Practices of the Church

Everyone should be rested with that extra hour of sleep you received last night. That is everyone without children. Chris and Heather, this is your last one. I hope you really enjoyed it this morning. There's nothing like having to retrain a child's sleep. This morning we are going to be thinking and meditating upon this summary statement in Luke Acts chapter 2. Verses 42 through 47. And I want to be thinking about the topic of devotion. That is one of the controlling ideas here. They are devoted, these new disciples. So I want to begin just by simply asking, to whom and to what are you devoted? Now, I didn't ask a question intentionally. I didn't ask you, are you devoted to something? I'm asking to whom and to what are you devoted? Because I believe the Bible makes it very clear that God has designed us all to be devoted. Everybody is devoted to something. The question is what? It's easy to be devoted to things in this world. Success, popularity, comfort. A devotion to sport and exercise, to our image. It's easy for us to love other things. Quite frankly, it's easy for us to love everything but God. See, God designed us to be devoted because He designed us for Himself. To know Him, to worship Him, to love Him, to truly be devoted to His glory. But this is where we got it all wrong. we decided we wanted something better. And ever since then, man, humankind, has been trying to devote themselves to something that will bring pleasure, bring delight, bring fulfillment, and it all is nothing at the end. So we have to ask ourselves, to whom and to what are we devoted? Are we devoted to things of this world? Are our commitments to the things of this world, our commitments to the things of God? God has designed us to be devoted to Him. Jesus Christ came to die for us, to forgive us for not devoting ourselves to Him, and so that our hearts can be realigned. So this morning a lot of what we're talking about is simply worship. We're thinking about what do we worship and how do we worship. Is it according to God's Word? Is it aligned with God? Now this passage, verses 42 through 47, it It stands out in Luke, as a few passages do, as one of these summary statements. Luke has given us this grand story of how the church was born from chapter one to chapter two. There was preparation. Then the Holy Spirit came down. There's a sermon. There's conversions. There's baptism. The church is born. And now he begins to describe the practices of this church with this summary statement. I just want to be very clear, this passage represents one of the things I wrestle with in the book of Acts. As I read Acts, and as I've been studying it to try to teach and preach God's word to you, a question I'm constantly asking, is this prescriptive or descriptive? Or both? Is Luke describing what happened so that we can relish and we can be amazed? Wow, look at how awesome God is. Look at how victorious His Word is. Look that He has fulfilled His promises. And then where is He prescriptive? This is what you are to do. Now let's be clear here. This is by nature a descriptive passage. He's telling us what the early disciples did. And I believe he's doing it as a model for us. There's an example here. He's saying this positively. These are good things. After the disciples were converted, this is how they committed their lives. And so as we study this passage, it's describing the early church, and I think it's really giving us a test today. This passage, I want us to think about it as a test, and it's not a pass-fail kind of test. It's a refining kind of test. How can I look at this church and the practices that were being done in this church and how can I align myself to better reflect what God's Word describes here? How can I be more devoted? How can I be a more faithful worshipper? And so as I look at this passage, I want us to see that there's one trait in three practices that we're going to draw out of this passage. One trait, three practices. The one trait is this. They were devoted. We're going to meditate for a moment on devotion. What does it mean to be devoted? That is the controlling description of the practices. They were devoted. And then we're gonna see three different practices. They were learning, they were loving, they were witnessing. The disciples were learning, they were loving, they were witnessing. So one trait, they're devoted, they're devoted to learning, they're devoted to loving, they're devoted to witnessing. Before I begin, I want to make it very clear, if you're not a Christian here with us, this is a passage describing the church, and I'll be mainly talking to the church so that we can be thinking about who we're supposed to be. And as you hear this, I want you to understand, we're not that church. We're gonna strive to be that church. But as you look at God's word and you look at God's people, you're always gonna see we fail. And that's kind of the point in many ways. Jesus Christ didn't come to save healthy people. He came to save sick people. Everybody who makes up the church at Jefferson Park or the Church Universal, we're all sinners who have failed to love God. We failed to love Him. We failed to obey Him. We failed to recognize His authority and His worthiness of worship. And that's why the father had to send his son to come down, to be like us in every way, so