Acts 2:42-47

SOMETHING DISTINCTIVELY DIFFERENT

"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. "

Acts 2: 46-7

Have you ever heard the story that logs burning together continue to keep each other burning with the flames of fire. But a log which is isolated laying aside apart from the rest; burning by itself will soon go out. Those of you who like to Bar-B- Que or who have ever started a camp fire can relate to this, because as the coals or firewood burns, the hotter fire comes as we gather the coals, wood and stones together, and if the fire gets to hot we take our cooking instruments and spread the coals out a little bit separating them which helps reduce the heat.

The wood and coals burn hotter because they are feeding off of each other's combustible energy. Amen. Energy feeds energy.

And the Christian life is like that, God never intended for believer's to live apart from each other. Jesus did not call the church into existence for believers to live separated from the group. The church is a community of believers. Amen. Like the coals and wood we help each other burn with passionate hearts. We give to others in this community the spiritual energy of our joy, of our faith of our testimonies, of our encouragement and what we receive from each other keeps us burning all the more.

Now truly, one can worship the Lord in the privacy of their own home, one can experience the joy of personal devotions, or one may choose to become a stay at home believer watching Bishop T.D Jakes, or Rev. Robert Schuller and the Crystal Cathedral, or Bishop Charles Morton or Rev. Claude Osteen. But these television broadcasts were never meant to replace the gathered community. Amen.

Don’t get me wrong each one of these ministries has a good word from the Lord. A word to bless our souls and speak to our circumstances. Their ministries have value in the Kingdom. But you cannot have a personal relationship with any one of them nor their ministries. They won't be there to pray with you in the flesh. You can't experience the power of Holy Communion through a TV set. They probably won't visit you in the hospital or be there to physically embrace you in a time of personal joy or grief.

What are you trying to say preacher? None of them can give to their listening and viewing audience a one-on-one, up close and personal encounter, neither can they give us the healing experience of group interaction and fellowship. Only the church as gathered community was designed and empowered by the Lord to do that. You can't put the Holy Spirit on DVD. He doesn't live in tape and plastic. Now the Spirit can bless us from a tape, but he doesn't live in tape, He doesn't live inside the TV, but He lives in our hearts. He works through human personality. And so, The church is distinctively different. God working in the Spirit through one on one and group interaction.

Now I know that some of us when the music or the message gets good do get up and dance in front of the TV set. But you're still not there in flesh; in that number. A preacher friend of mine once invited me into his administrative office after I had preached an afternoon fellowship service.

And he said, "with this machine I can call every one of my members every week". I said you do. He said yes, and here is how I do it. The machine when programmed would dial up every member conveying a taped message. "Hello, this is pastor Bob (not real name), with a message for you."

I didn’t say anything, I just looked and listened. "Hello, this is pastor Bob, with a message for you." I think that many of us do hang up on these electronic voice messages, people trying to contact you with a taped message, because we want a personal encounter with the other person. We feel that if you are trying to dial me up with a voice message you really don't have time for me.

In this technological age many have resorted to technology as a primary way to worship God. But then there are some things about this faith that we cannot receive through a Television set, a CD, a DVD or a Radio. Some are homebound, sometimes we cannot come to church for good reasons, and so thank God for technology. But when we give in to technology in replacement of gathering together as the people of God, in place of fellowship as the Body of Christ we become like the log burning by itself. The flames of our spiritual enthusiasm, a passionate and burning heart for the things of God will soon die out.

Television sets and radios cannot help bear your burdens. A CD or DVD cannot give a word of encouragement like a human personality. It cannot give you the warm embrace of friendship or hold you up in hand held prayers. You've got to be in the midst of the people of God. We lose the fire of our faith, the burning passion of serving God when we remove ourselves from regular fellowship with other believer's in the community of the church. Amen.

Yes, God has designed this faith to be lived in community. Hebrews encourages us in chapter 10:25 ,"Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another - and all the more as you see the Day approaching." The Psalmist declared in Psalm 111:1, "I will praise the Lord with my whole heart, in the assembly of the upright, and in the congregation." This faith was meant to be lived in community.

In our text about 3000 people became new believers when Peter preached the Good News about Jesus. They were united with other believers. Amen. They were taught the word of God under the Apostles

and they became involved in prayer meetings and fellowship. We need to be active in a community of believers because this is how we grow spiritually. As we consider this text, you know there is something about the church that makes it distinctively different. The church is like no other institution or organization.

They became a part of the church when Peter preached Jesus. Jesus is the source of our gathering. He is the chief cornerstone that holds the entire house together. The church is not just an organization with by-laws and governing principles, neither is it just another institution with a religious purpose. The church is a living organism. It is a community given life by the Savior who died that we might have eternal life. We are a living organism because we are baptized in His Spirit. One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism. Amen.

