Safe Directions: God's Purposes

GOD’S FIVE PURPOSES


1. Expressive Worship that is about Him ~ God created us with a deep hunger for experiencing God. Jesus first command was to love God in a way that also loves our neighbors. If we are faithful in keeping that balance we will have an open heaven in both private and public worship. Amazing grace flows out of balanced worship which includes prayer, praise through music, singing hymns, preaching, teaching, financial giving, encouraging one another in the Lord, and joyously loving all of our neighbors. Worship is not passively occupying a pew! True worship leads to fellowship.

2. Supportive Fellowship ~ God created us all with a deep hunger for belonging to a family. We strive to be the family of God 24/7 in ways James says will experience an open heaven by bearing one another's burdens. We are all called to be a ministry of encouragement as we seek to grow closer to our Savior as well as to one another. James says our fellowship must be fairly focused on all sheep regardless of our backgrounds. Jesus is the one who sends His sheep into our church and He commanded us to feed all these sheep on purpose. We take His Command seriously to leave the 99 to restore hurting “members.” True fellowship leads to disciple making. Fellowship is not occupying a pew!

3. Progressive Discipleship ~ God created us all with a deep hunger for Spiritual growth and maturity called sanctification. We believe God's Word is the only sufficient manual for faith and practice. As His disciples were out in the boat catching the miracle catch of fish it was Jesus alone they struggled to bring the catch too. Only grace and Truth is sufficient to clean up each fish into a growing body of sheep who lean on one another. It took Jesus three years to produce his first 12 disciples who were equipped sufficiently to understand and follow the Great Commission Mt 28. Every sheep has a unique soil qualities in their background. God is our only Church Potter and Gardner if we want people to grow they must do so in the power of grace. James says if we chop off limbs apart from God we can injure sheep and experience a closed heaven. If we are patient and let God be God and they are real, gifts will begin to surface to bear safe fruit and not endanger our unity. Discipleship is not occupying a pew! True disciple making leads to ministry.

4. Practical Ministry ~ God created us all with a deep hunger to use their gifts for the Lord. For sheep to be used this way they must first be discipled so they can be aware of their gifting. No church can obey God apart from on purpose developing sheep for ministry. When God genuinely saves someone He also calls and equips them to serve on some level. The church must take the time to see this grace gifting emerging before we can then help them sharpen tools God has given them. Too often churches have merged with the world in promoting self gifts energized by the enemy and flesh. How can we tell if manmade gifts are raising up at church? People promoting themselves use blackmail not the gifts of the Spirit and the power of grace. Its all about them they never want to be second. They become grace killers rather a source for grace. True ministry leads to a hunger for evangelism. Ministry is not occupying a pew!

5. Aggressive Evangelism ~ God created us all with a deep hunger to keep Jesus Great Commission outside His church. Only true disciples can reproduce new ones. Today Jesus wants us to follow Peter and get out of the boat to learn fishermen skills. Fish are unique: some are bottom feeders, some love fresh water, some salty. Some fish just love the world so we need some sheep who are outside catching fish. Real fish do not show up at church unless someone has spent a lot of time sewing and watering seeds with different soil types. James says if our church is a healthy place for sheep, we will be operating under an open heaven. This way Jesus can reveal which side of the boat we should drop our nets on. But we also need Him to be there on the beach to clean our fish. Jesus didn’t die and leave this work for us to do on our own. Our motto fits all these purposes well "to know Christ and make Him known."

Source for God's Safe Purposes Acts 2:41-47


Acts 2: 41-47

41 So those who accepted his message were baptized, and that day about 3,000 people were added to them.
42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, to fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayers.
43 Then fear came over everyone, and many wonders and signs were being performed through the apostles. 44 Now all the believers were together and had everything in common.
45 So they sold their possessions and property and distributed the proceeds to all, as anyone had a need.j 46 And every day they devoted themselves to meeting together in the temple complex, and broke bread from house to house. They ate their food with gladness and simplicity of heart, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And every day the Lord added to themk those who were being saved. (HCSB)

