Join the Family

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9:00 Service | 10:30 Service | Sermon Audio

I feel so privileged to be in this room today. Don’t you? To everyone who was baptized today, we praise God for his work in your life. We want to thank you for responding to God’s call and for having the courage to come forward and be baptized. And as your church family, we are here for you as you continue following Jesus. Amen, church family? Let’s show them our support one more time. 

Last week we looked at that epic event where Peter stood up in a massive crowd of people and proclaimed the gospel: repent—turn away from your sin, trust in the risen Christ, and be baptized. And 3,000 people came to Christ that day. I guarantee you: the people who were there talked about that day for the rest of their lives. So this was obviously a defining day in the history of the church: it was big, it was public, it was spectacular. But here’s the question: where do you go from there? 

Let me tell you a little story. When my kids were young we took them to Disney World. On our first day in the park, my oldest son, Paul, who was about five years old, got a nasty ear infection. So nasty that I took him to the medical clinic in the park; they couldn’t treat him there, so they put us on a little shuttle van with other miserable people, and they brought us to an urgent care place in Orlando. But to get there, the van didn’t drive through the main streets of Disneyworld; it went back behind the attractions; behind the shiny castles and colorful storefronts, to places that guests are really not supposed to see. There were garbage dumpsters and construction materials and maintenance workers. It was so different from what you see on the public side. And I remember looking out the window and seeing something that will haunt me forever: sitting on an upside-down wooden crate, slouched over and smoking a cigarette, was saw Snow White. Oh yeah. I tried to cover my son’s eyes, but it was too late. After a few years of therapy, he’s gotten over it. But I realized something that day: things are not always the way they appear on the surface. 

So here was this big, public, amazing event—3,000 people baptized! But what actually happened to those people behind the scenes, when they were no longer in the public eye? That’s exactly what the Book of Acts talks about next. It’s a short passage, but it’s so key to understanding how the early church was so effective in their mission.  

Acts chapter 2, starting in verse 42—let’s hear God’s Word together… 

42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 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, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. This is the Word of the Lord.  

That’s what went on behind the scenes. This new movement of Christianity wasn’t mostly about big, public events. It was people meeting in the temple courts to worship and hear Scripture taught. It was smaller groups of people gathering in homes to share meals and pray together. Last week in my small group, somebody said, “You know, for these people, life was suddenly different than it was the day before.” He was exactly right. Because a new family had been created. See, those people weren’t just baptized into Christ—vertical—they were baptized into the body of Christ—his people. In a world that can be so isolating, they had found family.  

For the past year and a half, this passage has been the central focus of our Shepherd Team. In case you don’t know, at The Chapel we have hundreds of small group leaders, and those small group leaders are supported by Shepherds. So the Shepherds are the leaders of small group leaders. To all our Shepherds out there—thanks for your faithful service. So as the Shepherd Team studied this passage, they discovered five qualities of healthy Christian community. Here are the five qualities: Discipleship, Evangelism, Fellowship, Worship, and Ministry. Which is a hard list to remember, so they came up with a little trick to remember it—you ready? “Don’t eat fries with mustard.” I know it’s ridiculous, but you’ll probably remember it!  

Discipleship means they learned and grew in their faith. 

Evangelism means they shared their faith with outsiders. 

Fellowship means they shared their lives with each other. 

Worship means they praised God together. 

And Ministry means they served each other AND they served outsiders.  

See, it wasn’t primarily about the big, flashy, spectacular events. When you looked behind the curtain, there was family happening. In the pagan, polytheistic culture of the first-century Roman Empire, they functioned as a family, and the world started taking notice. 

When you read some of the firsthand accounts of the early church from historical documents, one of the main things people comment on is the way they loved and served. When people would take their unwanted baby girls and expose them—leave them out in the cold to die, the Christians would rescue them and adopt them. When plagues and pandemics struck, anyone who could would escape the crowded city and get out to the country to avoid getting infected. But the Christians stayed behind to nurse the sick—and many times that meant their own contamination and death.  

There was an early Roman Emperor named Julian, and we have a letter he wrote to a pagan priest, complaining about the Christians. Listen to this: “The impious Galileans (he’s talking about Christians) support not only their poor, but ours as well. Everyone can see that our people lack aid from us.” In other words, the Roman government wasn’t taking care of their own people; the Christians were doing it…and Emperor Julian said “It’s making us look bad.” Tertullian, who was a key church leader in the second and third century, wrote this: “It is our care of the helpless, our practice of loving kindness that brands us in the eyes of many of our opponents. ‘Only look,’ they say, ‘look how they love one another!’” 

Guys, this movement that we’re part of was known from the very beginning as a family that loved and served and sacrificially cared for one another. It wasn’t a social club. It wasn’t a religious affiliation. The ancient world had plenty of that! This was different. It was started by a man who literally laid down his life because of his love for his friends, and they were just following in his footsteps. So all of you who were baptized today, that’s what you were baptized into. All of you going through our membership process now, that’s what you’re joining up with. We might have big services and events, but the heart and soul of this thing is what happens behind the scenes, backstage: it’s family.  

And when we function as a family, did you see what happens? The very last phrase in the chapter: And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. It was still dangerous to be a Christian. You were still considered a little odd if you became a Christian. But there was this magnetic pull as people saw how Christians lived their lives. They were hungry for friendship and fellowship and family, like every human being has always been—and they found it in Christ. And the Lord added to their numbers daily those who were being saved. And you know what? As we proclaim the same gospel they did, and as we function as a family like they did, the Lord is adding to our number. And we celebrate that—not because we’re into numbers, but because Jesus came to seek and save the lost, and it’s a privilege to be part of that. 

Would you rise to your feet? I have two really important action steps for you. 

First, this Friday night we’re having a movie night right here at The Chapel. It’s free; there’s going to be popcorn and candy and the movie up on the big screen. But this is not entertainment. The movie is called “The Forge,” and it’s a beautiful picture of what can happen when we live out the book of Acts. It’s really well-made; it’s really inspiring. So go to our web site, under “Events” and get registered. If you haven’t yet signed up with your small group, you have to do it. If you’re not yet in a small group, you should sign up too, because we’re going to be starting six new small groups as a spinoff of that movie. And by the way, even if you can’t come to the movie on Friday, you can still join those groups by going to the small groups page on our web site. Great way to join the family. 

And then finally, we want to pray with you. If you need to receive Christ, or if you need to pray for someone in your life who needs Christ, or if you want to be baptized next month, come on up front after the service, and we’d love to pray for you. 

Let me pray, and then we’re going to close with worship.