Three Attitudes—persevering, Sharing, and Praying

Acts Chapter 2, I want to begin with verse 42. Let us remember that we are studying the book of Acts and that it is not merely a book that we are studying; we are using the book of Acts to study many texts, many themes in the Bible, many spiritual principles that are part of our lives. The book of Acts is simply a springboard, a starting point toward the other teachings. So do not feel that we are too limited because we are only studying the book of Acts. On the contrary, this is part of knowing things in depth and getting the most out of Scripture. So we are going to take—I actually believe that, although there is a division, I do not know whether it is in your Bible, beginning with verse 43 through 47—verse 42 should really be included there as well, together with the other concluding verses, because they form part of a whole, of an idea that the writer wants to convey. Verse 42 says:

“…And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship with one another, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers…”

Four things that it says the first Christians emphasized and remained committed to as a central, fundamental part of their life as a church, as a community: the apostles’ doctrine, fellowship with one another, the breaking of bread, and prayers. Then verse 43 says:

“…Then fear came upon every person, and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles…”

Remember, it is giving us a report, a summary of what life was like, of the things that characterized that community of faith, and by extension, we believe that they should also characterize our life as a church. Those are the elements that should characterize the life of León de Judá as well, and the life of every person who is integrated into this church.

“…Fear came upon every person, and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles. All who had believed were together and had all things in common, and they sold their properties and possessions and distributed them to everyone according to each one’s need. And continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they ate together with gladness and simplicity of heart, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the outcome of that entire life and that whole way of living, it says, was that the Lord added daily to the church those who were to be saved…”

May the Lord bless His holy Word. As you can see, brothers and sisters, here we have a portrait of the life of the first believers. Last Sunday we saw Peter taking advantage of an opportunity to preach a sermon that deeply moved the people who heard it. As a result of that sermon, 3,000 people were converted to the Lord. Peter called them to repent—that is, to change the way they lived, to change the way they thought, to acknowledge that they had sinned by crucifying the Son of God, whom God had now shown through His resurrection to be, in fact, the Messiah of whom the prophets spoke. He encouraged them to be baptized as a sign of repentance, and he also encouraged them to open their lives and receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

And we said that those are three things that are important in any conversion experience of a man or woman who enters the Gospel: repentance, a change of heart and mind; being baptized, because it is an act of obedience to the Lord—and we see that the first Christians placed great importance on baptism and that, in fact, they baptized people immediately when they were converted; as soon as they could, they put them through the waters of baptism.

Baptism does not save; remember that. Baptism does not save, but it is an expression of something very powerful that takes place in our lives, and it is one of those sacraments, one of those ordinances, that we do very well to obey. And also, they were not to stop with only those two things, but to go on to ask the Holy Spirit to become active within them, to live a life filled with the Holy Spirit, to receive the presence of the Spirit, the baptism of the Spirit, the gifts of the Spirit, so that they could live a truly supernatural life.

Throughout all these teachings, we have been emphasizing that the Holy Spirit is tremendously important to the believer’s life; that we must live a life filled with the Spirit—a vital life, a joyful life, a life of power. We cannot live simply at the mercy of circumstances, coming to church as though it were a routine. It is a vital life; it is a life filled with strength and power. We have to cultivate it.

Paul tells Timothy, “I advise you to fan into flame the gift of God….” The same word, the gift of the Holy Spirit, “…the gift of God that is in you….” We cannot simply settle for saying, okay, well, I already have the gift of the Spirit, and then live a completely routine life. No, we must always be stoking the fire; we must always make sure that the fire has fuel so that it can do what needs to be done.

So, those three elements—and he exhorted each person to be converted to the Gospel. And then, it says that the result of that entire sermon was that about 3,000 people were converted, and one wonders, well, what happened to those people? Because the preaching of the Gospel is only just beginning; it is a brand-new church, a baby church. It is the first time that preaching truly takes place on a massive scale after Christ ascends—a sermon that launches the evangelistic life of the church in the world, in history.

What happened to those 3,000 people, along with the few disciples who already knew Jesus during the time of Jesus Christ’s earthly ministry? Well, it says that these people had a certain way of life, and what characterized that way of life? Well, first of all, they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine. Two very important words here: continued steadfastly. That means that they remained focused. The Greek word proscareontes, which is translated “continued steadfastly,” means that they were seriously focused, that they devoted themselves to it, that they gave a great deal of attention and energy to what they were doing. And in what did they continue steadfastly? It says, in the apostles’ doctrine. The word didaché is the word translated as “doctrine” in Spanish. In what did they continue steadfastly? In the apostles’ doctrine.

