Presentation 05
Presentation 05
Introduction
In the last fifty years more books have been written on
the subject of ‘Church Growth’, than at any other period
in the church’s life. There are undoubtedly a number of
reasons for this. Declining church membership,
changing social patterns which have placed people
under less pressure to attend church, a more positively,
a growing interest in the mission of the church.
For the moment let’s put to one side the reasons for
this growth of interest. It is sufficient to recognise that
the church is concerned with growth and how to
achieve it.
Presentation 05
Introduction
Of course the church can grow in two ways. It can grow numerically and it can
grow in the qualitatively , as its members mature in their discipleship.
Ideally we should be concerned to see both develop hand in hand. However,
the big question ,which everyone wants answered is, “How is this growth
achieved?” I believe that the passage before us, which describes the growth of
the early church, is able to point us in the right direction.
Presentation 05
A Past Hunger
The essentials for a healthy church life listed here, all flow from apostolic
doctrine. We wont understand what fellowship, prayer or the breaking of bread
is, without reference the apostles’ teaching.
These new converts longed to learn what was vital
to their new found faith. You may think,
‘I am not interested in Christian doctrine.
I’m not the kind of person it is aimed at!’
But apostolic doctrine was not intended for
church theologians living in ivory towers
but for ordinary people, many of whom
were uneducated slaves. However,
what they did possess was a
appetite for instruction!
Presentation 05
A Past Hunger
Where is this hunger for instruction today? Is it not strange that professing
Christians can spend hours, listening to closely argued political debates on TV,
or engross themselves in demanding crossword puzzles, yet in their church
service they do not want to be stretched beyond Sunday
School level. A lack of appetite will ensure that we remain
spiritual dwarfs and the church that we belong to is
unlikely to grow.
Of course, we need to ask, ‘What created this
consuming desire for apostolic teaching?’
The answer is simple. The Holy Spirit had
breathed new life into them and that new
life was crying out to be fed.
Presentation 05
A Past Hunger
New born babies are very single minded, they are obsessed with food. They
bawl until their hunger is satisfied. What is true in the natural realm has its
parallel in the spiritual realm.
Some time ago a man recently converted told me that since
he had come to he’d been devouring his Bible. He was also
reading every Christian book he could get his hands on.
He wanted an explanation. The answer was simple,
the new life that God had breathed into him was
crying out for food. His was a normal Christian
experience.
This begs the question, ‘How genuine is my Christian
profession if I have no appetite for God’s Word, if my
heart and soul are not crying out to be fed?’
Presentation 05
A Preferred Substitute
In some church circles it has been suggested that the hunger that God creates
can be satisfied in other ways. And many Christians are roaming around
looking for a spiritual fix. They go from conference to conference,
meeting to meeting in their pursuit of a spiritual high - they are after a
substitute from what they see to be the hard work of Bible study.
The experiences that they pursue often have no doctrinal roots.
I’ve heard people say, “It doesn’t matter what we believe as
long as we share the same basic experience”.
That is an extremely unsafe position to take!
Presentation 05
A Preferred Substitute
Such logic would have appalled the early church! Oh they had a common
spiritual experience but it was grounded in apostolic teaching. Their new life
was built on this vital doctrinal instruction.
Of course there is nothing deader than dead orthodoxy, and nothing more
chilling than cold, unctionless teaching. But once God’s truth be set on fire in
your mind and heart, then you can rest secure in the knowledge that your
spiritual experience will be built upon a solid yet living foundation.
Presentation 05
A Preferred Substitute
Some dismiss apostolic teaching for yet another reason. They
say, ‘I have no time for Christian doctrine because I’m a very
practical sort of person. I don’t mind rolling up my sleeves in the
church but don’t ask me to stretch my mind’.
That may sound very reasonable but it is a mistaken
viewpoint. As far as the N.T. is concerned, Christian
living flows out of Christian doctrine. Not only can
you not have one without the other, but the one
flows quite naturally out of the other.
