MARKS OF A GROWING CHURCH

Growth takes place all around us. No one wants to stay a baby. We all grow up. It is interesting to see our children grow up and observe the various stages of maturity. It is rewarding to see others growing and learning new things.

Just as there is mental and physical growth there is spiritual growth. We don't want to remain babies in our spiritual understanding but we are to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. We want to grow in spiritual understanding and get to know God better. I am surprised when people reject all offers to grow spiritually and people who are content to remain at a children's SS level of faith and belief. I can't believe people would not exert any effort to stretch their spiritual muscles.. We know that muscles never develop unless they are brought to the maximum point. Even if someone is from another religion we have a lot we can learn. I have been greatly challenged by observing and studying other religions. If I did not examine other religions I could not say that Christianity is the only true religion.

To develop physical muscles we must execise and make them work. Many people are lazy when it comes to spiritual development. They try to do the least amount necessary and still go to heaven. But like anything, the more we put into something the more we get out of it. To grow spiritually we must exercise our spiritual muscles. We need to exercise our faith and trust God to do the impossible. Today we want to see how the early church grew spiritually.

Acts 2:42-47 gives us a number of insights to the first church in Jerusalem. We will not focus on the numerical growth which occurred as some people do who study church growth but we want to look at the ten points of spiritual growth which is brought out in these six verses. As we study the early church this morning let God speak to our hearts that we can learn from them how to grow spiritually.

The early church had ten characteristics. They were a learning church, a church of fellowship, a church that was an obedient, a praying church, a reverent church, they expected things to happen, they shared their goods, they worshipped together, they were a joyful church and they were a winsome church As we examine these areas think about two things. Where do you as an individual need to grow and where do we as a body of Christ need to put some of these into action. ((When I speak of a church we never mean just a building but we speak of the body, lit. called out. )

We followed the great commission through this passage and noted that the apostles were following the pattern and command that Jesus had instructed them in before He left. Their first task was to make disciples next they were to baptize them and third they were to teach them all the Christ had commanded.

They first made disciples by telling the gospel of Jesus Christ - man is sinful, cannot earn his own salvation. God has made a provision for sin, need to repent and make things right, Then a person was baptized and added to the church. Then they were taught to observe all things which Jesus had taught.

One of the teachings is that they were to observe the Lord Supper together. This order is clearly stated in one of the early writings of the church, the Didache. There it reads, "Let none eat or drink of this Eucharist of yours except who have been baptized into the name of the Lord."

First of all the church was very diligent in all that it did. In Japanese we have the term "kataku" Other words that could be used are shitsukoi, koshuu,kositu, ganko, goujou The term is very strong which means they were very serious about doing whatever they did. Maybe you know some single-minded people. The term used in this passage for steadfastly, or devoted is a very strong word and indicates that they did take the study of God's work very seriously. One way to say this is to say that they persisted obstinately in the teaching of the apostles. To do this we first have to learn what the Bible teaches and then live it out.

The first church was a learning church. They studied the Word of God diligently. But it was not just a head knowledge, they diligently obeyed the teaching of the apostles. Perhaps we should read the Bible more and watch TV less. We should be more diligent to understand and obey the Bible. We are very fortunate to have the Word of God preserved and translated into our own languages so that we can understand and obey.

Second the early church continued in fellowship together. Fellowship is not just eating or talking together. Fellowship is being concerned about each other like a family. As Christians we are the family of God and we need to be helping each other with encouragement and support whenever we can. In the early church this was not just emotional or spiritual, it extended to those who were poor and needed financial help. We need to be sensitive to those less fortunate than us around the world. The family of God is not just this little group. It extends around the world.

Part of this fellowship was eating together. The breaking of bread was not just eating together.. The word "breaking" is only used in connection with bread. This indicates that this is a special phrase and it refers to the celebration of the Lord's Supper together so this term refers to the taking of communion together. Often they would celebrate the communion service as a part of a fellowship meal or love feast. Since there were no auditoriums in Jerusalem large enough for the church they would meet together in homes, in groups of 30 to 40 and celebrate the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Not only was communion a normal part of their time together they prayed together. When Peter was in prison the church gathered and prayed. An angel came and released Peter from the jail. When Peter came to the house where they were praying they were praying so intently that the prayer meeting did not stop when Peter knocked at the gate. When the people prayed together God answered and great things happened. When we look at verse 43 of chapter 2 in Acts we see that many miracles happened as a result of their prayer. There are many verses which encourage prayer. Rom 12:10-13; I Thess 5:14-18; James 5:13-16; I Peter 4:7-10.

As I read about those who have become spiritually powerful they have given themselves to prayer. In my own life I have decided to give more time to prayer and to pray more diligently for each one of you. I know God works through the prayers of people. I see it happen that when we pray God works miracles.

