SERMON STRUCTURE: THE FELLOWSHIP OF BELIEVERS



ACTS 2:38, 39, 42-47


CIT (Central Idea of the Text): The members of the early church shared an intense devotion to the Gospel and to fellowship with each other. (19 words)


SERMON FOCUS: This same fellowship is possible for us when we turn our attention to our relationships with God and with each other.


MO: Consecrative


SO: Let us strive to pattern our lives individually, and collectively as a church, on this example of devotion to God and to one another!


TITLE: The Fellowship of Believers


Then … the completed sermon should be evaluated in terms of how well it adheres to the CIT and SF, and accomplishes its SO.






INVOCATION



O God our Father, whose Son our Lord Jesus Christ has given to us the celebration of communion as a wonderful memorial of His sacrifice on our behalf,


Grant us so to celebrate the Lord’s Supper on this day, that we may see in it your own steadfast love for us, and that we may likewise see in ourselves the fruit of Christ’s redemption of us,


Through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.


Amen.




OUTLINE OF ACTS 2:38, 39, 42-47



  1. Peter’s Instructions for New Believers (2:38, 39).


    1. “Repent, and be baptized … in the name of Jesus for the forgiveness of sins” (2:38a).

    2. “You will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” (2:38b).

    3. “For the promise is for … all on whom the Lord our God will call” (2:39).


  1. The Source of the Fellowship of New Believers: a “four-fold embodiment of the Gospel”1 (2:42)


    1. Devotion “to the apostle’s teaching.”

    2. Devotion to the fellowship of believers.

    3. Devotion to “the breaking of bread.”

    4. Devotion to prayer.


  1. The Nature of the Fellowship of New Believers (2:43-47).


    1. “everyone was filled with awe” (2:43a).

    2. “many wonders and signs were done by the apostles” (2:43b).

    3. “all the believers had everything in common” (2:44).

    4. “… selling their possessions [and giving] to anyone as he had need” (2:45).

    5. “every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts” (2:46a).

    6. “they broke bread together with glad and sincere hearts” (2:46b).

    7. “praising God and enjoying the favor of all people” (2:47a).

    8. “and the Lord was adding to their number those who were being saved” (2:47b).




SERMON STRUCTURE: THE FELLOWSHIP OF BELIEVERS



Introduction


  1. The description of the early church found in the second chapter of Acts has always been a haunting passage to me — an image often in the back of my mind as I think about the nature of the church.


    1. It is an account of the life of the early church.

    2. It is a beautiful illustration of what once was.

    3. It is an illustration that sometimes contrasts sharply with the organized church as it now is.

    4. It continually raises the question “Can this fellowship of believers ever be recreated?”

    5. And if it can be recreated, what must we do to initiate that transformation?


  1. This passage is very fitting for a day on which we celebrate communion, or “The Lord’s Supper.”

    1. Communion is not an empty formalized ritual that we do once every few months.

    2. It is a celebration of our relationship with God, and our relationships with each other.

    3. It is rooted in the Biblical concepts of the church as the Body of Christ, and Christ himself as the head of the church.

    4. As we prepare to celebrate communion, this passage holds up for us a clear picture of what our life with God, and our lives with each other, can be.



Scripture


  1. Our Scripture passage is Acts 2:38, 39, and 42-47. I am reading from the New International Version.


[Read here Acts 2:38, 39, 42-47.]


  1. These verses show us clearly how the members of the early church shared an intense devotion to the Gospel and to fellowship with each other. (CIT)


  1. I believe this same fellowship is possible for us when we also turn our attention to our relationships with God and with each other. (SERMON FOCUS)


  1. As we consider this beautiful example of the life of the early church, I hope we will resolve to pattern our lives upon it, both individually, and collectively as a church. (SPECIFIC OBJECTIVE)


Exposition


  1. Before considering the source of the fellowship of the early church, let us look first at some of the signs or manifestations of that fellowship.


    1. Verse 43 tells us that “everyone was filled with awe,” and “many wonders and signs were done by the apostles” (2:43).

    2. Verses 44 and 45 report that “all the believers were together and had everything in common” (2:44), and that each of them sold “their possessions and goods” and gave to others “as [they] had need (2:24).

      1. It is probably important for us to notice that this sharing of material goods seems very much to be a voluntary act, and not part of an organized system of laws or taxation or government or social structure.

