused on your dad's mission, whatever that work is. And just again, as husbands and fathers expect their wives and children to be oriented to them and their mission, we as members of the body should be oriented to and following Christ Jesus.

In our pursuit of that, we are united. We have a common goal, a common mission, one mind, unity. Now, is this unity always perfect? No. Sometimes you children fight over who gets to do what job, right? And that's not an uncommon occurrence in the church. We don't necessarily see it here in this passage, but in other parts of scripture, we're exhorted to maintain our unity with one another.

Ephesians 4:3 says, being diligent to preserve the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. Later in that same chapter, Paul starts explaining the different gifts and callings God has given to some of the members of Christ's church. We need to be careful not to disrupt the bond of unity by harboring envy and jealousy over our brothers and sisters' gifts. Often, problems of division and disunity boil down to these things.

In Romans, Paul warns the members of the church not to think more highly of themselves than they ought. And then right after that warning, he talks about the spiritual gifts that different members have. And so, brothers and sisters, be content with the gifts God has given you. He has given you gifts. We're not all made to be ears, eyes, hands, or mouths. That'd be scary. Right? But we're all members of Christ's body.

We're all after the same mission, the same goal, united of one mind. God has given each and every one of us gifts to use for his kingdom, and he's united and knit us together in Christ to serve his church. We are all united together as we're united to Christ. If you're a member or almost a member, this is your church, this local church, this is the body of believers that you're united to, that you're united to in your practice and daily life.

Unfortunately, it's common for people to call themselves Christians but not be joined to a local body of believers. I grew up hearing people who claim to be Christians saying how they hated the church or thought that the church was nothing more than organized religion, or that it was just filled with hypocrites, and that all they needed was a relationship with Jesus. They didn't need the church. And brothers and sisters, that's wrong.

We actually need the church. Need. The church is the bride of Christ. The church is Christ's body. If you despise the church, you despise Jesus. If you reject fellowship, you do yourself harm. John says it this way, if someone says I love God and hates his brother, he's a liar. For the one who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.

The idea of an individual Christianity outside of the local body, the idea that we don't need the church, that we don't need each other. It would have been completely foreign to the early church. It would have been unheard of. If you were a believer in the early church, you were joined to a local body of believers. I'm not saying that church membership saves you. I'm not saying that people outside the church can't be regenerate.

There are true Christians who are not united to the church, but they do themselves harm. They reject something good that God has given them. My point is that we experience true unity with one another through being joined to the local body of believers. That God's people who are called by his name gather together in the local body. That's what we do. They join themselves, are united together in the church.

All of Paul's letters, except for a few, the pastoral epistles and Philemon, weren't written to just individuals, but to the church as a whole. Now, I've said all that, and most of you are probably like, yeah, Pastor Timothy, that's that's why I'm here. So let's take it a step further. If we come to church, but we aren't interested in fellowship, we do ourselves harm. If you come to church on Sunday morning, but you're not interested in the intimacy of fellowship, in sharing your life, not just on Sunday, not just talking about the game after we finish worship, but life with your brothers and sisters.

Brothers and sisters, you're missing out. The early church was devoted to fellowship. Day by day, continuing with one mind in the temple and breaking bread from house to house, day by day, brothers and sisters. So I know I said this a few weeks ago when I last preached, but I want to encourage you to attend small groups and use that time intentionally. Be real with each other, share your lives, ask for help, confess your sins, live life together, weep with each other, rejoice with each other, and in those things we'll begin to experience true fellowship.

Look at verse 44 again. And all those who had believed were together and had all things in common, and they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all as anyone might have need, day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, breaking bread from house to house. They were taking their meals with gladness and sincerity of heart. These verses draw out what verse 42 means when it says they were devoted to fellowship, to the breaking of bread.

This morning, I want to encourage us to be devoted to this work of fellowship. We see the early church's devotion to it, not in a general sense, but in a real sense. They were selling their property and sharing the proceeds with other members of the church who had needs. This teaches us that the church realized each other's needs, and those who were able gave out of their abundance to help the poor and needy in their midst.

