The Apostles’ Teaching

Acts 2:42
They spent their time in learning from the apostles, taking part in the fellowship, and sharing in the fellowship meals and the prayers. (GNB)

We’ve been talking this month about worship. The Christian church has, historically, held up Acts 2:42 as a model of Christian worship. We learn from the Apostles’ teaching (i.e. study the Bible); we fellowship with each other; we break bread in the Lord’s Supper and we pray. We may do these things in different formats and varying orders, but we always try to include all four of these elements.

I think, though, that we have ignored verse 43 (maybe because of the first half of it):

Acts 2:43
Many miracles and wonders were being done through the apostles, and everyone was filled with awe. (GNB)

Now, I’m not going to get into this morning whether miracles still occur. I believe God still works, but the era of the apostles is over.

Look at the last half of that verse: everyone was filled with awe. I think this is an element of worship that is lacking today. Some Sundays (and I will say this can be regardless of the music or sermon or other external factors, though they may aid or hinder, depending on the person) we are full of joy and exuberant. Other Sundays, we are quiet and reserved. Or, maybe, within the course of our time spent worshiping with other Christians, we run the gamut of all these emotions.

But what about “awe”?

WORSHIPING GOD SHOULD INSTILL US WITH AWE

What are the kinds of things that instill us with awe? Beautiful scenery. A spectacular athletic feat. An especially good work of art.

Our awe at such things usually dims after a while. We drive away from the scenery. Another spectacular play is made. Another work of art catches our eye.

How about this for awe-inspiring: God, the creator of the universe, loves you!

That’s what we’re responding to in worship, right? We may be thankful for the scenery God has provided—or for any number of things. We may be excited about his wonders. But when we really stop and think of God and who he is and that he even pays attention to us …

Psalm 8:3-4
When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? (ESV)

Sometimes, the modern church seems a little too friendly with God. Too casual. I do believe God want’s us to come to him with everything, and he is our friend, but he is also God.

I would imagine that, if one of us were to get the chance to meet the President of the United States, we would be in awe of him. We might not have voted for him, but we would be awestruck just because of the title he has and the importance he has. But, if we were to hang out with him for a while, shoot some basketball with him, see him at breakfast when he’s half-asleep, on hang out with him in the evening when he’s worn out, some of the awe would dissipate. We would, eventually, just come to see him as another person. (And we still might not vote for him!)

The early Christians, however, as they got together and studied the Apostles’ teaching, broke bread, prayed and fellowshipped, they got to know God better. And as they did so, their awe grew. They became more familiar with God, more friendly with God—but rather than seeing his flaws as we would a man we grew to know well—they came to know he was a God without flaws and that’s daunting and awe-inspiring.

So it’s tempting, maybe, to not get to know God better. We’d rather he just stayed this kindly old man who watches over us and gives us gifts like Santa Claus.

Why, then would we want to be any different? If our hearts feel “saved”, why risk messing that up by rocking the boat and getting to know God better?

WORSHIP IS MORE THAN A MATTER OF THE HEART

Ever told someone to trust their heart? Maybe they had come to ask you about a relationship they were in (or thinking about getting in), or maybe it was something more “mundane” like a job opportunity or even a question of what physical road to take. Maybe they had a question concerning faith or moral behavior.

And I told him to trust his heart …

Jeremiah 17:9
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? (ESV)

Who can understand the human heart? There is nothing else so deceitful; it is too sick to be healed. (GNB)

The heart is hopelessly dark and deceitful, a puzzle that no one can figure out. (MSG)

Am I saying we should ignore the “messages” our heart sends us? I’m saying we should treat the messages from our hearts with a grain of salt, but not ignore. I want you to read something else with me:

Acts 17:10-11
As soon as night came, the believers sent Paul and Silas to Berea. When they arrived, they went to the synagogue. The people there were more open-minded than the people in Thessalonica. They listened to the message with great eagerness, and every day they studied the Scriptures to see if what Paul said was really true. (GNB)

It used to be that most churches had an adult Sunday School class called “The Bereans” and it would have Acts 17:11 printed on or near the door. What a great idea! Not just to call a class that, but to actually live it! I would love to find out that someone was taking notes on my sermons (or just getting the notes on-line after I post them) and checking what I said against Scripture. Not only do I need the accountability, I’d love the idea that people were taking God’s word that seriously!