that he could die in our place, suffering the wrath we deserve. See, you don't have to be a good person to join the church. You actually can't join the church if you're a good person. You have to acknowledge, I'm wicked. I'm a sinner. By God's grace alone, because He sent His Son to save me, I can now enter into His kingdom and I can be an active member in building up that kingdom. So if you're not a Christian this morning, I want you to hear what the Christian life is supposed to be like, but most of all I want you to hear this. Right now you're living under judgment from God. But that can change because you can look to Jesus Christ and you can say, Father, God, I believe in Jesus Christ. I believe He died on the cross for my sins. I believe He rose again. I believe He's not the right hand of the Father. I believe in Him and I want eternal life. I want to live the new life for your glory because I realize that this race I'm running in rebellion is going to end in destruction. If you haven't said that to God, do not leave here without talking to me or somebody near you. How do I go about repenting of this life of destruction? And how do I turn myself, how do I turn my life to believe in Jesus and live for Him? Now church, we have to hear about this, this high calling. The Bible does this in many places. One of my favorite places is Paul in Ephesians. Chapters one through three is about how sinful we are and how great God is in his grace. And then Paul turns it, and now walk worthy. We just heard the gospel last week. Peter proclaiming Jesus Christ died according to the plan of God. He rose, he's ascended, he's sent the Holy Spirit, and now this is how the church lives. The fruit of God's work is the church living together as a people of God for the glory of God. It takes devotion. So let's just think about for a moment what devotion is. They were devoted. Christians are called to be devout. This is a serious religious commitment. In short, we could say it takes discipline to be a disciple. It takes discipline. There's a commitment to what Christ has said that must overrule how I feel, and how I think, and even how I love at times. Because His Word is ultimately authoritative. When someone is devoted to a cause, they invest in it. When someone's devoted to a cause, they sacrifice for it. When someone's devoted to a cause, they long to see it successful. And Christian, we've been given a call to the greatest cause, and that is Christ and His kingdom. Which means we invest in it, we long to see it successful, we sacrifice for it. This means our time, our finances, our energy, our affections. We have to realize as we look at the world, there's so many causes that are trying to get our commitment, our devotion. That's why it takes discipline to be a disciple. We have to protect and prioritize our affections. You see, we have to make our decisions out of principle, not out of personal preference. Now, a lot of folks don't say, well, I don't need to do this as a Christian, I don't need to do this as a Christian, I don't even feel like I need to go to Sunday school or home group. Today, my cup is full, I don't need to go to church. Or some people will say, you know what, my cup is so empty, I can't go, I don't have anything to give. I wanna tell you what Christ would say to both of you. If your cup is full, I filled you up so that you can go and pour into somebody who's empty. If you're empty, you're supposed to go so that somebody who's full can pour into you. We too often have these excuses for not being committed and devoted to being faithful when the saints gather. That claim, I'm so full I don't need to go. No, you're missing the point. You've been filled up not to be a sponge on your couch. You've been filled up to be squeezed out. So the grace of God can pour into somebody else through you. The truth of the matter is that we're oftentimes just too distracted. Our sinful hearts love to come up with other excuses as to why we're not committed and devoted. Here's the scary thing. Satan actually doesn't want to just distract you into getting deep into sin. He realizes sometimes that's too obvious. Sometimes what Satan wants to do is get you distracted on something that's good and acceptable. Because as long as you're not devoted to the most worthy cause, and that is the name of Christ, he wins. His distraction isn't just getting you deep and darkened to sin, even though that does happen. If we just get our eyes off of Christ and get committed to things that are fine and acceptable, he wins. That's why it takes discipline to be a disciple. Devotion is single-minded commitment to Christ and to His church. Listen to what many of us are studying in 1 John 4, verse 11. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. In this commandment we have from Him, whoever loves God must also love his brothers. Chapter 44, verse 21 of 1 John. There's a necessary connection between loving God and loving the brothers. Let me give you a way to test your devotion. What motivates your decisions? Is it personal preference? Or is it a principle derived from the Word of Christ? Do you think, how can I come and consume? Or how can I come and build? Because the disciple says, I want to be a builder. And again, this isn't a pass-fail test. This is a how can I align my life according to the Word of God. As we sang, He is worthy. Every thought indeed is worthy of my life. The early church, they were devoted and they were devoted to learning. Our second point. We can see this here very clearly in chapter two, verse 42. And they devoted themselves. The first devotion is to the apostles teaching. They're devoted to learning. There was a devotion that said there's a clear authoritative teaching that must be heard. Now there's 3,000 disciples at this point. 