What does the apostles’ doctrine refer to? It refers to the apostles’ teaching. And what was that teaching? Well, the principles that Christ taught them while He was on earth concerning Himself as Lord, His atoning death on the cross, His ascension into heaven, His coming one day, a God who loved them, and the Holy Spirit. They were the elements of the Christian faith that the apostles, at the beginning of the Christian faith, were spreading.

Always remember, biblical teaching is not something that one invents. The biblical teaching that forms part of our faith comes to us through this Scripture. The books that were written by the apostles, God’s prophets, God’s writers—it is not a doctrine made by us; it is a doctrine that we have received and that we have no right to change.

There are things in the Bible that I do not like. I confess that to you. There are things that, if I could control them, I would have written differently. I would have done them differently, and that would make my life easier as a pastor and as a preacher, but you know what? I have no right to change even one letter of that Word. I have to submit to it. I have to live by it. I have to devote myself to knowing it, investigating it, learning it, and then obeying it, because I know that it comes from God through His apostles and prophets; it comes from God through those chosen people whom He allowed to record it in His Word. And what I have to do is continue steadfastly in it, in the doctrine.

And you know what, León de Judá? We have to do the same thing as a church. We have to continue steadfastly in the doctrine. We have to devote ourselves to knowing it. Why do we have discipleship classes? Why do we instruct the children in their classes right now, for example, upstairs? Why are you listening to this sermon? Why are we choosing a passage from the Bible to expound it in the way we are doing? Why do I take the trouble to elucidate and draw out these principles, teach them to you in a practical way, and apply them to life? Because we have to continue steadfastly in the doctrine.

We want a church instructed in the Word. We do not want a church based only on emotions, you know? We cannot devote ourselves solely to getting chills and supposed miraculous acts and nothing but that, and words. No, we have to devote time to knowing the Word, to teaching doctrine. Do you know biblical doctrine? If someone asks you why you believe in God, why do you believe that Christ is the Son of God? Who was Abraham? Why did Christ have to die on the cross of Calvary? Does baptism save, or, if it does not, why is it important? Why must one repent? What is the baptism of the Holy Spirit? Why is the Holy Spirit important? Why is Christ God and not merely another one of God’s creations? These are questions that form part of the doctrine of the Bible. And you and I must learn it so that we can live proper lives, effective lives.

That is why I encourage you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ: learn from the Bible, study the Word, and continue steadfastly in it. Do not stray from it. Do not try to play around with it. No, continue steadfastly in the teaching of God’s Word. So these people continued steadfastly in the doctrine they had received from the apostles, who were the pastors, the instructors of that new community. But they did not stop there. There are churches where it is nothing but word, word, word, Bible, Bible, Bible, and you know what? When people come to church, they want fellowship, they want friendship, they want a sense of family.

What could be more discouraging than coming to a church for the first time as a visitor, and no one looks at you, no one greets you; you sit down beside someone and are completely invisible. The person on your right and the person on your left do not even notice that you arrived. If you are preaching, they do not bring you a little tea for your throat… thank you, sister. How many times have you gone to a church and felt like, wow, I would have been better off staying home? No one cares that you came; they do not welcome you; they do not make you feel at ease; there is no smile, no joy, no greeting at the end of the service. Everyone begins greeting one another and seeking each other out over there, while you are left there completely lost, as though you do not matter, and you go home feeling very sad, with your head hanging low, because no one loved you. And you come week after week and feel… and unfortunately we must say that this has probably happened and will happen here in our church. Thank God, many people tell me, “This is a loving church.” I give glory to the Lord for that. We can do a better job, you know?

Where do I get that from? It says that they were in fellowship with one another. Fellowship—the word koinonia. Have you heard the word koinonia? How many have heard that word at some point? Koinonia means fellowship, communion, family, community, sharing together—koinonia. A very biblical word. And I have to ask the Lord every day, “Father, make us more and more of a loving church.”

Listen, how wonderful it would be if the City of Boston knew León de Judá as a loving church, where no one feels like a stranger. Like the name of the series, “Where Everybody Knows Your Name,” about that bar here in Boston. What is the bar called? Shear. Where everybody knows your name—that series, do you remember it?

And how wonderful a church is where everybody knows your name. We have to make an effort. We are a large, diverse community; there are two services, creating even more fragmentation, and an English-speaking group. We could be an anonymous church, where nobody knows your name. But may God spare us from that.