There was no requirement for members to sell all they had and give the proceeds to the church or to others in need. There were people who did, and there were people who didn't. What I'm trying to say is that in, in that those in the early church were generous. They saw needs, and they wanted to help because they were their brothers and sisters. My brother and sister is in need.

I want to help them. This is the kind of fellowship we ought to have with one another. We ought to desire to help each other as we're able. Let me give you a real life example of what I'm talking about. I could give you several in the 7 years I've been here at Clearnote Church of the ways people have loved me, but I'll give you one.

So back in, uh, man, this year's a blur. Um, back in like May, the end of May, beginning of June, I was, it was crunch time for my ordination, right? I was working on my ordination exams, and, um, I think it was one night I had to go, I had to go work. So I get in my car and I'm going to the library to go work, and the check engine light comes on and my engine starts overheating, and I'm like, are you serious?

Why? I, I have 2 days. I have 2 days to finish prep for this exam. And I'm like, ah. So I called Dan, and Dan's on the phone helping me diagnose my issue. What's wrong? Well, the serpentine belt had actually snapped off of my car, or I think a piece broke and it fell off. I can't remember. Dan knows. But, so Dan and I are talking, and Dan, Dan's like, well, Timothy, I know you're really busy, you're stressed.

I can come pick up your car tomorrow, and we can, you know, we can, we'll, we'll get it taken care of. And I said, okay, Dan, well, why don't you pick up my car? And in my mind, the plan was Dan was going to pick up my car, and then like Thursday night after presbytery, or maybe that weekend, I was going to go over to his house, and I was going to work on it.

Well, Wednesday morning or Wednesday afternoon, so he picks it up Wednesday morning, Wednesday evening I get a call. Dan's like, your car's ready to be picked up. Like, like I took it to Bell Tire or something. And, and I said, what do you mean? He said, well, I fixed it. I was like, but you didn't have, that wasn't the plan. That wasn't my plan. But Dan fixed it.

And Dan, did you charge me anything? Dan didn't charge me anything. Dan saw my need. I called Dan to get a certain kind of help, which was help me understand what my issue is and maybe help me figure out how to fix it. Not to fix it, but Dan saw my need and he helped me. That's the, that's the idea of what's happening in the local church here.

They give what they have to help other people who have needs. They're willing to sacrifice, to give up their time, to give up their energy, to give up their money, to love each other when others have need. That's they they it didn't have to be monetary. They gave according to what they were able to give to help each other. This is an example. What Dan did was an example of how the early church loved each other and treated each other.

I'm telling you all of this because fellowship, true genuine fellowship, looks like loving the people in your midst. The people you do life with, that you see every week, it looks like loving the people in your midst, even if they don't look, dress, or talk like you. If they're a different class than you, you have fellowship with them, you love them. If you're poor and needy, or you have an abundance, you love each other.

It doesn't matter. The gospel of Christ transcends all of that. True fellowship, because of what Christ has done, transcends all of that. If you're poor and needy, ask for help. If you have an abundance, give it freely and help the poor brother in your midst. If you're poor in spirit, struggling with sin, or experiencing significant hardship, ask for help. And if you hear your brother or sister share those things, help them, pray with them, and also help those with weaker consciences.

Think about what Paul says in Romans 15. Now we who are strong ought to bear with the weaknesses of those without strength and not just please ourselves. Fellowship in the Lord with one another transcends classes, socioeconomic statuses, and race. A significant part of Christian fellowship is loving those who aren't exactly like you. The early church members were devoted to loving and serving each other. They were so devoted to each other that they were willing to give up the things they had for other believers in need.

They sacrificed. Fellowship requires us to sacrifice ourselves and give of ourselves to others. We sacrifice time, energy, resources. We give those things away freely in order to love and serve the brethren. We do it out of our love for each other, not out of compulsion. Being devoted to fellowship isn't always easy. It's hard. There will inevitably be brothers and sisters you meet that grate on you. Join the club.

They have their problems, they have their idiosyncrasies and sins, and they'll they'll annoy the living daylights out of you. You kids, do you have friends, or maybe more aptly siblings, that do things that get on your nerves and bother you? Andrew says yes. Have you ever asked your parents if they could give that sibling away because it'd make your life easier? You don't actually want that, do you?