120 of them were with Jesus and saw him at the resurrection. But there are 12 specific disciples who were called out as apostles. This is a unique office that had a unique authoritative teaching at this time of the church. And if we go back to chapter 1, this is why it was important that they set aside Nephias. If you're going to be devoted to the apostles' teaching, you need to know who the apostles are. And so before the church's launch, they needed to recognize who is going to take Judas' position. If you look at chapter 1, verse 21, it's very clear that there's qualifications to be an apostle. You had to see Jesus from the beginning of his ministry to the end. And there were only a few candidates. They brought it down to two candidates, and they cast lots, and there was one clear apostle called by God to fill the office that Judas left. Again, the church needed to know who they were going to submit to in this authoritative office. As we look at this, let's just make it very clear. Disciples had been converted by Christ for Christ. These folks changed their lives. The way it actually reads, it sounds like, remember in Acts, all these different people from all these different nations with all these different languages, they're coming to Jerusalem for Pentecost, and then they hear God's mighty works being talked about in their own language. And it sounds like a lot of them stuck around Jerusalem. Their homes were far away. But they said, I wanna stay in Jerusalem because this is where God is doing a mighty work. I believe that actually helps us understand why there was such a need for the common goods. A lot of folks uprooted their whole lives to be near where God was doing something. Now, they're devoted to the apostles' teaching. This is not new. In Matthew 28, Jesus commanded the disciples to teach them to observe all I've commanded you. This is a key ingredient to making disciples. You must teach them all that Christ has said. The apostles, they're not coming up with their own doctrine. As we read in John chapter 14 verse 26, Jesus tells the disciples, the Spirit will teach you all things. He'll remind you of these things. And then in John 16, 13, he says, I can't tell you everything now, but when the Spirit comes, He's going to guide you in all truth. He'll remind you of things, and He'll teach you new things. The point being, apostles never came up with their own ideas. They echoed Christ. They reverberated what Christ and the Holy Spirit was teaching them. Now, we don't have apostles today. We don't have apostles today. These men have all died, and they left behind their teaching. We have the apostles' teaching here. Now, I want you to hear something very loud and clear. We as Christians, we're a book religion. Isn't that encouraging? We're a book religion. But it's a different, it's a unique kind of book. It's not a textbook. It's not even a love letter. It's God declaring to us who He is through the apostles and the prophets that He appointed and inspired, breathed out through the Holy Spirit, the words that we will have. Now, there's other book religions. There's a lot of other book religions. What makes this book religion, Christianity, so unique is the book religion leads us to a very personal relationship. We have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, the Savior. We have a personal relationship with the Holy Spirit that indwells us. We have a personal relationship with God the Father. We get to call Him Father. You know why we know all that? Because God told us right here. It's a book religion. We are a religion that is based upon writings that are very clear, and that is very encouraging. God didn't give us pictures to interpret. Everyone, truth is in the eye of the beholder. He gave us words that are very clear. He gave us Holy Spirit to help us understand those words. And so the apostles are committed to teaching Jesus' disciples Jesus' own teaching. And as we look to this church, we need to realize that they have to be learning. A disciple of Jesus Christ is teachable and is learning. There's potential and proactivity. A disciple of Jesus Christ says, I don't know everything. A disciple of Jesus Christ says, I'm not looking forward to the day that I'm graduating from being a disciple. I can learn everything and say, I now have a master's in discipleship. There is no such graduation until you die. And then you get to see Christ face to face and know all truth. A clear mark of a disciple is that they're always teachable and they're always learning. This is one of the great things about God's Word. There's a depth. There's always so much more we can learn, but there's also always so much more ways we can apply that Word. There's a depth to God's Word and His glory that we will not uncover, and so we keep digging deeper and deeper, seeing more glory. Disciples of Jesus Christ are committed to learning together. This