The description of the first church (2:41-47)
Walvoord’s Notes: 2:41. Three thousand who believed were baptized, thus displaying their identification with Christ. This group of people immediately joined the fellowship of believers.
2:42. The activity of this early church was twofold. The believers first continued steadfastly (‎proskarterountes‎, "persisting in or continuing in"; cf. 1:14; 2:46; 6:4; 8:13; 10:7; Ro 12:12; 13:6; Col 4:2) in the apostles' teaching or doctrine. The second was fellowship, which is defined as the breaking of bread and... prayer. The omission of "and" between "fellowship" and "to the breaking of bread and to prayer" indicates the last two activities are appositional to fellowship. Perhaps the breaking of bread included both the Lord's Table and a common meal (cf. Ac 2:46; 20:7; 1Co 10:16; 11:23-25; Jude 12).
2:43. Wonders (‎terata‎, "miracles evoking awe") and miraculous signs (‎semeia‎, "miracles pointing to a divine truth") authenticated the veracity of the apostles (cf. 2Co 12:12; Heb 2:3-4). The apostles performed many such "signs and wonders" (Ac 4:30; 5:12; 6:8; 8:6,13; 14:3; 15:12). Christ too had performed many "wonders" and "signs" - and also "miracles" (‎dynameis‎, "works of power").
2:44-45. The selling of property and the common possession of the proceeds may imply that the early church expected the Lord to return soon and establish His kingdom. This may explain why the practice was not continued. Holding everything in common was not socialism or communism because it was voluntary (cf. 4:32,34-35; 5:4). Also their goods were not evenly distributed but were given to meet needs as they arose.
2:46-47. The activities described in verses 42-47 would tend to separate the church from traditional Judaism even though every day (cf. v. 47) they continued (‎proskarterountes‎; cf. v. 42) to meet together in the temple courts.
One of the subthemes of Acts is joy, because a victorious church is a joyful one. This is seen in verses 46-47 and numerous other times (5:41; 8:8,39; 11:23; 12:14; 13:48,52; 14:17; 15:3,31; 16:34; 21:17). In their fellowship they broke bread in their homes and ate together (cf. 2:42) with joy. (The word praising [‎ainountes‎] is used only nine times in the NT, seven of them by Luke: Lk 2:13,20; 19:37; 24:53; Ac 2:47; 3:8-9; Ro 15:11; Rv 19:5).
With the first of seven summary progress reports (cf. Ac 6:7; 9:31; 12:24; 16:5; 19:20; 28:30-31) Luke brought this section of Acts to a close: each day others were being saved. The church grew rapidly right from the start!

Contextual Notes: Luke now gives a brief sketch of the life and character of the early Christian community. He starts this section evidencing gospel fruit from the Holy Spirit as the source for these amazing 3,000 first fruit and the way God added to their body daily new converts v47. When we search for the significance of 3,000 we see an important parallel. Moses was commanded to kill about 3,000 on the day the Mosaic Law was instituted Ex 32:28. The primitive church was a vessel of hope with 3,000 new births expanding the scope of heaven as well as God’s purposes. This evidences Jn 3:16 as God’s love was manifest into the world when the church was birthed at Pentecost.

Application Questions:
Acts 2:42-43
Q: what can we learn about the content of preaching that was and always has been the result of this harvest?
A:The apostles' doctrine v42 or teaching they received personally from their Lord.
A: the proclamation of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus and its meaning for man's salvation.
A: as we study this setting we see the first of hundreds of passages that evidence their source for authority. They limited themselves to Jesus teaching as an authoritative tradition in the early church and later found embodiment in our New Testament. Later when John closed the body of the New Testament in the final language of Revelation we see the amazing source is both authoritative but safe as well as a living connection between God and his people.
A: we see evidence that once they were converted they had a new hunger that made them delight in fellowship v42 with one another in ongoing church meetings.
A: we also see evidence they at that time were breaking of bread (which probably consisted of a fellowship meal v42.
A: we also see evidence that their fellowship included the Lord's Supper v42.
A: we also see evidence that their meetings were at regular times and they consisted of unified form of prayer v42 that was very effective in overcoming the efforts of Satan, the world, and their own flesh to defeat the gospel.
A: we also see evidence one characteristic for their amazing early growth was in the way their entire community fellowshipped together in ways that aroused in the people a sense of awe v43 about the person of Jesus through the Holy Spirit that was often reinforced by sings wonders and miracles performed by the early apostles to prove they were really still connected to their foundation of Christ as their Chief Cornerstone Eph 2:20.
A: we also see evidence those early fellowships were centered around Jesus Word in ways that centered devotion to both God and one another v43-44. This agreed with the entire book of James who gives us a safe test for true religion.
A: they were so Christ-centered even wealthy believers sold their possessions v45 to help care for the necessities of the poor members.
Q: does this passage reveal much about key things the modern church calls worship v46?
A: The believers were still very much like Jews continuing daily worship of God in the Temple v46 in accordance with the Jewish practice.
A: There was no thought of withdrawing from Judaism and establishing a separate movement this early that came out of persecution by Jews who felt Christianity was a cult.
Q: what can we learn about fellowship as a work of the early church?
A: Christian fellowship manifested itself particularly in fellowship meals, conducted in various homes v46. True fellowship cannot be experienced by sitting on a pew on Sunday mornings. For new believers to grow requires home fellowship where people are encouraged to be transparent. Sheep need one another as they come out of the bondage Satan, the world and their own flesh had on them.

Q: were these home fellowships religious meetings?
A: these gatherings were defined by Joyfulness and generosity of heart v46 were two of the outstanding characteristics of the early Christians.
Q: what can we learn from the primitive church about ministry inside the church after they grew into maturity?
A: sheep need other sheep to grow together into ministry. They were actively witnessing to each other v47. As some grew we see evidence of gifting being rewarded for the church to grow.
Q: what can we learn about the amazing way the primitive church grew?
A: they emphasized the amazing story of Jesus as Messiah who was resurrected and not just another rabbi v47.
A: because the early church was so centered on God and loving one another this gave them a look that oursiders wanted to join including Jews and pagans v47.
A: The result was that the Lord was daily adding to the new fellowship those who received the witness, and the Christian community received them as fellow believers.

Be Strong in the Grace that is in Christ Jesus 2 Tim 2:1

Jerry Stokes