Presentation 05
A Preferred Substitute
Belief conditions behaviour. Hitler realised this and his anti-semitic
propaganda led the German people to ostracise, persecute and eventually to
exterminate the Jews. Behaviour follows belief. If you believe that ‘might is
right’ then you will throw your weight around in order to accomplish your
objective without giving any thought to the harm done to others in the
process. If you believe that ‘the end justifies the means’ then you wont mind
lying or killing to gain a particular end etc. Do you see what I mean about our
behaviour flowing from belief? It plays out its own version of follow the
leader!
Presentation 05
A Preferred Substitute
The way in which Christians behave is determined by what their minds soak
up. The apostles exhortation to Christian practice flows out of doctrinal
teaching. E.g. The church at Philippi had a problem - selfishness, ‘Each of you
should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.’
2v4, cf. 2v21 ‘For everyone looks out for his own interests,
not those of Jesus Christ.’
What did Paul do? He aimed at their understanding
and expounded the doctrine of Christ’s self
emptying. Having expounded the doctrine,
only then did he exhort them to deal with
the practical issues surrounding their
selfishness.
Presentation 05
The Effect Of Doctrinal Teaching
Did apostolic instruction make any difference to the behaviour of these early
converts in Jerusalem? Yes! In addition to those characteristics that we will
shortly examine, there are two points worthy of note. First apostolic teaching
made them responsive to the needs of others. A great number of Jewish
pilgrims had come up to Jerusalem for the feast of Pentecost. They had not
planned on a long stay. But then they heard the gospel, were converted, and
wanted to stay on in order to learn more about the new life that was theirs.
Presentation 05
The Effect Of Doctrinal Teaching
But they ran out of cash and had no access to a telex
or telephone to ask their bank manger to send them
additional funding. So what happened? We read in
v45 that the Christians living in the Jerusalem area
sold some of their possessions to give to those who
were in need.
Can you imagine the reaction of the non Christian
community in Jerusalem? “What are our neighbours
thinking of? They must have really lost their minds to
sell their possessions in order to help those who are
complete strangers”.
Presentation 05
The Effect Of Doctrinal Teaching
This unusual generosity is the fruit of absorbing apostolic
doctrine. These new converts could have responded to
their critics saying;
“these people are no longer strangers, they are our
brothers and sisters in Christ, we are now part of the family
of God. Furthermore by giving to our brothers and sisters
we are giving to Lord Jesus who gave himself for us”.
Years later the apostle John reminded the church that true
liberality is a spontaneous expression of Christian love.
“If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in
need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in
him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue
but with actions and in truth”. 1Jn. 3v17-18
Presentation 05
The Effect Of Doctrinal Teaching
Secondly, note the influence of apostolic doctrine on the quality of their
worship v47. There was nothing dull or mechanical about this worship. It was
not limited to one hour in the week when they tried to crank themselves up to
‘make a joyful noise to the Lord’. The verb tense used here implies that their
worship was both spontaneous and continuous. Now we must not confuse
this type of worship with the whipping up of mere emotional froth that passes
for worship in some circles today.
Presentation 05
The Effect Of Doctrinal Teaching
We should be suspicious of worship that bypasses the understanding and is a
purely emotional response to external stimuli. Now it is of vital importance to
grasp this, it was only as apostolic teaching gripped the minds and hearts of
the believers, and as they understood what Christ had done for them and
became aware of the rich provision of grace he has made for them, that
worship sprang out of the depth of their being.
The way to deepen and develop our worship of
God is by allowing ourselves to be set on fire
by apostolic doctrine.
Presentation 05
Conclusion
Have we begun to see how practical apostolic doctrine really is? Can we
understand why it is so important to hunger after it? Our growth as individual
Christians and as a fellowship of God’s people is dependant upon this. May
our individual and corporate epitaphs be that, ‘devoted themselves to
apostolic doctrine’.
Presentation 05