"What is the church supposed to be doing?"

This week we are looking at the seventh statement that comprises our doctrinal statement as a church. This seventh statement addresses what we believe as a church about the church. This statement summarizes the answer to the question “What is the church? Who can be a part of the church? And what is the church supposed to be doing?"

Wednesday we looked at a section of a letter in the New Testament of the Bible called the book of Ephesians, where we discovered the timeless truth that what we believe about the church really matters because the church is the vehicle that God uses to reveal His Son Jesus to the world and to advance His kingdom mission in the world. You see, what we believe about the church matters because of the reality that even though God does not need us to do anything, God chooses to use us and invites us as followers of Jesus to be the vehicle that He uses to reveal His Son Jesus to the world and to advance His kingdom mission in the world.

We also discovered that how the church, which is made up of individuals throughout the world throughout history who have been rescued from the selfishness and rebellion that separated them from God as a result of responding to what God has done through Jesus life, death, and resurrection by believing, trusting, and following Jesus as Lord and leader, reveals itself in the world is through local gatherings that meet in communities throughout the world.

 You see, the global church, which refers to all followers of Jesus who are a part of the church throughout the world, makes itself known in local communities throughout the world through smaller gatherings of followers of Jesus in the community which are known as the local church. However, for the local church to be the vehicle that God uses to reveal and reflect Jesus to the local communities that they gather in, those who are partners in the kingdom mission that God has given the church must be followers of Jesus. That is what is meant by the phrase “whose membership should be composed only of believers.”

While everyone can attend a local church, not everyone can partner and participate in every aspect and activity that makes up the kingdom mission that God has given the local church. Now a natural question that can arise at this point is “Well Dave that sounds great, but what exactly is the church supposed to be doing?” That is a great question. And in a section of a letter that is recorded for us in the New Testament of the Bible called the book of Acts, we discover the answer to that question. So let’s discover that answer together, beginning in Acts 2:42:

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.

Luke, who is the writer of this letter, brings us into this section of the book of Acts by revealing for us several timeless practices that these early followers of Jesus embraced as part of this new movement called the church. First, we see that these early followers of Jesus intentionally gathered together corporately. The early followers of Jesus began to gather together in the temple courts to meet together in community.

Luke tells us that these followers of Jesus gathered together in community to participate in three major activities. First, they gathered together devoting themselves to the apostles teaching. In other words, they gathered together to hear the Apostles share the message and teachings of Jesus. They gathered together in large groups in order to hear a preacher preach. Preaching has always been preeminent and prominent in the lives of followers of Jesus.

 Second, these early followers of Jesus gathered together in community for the breaking of bread. The breaking of bread here refers to the Lord’s Supper, or communion. Third, Luke tells us that they gathered together for times of corporate prayer. And in the same way today, as part of God’s community called the church, we are called to gather together corporately in community with one another to experience and encounter God through the preaching of His word, through the celebration of communion and through times of group and corporate prayer.

God grows, equips, and empowers His followers to be the vehicle that He uses to reveal His Son Jesus to the world through preaching, communion, and prayer as we gather together in community with one another as His followers. Luke then reveals for us several additional practices that these early followers of Jesus embraced in community together as part of this new movement called the church in Acts 2:44-45:

  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.

Luke continues by stating that these followers of Jesus were gathered together in community and were selling their property and possession and were sharing with them all as they had a need. What Luke is revealing for us here is that the church recognized the needs of the poor and marginalized in their midst and took the necessary steps to minister to those needs.

The early church recognized that everything that they had was a gift from God and they chose to respond to that gift by investing their time, talents, and treasure towards meeting the needs of others and advancing God’s kingdom mission. And in the same way, as followers of Jesus we are to invest our time, our talents, and our treasure that God has so generously given us into His kingdom mission by ministering to the needs of those around us.

And this investment is not simply to be focused inward toward other followers of Jesus. We are to invest our time, talent, and treasure outward in a way that engages and invests in the lives of those who are in the community, but not a part of the community called the church. Luke then gives us an additional glimpse into the life of the early church in Acts 2:46:

  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.