Brothers and sisters, allow me to make a pastoral appeal this morning. Let us make an effort to be a church of love. And you are part of that miracle. Perhaps you feel that no, it is the ushers and pastors who have to greet people; I am only a member. I am the one who should be greeted. Friends, if you have someone there, if you sat down beside that person when you came in this morning, greet them. If you do not know that person, introduce yourself. If the person looks a little lost and is a visitor, that is all the more reason to make sure you greet them. When we welcome the visitors, identify them, and at the end of the service go and greet them, especially if they are near you. Let no one leave without receiving a warm greeting. And let us also make an effort to have a family life. Let us invite one another into our homes; let us call one another on the phone. All of that is what makes that fellowship, that koinonia, possible. Let us not settle for less.

How beautiful it is when we look—if we could see an X-ray of the social life of Lion of Judah, we would see a tightly woven network of relationships in which everyone is connected to one another: we love one another, we know one another, we spend time together, we support one another. When Gregory and I went this week to visit Sister María, who was sick at Mass General Hospital, just as we were getting out of the elevator, whom did I run into? Maira Rodríguez, who was getting into the elevator after visiting Sister María. And Sister Dilma and Marvin told us, “Several brothers and sisters have visited; we feel so supported because many brothers and sisters have prayed for us and have been visiting my mother.” How beautiful that is. Fellowship—let us strive to be a community, not merely people of the Word, as beautiful as that is; but the Word is... the Christian church has to be entirely a church of love, a church of affection. Let us help one another, support one another, and express our love for one another.

They persevered in the doctrine, in fellowship with one another, and in the breaking of bread. That sounds strange: in the breaking of bread. It is an expression; it does not mean that they ate only bread. I think the writer means sharing food together, eating together. It is a somewhat elusive expression and difficult to understand. What did Luke mean by that expression? Some think it refers to the agape meal discussed in 1 Corinthians, chapter 11, the passage I read when I celebrate the Lord’s Supper. The Lord Jesus Christ said, “Whenever you gather together, do this in remembrance of me; whenever you eat the bread, do this in remembrance of me.”

Perhaps we see here the beginning of a tradition that later became the Eucharist, or the church’s Holy Communion, in which Christians gathered to eat together and remember Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. It became a very beautiful rite that celebrated Passover, in which the Passover Lamb, Jesus Christ, had shed his blood for the salvation of humanity. We are not certain; it seems that what is being described here was a social occasion with certain spiritual connotations.

But I draw something very important from this, and it is this: how beautiful it is when, yes, we eat together and share together. Sometimes we have those meals downstairs to raise funds—glory to God for the financial aspect—but I also love the idea that my brothers and sisters are down there eating together. Do you know that when you eat with someone, something very important seems to happen? There is a greater degree of intimacy when food is shared.

And I encourage you, in the name of the Lord, to invite one another over as well. Back in our countries... I do not know how many of you experienced this, but people would prepare a meal and set aside a plate for the neighbor. From your laughter, I know that many of you understand what I mean, right? And off the plate would go, the neighbor carrying it across the alley or whatever it might be: “Neighbor, I brought you a plate of food—a little rice, beans, and a small piece of meat, if they could afford it.”

But the idea was to express affection for one another. There was poverty, often, and how many times—and how many of us—were saved by a plate of food the neighbor brought, perhaps the only food there was. What beautiful experiences those were, right? That has been lost in anonymous cities, and in large churches that sense of companionship is lost; but sharing bread together is very important. Invite someone to your home. Your home does not have to be a palace, nor does everything have to be absolutely perfect. The Bible says that we must not neglect hospitality. Remember? Hospitality is a very solid Christian value. For some people, their home is their castle, and they lock it up with something like forty padlocks so that no one can get in. And when they come home from work, they take refuge there: they rush in, turn on the television, and sit there worshiping it with a plate of food, and no one had better come to their house, because it is their refuge, right?

Brothers and sisters, our homes must also be places of hospitality. We must practice hospitality as a Christian value, you know? Invite someone to your home. There are lonely people; there are people whose families are back in their home countries, and they need someone to invite them over. Share; invite one another over; break bread together, and do it as a demonstration of Christian love. You do not have to become very religious about it and make it look as though you are celebrating the Eucharist. No—eat together, pray together, worship the Lord, and celebrate Christian love. What a beautiful thing that is. And I believe the Lord receives that and is pleased by it, right? Amen. That is part of being a vital community, so visit brothers and sisters, especially those who perhaps cannot reciprocate afterward by inviting you to their home. And extend Christian love in this way.

