The Church is the Body of Christ
Sermon Notes
We’ve started a series on the book of Acts
Intended to answer the question, “What is a church?”
We are a church, and we want to make sure that the things we are doing are what God wants for and from on our community.
Original name of Canopy was Steakhouse (tell the story)
We want to make sure that we’re making steak
To do that, we want to spend some time (at least a year) in the story of the first church. What are we looking for?
Not what they did, as what they did would change from context to context.
Gospel communities looked different in Jerusalem than in Philippi than in Rome
And they looked different in the 1st Century than they did in the 2nd Century than they did in the 3rd Century.
If Jesus were planting the first church in 21st Century Orange County, much of the practices of that community would be different than what we read in the story. It’s not that we’re uninterested in what they did, but we want to look much more closely behind what they did for what they believed.
What did they believe about…
Jesus
Themselves
The purpose for the existence of their community
Practices change from context to context, but how do we know that we’re on the right track? By holding to the foundational beliefs, the core convictions of this earliest church.
Throughout this series we will be identifying some of these core convictions.
The reason we want to do this is not simply for the sake of information but so that we can live out these beliefs creatively in our own context.
This is for all of us
This is just for us as pastors/church staff to figure out and then program toward.
I’ll be honest, there are some core convictions that we’ll discuss together that I don’t know how to live out in our context, but you do. That’s what “body of Christ” means; it means we all have a piece of the puzzle. We all carry the vision.
Through this series, the invitation is to be participants, to be investors, to be builders.
We started last week with the story of God because Luke makes it clear that this story in the book of Acts is not something brand new but is the continuation of the story of God.
NT Wright’s five-act play analogy
And it’s important that we continue to hold the story in mind because that’s how we remain faithful to it.
Too often, we grab bits and pieces of the story and build our lives around those without ever zooming out to get the big picture.
Far too many Christians don’t know what kind of story this is.
We need to hold in mind (among other things) that this is a story about a God…
…who loves the world
…who creates humans in His image
…who invites us to be stewards of His creation, that is, to work through us in the world. He wants us to reflect Him to creation.
…a God who doesn’t give up on His commitment to the goodness of creation or His commitment to us as His representatives despite the fact that we routinely fall short of that commission and, in doing so, damage ourselves and the world.
…instead, a God who implements a plan to redeem the world and to restore creation to “good,” and significantly still works through people as the instruments of that plan.
…a God who reveals Himself and identifies Himself in relationship and through that relationship invites the world into a new reality.
Jesus is the fullest representation of this story:
God Himself showing up in the middle of the story to walk with us.
One of us who shows us what’s possible
The King come to inaugurate the Kingdom and bring about the restoration.
The book of Acts is the continuation of this story, the beginning of the final act, the fifth act of this great story, and we’re still living in this act. Here’s how it begins:
In my former book, Theophilus, I wrote about all that Jesus began to do and to teach 2 until the day he was taken up to heaven, after giving instructions through the Holy Spirit to the apostles he had chosen. 3 After his suffering, he presented himself to them and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive. He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. 4 On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. 5 For John baptized with[a] water, but in a few days you will be baptized with[b] the Holy Spirit.”
6 Then they gathered around him and asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?”
7 He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
9 After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.
10 They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. 11 “Men of Galilee,” they said, “why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.” (Acts 1:1-11)
Exegesis
Everything that Jesus began…
Luke wrote his first book, the Gospel of Luke, that sums up the whole story of God in Jesus, and then wrote a second book which he here describes as the sequel to that book.
Notice, what he said, the first book was about everything that Jesus began to do and teach. What is the implication? That this second book is about everything that Jesus continued to do and teach.
What’s interesting about that? Well, Jesus left in the first couple of verses of the book.
Yet, Luke implies that He continues to work despite no longer being physically present on earth. How? Through His Church.
What does this tell you about the convictions of the early Church? That they believed themselves to be the body of Christ at work in the world, literally.
CORE CONVICTION #1: The Church is the body of Christ
Literally…
This was not a clever metaphor that Paul came up with to describe the Church. This is what they actually thought about themselves. They actually believed themselves to be living the life of Jesus, the story of Jesus, in their own bodies and community through the power of the Holy Spirit.
I had a friend once ask me if I thought it was arrogant to say, “Jesus loves me.” I told her that it wasn’t and explained why, but I wish I would have said, “You think that’s arrogant, listen to this: I actually believe that I am a part of Jesus, that I am living His story, that He’s at work in me to show me not only that He loves me but also how much He loves you.”
Scriptural evidence:
In Galatians, Paul , “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20)
In Colossians, “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. (Colossians 3:1-4)
In Philippians, “But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ” (Philippians 3:7-9)
And, of course, Jesus said, “Whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”
What do we need to do to live like they did (so the same can be true of us)?
We need to know the risen Jesus: “He gave many convincing proofs that He was alive…”
Truth, evidence, proof is very important to Luke.
In the Gospel of Luke, he said that he was writing so that Theophilus could know the “certainty” of the things he had been taught.
One of the things we’re supposed to walk away from this journey having is a greater since of certainty about what we believe.