takes focus, diligence, desire, and humility. As a people of the book, we have to recognize it informs us. It tells us things we didn't know before. It directs us. It tells us what our priorities are and how we should be living our life. It constrains us. It tells us what we can't do. It corrects us. It tells us to stop doing certain things. The Bible informs us, directs us, constrains us, and corrects us. A disciple listens to their master. Jesus Christ has spoken. The Holy Spirit lives inside of us and he's the one who confirms these words are true. I also want to warn you that a disciple knows who to listen to. That is Jesus Christ and those who are teaching his truths. And a disciple also knows who not to listen to. There are many different voices and we as Christians need to realize that throughout Acts we're going to see false prophets. Throughout the epistles, you're going to hear warnings of false prophets. And so as disciples, we have to recognize there are those who are carrying out the apostles' teaching, and there are those who are not. Let me give you just four clear principles. A true disciple of Christ will lead you to think much of Christ, not themselves. A true disciple of Jesus Christ will lead you to think much of Christ, and not themselves. Secondly, a true disciple of Christ will lead you to trust Christ word fully, not their own opinions. It's about what Christ has said, not their opinions. Third, a true disciple of Christ will lead the church to unity, not division and tribalism. A true disciple of Christ will lead the church to unity, not division and tribalism. And finally, a true disciple of Christ will lead you overwhelmed by grace, not entitled in self-righteousness. A true disciple of Jesus Christ will teach you to be overwhelmed by grace, not entitled in self-righteousness. One of the questions you have to ask is, when I'm learning, what am I getting? Is it the fruit of the Spirit? Or is it the fruit of the flesh? So I challenge you, as we're going to get to Acts 17 eventually, Jefferson Park Baptist Church, you're called to be Bereans? Abrean is someone who searched the scriptures, who said, this is true. They wanted to make sure that what was being taught was being true. And one of the most amazing things that we can have now is everybody has their own Bible. We have to kind of put this in historical context. Until the Gutenberg press in the 16th century, there was no, everyone had a Bible. You had to gather at a church to hear the Bible. And that's why there's a lot of error, because not everyone had a Bible. But we all have it, and we're supposed to be searching it. We're supposed to be meditating upon it, digging deep. We have to be studying it together. So they're learning. The disciples, they are seeking to be taught by Christ by those appointed to teach. And I want to make it very clear that every disciple now has the opportunity to teach, as we have the Bible and the Holy Spirit. to proclaim Him, to help one another understand Christ more. Loving. They're devoted to loving. There's a devotion to loving. The commitment to the Christian community is one of the qualities that Luke describes the most. There's a mutual commitment to one another. If we look at verse 42, this word fellowship, it's koinonia. Verse 44, that word all things in common, that's koina. The root of both words is the same. There's a commonality. There's something that they have in common. There's a common commitment. There's a common practice. There's common beliefs. There's an emphasis on Christians having Christ in common and therefore having all things in common with one another. Now, I want to make something else very clear here. In verse 44, all who believed. All who believed had everything in common. There's an exclusivity here with everybody who has everything, who has things in common. It's not everyone who exists, it's all who believe they were committed to Christ and being a body together. They were converted and being a new people together. They were changed and enjoyed by the Spirit and bound together in the Holy Spirit. We see what Luke is describing here, it's a new kind of people. There's something very unique here. There's a unique devotion that's attractive. There's a love and a commitment here that says there's a safety. So many who love one another and are caring for one another, and as they see needs, they meet them. Let's go back to this word, fellowship. Fellowship is an important word to define because I think we oftentimes use this word in an unhelpful way. Often as we're saying we're having fellowship during a game night fun events or work days, and while there may be some little element of fellowship, I want to make sure we define fellowship very clearly because fellowship is having something in common. Fellowship is when Christians come together and share what we all have in common, and that is Jesus Christ. That there has to be some element of saying we have Christ in common in what we do when we fellowship. And I want to also make it very clear, when they say they're committed, they're devoted to the fellowship, they're talking about real people. Sinful people who were just converted. They're devoted to a people that Christ has purchased with his own blood. Now, chapter 2, verse 42, there's two different ways of interpreting what Luke is