E.M. Bounds wrote much about prayer. He wrote in The Weapon of Prayer, "God needs prayer, and man needs prayer, too. It is indispensable to God's work in this world, and is essential to getting God to work in earth's affairs."
"So God binds men to pray by the most solemn obligations God commands men to pray, and so not to pray is plain disobedience to an imperative command of Almighty God, Prayer is such a condition without which the graces, the salvation and the good of God are not bestowed on men. Prayer is a high privilege, a royal prerogative and manifold and eternal are the losses by failure to exercise it. Prayer is the great, universal force to advance God's cause; the reverence which hallows God's name; the ability to do God's will, and the establishment of God's kingdom in the hearts of the children of men. These, and their coincidents and agencies, are created and affected by prayer. Prayer is a specific divine appointment, an ordinance of heaven, whereby God purposes to carry out His gracious designs on earth and to execute and make efficient the plan of salvation.
"Praying men are the one commanding need of this day, as of all other days, in which God is to have or make a showing. Men who pray are, in reality, the only religious men, and it takes a full-measured man to pray Men of prayer are the only men who do or can represent God in this world, No cold, irreligious, prayerless man can claim the right. They misrepresent God in all His work, and all His plans. Praying men are the only men who have influence with God, the only kind of men to whom Cod commits Himself and His Gospel. Praying men are the only men in Which the Holy Spirit dwells, for the Holy Spirit and prayer go hand-in-hand."The Holy spirit never descends upon prayerless men. He never fills them. He never empowers them. There is nothing whatever in common between the Spirit of God and the men who do not pray. The Spirit dwells only in a prayer atmosphere.
"In doing God's work there is no substitute for praying. The men of prayer cannot be displaced with other kinds of men. Men of financial skill, men of education, men of worldly influence - none of these can possibly be put in substitution for the men of prayer. The life, the vigour, the motive - power of God's work is formed by praying men."

God will work in your life in direct proportion to the quality of your prayers. Let us be diligent in prayer as the early believers were. Let us pray for one another and that every member of our families might be saved.

How I pray that the Holy Spirit would fall upon this church and convict men of guilt in regard to sin and righteousness and judgment. Would that we become a praying church and experience the fullness of God's power and love so that we could move out from here and reach this entire community with the love of God and meet the physical and spiritual needs of the people with which we come into contact.

In verse 45 we read that the early church was willing to help each other. We have been so encouraged by each person's willingness to help so freely. There is no way that we could ever come here to Japan and share about God on our own. Behind our being here is a large team of faithful people who pray and give generously so that people in Itsukaichi can hear about God.

The early church went daily to the temple. There they would praise God and listen to His word.

They were a happy and rejoicing people. When we realize how free we are and that God has forgiven all our sins - that there is not years of torment after we die but we can look forward to death and being with God is that not something to rejoice and be thankful for? The early church grew because the apostles were able to maintain proper priority in their ministry. We will see in Chapter 6 that they began to have problems in the church because they were too busy with other matter and they had neglected the practice of prayer. They appointed other men to carry out the business of the church and gave themselves to preaching the Word. I have searched my own ministry had come to see that there are times when prayer and preaching have not been on my priority list. I ask your forgiveness and want to keep my priorities in line. The problem lies in the fact that prayer is not seen as important enough to take several hours in the week or day to devote oneself to. The more that I study the Word there is a growing need to revamp my whole ministry I would ask you to be in prayer concerning this.

Verse 43 says that there were miracles happen as a result of the apostles' ministry. As the people say that the apostles had the same power as Jesus did to do miracles they realized that the power of God was with them. In two weeks we will look at one of these miracles which happened through Peter and John. We need to pray for each other. For healing when we are sick and for forgiveness when we do wrong. I believe that God is able to do miracles today to show his power and strengthen our faith. As we give ourselves to prayer we will see God working in miraculous ways. Yes, the early church had much to be thankful for and thus they were a very joyous group.

In 2:47 it says that every day the Lord added to the church those being saved. I get thrilled thinking that this is a possibility. Every day someone coming to know Christ as their redeemer. People losing all fear of death and committing their lives to love and obey God. People being free from the bondage of death and hell. That is thrilling. and to think that it happened every day.

If it happens once or twice a year in a church in Japan we think it is a revival. How would we feel if it happened every day.

It can only happen every day if every believer is burdened by the lost condition of each of their contacts and family. Do you have family and friends that need Christ as their Lord and Savior? What are you doing about it? If you do not do something to help them to become Christians, no one else will. We cannot expect things to happen without our effort in sharing the goodness of God and his power to save and forgive.

What are the marks of a growing vibrant church? First they were a learning church. Second, they fellowshipped together. They ate together and enjoyed communion remembering Jesus' death and resurrection. They were a praying church which brought miracles. They were willing to sell their goods to help each other. These believers went to the temple to praise God. They enjoyed the favour of the people and every day God added to the church people who were being saved. May God give us the freedom to follow Him in discipleship of this magnitude. I trust that our church can be a model of the early church in Jerusalem.

CFC 6/12/82 WHC 8/14/88