This doesn’t mean that all doubts will be removed; remember, doubt is essential to faith.
But faith is supposed to grow. Doubts aren’t supposed to be perpetual but rather are to be things that cause us to ask big questions, to investigate, to learn and grow.
Theophilus was probably a doubter who paid Luke to investigate for him.
And, while Luke tells the whole story of Jesus, it’s one fact that he camps out on as the cornerstone of faith, one thing that he wants us to be absolutely certain about: Jesus is alive.
The resurrection is root of the whole thing (as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:18-19 - And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied).
This has to be the starting point for anyone exploring the Christian faith. So many people begin in Genesis and get bogged down in the big questions (which, as we’ve discussed, are well worth thinking through), but my encouragement to any genuine seekers is to start with the resurrection. If it isn’t true, then who cares about the rest of the big questions. If it is, then you have to deal with the rest. As C.S. Lewis once brilliantly put it:
“Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important.”
One of our hopes on this journey through Acts is not only that you see the possibility inherent in the Church but that you see Jesus for who He is. This is His story. Without Him risen, none of it makes any sense and none of it is possible.
We can live resurrection lives because He is risen and the power that raised Him from the dead is available to us.
We need a vision of the Kingdom.
He gave proofs that He was alive and spoke to them about the Kingdom of God.
The resurrection matters because it is the enthronement of Jesus as King and the inauguration of the Kingdom of God, the beginning of a new era.
Several years ago, I had someone ask me why the resurrection was as important as Paul says it is, and I didn’t have a great answer.
I understood the cross as the thing where the wrath of God was dealt with so that the barriers between me and God could be removed and I could know Him and be with Him in heaven forever.
But, then where did the resurrection come into play? It seemed unnecessary. Because if this is just about our souls going to heaven when we died, wouldn’t Jesus’ soul going to heaven after He died be just as appropriate an ending.
I mean, it would be helpful for Him to appear in ghost form a time or two to give some final instructions and whatnot, but the resurrection seems completely superfluous,
That is, until I began to understand what the Bible actually said about God’s plan for creation.
God loves the world and hasn’t given up on His plan for it or for us in it. He is not looking to destroy the world but to restore it and to restore us in it. The Bible doesn’t teach a disembodied future beyond the clouds; it teaches restoration. It teaches resurrection. It teaches the Kingdom of God growing up from within and overtaking the kingdoms of this world. The two things are connected: Jesus’ resurrection and the Kingdom.
He has risen and is now sovereign of all things having established His right to reign (all authority in heaven and earth has been given to me).
And, now He invites us to follow Him into His kingdom. He the firstfruits and we His disciples.
The kingdoms of this world have become the Kingdom of our Lord… (not have been obliterated by).
The dwelling place of God is now among us.
There’s lots of confusing symbolism in revelation that we try to interpret, but we ignore the blatant statements right on the surface.
We need to lose our lives for His.
Jesus told them not to leave Jerusalem…
When He tells them not to leave Jerusalem, He’s telling them not to go back to their old lives.
They were supposed to go back. The festival season was over. It was time to go back to life and career, but He was saying that is over.
There was nothing special about Jerusalem, nothing more holy about it than anywhere else. He just wanted them to stay because He didn’t want them going back home.
New identity: you will be witnesses.
Notice not, “You will witness” but, “You will be witnesses.”
It’s about a new identity
Unless a seed goes into the ground and dies, it remains alone, but if it dies, it produces may seeds.
Laying down our plans for His.
Laying down our self-reliances for reliance on His Spirit and power.
But this is not sacrifice for the sake of sacrifice. It’s not emptying ourselves to live empty but to be filled. The third thing we need to live out this core conviction is…
We need the power of the Holy Spirit.
The fact is all of this was entirely beyond them on their own.
They could not know Jesus without the Holy Spirit.
Luke says that even when they had seen Him risen they were still confused.
So Jesus taught them through the Holy Spirit and sent them the Spirit to be His perpetual presence with them.
They couldn’t live in this new Kingdom.
They didn’t even understand it…
But Jesus still commissioned them (some worshipped and some doubted)
They couldn’t surrender their lives without Him.
They couldn’t be His witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth without Him.
All of this was well beyond the capacity of anyone listening to Jesus on that day.
Not only were they intrinsically ill-equipped for the task (lack of education, social standing, resources, credibility, etc.), but they also faced immense external challenges.
Roman occupied Jerusalem—where, incidentally, Jesus had been crucified just a short time earlier—was (seemingly) not fertile soil for the Gospel message, yet Jesus told them to be His witnesses in Jerusalem.
Jesus himself had received decidedly mixed reviews in Judea, and they had nowhere near His charisma, authority, or power, yet Jesus commanded them to spread the Gospel across Judea.
Relations between Jews and Samaritans were frosty, at best, yet Jesus instructed them to make disciples in Samaria.
The obstacles, challenges, and perils awaiting them among the nations were numerous and immense, yet Jesus had called them to be His ambassadors to the ends of the earth.
But more mind blowing than the commission is the fact that, by the end of chapter 28, within 30 or so years, they were well on their way to completing it, by the power of the Holy Spirit.
What might be possible for us?