Doctrine, fellowship—and that fellowship was expressed in practical terms by showing one another hospitality—and finally, the prayers. Here is another thing that sounds strange: they participated together in the prayers. What does that mean? Well, I imagine it is speaking about times of worship together. The Jews—and remember, this is a community emerging from Judaism—still consider themselves Jews, with the added, very important element that they believe the Messiah has already come: they know who the Messiah is, and that he is Jesus. But they are Jews.

What today is the evangelical church, the Catholic Christian church, or whatever else, has not yet come into its full expression. These people are still sort of half Jewish and half Christian, but they are in the process of taking on a Christian identity. So they probably offered these prayers in the Jewish temple. They gathered—some believe—in a place there in the temple called Solomon’s Portico, one of those spaces, because the temple was enormous. Those early Christians gathered there to talk about the Bible together and pray together, and they came to the temple at the times of the temple’s formal prayers. But there we see something: the beginning of the worship life of God’s people, which today means, for example, coming to church on Sunday to worship the Lord, coming on Wednesday, going to a home for one of these cell groups; the men gathering on Tuesday nights to worship together, or on Saturday mornings to pray, as we were here yesterday morning. They persevered in prayer with one another.

How beautiful it is, brothers and sisters, when we understand that it is good to come to the house of the Lord and worship together, to pray together. Not merely to pray; rather, they persevered in worship, which included prayer. When we come to God’s temple, we come to sing, pray, read the Word, give our tithes, and meditate on God’s Word. All these things characterize a well-rounded time of worship. It is important to come to the house of the Lord. Many people say, “I can worship God anywhere because he is everywhere.” That is true, but how good it is when God’s people are in fellowship with one another, as we are. Take in this moment; do not just come like this... take in this moment and understand what we are doing. How strange is this?

If you were a Martian coming from Pluto, or one of those planets, and you saw this, would it not seem strange to you? The thing is, we do it so often that it has become normal to us. But what a strange thing it is! People from all over the city arrange to come to one place, sit down, and make all sorts of faces and do strange things together. That is beautiful; it is something marvelous, extraordinary. Never lose the sense of mystery about what you are doing. Never think that sitting at home with a bowl of cereal, watching on television a preacher wearing a seven-hundred-dollar tie, is a substitute for coming to the house of God—for making the effort, dressing as well as you can, coming to church, worshiping with your brothers and sisters, enjoying koinonia together, and presenting our worship live before the Lord. That is important. Never lose that aspect of your life, my brother, my sister.

The apostle Paul warns believers, saying, “Do not forsake assembling together, as some are in the habit of doing...” Some stay at home, off by themselves. “I am too tired, too depressed, too upset.” Come to the house of the Lord and worship the Lord. Persevere in prayer together with one another. That is part of a balanced Christian life. I believe that one cannot truly be a faithful Christian without enjoying the fellowship of the saints. That is essential; there are no lone-ranger Christians—there simply are not. We Christians are a community by definition, and we must be part of that community. Wherever we go, we must seek out a community of believers.

I will end with this. What you see here in the rest of the passage is essentially an elaboration of everything I have just said. The ultimate result of all this—thank you, Enrique—what happens in verse 43? It says, “...fear came upon every person...”

The word “fear” in the original Greek is phobos, from which the word “phobia,” or fear, comes. It does not mean that people became afraid of these people; rather, something like awe came upon the entire community. There was a sense of, “Wow, something important is happening among these people.” When they saw these thousands of people—in Peter’s second sermon, five thousand were converted—just imagine: in a small, relatively small city like Jerusalem, with only a few tens of thousands of people, three thousand are converted and then five thousand; people are talking about a man who died and rose again, and now his people are preaching the Word; and they see these people living exemplary lives, worshiping together, eating together, loving one another, supporting one another. Fear came upon them. The newspapers began to write, “Something strange is happening in Jerusalem.” The report: “Yes, I was converted, I came to know Christ, and my life changed.” Someone else over there: “Yes, I was sick, and God healed me.” Another person over there: “So-and-so sold her house and distributed money to all the poor.” Wow! People are astonished; they do not know what to say. There is a wholesome sense of, “Wow, God is in the city; something unusual is happening; God is moving among his people. Wow!” Many who perhaps recovered a sense of the sacred said, “Well, I have to examine my life too. Am I living the kind of life God wants?” Fear came upon them.