saying here and what he's describing. The first is this. There's four different practices he's listing out all side by side. Teaching, fellowship, breaking bread, prayers. There's another way of looking at it that says there's two main things that they're practicing. They're committed to the teaching and the fellowship, and the fellowship is then described as breaking bread and prayer. Understand that? So he's either listing four different things, or he's saying fellowship is further defined by breaking bread and prayer. Now, commentators are on both sides of this. We all could be on both sides of this. I personally think that he's qualifying fellowship as breaking bread and prayer. And so that's how I'm going to go about explaining what fellowship is further. If you look at this passage, if we interpret it that way, there's two different parts to fellowship. There's breaking bread and there's prayer. And both of these have Christ at the center. Breaking bread in this culture was not something you did casually. Remember Paul, whenever somebody's excommunicated, he says, don't eat with them. When you shared a meal with somebody, you shared your life with them. So breaking bread, having a meal, that was something that was intimate, it was very personal. But I think here specifically, breaking bread probably refers to a very specific meal, and that is the Lord's Supper. The Lord's Supper is when the church, it's one of the ordinance of church where Christ said, this cup is the blood of my covenant. That this bread represents my body that was broken for you. And so as Christians this morning, we actually get to practice something that Christians have been doing for almost 2,000 years. The Lord's Supper. The Eucharist. The Eucharist simply means thank you. We're all going to, together, at the Lord's Supper, say thank you, Jesus, for dying on the cross for my sins, for giving me new life through your death. As we break bread together, we're thanking God together for the new life we have in Jesus Christ. That's one aspect of fellowship. The second is prayer. They were devoted to the teaching and the fellowship, and the fellowship is breaking bread and prayer. This is one of the most intimate ways you can connect with other believers. To pray with somebody. Praying to the God you have in common, in the name of the Savior you have in common, according to the instructions that you have in common, for the cause you have committed to in common. That there's something as glorious about our Wednesday night prayer service. And that we're all gathering together to say these are our common desires. This is our common commitment. We're going to lift up our hearts and our voices and our prayers to God together. And it's fellowship. We can praise God together in prayer. We can confess our sins together in prayer. We can unite together in prayer for the causes that we have. As we have fellowship, we have to realize there's a remembering what Christ has done and breaking bread. There's a committing our purposes and our desires together in prayer. We look at verse 43. And all came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. Now we're going to see one of these next week. There's a healing. We don't see the kind of healing that's taking place, and we'll try to explain that a little bit more next week. The church should not have any less awe today than it did that day. Believers should continue to grow with an awe and a wonder because we should be believing that the Holy Spirit that empowered those apostles and this church is still with us today. Do we have a proper awe and a reverence for God? Do we have an expectation that He's going to do something amazing? Because the most amazing thing that He could do is something He clearly is still doing, and that is bringing new life to dead people. When a salvation takes place, that brings awe and wonder as we recognize the power of the Gospel. Praying together is a way we can have awe together. Now one friend jokingly asked me about this passage, that isn't this the socialist proof text? They sold all and shared on. Well, that's a funny way of looking at it. I don't think it's actually accurate. I do not believe that Luke here is prescribing that we sell everything and give it away. That there is no strategy here for ending hunger or poverty. We can actually go through a few other texts and see how this teaching can be qualified. First, Jesus said, the poor you'll always have with you. Mark 14, verse 7. Secondly, when Ananias, he actually sells his lot and then he lies about it, Peter says, you didn't have to sell it. This is a meaningless lot. We'll get to that later. Paul tells the church of Thessalonica in chapter 2, verse 3 of his letter there, if you do not work, you do not eat. This isn't just a pure charity action. Paul gives a very specific instruction for how widows be cared for in 1 Timothy 5. The church is not just a charity. The goal here is that the people know one another, there's needs, and they're seeking to do whatever they can to meet those needs. Just two basic points here that I think we can draw to this passage. Christ is not against us having personal property. He's given us all we have. Therefore, we should be grateful. He's not against us having personal property. We just need to make sure that we're always grateful for what we