I hope not. And more than that, it's actually not your choice, is it? Your s-you siblings have to learn to love each other, and brothers and sisters, that's what we need to do. We're not allowed to give up on fellowship because our brother or sister bothers us. Just like your children aren't allowed to get rid of their sibling, we don't get to get rid of people just because we don't like them.

A while ago, I was a part of a discussion where someone said the church is like family, and what I want to say is, no, the church is family. This is your family. Ephesians 2, Paul says, so then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and are of God's household. You belong to the family of God. And brothers and sisters, you don't get to pick who your brothers and sisters are.

And praise God for that. I'd hate to be in a church that's just full of me. I would never grow. I would never get better. Right? Another way we might think about this is like a marriage. You husbands and wives, when you said your vows and covenanted together, in effect, what were you doing? You were devoting yourselves to each other, right? You devoted your love, your life, and your bodies to one another.

You were, in effect, telling your spouse, I'm yours. No matter what happens, I'm yours. Now, when you got married, did you have everything mapped out and figured out? I bet you had all your fights, you already had them all, right? Every issue that you knew, you already had them all, you dealt with all your disagreements, right? No? And then you had children and you realized how much you really disagreed on stuff, right?

But seriously, you made a vow to someone and married them without knowing them completely. It's a really vulnerable place to be. I don't, I don't really, everyone's on their best behavior when they're engaged in dating, right? And then you get married and everyone's actually who they are, and you're like, oh, wasn't expecting that, right? But you're devoted, you're committed, the bad, the good, the fights, the inconveniences, the weird stuff your spouse does that you didn't know about before you married them.

You're actually devoted to that. You're devoted to working through that. You're devoted to loving through that, to loving them, and it's not always easy. And it's not always easy to be devoted to fellowship. Membership in the church is similar to marriage. When you become members, or at least at our church, when we become members, we take membership vows, right? And one of the things we're doing is, in our words, in the vow, we are devoting ourselves to God and to this church.

When we become members, we become devoted to one another. Brothers and sisters, I just want to encourage you to continue to be devoted to one another. I want us to continue to love one another. Like I said, I think generally we do a good job of this. And yet I want to encourage us to do it all the more. How do we do it? Here are some practical ways we can devote ourselves to fellowship.

Gather together more often than once a week. Eat meals together, not just potlucks, invite each other over into your homes. Everyone gets to see each other's life that way. And I know that can seem scary. You might be worried that people will judge you, or your cleanliness, or your children, or your home layout, or your essential oils, but do it. And accept appropriate correction when necessary. Like, if the essential oils are a little too strong, just look a little lighter, right?

Seriously. Accept, accept correction where necessary. Don't be afraid to have people in your home. Don't be afraid of being corrected. Ladies, don't be precious with your feelings. And men, don't be precious with your egos. Be vulnerable. Be committed to each other. When you become members, excuse me, when you become members, stay members. Don't leave or break fellowship because you disagree on minor things or preferences. I've been so encouraged.

We've gone through a really turbulent time, and I'm encouraged by every one of you and your commitment to each other. Praise God for that. Let it continue. Don't break fellowship because someone sinned against you. There's a way to handle conflict. Matthew 18 lays it out. Follow the process and trust God with the hearts of his people. Bear one another's burdens. Take a genuine interest in the problems that plague your brothers and sisters.

That requires you to get to know each other. Know each other's sins and hold each other accountable. Know the hardships your brothers and sisters are facing and comfort them, encourage them, pray for and with them, and help them as you're able. Stir one another up to loving good deeds. Push each other to obey God's commands. Push each other to repent of sin. You and I are responsible for each other's welfare.

Cain says, am I my brother's keeper? The answer is yes. We are all each other's keeper. Be vulnerable and be known. This is not the place for perfect people. This is not the place for people to present perfectly. This is a place for sinners. You have sins. We all know you have sins. You might as well just be open and honest about it. Be open and honest about your sins to each other so that you can help each other. That's the only way you'll be able to grow.