HEYO!
I do not remember when I started saying that, but it has been a staple in my YG greetings for many years now. It has that light-hearted, ecstatic feel to it, you know?
Last night we had yet another small group - but we had fun with it. I introduced a couple of you to the wonders of "Love Letter" (simple game, loads of fun) and I am anticipating a great time at our upcoming Game Night. While I had left Gaga set up from last week, none of us touched it (although MadFrame and I played a nasty game of Wall Ball). Is it just me, or are we all ready for Covid-19 to get over itself?
This was week 2 of our worship experiment (using the bluetooth speaker to play music as we sing along) and I think it went rather well - except for when I printed the lyrics to the wrong version of the song, hehe. The two songs we sang together were We Fall Down and God of Wonders, both by Kutless. They brought our minds to submission and wonder before our mighty God.
Now, on to the message. I shared last night that before I met Emilie, I had been praying for many years for God to bring the right woman into my life. I was getting impatient and frustrated because I was longing for companionship in my life. Then, just a year or two before Emilie showed up, I was hit with a challenge in the form of a question: "Are you the right man for her?" The idea being that I needed to grow and mature and become the man that my future wife needed. I needed to strive to be Mr. Right for my Mrs. Right. This changed everything. Rather than longing for God to bring the right woman, I switched gears and started growing into the right man. And now, looking back, I honestly believe that if God had brought Emilie into my life before this challenge, we would never have gotten married - because I would have messed up the relationship. I was too immature and selfish to handle being in a committed relationship, and it never would have worked. God, in His infinite wisdom, had chosen to hold off on bringing Emilie until I had grown.
Last week, we talked about a mindset shift for Christians: When we become a Christian, we are not trying to fit God into our story, but rather we are looking for our place in His Story. And this week we looked at part one of the answer to that, the first step in finding our place in God's story - entering into a Christian community (the Church). To see what this looks like we read Acts 2:42-47, which is a picture of the very first church community and what they did as a community. Keep in mind before you read this (below) that immediately before this the Holy Spirit came upon Jesus' disciples and allowed them to speak in tongues (other languages) and Peter gave a rousing sermon (and Gospel presentation) to the Jews in Jerusalem, after which 3,000 people came to faith in Jesus! THAT is the community this passage talks about:
Acts 2:42-47 - "They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved."
At the earliest point of the church, when someone became a Christian, they weren't just left on their own to fend for themselves - they were added to the church community. I condensed the main activities listed here into 7 categories:
1. Teaching
2. Fellowship
3. Breaking of Bread (sharing meals)
4. Prayer
5. True Community
6. Praising God (worship)
7. Welcoming new members daily
Our youth group is a modern day Christian community, so let's see how we measure up to the activities that should be found in one:
1. Teaching - we have teaching (this was a message, was it not?) - check.
2. Fellowship - we have fellowship - check.
3. Breaking Bread - if snack counts as sharing a meal, then we break bread! - check.
4. Prayer - we spend time in prayer, though not much and its usually just one of us, so - half-check.
5. True Community - do we check up on each other outside of YG, helping and building each other up? Perhaps a little bit, but this is definitely lacking - half-check.
6. Praising God - especially now with our worship experiment - check.
7. Welcoming New Members - taking Covid-19 into account, this is still very lacking in our group - no check.
So, we have some of these things in our group, but we really need to work on a few. What is interesting in the passage, and we'll talk more about this below, is that the last part says "the Lord added to their number...". This is where my opening story ties in. Just as God didn't bring Emilie into my life until I was ready to have a committed relationship, so I believe He won't bring in new members to our community until we are ready to welcome them in. Are we the kind of community that is going to help a new believer grow in their faith? So with this in mind, let's look at what it means that the early church devoted themselves to these things and then think about how we can devote ourselves to them as well.
Devoted to teaching: paying attention to lessons and messages for the purpose of understanding how it applies to everyday life. Just like we talked about in our Sunday School series from James 1, its about doing, and not just hearing what God has to say to us. This would also involve reading the Bible on our own and looking for ways to live it out.
Fellowship: This is more than just hanging out. This means that we look for ways to spend time together and work together in service to the Lord. We look forward to doing life together, eating together, serving together, working together, laughing together, mourning together - its that sense of togetherness.
Breaking Bread: This was not only a commitment to observing the Lord's Supper (communion), but also eating together and making sure that everyone had enough food to feed their families - so it involved providing food for the poor and hungry.
Prayer: This wasn't just praying over a meal or sharing requests with each other, this involved praising God, talking to God, thanking God, and looking for the will of God throughout the day. Not just once a day or once a week, but all the time. They prayed both in groups and on their own.
True Community: This involved making sacrifices for the good of others. Now, not everyone sold all they had, but those who had extra stuff (the rich and well-off) sold their excess so that others in the community could be provided for. This involved thinking about the needs of others before their own interests. "Others First" is the mentality here.
Praising God: This involved way more than singing a few songs together on a Wednesday night. This was a mindset of joy that was constantly thinking about God and putting Him first in everything. It certainly included singing songs of praise, but also included acts of kindness and obedience to what God says is right and good.
Welcomed New Members Daily: Now, God was doing the work here. He was the one adding to their number. But why was He adding to their number? Because they were the kind of community that new believers needed in order to grow and mature in their faith. God was doing the work, and the church got to be a part of it.
This is important because we are supposed to be a Christian community, and as such we should be welcoming in new members. Covid-related reasons aside, this isn't really the case, which tells me that perhaps we are not the kind of community that God wants to add new members to. I am not trying to put words into God's mouth, but the evidence is there. So, how do we become a healthy Christian community? By devoting ourselves to these things! Last night we discussed some practical ways to devote ourselves to these things, and I took a picture of the results of our discussion (see below):
We defined "devote" as meaning "to give our whole attention, time and energy to something". So as you look at some of these things, think about what it would mean to give all of your attention, time and energy to them. How would our community change?
Teaching - pay attention to messages, take notes, think through specific ways to apply message, look back at past notes to remember, join a Bible Study (also applies to fellowship, prayer, and breaking bread in some groups), talk to others about the messages...
Fellowship: Get to know other members of the YG better - intentionally have conversations with people you don't know very well...
Breaking Bread: Invite friends over for meals, bring food to contribute to our church's Perpetual Pantry...
Prayer: Pray in the morning before school or at night before bed, talk to God throughout the day, ask other people for prayer requests and offer to pray for other people, share requests/praises with others, volunteer to pray at YG, look at past examples of prayers (like the Lord's Prayer), keep a prayer journal to track how God answers prayers...
True Community: pay attention to what others are going through, offer to help when you can, be willing to give up what you want in order to provide for someone else (example, rather than buying new shoes, offering to buy groceries for someone else), or offering to help someone else go to camp, shoveling someone else' driveway/sidewalk (without asking for payment) - the 5 love languages (acts of service, words of affirmation, giving gifts, quality time, and physical touch - demonstrate love and care practically...
Praising God: Singing worship songs in the car or at home or at YG, thanking God for things throughout the day, obedience = praising God...
Welcoming New Members: invite friends, pray for God to provide new members, BE WELCOMING WHEN SOMEONE NEW COMES, and share the Gospel with your friends - they need Jesus, too!
I hope you are challenged by something shared here, and I hope you begin to work on at least one these areas this week. And don't stop there, continue working on each of these until we all grow into maturity of faith!
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