have. Second point is this. Christ is against us loving our personal property more than Him and the brothers. He's not against us having personal property. He's just against us loving it more than Himself or the brothers who are in need. This is where we see this description of verse 46, there's a gladness, there's a gratitude, there's a generosity. We see in other passages, 1 John 3.16, by this we know love that he laid down his life for us and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. That is love defined. Now look at verse 17. But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk, but indeed in truth. A devotion to love is a humble practice that says everything I have is a stewardship given to me by God. And everything I have should be used to love Him and love the brothers. So I have a question. As we look at this passage and we meditate there on 1 John 3, verse 16, yet closes his heart. I want to ask you, how open-handed are we in our relationships? How open-handed are we in relationships? Because what I think is happening here is what I call open-handedness. What I have in this world, I hold with open hands because I want to make sure I have an open heart to those who Christ has purchased with His own blood. What we have here is an open-handed relationship. I hold what I have loosely because I want to be devoted to Christ wholeheartedly. You see, behind open hands is an open heart. Are we generous with material goods? Or do we withhold belonging? Are we generous with forgiveness, or do we withhold forgiveness? Are we generous with love and kindness, or do we choose to withhold love and kindness? Behind closed hands is a closed heart. Behind open hands is an open heart. As sinners, we're too tempted to be devoted to those who we think are worthy of our love. We're too tempted to think we're worthy of God's love or that we're not worthy. What we have to see in the gospel is that God looked down upon us, said, there's nothing worthy of this person, but I'm going to choose to put my love upon them. And then after we receive that love, he says, go and do likewise. We're too tempted to think others aren't worthy. As disciples of Jesus Christ, we must repent of this prideful way of thinking. We are unworthy of love. We must accept that we're unworthy of love and then show love to others. A gospel devotion does not decide who's worthy of my love and care. It says, praise God, he decided to devote himself to me when I was unworthy. And I'm going to devote myself to those who I might be tempted to think are unworthy. Gospel devotion does not set a calendar based on the things I enjoy doing. It says, no, what can I do to set my priorities for the brothers and what would best benefit them? If all we're doing is out of our own self-interest, we're not seeking to fulfill the kingdom, we're seeking to fulfill ourselves. We need to start to be a builder and a consumer, and let me just give an example. Thank you everyone who volunteered your Saturday night so that a few couples from this church could go on a date. There is no way in which you thought, you know, the way I really want to serve myself on my Saturday night is to watch everybody else's rowdy kids. Sorry, my rowdy kids and everybody else's kids. That isn't something that something a disciple does. They say, I'm going to do something for somebody else. I'm going to be here for them, not myself. So I praise God for you and your example. Thank you for not saying, I'm going to see how I can fulfill myself on a Saturday night. I'm going to see how I can bless somebody else. Gospel devotion is also optimistic. It says, I'm going to believe in the sovereignty of God and the love of God. I'm going to hope that those who I find difficult to love, that He can help me love them. He can make me more lovely, that He can make them more lovely. Gospel devotion has a hope that we can change and others can too. There's a commitment to love that's a high standard. Let's look at the last point. There's a devotion to witness. They are devoted to witnessing. And here, we're simply looking at this last section of verse 47. And the Lord added to their number, day by day, those who are being saved. Now, what's actually pretty amazing about this passage is that's the conclusion. It doesn't say they were going out regularly into the streets and proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ. And therefore, they were adding to the number, it says they were a unique kind of people committed to Christ, committed to one another, and this kind of community, this kind of love showed other people that there's a new kind of people coming up. God has done something new because of their actions towards one another. Their mutual commitment, their common practices were a witness. Luke ties their generosity and their fellowship and their love to why the Lord added to their number. Now they had to hear the gospel to be added to their number. But what Luke describes here is nothing but the church being the church. And I want to take the opportunity here to make you understand what we do here when we gather is evangelism stage one. This is the ground level. We can't think that we're going to be bickering and arguing and fighting when we're all together, and then we go out and share the gospel, and that's going to be fruitful. Because what happens when