      2. A related incident is recounted in Acts 5:1-11, where a man and his wife sell a piece of property, but instead of being honest about the money that the sale generated, they attempted to hide part of the profits from the apostles to whom they gave the rest.

      3. I don’t think these verses are a mandate for structuring a property rights in our social system.

      4. They are, however, a vivid illustration of the sense of commonality that the early church shared.

    3. We also read that the early believers “continued to meet together [every day] in the temple courts, ” and that (2:46a) “they broke bread together with glad and sincere hearts” (2:46b)

    4. And finally, the early believers were “praising God and enjoying the favor of all people and the Lord was adding to their number those who were being saved” (2:27).


  1. Clearly this was a very united, very caring, very devoted, very devoted church family.


    1. I see very clear reflections of that early church family right here at Cane Creek.

    2. But can you imagine what it must have been like to be a member of that church?

    3. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could re-create that church in our present setting?

    4. Wouldn’t the re-creation of that church be an incredible vision for Cane Creek Baptist?


  1. What would it take to do that? What were the foundations of that wonderful fellowship of believers? (TITLE).


  1. Briefly, we can note four characteristics of the fellowship and actions of the first believers.


    1. William Willamon, who was for a time Dean of the Chapel at Duke University, calls these characteristics the “four-fold embodiment of the Gospel”2

    2. First of all, the early believers were absorbed in the religious teachings to which they were committed.3

      1. In this case, the “religious teachings” were the elementary principles of the Christian faith, as taught by the apostles.

      2. Later, the writer of Hebrews instructs us to move beyond those elementary principles and “go on toward maturity” (Hebrews 6:1, 2).

      3. In chapters 7 through 16 of First Corinthians, Paul gives detailed instructions on the application of these “elementary principles” for practical Christian living.

    3. Second, the early believers enjoyed regular fellowship in both social and religious settings.

      1. The presence of the Holy Spirit among them produced koinonia, or “fellowship.’

      2. This New Testament word for “fellowship” is a word that implies active care for one another.

        1. That active care for one another was certainly reflected in the way in which they handled their material possessions.

        2. It was also reflected in their unity of spirit: later ( at 4:32) we read that “all the believers were one in heart and mind.”

      3. They met with each other daily “in the temple courts” (2:46a), and

      4. They “broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts” (2:46b).

    4. Third, the early believers continued steadfastly in prayer.

      1. These were certainly prayers of thanksgiving (2:47), but also prayers on behalf of each other.

      2. Their prayers for one another were probably a large part of their sense of generosity, and of holding all things in common.

      3. (Be careful what you pray for! I have found that I cannot pray for someone else’s needs to be met if I am not willing to contribute toward meeting those needs!)

    5. Fourth, they all exhibited a proper sense of awe before God.

      1. Undoubtedly, the many “wonders and signs” performed by the apostles contributed to this sense of awe.

      2. But equally certainly, the sense of fellowship with one another enhanced their awareness of God’s presence with them.


  1. The result of this “four-fold embodiment of the Gospel” is that the church grew and flourished.

      1. Verse 41 tells us that about 3,000 received the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost.

      2. That was the initial membership of the church.

      3. The Scriptures say “The Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved” (2:47).



Conclusions and Summary


  1. Clearly the early church was an extraordinary place!


    1. The key components of The Fellowship of Believers (TITLE) were:

      1. A devotion to the religious and spiritual teachings of the apostles.

      2. The practice of daily fellowship in both spiritual and religious settings.

      3. The regular practice of prayer, and

      4. A sense of the awesomeness of God and of God’s work among them.

    2. These components are still available to us today.


  1. Let us strive, therefore, to pattern our lives individually, and collectively as a church, on this example of devotion to God and to one another! (SPECIFIC OBJECTIVE)


  1. The celebration of communion, or the Lord’s Supper, is one way in which we acknowledge the awesomeness of God, and the awesomeness of God’s work among us, and a way in which we express our sense of communion, or koinonia, with each other.


(continue here with the celebration of communion)





1 William H. Willamon, Acts Interpretation A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching (Louisville: John Knox Press, 1988), 88.

2 Ibid.

3 These four characteristics are outlined by Carl R. Holladay, “Acts 2:42-47,” in Fred B. Craddock et al., Preaching Through the Christian Year A (Harrisburg, PA: Trinity Press International, 1992), 264-65.

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