What happens when a church lives the Christian life in an exemplary way, as these people did? You know what? The world notices. I believe that later, at the end of verse 47, it says:

“...and each day the Lord added to the church those who were to be saved...”

Look how interesting that is. The result was, first, amazement among the people—a wholesome fear of God. Why do I think people do not have greater respect for the things of the Gospel? I believe the fault lies mainly with the church, not with the people. It is that we Christians are not living the life God calls us to live.

When the church stands up and begins to live as God commands—when we love one another, repent of our sins, change our lives, pray to the Lord, and worship the Lord—the Lord’s grace is manifested. God performs miracles, signs, and wonders, as we see here. We are together, we share our belongings, the Holy Spirit manifests himself, and we live with gladness and simplicity of heart, as that passage says. Look, you know what? People begin to come on their own, without being invited, and they give their lives to the Lord.

Why is society not experiencing a greater impact from the Gospel? It is because we lack authenticity; we are not living the Christian life as God desires. So, as a church, let us take responsibility for being a vital church, a church filled with the Holy Spirit, a generous church, a church whose people love one another. And I believe—I know—that many people in this Latino community already know that there is a church called Lion of Judah Congregation, for the glory of the Lord, for God’s glory alone.

Gregory and I went to an appointment with a church member who is receiving counseling from a psychologist, a Hispanic psychiatrist here in the community. We went on Thursday—Friday, Thursday. This man is a professional, an excellent psychologist, by the way, and I believe he is a God-fearing man. You know what? I realized there that he knows our church, knows our ministry, and has great respect for our church. Glory to God for that, because we can bear a good witness, and people know there are people who love God and are serving God as God desires. And these are evangelistic efforts; what happens is that, little by little, people come to the Gospel.

Right there, as we were entering the clinic, a woman was sitting in a chair in the waiting room. When she saw us, she stood up with a huge smile: “Pastor, I recently started attending your church. We listen to your program on the radio, and I am attending your church.” How beautiful that is. How wonderful it is when a community becomes known for the genuineness of its life and earns a good reputation in the community, and it is as though the Lord himself is bringing people in.

I believe we do not have to twist ourselves into knots to get people to know Jesus Christ. What we must do is live the Christian life daily, maintain good spiritual hygiene, and when a church lives the Christian life the way it is supposed to live it, every day, day by day, gently, without a great deal of agonizing or anything like that, God adds those who are to be saved; they come on their own. And we also make our efforts, as we have done this week. Glory to God.

But God keeps adding life, and if Lion of Judah joins with the church that is three blocks away, and that church joins with the church that is five blocks away, and those three churches join with another one that is over there, on the other side of Roxbury, and that one joins with three or four that are in the South End, and others join with those in Randolph, or in Queency or in Brighton or in Cambridge—listen to me, brothers and sisters, what would happen if this city were filled with churches, with communities authentically living the Christian life as described here? It would be the glory of God on earth; the demons would have to flee screaming—they would come out howling and could be heard as they crawled into the hole they came from. Because the life of God is manifested in the midst of his people, our community.

So I ask you, Lord, help us to be an authentic church, a life—wow! Today’s points: who did this? Tremendous. Thank you. Is that the beginning of a betrayal? I wish it were.

They devoted themselves to the doctrine, striving to build a church of love, sharing bread, hospitality and prayers, fellowship, community, koinonia among brothers and sisters, authenticity, living an authentic Christian life.

Brothers and sisters, if Lion of Judah does that, if you and I do it, failure is impossible. God is going to do extraordinary things in our midst. Amen. How wonderful it is to know that right now there are brothers and sisters receiving their sermon in English, here in Spanish; who knows whether one day we will have it in Chinese and Creole, in Portuguese. Glory to God; that is going to be the glory of God on earth. Amen.

Glory to the Lord. How wonderful. Koinonia, community, sharing with one another, loving one another, supporting one another despite our differences. If there is a need, let us all go there, to the meeting place, to meet that need. I give thanks to the Lord.

Stand up for a moment and receive a little piece of this teaching—something that speaks to you, something that touches your heart this morning. Receive it in the name of Jesus. I know there are things that I need to receive. Where is the part that God is calling me to put into practice in my life today? I ask the Lord Jesus Christ to make this life of the Spirit real in Lion of Judah, in this community: a church of love, a church of forgiveness, compassion, mercy, brotherly affection, commitment to the values of the Kingdom of God—all those good things.