If I wanted to plant a garden in my back yard, what would I need to do? I’d need to plow up some ground, put down some fertilizer, build a fence to keep the dog out of the garden, purchase a new sprinkler, purchase some seeds. I would probably also do well to talk to some of my neighbors who have gardens and find out what grows well here. And then, once all that’s done, am I done?

Nope! I’d need to plant the seeds, then I’d need to water them. I’d need to come out periodically and pull up the weeds. I might need to put down more fertilizer and/or spray for bugs. I might need to thin out some of the plants that come up (that, in theory, I might have wanted to keep since they are from seeds I put in the ground.)

The same is true of our hearts. For our hearts to be anywhere near a reliable source, they need to be prepped just the way you prep a garden and maintained just the way the Bereans approached what Paul had preached to them.

“Our souls are not nourished merely by listening awhile to this, and then to that, and then to the other part of divine truth. Hearing, reading, marking, and learning, all require inwardly digesting to complete their usefulness, and the inward digesting of the truth lies for the most part in meditating about it.” – Charles Haddon Spurgeon

I run into the converse of this all the time. People who think they know what God wants—because they can feel it in their heart—when what they’re feeling in their heart is directly contradictory to Scripture.

I was the visiting preacher at a church one time and I spoke on the passage (Matthew 18) where Jesus tells us how to approach a brother (or sister) who is caught in sin. Jesus’s directions in such a matter are very clear. If I see a brother (i.e., someone who has professed Christ and should know better) in a sin, I should approach that person by myself. If they repent, Great!! If they refuse to repent, I should get a mature Christian to go with me and we’ll confront this brother together. If they still refuse to repent, we’re to call them before the congregation. If they STILL refuse to repent, Jesus tells us to kick such a person out of the church. After preaching, when I was sitting in a fellowship meal and talking to the people of the church, one of the elders of the church said, “I know Scripture says we should do this, but I just can’t go along with that.”

This person—maybe out of a misguided sense of compassion—had a heart that overruled Scripture. Now, this is a stark example and most of us sitting here today would quickly say, “I’ll never do that!!” But we do. Why? How?

Because our hearts aren’t trained.

WORSHIP REQUIRES PRACTICE

Maybe you agree with the elder of that church. Or maybe there’s something else that you’ve read in or heard from Scripture and you wonder about it or even doubt it. Human arrogance leads us to just throw up our hands and say, “I can’t go along with that!” But think about the Psalm Dylan led us in for Responsive Reading. This whole Psalm is a praise for God’s law. We find the psalmist meditating on God’s law. Why? Maybe he read something in there and thought, “I just can’t go along with that!” But he knew it was God’s word, so he meditated on it. He wrestled with it. He prayed about it. He tried to look at it from every side possible. And, in the end, he realized God was right. That’s why he said God’s word was a lamp unto his feet and a light unto his path.

We might all make that declaration, but I don’t think we can do so in truth until we have dug in deep. Until we have studied Scripture and asked questions (both of God and other Christians). Until we have let even the difficult passages sink in and change us.

And we can’t do that in just one hour a week or with our Bibles on a shelf!

What do I DO with this?

Look back at the verse we started with. “They spent their time.” Other translations say, “They devoted themselves.” Being a child of God is not a casual pursuit.

Granted: Jesus did all the work to make us children. Such amazing work demands a response. Our response should be, first of all, awe. God loves us!!!

Second, that awe should lead us to say (and act), “I gotta get to know God better!” We do that by reading and meditating on God’s word.

Comments? Email me at npccsam@windstream.net