You can close up the building. The stationary upon which the official church by-laws have been recorded may grow yellow, frail and cracked with the passing to time. The state can reject your 501c3 status as a religious institution. You can dissolve the Session and the Board of Deacons, You can have not one penny in the bank to the churches name, but the church is still gonna live, because the church is a living organism. The church lives in its people. The church lives because we have been given life in the Holy Spirit.

1 Peter 2:5 says, "Like living stones, you are built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood." Yes, we can lose all these other things and still be the church because the church has only one foundation, Jesus Christ our Lord. And as long as Jesus lives, the church lives! Denominations can split and fold-up but the church will still be around. Amen. Because the church is born of God's Holy Spirit. It is a living organism. And so there is something about the church that makes it distinctively different.

The church is not like any other organization or institution in the world. It is uniquely different. Peter Preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ. What makes us special is not the organizational or denominational label that is attached to our membership. What makes us distinctively different is not the kind of music we sing, the style of our clothing, not even our backgrounds.

What sets us apart is our confession of faith that Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior. What sets us apart is our unity in Jesus Christ. "There is one body and one Spirit - just as you were called to one hope when you were called - one Lord, one Faith, one Baptism; one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all."

What sets us apart is the power of God at work in our lives to bring forth transformation, in our own lives as well as in the lives of others. Yes, we're called to be different, The apostle Paul writes in Romans 12:2," And be transformed by the renewing of your mind." And when we allow ourselves to be squeezed into the world's mold we lose our distinctiveness.

What sets us apart is our worship and our praise, some worship their money, some worship their climb up the ladder of success, some worship their fine automobiles, some worship the adoration and praise bestowed upon them by others, but we gather to worship God, and to exalt His name together.

A whole lot of people think that religion is like going to a theater, going to a movie, going to Disney Land or Magic Mountain, but no its not, when we come to worship God we are to come with a passion to worship Him. To Praise Him. To Adore Him. To Bless His Holy Name. To give Him our Thanksgiving. To bow down before the Lord our maker.

And when we can worship things and events, and stuff that will be here today but gone tomorrow and yet cannot take time to worship God in the beauty of His temple and in His courts with praise; we lose our distinctiveness. Yet again, What sets us apart is our faith, because we are a people called to walk by faith and not by sight, but if we allow experiences and problems and other people to make us cynical, pessimistic and negative; when we give in to a "it just cannot be done attitude we lose our distinctiveness to be God's positive witness in this world.

A good friend named Percy when we were in High School ran the 880, and I remember one track meet as they were coming out of the turn on the last lap another runner bumped Percy with such impact that he knocked him off his stride. You could see the frustration, anger and disappointment in his face as he pulled up. Percy quit running and walked off the track onto the grass.

Life is like that, something comes along that knocks us off our pace, knocks the wind out of us. But faith says, take a deep breath, get some more oxygen in those lungs, and finish the race. Because the race is not given to the swift nor the mighty, but they that endure. Yes, what sets us apart is our faith. Yes, there is something distinctively different about the church.

But then, what sets us apart is that we are a new creation in Jesus, and when we become set in our ways, at ease with a status quo quality of life we lose our distinctiveness. For God is always up to something new, He says in the book of Isaiah, "Behold, I am doing a new thing, can you not perceive it?"

What sets us apart is our peace in the Lord, and if we allow worry and anxiety, a spirit of fret and doubt over the cares of this world to overcome our peace in the Lord, we lose our distinctiveness as a people of faith. O what peace we often forfeit all because we do not carry everything to him in prayer. What sets us apart is our love and our compassion, and when we become self-centered or heartless and indifferent to the needs of others, when we become judgemental at the mistakes of others we lose our distinctiveness, as the disciples whom Jesus called to love our neighbors as we do ourselves.

What sets us apart is our prayer life, and when we start handling things, our circumstances and people without praying for them, over them before we act, we lose our distinctiveness. The early church was a praying church. The text says in vs. 42 among other things that, "they devoted themselves to pray." They devoted themselves, meaning they were dedicated, consecrated, faithful in coming together to pray. When the church becomes so busy being busy but doesn't have time to pray…we lose our distinctiveness.

I wish I knew how to make it plain.

What sets us apart is the Word of God, and when we start being guided by fads, trends , peer pressures or the opinions and values of those who do not have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, we lose our distinctiveness. What sets us apart is our humility, and when we become arrogant, boastful, self-made and proud, we lose our distinctiveness.

Finally, what sets us apart is Jesus, Hallelujah, and when we do not reflect Jesus we lose our distinctiveness. Yes, There is something distinctively different about the Christian Community. There is no other institution or organization like unto it.

The Church's One foundation is Jesus Christ Her Lord, She is His new creation by water and the word; from heaven He came and sought her to be his Holy Bride, with His own blood he bought he, and for her life He died.

Sony was not created by water and the word, he did not come from heaven to save Verizon, he did not die upon an old rugged cross for Microsoft, he did not come seeking Nike to be His holy bride, but O…, for persons such as you and I. There's something distinctively different about the church!

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