Here we see Luke reveal for us the reality that these early followers of Jesus not only to gathered together corporately once a week in a community that was marked by genuine and authentic unity. These early followers of Jesus also scattered throughout their community to experience community with one another. Notice what Luke says in verse 46. The church was day by day continuing with one mind in the temple and breaking bread from house to house.

The church is to gather and scatter. The church is to gather for large corporate times and is also to scatter into smaller groups within the community. And as these early followers of Jesus scattered into their communities, they continued to connect with one another in the areas of influence that they had throughout the community. These early followers of Jesus were doing life together in community with one another.

This is why we believe so strongly in community groups here at City Bible Church. Community groups afford the opportunity for followers of Jesus to scatter into the community and develop intentional environments where people can grow in their relationship with God while developing encouraging relationships that foster accountability and spiritual growth in the community. And we are called by God to scatter into our communities so that we can be in a position to invest and invite people to be a part of what God is doing.

Luke then explains that these early followers of Jesus were praising God. These early followers of Jesus were responding to who God was, what He had done, and what He had promised to do by worshipping the Lord. And in the same way today, we are to respond to God’s transformational activity in our lives through Jesus Christ by living in a way that, whether we are gathered together corporately in community, or scattered into the community, is worthy of God as an act of worship to God that is pleasing to God.

You see, worship, simply put, is a response. Worship is a lifestyle lived in response to who God is, what God has done, and what God has promised to do. But not only were they praising God; Luke tells us that these early followers of Jesus were having favor with all the people. These early followers of Jesus were respected by all the people; by believers and nonbelievers; by religious and irreligious; by seekers and skeptics. Regardless of whether they bought into the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel, this new movement called the church was respected by all the people.

And the respect that these early followers of Jesus had earned by being the good news in the lives of those who were far from God resulted in the opportunity for these early followers of Jesus to share the good news and be the vehicle that God uses to reveal His Son Jesus and His message of rescue through the claims of Christ and the message of the gospel so that they would have the opportunity to experience forgiveness and the relationship with God that they were created for. We see this reality revealed for us in verse 47:

  And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.

Luke records for us that the Lord was adding to their number daily those who were being saved.  As these early followers of Jesus gathered together in community to hear the word of God, to pray for one another and to proclaim the message of the gospel through the celebration of communion; as these early followers of Jesus invested their talents and treasure serving God by serving others in community with one another; as these early followers of Jesus scattered throughout the community into smaller groups that invested their time living life together in supportive and encouraging relationships that fostered spiritual growth and accountability, God’s transformational intervention and activity was impossible to ignore.

Hearts were captured, lives were changed and transformed, and the number of people who became followers of Jesus grew. And, in the same way today, when we gather together in genuine and authentic community to worship the Lord and listen to the message and teachings of Jesus; when we scatter into smaller groups throughout the week to grow in our relationship with God while developing encouraging relationships that foster accountability and spiritual growth in the community; when we serve the Lord by serving others through the exercise of our spiritual gifts in ministry; when we invest and invite others to explore the claims of Christ and the message of gospel through evangelism; we are the church.

You see the church is not somewhere we go; the church is something we are. And what we believe about the church really matters because the church is the vehicle that God uses to reveal His Son Jesus to the world and to advance His kingdom mission in the world.    

So here is a question to consider: How do you view the church? Do you view the church as somewhere you go? Do you view the church as a place that provides you spiritual goods and services to consume? Do you only go to church because of that the church can do for you? Or do you view the church as something you are?

Do you view the church as a place to partner together with others followers of Jesus to invest your time, talents, and treasure for the good of others? Do you view the church as an opportunity to be a part of a community of followers of Jesus that are making a difference in the community for the advancement of God’s kingdom in the community?

Because, as we have discovered this morning, what we believe about the church matters because the church is the vehicle that God uses to reveal His Son Jesus to the world and to advance His kingdom mission in the world.