somebody becomes a Christian, they've got to come and they've got to see what love looks like. What I pray happens is when people come to Jefferson Park, they see these people love each other in a different way. There's something about their commitment, their care, their devotion, their love that is different. I want to know what that is. Listen to what Jesus says in John 13, beginning in verse 34. A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this, all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. If we want to see evangelism, we do have to go out and take the gospel. We first have to say we're going to be committed to being a people that love one another according to the way Christ has committed us. And one of the things we have to do as we reflect and I pray as you sit around the tables as we have lunch right after the service, please join us. Be talking about how does my life align with these standards? How does my life align with these kind of devotions? But as one of the pastors here, I immediately ask, how does the church align? And something we are always doing as elders is thinking through, what are we prescribing for the church? What kinds of things are we saying, this is what a disciple looks like at Jefferson Park? And so I want to go through, I just want you to see that I praise God that a lot of what we're doing is, or everything we're doing is all committed and tied to this passage. This morning, you are being devoted to the Apostle's teaching, I pray. As we open up God's Word and we read it? As we open up God's Word and we hear it? As we did in the service earlier, we sang God's Word? We've prayed God's Word? We will practice God's Word with the ordinances? Sunday morning worship is where we are committed to the apostles' teaching and the breaking of Brad the Lord's Supper. Sunday school. This again is a place where we're committed to the apostles' teaching. And I want to say specifically, we're seeking to equip the saints with Sunday school. We're looking at different topics. We're letting other people teach. Sunday school is where we are seeking to say, we're going to be committed to teaching the Word of God, whether it be a topic, and how the Word of God addresses that topic, or walking through a book of the Bible. Smaller groups doing particular studies. That's why we're doing Sunday school. So that we can break up into groups. We can focus on the children. And equip the saints through more specific studies. As I've already said, Wednesday night. This is where we are trying to be more devoted to prayer. More devoted to that aspect of fellowship that says we're going to come together and we're going to take a significant amount of time to gather together and be aligned in our causes trusting God to answer our prayers. Home groups. The focus here is on fellowship, sharing meals together, opening up our homes to one another, speaking about how God is speaking to me and to others through the Word of God. Home groups is fellowship focused. And discipleship groups. That's just smaller groups of people gathering together, studying God's Word together. I want you to see that what we're trying to do here is what this early church did. We're not going to the temple day by day because we're no longer Jewish and the temple doesn't exist and we're in America. We should be going home to home. We should be regularly meeting with one another. We should be meeting together in discipleship groups regularly. We should be gathering as saints to try to fulfill the kind of devotion Christ has called us to. So as we conclude, the call here is to ask, how can I align my life to look more like Christ. And what we see here in Acts 2.42 is a summary of what Christ's body is supposed to look like. Yeah, we're going to see that they feel misery. You know what would be nice is if the New Testament just ended right there. We wouldn't have all the problems that are going to follow in Acts. And a lot of them are from internal in the church. We wouldn't have all the epistles that describe all the problems. It'd just be a glorious day where we're just saying, all right, the church is moving ahead, everything's healthy and great, and people are being saved. That's not the history of the church. There's a lot of problems. There's a lot of people. But we as a church, I pray, will strive to be devoted to Christ and one another in a way that will make the world wonder what, what's happened to these people? What's unique about these people? What do they have in common that makes them love like this. Will you pray with me? Father, I thank you that you created us with a desire to be devoted. And I thank you that you sent your son that realigned our hearts that were once devoted to destruction, but now could be devoted to you. to knowing you and your love, to loving you, to loving one another? How great it is to see that we who once were forming alliances to rebel against you are now called into one people to love you, to worship you, to obey you. May we reflect with thanksgiving upon all you've done for us. in sending your son Jesus Christ down the cross for our sins and rise again to give us new life to give us the Holy Spirit to renew us and empower us to be your people. May we with great confidence be devoted to your worship alone. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.