What’s It Going To Take?
Sermon Notes
Here we go again: why are we still in Acts 2?
Feels like we haven’t fully digested it yet.
This is one of those passages that we normally preach and, initially feel compelled by but then tend to move on pretty quickly.
It feels so good and so beautiful and so impossible that it tends to glance off our souls and never really take root
Can’t help but think of the parable of the soils here.
That’s not just about whether or not people pray the sinner’s prayer but about whether or not they receive and live into the Gospel of the Kingdom.
Some reject immediately, some receive it initially but it never takes root, some receive and it takes root but is choked out by “the worries of life and the deceitfulness of wealth so that it is never fruitful, and some receive it and bear exponential fruit.
This is not fatalistic—you are not pre-destined to be one of the soils—we all have all the soils in us all the time.
And one thing that I learned growing up with parents that like to garden is that the state of the soil is not necessarily terminal.
You can remove rocks and pick weeds and chase away birds and break up hard soil.
That’s what today is all about. It’s about taking a good, hard look at the soil.
You see, every time I’ve preached this passage in my life, I have a similar experience.
I read and study the passage and am so compelled by the beauty of the portrait Luke paints for us.
This radical community of Jesus-followers absolutely devoted to the reality that the Kingdom of God was breaking out within and among and around them.
So, they lived like it’s true: they devoted themselves (some translations say “gave” themselves) to it entirely.
They became serious students of the word of God, encountering Jesus on every page.
They didn’t just build relationships with one another but shared life with each other, koinonia.
They took seriously the Eucharist, practicing the death and resurrection of Jesus and their unity to him through it.
They prayed with faith and expectancy.
They saw signs and wonders among them confirming the truth of the Kingdom.
They practiced and received (sometimes harder to do; who needs to receive here today) radical, breathtaking generosity.
They worshipped together in the temple and in homes, in other words, every chance they got, because God is just that good.
They, a wildly, counterculturally diverse group, ate meals together in each other’s homes, growing in love and intimacy with people with whom they would never have fellowship apart from Jesus.
And they saw exponential impact.
So, I’m compelled by this vision and then do my best to paint that picture with passion, clarity, and humility.
Then, almost immediately, I experience the same thing in my head/heart: “Yeah, but it’s never going to happen here. Here’s all the reasons why.”
It was a different context: the city was smaller, more condensed, people lived closer together, it was easier for them to be in daily life with one another.
They also had a lot less going on than we do. Their lives were simpler. No 9-5s, no computers, tablets, TVs, smart phones. No club soccer or travel baseball. No stock markets or investment portfolios.
Luke didn’t give us this passage to be prescriptive but descriptive. In other words, he’s not telling us what we have to do but simply telling us what they did.
Even this church wasn’t able to pull off this kind of community all the time. This wasn’t the whole of their experience but was a moment in time. Later, we see this church persecuted, scattered, and impoverished.
Inevitably, within a few minutes of me preaching a passage like this, I find myself discouraged, and I move on.
And, this week, I’ve been realizing that there is a huge swath of my heart that is the thorny, weedy, rocky soil. Initially, compelled by this vision of the Kingdom, but then it gets choked out and I settle for less.
It reminds me of a famous line by English theologian and philosopher G.K. Chesterton: “The Christian ideal has not been tried and found wanting. It has been found difficult; and left untried.”
The same thing happened to me over the last couple of weeks, and there was a big part of me that just wanted to move on.
But the Holy Spirit has made it clear, both in my own heart and through many of you, that this is not something we’re supposed to move on from.
Many of these reasons it won’t work are legitimate, but none are as legitimate as the vision here. None are as significant as the Kingdom breaking out within, among, and through us.
Yes, context matters. We must contextualize the Gospel, and it might end up looking a bit different here than it did there. But “contextualize” doesn’t mean “water down.” It doesn’t mean settle for less just because it’s difficult.
Yes, our lives are more chaotic than theirs were, but does that make Jesus any less beautiful? Does that make pursuing his Kingdom any less important? Does that make the mission of the Kingdom any less necessary? Just the opposite: because our lives are so chaotic and we are so distracted by lesser glories, we need this kind of community now more than ever before (“It would seem that our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.” -C.S. Lewis)
Yes, Luke doesn’t tell us that this is what every church should look like; he simply describes a church, but let’s be honest, if we were to put this description of a church in a lineup with descriptions of other churches, which one would you pick?
Yes, this was only a season in the life of their community, but don’t you want to be a part of a season like that? And, that season changed the world. We talk about how that season eventually came to an end, but the ending of that season resulted in the Gospel reaching places it could have never reached otherwise. The result of the end of that season was the beginning of the global church.
Yes, there are legitimate reasons why this kind of community is difficult, but does that mean we should give up on the idea?
Do you believe a church like this is possible?
Do you want to be a part of something like?
Are you willing to fight for it?
What will it take to start moving toward this kind of community?
Discussion
What I want to do today is not just preach about it again but actually process and pray together about what it’s going to take to get there.
One of the things that I’m repeatedly convicted by as a pastor is the need to create spaces to practice the stuff we talk about (Aaron’s gym analogy).
Discussion questions:
What is your immediate reaction to this description of the Jerusalem church?
What are the reasons in your life that this kind of thing seems difficult or impossible?
How can we help one another with those reasons and fight for this vision together?
How can we pray for one another?
Communion
Jesus devoted himself to this reality for our sake (sanctified himself).
And now he sends us in the same way that the Father sent him.
This devotion, this giving of oneself is:
Costly
Daily (not a one-time commitment)
Better than anything else we have going